[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----TEXAS

[Rick Halperin]

July 24



TEXAS----impending execution

Group protests death penalty


Members of an anti-death penalty group plan to picket outside the home of
Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal on Tuesday.

Its scheduled to begin one hour after Johnson is executed at 6 p.m.

If his death penalty is carried out Johnson will be Harris County's 100th
execution since the death penalty was reinstated in Texas in 1982.

(source: KHOU News)

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

Tomball Teens' Killer Set To Die


Laura McCaffrey had warned her teenage son about giving strangers a ride.
Chris Schulz cautioned her son about the dangers of being out late at
night.

"You know how kids are," McCaffrey says. "When you're that age, you don't
fear anything."

So when 17-year-old Leroy "Punkin" McCaffrey Jr., and his friend, Sean
Fulk Schulz, 16, were approached about 2 a.m. by a man at a Tomball
convenience store who said he needed a lift because his car had run out of
gas, there wasn't much hesitation to let him jump into Schulz's small
Chevy pickup truck.

The decision cost them their lives.

"He was the kind of person that would help," Schulz's mom said. "He knew
we helped people and if someone did approach him like that, I could see
him saying: 'Yeah, I'll help you.' He wouldn't think a thing about it, and
Punkin was the same way."

Now 17 years after the pair was found fatally shot near a deserted road in
west Harris County, the man convicted of killing them and stealing their
truck is set to die Tuesday evening in Huntsville.

Lonnie Earl Johnson, 44, would be the 19th inmate executed this year in
Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state.

"It is something that needs to be done," Schulz said. "He deserves his
punishment. He deserved it a long time ago. He's lived longer since then,
longer than what my son lived in his short life."

Lawyers were in the courts to try to block the lethal injection, arguing
the slayings were in self-defense after the 2 teens, who were white,
threatened Johnson, a black man, with racial epithets and that Harris
County prosecutors withheld evidence favorable to him.

"The state acted in a pattern of prosecutorial misconduct that concealed
Mr. Johnson's legitimate claim of self-defense and resulted in his
wrongful death sentence," Johnson's attorney, Jodi Callaway Cole, said in
her appeal.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday denied a request to stop the
punishment and rejected Johnson's petition. Cole took the appeal Monday to
federal courts.

Harris County prosecutors, who denied any improprieties with evidence,
have contended Johnson's allegations of racial slurs never surfaced at his
trial.

"I'm not saying I didn't take part in this," Johnson said last week from
death row. "But if you're put in a situation where two guys are attacking
you, what are you going to do? It's like self-preservation."

McCaffrey, given his nickname as an infant and known to his friends as
"Punk," and Schulz, known by friends and relatives as "Bubba," attended
Magnolia High School in Montgomery County. The night of Aug. 15, 1990,
McCaffrey met his friend getting off work as a grocery store stocker and
the pair stopped at a convenience store to see a girl they knew. It was
there, according to witnesses, they ran into Johnson, then 27.

Witnesses said he was looking for help with his disabled car. Johnson, who
said he ran track while attending Grambling University and was training
for a tryout with the pro football Houston Oilers, said he was out
jogging, the teens offered him a ride home and he accepted.

"I was tired and fatigued," he said, explaining why he accompanied them.
"I had no reason to suspect that they had some diabolical scheme up their
sleeves."

Johnson said the pair pulled a gun on him and, fearing for his life, he
wrestled with them to grab the weapon. They were shot in the tussle, he
said.

Just after dawn, the bodies of the teens were spotted by a motorist about
4 miles from the convenience store. It appeared McCaffrey, about 100 yards
from his friend and entangled in a fence, had tried to flee.

Johnson drove the truck to Austin to see his girlfriend, then abandoned it
later in San Marcos. He acknowledged the gun used in the shooting was sold
in exchange for drugs. Authorities said the story about a disabled car was
a ruse.

2 weeks after the bodies were found, Johnson was arrested in Austin
outside a topless club where his girlfriend worked as a dancer. The woman
told authorities he'd bragged about killing 2 boys.

Johnson had no previous prison record but evidence at trial indicated a
history of aggressive behavior, primarily fights with women. He also got
into numerous fights with other inmates at the Harris County Jail while
awaiting trial. Johnson said the jail brawls were the results of his
efforts to keep him from being preyed upon by other inmates.

The next condemned Texas inmate scheduled to die is Kenneth Parr,
convicted of the January 1998 rape-slaying of Linda Malek, 28, at her
Matagorda County home. The Aug. 15 punishment is 1 of 5 lethal injections
set for the month in Huntsville.

(source: click2Houson)

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

Condemned killer who claims self-defense scheduled to die Tuesday


Chris Schulz bristles at accusations her son and his friend were
responsible for their own deaths because of a racial attack that left a
black man facing execution Tuesday evening.

"That's disgusting," Schulz said of contentions from condemned Texas
prisoner Lonnie Earl Johnson, who was claiming self-defense for the 1990
fatal shootings of Schulz's son, Sean, 16, and his buddy, Leroy "Punkin"
McCaffrey Jr., 17.

"The victims, they're being victimized in their graves with stories like
that," Schulz said. "That was one of the least believable stories I've
heard, knowing my son. He was such a non-racist person, such a gentle
person. He would just help anybody, and that's what this is all about."

Johnson, 44, argued the two white teens offered him a ride home from a
convenience store in Tomball in Harris County and he accepted. But when
they got about four miles away, Johnson said they pulled a gun and a knife
on him and taunted him with racial slurs.

"You do what you have to do," he said last week from death row, explaining
how he struggled with the teens for the gun, then shot them. "If I could
have run, I'd have done that."

The bodies of McCaffrey and Schulz, known to his family and friends as
"Bubba," were spotted the next morning by a motorist. Johnson acknowledged
taking their pickup truck and driving to Austin to see his girlfriend.

"That's another thing I regret," he said. "But when things like this are
going on, you're not going to think clearly. I was not thinking clearly."

He was arrested about 2 weeks later in Austin, where his girlfriend worked
in a topless club.

Johnson would be the 19th inmate executed this year in Texas, the nation's
busiest capital punishment state.

Johnson's lawyer, Jodi Callaway Cole, argued in appeals to the federal
courts to stop the execution that Harris County prosecutors withheld
evidence favorable to him and relied on perjured testimony that convinced
a jury to convict him of capital murder and decide he should be put to
death.

Harris County prosecutors denied any improprieties with evidence and said
Johnson's allegations of racial slurs never surfaced at his trial.

McCaffrey and Schultz attended Magnolia High School in Montgomery County.
The night of Aug. 15, 1990, McCaffrey met his friend getting off work as a
grocery store stocker and the pair stopped at the convenience store to see
a girl they knew. It was there, according to witnesses, they ran into
Johnson, then 27.

Witnesses said he was looking for help with his disabled car. Johnson, who
said he ran track while attending Grambling University and was training
for a tryout with the pro football Houston Oilers, said he was out jogging
when the teens offered him a ride home.

"I had no reason to suspect that they had some diabolical scheme up their
sleeves," he said.

"In no way were they racists," responded Laura McCaffrey, who lost her son
in the gunfire. "They were friends with anybody."

Both she and Chris Schulz planned to witness Johnson's punishment.

"It's not something that's pleasant," McCaffrey said. "I don't think
anybody would be looking forward to something like that. But he has to
pay."

Johnson had no previous prison record but evidence at trial indicated a
history of aggressive behavior, primarily fights with women. He also got
into numerous fights with other inmates at the Harris County Jail while
awaiting trial. Johnson said the jail brawls were the results of his
efforts to keep him from being preyed upon by other inmates.

The next condemned Texas inmate scheduled to die is Kenneth Parr,
convicted of the January 1998 rape-slaying of Linda Malek, 28, at her
Matagorda County home. The Aug. 15 punishment is 1 of 5 lethal injections
set for the month in Huntsville.

On the Net: Texas Department of Criminal Justice execution schedule,
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/scheduledexecutions.htm

(source : Associated Press)

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

"Law of Parties"


Last week, I wrote about the impending execution of Troy Anthony Davis,
after receiving a 90-day stay of execution last Tuesday, he continues to
sit on Georgia death row, awaiting his fate.

Today, I heard about the case of Kenneth Foster, Jr., a Texas death row
inmate scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on August 30, 2007.

Are you familiar with the name Kenneth Foster, Jr.? Have you heard mention
of his case, or impending death, in mainstream media? Have you heard of
the "Law of Parties"?

Now, does the name of pro-athlete Michael Vick ring a bell? It should. His
name and the horrific images splayed across our television screens over
the past week, have brought to light the barbaric and callous "sport" of
illegal dog fighting. The onslaught of media coverage has induced
widespread public outrage, and rightfully so, over the sadistic
extermination of poor-performing pitbulls, savagely put to death by
various methods, including hanging and electrocution.

So, where does Kenneth Foster, Jr., fit in? Beside the fact that most
people have never heard of him, he will die next month for the crime of
murder even though he never touched the murder weapon.

The state of Texas acknowledges this. He killed no one. He knew nothing of
the impending crime about to unfold around him. Yet, he was convicted of
murder and sentenced to death under a little known statute. What makes the
law possible - to kill a man who never committed the crime of murder - is
called the Law of Parties.

A number of U.S. states have laws that allow prosecuting attorneys to hold
anyone present at the scene of a crime legally responsible for the
outcome. Not surprisingly, Texas, who boasts the highest number of
executions than any other state, is the ONLY state that applies this
statute in capital cases, making it the only U.S. locale where an
individual can be factually innocent of murder and still face the death
penalty.

So far this year, Texas has executed 18 inmates, and has the dubious honor
of being referred to as the "Busiest Killing State." Print that on your
license plates - The Sunshine State, The Golden State, The Busiest Killing
State.

Kenneth Foster Jr. has served 10 years on Texas' death row for being the
getaway driver following a slaying. On August 14, 1996, in San Antonio,
Texas, Michael LaHood Jr., was shot and killed on the street by another
occupant in the car in which Foster was riding. The convicted killer,
Mauriceo Brown, left the vehicle, and after an altercation with LaHood,
shot and killed him.

According to Foster and the 2 other occupants of the car at the time of
the shooting, Foster had no knowledge of the impending crime. Mauriceo
Brown has since been executed.

By definition, the Law of Parties can subject a person to death even
though he did not kill, intend to kill, help or encourage anyone to do so.

The public outcry over the brutal murders of "non-productive" pitbulls by
hanging and electrocution has landed NFL athlete Michael Vick in hot water
over his ruthless and sadistic treatment of defenseless living things. The
majority of human beings cannot stomach nor tolerate such blatant and
senseless brutality. It has no place in a civil society.

However, some of us can come to terms with the hanging, electrocution or
lethal injection of a fellow human being - with little fanfare, media
coverage, or public outrage.

Breakdown of U.S. methods of execution: Lethal Injection, authorized in 37
states. Electrocution, 10 states (sole method used in Nebraska). Gas
Chamber, 5 states. Hanging, only in New Hampshire and Washington (lethal
injection as alternative). Firing Squad, only in Idaho and Oklahoma.
(source: DPIC, Death Penalty Information Center).

For Kenneth Foster, Jr., and Troy Anthony Davis, both black men on death
row, their days may be numbered.

According to DPIC and their statistics on Race and the Death Penalty:

Persons Executed for Interracial Murders in the U.S. since 1976;

White Defendant/Black Victim 15

Black Defendant/White Victim 217

Current U.S. Death Row Population by Race:

Black 1,397 or 41.7% White 1,517 or 45.3%

According to Wikipedia, U.S. population statistics as of 2005:

White American 74.7% or 215.3 million; Black American 12.1% or 34.9
million.

What do Troy Anthony Davis, Kenneth Foster, Jr., Genarlow Wilson, the Jena
6, and defenseless pitbulls have in common? They're all expendable. But,
most of us will never hear of or concern ourselves with the unjust
sentences and outcomes of these young black men.

The dogs, however, have been guanteed primetime and continued outrage for
their sickening hangings and electrocutions.

All God's Creatures Great and Small. But not Black.

(source: OpEd News; A native Californian, Jan Baumgartner is a freelance
writer currently living in Maine. Her background includes scriptwriting,
comedy writing for the Northern California Emmy Awards, and travel writing
for The New York Times. She has worked as a grant writer for the
non-profit sector in the fields of academia, AIDS, and wildlife
conservation and research for NGO's in the U.S. and Kenya. Her articles
and essays have appeared in numerous online and print publications)

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

Amnesty International Calls for Letters to Houston


"There are currently 126 Harris County offenders under sentence of death
in Texas. Only 6 states apart from Texas currently have more prisoners on
death row - Alabama, California, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and
Pennsylvania. Between them, those 6 states account for 23 times the
population of Harris County, and see thousands more murders take place in
them each year than occur in Harris County. Together, these 6 states have
executed 185 inmates in the past 3 decades, only twice the number of
Harris County offenders who have been put to death.

"In Texas itself, Harris County is ahead of other local jurisdictions in
ensuring a steady flow of individuals for the state's lethal injection
team to kill. The number of Harris County offenders executed or remaining
on death row - 225 - is only equalled by grouping together the next 7
largest Texas counties of Bexar, Dallas, Tarrant, Travis, El Paso, Hidalgo
and Collin - counties whose jurisdictions include the cities of Austin,
Dallas, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio and whose combined populations
account for nearly 5 million more inhabitants than Harris County and
around a hundred more murders each year.

For the complete report and suggestions for a letter writing campaign to
the Harris County District Attorney, see Amnesty International: One
county, 100 executions: Harris County and Texas - A lethal combination.

(source: Texas Civil Rights Review)

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

People favor death penalty


Editor:

Armand Mathew's letter printed June 26 calls for the abolition of the
death penalty, stating, "Most of the rest of the world views (the death
penalty) as barbaric and uncivilized and rejects it."

This is untrue.

Many countries and governments are against the death penalty, but the
majority of the world's population supports the death penalty. For
example, countries wishing to belong to the European Union must abolish
the death penalty - not because they wish to, but because it is required.

Recent polling (December 2006) found support for the execution of Saddam
Hussein as follows: Great Britain: 69 %, France: 58 %, Germany: 53 %,
Spain: 51 %, Italy: 46 %. Polls from Eastern Europe are, generally, even
much more supportive of the death penalty.

Why would we admire those governments for abandoning a just sanction,
particularly when that stance is undemocratic in their own nation? The
same poll found U.S. support at 82 %.

It is not the death penalty that tarnishes society, but the murderers that
are justly sanctioned with it.

Dudley Sharp ---- Justice Matters

Houston

(source: Letter to the editor, Brownsville Herald)

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

Reports detail abuse at Texas facilities----Records show mentally retarded
were pushed, hit, kicked by staffers


Abuse, neglect and humiliation are a stark reality for hundreds of
mentally retarded children and adults living in Texas' state schools,
employee disciplinary records show.

With disturbing regularity, employees pushed, hit, kicked, knocked down
and dragged residents. One of the worst cases occurred in December 2005,
when a caretaker at Brenham State School hit or kicked a resident hard
enough to cause three cracked ribs and a lacerated liver.

Workers also frequently neglected their frail charges, in some cases
allowing them to eat cigarette butts, scald themselves or be sexually
abused by other residents.

The Houston Chronicle reviewed hundreds of pages of documents showing how
employees were disciplined for abuse and neglect at nine different
facilities. The Texas Attorney General ordered the records released under
the state public information laws.

The records show instances in which abusive employees were allowed to
remain on the job, working with the same vulnerable population.

An aide at Lufkin State School who struck a resident on the head with a
plastic cup, causing a 1-inch cut, was reassigned so he would not have
contact with that resident.

Employees who slapped, twisted arms and knocked residents to the floor
were routinely given short suspensions.

Jeff Garrison-Tate, an advocate for the disabled who regularly visits the
state schools, said he is "floored" to hear that some workers who abuse
residents are allowed to keep their jobs.

"That person should be terminated without question," he said. "If (the
Department of Aging and Disability Services) is supporting that type of
decisions, that's grossly inappropriate."

The records show that problems already surfaced at Lubbock State School,
which is the subject of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. Department of
Justice's civil rights division. A report on that facility, delivered to
the governor's office in December, was sharply critical of inadequate
staffing, poor sanitation and treatment practices.

About 4,900 adults and children live in 13 residential facilities in
Texas. All of the residents have been diagnosed with mental retardation
and some also suffer from mental illness and physical disabilities.

Officials with the Department of Aging and Disability Services say outside
state investigators confirmed nearly 300 cases of abuse and neglect during
each of the past 2 fiscal years. But they maintain that the majority of
direct care workers do a good job.

"Most of the people who work in these state schools are there because they
truly enjoy serving the population that we serve, and they are dedicated
to a good life for the residents who live in our state schools," said
Cecilia Fedorov, a spokeswoman for the department. "In any direct care
environment, whether it's a hospital, a nursing home, a state school,
you're going to have people who just take advantage of more vulnerable
people."

3,200 cases investigated

Reports of abuse and neglect are investigated by a different state agency,
the Department of Family and Protective Services. About 3,200 allegations
are investigated each year, and allegations are confirmed in about 9
percent of cases.

Although the names of the residents were redacted for privacy reasons, the
records put human faces on the mistreatment.

In 2003, an employee with a documented history of abuse at the Abilene
State School who verbally abused a resident, repeatedly yelling expletives
at him and calling him "lazy," was merely demoted. The verbal abuse seemed
to have an impact on the resident, who was overheard saying that the
employee was "mad at me and now my life is over."

At the Richmond State School, an aide in January 2001 fed or allowed hot
jalapeo peppers to be eaten by several female residents, and then laughed
at their reactions while refusing them water.

A resident at Lufkin State School ate a gauze pad and a length of tape
while unattended in June 2003.

Sexual activity occurred at several facilities after employees who were
supposed to be keeping watch fell asleep.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Perry, meanwhile, decried the abuses but
defended the agency's handling of them.

"There's no excuse for the reports but these events have been dealt with
swiftly and decisively," said spokeswoman Krista Moody. "The governor
believes Commissioner (Addie) Horn has taken proactive action."

Horn told lawmakers earlier this year she is boosting training for
employees. The Legislature responded to problems by appropriating an
additional $50 million to hire more than 1,600 employees and move some
residents into community group homes.

It was unclear from the records whether the abuse or neglect had caused
any deaths.

Records were not available from Mexia State School, where a 15-year-old
boy died in January after being improperly restrained by three employees,
who were fired.

The Justice Department report said a number of the 17 deaths that occurred
at the Lubbock State School between June 2005 and December 2006 raised
concerns about quality of care. Lubbock records were not provided because
of the ongoing investigation and possibility of federal litigation.

Disparity found

The records show a wide disparity in the treatment of employees who were
found to have engaged in abuse or neglect.

Employees whose abuse was found to have caused serious bodily injury were
fired, as is required by law. But punishment for nonserious injuries,
verbal abuse and neglect varied widely among the facilities because state
law provides a range of punishment from dismissal to a written reprimand.

In the summer of 2004, two employees at the San Angelo State School were
fired for throwing a resident who was wearing a restraining jacket into a
swimming pool. The resident sank to the bottom when the life vest, which
had been placed over the restraining jacket, came undone. 2 fellow
residents managed to pull the victim safely to the side of the pool.

4 years earlier at the same school, an employee was suspended for hitting
a resident on his helmet and in the face and kicking him in the legs.

The assault took place a few days before Christmas and, according to
fellow staff, the resident, though he couldn't talk, had been expressing
eagerness at the prospect of going home for a holiday visit.

The employee told the resident he didn't deserve to go home and if he did
go home, it would only be for a day. A fellow staff member reported that
the resident "became very angry and started throwing punches in the air
and making angry faces." That's when the employee assaulted the resident.

PUNISHMENTS

Records from 9 state schools show how employees were punished for abuse
and neglect. Some examples:

 Fired: Allowing residents on a field trip to go for an unauthorized swim
and encouraging them to engage in lewd behavior; failing to prevent
resident from eating paper; sleeping while 1 resident sexually abused
another; hitting resident on top of head with clipboard.

 Suspended without pay for 1 to 10 days: Encouraging fights between
residents; delaying treatment for a resident's broken leg by failing to
report a fall; allowing resident to pull off eye bandages following
cataract surgery; forcing resident to drink several glasses of water.

 Written reprimand: Leaving resident unattended at high school football
game; feeding fried catfish to resident at risk of aspirating; improperly
transferring residents to wheelchairs; telling resident to "shut up"

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

Husband shocked by wife's tale of killings


4 KILLED

 July 18, 2003: 4 people  Rachael Koloroutis, Tiffany Nichole Rowell,
Marcus Ray Precella and Adelbert Nicholas Sanchez  are shot to death in a
Clear Lake-area home.

 July 19, 2006: Police arrest and charge Christine Paolilla in connection
with the deaths.

 July 21, 2006: Houston police announce that Christopher Lee Snider,
Paolilla's former boyfriend, also is charged.

 Aug. 5, 2006: Snider's body is found in Greenville, S.C. His death is
ruled a suicide.

After 4 young people were shot in a Clear Lake-area home, one of the
suspects returned to make sure all were dead, her husband told the Houston
Chronicle.

Justin Rott, the husband of Christine Paolilla, who is accused of capital
murder in the July 18, 2003, case, said Paolilla returned shortly after
the shooting and found that 1 victim was still alive.

But not for long.

Paolilla used the same gun that was fired inside the house to beat her
Clear Lake High School classmate, Rachael Koloroutis, to death, Rott said.

Rott, who was not married to Paolilla at the time of the killings, shared
with the Chronicle previously unpublicized details of what he said his
wife told him happened that day. Police said he recounted the same details
to them last summer.

Among them was that within an hour of the shootings, Paolilla reported to
work as a cashier at a Walgreens.

Rott stands to serve as a key prosecution witness at Paolilla's trial,
scheduled for Jan. 8.

If convicted of capital murder, she automatically would receive a life
sentence, because a U.S. Supreme Court ruling forbids capital punishment
for those 17 and under at the time of the crime. Paolilla, who is 21, was
17 when the killings took place.

"The story that Justin tells is consistent with the physical evidence we
have collected," said Houston police Sgt. Brian Harris, a detective
assigned to the case.

Paolilla's attorney Mike DeGeurin did not return repeated phone calls for
comment and to request a jailhouse interview with Paolilla, who has blamed
the killings on her ex-boyfriend. DeGeurin has referred to his client as
being "young, frightened and worried." Another of Paolilla's attorneys,
Paul Nugent, could not be reached.

Paolilla's parents also did not respond to a request for an interview.

Part of 12-step program

Rott, 27, is living with friends and attending recovery meetings. He
remains married to Paolilla, although he plans to divorce her.

As part of his 12-step recovery program, Rott said, he had to do what was
right. That meant sharing what he knew about the quadruple slayings. His
wife's tale, he said, has given him nightmares.

Rott didn't know Paolilla, and he wasn't living in the Houston area, when
the killings occurred.

Hours after Paolilla and her boyfriend at the time, Christopher Lee
Snider, 21, left the home in the 3700 block of Millbridge in the Brook
Forest subdivision, friends arrived and found the bodies, according to
police.

Dead were Koloroutis and her best friend, Tiffany Nichole Rowell, both 18;
Rowell's boyfriend, Marcus Ray Precella, 19; and Precella's cousin,
Adelbert Nicholas Sanchez, 21. All but Sanchez had attended Clear Lake
High with Paolilla.

Paolilla and Rott were married in March 2005. Rott said he does not recall
the exact date his wife shared the details of the slayings, but that it
was while the 2 lived in a San Antonio hotel room between the fall of 2005
and the spring of 2006.

"When she mentioned it to me, it was so overwhelming. I couldn't believe
she was the person I married," Rott said, chain-smoking and drinking water
during a lengthy interview.

"I didn't understand it. It was so much of a shock, and I was in denial."

Based on a Crime Stoppers tip last summer, police identified Paolilla and
Snider as the perpetrators. Snider killed himself in Greenville, S.C.,
where he had been living with a girlfriend.

Paolilla was arrested in San Antonio on July 19, 2006, and remains in the
Harris County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.

Killing wasn't on minds

On the afternoon of July 18, 2003, Paolilla and Snider drove to the Rowell
home, Rott said. Instead of parking in the driveway or in front of the
1-story home, they parked at the end of the street. Both were armed,
according to Rott.

They knocked on the door and were let in because Paolilla knew the 4
occupants.

"Their intention ... that day was not for anyone to be murdered," Rott
said. "Their intentions that day were to hang out and do drugs."

Once inside, Rott said, Paolilla went to another part of the house with
Koloroutis while the rest sat in the living room. When the 2 girls
returned, Snider was holding a gun on Precella, Sanchez and Rowell, who
were sitting on a couch, according to what Rott says his wife told him.

"Christine doesn't know what transpired to lead Christopher to draw the
gun. They were all friends. They all knew each other," he said.

"The four were pleading for their lives," Rott said. "They were saying,
'Take whatever you want, just go.' At no time did they try to defend
themselves in a physical or verbal manner."

Paolilla pulled a gun from her purse. Rott said Snider gave her the weapon
before they entered the house.

Snider fired the first shot. "Once things got going, it went from bad to
worse," Rott said. He said Snider killed Precella and Sanchez, and
Paolilla shot the 2 girls.

In a matter of minutes, the shootings were over. Snider and Paolilla left
the home with a bag of drugs and calmly walked back to Paolilla's car,
Rott said.

"When they left the house, they were not all dead," Rott said his wife
told him. "Rachael Koloroutis was still alive. When they left, they knew 3
were dead. Christine mentioned it to Chris that they needed to go back and
they needed to make sure everyone was dead."

Cell phone call too late

Paolilla returned to the home.

"Rachael was on the floor choking on her own blood. She was dying. That's
what bothers me the most. Christine saw Rachael like that and she beat
Rachael to death," Rott said. "Christine cried while doing it. I don't
know if she felt she had to do it. She beat her friend to death. My own
wife."

Before Paolilla returned, Koloroutis had tried to call 911 on her cell
phone at 3:12 p.m., said Harris, the detective. He said the killings ended
by 3:25 p.m. Shortly before 4 p.m., Paolilla clocked in at her job, police
said.

Rott's account of what his wife told him differs from what she told
police.

Paolilla blames the shootings on Snider. She said that while in the home,
Snider "just started shooting." Paolilla also said that while she was
holding the gun that Snider had given her, he put his hands on hers "and
the gun just started going off multiple times."

When Paolilla was arrested at a San Antonio hotel, Rott was with her.
Inside their hotel room, police found about 70 vials of heroin and
needles.

Rott said he and his wife were spending about $10,000 on drugs. The money
being used was part of an inheritance Paolilla received after her father
died in a construction accident when she was 4, Rott said.

Rott was arrested at the hotel for failure to appear in a Bexar County
court on a theft charge.

Paolilla and Rott have not been charged with possessing the heroin. Harris
said police have not made any deals with Rott, who remains on probation,
to forgo the drug charge if he will testify against Paolilla.

(source for both: Houston Chronicle)

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

Judge: Man accused of helping kill Del Palacio 'not competent '


The man accused of helping kill civic leader Gary del Palacio will not
stand trial, at least for now.

Monday afternoon, Judge Sam Paxon ruled Jesus Soltero is incompetent to
stand trial at this time. Judge Paxon ordered Soltero be sent to the
maximum secure state mental facility in Vernon, Texas, for no more than 4
months.

According to a complaint affidavit filed after Del Palacio's death in
March of 2005, Soltero "actively participated in the kidnapping of the
victim from the Montana Hide Away nightclub." After the kidnapping, Del
Palacio was robbed and killed, and his body was found in the desert of far
east El Paso.

Soltero's co-defendant, Jonathan Ruiz, pleaded guilty to the murder in
February and was sentenced to life in prison, avoiding the death penalty.

Eddie Del Palacio, the victim's brother, told ABC-7 in June the family was
disappointed by Ruiz's plea deal, and wanted to see Soltero convicted. "We
got short-changed with Ruiz's sentence. We don't that to happen again."

(source: ABC-7 News)