[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 18



OHIO:

Court rejects inmate's challenge of death sentence for 5 slayings in 1993 Ohio 
prison riot


A federal appeals court has rejected a challenge by an inmate convicted and 
sentenced to be executed for the slayings of 5 fellow inmates during a 1993 
prison riot in Ohio.

Death row inmate Keith LaMar was convicted of aggravated murder in 1995 in the 
deaths of 5 inmates during the riot at the Southern Ohio Correctional 
Institution in Lucasville. A jury recommended the death penalty in 4 of the 
slayings.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a lower court's 
decision keeping the 46-year-old LaMar's convictions and death sentences in 
place.

LaMar argues he was denied a fair trial when prosecutors were allowed to 
withhold evidence from the defense.

A 3-judge panel ruled the evidence would not have changed the outcome of 
LaMar's trial.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI----death sentence overturned

Federal judge throws out death sentence for St. Louis County man


A federal judge on Tuesday struck down the death penalty for a man who killed 
his grandparents in their Glendale home in 1996.

David Barnett, 39, fatally stabbed Clifford Barnett, 82, and Leona Barnett, 75, 
at their home in Glendale after they returned from a post-church brunch. 
Barnett took their car and $120 in cash.

Before the murders, Barnett had spoken to friends about the car, a 1995 Dodge 
Intrepid, claiming his grandparents were going to rent it to him. While waiting 
for his grandparents, he boasted to a step-brother on a phone call that he'd 
just won the lottery.

When his grandparents arrived home, he stabbed them a total of 21 times, using 
5 different steak knives.

The next day, he confessed to police. After he was convicted at trial of 
charges including 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, his lawyers argued for 
leniency in the penalty phase, saying he had suffered from depression, bipolar 
disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder from a troubled and unstable 
childhood. Barnett mulled suicide at 8 and again at 15 and later overdosed on 
prescription drugs and set himself on fire.

Prosecutors cited aggravating factors including that Barnett had murdered for 
money and that the crime was "outrageously vile."

After deliberating for 16 hours over 2 days, jurors voted for death.

U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber's 189-page order is sealed, but a 
separate document says that prosecutors have 180 days to decide whether to seek 
a death sentence in a new hearing. Otherwise he will remain in prison for life 
without parole.

Barnett had alleged that his lawyer was ineffective in failing to present 
additional mitigating factors. His appeals were unsuccessful until 2013, when 
Webber ruled that a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling and the unique circumstances 
of the case meant Barnett should get a hearing for the presentation of evidence 
that jurors should have heard.

In legal filings, his lawyers have said that that evidence should include his 
"mother???s persistent abuse of alcohol and drugs, the chaos and abandonment by 
his mother and multiple others during his infancy, and the persistent mental, 
sexual, and physical abuse that dominated (his) household."

Barnett is currently at the Potosi Correctional Center.


(source: St. Louis Post-Disptach)






USA:

Conservative pastor: "Stoning gays is the mindset of God"


The New Civil Rights Movement reports that pastor Ben Bailey of the Central 
Church of Christ recorded a video in which he suggests "the mindset of God" is 
strongly in favor of stoning gay people to death. According to Bailey, God has 
"a definite standard and it is not the liberal mindset that we see today."

The speech was part of his weekly "The Gospel of Christ" evangelistic program, 
which, according to the website, "seeks to teach and preach THE WHOLE COUNSEL 
OF GOD."

"God does not approve of homosexuality or gay marriage," Bailey claims. "The 
scripture says ... that is vile, unnatural and deserving of a penalty ... It's 
an abomination that under the Old Testament deserved stoning."

"And so, is our God, the God of Bible, wanting us to go somewhere where it's 
liberal, relaxed views and anything goes? No, that's the effect of a very 
liberal society. And we need to make sure that such is not the idea or the 
mindset of God."

(source: lgbtqnation.com)