[Deathpenalty] [SPAM] death penalty news----FLA., VA., MINN., CALIF., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 13



FLORIDA----female faces death penalty

State to seek death penalty in mother's murder case


Prosecutors notified Julie Schenecker's public defender Friday that they will 
seek the death penalty for the 50-year-old Tampa mother accused of fatally 
shooting her 2 teenage children on Jan. 27.

The Hillsborough County State Attorney's Office would not comment on the 
decision, but the death penalty had been a consideration since her arrest. The 
Public Defender's Office named attorney Robert Fraser to represent Schenecker 
partly because he is certified by the state for death penalty cases.

A Florida statute lists 15 "aggravators" that prosecutors can present in 
support of the death penalty. Juries weigh those against "mitigators" presented 
by the defense.

Some Tampa lawyers said Friday that prosecutors could present several possible 
aggravators in the case against Schenecker. They could argue that the shootings 
were premeditated, that they were committed simultaneously, that the victims 
were children and that Schenecker was their caretaker.

"Those 4 are very strong," said attorney Lyann Goudie, "and only one aggravator 
can do it."

At the time of the shootings, Schenecker was being treated for depression, 
bipolar disorder and substance abuse. Detectives found numerous prescribed 
medications in the house. A close friend told them that the medicines were not 
"meshing."

Fraser, Schenecker's public defender, hasn't indicated which mitigators he 
would cite or whether he will use an insanity defense. One Tampa defense 
attorney, Grady Irvin, believes that may be her best defense. "Mental state is 
always an issue," he said.

He said that most people watching TV accounts of the slayings asked themselves, 
"What mother would kill her child?" And when they saw her in custody — eyes 
rolled back, shaking uncontrollably — he said they probably concluded, "She 
must be crazy."

Schenecker's children were slain after school — Calyx, 16, was shot at a 
computer, then wheeled in a chair to her bed; Beau, 13, was found still belted 
into the family van, shot in the head, his blood-stained glasses removed and 
propped on the dashboard. Their mother was found lying in the patio, 
incoherent.

Their father, Parker Schenecker, an Army colonel, was deployed to the Middle 
East. He said his wife struggled with mental health problems throughout their 
marriage. They are now divorced.

People who have bipolar disorder rarely commit murder, but Irvin said the 
defense might try to show that the disorder or her medications created a 
psychosis at the time that left Schenecker unable to understand what she was 
doing or that it was wrong.

"The trial," he said, "is going to be a battle of medical experts."

(source: St. Petersburg Times)






VIRGINIA----impending execution

Friday WVTF, a National Public Radio affiliate covering most of Virginia 
broadcast the commentary below as part of Morning Edition:


   Commentary on Jerry Terrell Jackson----By Jack Payden-Travers

This morning I mailed a thank you card to a dear friend. I won’t get to see him 
before he dies and I wanted to let him know how much I will miss him. We’ve 
know each other since I started working at a non-profit in Charlottesville. He 
was one of the “clients” back in 2002.

I have since changed jobs, and earned another degree. Terrell is still right 
where he was when we first became acquainted. He sits in a cell at Sussex 1 
State Prison. He is known as inmate #1139512 and on the night of August 18th 
Jerry Terrell Jackson will become the 109th victim to be executed by the 
Commonwealth.

Prison regulations forbid me from visiting him. On death row only immediate 
family members and ministers are allowed. The strange thing is that from both 
my point of view and Terrell’s, we are “family.” He sends me a Father’s Day 
card each June and I send him Birthday and other celebratory cards. My wife and 
I do the same for our grown children and now grandkids.

He turned 30 last month, a year younger than our daughter who has been a pen 
pal of Terrell’s for almost 7 years and is flying home to be with me at a vigil 
in front of Greensville prison in Jarratt on the execution night. It was she 
who first asked my wife to write to him on her behalf while she was doing 
volunteer work in Guatemala.

Christine, an Episcopal priest has since become a spiritual guide to this young 
man. She will be the one to walk with him at the death house. I worry about 
what that experience will do to her. I don’t know that I would have the 
strength. On that night I am certain she will be repeating to herself one of 
her favorite Biblical passages where Jesus talks about gathering the children 
together “as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings.”

But Terrell did not have a mother who protected her children. None of the 
advantages of growing up like my children in a white middle-class family. He 
didn’t have grandparents who could take him to Disney Land.

3 years ago I sat through a hearing in Federal Court in Alexandria where 
witness after witness described the horrors of physical abuse that Terrell was 
subjected to as a child. His natural father broke Terrell’s arm when he was a 
baby. His stepfather repeatedly beat him with a 2x4 and although the school 
records showed evidence of this abuse he was not removed from the home. The 
nurse was not called to testify at his capital trial. In 2010 Judge Brinkema 
ruled that Mr. Jackson should get a new sentencing phase of his capital trail 
because of all the errors and ineffective assistance of counsel that he had at 
trial. She was overruled this year on a technicality by the Fourth Circuit. 
Unless Governor McDonnell commutes his sentence to life-without-parole, Terrell 
will die on August 18th.

In my card I told him that I wished to thank him for being a friend these last 
9 years and I wanted to say goodbye by using the original words from which the 
term is derived. I wrote “God be with Ye” Jerry Terrell Jackson. And in my mind 
I can hear him replying when he reads my card: “And also with you.”

(source: WFTV--NPR; Jack Payden-Travers serves on the Board of Directors of the 
National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Advisory Board of 
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. He resides in Lynchburg, VA 
and works as the Executive Director of the National Campaign for a Peace Tax 
Fund. He is a 2010 graduate of the Center for Justice and Peacebuilding of 
Eastern Mennonite University)

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

McDonnell says he won't stop Jackson execution


Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said Friday he will not stop Thursday's scheduled 
execution of a man who was convicted of raping and killing an elderly 
Williamsburg woman.

McDonnell's action leaves the U.S. Supreme Court as the only hope for Jerry 
Terrell Jackson, 30, who is scheduled to die by lethal injection at Greensville 
Correctional Center.

"After conferring with the appropriate parties, as well as thoroughly reviewing 
the clemency petition and the judicial opinions in this case, I find no 
compelling reason to set aside the sentence of the jury, imposed and affirmed 
by the courts," McDonnell said.

Jackson was convicted of the 2001 murder of 88-year-old Ruth Phillips.

His lawyers argue the jury in Jackson's trial was not given a complete picture 
of the abuse he suffered as a child. The have argued that evidence of abuse 
could have convinced jurors to spare Jackson's life.

Jackson's attorneys did not immediately offer a comment.

Unless the court blocks the execution, Jackson will be the 1st Virginia inmate 
to die using a new drug protocol that replaces the sedative sodium thiopental 
with pentobarbital in the 3-drug cocktail.

A nationwide shortage of sodium thiopental forced many states to substitute 
pentobarbital, but some have questioned its use. Courts have ruled that the 
change in drugs is not significant enough to postpone executions.

Jackson's attorneys have argued that his trial attorneys failed to present 
evidence of his extreme abuse as a child, which could have convinced jurors to 
spare his life. A federal judge agreed and ordered a new sentencing hearing for 
Jackson last year, but the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals blocked that 
hearing on a technicality in April.

Jackson admitted to police that he broke into Ruth Phillips' apartment on Aug. 
26, 2001, and that he put a pillow over her face to try to make her pass out 
once she awoke and caught him rummaging through her purse. He told police he 
left in Phillips' car and used the $60 to buy marijuana. He said he had not 
intended to kill Phillips.

At trial, Jackson said he lied to police and that an accomplice smothered 
Phillips. He denied raping Phillips, but prosecutors presented pubic hairs 
matching Jackson's DNA that were found around her body. He was convicted and 
sentenced to death in 2003.

Phillips, a widow for 30 years, worked as a seamstress making slip covers and 
draperies until her death.

(source: Daily Press)






MINNESOTA:

Dorsey Selected to Receive ABA 2011 Exceptional Service Award


The international law firm of Dorsey & Whitney LLP is pleased to announce that 
it will receive the American Bar Association’s 2011 Exceptional Service Award, 
which recognizes the firm’s commitment to representing death row prisoners.

“Over the past 20 years, our lawyers have devoted tens of thousands of hours of 
time and the firm has devoted hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources to 
this cause. To be recognized by the ABA for our dedication to justice for all 
is an honor.”

“Dorsey is delighted to have been selected for this prestigious award,” said 
Perry Wilson, Dorsey’s Pro Bono Partner. “Over the past 20 years, our lawyers 
have devoted tens of thousands of hours of time and the firm has devoted 
hundreds of thousands of dollars in resources to this cause. To be recognized 
by the ABA for our dedication to justice for all is an honor.”

The Exceptional Service Award is given as a part of the American Bar 
Association’s (ABA) Death Penalty Representation Project. The ABA created the 
Death Penalty Representation Project in 1986 to help ensure that every person 
facing a possible death sentence receives a fair trial and quality legal 
representation. Award criteria includes a firm’s commitment to pro bono death 
penalty work through the number of cases handled; financial and hourly 
commitment in ratio to its resources; attention paid to the death penalty 
debate; significant impact on the justice system through legal victory, 
legislation and/or litigation.

Dorsey was selected as an Exceptional Service Award winner based on its 20-year 
history of providing pro-bono legal services to death row prisoners, primarily 
in Louisiana, Alabama and Texas. Dorsey is currently handling death penalty 
cases for three prisoners—one of whom has serious mental illness and two of 
whom are mentally retarded.

Dorsey will be formally honored at an ABA awards ceremony on September 14, 2011 
in Washington DC.

About Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Clients have relied on Dorsey since 1912 as a valued business partner. With 19 
locations in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, 
Dorsey provides an integrated, proactive approach to its clients' legal and 
business needs. Dorsey represents a number of the world's most successful 
companies from a wide range of industries, including leaders in the financial 
services, life sciences, technology, agribusiness and energy sectors, as well 
as major non-profit and government entities.

(source: Business Wire)






CALIFORNIA:

Ruben Gaitan, Santa Ana Murderer from Case That Helped Lead to State Supreme 
Court Chief Justice Rose Bird's Recall, Loses Latest Parole


?Way back in 1979, Ruben Gaitan was sentenced to 25 years to life in state 
prison and his buddy Marcelino Ramos received the death penalty for shooting 2 
workers execution-style in a Santa Ana Taco Bell's freezer room. One died.

Ramos, who told the pair "Say your prayers" before pulling the trigger, later 
convinced the California Supreme Court to overturn his death sentence. Twice. 
That so incensed Tony Rackauckas that Orange County's then-deputy district 
attorney helped launch the successful recall campaigns of Chief Justice Rose 
Bird and justices Cruz Reynoso and Joseph Grodin.

Ramos was one of death row's longest-serving inmates when he was found dead in 
his San Quentin cell in January 2007. Prison officials say he died of natural 
causes. He was 49.

?Yesterday, the Board of Parole Hearings of the California Department of 
Corrections and Rehabilitations denied 54-year-old Gaitan's latest bid for 
parole. Currently held at the California State Prison, Solano in Vacaville, 
which is where the board also met, Gaitan is next eligible for a parole hearing 
in 2021.

Senior deputy district attorney Brian Fitzpatrick appeared at the hearing to 
oppose Gaitan's parole on grounds that he remains a serious threat to public 
safety. Fitzpatrick pointed to Gaitan's failure to rehabilitate, as evidenced 
by 47 prison rules violations (including making a sexual pass at a male prison 
guard; lack of participation in therapy and self-help; and continued claims 
minimizing his role in the crimes that put him away.

Those crimes were detailed in Sara Catania's 2002 OC Weekly story, "A Third 
Reprieve," which was about Ramos' unsuccessful third attempt to get his death 
sentence overturned.

The crime occurred just before 1 a.m. on June 3, 1979. High on amphetamines and 
alcohol, Ramos went with Ruben Gaitan to rob a Taco Bell where Ramos worked as 
a janitor. Following a plan mapped out earlier by Gaitan, Ramos went to the 
back to check the work schedule while Gaitan handed the cashier a food order. 
When Ramos re-emerged, he had a rifle under his jacket.

A co-worker, Kevin Pickrell, thought the weapon was a joke and began to laugh. 
Ramos appeared flustered at this response and first told Pickrell to put his 
hands up, then on his head, then on the counter. He then ordered Pickrell and 
another employee, Kathryn Parrott, 20, to move into a walk-in refrigerator. 
There, he had them kneel and, according to Pickrell, told them to "say your 
prayers" before shooting them each in the back of the head. Parrott died 
immediately; Pickrell survived.

Gaitan was originally convicted of murder and attempted murder. He's the one 
who walked into the Taco Bell first, to distract Ramos' 2 co-workers. Gaitan 
and Ramos fled the store with money. But in their attempts to get Ramos' death 
penalty overturned, his defense has countered their client was borderline 
retarded and his best friend was the militia-obsessed career criminal 
mastermind of the robbery plot.

"It is a classic case of a mentally deficient individual with no criminal 
history who, without the influence and domination of a more intelligent person, 
would not have participated in a crime," Margo Rocconi, the deputy federal 
public defender who represented Ramos, said in that 2002 piece. She was laying 
the tracks for a defense based on a Supreme Court ban on executing the mentally 
challenged.

Countered Parrott's sister Melody Crooks in the same story, "He knew exactly 
what he was doing. A retarded person in my mind doesn't sit and plot a murder 
out. Their mind doesn't work that fast."

But Gaitan himself seemed to give the claim credence in a 1993 declaration 
about his relationship with Ramos that was included in Catania's story.

"Our relationship was like one you would see in a movie," Gaitan said. "I was 
the short guy who ran things; he was the brawny guy who implemented. . . . I 
just made suggestions or asked questions, and Marcelino went along. He wanted 
someone to give him meaning to his life. I was the only one consistently 
available for that job." Gaitan continued, "Marcelino is not a cold-blooded 
killer, nor did he plan to kill anyone. I bear more responsibility for what 
happened than came out at trial. If anyone belongs on death row, I do."

Ramos' was among 70 death penalty sentences overturned by the Bird court 
between 1978 and 1986. But it was also the Ramos case that lit a fire under 
Rackauckas, despite Paul Meyer being the deputy district attorney who 
prosecuted the original case. Orange County's future district attorney would 
found California for a Responsible Supreme Court in 1980 and Crime Victims for 
Court Reform in 1984, statewide groups that were hellbent on removing Bird. 
She, Reynoso and Grodin were removed by California voters in 1986.

(source: Orange County Weekly Blog)


ARKANSAS:

Arkansas Death Row Inmates Still Behind Lawsuit


Attorneys for death row inmates in Arkansas say part of their lawsuit over how 
the state executes condemned prisoners is still valid, even though the state 
has surrendered its supply of a key lethal-injection drug.

Their latest court filing says corrections officials could import more 
unregulated drugs. Another hearing in the lawsuit is planned on Monday. 
Arkansas hasn't put anyone to death since 2005 and has no pending executions.

(source: Associated Press)