[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, USA, PENN., N.MEX.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 3



OHIO----impending execution stayed until 2013

3rd Ohio execution postponed in 2 months with lawsuit pending over death 
penalty procedure


Gov. John Kasich announced Friday he was postponing the Sept. 20 execution of a 
man sentenced to die for the stabbing death of a Cleveland woman, while a 
lawsuit over the state's death penalty procedure is pending in federal court.

The delay of Billy Slagle's execution until Aug. 7, 2013, marked the 3rd time 
in the last 2 months a condemned Ohio inmate has received a temporary reprieve.

Kasich's office collaborated with the Ohio prisons department on the decision, 
said Scott Milburn, Kasich's communications director.

Kasich's announcement came one day after the Ohio Parole Board recommended 
against mercy for Slagle, who was convicted of stabbing neighbor Mari Anne Pope 
17 times during a burglary in 1986.

"We appreciate that the Department of Corrections and Governor Kasich recognize 
the serious problems with Ohio execution procedures cannot be easily or quickly 
fixed," said Vicki Werneke, a federal public defender who represents Slagle.

U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost had planned a Sept. 13 hearing on 
Slagle's request for a delay while Frost considers arguments that the state's 
execution policies are haphazard and applied inconsistently.

Following Kasich's announcement, Slagle's attorneys withdrew their request for 
a delay.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason criticized the governor's decision.

"This twisted psychopath should have been executed 15 years ago," Mason said. 
"With all due respect to the governor, the biggest criticism of capital 
punishment in Ohio is the unnecessary delays."

Slagle's attorneys say mercy is justified for Slagle because he was a chronic 
alcoholic with a chaotic upbringing who was only 18 at the time of the slaying, 
the minimum age to receive the death penalty in Ohio.

In July, Frost ripped the state's execution procedures, calling it nonsense and 
embarrassing that Ohio fails to follow its own policies in carrying out 
executions.

Last month, Ohio submitted updated policies that require strict adherence to 
the rules and a post-execution review of procedures.

In explaining Friday's decision, Kasich's office said in a news release that 
the prisons department continues to train its employees on revised execution 
procedures.

Frost's order delayed the execution of Kenneth Smith, who was scheduled to die 
July 19 for the slayings of husband and wife Lewis and Ruth Ray in their 
Hamilton home during a 1995 robbery. Smith's execution has not been 
rescheduled.

Following Frost's ruling, Kasich then delayed the scheduled Aug. 16 execution 
of 37-year-old Brett Hartman until Nov. 13, 2012. Hartman was sentenced to 
death for the death of 46-year-old Winda Snipes. She was stabbed more than 100 
times, then had her hands cut off.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Gov. Kasich delays by nearly two years upcoming execution of Cleveland killer 
Billy Slagle


Gov. John Kasich on Friday delayed the execution of Cleveland killer Billy 
Slagle by nearly 2 years as the state continues efforts to tighten up its 
capital punishment procedures.

Slagle's was the 3rd delayed execution since a July federal court ruling caused 
the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to revise its execution 
protocols.

Slagle was scheduled to die on Sept. 20. His new execution date will be Aug. 7, 
2013. The state is scheduled to execute 11 men before Slagle's new date.

His execution was delayed because the state is continuing its training under 
the new rules, according to a statement from the governor's office.

The Ohio Parole Board on Thursday unanimously recommended that Kasich deny 
Slagle's request for clemency due to the brutality of his crime.

Slagle was 18 when he broke into his neighbor Mari Anne Pope's house looking 
for money to buy alcohol in the early morning hours of Aug. 13, 1987.

He ended up stabbing her 17 times with a pair of sewing scissors he found in 
the house. Two child witnesses heard Pope, 40, praying before the attack. 
Police later found a broken rosary near her body.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason, whose office argued against Slagle's 
clemency request at a recent parole board meeting, said the delay is 
outrageous.

"The victim's family has been waiting 24 years for this execution," Mason said 
in a statement. "This twisted psychopath should have been executed 15 years 
ago. With all due respect to the governor, the biggest criticism of capital 
punishment in Ohio is the unnecessary delays."

U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost issued an injunction on July 8 halting the 
execution of Kenneth Smith. Frost also criticized the state's execution 
procedures, causing the corrections department to revise its practices.

Correction department spokesman Carlo LoParo said the state will resume its 
execution schedule as soon as the new policies are fully implemented.

Of Mason's criticism, LoParo said: "I'm certain he'd agree this is not a 
process we should rush."

Slagle also has an appeal before Frost. A hearing is scheduled for Sept. 13, 
one week before his original execution date.

Smith, whose execution Frost halted in July, remains on death row. A new date 
for his execution has not been set.

Brett Hartman is another death row inmate whose execution has been delayed. 
Originally set for Aug. 16, Hartman is now scheduled to die on Nov. 13, 2012.

(source: The Plain Dealer)






USA:

Does America Execute Innocent Americans? - And Response


I received notice from Amnesty International that the state of Georgia is due 
to set another execution date for a possible innocent man by the name of Troy 
Davis. Over the years evidence has pretty much proven Mr. Davis is likely 
innocent. After reading the notice from Amnesty International I decided to do 
some research on states that carry out executions. All of them have carried out 
questionable executions, even the state of Tennessee, where there's strong 
evidence or outright proof the individual executed was likely innocent.

Cameron Todd Willingham and Reuben Cantu come to mind. Mr. Willingham was 
executed on Feb. 17, 2004, for the death of his three daughters in 1991. These 
are the last words of Mr. Willingham before his execution: “The only statement 
I want to make is that I am an innocent man—convicted of a crime I did not 
commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do.”

Mr. Cantu was convicted of murder at the age of 17. There was strong evidence 
even before his execution as well that he was innocent. It's believed that 
police out for revenge over an earlier incident where a case was dismissed 
against Mr. Cantu set out to frame him. After Mr. Cantu's conviction this is 
what he said in a letter: "My name is Ruben M. Cantu and I am only 18 years 
old. I got to the 9th grade and I have been framed in a capital murder case." 
The lone eyewitness and a survivor of the crime Mr. Cantu was charged later 
stated he was sure that the person who shot him was not Cantu, but he felt 
pressured by police to identify the boy as the killer.

State after state, where there's a death penalty in place and people have been 
executed, there's also evidence that innocent lives have been taken. To appease 
the living? It certainly does nothing to help the deceased.

For a society that believes strongly in an afterlife by executing a possibly 
innocent person, which equates to actually committing another murder in honor, 
memory and to avenge someone, it would seem you're actually condemning the soul 
of that individual you wish to avenge to even more suffering in that afterlife? 
Their spirit caught in limbo, unable to move on to that higher realm or plain.

Does America execute innocent Americans, even as it promotes itself as the 
guardians of human rights around the world? It would seem so. Will Georgia 
execute an innocent man? If only for the sake and peace of the soul that has 
already gone, hopefully not.

Brenda Manghane~Washington

* * *

Of course, America executes innocent people. They always have and most likely 
always will. This is why I'm against the death penalty.

I do staunchly support life without parole. I've seen cases when DNA evidence 
proves someone's innocence, yet the prosecutor and the investigators still 
insist they are guilty. I guess it's easier to kill someone than to admit you 
were wrong.

Ronnie Land

(source: Letters to the Editor, The Chattanoogan)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Defense fights possible death penalty in Pa. case


Attorneys for a man charged in a Christmas Eve shooting in eastern Pennsylvania 
that killed a woman and left her nephew wounded say their client's low IQ would 
bar his execution even if he is convicted of 1st-degree murder.

Authorities allege that 46-year-old John McGlinchey III shot 43-year-old Kimiko 
Moon and her 17-year-old nephew on December 24 in Easton. Moon died from her 
wounds 11 days later.

Defense attorneys told Northampton County Judge Michael Koury Jr. on Friday 
that their client's IQ is below 75, so their client cannot be executed under a 
2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that executing mentally disabled defendants 
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. The judge in July rejected defense 
claims that authorities hadn't produced evidence of aggravating factors to 
support seeking the death sentence. (source: Associated Press)

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

Slain Woman's Family Releases Statement On Warrant For Execution


The family of Ella Brown released a statement after Gov. Tom Corbett signed a 
warrant for the man of killing her to be executed. The letter reads as follows:

"As you may or may not know, this is the first time that our family has opted 
to address this in a public manner.

"It's time.

"It's time to say thank you to Govenor Corbett for doing the right thing and 
signing the execution warrant for Daniel Crispell. You're giving us hope for 
closure, healing, and justice.

"We all wish to elimate the constant hearings that tear open old wounds each 
time causing you to re-live the same old hurts. It's time to say thank you to 
all of the people who have been there to help and support our family through 
such tragic circumstances.

"We have truly seen the best of humanity when we were forced to deal with the 
worst.

"We do not view the death penalty as vengence, but as justice. We are not 
looking to inflict suffering, just to find peace knowing this has ended.

"Regardless of how this unfolds, no one and nothing can make up for weddings 
without your mother, the birth of a child without his or her grandmother, and 
the day to day life without your wife.

"We wanted to take this opportunity to say to all of those who knew my mom, 
remember her and all the wonderful things about her. That way, she is never 
truly lost to us.

"We wanted to make sure to give special thanks to the Witness Victim Program. 
Thank you to the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, and the Clearfield 
County District Attorney's office."

(source: WJAC TV News)






NEW MEXICO:

State Supreme Court: Astorga Death Penalty Case To Go On


A jury can consider the death penalty for an Albuquerque man convicted of 
murdering a Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy in 2006 despite the state’s 2009 
repeal of capital punishment, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The state’s highest court issued the ruling after hearing arguments from a 
defense attorney for Michael Astorga about whether the death penalty should 
even be considered since state lawmakers voted to repeal it.

Sentencing for Astorga was scheduled to begin Sept. 12. Jurors will have to 
decide whether to impose the death penalty or life in prison for Astorga, who 
was convicted in the 2006 killing of Deputy James McGrane Jr.

The state’s death penalty repeal took effect on July 1, 2009, and applied to 
crimes committed after that date. Astorga was convicted in the slaying nearly a 
year after the repeal took effect.

The Supreme Court ruled that defense attorney Gary Mitchell cannot call in 
experts or legislators to testify about the repeal during sentencing. But the 
high court said it would allow the trial judge to give the jury instructions 
and to be notified that lawmakers voted on the repeal.

“We are the only state that is facing this problem,” Mitchell told justices, 
referring to confusion about whether Astorga could be sentenced to death. “When 
the people change what the state can ask for, the state can no longer ask for 
it.”

Prosecutors said the repeal was irrelevant in the Astorga case.

“At some point, we have to recognize that we have to have a final judgment,” 
said Victoria Wilson, a prosecutor with Attorney General Gary King’s office. “A 
jury has already found (Astorga) guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”

New Mexico Supreme Court justices did rule that defense attorneys could present 
new evidence during sentencing but couldn’t change their theory concerning 
Astorga’s innocence.

Mitchell had told justices that he had planned on introducing new DNA evidence 
and eyewitness testimony that would cast doubt on Astorga’s conviction.

“There’s no DNA evidence that puts him at the scene of the crime,” Mitchell 
told justices.

New Mexico has executed 1 person since 1960, child killer Terry Clark in 2001. 
2 men remain on death row, and then-Gov. Bill Richardson declined to commute 
their sentences after he signed the death penalty repeal.

(source: Albuquerque Journal)