[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEV., ARIZ,. CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 18



NEVADA:

Life or death: Jury to deliberate on Jeremiah Bean sentence


A Lyon County jury will begin deliberations today on whether Jeremiah Bean will 
get life in prison or the death penalty.

Jurors have had an emotional week hearing tearful testimony from Bean's family 
as well as the victims' families.

Bean is convicted in a series of crimes that includes 1st degree murder of 5 
people.

The series of crimes happened in and near Fernley in May of 2013.

Bean has shown little to no emotion throughout the trial.

Prosecutors are asking the jury to give him the death penalty.

Their deliberation on his sentence is expected this afternoon.

(source: Fox News)






ARIZONA:

Closing arguments set at trial over killing of 6-year-old


Lawyers are scheduled to make closing arguments Tuesday at the trial of an 
Arizona man charged with killing his brother over a drug dispute and then 
gunning down a witness - the brother's 6-year-old son.

Christopher Rey Licon is charged with fatally shooting his half brother Angel 
Jaquez in December 2010 at their Phoenix townhome and kidnapping and killing 
his nephew, Xavier Jaquez.

Authorities say the boy was likely killed because he either saw or heard his 
father get killed.

The child was found fatally shot in an alley in a Phoenix neighborhood.

Licon has mounted an insanity defense.

His lawyer says Licon's psychological condition was deteriorating in the weeks 
before the killings.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Licon.

The trial started in mid-April.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Judge postpones trial date in 'Grim Sleeper' serial killings


The trial of a man charged with 10 counts of murder in the "Grim Sleeper" 
serial killings was postponed until October after lawyers on both sides 
complained Monday of potential ambushes by their opponents.

Prosecutors sought the delay in Los Angeles Superior Court because the defense 
hadn't turned over reports by several potential expert witnesses in the death 
penalty case of Lonnie Franklin Jr. and said they wouldn't be ready for trial 
in less than a month.

"You can't ambush the people," Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman said in 
a hearing marked with acrimonious exchanges between lawyers.

The delay until Oct. 14 came 6 months after anguished family members of victims 
pleaded with Judge Kathleen Kennedy to set a court date in the killings dating 
back 30 years. Kennedy had set a June date but then postponed it until 
September.

Franklin, 62, has been behind bars 5 years awaiting trial in the deaths of 10 
women shot and strangled between 1985 and 2007. The nickname was coined because 
of the 14-year gap between slayings in 1988 and 2002.

Defense lawyer Seymour Amster said he hadn't turned over reports by experts in 
ballistics, photo enhancement and drug trafficking because he hasn't decided if 
he'll call them as witnesses, but he's prepared to use them if ambushed by 
prosecutors.

"It's time to make these decisions," Kennedy said.

Kennedy ordered Amster to turn over the reports to prosecutors by Aug. 31 and 
said she wants to hear personally from a DNA expert if he can't meet that 
deadline.

Amster has said the DNA expert has found evidence tying 2 of the killings to a 
serial killer on death row for 14 murders.

Noting the level of hostility between the 2 lawyers, Kennedy said there was "no 
love lost" between the 2 from a previous death penalty case.

"I would stipulate to that," Amster said.

"And I would agree with the defense for the 1st time," Silverman said.

(source: ABC news)






USA:

Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Files Appeal Citing Publicity


Attorneys for Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev appealed his conviction 
and death sentence on Monday, arguing that publicity made it impossible for him 
to get a fair trial in the city and that capital punishment is 
unconstitutional.

In court papers, defense lawyer William Fick cited a recent dissent by U.S. 
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer in which he said that he believes the 
death penalty "now likely constitutes a legally prohibited 'cruel and unusual 
punishment.'"

However, the majority opinion in that very same case opened with the 
declaration that "capital punishment is constitutional."

Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in June for helping his older brother carry out 
the April 15, 2013, blasts that killed 3 people and injured and maimed more 
than 200 others.

The appeal claims that "continuous and unrelenting publicity" about the 
bombings, the defendant and his family, and wrenching survivor stories 
prevented him from getting an impartial hearing. It notes that Boston announced 
a new holiday marking the bombings while jurors were deliberating Tsarnaev's 
guilt.

As users of social media, the jurors would have found it impossible to avoid 
coverage, the appeal argues.

"Put simply, prejudicial media coverage, events, and environment saturated 
greater Boston, including the social networks of actual trial jurors, and made 
it an improper venue for the trial of this case," the court papers say.

The defense repeatedly asked for a change of venue before the trial began, but 
the requests were rejected by the judge.

(source: NBC news)

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see: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/node/6210

(source: DPIC)