[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., FLA., OHIO, ARK., COLO., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 14



CONNECTICUT:

William Petit, Dad of Murdered Family, Reacts to Connecticut Death Penalty 
Ruling


It was a crime of epic cruelty, and the culprits were sentenced to pay the 
ultimate price.

But a decision by Connecticut's highest court means the 2 men who carried out 
the chilling Petit family murders will be spared execution, along with 9 other 
death-row inmates.

Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky now get life sentences for a 2007 home 
invasion robbery in which they raped and strangled Jennifer Petit, tied her 
daughters Hayley and Michaela to their beds, and set the home ablaze.

Petit's sister, Cynthia Hawke Renn, told NBC News that she is "disheartened" by 
the Connecticut Supreme Court's finding that a 2012 legislative repeal of the 
death penalty should also apply to those who committed their crimes earlier.

"I really do think that cruel and unusual crimes really do deserve cruel and 
unusual punishment," she said.

"For people who commit such heinous and horrific crimes - when you torture and 
rape them and their children, douse them with gasoline and burn them alive - is 
there not something that should be worse?

"Shouldn't there be a worse punishment out there for someone who takes a life 
in such a cruel and unusual way?"

Jennifer Petit's husband, Dr. William Petit, who was beaten during the siege 
but escaped to call for help, had fought against the 2012 repeal of the death 
penalty. He noted in a statement Thursday that the court was divided in its 
ruling.

"The dissenting justices clearly state how the 4 members of the majority have 
disregarded keystones of our government structure such as the separation of 
powers and the role of judicial precedent to reach the decision they hand down 
yesterday.

"The death penalty and its application is a highly charged topic with profound 
emotional impact, particularly on their victims and their loved ones."

Connecticut's death row includes killers who have been there since 1989. The 
latest addition is Richard Roszkowski, who was sentenced last year, after 
legislative repeal, but was still eligible because the crime occurred in 2006.

He was convicted of killing a former neighbor, Holly Flannery, her 9-year-old 
daughter Kylie and a landscaper, Thomas Gaudet.

Kylie's grandmother, Flo Tipke, said the court ruling was a blow.

"We went through two trials and now it kind of feels like it was a huge waste 
of time and money," she said. "We're very sad. We feel that the way he murdered 
our grandchild and our daughter-in-law was cruel and heinous and I don't feel 
any punishment they could have given him would be too cruel or heinous."

Mary Jo Gellenbeck - whose sister Diana was kidnapped and killed by another 
death-row prisoner, Daniel Webb - said she favors Thursday's ruling.

"I don't support the death penalty so I'm happy to see that Connecticut is 
moving in the direction of eliminating that," she said.

Gellenbeck said her opposition to capital punishment stems in part from the 
danger that someone innocent could be put to death, though she is certain Webb 
murdered her sister.

"I think David Webb is a danger to society," she said. "But if he is behind 
bars without parole, it's what everybody wants."

(source: NBC news)

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

Statement on Connecticut Supreme Court Death Penalty Decision


Today, the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down exemptions to the state's 2012 
death penalty ban, which had excluded the 11 inmates currently on death row. In 
response, James Clark, Amnesty International USA's senior campaigner on the 
death penalty, released the following statement:

"Today's ruling that any use of the death penalty in Connecticut is 
unconstitutional brings the state closer in line with the majority of the 
country, which is abandoning the death penalty in law and in practice.

"It's encouraging that the court determined that the death penalty fails to 
meet 'contemporary standards of decency' and serves no 'legitimate penological 
purpose.' Connecticut can now stand fully among the 19 states, plus the 
District of Columbia, that have abolished the death penalty."

Executions and death sentences in the US have plunged in the last decade to 
historic lows, due largely to the public's increased awareness about glaring 
flaws inherent to capital punishment. In 2014 only 7 states carried out 
executions, with 80% of executions taking place in just 3 states.

Amnesty International USA opposes the death penalty in all cases without 
exception as the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. As of today, 
140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice.

(source: Amnesty International USA, Thurs., Aug. 13)

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

The End of the Death Penalty in Connecticut----As backlash against capital 
punishment continues across the country, Connecticut's Supreme Court rules the 
death penalty unconstitutional.


?It's been obscured by the headlong progress the country has made on the issue 
of marriage equality, but the backlash against capital punishment has continued 
by fits and starts all over the nation, while the backlash from the defenders 
of judicial killing, and the act itself, have grown more and more baroque. So, 
in Connecticut, the state's supreme court has decided to cut the knot entirely.

After analysis of the law and "in light of the governing constitutional 
principles and Connecticut's unique historical and legal landscape, we are 
persuaded that, following its prospective abolition, this state's death penalty 
no longer comports with contemporary standards of decency and no longer serves 
any legitimate penological purpose," Palmer wrote. "For these reasons, 
execution of those offenders who committed capital felonies prior to April 25, 
2012, would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and 
unusual punishment."

As I said, however, the defenders of capital punishment on the court fashioned 
arguments that get more and more convoluted the more often you read them.

Espinosa wrote in her dissent that the Legislature may yet be able to revive 
capital punishment in Connecticut. She said majority decision does not actually 
"strike a dagger into the heart of the death penalty" - and leaves open the 
possibility that the legislature could reinstate the law. "Because the majority 
opinion has grounded its decision on the conclusion, albeit incorrect, that the 
death penalty no longer comports with evolving standards of decency, the 
legislature has the power to reenact the death penalty," she wrote. "As the 
majority recognizes, there is nothing that requires that the standards of 
decency evolve only in one direction."

(source: Charles Pierce, esquire.com)

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

Murder Victim's Mother Is "Angry" Her Daughter's Killer Won't See Death 
Penalty----The Connecticut Supreme Court struck down the death penalty on 
Thursday, ruling it's unconstitutional.


A mother whose daughter's killer sits on death row says she's "angry" after the 
state Supreme Court struck down the death penalty on Thursday, ruling it's 
unconstitutional.

"The only hope that I had for him to be confined and miserable for the rest of 
his life they're taking that away too," Betsy Betterini, mother of Elizabeth 
Garcia, said.

In 2002, Garcia was the victim of a horrible crime, police said.

Then 21-year-old was raped and killed in her Hartford apartment, police said.

Her neighbor, Lazale Ashby, was convicted of the murder and sentenced to death.

He had just turned 18 years old days before the attack.

"He had no remorse," Betterini said.

Betterini says she hoped her daughter's killer would be put to death. But she 
thought that Ashby living on death row was a punishment itself.

"Death penalty would put you in a cell 6-by-6. I believe you only go out one 
hour a day and that could be during the day or the night. So he's confined for 
23 hours," says Betterini.

Betterini says she had found some closure in the sentence. Now that her 
daughter's killer no longer faces the death penalty, Betterini feels that she's 
lost something again.

"The only hope that I had for him to be confined and miserable for the rest of 
his life, they're taking that away too," says Betterini.

Betterini holds close the memories of her daughter and pictures of Garcia still 
adorn the family fridge.

"She was very caring and loving. And she wasn't prejudiced. She liked 
everyone," says Betterini.

"I go on with my life. I laugh. I work. I have fun. I go on vacations. But 
people really don't understand that not a day goes by that I don't think about 
my daughter."

(source: nbcconnecticut.com)

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

A List of Connecticut's Death Row Inmates


Connecticut's high court on Thursday ruled that the death penalty, which 
already had been abolished for future crimes, could not be applied to inmates 
already on death row. Here's a look at the 11 convicted killers who had been 
facing execution orders in the state:

NAME: Lazale Ashby, 30

CRIME: Rape and murder of his 21-year-old neighbor, Elizabeth Garcia, in her 
apartment Dec. 2, 2002, 4 days after his 18th birthday.

----

NAME: Robert Breton, 68

CRIME: Beating and stabbing death of his 38-year-old ex-wife and their 
16-year-old son in Waterbury on Dec. 13, 1987.

----

NAME: Jessie Campbell III, 35

CRIME: Shooting death of 20-year-old LaTaysha Logan and 18-year-old Desiree 
Privette, and shooting of Privette's aunt, Carolyn Privette, on Aug. 26, 2000, 
in Hartford.

---- NAME: Sedrick "Ricky" Cobb, 53

CRIME: Rape and murder of 23-year-old Julia Ashe of Watertown on Dec. 16, 1989, 
when he was a Naugatuck delivery man.

---- NAME: Steven Hayes, 52

CRIME: Killing and sexual assault of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and killings of her 
daughters, 11-year-old Michaela and 17-year-old Hayley, in Cheshire on July 23, 
2007.

---- NAME: Joshua Komisarjevsky, 35

CRIME: The Cheshire killings as an accomplice to Hayes and sexual assault of 
Michaela Petit.

----

NAME: Russell Peeler Jr., 43

CRIME: Ordering the Jan. 7, 1999, killings of 8-year-old Leroy "B.J." Brown Jr. 
and his mother, Karen Clarke, in their Bridgeport duplex. The boy was expected 
to be the key witness against Peeler in the fatal shooting of Clarke's 
boyfriend.

----

NAME: Richard Reynolds, 46

CRIME: Murder of Waterbury police Officer Walter T. Williams on Dec. 18, 1992, 
when Reynolds was a New York City crack dealer.

----

NAME: Todd Rizzo, 36

CRIME: Murder of 13-year-old Stanley Edwards of Waterbury on Sept. 30, 1997, 
who was lured into Rizzo's backyard under the guise of hunting snakes then hit 
13 times with a sledgehammer.

----

NAME: Richard Roszkowski, 50.

CRIME: Shooting deaths of his 39-year-old ex-girlfriend, Holly Flannery, her 
9-year-old daughter, Kylie, and 38-year-old Thomas Gaudet on a street in 
Bridgeport on Sept. 7, 2006.

----

NAME: Daniel Webb, 53

CRIME: Kidnap and murder of Diane Gellenbeck, a 37-year-old Connecticut 
National Bank vice president, in Hartford.

----

[source: Connecticut Department of Correction]

(source: Associated Press)






FLORIDA:

State seeks death penalty in Okafor trial----Bessman Okafor accused in slaying 
of Alex Zaldivar, 19

Jury selection was underway Thursday in the murder trial for Bessman Okafor, 
but the process may continue into next week because prosecutors are seeking the 
death penalty.

Okafor is facing a 1st-degree murder charge in the September 2012 shooting 
death of Alex Zaldivar, 19.

Zaldivar was expected to testify against Okafor in a home-invasion case for 
which Okafor was eventually convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

But a conviction in the slaying of Zaldivar could mean the death penalty for 
Okafor.

"I am hoping for a guilty verdict and for the death sentence," said Rafael 
Zaldivar, the victim's father.

Because it's a death penalty case, prosecutors must find 60 people who agree 
with the death penalty and can spend 4 weeks on jury duty.

The trial could take that long from jury selection to sentencing.

The death of Alex Zaldivar received plenty of media coverage and highlighted a 
broken home-confinement system.

2 of Alex Zaldivar's roommates were also shot, but they survived. Okafor's 
accomplices were sentenced to life in prison, but Okafor was considered the 
mastermind.

Once a pool of 60 potential jurors is found, 16 jurors will be chosen. 12 will 
join the jury for the trial, and 4 will be alternates.

(source: WESH news)

***********

Judge sets date for accused killer's trial----James Rhodes accused of killing 
Shelby Farah while robbing cellphone store


A new trial date has been set for the man accused in the execution-style 
killing of a 20-year-old clerk during a robbery 2 years ago.

James Rhodes, 23, is accused of shooting Shelby Farah after she handed over 
money during the robbery of the MetroPCS store on North Main Street in July 
2013.

Rhodes, who was ruled intellectually sufficient to face the death penalty by a 
Duval County judge last month, had his trial date set for May 2, 2016 at a 
hearing Wednesday morning.

Rhodes' defense team had asked that the trial be continued indefinitely until 
the U.S. Supreme Court rules in another Florida death penalty appeal.

In hearings last month, a defense psychologist testified that Rhodes is 
mentally competent for prosecution but is intellectually disabled, but a 
psychologist for the prosecution testified that he reviewed Rhodes' IQ scores 
going back to when he was 6 years old and found Rhodes is not intellectually 
disabled.

If he were found intellectually disabled, Rhodes could not legally be executed 
under Florida law.

Judge Tatiana Salvador denied a defense motion that would have prevented the 
state from seeking the death penalty.

The victim's family had actually hoped the death penalty would be taken off the 
table.

"It has nothing to do with us wanting him to get less time. I would love to see 
him sit in prison for the rest of his life," said Caleb Farah, Shelby's 
brother. "Since he is facing the death penalty, he will probably get the death 
penalty. He's going to get automatic appeals. You've got the guy that just came 
back after his death penalty (Randall Deviney), and it's a retrial. I can't 
even imagine doing this all over again."

Shelby's mother, Darlene Farah, said it was the ruling that she expected but 
dreaded, because it makes the case much more complex.

"Everybody knows a death penalty case is different," Darlene Farah said. "It's 
been 2 years, I'm tired. I'm drained. I'm exhausted emotionally, so I just want 
it over with so I can try to put structure and stability back into my 
children's lives and into my life."

(source: news4jax.com)






OHIO:

Man accused of killing woman, shooting girl could face death penalty----Suspect 
indicted on 11 charges


A 25-year-old man accused of shooting and killing a grandmother after breaking 
into her home could face the death penalty.

It is the 2nd death penalty indictment in Hamilton County in 2 days.

Cordaro McGhee is accused of killing Jean Elliot, 49, inside her Spring Grove 
Village home in May.

McGhee was indicted Thursday on 2 counts of aggravated murder, 1 count of 
murder, 2 counts of felonious assault, 1 count of attempt murder, 2 counts of 
aggravated burglary, 2 counts of aggravated robbery and 1 count of having 
weapons under disability.

McGhee is accused of entering Elliott's home through an unlocked door on May 
17.

Prosecutors said that after demanding money from Elliott, McGhee shot and 
killed her, then hit a 12-year-old girl in the head before shooting her in the 
chest and fleeing.

The girl was transported to Cincinnati Children's Hospital and survived her 
wound.

Investigators said they linked McGee to the crime through DNA evidence. They 
said the 2 were strangers and robbery was McGee's motive.

"The lady never bothered anybody. She wasn't even part of whatever reason he 
broke in there. She was just a hardworking mom and grandmother. She never even 
got a chance to get out of her bed that morning, she was shot and killed in her 
bed," community outreach volunteer Chris Gillium said.

Two other grandchildren of Elliot were home at the time. They were not hurt.

"This is unbelievable to announce a 2nd death penalty indictment in 2 days 
where someone unknown to the homeowners goes into a residence and kills an 
adult and seriously injures children in the home," Hamilton County Prosecutor 
Joe Deters said in a news release, referring to the arrest of Akihiko Clayton 
earlier this week. "Everyone in our community should be outraged and demand 
that we work together to find some solutions to this senseless violence."

"A woman lost her life. A child's been shot, one of several children that have 
been shot, innocent bystanders, because people think the answer to the problem 
is picking up a gun. Put the guns away," community outreach volunteer Patti 
Hogan said.

On Thursday afternoon, community outreach volunteers canvassed local streets 
trying to get people to do just that.

While thankful another suspect has been caught and charged, they say too many 
families still don't have answers.

"The city's tired of this," Gillium said.

Hogan said it's time to step up and help us solve this problem.

Investigators said McGee was after money. All he got away with was a cellphone.

(source: WLWT news)






ARKANSAS:

Arkansas buys lethal injection drugs ahead of first execution in 10 years ---- 
Department of corrections declines to reveal source of three drugs, including 
faulty midazolam, as governor anticipates being asked to resume executions


The Arkansas department of correction has bought the drugs needed to resume 
lethal injections, and Governor Asa Hutchinson said on Thursday that he expects 
to be asked soon to schedule the state's 1st execution in 10 years.

Department of correction spokeswoman Cathy Frye said the department purchased 
the drugs last month and the protocol that sets the guidelines for execution 
procedures was finalized 6 August.

The announcement came the same day the highest court in Connecticut overturned 
the death penalty in that state, sparing the lives of 11 inmates.

Hutchinson said he expects to see the requests to schedule executions soon.

"I had a conversation with the attorney general yesterday, and I expect you 
know in the coming week or so, 1 or more requests for a date to be set," 
Hutchinson said. "I couldn't tell you which cases they are, but the indications 
are there's 1 or more that's in an appropriate setting to have a date set for 
execution."

Under a new law passed by the legislature this year, Arkansas does not have to 
disclose the source of the drugs, as also is the case in several other death 
penalty states.

According to an invoice, the department of correction spent $24,226 to buy the 
3 drugs needed for lethal injections, including midazolam. That sedative was 
implicated in troubled executions in Arizona, Ohio and Oklahoma that went on 
longer than expected as inmates gasped and made other sounds.

Frye said she didn't know how many doses were purchased and the staff with 
access to the drugs wasn't immediately available to answer questions.

Department staff declined to say whether the drugs were obtained overseas.

Republican state representative Doug House, a North Little Rock attorney, 
sponsored and helped craft the legislation protecting the identity of the 
drugs' supplier. House said on Thursday that he's glad the state has found a 
source of midazolam.

"The experience of the department of correction and their colleagues in other 
states is that drug manufacturers and suppliers will not provide the drugs if 
they know they are used in conjunction with executions," House said. "Midazolam 
does not cause death. It only prevents the condemned person from feeling undue 
pain and suffering during the administration of the other drugs."

Judd Deere, a spokesman for state attorney general Leslie Rutledge, said the 
attorney general's office has not set a timetable for scheduling execution 
dates. Eric Nance was the last inmate executed in Arkansas, in 2005. Nance was 
convicted in 1993 of the murder of Julie Heath, an 18-year-old from Malvern, 
after picking her up on the side of the road where her car had broken down.

There are currently 34 men on death row in Arkansas, including 2 inmates 
sentenced this year to die by lethal injection. 8 of those inmates have 
exhausted their legal appeals.

(source: The Guardian)



COLORADO:

Fero's Bar trial puts added focus on death penalty in Colorado


The 1st death penalty case in Denver in 16 years is moving to the 2nd phase.

Dexter Lewis, 32, was convicted Monday of killing 5 people at Fero's Bar and 
Grill in October 2012 and a jurors are considering evidence in the death 
penalty phase of the trial.

There are 3 phases in the penalty portion, with the jury already agreeing there 
were aggravating circumstances to move it to the 2nd stage.

3 men are on Colorado's death row: Nathan Dunlap, Sir Mario Owens and Robert 
Ray. Like Lewis, all 3 are black men.

"3 % of Coloradans are black and 100 % of death row inmates are black. That's 
not good," attorney Phil Cherner said.

Last week, Aurora theater shooter James Holmes, a white man, received a 
sentence of life in sentence after a jury could not reach a unanimous decision 
on the death penalty.

"It just seems like something you can't ignore," Cherner said.

Whatever eventually happens in the Lewis case, prosecutors in the Aurora 
theater shooting trial said the Holmes verdict shows Colorado's death penalty 
laws work.

"I think it ought to be unanimous that does that and we got close, but close 
when it comes to taking the life of a person by the government isn't good 
enough and I can live with that," Arapahoe County District Attorney George 
Brauchler said.

Cherner, a death penalty opponent, argues the theater shooting case shows the 
system does not work.

"The DAa said on Holmes if we can't get it on this one who can we get it on," 
Cherner said. "That's the same as saying they shouldn't have gotten it on the 
others."

(source: KDVR news)






CALIFORNIA:

Prosecutor may seek death penalty against undocumented worker accused of 
killing 64-year-old California woman


California prosecutors may seek the death penalty against an undocumented 
immigrant accused of raping a 64-year-old woman and bludgeoning her to death 
with a hammer.

Suspects Victor Martinez, a 29-year-old illegal immigrant, and Jose Fernando 
Villagomez, a 20-year-old legal resident. are charged in the deadly sexual 
assault of Marilyn Pharis.

Police said the 1 men broke into her Santa Maria home on July 24, raped her, 
brutally beat her with a claw hammer and then fled, leaving her for dead.

Pharis, an Air Force veteran who worked as a civilian at Vandenberg Air Force 
Base, died in a hospital about a week later as a result of her injuries.

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Joyce Dudley said her office has not yet 
decided if it will seek the death penalty for the murder charges against 
Martinez and Villagomez - but it is a possibility. She will base her decision 
on information from police, the victim's family, and another lawyer, she told 
Fox News.

Martinez and Villagomez, who are expected to make a court appearance Thursday, 
face 1st-degree murder, mayhem, torture and rape charges.

The 2 were arrested when Pharis was still alive and recovering in a hospital. 
Martinez pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, sexual assault and 
burglary charges before her Aug. 1 death. Then, both men were charged with 
murder.

Martinez has a long criminal history including 6 arrests in the past 15 months. 
The latest was on July 17, just 8 days before the alleged attack on Pharis. He 
was booked into the Santa Barbara County jail on drug and weapons charges - but 
ordered released days later after he pleaded no contest, the Los Angeles Times 
reported.

Santa Maria Police Chief Ralph Martin put at least some of the blame on federal 
and California officials and national and state immigration policies.

"This is a national issue. I think it starts in Washington, D.C., with this 
administration that we see and these policies. I think you can draw a direct 
line over to Sacramento with the policies of, I'm going to say, this Governor 
and the Legislature," he said Friday. "I am not remiss to say that from 
Washington, D.C., to Sacramento there's a blood trail leading to the bedroom of 
Marilyn Pharis."

On Monday, presidential hopeful Donald Trump mentioned Pharis' death while 
blasting the nation's immigration system.

"Again, illegal immigrant is charged with the fatal bludgeoning of a wonderful 
and loved 64 year old woman. Get them out and build a WALL!" he tweeted. "We 
must stop the crime and killing machine that is illegal immigration. Rampant 
problems will only get worse. Take back our country!"

Trump has used the deaths of several Americans killed by undocumented 
immigrants to advocate for stricter immigration laws. Notably, he called 
attention to the murder of Kate Steinle on a San Francisco pier last month.

Undocumented immigrant Francisco Sanchez has been charged in the shooting death 
of 32-year-old Steinle. Police said Sanchez randomly attacked her on a busy San 
Francisco pier.

"Where are the other candidates now that this tragic murder has taken place b/c 
of our unsafe border," he tweeted shortly after the July shooting. "We need a 
wall!"

(source: New York Daily News)






USA:

Arguments in Alfonso Rodriguez death penalty appeal will be public


A federal judge has ruled that arguments must be made in open court in a 
hearing set for next month in the death sentence appeal for the man who 
kidnapped and murdered college student Dru Sjodin.

Attorneys for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., who was convicted of Sjodin's 2003 murder, 
plan to present an argument related to claims of jury misconduct in the 
hearing, which is set for Sept. 8 in U.S. District Court in Fargo.

Little is known about the nature of the claim, because documents filed 
detailing the argument are sealed. Defense attorneys also wanted the hearing 
itself closed from the public.

In an order filed Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Erickson said 
there's no good reason to close the hearing.

"Secrecy is poor public policy in the absence of necessity. The court finds 
there has been an inadequate showing of necessity to warrant closure of the 
upcoming proceedings," Erickson wrote.

Rodriguez kidnapped Sjodin, a University of North Dakota student from Pequot 
Lakes, Minn., from a Grand Forks mall parking lot while she talked on a 
cellphone with her boyfriend. He then raped, stabbed and killed her.

An extensive search ensued, and 5 months later her body was found in a rural 
ravine near Crookston, Minn.

A jury of 7 women and 5 men from southeast North Dakota unanimously convicted 
Rodriguez in a 2006 trial, determining he should be put to death by lethal 
injection.

Nearly 10 years later, Rodriguez, 62, still remains on death row at a federal 
maximum security prison in Terre Haute, Ind. His appeals are still pending.

The trial marked the 1st-ever federal death penalty case in North Dakota, which 
doesn't allow capital punishment under state law, and the 1st time since 1914 
that any judge in the state ordered a defendant's death.

(source: thedickinsonpress.com)