[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., PENN., KY., IDAHO, USA, CALIF., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 30


NORTH CAROLINA:

N.C. attorney general appeals stay of Walker execution


The state attorney general on Tuesday asked the North Carolina Supreme
Court to dissolve a stay of execution for a death row inmate who contends
he was convicted on the unreliable testimony of co-defendants.

Condemned inmate Charles Walker was granted the stay Monday by Guilford
County Judge John Craig, who said he wanted to hear additional arguments
from lawyers on the claim that Walker was wrongly convicted.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper said Tuesday the state's high court
already ruled in 1996 that there was no error in Walker's case; the U.S.
Supreme Court denied Walker a hearing that same year.

In a 38-page emergency motion, Cooper said the claims in Walker's latest
appeal "should have been raised on direct appeal" and that nothing was new
in the latest appeal.

"The claims are purely legal questions arising from the record," Cooper
said, adding that the state put on evidence that Walker planned the
killing of Tito Davidson and participated in disposing of Davidson's body
and cleaning up the crime scene.

Defense lawyer Jon Megerian said he was not surprised by the appeal, but
felt there was "a substantial risk of a fundamental miscarriage of
justice."

"I think it's shocking the state says this guy may be innocent, but you
should have raised these claims before, so let's go ahead and kill him,"
Megerian said. "I think they need to worry about whether they're getting
ready to execute an innocent man."

Walker, 39, of Brooklyn, N.Y., was scheduled for execution by injection at
2 a.m. Friday for the 1992 drug-related killing of Davidson. Co-defendants
testified that Walker participated in shooting Davidson several times,
then slashing his throat.

Walker reportedly oversaw drug sales at a Greensboro public housing
complex. Prosecutors have said he had Davidson killed after being told
Davidson killed an associate in an effort to horn in on Walker's drug
business.

Davidson's body has never been found despite a search of a Greensboro
landfill. No blood, DNA or other evidence was located in the apartment,
which co-defendants said they thoroughly cleaned.

At Monday's 3-hour hearing, Megerian told Craig that that state law says
co-defendants are not considered reliable witnesses. He also said two
women who testified against Walker should be considered unreliable because
they were involved in the crime even though they were never charged.

In issuing the stay, Craig said he wanted to know why the 2 women - both
girlfriends of the co-defendants - were not charged.

Walker's lawyers also have asked Gov. Mike Easley to commute his death
sentence to life in prison without parole. The governor typically doesn't
issue a decision on clemency requests until all court action has been
completed.

(source: Associated Press)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Execution stay for Pa. killer nixed----13 shot dead in '82 shooting
rampage

A judge yesterday denied a request by the mother of mass murderer George
E. Banks to halt his scheduled execution Thursday for killing 13 people in
a 1982 shooting rampage.

Luzerne County Judge Michael P. Conahan said the request for a stay of the
execution that lawyers made on behalf of Banks' elderly mother had been
filed too late.

Banks' death sentence "has been rendered meaningless for more than 20
years" by his appeals, said Scott Gartley, chief of the appellate division
for the county district attorney's office.

"He killed 13 people, and seven of them were children," Gartley said.

Billy Nolas, a lawyer with the Federal Defender's office in Philadelphia
who represents Banks' mother, said he would appeal Conahan's decision to
the state Supreme Court, which has ruled against Banks 3 times.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against him twice, most recently in June.

The state Commonwealth Court today was to consider another petition from
Banks' mother, contending that it was because of his mental condition that
he had not asked for clemency from Gov. Rendell within the allotted 10
days after Rendell signed his death warrant on Oct. 5.

Unless a stay is issued, Banks, 62, is scheduled to get a lethal injection
Thursday night at Rockview State Prison in Bellefonte.

His mother, who did not attend yesterday's hearing, said she did not want
to see her son executed but feels helpless to stop it.

"I don't want to see him die, but what can I do? My hands are tied," Mary
Yelland, 83, said in an interview at her home, a one-story, red-and-white
house on an overgrown lot in Wilkes-Barre.

A state prison guard with a history of violence, Banks used a
semiautomatic rifle to kill five of his children, ages 1 to 6, along with
four current or former girlfriends, a daughter of one of the girlfriends,
the mother and nephew of another girlfriend, and a bystander in the
early-morning hours of Sept. 25, 1982.

The shootings occurred at two sites - at the Wilkes-Barre home Banks
shared with 3 women who each had given birth to at least 1 of his
children, and at a mobile home in the Wilkes-Barre suburbs where the
mother of another of his children was living.

Banks' brother, John, 60, who also participated in yesterday's interview,
called the execution "ridiculous."

"It's inhumane and, if they think that having his death is going to make
everything all better, they're sorely mistaken," he said, attributing his
brother's violence to a mixture of alcohol and prescription drugs that he
was taking at the time.

"They say, 'Well, he knew what he was doing,' and I'm saying it's
terrible, but he did not know what he was doing," the brother said.

Lawyers representing Banks' mother contend that executing defendants who
are "chronically psychotic" like Banks violates the U.S. Constitution's
ban on cruel and unusual punishment. They also say that Banks' mental
illness prevents him from making rational decisions about his case.

The son of a white mother and black father, Banks said following his
arrest that he had killed his children to spare them the racist abuse that
he had suffered as a biracial child.

His mother, who married another black man after Banks' father died, agreed
that her son had been taunted because of his racial heritage.

"Georgie would get upset," she told the Patriot-News in Harrisburg.
"Georgie was always taking up with white girls, too."

If he is executed, Banks would be only the 4th person to be put to death
in Pennsylvania since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment
in 1976.

(source: Philadelphia Daily News)

******************

Execution process the last leg of Banks' murderous journey


George E. Banks began his journey to the execution chamber at Rockview
State Prison more than 22 years ago, when he gunned down 7 children and 6
adults in a murderous frenzy.

The last leg of the journey, which is about to begin, is likely to be
shorter and Banks' fate more certain.

It will start when Banks is driven from Graterford State Prison near
Philadelphia to the imposing granite compound a few miles from Penn State
University's main campus sometime before Thursday afternoon. Like many
aspects of executions in Pennsylvania, the exact time is kept
confidential.

"If everybody knew when he was leaving Graterford, that could be a
security problem," said state Corrections Department spokeswoman Sue
McNaughton.

At Rockview, however briefly, Banks - a former state prison guard - will
have special status.

A state trooper will be assigned exclusively to Banks, as well an
around-the-clock guard like the one who has watched over him at Graterford
since Gov. Ed Rendell signed his execution warrant on Oct. 5.

He'll be issued a white T-shirt, a short-sleeved shirt, socks and
terry-cloth slippers, then placed in a cell 20 feet from the chamber where
he is to be given a lethal injection at 7 p.m. Thursday.

State Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard plans to visit Banks on
Thursday, McNaughton said.

Known within the prison system as inmate No. AY-6066, Banks will be
permitted non-contact visits with members of his immediate family until 5
p.m. - around the time he will eat his last meal. He gets to choose from a
list of more than 3 dozen entrees, ranging from a cheeseburger to veal
Parmesan.

As many as 2 of his attorneys will be permitted to meet with Banks until 6
p.m., and his spiritual adviser - if he chooses one - can stay until 6:30
p.m.

Around that time, Banks will be escorted into the execution chamber and
strapped to a gurney, with his arms in an outstretched position.

Members of the execution team will insert needles from separate
intravenous units containing a saline solution into veins in each arm -
one as a backup in case the main unit fails - through tubes running from
the execution chamber through a hole in the wall to the executioners' post
on the other side. The executioners will monitor the proceeding through a
small one-way mirror just above the gurney.

The executioners are not Department of Corrections employees or doctors,
but rather people who are at least paramedic trainees and who know how to
administer IVs, McNaughton said. They work in teams of two, or sometimes
three, but only one handles the syringes that inject the lethal chemicals
into the IVs, she said.

Like the identities of the executioners, the names of the fatal drugs are
kept secret, although the state law governing executions specifies the use
of "an ultrashort-acting barbiturate in combination with a chemical
paralytic agent."

Once the IVs are in place and the executioners have left the chamber, the
curtain over the glass wall separating the execution witnesses from the
inmate is opened.

As many as 17 witnesses may be present - 6 citizens selected from a pool
of volunteers, 6 news reporters, 4 friends or relatives of the victims,
and the inmate's spiritual adviser.

Death occurs within minutes, and the execution is over once the Centre
County coroner pronounces the prisoner dead.

(source: Associated Press)

************************

Death-penalty prosecution in Arce killing upheld


Prosecutors may seek the death penalty against a 25-year-old city man
charged as an accomplice in the shooting death of a 22-year-old man in
May, a judge has ruled.

Judge Samuel A. Kline, in a ruling dated Nov. 18 and released yesterday,
denied a defense pre-trial motion filed by attorney Jack McMahon on behalf
of Reynaldo Rodriguez-Malave.

Rodriguez and William I. Clinton, also 25 and of Lebanon, face trial early
next year on charges related to the May 8 murder of Carlos Arce of
Lebanon. Arce was shot to death at 12 and Buttonwood streets. Prosecutors
have charged that Clinton was the gunman and Rodriguez was an accomplice
and conspirator.

The district attorney's office is seeking the death penalty against both
men.

In July, the district attorney's office filed a notice that prosecutors
would seek the death penalty against both men. The district attorney's
office cited an aggravating circumstance that Clinton and Rodriguez
"created a grave risk of death to another person" in addition to Arce.
Gregory Espaillat of Lebanon has testified that he was near Arce when he
was shot to death.

McMahon argued that prosecutors had no evidence that Rodriguez "knowingly
created a grave risk of death," as required by law to qualify as an
aggravating circumstance. McMahon also contended there was no evidence
that Rodriguez intended to place anyone at grave risk of death

In his ruling, Kline said prosecutors are not required under state law to
prove the existence before a trial of aggravating factors. They are only
required to present evidence of any aggravating factor.

Jurors decide during the sentencing phase of a death-penalty case whether
aggravating factors exist, the judge said.

In Pennsylvania, prosecutors who wish to seek the death penalty are
required to list factors known as aggravating circumstances that make a
murder case eligible for the death penalty. In addition to the grave-risk
factor cited in this case, aggravating circumstances under Pennsylvania
law include whether the killing occurred during commission of a separate
felony; whether it was premeditated and if the victim was an officer of
the law.

Kline said in his ruling that testimony at a preliminary hearing and a
pre-trial hearing for Rodriguez and Clinton provided evidence that
Espaillat's life was in danger of death during the shooting. Multiple
shots were fired at Arce, and Espaillat testified that he was between 4 to
10 feet away from Arce, the judge said in his ruling.

The judge's ruling did not address whether Rodriguez should be tried
separately from Clinton. McMahon sought a separate trial for Rodriguez.

Earlier this month, Kline ruled that prosecutors may use a statement
Clinton made to police during questioning.

Chief Public Defender Charles Jones contended that Clinton was under the
influence of alcohol and cocaine when he spoke to police on May 8, and did
not knowingly waive his constitutional rights.

In his ruling, Kline said that 2 city police detectives saw no evidence
that Clinton was under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they
questioned him.

(source: Lebanon Daily News)






KENTUCKY:

Bowling appeal could have national implications


Thomas Clyde Bowling's scheduled execution date came and went Tuesday
while he sat on death row.

His execution was delayed while the state Supreme Court determines whether
Bowling should be tested to see if he is mentally retarded. At issue is
when a death row inmate can raise the question of whether he is mentally
retarded.

The case could have national implications, said Susan Balliet, one of
Bowling's attorneys.

"These issues are going to be of interest to the U.S. Supreme Court,"
Balliet said Tuesday.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June 2002 that states cannot execute the
mentally retarded.

In that case, Atkins v. Virginia, the high court did not specify when or
how to determine if someone is mentally retarded, which is generally
defined as having an IQ of 70 or lower.

Roberta Harding, a University of Kentucky law professor who teaches
capital punishment law, said the U.S. Supreme Court could eventually hear
Bowling's case or one similar to it to help clarify when the issue may be
brought up, especially for cases that arose before the Atkins decision.

During Bowling's 1990 trial for the murder of Lexington couple Eddie and
Tina Earley, his attorneys did not raise the question of whether he was
mentally retarded.

The state Attorney General's Office is using that to try to clear the way
for the execution to take place. The attorney general's office is arguing
that, by not raising the issue at trial, Bowling waived his right to bring
the issue up later on appeal.

While the U.S. Supreme Court did not rule on when the issue could be
brought up, some state legislatures and lower courts have set up time
frames for raising the issue.

8 states have passed laws since the Atkins decision for determining if
someone is mentally retarded and specifying when the issue can be raised.

"Most courts have correctly concluded that the decision applies
retroactively," said Robert Dinerstein, a law professor at American
University in Washington, D.C.

In Kentucky, there is no law on the books or court decision to provide
guidance about when the mental retardation issue can be raised.

"Kentucky's situation is a little unique," Balliet said.

Laurie White, a New Orleans defense attorney who handles capital cases,
compared Bowling's situation to the ban on executing juvenile offenders.

"If you find out just before an execution that someone was 15 when they
committed the crime, you don't still execute them," White said. "You
stop."

Harding said the Atkins decision should apply retroactively.

"If someone is now mentally retarded, then it seems like it would violate
Atkins, even if the law didn't exist at the time of the crime," Harding
said. "What the state is saying is, 'Let's pretend he wasn't mentally
retarded back then.'"

The Kentucky Attorney General's office declined to comment Tuesday.

Balliet does not expect a quick ruling from the Kentucky Supreme Court on
the complex issue.

"I wouldn't look for a ruling before six months in the general course of
cases like this," Balliet said. "We just don't know."

Meanwhile, the delay could allow at least one other inmate to be executed.

Attorneys for death row inmate Ralph Baze expect his appeals to end
sometime in the spring, which would mean Gov. Ernie Fletcher could set an
execution date.

Baze, 49, was convicted of killing Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and
Deputy Arthur Briscoe during attempted arrest on Jan. 30, 1992.

Bowling was back in his death row cell on Tuesday, where he's spent much
of the last 13 years, Balliet said.

"He wants to understand where his litigation is," Balliet said. "Of
course, he's very happy that he's not being executed today."

(source: Associated Press)

***********************

Charges Dismissed Against Defendant In Death-Penalty Case Key Witnesses
Can't Be Found


A Louisville judge dismissed all the charges against a man standing trial
in a death-penalty case.

Timothy Williams was supposed to be on trial this week. Instead, charges
of murder, arson and robbery were dismissed, WLKY NewsChannel 32's Julia
Harding reported Tuesday.

The prosecution could not find 2 of its key witnesses in this case, and
the judge refused to delay the trial.

Williams is accused of shooting Kirk Harrison, 44, in the back during a
robbery last year.

The charges can be brought against Williams again if the 2 witnesses are
found.

Meanwhile, Harrison's mother, Martha Dickerson, told Harding she's not
angry about Tuesday's ruling.

"The end result is he'll pay one way or the other," she said. "Those who
live by the sword die by the sword. He's not really free. He's human; I'm
sure it's on his mind."

The case was dismissed without prejudice, which means the prosecution can
ask a grand jury to indict him on the same charges if the witnesses are
found.

This year, Dickerson started a support group for families of violent
crime. The group, which includes a performing choir, meets next at 1 p.m.
Saturday at the Pure In Heart Baptist Church.

(source: The LouisvilleChannel)






IDAHO:

High court upholds guilty plea in death penalty case


The guilty plea of condemned murderer Timothy Alan Dunlap was upheld today
by the Idaho Supreme Court.

But the high court agreed with a lower court that procedural mistakes
after the plea was entered entitled the 36-year-old Indiana man to a new
sentencing hearing.

He was convicted in the 1991 shotgun slaying of teller Tonya Crane during
a Soda Springs bank robbery.

Dunlap's already under a death sentence in Ohio for killing his girlfriend
10 days earlier in Cincinnati.

He'll be the 1st inmate resentenced under provisions of a 2003 law
shifting responsibility for death penalty decisions from judges to juries.

In the case of condemned killers whose sentences are overturned on appeal,
that law requires a jury to be impaneled to reconsider the sentence.

No sentencing date has been set.

(source: Associated Press)




USA:

Death penalty uneven across USA


If Scott Peterson gets the death penalty, he becomes the highest-profile
killer facing execution in the USA since Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh.

A jury's deliberations over the former fertilizer salesman's fate, which
could begin later this week, spotlight America's ambivalence over capital
punishment at a time when the number of death sentences has dropped
sharply.

Dozens of mistakenly convicted death row prisoners have been freed in
recent years. 2 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court banned executions of the
mentally retarded. In Illinois, the outgoing governor in January 2003
cleared the nation's 8th biggest death row. In June, New York's highest
court threw out the state's death penalty law. Public approval of capital
punishment has slid from 80% in 1994 to 66% a decade later, according to
Gallup polls.

But the Peterson case underscores unevenness around the country in
applying the death penalty. At the extremes are California, where the pace
of death-sentence appeals and executions is extremely slow, and Texas,
which has put more than 3 times as many inmates to death as the next
closest state since the Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in
1976.

The 36 other states that sanction executions fall between.

While California's death row is the USA's biggest - 643 inmates - it's
modest in relation to the state's 35.5 million population. Of 11 states
with at least 100 condemned inmates, nine including Texas have more per
capita than California. Only one of the 11, Pennsylvania, has a lower
ratio of executions to population. Texas has the second highest ratio
after Oklahoma.

Inmates put to death since '76

The 38 states that have the death penalty vary widely in how often it is
used. Inmates executed since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death
penalty in 1976, and the number so far in 2004: State Total 2004

Texas 335 22

Va. 94 5

Okla. 75 6

Mo. 61 0

Fla. 59 2

Ga. 36 2

N.C. 34 4

S.C. 32 4

Ala. 30 2

La. 27 0

Ark. 26 1

Ariz. 22 0

Ohio 15 7

Del. 13 0

State Total 2004

Ill. 12 0

Ind. 11 0

Nev. 11 2

Calif. 10 0

Miss. 6 0

Utah 6 0

Md. 4 1

Wash. 4 0

Neb. 3 0

Pa. 3 0

Ky. 2 0

Mont. 2 0

Ore. 2 0

Colo. 1 0

State Total 2004

Idaho 1 0

N.M. 1 0

Tenn. 1 0

Wyo. 1 0

U.S.{+1} 3 0

1 - Federal executions.

No executions: Connecticut, Kansas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York
and South Dakota have the death penalty but have not executed anyone since
1976.

No death penalty: Capital punishment is banned by the District of Columbia
and 12 states: Alaska, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, North Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

[source: Death Penalty Information Center] But attitudes, more than
statistics, shape how states apply the death penalty, legal scholars say.

"The culture in California takes these cases more seriously," says Stephen
Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights, a death penalty
opponent. "There's not the same sort of rush to judgment as in Texas."

A comment by former governor Mark White epitomizes Texans' support for the
death penalty. He said of the "hardened criminals" whose death warrants he
signed: "I made sure they received the ultimate punishment - death - and
Texas is a safer place for it."

Many analysts think Peterson will get life without parole because he
doesn't fit the career-criminal profile typical of California death
sentences. But if he's sentenced to die for murdering his wife, Laci, and
their unborn son, he likely will spend much longer on death row than he
would in Texas.

It often takes four or five years for a condemned inmate just to get an
appeals lawyer in California. In Texas, the trial judge names one after
sentencing. Both states' highest courts hear two appeals. In California,
each takes several years, and inmates who lose the first appeal wait
another four or five years to get a lawyer for the second one. In Texas,
different lawyers usually handle the 2 appeals, but both go on at the same
time and are dispatched faster.

Federal appeals of death sentences don't start until state appeals are
exhausted. They habitually take longer in California because judges on the
9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reverse more death sentences
than 5th Circuit judges in New Orleans.

If Peterson goes to death row at San Quentin State Prison, he'll be among
killers who've been waiting out appeals for more than 20 years. A
California condemned inmate's average time on death row is only slightly
above the national average of 9.6 years, according to the Justice
Department. But that's based on a number of executions and commuted
sentences that's small compared with the hundreds of condemned inmates
still in the system.

The average in Texas is 7.8 years. "It's not that rapid, but they do move
them along," says Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty
Information Center in Washington, D.C., a clearinghouse for capital
punishment data. "They take awhile to affirm cases, but they do get
affirmed and then the execution occurs."

A death row inmate's biggest handicap in Texas is poor lawyers, often
beginning at trial, some legal scholars say. "When a defense lawyer
doesn't make a single objection during the entire trial, there's not much
for the appeals court to review," Bright says. At least four Texas inmates
have been executed after lawyers failed to file federal appeals in time,
he says.

Unlike many states, Texas has no public defenders for capital appeals. In
California, 50 public defenders and two state-funded lawyer groups take
capital cases or assist court-appointed private lawyers.

The right to appeals is universal, but the right to a lawyer is not.
"There's about five guys in Georgia representing themselves," says Robin
Maher, director of the American Bar Association's death penalty project.
The ABA is neutral on capital punishment.

Texas' condemned inmates gained the right to appeals lawyers in 1995, and
only then because "some of the larger counties realized it would be faster
to kill people if you gave them a lawyer," says Jim Marcus, executive
director of the non-profit Texas Defender Service.

In California, an appointed private lawyer with at least 4 years
experience who handles both state appeals earns about $240,000, spread
over about a decade, says Michael Millman, executive director of the
California Appellate Project, whose 18 state lawyers assist private
lawyers.

Appointed Texas lawyers, often inexperienced, make about $25,000 per
appeal, Marcus says. His group reported in 2002 that 39% of lawyers
handling one category of appeals offered no new evidence on their
defendant's behalf.

"They're the functional equivalent of a blank piece of paper," he says.
"We have the appearance of post-conviction review without any real
review."

In the decade after California restored the death penalty in 1976, the
state Supreme Court reversed more than 90% of death sentences. But in
1986, voters booted Chief Justice Rose Bird and 2 other liberal justices
off the bench, and their replacements swung the court around. Now
reversals are rare.

(source: USA Today)


CALIFORNIA:

State High Court Upholds Death Sentence in Bay Area Murders


A Vietnam veteran who told the sentencing judge he wanted to die for 3
murders came a step closer to getting his wish yesterday as the California
Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the death sentence imposed by a Contra
Costa Superior Court judge.

William James Ramos may have had a "death wish," Justice Ming Chin wrote
for the high court. But he was competent to plead guilty, admit the
multiple-murder special circumstance, and proceed directly to a capital
sentencing trial, the justice concluded.

A jury found that Ramos should die for the murders of his girlfriend and
the sister and daughter of his ex-girlfriend, all of whom where shot to
death over a 2-day period in March 1991.

Prosecutions Case

At the penalty trial, prosecutors presented evidence of all 3 murders, of
three prior felonies for which Ramos had been convicted-the attempted
murder of a woman who dealt cards in a Reno casino after she broke up with
him in 1976, a 1979 armed battery in the Reno area, and felony drunk
driving in Sacramento in 1990-and of 3 uncharged episodes of criminal
violence.

The last incident occurred while he was in jail awaiting trial for the
murders. Ramos allegedly attacked one of his jailers, breaking his thumb,
and later threatened to kill him.

After that episode, jail officials decided he was too dangerous to house,
and he was transferred to San Quentin until the start of his trial.

Paranoid Disorder

A psychiatrist testified that Ramos suffered from a paranoid personality
disorder, due to factors including an abusive childhoodhis aunt testified
that his mother beat him and his brother, and later committed suicideand
his wartime experiences. But the doctor also testified that he knew what
he was doing.

Ramos was on probation at the time of the murders, a result of the drunk
driving case, and police found his girlfriends body and other physical
evidence of the murders in a warrantless search of his home. Before he
pled guilty, Judge James Marchiano-since elevated to the First District
Court of Appeal-denied his motion to suppress, ruling that there was a
legitimate probation search.

Chin, writing for the high court, agreed.

The facts known to the police when they undertook the probation search
provide ample support for the intrusion on defendants privacy, the justice
wrote. He cited evidence that Mary Cagle, the defendants former wife,
arrived at the scene shortly after her daughter was shot and saw Ramos
driving away; that Ramos was bitter over the couples divorce; and that
Ramos had called Cagle after her daughter was killed and left a message on
her machine admitting he had killed her sister.

Defendant Held Competent

Chin said there was no need for Marchiano to hold a competency hearing,
either before or after accepting the guilty plea. A defendants willingness
to plead guilty to a capital charge does not, in and of itself, raise a
doubt as to his ability to assist counsel in his defense, the justice
wrote, and there was no other evidence to suggest a lack of competency as
a matter of law.

The justice rejected the argument that Marchiano erred in relying on his
own observations of the defendants demeanor in determining he was
competent. While it would have been error to base a competency finding and
such observation alone, Chin explained, a trial judge may consider the
behavior exhibited by the defendant in the courtroom along with other
available evidence in making a determination.

Chin also rejected the claim that the defendants rights were violated when
the trial judge, balancing the defendants right to a fair trial against
the privilege granted to journalists under the Shield Law, limited the
defense cross-examination of a reporter for the Antioch Daily Ledger Post
Dispatch.

The reporter, William Hutchinson, was subpoenaed by prosecutors to testify
about an article based on a jailhouse interview. Hutchinson quoted the
defendant as saying he expected to get the death penalty, that there was
"a lot of evidence - against him, that he - weighed all that [the evidence
and the possibility of capital punishment] before I did anything," and
that "if you push my button, then whatever happens, happens."

A motion to quash the subpoena was denied after prosecutors assured the
judge they would only question the reporter about matters outside the
scope of the privilege, which protects anonymous sources and unpublished
material. Hutchinson then testified that he did not independently recall
the interview, but that he believed at the time of publication that
everything in the article was accurate.

Marchiano ruled the defense could question Hutchinson about the defendants
demeanor, mental status, and the manner in which the defendant answered
questions, but could not compel him to produce his notes.

Chin said the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in handling the
matter that way. The defendant, Chin wrote, made no showing that
Marchianos ruling in any way "negatively influenced his ability to present
a defense or receive assistance from counsel, or in any way changed his
defense or the context of Hutchinsons testimony."

The case is People v. Ramos, 04 S.O.S. 6115.

**************************

Laci Peterson's Mother Takes the Stand


Laci Peterson's mother took the stand Tuesday in the penalty phase of
Scott Peterson's murder trial, rising out of her seat and screaming at her
former son-in-law: "She wanted to be a mother. That was taken away from
her."

Her voice cracking, Sharon Rocha spoke directly to Peterson, who was
convicted Nov. 12 of murdering his wife and the eight-month-old fetus she
was carrying.

"Divorce was always an option - not murder," Rocha said in an outburst
that was loud enough to make several jurors jump.

Peterson watched her and had no visible reaction.

Rocha, wearing a gold heart-shaped pendent with a picture of her daughter
in it, testified on the opening day of the penalty phase.

Jurors will consider whether the 32-year-old former fertilizer salesman
should be executed or get life in prison without parole for the 2002
murders.

Scott Peterson's attorneys were scheduled to make their opening statements
after the prosecution concludes calling witnesses.

As Rocha spoke, prosecutors displayed photographs of Laci Peterson,
including one from Mother's Day 2002. Taken a week after Laci's 27th
birthday, her last, the picture showed three generations of women - Laci,
her mother and her grandmother.

Mother's Day, Sharon Rocha said, would never be the same.

"The first Mother's Day (after her death) I laid on the floor and I cried
most of the day because she should have been there," she said.

Earlier, prosecutors said Scott Peterson's actions left the family with "a
hole in their hearts that can never be repaired."

"When the defendant dumped the bodies of his wife and unborn son into the
bay, those ripples spread out and they touched many, many lives,"
prosecutor Dave Harris said.

"Based on what you're going to hear on the circumstances of this crime,
the only appropriate and just punishment is death," Harris said.

Prosecutors had argued at trial that Peterson strangled or smothered his
wife in their Modesto home on or around Christmas Eve 2002, then dumped
her body into San Francisco Bay. The remains were discovered 4 months
later a few miles from where Scott Peterson claims to have been fishing
the day his wife vanished.

"I miss her very much. I try to remember the good memories we have of each
other, but they're overshadowed all the time by how she died ... and maybe
her knowing who did it," said Laci Peterson's older brother, Brent Rocha.

"I don't think I've ever heard her be more excited than the day she called
me up to tell me she was pregnant," he said. "She was going to be a great
mother."

Earlier Tuesday, the proceedings were delayed briefly as attorneys for
both sides met with the judge behind closed doors to talk about a
bartender's claim that he overheard a juror discussing the case in his
bar, a defense source told The Associated Press.

Judge Alfred A. Delucchi did not excuse any jurors before the panel was
called into court for the start of the penalty phase.

Courthouse administrator Peggy Thompson said the matter had been resolved.
She declined to discuss the details, citing the judge's gag order.

(source: Washington Post)






ARKANSAS:

Death penalty in Miles case is possible


The woman accused of kidnapping and murdering a 7-year old Gilmore girl
could be facing the death penalty as she is scheduled to appear today in
Crittenden County Circuit Court on the capital murder charge.

Jo Ann Buchanan, 37, who has always been the number one suspect in the
case according to investigators, was charged with the Patricia Ann Miles'
disappearance the day after she was reported missing.

Investigator Thomas Martin with the Crittenden County Sheriff's Department
said in a press conference Friday that while the decision is up to the
prosecutors, he expects that they will go for the death penalty. He also
said he believes investigators have a very solid case against Buchanan.

"We have three eye witnesses, one being her family member, who say that
the child was last seen with her. Witnesses also put her in her in the
vehicle where the child's bicycle and shoes were found," said Martin.

Another key to the case is fiber evidence, which has been recently
returned to investigators from the Arkansas State Crime Lab. Details of
those reports will not be available until after they are filed in court
today, however, Martin says that the evidence is a big key to the case.

Though investigators have substantial evidence against Buchanan, she is
not cooperating with them.

"Since she 'lawyered up' she hasn't requested to speak to us, and we
haven't interviewed her because she did ask for her attorney to be
present," said Martin.

According to Martin, Miles' family is "upbeat, considering" that it is the
first holiday season without her.

Martin also said that he remains in constant contact with Patricia's
mother, also named Patricia Miles.

"I spoke to the biological mother and I know that there has been some
confusion with that... she is adopted, but I want to tell ya'll that she
has never lived with her adoptive parents, never," said Martin.

"Her adoptive father is disabled, so you know, you can do a little bit of
thinking and you can find out what that's all about. I talk to the mother
on a regular basis, but I refuse to talk to the adoptive parents."

With most of the police work done in the case, Martin expects that the
hard part of the case is over.

"The hard part is done with now. We just have to wait and see what happens
in court," said Martin.

"Since August 15, I have worked on this case every day. You take it home
with you, you take it out on your family and everything else."

The nature of the crime has been extremely hard for the investigators
working on the case. Evidence suggests that the girl willingly walked to
the spot where she was bound with the duct tape that killed her.

"I have nightmares about it. You will never know what is like, I don't
care how many cases you work or how many homicides you've worked. Until
you see a 7-year old girl lying in a field bound with duct tape, you will
never know how it feels," said Martin.

(source: Evening Times)