[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., FLA., ILL., US MIL.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 2



LOUISIANA----new death sentence

Brumfield sentenced to death----Sanchez Brumfield found guilty; Jury finds
Brumfield guilty of 1st-degree murder


Sanchez Brumfield was formally sentenced to death this morning for his
role in the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man behind the Olive Garden
restaurant on Siegen Lane in 2006.

An East Baton Rouge Parish jury convicted Brumfield, now 24, of 1st-degree
murder in May in the killing of Aaron Arnold, a pre-med student at LSU and
a server at the restaurant.

The jury also recommended that Brumfield die by lethal injection.

Moments before state District Judge Todd Hernandez formally imposed the
death sentence on Brumfield, a composed Bobby Arnold, the father of Aaron
Arnold, took the stand, looked directly at Brumfield and said he deserves
to die for what he did.

"You chose to participate in that event that night. That was your choice.
I wish you hadn't been there that night. I wish my son had not been there
that night," he said.

Brumfield's alleged accomplice, Tracy Young, is scheduled to stand trial
Jan. 12. Prosecutors also are seeking the death penalty against Young, the
alleged triggerman.

Bruce Craft, one of Brumfield's trial attorneys, said Brumfield, if
executed, would be the 1st non-shooter put to death in Louisiana since
capital punishment was reinstated in 1976.

(source: The Advocate)






FLORIDA:

Man sentenced to death in teen's 2002 slaying


A Pasco County man has been sentenced to death for killing a 16-year-old
girl he picked up hitchhiking more than 6 years ago.

Phillup Partin was sentenced Monday for the July 31, 2002, slaying of
Joshan Ashbrook.

A jury found the 43-year-old Partin guilty in March and recommended by a
9-3 vote that he be executed.

Witnesses testified at trial that Partin picked up Ashbrook hitchhiking
and brought her back to his house in New Port Richey, near Tampa. Workers
found her body in the woods the next day.

She'd been beaten, strangled and had her throat cut.

Investigators tracked Partin to Fayetteville, N.C., where he was arrested
in October 2003.

(source: Associated Press)






ILLINOIS:

Judge denies bail in killing of Zion girls


A judge in northern Illinois has denied bail for a Zion man accused of
killing his daughter and her friend on Mother's Day 2005.

Lake County Judge Fred Foreman's decision Tuesday means Jerry Hobbs
remains in jail awaiting trial.

Hobbs has pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder charges in the stabbing
deaths of his 8-year-old daughter, Laura, and 9-year-old Krystal Tobias.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Assistant Public Defender Keith Grant argued DNA evidence found on 1
victim didn't match Hobbs. But Assistant State's Attorney Jeff Pavletic
says the amount is insignificant.

Hobbs is due back in court for a status hearing Dec. 23.

He was released from a Texas prison three weeks before the girls were
killed after finishing a 2-year prison sentence for aggravated assault.

(source: Associated Press)






US MILITARY:

Final arguments in case of officers killed in Iraq


The military prosecutor arguing the murder case against a New York soldier
accused of killing 2 officers in Iraq said Tuesday that witness testimony
about feuds between the men and access to explosives proves the soldier's
guilt.

But the defense attorney for Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez said the
government only selected evidence that pointed toward him even though
other soldiers had a motive, and that Martinez wasn't skilled enough to
carry out the attack.

"This case has never been investigated," defense attorney Maj. John
Gregory said during closing arguments, wrapping up the 6-week
court-martial at Fort Bragg. Martinez, 41, is the 1st soldier from the
wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to be accused of killing a direct superior, a
crime known as "fragging" during the Vietnam war. Martinez could face the
death penalty if convicted of premeditated murder in the deaths of Capt.
Phillip Esposito of Suffern, N.Y., and 1st Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Pa.
Both men were killed when an anti-personnel mine detonated outside their
room at a U.S. military base in 2005.

Witnesses have testified that Martinez and Esposito were at odds because
the officer believed Martinez was lax in operating the unit's supply room.

The prosecutor, Maj. John Benson, asked jurors to recall testimony about
Martinez's frustration and animosity toward Esposito. Benson also noted
testimony about Martinez's ability to get Claymore mines, the type of
explosive that killed the officers.

"Those are signposts that will lead you to the truth," Benson told the
14-member military jury.

Gregory said his client couldn't have carried out such an attack, as
evident by his military proficiency scores. Gregory argued that Martinez
was singled out as a suspect because of his mannerisms and the derogatory
comments to other soldiers about Esposito.

Gregory said Martinez was innocent and that other soldiers had the
opportunity to commit the killings and had reason to do so.

"He's a person who's easy to cast suspicion upon," Gregory said. "Sgt.
Martinez wouldn't commit these crimes."

Martinez, a New York Army National Guard soldier, chose not to testify
during the court-martial.

Prosecutors alleged he planted Claymore anti-personnel mine that detonated
June 7, 2005, in a window of the officers' room at Saddam Hussein's Water
Palace in Tikrit.

Esposito, 30, worked as an information technology manager in Manhattan and
was Martinez's company commander. Allen, 34, was a high school science
teacher and the company operations officer. The Espositos had a young
daughter, and the Allens had 4 young sons.

All 3 men were members of the 42nd Infantry Division.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Judge stays soldiers execution


A U.S. district court judge has granted a stay in the execution of Pvt.
Ronald A. Gray, a move that likely will delay the first military execution
since 1961.

The execution was scheduled for Dec. 10 at the Federal Correctional
Complex in Terre Haute, Ind. However, the order from Judge Richard Rogers,
dated Nov. 26, stays the execution to allow Gray and his attorneys to file
a habeas corpus petition.

The stay of execution will remain in place until further order from the
court, according to a copy of the judges order.

Gray was convicted of multiple murders and rapes in the late 1980s in the
Fayetteville, N.C., area. At the time, Gray was a specialist with the 82nd
Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The court-martial panel that convicted Gray sentenced him to death in
1988. On July 28, 2008, President Bush approved the order to execute Gray,
the longest-serving inmate on the militarys death row at the U.S.
Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

It was the 1st time a president had approved a military death sentence
since 1957, and the decision came after the nations highest courts upheld
Grays conviction and death sentence, and 2 petitions to the Supreme Court
during the appellate process had been denied.

The last military execution took place when John A. Bennett was hanged
April 13, 1961, for the rape and attempted murder of an 11-tear-old
Austrian girl.

Bennetts attorneys had filed a habeas corpus petition after his death
sentence was approved, and the process took more than 2 years to move
through the court system before Bennetts petition was rejected and he was
executed.

4 other service members are on the militarys death row at Fort
Leavenworth, and another remains under a death sentence but has since been
moved to Camp Lejeune, N.C., pending ongoing litigation.

(source: Army Times)