[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, OKLA., MONT., KY., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

April 30


TEXAS:

DA weighs death penalty in Padron case----Brandon Daniel, 24, charged with 
capital murder


More than 3 weeks after the murder of Senior Police Officer Jaime Padron, the 
accused remains in jail awaiting whether Travis County District Attorney 
Rosemary Lehmberg will seek the death penalty against him.

"You're not going to have a decision for a while," said Criminal Defense 
Attorney and KXAN News Legal Analyst Mindy Montford. "They want to know if they 
seek the death penalty, this is an air-tight case."

Montford spoke about what the District Attorney's Office is considering when it 
comes to deciding whether the death sentence will be pursued.

“It is an incredibly hard decision. It’s a huge case," said Montford. "All eyes 
are going to be on that office.”

In a county where the death penalty is rarely sought, Montford said officials 
will be weighing the community outrage over the officer's killing, the grand 
funeral procession, the arrangements and the amount of people moved over the 
entire incident in the community -- among many other things.

"It's going to be really hard to take a look back and say, 'We're not seeking 
the death penalty,'" said Montford.

And it's a big decision Lehmberg will first run through a committee of trusted 
advisors within her office who have been there for years -- people with 
differing views and some who even oppose the death penalty itself.

Steps before a decision is made

•Office will review all evidence

•Officials will talk to Austin Police Department thoroughly, including 
detectives who will explain all the evidence

•Authorities will talk to Padron's family, though that won't be the deciding 
factor. Montford said there have been cases, however, where families sometimes 
don't want to seek the death penalty but the DA's office goes ahead with 
pursuing it.

•DA's office will review previous cases where the death penalty has been 
sought, analyzing what the jury did.

And while there will be a big discussion surrounding whether or not the death 
penalty will be possible, Montford was quick to point out a key factor:

"At the end of the day, it will be her [Lehmberg's] decision alone," said 
Montford.

Capital murder suspect's court hearing

Expected to be in court Friday morning, Brandon Montgomery Daniel, 24, was not 
physically present for a hearing surrounding his February DWI charge. The DWI 
court hearing for Daniel has been reset for May 25 and will now include his 
capital murder charge.

He is accused of gunning down the 40-year-old officer at the Walmart off 
Interstate 35 near Parmer Lane.

6 days before a previous court hearing for that DWI charge was set, Daniel 
allegedly shot Padron inside that North Austin Walmart.

Daniel is charged with capital murder in the shooting death, and he is no 
stranger to law enforcement.

Records show that Daniel lived in an apartment complex at 3401 West Parmer Lane 
near the Walmart beginning in February 2011. Before that, he had several 
addresses in Colorado dating back to 2005. His Facebook page shows he attended 
Colorado State University in Fort Collins, and that he attended high school in 
Parker, Colo.

Several squad cars and a crime scene unit were at the North Austin complex on 
April 6. Neighbors interviewed said they did not know Daniel but some were 
unnerved about hearing of the events at Walmart.

Chief Art Acevedo said on the early morning of April 6 when he spoke to the 
media that he was pushing for the murder charge.

"We'll all work together to put together a case to present to a grand jury in 
this community and hopefully to a jury that will hold this person accountable 
for taking the life of an officer who was simply trying to do his job and 
keeping this community safe," said Acevedo.

If convicted of capital murder, Daniel could face the death penalty.

Meanwhile, Acevedo said he's sure Walmart surveillance cameras captured the 
incident unfolding.

"I'm confident we will have very dramatic video of this confrontation," he 
said.

That will be in addition to audio from Padron's dash cam recording device.

Padron had just more than 3 years on the force with APD. He was shot in the 
neck after Daniels allegedly immediately began fighting with him when Padron 
arrived on scene.

Padron was a father of 2 young daughters, ages 10 and 6. He leaves behind an 
ex-wife who lives in the area, parents and family in San Angelo.

Before serving on the force, Padron worked for Austin-Bergstrom International 
Airport police as part of the emergency management department that consolidated 
with APD in 2009. Before that, he was on the San Angelo Police Department for 
14 years.

A web page that honors law enforcement officers killed while doing their duty 
set up a memorial page for him just hours after the shooting.

(source: KXAN News)






OKLAHOMA----impending execution

Oklahoma anti-death penalty group to appeal to Gov. Mary Fallin to stop Selsor 
execution


Members of an anti-death penalty group plan to appeal to Gov. Mary Fallin to 
stop the scheduled execution of Oklahoma death row inmate Michael Selsor.

Attorney James T. Rowan, a member of the board of the Oklahoma Coalition to 
Abolish the Death Penalty, says the group plans to ask Fallin to stop Selsor's 
execution.

The 57-year-old Selsor is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday at the Oklahoma 
State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was twice convicted of 1st-degree murder 
and sentenced to die for the Sept. 15, 1975, shooting death of 55-year-old 
Tulsa convenience store Clayton Chandler during an armed robbery of the store.

Attorney James T. Rowan, a member of the board of the Oklahoma Coalition to 
Abolish the Death Penalty, says the group plans to ask Fallin to stop Selsor's 
execution.

Rowan says Selsor's 1st death penalty was commuted to life in prison and he 
believes it is unfair to sentence him to death a 2nd time.

(source: Associated Press)






MONTANA:

Doubts on death row: Another man says he was responsible for one of the Ronald 
Smith killings----March 5, 1997: A new book claims Smith was not responsible 
for one of the murders for which he is facing execution


An Albertan facing execution on Montana's death row for a double murder only 
killed 1 person, according to a new book.

But the district attorney in the 15-year-old case told the Herald he is 
confident that Ron smith is responsible for both killings.

A lawyer for Smith says the revelation does not help his client's case, but 
makes Smith's partner in crime culpable.

Smith, now 39, formerly of Red Deer, was sentenced to death after admitting to 
the 1982 shootings of Thomas Running Rabbit Jr., 20, and Harvey Mad Man Jr., 
23, near Browning, Mont.

His partner, Rodney Munro, who is serving 60 years for his role in the crimes, 
says in fact he killed one of the 1 men.

``Both of them had a bullet in the head and one was stabbed. I was the stabber. 
The one who was stabbed, in my opinion, was basically dead before he was 
shot,'' Munro says in the forthcoming book, In the Words of the Offender, by 
Edmonton author Peter Tadman.

``It's his story and it seems to me he has nothing to gain by admitting to a 
murder,'' Tadman told the Herald Tuesday.

Tadman, a former journalist on leave from his communications post with Alberta 
Justice, entered Canadian prisons to interview inmates in an examination of the 
corrections system.

Tadman says Munro volunteered his tape-recorded statement. ``It could have been 
a cleansing of his conscience. If what Munro says is true and accurate, he's 
had to live half his life as a lie.''

Munro was present for the 1982 murders. In 1983 he was returned to Canada under 
an extradition treaty with the U.S. to serve 60 years for kidnapping and 
weapons offences stemming from the crimes. He is jailed at the federal prison 
in Abbotsford, B.C.

Don Vernay, one of Smith's lawyers, cannot fathom why Munro would make the 
admission.

``Maybe he felt bad for Ron losing an appeal,'' Vernay says.

Flathead County prosecutor Tom Esch, who has spent years trying to have Smith's 
death sentence by lethal injection carried out, puts little stock in Munro's 
claim.

``Munro can say anything he wants now,'' says Esch, because Munro has already 
been prosecuted and cannot be tried again for the crimes. ``He has nothing to 
lose by coming up with this statement.''

Esch says Smith has given several different versions of the murders and Munro, 
in a 1995 deposition, gave another similar to what he told Tadman. And Munro's 
claim does not fit with the physical evidence and the way the bodies were 
found, says Esch.

Smith, Munro and a friend left Alberta and were hitchhiking near Browning, in 
August 1982, when Running Rabbit and Madman offered them a ride.

After driving about 20 minutes, Running Rabbit and Madman left the car to 
relieve themselves in a remote part of the mountainous Marias Pass.

When the cousins returned to the car, Smith produced a sawed-off single-shot 
.22 rifle and Munro pulled a knife.

Munro and Smith marched the pair into the bush, just inside the southern tip of 
Glacier National Park. Without a word, Smith shot Madman in the back of the 
head at point-blank range. Smith then threatened to kill Munro if he didn't 
stab Running Rabbit.

Munro gave Running Rabbit a side wound while Smith reloaded his gun, stepped 
forward and shot the writhing Running Rabbit in the temple.

``If what Munro says was true and it was proved, I would hope he would get the 
same sentences as Ron Smith,'' David Running Rabbit, brother of Thomas and 
cousin of Harvey, told the Herald.

But it would change nothing for the families of the victims. ``There's still 
the fact of 2 people dead and we're still suffering the effects of it.''

Smith is seeking to appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Other appeal avenues are still pending. ``He's got many options,'' says Esch.

Ron Smith's Legal Odyssey

Aug. 4, 1982 - Smith shoots to death Harvey Mad Man Jr., 24, and Thomas Running 
Rabbit, 20, cousins from Browning near East Glacier Park, after they gave Smith 
and two other hitchhikers a lift.

May 9, 1983 - Smith, who asked for death penalty, is sentenced to die.

April 2, 1984 - Smith changes his mind and appeals his death sentence.

September 1985 - Montana Supreme Court rejects Smith's appeal and he is 
sentenced to die by lethal injection.

November 1985 -- Smith launches another appeal and it is rejected.

April 1986 - Smith files another appeal with Montana's Supreme Court and wins a 
4th stay of execution. It is later overturned, a new death date is set and 
Smith wins another appeal.

January 1992 -- Smith's death sentence is struck down and he is to be 
resentenced.

March 1992-- Smith is again sentenced to die and launches new round of appeals.

November 1993 - The Montana Supreme Court overturns Smith's death sentence.

October 1994 - Smith is to be resentenced in 1995.

October 1995 -- A Montana judge orders Smith be executed. Sentence is 
automatically reviewed by Montana Supreme Court.

November 1996 - Montana Supreme Court hears another appeal of Smith's death 
sentence and upholds the sentence.

1997 - Smith is seeking to appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(source: The Calgary Herald)






KENTUCKY:

Jury Deliberating Sentence for Convicted Murderer


A jury is now deliberating the sentence for a man convicted of murdering his 
niece and her husband.

Deliberations got underway about 10:30 Monday morning in Floyd County.

The same jury found Berry Hall guilty last week of murder with mental illness 
in the shooting deaths of his niece Lisa Tackett and her husband Alan. Both 
were gunned down outside of their home in 2008 after a long-running family 
feud.

Hall faces anywhere from 20 years in prison to the death penalty.

(source: WSAZ News)






CALIFORNIA:

State is ready for death penalty debate


Californians will have the opportunity to weigh in on the death penalty in 
November, and it's a decision long overdue.

If voters agree, the measure would add California to the list of states that 
have banned the death penalty -- 17 already prohibit it. 4 U.S. states have 
taken that step over the past 5 years, and Connecticut is about to join them.

The campaign will come down to economics and emotion, as well as perceptions of 
justice, deterrence and closure.

The measure would replace lethal injection with a maximum sentence of life 
behind bars without parole. Backed by a coalition that includes the American 
Civil Liberties Union and several law enforcement and victims rights groups, 
the initiative would affect death-row inmates currently awaiting execution.

The arguments are compelling on both sides. Capital punishment, in effect in 
California since 1978, costs the state $100 million a year, but executions are 
rare, thanks to a byzantine appeals process that subjects the loved ones of 
murder victims to ongoing anguish. But proponents of the death penalty say it 
serves as a deterrent against crime and exacts the kind of justice that 
survivors need and deserve.

Proponents of the ban have worked long and hard to reach this place. Almost 
800,000 petition signatures were submitted to state officials earlier this 
year, far exceeding the number required. A random signature check projected 
that more than 555,000 of those signatures were valid.

And so in earnest begins the debate: Should California demand an eye for eye, 
or something more attuned to the reality of present-day crime and punishment? 
Voters will decide.

(source: Bakersfield.com)