[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA., PENN., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 17


ALABAMA:

Death in Alabama: Alabama A.G. King Takes Case From Shelby DA To Maintain
Death Sentence


Alabama Attorney General Troy King has notified Shelby County District
Attorney Robbie Owens that he is using his statutory authority to
superintendtaking over from the District Attorneythe case of convicted
murderer LaSamuel Gamble.

On September 5, Shelby County Circuit Judge J. Michael Joiner ordered a
resentencing hearing for Gamble, directing that the new sentence to be
considered would not include the death penalty. The Judge's decision was
made after the District Attorney testified that he did not support the
death penalty in the circumstances of this case. Attorney General King
said that because the District Attorney acted on the side of the criminal,
he has stepped in and filed an appeal to protect the interests of justice
for the victims in this case, and that he will fight to have Gamble's
death sentence reinstated.

Attorney General King stated that his action to take over the case was
necessary under the circumstances:

"LaSamuel Gamble was convicted by a Shelby County jury of murdering Janice
Littleton and John Burleson during the course of a robbery at John's 280
Pawn Shop on July 25, 1996, and Gamble was sentenced to death for that
heinous crime," said Attorney General King. "Gamble's co-defendant, Marcus
Presley, is not eligible for the death penalty because he was 16-years-old
at the time of the murders. On September 5, Shelby County Circuit Judge J.
Michael Joiner overturned Gamble's death sentence, finding that Gamble is
ineligible for the death penalty in part because his juvenile co-defendant
cannot be executed. Judge Joiner's ruling was substantially based on
District Attorney Robbie Owens' testimony at a hearing last year. On June
7, 2006, Mr. Owens took the incredible and outrageous step of testifying
on behalf of Gamble, urging Judge Joiner to remove Gamble from death row.
Therefore, I have informed the District Attorney that, to the extent his
office otherwise might have any residual responsibility for any parts of
the prosecution for this matter, I have taken that responsibility from
them and will carry it out myself to preserve justice. We will perform
that duty which the District Attorney has shirked, and will appeal to keep
this man, whose hands are stained with the blood of innocents, on death
row. "

[source: Alabama Attorney General]

(source: AllAMerican Patriots)






PENNSYLVANIA:

DA Will Go for Death Penalty in Bradford County Murders----Steven
Colegrove will be formally arraigned Monday for killing his parents and
his brother in their Bradford County home last month.


Prosecutors in Bradford County will pursue the death penalty against a man
accused of killing his parents and brother.

In a formal arraignment Monday morning, Steven Colegrove of Deposit, New
York pleaded not guilty to charges he went into his parents house in
Tuscarora Township August 8 and shot his parents, Joseph and Marlene, as
well as his brother, Michael to death.

Prosecutors and police believe Colegrove murdered his parents and brother
because he was after his parent's inheritance money.

Evidence at the preliminary hearing showed all three Colegroves were shot
to death. The bodies were found by a family friend. The prosecution
believes all the evidence points to Steven as the killer.

Colegrove's attorney argued all the evidence is circumstantial, and that
evidence is not conclusive.

A district justice ruled there is enough evidence against Steven Colegrove
to send the case on to trial.

(source: WNEP TV News)






FLORIDA:

Killer's penalty phase begins----Jury may give death sentence


Attorneys will begin seating a 12-member jury today to decide whether to
recommend a death sentence for a convicted murderer who pleaded guilty
last year to a 2nd killing.

Police said James Darrell Lewis, 37, confessed to the April 19,1999,
beating death of Donald Kirby, a homeless man whose body was discovered in
a ditch alongside railroad tracks in Rockledge.

According to police, Lewis -- currently serving two back-to-back life
sentences for another 1999 slaying -- struck a sleeping Kirby several
times in the head with a solid metal pipe, fracturing his skull. He then
dragged Kirby's lifeless body across the tracks and threw the man's
identification in the woods, a police report said.

Lewis told authorities he had prior knowledge that Kirby, an acquaintance
from Kentucky, had money in the wallet. There was no cash in the wallet
when it was recovered, police said.

Lewis pleaded guilty in February 2006 to 1st-degree murder and robbery
with a deadly weapon in connection with the slaying.

The death penalty trial is similar to one held following Lewis' 2003
1st-degree murder and robbery conviction in the November 1999 beating
death of 77-year-old Michael Proko.

Prosecutors said Lewis beat Proko with a wrench in his West Melbourne home
and robbed him of $300 to buy crack cocaine.

Jurors in that case opted against the death penalty, and instead sentenced
Lewis to life in prison without parole.

(source: Florida Today)