[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., MO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 21


TEXAS:

Prosecutors urge death for cop-killer Buntion


Prosecutors told jurors Tuesday that "career criminal" Carl Wayne Buntion 
should be sentenced to death for fatally shooting a Houston police officer more 
than 20 years ago.

"He said, 'If the police ever pull me over, I'm going to kill the officer,' 
because he wasn't going back to prison," Assistant District Attorney Lance Long 
told jurors in Buntion's capital murder retrial.

Defense lawyers, meanwhile, urged the jury to spare Buntion's life, saying his 
behavior in prison had been exemplary.

Long recited a litany of Buntion's convictions beginning in 1961 including 
assaults, burglaries and a sexual assault. He calculated how much time Buntion, 
68, had served in prison and the total duration of his sentences.

"All together, he was sentenced to 105 years in prison," Long said. "But he was 
out and able to shoot Jim Irby."

Irby was a Houston police motorcycle officer who pulled over a car in which 
Buntion was a passenger on June 27, 1990.

More than a dozen HPD officers and Irby's widow and children listened to Long's 
opening arguments. He described Buntion slipping out of the car, slinking 
alongside it and then pointing his weapon across the trunk at Irby, who was on 
the other side of the vehicle.

He said Buntion shot the officer in the left temple, through his motorcycle 
helmet. Irby had pulled his weapon, but did not get a shot off.

Long said Buntion, then a career criminal in his late 40's wearing a cap that 
read, "Payback is a bitch," stood over the body and shot the officer in the 
back twice more. Defense lawyers, however, said all the shots were fired from 
the opposite side of the car.

Long said Buntion then went on a rampage, shooting into a car and striking a 
woman who had witnessed the shooting in the shoulder.

Buntion shot at another car, then at a security officer responding on foot to 
the sounds of shots. He fled to an office and was there alone when he was 
arrested without a fight.

One bullet remained in the gun.

Buntion's attorneys disagreed little with the narrative, but said Buntion, who 
has spent more than 20 years on death row, should be spared.

"He's 68 years old. He's been on death row for 22 years, and not one single bad 
act," said attorney Philip Scardino.

Scardino argued there are many ways for prisoners, even on death row, to commit 
violence against guards.

"Him?" the attorney said pointing to the pale man with long white hair combed 
straight back. "Not one single bad act."

Prosecutors will have to prove several issues including that Buntion will 
probably commit violent criminal acts and be a continuing threat to society.

Scardino said Buntion is no longer dangerous.

The capital murder retrial, in state District Judge David Mendoza's court, is 
expected to take about three weeks.

Buntion was eligible for a new punishment phase after an appeals court reversed 
the punishment because the original juries were not able to properly consider 
defense evidence.

(source: Houston Chronicle)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Death row inmate freed by DNA test plans to talk here


Kirk Bloodsworth spent nearly 9 years behind bars, including time on death row, 
before DNA results exonerated him of rape and murder in 1993.

Kirk Bloodsworth, who in 1993 became the 1st death row inmate freed from prison 
on DNA evidence, will speak about his experience and the danger of executions 
in a flawed justice system at 2 p.m. Sunday at Mt. Lebanon United Methodist 
Church.

Mr. Bloodsworth, a fisherman and former Marine, was sentenced to death in 1985, 
when he was 24, for the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Maryland. His 
original conviction was overturned in 1986 because prosecutors had withheld 
evidence that could have helped his case. He was then retried, convicted and 
given two life sentences on the basis of mistaken witness testimony and what 
his advocates described as "junk science."

In 1992, Centurion Ministries -- which assists those who may have been wrongly 
convicted -- helped him obtain court-ordered DNA testing. It showed he couldn't 
have committed the crime. He was released in 1993 and pardoned in 1994.

A decade after his release, a forensic biologist again used DNA evidence to 
identify the real killer -- a convicted rapist who had served time alongside 
Mr. Bloodsworth. Since his release Mr. Bloodsworth has been an activist against 
the death penalty. More than 130 death row inmates have been freed by DNA 
evidence.

His visit is sponsored by Pittsburgh Faith in Action Against the Death Penalty, 
a coalition of Catholic, Protestant and Jewish organizations working for a 
death penalty moratorium in Pennsylvania.

"We've done a lot in the city of Pittsburgh, but this is the 1st time we've 
broken into the suburbs," said Dorothy Miller, a Saint Paul Cathedral 
representative to Pittsburgh Faith in Action. The group is an independent 
offshoot of Amnesty International, having broken away in 2007 after Amnesty 
began advocating for abortion rights.

Polls from Pew and Gallup indicate that opponents of the death penalty remain a 
minority, but that their percentage has doubled to about one-third since 1985. 
Other pollsters have found that a majority of respondents will oppose the death 
penalty when presented with such clear alternatives as life in prison without 
parole.

It's not an easy topic to address with churches, even though many of them 
officially oppose capital punishment, but it's getting easier, Ms. Miller said.

"We find it hard going. A lot of people just ignore their own church's teaching 
on it," she said. "But we find that we are making real headway slowly. Probably 
the most important thing to people who change their mind is the danger of 
executing an innocent person."

(source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)






MISSOURI:

Wrongly Convicted Inmate Wants To Get Rid Of Death Penalty


A man who spent 18 years on death row for a murder he did not commit was in St. 
Louis Monday night. He says it`s time to get rid of the death penalty, and he 
has a surprising ally in Missouri.

'17 years, 8 months and one day,' said Juan Roberto Melendez. He can rattle off 
the dates and times without even thinking. 'Monday May 2, 1984 was the day I 
was arrested.'

November 2, 1984 was the day he was convicted.

Monday night he walked freely through the halls of the Millennium Student 
Center on the University of Missouri St. Louis campus. For so many days, he 
couldn`t.

'I was innocent,' he said. 'It`s like a bad nightmare. And you can never wake 
up.'

'I always tell God, `It took too long, God`. 17 years, 8 months and 1 day.'

After 18 years on Florida`s death row, for a murder he didn`t commit, he was 
released in 2002. He said he doesn`t have anger at God. He is angry with the 
system. And it`s a system that`s allowed Missouri to make mistakes, too.

St. Louis native Darryl Burton was released from prison in 2008, after serving 
24 years of a life sentence for murder. He was innocent. So was Josh Kezer, 
released in 2009 after 16 years. They were not on death row, but their wrongful 
convictions are haunting enough for a republican lawmaker to make history. For 
the 1st time in Missouri, a republican is the main sponsor of a bill that would 
abolish the death penalty. Representative Mike McGhee of Odessa, Missouri is 
sponsoring House bill 1520.

'If I`m really a pro-life guy, am I really a pro-life guy? Is that all life or 
just what`s convenient? A baby`s life? Isn`t everybody`s life what I should be 
caring about?' asked McGhee. 'And I think I should. I think I should be feeling 
that way.'

They`ve never met, but Melendez is a sudden fan of McGhee`s. 'To me this is 
personal. We need more people that can think like that,' said Melendez.

He agrees with another of the lawmaker`s arguments, too: that the death penalty 
doesn`t make financial sense, either.

'The state can`t afford to do this anymore,' said McGhee. 'It`s cheaper to keep 
them locked up, throw away the key, than to end up trying to put them to 
death.'

'And many times, we`ll spend 700 thousand dollars per inmate and still never 
put them to death.'

'I struggle with someone who`s taken the life of somebody`s mother or child or 
something like that, I truly struggle with what should be done with these 
horrible people,' he said, 'but then some of them are found to be innocent and, 
boy, I`d hate to think we`d put somebody to death that really hadn`t committed 
one of these horrible crimes.'

Melendez has been free for 10 years. He now travels the country telling his 
story.

'We can never release an innocent man from the grave,' he said. 'God only knows 
how many people didn`t have the luck I have had.'

Representative McGhee says his legislation probably doesn`t have much chance of 
passing this year, but he hopes he`s planting a seed for the future.

(source: FOX2now.com)






USA:

Pro/Con: Should America use the death penalty?


PRO:

Man kills your mother? Watch that punk fry! The death penalty should totally be 
enforced in the fine state of Michigan. If those convicts continue their meager 
existence, they may as well have gotten away with murder, rape, and the like. 
Also, if we let them continue breathing, we have to use our hard-earned tax 
money to support them. Major criminals also get to live a full, stable life in 
prison for their crimes. Do you want them to live long, happy lives because 
they killed/raped someone you know? I doubt it.

People go to prison for selling drugs and violating probation and are treated 
as such, so why should murderers and rapists be allowed the same easy lifestyle 
as these lesser criminals? Prison may not be the most fun place to be, but 
someone who kills people or ruins lives should not be allowed to get the same 
punishment as small-time crooks. A popular phrase for how I view this topic 
would be, “an eye for an eye,” meaning that murderers should be killed in 
return. They would still get off easy considering the death penalty is humane 
and most murders are not. Don’t let these serious criminals get off easy.

Kill your wife? Set for life! When these guys continue living, they drain our 
taxes. That money could be put into social programs or used to pay off war 
debts, but instead it is supporting convicts who don’t even deserve to live. We 
are indirectly buying these criminals 3 square meals per day, healthcare, 
recreational activities, and a place to live. Many Americans don’t even have 
these themselves, so why should they pay to give them to convicts? I don’t 
believe they should. Why should a major criminal get everything handed to them 
because they did something wrong? They shouldn’t and they wouldn’t if we put 
them to death.

The death penalty does more good than harm and many places utilize it. They use 
the death penalty in Texas, saying,” We have it and we use it. If you come to 
Texas and kill somebody, we will kill you back.” We are proud of our death 
penalty in the United States, but Michigan hasn’t utilized it yet. Worldwide, 
the United States was ranked 5th for amount of executions in 2010. We had 
killed 46 people that year. That seems like a lot of people until you realize 
that is 1 person per 15 million. That many people being executed justifies the 
fact that our violent crime rates are low compared to other parts of the world. 
Why would people commit major crimes if they thought they would get killed for 
it?

The death penalty is definitely a positive idea. Morals should not defend 
prisoners who should be dead. Their deaths would help our economy and give 
victims and their families the justice they feel necessary. I wouldn’t want the 
person who raped and killed my mother to be living a stable life in prison. 
Would you?

CON:

Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the sentence of death 
upon a person by the state as a punishment for a crime. Over 50 nations and 
over 90 countries actively practice it but around the world. I believe if you 
do the crime then you should do the time. But overall although criminals shall 
do their time, the death penalty shouldn’t be allowed. No one should die, 
taking someone’s life is too much for one person as well as their family, and 
everyone deserves a second chance.

In the United States of America, it is our duty to protect our people and make 
sure no one kills anyone. When someone gets killed, we should be encouraging 
our people that violence isn’t the way and that we shouldn’t be trying to kill 
the next person. It’s not worth killing our people when instead they should 
serve time behind bars if they committed a crime to hopefully learn their 
lesson, which most people end up doing when they spend time behind bars.

Putting death upon someone can hurt yourself as well as others. Imagine that 
somebody murdered one of your family members in cold blood: would you want 
revenge? Although many people would say yes, including student Jeankeva 
Jackson, most people will say it’s best if the criminal be punished rather than 
go out and get revenge with others because what will that solve? Nothing! Most 
people already blame the world for most of their problems, so why add on to it?

Everybody makes mistakes and should at least deserve a second chance. Giving 
second chances to someone can help better their life and others even if they 
did happen to murder someone. Most people end up learning from their mistake 
and sometimes even changing their whole life around, except if you are just a 
cold hearted person, it can be different. It’s also not fair for someone such 
as the president, a judge, or perhaps a student to determine whether or not if 
a person should live or not, it’s only Gods decision.

So is giving the death penalty to someone a good idea? No because not only are 
you hurting others, but it will just be a way of saying people can go out and 
get revenge. The death penalty shouldn’t be used in America because in most 
cases it’s not fair as well not right. And besides, the death penalty is like 
torturing someone and last time I checked, torturing someone in our country was 
ILLEGAL.

(source: Diamon Doss and Dan Pauley, hsj.org)