[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, USA, VA., N.C., FLA., CONN.

Tue Aug 2 11:38:27 CDT 2011

Aug. 2

OHIO:

Convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell twice cries as defense team tries to 
avoid death penalty----Sentencing phase of trial begins with psychologist

Convicted serial killer Anthony Sowell twice began to cry Monday as a clinical 
psychologist described Sowell's home life and possible brain injury that could 
have impaired his judgement.

Sowell was convicted of murdering 11 women and burying their bodies at his 
Imperial Avenue home.

The sentencing phase of the trial began Monday morning with testimony from Dr. 
Dale Watson, who suggested that Sowell may have suffered a brain injury 
following a 2007 heart attack.

Watson performed a series of 45 to 50 tests over a period of 19 hours last 
December.

In one test, Watson found that it took Sowell considerably longer to reassemble 
a 10-piece puzzle while blindfolded and told the jury that it suggests Sowell 
has a moderate brain disorder. Another test showed Sowell had an 86 IQ.

He also quoted Sowell as telling him that he feels depressed and "sad most of 
the time and guilty over many things" he has done.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Rick Bombik suggested that "there could be 
a lot of reason that make a person depressed, but at least one of them could be 
being incarcerated for a year and being charged with 11 counts of aggravated 
murder."

Sowell's defense attorney John Parker promised the jury that they would hear 
testimony this week that would convince them that Sowell does not deserve to 
die for crimes, but should be sentenced to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

Testimony is expected to begin again Tuesday morning.

(source: Scripps Media)

USA (NEW YORK)----possible federal death penalty

Court put off for Fla. suspect in family killings

A Florida woman accused of arranging the 2009 killings of her husband and 
mother-in-law is still waiting to hear whether New York prosecutors will seek 
the death penalty.

Word had been expected by Tuesday but a court appearance for 54-year-old Narcy 
Novack of Fort Lauderdale was postponed.

A federal prosecutor has been threatening since April to file a new charge, 
murder in aid of racketeering. He's been waiting for the Justice Department to 
decide whether to seek the death penalty or life in prison.

Novack and her brother, 57-year-old Cristobal Veliz of Brooklyn, have pleaded 
not guilty to charges they hired the killers of Bernice Novack in her Florida 
home and Ben Novack in his New York hotel room.

Ben Novack's father built the Fontainebleau hotel in Miami Beach.

(source: Associated Press)

VIRGINIA:

Federal judge denies Va death-row appeal

A federal judge has denied a Virginia death-row inmate's appeal.

U.S. District James P. Jones ruled that Ivan Teleguz's claims are without 
merit. Jones filed his ruling Monday in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

Teleguz was sentenced to death for the 2001 slaying of Stephanie Sipe in 
Harrisonburg. Another man who testified that Teleguz paid him $2,500 to kill 
Sipe is serving a life term Another accomplice was sentenced to 15 years.

The Virginia Supreme Court rejected Teleguz's appeal in January 2010. He had 
alleged his trial lawyer was ineffective. He also claimed the prosecution 
unfairly denied him access to consular assistance from the Ukraine, his native 
country.

Rockingham County Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst tells the Daily 
News-Record (http://bit.ly/qcoqys ) that she's pleased with Jones' ruling.

(source: Associated Press

NORTH CAROLINA:

Death row appeal will test equality under law

Marcus Robinson, formerly of Cumberland County and now residing on North 
Carolina's death row, is a killer. That's not in dispute. Neither is his 
conviction for 1st-degree murder. His isn't that kind of appeal.

In fact, if someone were to testify that exculpatory evidence had been 
suppressed, that testimony would be evaluated in a trial court, not the court 
hearing for his appeal under the 2009 Racial Justice Act. If his appeal fails, 
he will remain on death row. If it succeeds, he'll be moved to another part of 
the prison and live out his life there. The Racial Justice Act provides no 
third outcome.

The burden of proof is on Robinson. What he must prove to the court's 
satisfaction is that race played a significant part in the decision to seek or 
impose a death sentence.

Now that we're clear on what Robinson's appeal is not about, take a closer look 
at what promises to be an interesting first test of the new law. We don't know 
the facts, but this case could have been chosen for its simplicity, meaning its 
lack of side issues and other encumbrances.

Robinson is African American. His victim was white.

Robinson's case for being resentenced to life without parole rests on data.

Statistics may, under the act, be considered by the court hearing the appeal.

The case poses t questions - 1 for the court, another for the public.

For the court: Can Robinson prevail using nothing but statistical evidence, 
almost all of it culled from cases other than his own? If so, we may eventually 
see a steady procession of inmates moving into standard cell blocks.

For the public and lawmakers: If the statistical evidence is strong, will we be 
able to handle the truth that many death row inmates got a raw deal due to skin 
color? Can we watch that procession and not fume and bluster about the 
injustice of showing those inmates "preference" by preventing their racially 
tainted death sentences from being carried out?

The questions are important because some of Robinson's evidence is powerful - 
disparities so dramatic that scholars calculating odds and probabilities placed 
them outside the realm of mere chance. An example: peremptory strikes that 
effectively excluded qualified blacks from juries at a rate more than twice the 
exclusion rate for qualified white prospects.

Robinson has had his trial. This one could prove to be ours.

(source: Editorial, Charlotte Observer)

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

N.C. Resident Questions State's Use of Death Penalty in Federal 
Court----Lawsuit questions whether the death penalty is constitutional in a 
state that is allegedly using questionable science to convict people.

N.C. resident Donna Pilch filed a lawsuit in federal court which questions 
whether it is constitutional for North Carolina to use the death penalty when 
it is allegedly using questionable science and methods to convict people. The 
lawsuit names Attorney General Roy Cooper as the defendant, because he is 
responsible for the State Bureau of Investigation, which, according to an audit 
done by a former FBI agent, has been using questionable science in its serology 
(blood) and ballistics units.

A series of articles by the Raleigh News & Observer 
(www.newsobserver.com/agents) revealed the SBI's questionable protocol, and 
that Cooper ordered an audit of the SBI felony serology unit, but only for the 
period of 1987-2003. According to the lawsuit, Cooper apparently did not order 
an audit of the felony serology unit from 2003-present and he did not order an 
audit of the SBI misdemeanor serology unit at all. Thus, classes of more 
victims have yet to be identified and provided relief.

Donna Pilch claims that she became a victim of the SBI misdemeanor serology 
unit in 2009 when a Department of Health employee tested what was purportedly 
her blood sample, which was allegedly left at room temperature for over three 
months. Standard scientific protocol requires that blood samples stored 
long-term should be refrigerated at -20C, not room temperature. Ethanol (blood 
alcohol) levels can double when kept at room temperature.

According to the lawsuit, an SBI notary stated that she administered oath to 
the Department of Health blood tester, on February 14, 2009. But the test was 
performed and dated January 15, 2009, almost one month earlier. And another 
document from the Department of Health contains two different citation numbers; 
neither of which were Pilch's.

The lawsuit cited that the SBI's questionable science and procedures were used 
by Wake Court Judge Brewer to convict her, and Superior Court Judge in 
Residence Donald Stephens then denied her Motion for Relief. She filed 
complaints about both judges in federal court.

She hopes that the U.S. District court will order North Carolina to cease use 
of the death penalty until the court system and SBI procedures are corrected to 
ensure that there are no more unconstitutional convictions.

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/north-carolina/ncedce/5:2011cv00382/115922/

http://dockets.justia.com/docket/north-carolina/ncedce/5:2011cv00334/115570/

(source: PR Newswire)

FLORIDA:

Doctor: new Fla. Execution drug risky to inmate

A doctor testifying for a death row inmate says Florida's planned use of a new 
lethal injection drug could cause extreme pain in executions.

Dr. David Waisel testified Tuesday that pentobarbital hasn't been sufficiently 
tested to ensure an inmate is unconscious before deadly drugs are administered. 
States are using the new drug because the previous well-tested drug is 
unavailable.

Florida Supreme Court ordered Tuesday's hearing in the case of 61-year-old 
Manuel Valle. He was convicted in the 1978 shooting death of Coral Gables 
Police Officer Louis Pena.

Valle's scheduled execution was stayed for a month to allow arguments over 
Florida's plan to use pentobarbital. The drug has been used in other states but 
never in Florida.

Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola must rule on Valle's execution challenge 
by Friday.

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

Judge hearing challenge to Fla. execution drug

A judge in Miami will hear a challenge to the state's planned use of a new 
execution drug.

The Florida Supreme Court last month ordered the hearing in the case of 
61-year-old Manuel Valle, convicted in the 1978 shooting death of Coral Gables 
police officer Louis Pena.

Valle's scheduled execution Tuesday was stayed for a month to allow arguments 
over Florida's plan to use pentobarbital in place of another drug experiencing 
a shortage.

Valle's lawyers contend he could feel pain or harm because the drug has never 
been extensively tested on humans. It has been used in other states but never 
in Florida. Pentobarbital renders a person unconscious.

Circuit Judge Jacqueline Hogan Scola must rule on Valle's execution challenge 
by Friday.

(source for both: Associated Press)

CONNECTICUT:

Lawyers challenge survivor of Conn. home invasion

Relatives of a woman and two girls killed in a 2007 home invasion have 
described one of the accused as "pure evil" and an "animal" in an effort to 
ensure his execution, jeopardizing the defendant's right to a fair trial, 
defense attorneys said in court papers unsealed Monday.

Despite the comments by Dr. William Petit and other relatives, Joshua 
Komisarjevsky is not "pure evil," his attorneys wrote.

"He has displayed remorse, and his execution would not advance the ends of 
justice, as that concept is defined in most of the civilized world," they 
wrote.

The attorneys say Komisarjevsky was abused as a child and is a "damaged human 
being" who has "positive, redeeming attributes, which exist despite mental 
disorder and the harm done by years of trauma and abuse."

Authorities say Komisarjevsky and co-defendant Steven Hayes killed Jennifer 
Hawke-Petit and her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, in 
their Cheshire home in 2007. William Petit was beaten with a baseball bat but 
survived.

Hawke-Petit was strangled. The girls were tied to their beds, with gasoline 
poured on or around them, before the house was set on fire, leading to their 
deaths from smoke inhalation.

Hayes was convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling Hawke-Petit and of 
killing the girls. He was sentenced to death last year.

A gag order has been imposed, but Komisarjevksy's attorneys asked the court to 
unseal their statement. It comes as Komisarjevsky heads to trial next month.

Both men have blamed each other for escalating the crime, but prosecutors say 
both are equally responsible. Each had offered to plead guilty in exchange for 
life sentences, but prosecutors pressed for the death penalty for both men.

"Even now, with several years of hate and contempt directed at him and anyone 
close to him, all Josh desires in terms of his case is a sentence of 
incarceration for the remainder of his natural life in a maximum-security 
prison, the best he can hope for notwithstanding the lack of intent to cause or 
bring about the deaths of the victims in this case," his lawyers wrote.

They also said Petit and his relatives have invoked Mother Theresa and Mahatma 
Gandhi, even though both were opponents of the death penalty.

Messages were left Monday with Petit's attorney and spokeswoman.

Komisarjevsky's attorneys also wrote that "there are reasons" why he was in the 
Petit house that night which will soon be made public.

(source: Associated Press)