[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MD., OHIO, TENN., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 3



MARYLAND:

An Uneven Case Against the Death Penalty


Regarding the Nov. 26 editorial "Closing Death Row":

Because Maryland has the death penalty in name only, it probably does make
sense to abolish it. But several of the arguments cited in this editorial
are tenuous at best.

If the death penalty should be abandoned because it does not deter capital
murder, so should the punishment of life imprisonment. There is no
evidence that the threat of life in prison deters capital murder.

The editorial also noted the spectacularly specious argument that murder
victims' families and friends would be better off not having to endure the
seemingly interminable appeals it takes to reach the possible catharsis of
an execution. Opponents of the death penalty wholeheartedly support such
an endless appellate process because it can delay an execution for years.
Let's be honest: These opponents' primary concern in the death penalty
controversy is not the friends and families of murder victims.

The possibility of racial discrimination in who is subject to the death
penalty, as well as the danger that an innocent person could be executed,
may be reason enough to get rid of capital punishment in Maryland. The
Post shouldn't muddy the waters by including weak arguments that do not
further the case for abolition.

SCOTT WALLACE ----Leesburg

(source: Letter to the Editor, Washington Post)






OHIO----2 execution dates set

Ohio high court sets 2 execution dates


The Ohio Supreme Court has set execution dates next year for 2 condemned
inmates.

The court on Wednesday scheduled a March 3 execution for Jeffrey Hill,
sentenced to death for killing his mother in Cincinnati in 1991 for money
to buy crack cocaine.

The court also set an April 7 execution date for Brett Hartman, sentenced
to die for stabbing a woman in Akron 138 times, then slitting her throat
in 1997.

The state is once again executing inmates after the end of a de facto
national moratorium on the death penalty that ended last April.

Ohio executed 1 inmate in October and another last month. There are 178
men and 2 women on the states death row.

(source: Toledo Blade)






TENNESSEE:

Judge Sets Death Penalty For Rejon Taylor----No Date Set For Execution In
Guy Luck Murder Case


Federal Judge Curtis Collier on Wednesday morning ordered the death
penalty for an Atlanta man convicted in the murder of restaurant operator
Guy Luck in Collegedale in 2004.

Judge Collier said he was required to abide by the jury ruling of death
for Rejon Taylor.

No date was set for the execution.

The defense had asked Judge Collier to consider commuting the sentence to
life in prison.

Taylor was convicted along with Sir Jack Matthews and Joey Marshall of
abducting the owner of a French restaurant from his Buckhead home and
driving him across the Tennessee line.

Prosecutors said Matthews shot at the victim first, then after his gun
jammed, Taylor turned around and shot the restaurant operator in the
mouth.

The defense said it had been planned to let the hostage out, but he
started struggling with them. Taylor has been represented by attorneys
Bill Ortwein, Lee Ortwein, Howell Clements and Leslie Cory.

Judge Collier said he had been contacted by Elizabeth Ford, who heads the
local federal public defender office. He said Ms. Ford recommends that on
appeal Taylor be represented by Ms. Cory and that Attorney Berry J.
Fischer of New York be the lead counsel.

Attorney Bill Ortwein recommended instead that the defense team on appeal
be either Ms. Cory or Lee Ortwein along with Attorney Paul Cross, an
associate of Attorney Clements. Judge Collier asked Attorney Cross to
submit data on his experience with handling death penalty cases. Attorney
Bill Ortwein said Attorney Clements could assist Attorney Cross in the
case. Taylor was asked his preference, and he said he would like Attorney
Cory and Attorney Cross.

Judge Collier said he will rule later, but likely will name Ms. Cory as
one of the attorneys for the appeal.

Attorney Bill Ortwein said he will assist with the appeal without charge.

(source: The Chattanoogan)






CALIFORNIA:

DNA search fails to find relatives of unknown serial
killer----Investigators are philosophical about the failure of the
procedure, which had to overcome legal objections. LAPD will now resume
more traditional techniques.


The Los Angeles Police Department's hunt for an elusive serial killer who
has stalked women in South L.A. for more than 2 decades was dealt a
setback Tuesday when a controversial search of DNA databases for the
killer's family members came up empty.

"We were hoping," said LAPD Deputy Chief Charlie Beck, who is overseeing a
task force of detectives working to solve the case. "Police work is very
much about exploring every avenue. We went down this one and it didn't
turn out to be fruitful."

Pioneered in Britain, familial DNA searches are largely uncharted
territory in the United States. The attempt to identify one of the serial
killer's relatives was the first major use of California's new familial
searching policy, the most far-reaching in the nation. Underscoring the
importance of the case, state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown overcame serious
constitutional and privacy concerns raised by advisors and cleared the way
for the search.

In leading up to Tuesday's anticlimax, state officials had painstakingly
created a list of possible relatives from the state database of felons'
DNA profiles. They then eliminated potential matches through further
genetic testing and by reviewing public records to determine ages,
addresses and names of family members. In the end, there were no matches.

The possibility of a match had raised hopes among LAPD detectives that
they would catch a break in a case that has stymied the department for
years. The task force is now left to continue with ongoing efforts to
revive leads from old cases, search for missed clues and hope someone with
knowledge of the killer comes forward.

The serial killer has claimed 10 known victims, striking most recently
last year. Except for one man, he has targeted young, black women, many of
them prostitutes.

He sexually assaults the women and kills them by shooting or strangling
them, often leaving their bodies in alleyways along Western Avenue.

The LAPD's search for the killer has been marred by long stretches of time
between known killings and a disjointed, often dormant investigation that
spanned different generations of detectives.

The 1st known attack came in the summer of 1985 at a time when widespread
cocaine use, rampant crime and vicious killings were afflicting South L.A.
Overwhelmed by the violence, police did not realize they were confronting
something larger until 3 years later, when ballistics tests showed that
the same handgun had been used in 7 other killings.

In 2004, a genetic sample preserved from one of the old crime scenes
matched samples collected from the body of a women killed in 2003 and a
14-year-old girl killed the year before. Police used DNA to link the
killer to another murder in January 2007.

Investigators ran the killer's DNA against millions of genetic profiles of
convicted criminals in law enforcement databases, but found nothing.

Hoping that the killer's father or brother was in the database, the LAPD
then pushed for the state to use the more complex familial search.

The odds were stacked against them. State officials put the chances of
finding the serial killer through a relative at about one in 10.

Mitchell Morrissey, the district attorney in Denver who prodded California
officials to do familial searching, applauded the LAPD and state officials
for trying. He urged the FBI, which maintains national DNA databases, to
lift its ban on doing familial searches in them. "This murderer may have a
relative in a DNA database in another state," he said.

(source: Los Angeles Times)