[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., OHIO, MO., COLO., UTAH, ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 4



FLORIDA----impending execution

Florida Supreme Court denies stay of execution; Banks scheduled to die Nov. 13


The Florida Supreme Court has denied a stay of execution for a man convicted of 
murdering his wife and step-daughter in their Florida Panhandle home.

The court released its decision Monday, meaning 43-year-old Chadwick Banks 
remains scheduled to die Nov. 13.

Authorities say Banks' wife, Cassandra, was sleeping in the early morning hours 
of Sept. 24, 1992, when Banks shot her in the head. He then went to the room of 
his 10-year-old step-daughter, Melody Cooper, and raped her. Banks then forced 
the girl to kneel facing her bed and fatally shot her in the head.

Banks did not contest his guilt of the murders. A Gadsden County jury convicted 
him of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count of sexual battery on a child. 
The panel then recommended a death sentence by a 9-3 vote.

(source: Associated Press)






ALABAMA:

Man facing death penalty due for pretrial hearing


A Lauderdale County man accused in a brutal attack 2 years ago is due in court 
Tuesday for a pretrial hearing.

Shannon Brewer is facing the death penalty, accused of stabbing Mark Dishon to 
death and badly injuring Sandra Sikes.

He and his brother, Jerry, fled the Shoals, leading to a massive manhunt before 
they were captured in Florida about a day later.

Jerry Brewer pled guilty to hindering prosecution and theft last month.

Shannon Brewer's trial is expected to start in 2 weeks.

(source: WAFF News)






OHIO:

Woman says fellow jurors pressured her into agreeing to death sentence for man 
who killed couple----"I had one juror get in my face saying, 'I can't believe 
you wouldn't give this kid the death penalty. What's wrong with you; 
something's wrong with you.'"


A juror who agreed that Shawn Ford Jr. should be executed for the killing of a 
New Franklin woman now says others on the panel intimidated her over 2 days of 
contentious deliberations and she never believed a death sentence was 
warranted. The juror, a 32-year-old Silver Lake resident, said she was the lone 
holdout for a life prison sentence for Ford.

In an interview Sunday evening, the woman, who requested she not be named to 
protect her privacy, said she relented and signed the death sentence penalty 
verdict in order to end what she described as bullying from other jurors during 
their closed-door deliberations that ended Friday afternoon.

Ford, 20, has yet to be formally sentenced by Summit County Common Pleas Judge 
Tom Parker for the killing of Jeffrey and Margaret Schobert. No date has been 
set.

The juror said she intends to speak to Ford's defense attorneys, perhaps as 
soon as Monday, to help them overturn the jury's death sentence.

"I didn't want the death penalty at all," she said. "I fought for hours. I had 
1 juror get in my face saying, 'I can't believe you wouldn't give this kid the 
death penalty. What's wrong with you; something's wrong with you.'

"Yes, [I was intimidated]. It was rough. It was hard. And I'm still not at 
peace that a death sentence was handed down ... I don't feel a death sentence 
is right for Shawn. He needs help, not a needle in the arm."

Other jurors could not be reached for comment. They declined to speak Friday 
when leaving the courthouse. A gag order bars comments from attorneys on either 
side.

When contacted Sunday, Assistant County Prosecutor Brad Gessner cited the gag 
order in declining comment.

The woman said she was the only person to vote against death for Ford for the 
slaying of Jeffrey Schobert. The panel eventually settled on life with no 
parole.

When it came to voting on a sentence for Margaret Schobert, the pressure from 
others to vote for a death sentence intensified, she said.

She said the jury didn't sign its verdict forms until the very end, when she 
relented and signed for a death sentence for Margaret Schobert's slaying while 
the others conceded to a life sentence with no parole for Jeffrey Schobert's 
death.

She recalls being the last to sign for the death sentence.

"I sat there and just cried, and I held the [verdict form] for like 20 
minutes," she said. "I didn't want to sign it, and I think now I'm going to 
have to live with that guilt ... I don't feel it was the right thing to do."

That feeling carried over into the courtroom where she, as juror No. 1, took 
the 1st seat before their verdict was shared publicly. She appeared to be 
fighting tears as soon as she sat and waited for Parker to read the verdicts.

She said she considered changing her vote as the judge formally polled the jury 
to confirm their verdicts.

"I hesitated to say yes," she said. "I wanted to say no, but I couldn't. I was 
looking down. I was shaking. I couldn't even control myself. But I said yes."

Asked why she surrendered her position in favor of the other jurors, she said: 
"Because of how awful they were."

She said deliberations during the 1st phase of the trial, when the jury voted 
to convict Ford, was swift. She said most were convinced of Ford's guilt and 
had no interest in deliberating. The same haste followed into the sentencing 
deliberations, she said, especially when she was not agreeing with the others 
who wanted Ford put on death row.

"They were screaming at me. It wasn't pleasant behind the scenes with these 
people," she said.

The juror said fellow panelists "hated" Ford for what he did the morning of 
April 2, 2013: bludgeoning Jeff Schobert with a sledgehammer while the 
prominent attorney slept inside his New Franklin house, then luring Margaret 
Schobert home and doing the same to her.

The juror said some others on the panel argued for death and even expressed 
concern that Ford, if given life in prison, could one day escape. One juror, 
she said, cited Chardon school shooter T.J. Lane and his recent escape as an 
example.

Others on the panel were so disgusted by Ford's actions that they felt death 
row - and its 23 hours of daily isolation - was the only appropriate sentence, 
she recalled.

"Life in prison seems just like death to me," said the juror. "My gosh, life in 
prison without the possibility of parole, that's like a death sentence to me. 
We're not putting him back out on the streets; we're still protecting people's 
safety. I, for sure, didn't want him back out on the streets.

"I don't condone what he did. It was terrible. But I felt, 'What's the point of 
putting another body in a body bag?"

The Silver Lake woman said she considered life in prison more appropriate 
because of Ford's age and his upbringing in a poor, Akron neighborhood without 
his birth father. She also feels a death sentence should be reserved for serial 
killers or those who kill children.

Further, she said, testimony showed that the Schoberts tried to embrace Ford, 
despite his shortcomings, when he was dating their daughter, Chelsea. Based on 
the couple's kindness, she said she doesn't believe the Schoberts would want 
Ford killed.

"Yes, [at first] I thought the Schoberts would have wanted him killed. But in 
the long run, I think, seeing how nice these people were, I don't think they 
would want him to die," she said.

After the verdicts were read and the courtroom cleared, the juror said she 
found herself back with the others in their deliberation room. She said some 
hugged and others laughed while she wept looking out a window.

"I was furious with them at the end. I couldn't even look at them in the eyes. 
I wanted to get the hell out of there," she said. "I didn't say a word to 
anyone. I flung my juror [badge] on the table. One lady who works for the judge 
said, 'It's OK.'

"And I said, 'No, it's not OK.' I said, 'We're putting another body in a body 
bag.'"

(source: Akron Beacon Journal)






MISSOURI----death row inmate dies

Missouri courthouse killer dies in prison


A 75-year-old man who was sentenced to death for killing his wife in a 1992 
shooting rampage at the St. Louis County Courthouse has died in prison, the 
Missouri Department of Corrections said Monday.

Kenneth Baumruk died late Friday at the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral 
Point of apparent natural causes, the agency said. He was the oldest inmate on 
Missouri's death row.

Baumruk pulled 2 handguns from a briefcase and opened fire in the Clayton 
courthouse on May 5, 1992, killing his wife, Mary, as their divorce hearing was 
about to begin. He also wounded both of their lawyers, a bailiff and a security 
guard, and fired at a judge and police officers but missed.

Police returned fire and struck Baumruk 9 times, including twice in the head. 
Authorities said he had carried the .38-caliber handguns in his luggage on a 
flight from a Seattle, where he was living.

Baumruk initially was ruled incompetent for trial partly because of head 
injuries suffered when he was shot by police. He was eventually found guilty 
and sentenced to die in 2001, but the case was thrown out by the Missouri 
Supreme Court.

A 2007 retrial held ended with Baumruk convicted of 1st-degree murder and again 
sentenced to die. The jury ignored pleas from Baumruk's lawyers to find him not 
guilty by reason of what they called a delusional disorder that left him 
incapable of appreciating the error of his actions.

Baumruk was weeks away from execution in 2009, but the lethal injection was 
postponed by appeals. The state Supreme Court upheld his conviction in 2012, 
letting stand lower court rulings that denied his claims of ineffective work by 
his lawyers.

A new execution date had not been set.

(source: Associated Press)


COLORADO:

Judge in Colorado cinema massacre case allows sanity exam video at trial


A judge overseeing the Colorado theater massacre case will let jurors in the 
upcoming murder trial of James Holmes see a video of the accused gunman's 
sanity examination, court documents showed on Monday.

Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to shooting dead 12 
moviegoers and wounding dozens more inside a suburban Denver cinema during a 
midnight screening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" in July 2012.

Prosecutors have charged the Southern California native with multiple counts of 
1st-degree murder and attempted murder, and say they will seek the death 
penalty for the onetime neuroscience doctoral candidate if he is convicted.

Defense lawyers have said the 26-year-old was in the throes of a psychotic 
episode when he went on the rampage.

Holmes underwent a sanity examination last year, but Arapahoe County District 
Court Judge Carlos Samour ordered a 2nd evaluation, agreeing with prosecutors 
who argued the 1st one was flawed.

The results of neither examination have been made public, but it is widely 
believed by legal observers that the 2 evaluations came to differing 
conclusions about Holmes' sanity.

Last week, public defenders filed motions seeking to prevent jurors from seeing 
a video of the latest sanity examination, as well as statements Holmes made 
during the testing, arguing that it violates his right against 
self-incrimination.

Samour denied the challenges on Monday, noting that a defendant gives up 
certain rights when invoking an insanity defense, and that he had already 
rejected similar motions raised by the defense after the 1st sanity 
examination.

"Even after the Court ordered the 2nd sanity examination, the defendant was 
free to avoid it by changing his not guilty by reason of insanity plea to a not 
guilty plea," Samour said. "He decided, instead, to stand by his insanity 
plea."

Jury selection is set to begin in January, and the judge told lawyers for both 
sides to make their opening statements on June 3.

(source: Reuters)






UTAH:

Man accused in girl's death says judge is biased


A Utah man accused of raping and killing a 6-year-old girl says the judge in 
the case is biased and asked the Utah Supreme Court to remove him Monday.

An attorney for Terry Lee Black, 43, told the high court that Judge Mark Kouris 
scolded Black's lawyers for nine minutes last year after they asked for a delay 
to decide whether Black was mentally competent to stand trial.

"It wasn't pushing back. It was ridiculing, mocking," said attorney Joan Watt.

Prosecutors, though, said Kouris had reason to be exasperated when lawyers 
asked for the delay just before the preliminary hearing was scheduled to begin, 
more than a year after the girl's death.

The judge did ultimately agree to put the case on hold, said Gregory Orme, an 
appeals court judge sitting with the Utah Supreme Court on the case.

"I'm hard-pressed to say where he has bias when ultimately he does what you 
want," Orme said.

Another justice, though, asked whether the high court should remove judges as a 
warning not to launch tirades from the bench.

"Reassigning the case may be a good wake-up call for a judge," said Jill 
Parrish.

Black could face the death penalty if convicted on charges of aggravated 
murder, child kidnapping and child rape. The case has been on hold since a 
lower court denied a request for Kouris to be removed last year.

Black is accused of abducting Sierra Newbold from her home in June 2012. Police 
say he beat, raped and strangled the 6-year-old before throwing her in a canal 
where she drowned. He was arrested 3 days later, accused of robbing a West 
Jordan bank using a stolen car. Investigators said Black attended the same ward 
as the Newbolds in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and his 
apartment was near the canal where she was found.

Police said they had home surveillance video of someone entering the Newbold 
house through a sliding glass door, and they linked Black to the crime by 
matching debris on his clothing to a fire-blackened field where Sierra's 
clothing was found.

No deadline was set Monday for the justices to make a ruling, though Assistant 
Attorney General Ryan Tenney asked the Utah Supreme Court to speed up their 
decision so the case can progress.

"We have a victim's family who is obviously waiting for some kind of 
resolution," he said.

(source: Associated Press)






ARIZONA:

Jodi Arias Trial Update: Travis Alexander's Family Testifies, Judge Bars Public 
>From Watching First Witness


The judge in the Jodi Arias sentencing retrial has barred the public from 
watching the 1st witness called by the convicted murderer's legal team as she 
fights to be spared from the death penalty.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sherry Stephens and lawyers met behind 
closed doors about the start of Arias' case. They decided to keep the public 
out of the courtroom because a defense witness who appeared to be on edge 
wanted to testify in private.

"This was not an easy decision," said Stephens, who refused to reveal the 
identity of the witness. The public and reporters were then asked to leave and 
the trial continued.

Thursday's trial began with statements from Travis Alexander's family members 
about the trauma that they have experienced since Alexander was murdered by 
Arias in 2008. He was shot and stabbed in the shower by Arias in what 
prosecutors describe as a jealous rage after he wanted to end their 
relationship and see other people. Arias claims that she did it in self-defense 
and that Alexander has abused her physically and emotionally on more than one 
occasion.

Alexander's brother and sister gave their emotional impactful statements to the 
jury that is deciding whether Arias should get the death penalty or a life 
sentence. Steven Alexander talked about having nightmares, ulcers, and constant 
trauma from losing his brother. He disclosed that he has started locking the 
door whenever he showers and that he suffers from nightmares wherein Arias 
slits his throat.

"When I lay down at night, all I can think about is my brother's murder," said 
Steven Alexander said as family members could be heard crying in the gallery.

According to Daily Mail, Tanisha Sorenson said that she and her family have 
been through a lot since her brother's death. She said that she has been 
through a "living hell" and revealed to the court that she can still see her 
brother's decomposing body that she saw in the pictures that were shown in 
court, especially the image of her brother's dead body slumped in the shower.

(source: Christian Post)

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

Media to be allowed back inside Jodi Arias courtroom


The media will be allowed back in the Jodi Arias penalty phase retrial 
courtroom after an appeals judge issued a stay Monday of an order banning them 
during a witness testimony.

On Thursday afternoon, Judge Sherry Stephens kicked everyone out and sealed the 
courtroom for a "mystery witness" who wanted to be out of the public eye to 
avoid harassment. Speculation ran rampant as to who this mystery witness was. 
As of Monday, the identity of that witness is still unknown, though there was 
speculation it was Arias herself.

Various media outlets were outraged. Several filed a case to halt proceedings 
so the Arizona Court of Appeals could rule on Stephens' edict. The hope was to 
force her to open the courtroom to see this witness. Attorneys argued closing 
the courtroom and refusing to release the name of the witness violates the 
public's rights and the United States Constitution.

Arias' attorneys have said interrupting the testimony could cause a mistrial by 
prolonging the case to where jurors might no longer be available after the 
trial's projected mid-December conclusion.

Arias' attorneys lost out Monday, when an Arizona appeals judged issued a stay, 
effectively letting the media back in to the courtroom.

After the stay was issued, the jury was excused until 10 a.m. Wednesday so 
attorneys from both sides could meet to discuss the stay. Stephens said the 
attorneys had a disagreement over the meaning of the stay.

However, media may not be allowed to cover the trial as freely as before. 
Originally, members of the media were allowed to attend and live-tweet the 
proceedings from the courtroom.

(source: KTAR news)






CALIFORNIA:

Jurors hear testimony in murder penalty phase


A defense attorney described how her client, convicted last week in a capital 
murder case, grew up in an abusive home environment, then a series of foster 
homes before moments of success as a high school athlete and as an adult tried 
to help others get jobs.

Deputy Public Defender Aimee Vierra's remarks came during opening statements 
Monday, Nov. 3, in the penalty phase of the trial for Tyrone L. Harts, who was 
convicted last week of murdering his ex-girlfriend, Brandi Morales-Rael, and 
burning her body, attempting to kill her eldest son, and endangering 5 of her 6 
children in the Feb. 22, 2011, Moreno Valley incident.

It will be up to the Riverside County Superior Court jury to recommend whether 
Harts, 41, of Riverside, faces life in prison without possibility of parole or 
the death penalty.

"The decision you are making is whether he has any value as a person," Vierra 
said, and asked jurors to keep an open mind, give weight to mitigating factors 
and recommend he spend the rest of his life in prison.

Prosecution and defense attorneys are expected to present witnesses into next 
week before the case is presented to jurors.

Vierra said she intends to call family members, friends, experts and others, 
including social workers and teachers.

While her children watched, Harts' mother wrestled a gun away from his abusive 
stepfather and killed him, Vierra said. The attorney said his crack-using 
mother would put Harts in the Murphy bed drawer or, when he outgrew that, lock 
him in a closet while she was working as a prostitute in South Los Angeles.

For a time, he lived with his father, who was also abusive, manufactured crack 
and had prostitutes in the apartment who almost burned the place down with 
Harts inside, Vierra said. By age 14, he wound up in foster care and ended up 
living in Norco.

Prosecutor Jared Haringsma said Harts "deserves our most extreme punishment," 
the death penalty, because of the circumstances of the crimes, a past felony 
carjacking conviction in 1994 and past violence some years ago against the 
mother of his child.

Haringsma told the jury he will call the victim's friends and family, including 
some of Morales-Rael's children "so you can understand the enormity of what he 
did" and the suffering he caused.

Morales-Rael, 31, was the mother of 6 children, none of them fathered by Harts. 
But during their 3-year relationship, her children came to consider him a 
father figure.

The jury found Harts guilty of shooting Morales-Rael to death around 12:30 a.m. 
and attempting to shoot her son, who awoke to her screams and came upstairs to 
investigate before fleeing with a brother to call for help.

4 younger children awoke and some used cups of water to try to put out their 
mother's body, which had been set on fire by Harts before he fled, according to 
testimony

(source: Press-Enterprise)