[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., N.C., CALIF., CONN.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 14


TEXAS:

Court upholds death penalty for San Antonio killer


The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death sentence of man 
convicted of fatally stabbing a disabled woman at her San Antonio home after 
she refused to give him and his girlfriend money to support their $1,000-a-day 
drug habit.

Armando Leza was condemned for the 2007 slaying of a neighbor, 57-year-old 
Caryl Jean Allen, who had helped them in the past. Evidence showed Leza and 
girlfriend Dolores Trevino sold items taken from the woman's apartment for 
cash.

Leza's lawyers, in the appeal rejected Wednesday, raised 14 issues from his 
Bexar County trial, including an argument that his waiver of Miranda rights 
wasn't voluntary or intelligent because he was on heroin at the time.

Trevino testified against her boyfriend in a plea deal.

(source: Associated Press)

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see: 
http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2011/10/texas-death-sentences-plummeted-during.html

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Exonerated Death Row Survivors Speak in Houston


8 death row exonerees, from across the US, spoke about the injustice of the 
death penalty Thursday.

The “Witness to Innocence Freedom Ride” group is hoping to abolish the option 
in Texas.

The group says Harris County is a natural starting point for the tour because 
it leads the nation in imposing the death penalty.

>From Houston, the group will travel to Dallas, Austin, Corpus Christi and 
Huntsville.

(source: myfoxhouston.com)

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DNA exoneration raises tough questions in Tex.


Caitlin Baker was 3 when her mother, Debra, was beaten to death and left naked 
in bed in her Austin home. Although the pain of the loss has faded in the 23 
years since, her anger that her mother's killer was never caught has not.

Less than two years before that January 1988 slaying, unbeknownst to all but a 
few people until recently, the mother of another woman bludgeoned to death in 
bed during an attack at her home about 15 miles away told an investigator that 
her 3-year-old grandson watched a "monster" do the killing, not his father, as 
police suspected. She urged him to pursue other leads, but her daughter's 
husband, Michael Morton, was instead convicted of murder and sentenced to life.

New DNA testing linked the killings of Debra Baker and Christine Morton to 
another man with a prison record in several states. Police have not publicly 
identified the suspect, whom they are trying to locate, but his genetic links 
to both slayings led to Morton's release from prison last week after nearly 25 
years behind bars, and his formal exoneration by an appeals court on Wednesday.

But lawyers for the Innocence Project, a New York-based group that spent years 
fighting for DNA testing in Morton's case and the release of his police case 
files, say he likely never would have been convicted if the prosecutor in 
charge of the case hadn't withheld key evidence from the defense, including his 
mother-in-law's statements.

And if, as the lawyers contend, investigators disregarded and hid evidence that 
cast doubt on Morton's guilt, could they have more doggedly pursued leads that 
might have helped them prevent Baker's killing?

In filings before state District Judge Sid Harle, the Innocence Project has 
alleged misconduct by Ken Anderson, now a sitting judge in Williamson County 
just north of Austin, who was the county's district attorney at the time, and 
prosecuted Morton's case. The charges could lead to the state bar taking 
disciplinary action against Anderson, or Harle himself possibly urging state 
and federal prosecutors to investigate, said Barry Scheck, the Innocence 
Project's co-founder.

"I think everybody can see how offensive this conduct is, if true," Scheck 
said. "I am profoundly troubled by this. Profoundly troubled, and determined to 
get answers."

Baker called the allegations "unthinkable."

"I would certainly hope that if it's true, there's some sort of consequence. 
But I don't think that would happen," she said. "I don't have a lot of faith in 
the Williamson County justice system. They couldn't do it 25 years ago. Why 
would they do it now?"

Ken Anderson, who was appointed to the bench in 2002 by Gov. Rick Perry, did 
not respond to several requests made through his court administrator to discuss 
the Morton case and address the allegations. Police Sgt. Don Wood, who led the 
investigation, has since retired and could not be located for comment.

John Bradley, the current district attorney for Williamson County, said the 
Innocence Project's charges "are just allegations. No one has offered any 
proof."

He added, "these are matters that will likely be investigated, but let's not 
get ahead of ourselves."

Morton, who has declined to be interviewed until Wednesday's ruling exonerating 
him officially takes effect next month, told investigators that his wife and 
son were fine when he left for work at an Austin Safeway on August 13, 1986, 
and that an intruder must have later forced his way in and killed her. He was 
convicted on circumstantial evidence.

Morton steadfastly maintained his innocence, and he enlisted the support of the 
Innocence Project, which specializes in helping prisoners overturn wrongful 
convictions through DNA testing.

In 2006, Morton's lawyers sought DNA testing on a bloody bandanna found near 
the family's home on the day of the killing. The bandanna wasn't submitted as 
evidence during the trial and it hadn't been tested for DNA because the 
necessary technology wasn't available in 1986. Bradley fought their request for 
years, arguing that the bandanna wasn't relevant to the case.

"Let's face it, I was wrong. But it was a legal argument," he said. "Let's not 
try to paint this as some sort of personal decision."

Bradley, who was not involved in prosecuting Morton's original case, also 
opposed a 2008 Public Records Act request by the Innocence Project, through 
which it was eventually able to obtain the police records that it says show 
Anderson concealed information to ensure Morton's conviction. Bradley argued 
that releasing the documents could hinder ongoing investigations, but he was 
overruled by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

Among the records that hadn't been turned over to Morton's trial attorneys was 
Woods' interview with Christine Morton's mother in which she said her grandson 
described watching a "monster" — a man who was not his father — beat his mother 
to death with a wooden object.

Morton had testified at his trial that the assailant made off with his wife's 
purse. Unbeknownst to him and his attorneys, the police records show that Wood 
knew Christine Morton's credit card was used in San Antonio two days after her 
death and a forged check in her name was cashed a week after that.

None of that came up at trial because prosecutors didn't call Wood to testify, 
and, according to the Innocence Project, at that time police investigator files 
could only be brought up in court if the prosecution called the investigator to 
the stand.

Unable to question Wood or see his records, the defense asked presiding trial 
Judge William Lott to review all case materials. The Innocence Project contends 
that Anderson told Lott he'd confer with Wood to ensure the court got all of 
the investigation records — but that Lott only received a fraction of them and 
never knew about the allegations by the couple's son, or the use of Christine 
Morton's credit card or check. After reviewing the records he did receive, Lott 
determined that they weren't relevant to the trial.

All these years later, Morton has been declared innocent, and Austin police 
have told Baker they've reopened her mother's case — though they won't divulge 
the suspect's identity, or say how close they are to catching him.

"It hasn't changed anything yet," she said. "Unless something actually happens, 
I can't think about it."

(source: CBS News)






FLORIDA:

Florida Politician: Bring Back Firing Squads for Death Penalty


Sick of the “sensitivity movement for criminals” a Florida state representative 
has introduced legislation to limit executions in his state to either firing 
squad or electric chair.

State Rep. Brad Drake said in a statement posted on his website that every time 
a “warranted execution” is about to take place, “some man or woman is standing 
on a corner holding a sign, yelling and screaming for humane treatment.”

“We still have Old Sparky,” Rep. Brad Drake warned in the statement referring 
to electrocution. Currently , Florida allows either lethal injection or 
electrocution.

Drake’s legislation comes at a time when Florida is reviewing its current 3 
drug protocol for lethal injection. Some critics have said the method causes 
too much pain and suffering.

Only 2 states still allow death by firing squad in very limited circumstances. 
Oklahoma allows it if lethal injection or electrocution is ever found 
unconstitutional and Utah allows it only if an inmate chose it as a preferred 
method before 2004 when the state removed it from the options.

Mark Elliott, who runs Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, says 
he’s more troubled by the death penalty itself than by the method of execution.

He says every few years a politician brings up the return of the firing squad. 
“If this legislator wants to talk about the over 10,000 unsolved homicides in 
Florida, how we can better spend the $50 million we have a year to have the 
death penalty, or how we can better prevent innocent people from being 
executed, then he is saying something worth listening to.”

According to Elliott, 8 states currently allow electrocution, including 
Florida. There have been 70 executions, and 23 exonerations, in Florida since 
1976 and there are currently 398 prisoners on death row.

“It’s not surprising that this kind of talk resurfaces. The killing of a 
captive prisoner is inhumane no matter how it is carried out. There’s no humane 
way to commit an inhumane act,” Elliott argues.

(source: ABC News)

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Appeal denied, father of murdered girl ready to see man executed


A convicted child killer won't get his death sentence overturned.

The man who killed Amanda Brown lost his appeal before the Florida Supreme 
Court on Thursday. Willie Crain was convicted of taking the 7-year-old girl 
from her bed and killing her in 1998.

Now, Roy Brown is anxious to see his daughter's killer put to death.

Crain was eventually sentenced to death, but tried to appeal the conviction.

In his latest appeal, Cain argued his attorneys failed to challenge a state 
witness and DNA samples.

Brown's father said it's been 14 long years and he just wants to live to see 
Crain put to death.

"I've got to see him die," Roy Brown said. "The day we left the courtroom, he 
looked at me and told me, 'I wont die for this,' and just smiled. I told him, 
'You see this, old man? This will be the last thing you see when they turn the 
lights off'."

Roy Brown is now an advocate for finding missing children.

His daughter's body is believed to have been dumped in Tampa Bay and never 
found.

Brown said he speaks about missing children and asks people to call their 
legislators in hopes they'll speed up the death penalty process for child 
killers -- like Willie Crain.

(source: BayNews9)






NORTH CAROLINA:

NC judge: 2 Racial Justice Act claims to be heard


2 death row inmates who filed legal challenges under the Racial Justice Act 
will be allowed to present their cases in court, a Forsyth County judge has 
ruled.

The Winston-Salem Journal reported (http://bit.ly/napYcv) that Judge William Z. 
Wood ruled Thursday that a court will hear the cases of Carl Stephen Moseley 
and Errol Duke Moses. Forsyth County prosecutors had asked the judge to dismiss 
the motions, arguing Moseley and Moses had failed to prove that racial bias 
occurred in their cases. Wood denied prosecutors' motions.

Moseley is white and is on death row for killing two white women whose bodies 
were found in 1991: Deborah Jane Henley in Forsyth County and Dorothy Woods 
Johnson in Stokes County. Moses is black and was sentenced to death for killing 
two black men: Ricky Griffin in 1995 and Jacinto Dunkley in 1996.

A date for the next step, an evidentiary hearing, has not been set.

The Racial Justice Act allows death-row inmates and defendants facing the death 
penalty to use statistics and other evidence to show that racial bias played a 
significant role in either their sentence or in the prosecutors' decision to 
pursue the death penalty. An inmate's sentence is reduced to life in prison 
without the possibility of parole if the claim is successful.

A test case for how the courts will handle other Racial Justice Act claims is 
unfolding in Cumberland County, where an evidentiary hearing is scheduled on a 
claim filed by Marcus Robinson. He was convicted in 1994 for the 1991 murder of 
17-year-old Erik Tornblom. Robinson and another man kidnapped Tornblom, shot 
him in the face and stole his car and $27.

Robinson's co-defendant, Roderick Williams, is serving a life sentence. 
Robinson and Williams are black; Tornblom was white.

Prosecutors have challenged inmates' right to use statistics from a study by 
two law professors at Michigan State University in their claims. The study 
found a defendant in North Carolina is 2.6 times more likely to be sentenced to 
death if at least one of the victims was white. The study also showed that of 
the 159 people on death row in the state at the time of the study, 31 had 
all-white juries and 38 had only 1 person of color on the jury.

Prosecutors have argued that using statistics is unfair because they are 
essentially penalized for what another prosecutor did in another part of the 
state. Supporters have argued that it would be impossible to prove that 
prosecutors intentionally pursued the death penalty in an inmate's specific 
case because of racial bias. Statewide statistics can be used to show a pattern 
of racial discrimination, they say.

Assistant District Attorney David Hall argued Thursday that state law and legal 
precedent required defendants to present facts proving racial bias in their own 
specific case.

"There's no allegation in decision-making, jury selection or trial of any 
racial discrimination against Carl Stephen Moseley," Hall said.

Paul Green, Moseley's attorney, said the act doesn't preclude defendants from 
using statistical evidence. And the law doesn't require defendants to prove 
racial discrimination in their specific case, he said.

Moseley's case was heard first. The judge's ruling applied also to Moses' case.

Republican legislators filed a bill that would have essentially repealed the 
law by requiring defendants and inmates to prove prosecutors intentionally used 
race to pursue or impose the death penalty. The bill stalled in the state 
Senate, and legislators have said they will take it up in the next session.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Death penalty possible in Santa Rosa killing


The stakes were raised Thursday against 4 men accused in last week's shooting 
death of a Santa Rosa man with the filing of special circumstance charges that 
turn their prosecution into a potential death-penalty case.

The 4 men would face death or life imprisonment without the possibility of 
parole if convicted of murder in the course of a robbery, as the case is 
currently charged, attorneys said.

The revision filed in court Thursday corrects an earlier clerical error, Deputy 
Sonoma County District Attorney Juliette Olson said. But it also makes the case 
more serious and gives leverage to authorities in turning any of the suspects 
against his co-defendants.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Cook said no decision had been made about 
which penalty prosecutors would seek.

“As you know this is still a continuing, rapidly evolving investigation,” she 
said. “We follow a death penalty protocol in the office on each case where 
capital charges are filed, so that takes some time to review the case and come 
up with a recommendation.”

Sonoma County Sheriff's Sgt. Carlos Basurto, who oversees violent crimes 
investigations, said the gunman in the case is believed to have been Fernando 
Lopez-Castillo, 25. He was arrested Wednesday at a Hayward motel where he and 
his girlfriend had stayed for several days.

Unlike the others, he is charged with use of a handgun in the case. He also was 
arrested on a weapons charge in 2008, Basurto said.

But the 4 men “were all equally culpable,” and arranged to buy marijuana from 
their victim knowing they intended to take it without paying, Basurto said.

(source: Press Democrat)






CONNECTICUT:

Conn. man convicted in deadly '07 home invasion


A man was convicted Thursday of murdering a woman and her 2 daughters in a 
gruesome 2007 home invasion in which family members were tied up, molested, 
doused in gas and left to die in a fire. He now faces a possible death 
sentence.

Joshua Komisarjevsky, whose accomplice is already on Connecticut's death row, 
stood and faced the jury as they declared him guilty of all 17 charges he 
faced, including capital felony killing, kidnapping and sexual assault. After 
the verdict was read he sat back in his chair, rocked slightly back and forth 
and glanced briefly at the jury.

The only survivor of the attack, Dr. William Petit, bit his lip at times and 
closed his eyes as the verdict was read.

The New Haven Superior Court jury deliberated for about 8 hours over 2 days 
before delivering a verdict and will later decide whether Komisarjevsky should 
be executed or sentenced to life in prison. The penalty phase, which is set for 
Oct. 24, will conclude the 2nd and final trial in a case that unsettled suburb 
dwellers across the country and bolstered efforts to retain the death penalty 
in Connecticut.

Komisarjevsky's co-defendant, Steven Hayes, was sentenced to death last year 
after he was convicted of raping and strangling Jennifer Hawke-Petit and 
killing her daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, who died of 
smoke inhalation.

The 2 paroled burglars spotted Hawke-Petit and her youngest daughter at a 
grocery store on July 22, 2007, and followed them back to the house where they 
beat Petit with a baseball bat and tied up his wife and daughters. The night of 
terror drew comparisons to Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," which documented 
the brutal murders of a farmer and members of his family.

Hayes forced Hawke-Petit to withdraw money from a bank before he raped and 
strangled her in the family's home.


The girls, who had pillowcases placed over their heads, died after the house 
was doused with gas and set on fire.

During more than 2 weeks of testimony, prosecutors played an audiotaped 
confession in which Komisarjevsky spoke matter-of-factly and laughed 
occasionally. He admitted beating Petit and molesting his younger daughter and 
taking photos of her, but insisted Hayes wanted to kill the family because he 
was worried about his DNA at the scene.

Prosecutor Gary Nicholson said in his closing argument that Komisarjevsky was 
motivated not just by money but by his interest in 11-year-old Michaela. He was 
charged with sexually assaulting her.

"Michaela Petit, he was interested in her from the moment he saw her," 
Nicholson said.

Komisarjevsky, 31, said Hayes poured the gas and lit the fire, but test results 
showed he had gas on his clothes. They also showed the girl he molested had 
bleach on her clothes, undermining his claim that only Hayes was worried about 
DNA.

Jurors saw grim evidence, including charred beds, rope used to tie up the 
family and autopsy photos. Gas was poured on Hayley's bed and on her sister, 
according to testimony. Jurors also heard testimony that Hayley likely took up 
to several minutes to die and it was unclear if burns found on her body 
occurred before or after she died.

William Petit left the courtroom for some parts of the testimony but took the 
stand to describe how he fell, crawled and rolled in his frantic escape to a 
neighbor's house to get help.

Jeremiah Donovan, Komisarjevsky's attorney, said his client admitted to 
molesting Michaela and assaulting her father, but he never intended to kill 
anyone. He played a part of Komisarjevsky's confession in which he claims he 
told Hayes, "No one is dying by my hand today."

Komisarjevsky was sexually abused as a child and suffered multiple concussions 
and later turned to drugs, Donovan said. A psychologist hired by the defense 
said that history increased his likelihood of criminal activity.

(source: Associated Press)

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Death Penalty Is A Fraud----Capital Punishment Doesn't Work; It Only Keeps 
Victims' Wounds Raw


On a summer night in 2007, Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes broke into the 
home of Dr. William Petit Jr. The doctor was beaten and his wife was raped and 
strangled. His two daughters died in a fire started just before the accomplices 
escaped.

Dr. Petit, the lone survivor, wants both men executed, and who can blame him?

Mr. Komisarjevsky has now been convicted of triple murder, arson and 1st-degree 
sexual assault and faces a possible death penalty. His accomplice is already on 
death row. Their crimes are so heinous that they have led many death penalty 
opponents to change their minds.

Because it's a hoax. Connecticut carries the ultimate punishment on its books, 
but won't carry it out unless the perpetrator insists on dying. The result is 
endless pain for the victims' families and huge court costs borne by the public 
as appeals drag on for decades. The only execution in this state in the last 
half-century was not a punishment, but an escape from punishment, closer to a 
suicide: Michael Ross, who had been on death row for 18 years, had to fight the 
courts to let him die in 2005. Half of the 10 men now on death row have been 
there at least a dozen years, some of them for 2 decades. Democratic 
legislators have tried repealing the death penalty, but the 2009 repeal bill 
was vetoed by then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell, and lawmakers haven't sent a bill to Gov. 
Dannel P. Malloy, though he's said he would sign it. The status quo may be 
convenient for the legislature because it placates those who support capital 
punishment while keeping lawmakers' hands clean. The problem is that it keeps 
victims' families in limbo. Relatives of murder victims told lawmakers this 
past spring that the death penalty doesn't prevent violence but does inflict 
pain — on them. There is no finality.

The legislature should repeal the death penalty and consign murderers like 
Joshua Komisarjevsky to life in prison without parole. That would be the 
greatest retribution. And it would allow families to heal.

(source: Editorial, Hartford Courant)