[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., N.C., S.C., GA., FLA., ALA., MISS.

[Rick Halperin]

June 25



TEXAS----new execution date

Licho Escamilla has been given an execution date for Oct. 14; it should be 
considered serious.

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----9

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----527

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

10----------July 16------------------Clifton Williams-----528

11---------August 12----------------Daniel Lopez----------529

12---------August 26----------------Bernardo Tercero------530

13---------September 2--------------Joe Garza-------------531

14---------October 6----------------Juan Garcia-----------532

15---------October 14---------------Licho Escamilla-------533

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Northampton DA pushes to set execution date for death row inmate Michael 
Ballard



Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli on Wednesday set the 
wheels in motion to have Michael Ballard executed now that the window has 
closed for further appeals on his quadruple murder conviction.

Morganelli asked county Judge Emil Giordano to vacate the stay of execution 
ordered last November after Ballard had joined a lawsuit challenging 
Pennsylvania's execution procedures.

If Giordano vacates the stay, Morganelli would ask Pennsylvania's secretary of 
corrections to set a date for Ballard to be put to death.

"This is the 1st move in that chess game," the district attorney said during a 
news conference announcing his filing before Giordano.

The judge said Wednesday his office had not immediately received the filing.

"But my office will schedule it promptly," Giordano said.

'We're talking about an inmate who has said more than once that he's not 
contesting his execution.'

Morganelli's effort comes amid a moratorium on the death penalty in 
Pennsylvania announced by Gov. Tom Wolf. Morganelli does not see that as a 
guarantee Ballard would be spared, however, because Wolf has been implementing 
his decision by issuing individual reprieves to inmates.

"Can a governor use a reprieve to circumvent the law of Pennsylvania?" 
Morganelli said Wednesday. "I believe the answer to that would be no, that a 
reprieve is only a temporary stay that is offered to an individual defendant 
for them to exhaust their remedies... But it does not give a governor a right 
to have a reprieve endlessly when the case is done in the court system."

Ballard pleaded guilty in April 2011 to four counts of first-degree murder in 
the June 2010 stabbing deaths in Northampton of Denise Merhi, his 
ex-girlfriend; Dennis Marsh, her father; Alvin Marsh, her grandfather; and 
Steven Zernhelt, a neighbor. Ballard had recently been released from state 
prison for an Allentown murder.

A Northampton County jury sentenced Ballard to death May 17, 2011.

Wednesday marked 1 year since the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a move by the 
Philadelphia-based Atlantic Center for Capital Representation to challenge 
Ballard's conviction and penalty, despite opposition from Ballard to any 
further appeals.

After 1 year, Ballard's window is closed to further pursue post-conviction 
relief or the filing of a habeas corpus petition demanding an appearance in 
court, Morganelli said.

"He's waived all his appellate rights," Morganelli said. "He is now time-barred 
from filing those rights, his case was already decided by the Pennsylvania 
Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, so barring a change of his heart, 
which he could do - it'll be more difficult for him to do that, now that the 
time has passed.

"But at this point we're talking about an inmate who has said more than once 
that he's not contesting his execution."

Ballard, who is being held at State Correctional Institution-Greene in 
Waynesburg, Pennsylvania, remains resigned to accepting his death penalty, one 
of his attorneys said Wednesday.

"I know he's had no change of heart challenging the conviction or the penalty 
imposed by the court," Bethlehem-based attorney James M. Connell said.

Ballard remains a party to a state lawsuit challenging execution procedures, 
Morganelli acknowledged.

"He was only joining the lawsuit because it dealt with the protocol, the drugs, 
etc.," Morganelli said. "But based on my research, I do not find ... any law 
that I'm aware of that says that's a valid reason to hold up the execution."

Pennsylvania has executed three people since the death penalty was legalized in 
the 1970s, the most recent in 1999, The Associated Press reports. All 3 of them 
had voluntarily relinquished their appeals.

The state Supreme Court has agreed to review a challenge to Wolf's death 
penalty moratorium by Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, a fellow 
Democrat, according to the AP. Morganelli said he may join that suit or file 
his own challenge if the governor issues a reprieve for Ballard.

(source: lehighvalleylive.com)

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

Death penalty being sought for Jeffrey Knoble----He's accused of killing a man 
in Easton motel in March



Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for accused killer Jeffrey Knoble, who 
had a couple of outbursts during his formal arraignment in Northampton County 
Court Wednesday.

Knoble, who is accused of shooting a man to death inside an Easton motel in 
March, first shouted that the judge was corrupt.

He also disagreed when the judge told him he has good lawyers. "No, I 
don't!"declared Knoble.

At least 20 family and friends of victim Andrew White were present in the 
courtroom.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty because of aggravating factors related 
to the killing-- a robbery was committed and Knoble had an unlicensed gun and 
was a former convict who should not have had a gun.

They also filed a motion to join his wo cases. He had been arrested for 
terroristic threats the day of the homicide and later charged with the 
homicide.

The defendant faces criminal homicide charges, robbery, violation of the 
uniform firearms act and terroristic threats.

(source: WFMZ news)

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

Gov. Wolf should rethink stance on death penalty in Pennsylvania



Gov. Tom Wolf should rethink his stand on the death penalty, especially in the 
case of murder.

The recent mass murder (execution) in South Carolina makes one think and 
realize that without the death penalty, the perpetrator could live until a very 
old age, while the people that were murdered are long gone. For the entire life 
of the murderer, the families of the victims will be reminded that their loved 
ones are gone, while the murderer lives on. Perhaps the use of the death 
penalty should be left to the surviving family members and not the governor. 
The governor is protected by gun-toting people.

Besides the cost of incarceration prior to a trial, a state-furnished public 
defender and the cost of the trial, the taxpayers have the burden to pay for 
years of incarceration, medical and dental care and various other expenses. The 
annual cost to keep a prisoner is very high and that same prisoner has life, 
something that he took from the victims.

The mass murders in most of these cases are committed by young people younger 
than 30 years of age and happen mostly in "gun-free" areas like the schools in 
Columbine and Connecticut, a theater in Colorado and now a church in South 
Carolina.

Trials for mass murder crimes should be held quickly, especially if the 
evidence is overpowering. Preparations for the death penalty should be made 
within a month and the sentence carried out within 10 days. If there is no real 
consequence, murderers will continue to commit these crimes.

Let's forget about the "do-gooders" and the anti-gun people.

RUDY PAVLICK, Swatara Twp.

(source: Letter to the Editor, pennlive.com)








DELAWARE:

Delaware Senate votes down constitutional amendment



The amendment, introduced by Sen. Robert Marshall, D-Wilmington, was defeated 
with an 11 to 7 vote. The Senator declined to comment after the vote.

During the hearing Marshall said there are individuals who commit crimes, have 
a long rap sheet and are let out on bail to then repeat the same crimes.

"The bill would only allow the judge the discretion to say you cannot leave," 
he said. "When they repeat crimes like that we have the responsibility to 
address it."

The amendment proposed that offenders charged with serious violent felonies, 
would have been denied bail if a judge decided releasing them would pose a 
threat to the community. Someone denied bail still would have to stand trial 
within 120 days of the denial or they would receive a bail hearing.

Denial of bail is currently afforded to Delaware judges only in murder cases 
where an offender could face the death penalty.

Marshall worked closely with former attorney general Beau Biden to steer the 
measure through the general assembly before his second term as attorney general 
came to an end. Biden died in May after a battle with brain cancer.

Under the constitution, an amendment must be enacted by two consecutive general 
assemblies before it is codified. The bill first passed in the 147th General 
Assembly June 30 of last year. Amendments are enacted without the governor's 
signature.

Sen. Harris McDowell, D-Wilmington North, said he was greatly troubled by the 
legislation because he believes it would cause over-incarceration.

"We've seen examples of mistakes being made in the early stages of arrest," he 
said. "We incarcerate a larger percent of our population in the state of 
Delaware than any country in the world."

Several senators who had previously favored the bill said they could no longer 
support it. Many of them said they were opposed to the bill because they 
believe it violates a person's constitutional right to be innocent until proven 
guilty.

Brendon O'Neil, chief public defender for the State of Delaware, testified in 
the senate and said he's opposed to the bill for the same reason.

"This constitution has been in place since 1897, and has served us well," he 
said. "We don't need to amend our constitution to (do our job)."

O'Neil said Delaware already has a procedure in place that gives felons a risk 
assessment to help the judge decide what kind of bail is appropriate.

"We have a system that is working ....That system has been designed to protect 
that person's right he is assumed innocent of those charges," O'Neil said. "The 
way it's phrased sounds like he's already guilty."

(source: newsworks.org)




NORTH CAROLINA:

The "Death Row Granny" Who Was Both Diabolical Killer and Political Pawn



Here's another in our series on female serial killers: North Carolina's Velma 
Barfield, the "Death Row Granny" who poisoned 4 and maybe more, including her 
own mother, and was executed in 1984 at the age of 52.

Despite her age, her soft Southern drawl, and her kindly countenance (in true 
grandma style, she loved to crochet dolls), Barfield was a confessed serial 
killer.

Her victims: her mother, Lillian Bullard; her on-and-off-fiance, Stuart Taylor; 
and 2 elderly people she's been hired to care for, John Henry Lee and Dollie 
Edwards. As the investigation progressed, the number was suspected to be even 
more - including her 2nd husband, Jennings Barfield, who had died suddenly of 
an apparent heart ailment. (Her 1st husband died in a house fire, which is 
kinda suspicious, but it wasn't her M.O.)

All of Velma's victims were done in by arsenic that she'd added to their food 
or drink. (Taylor died after drinking a poisoned beer.) All were publicly 
mourned by Barfield, who attended everyone's funeral and seemed to genuinely 
mourn each victim.

Her motive was, as it often is, money. She'd become addicted to prescription 
drugs after having a nervous breakdown, and her behavior became increasingly 
erratic; she was hospitalized for overdosing on 4 occasions. To pay for her 
habit, she stole from each of her victims. Between murders, she managed to get 
arrested for writing bad checks.

The 1978 murder of Taylor, her final victim, was her biggest misstep. The other 
victims had all been elderly, but he was in good health and also had a close 
relationship with his daughter, who grew suspicious at his sudden death and 
insisted on additional tests during his autopsy.

As a People report published shortly before Velma's execution recalls, that was 
it for Granny B:

When arsenic was found in Taylor's tissues, Velma, under police questioning, 
confessed to poisoning him as well as Lee, [Edwards], and her own mother. Later 
their bodies were exhumed. Arsenic was found in all of them - and in the body 
of Jennings Barfield, Velma's 2nd husband, who died in 1971 and whom she denies 
poisoning. Charged with Taylor's death Velma was defended by a court-appointed 
lawyer.

The local prosecutor was Joe Freeman Britt, whose prowess in capital cases had 
earned him a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records as the nation's 
"deadliest prosecutor." The court denied her plea of not guilty by reason of 
insanity. In her defense Velma testified that she had intended to keep her 
victims ill until she could repay the money she had stolen and earn their 
gratitude by nursing them back to health. She needed the money, she said, to 
pay for a host of prescription tranquilizers, antidepressants and amphetamines 
to which she had become addicted.

The "I only meant to make them sick, not kill them" defense fell apart, as the 
NY Daily News explained:

That theory collapsed when the prosecution pointed out that there is a 
treatment for arsenic poisoning. As Taylor was writhing in agony at the 
hospital, Velma pretended to know nothing. Had she been interested in keeping 
him alive, Velma would have told the doctors what really was wrong with him, 
and they might have been able to save him.

Her strength was in her sweet, befuddled grandmotherly image, but that took a 
crushing blow when she took the stand, and the prosecutor laced into her. She 
responded with sarcasm and snarls, destroying the one thing - her facade - that 
might have kept her off death row.

The death penalty had only been reinstated for 2 years prior to Velma's 1978 
sentencing. Her lengthy appeals attracted attention because of her gender and 
age, her prison-influenced embrace of Christianity, and her remorse at what 
she'd done:

"I'm sorry for any hurt I've caused anybody," Velma says. "There isn't a day 
goes by that I don't think about this and wish that it were possible for me 
myself to take that hurt."

But in the end, wearing pink pajamas after a last meal of Coca-Cola and Cheez 
Doodles, she died by lethal injection as capital punishment opponents protested 
outside the prison.

A New York Times article penned shortly after her death suggested the hotly 
contested North Carolina Senate race at the time added a political angle to the 
proceedings: Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. of North Carolina strongly defended his 
decision ... to deny clemency for Mrs. Barfield, and described it as the kind 
of "tough decision" he has often had to make as Governor. Mr. Hunt, a Democrat, 
is in the final days of a close and bitterly fought race for the Senate here 
with Jesse Helms, the Republican incumbent.

Aides to Mr. Hunt, who canceled his campaign schedule today because of the 
execution, concede they are concerned over the possible effect the execution, 
so close to Election Day, might have among voters.

In his most extensive public remarks to date on the execution, Mr. Hunt denied 
that politics had anything to do with his decision to allow the execution. He 
also reaffirmed his strong support for the death penalty.

Public opinion surveys show capital punishment is supported by a majority of 
voters in North Carolina.

Hunt ended up losing - in the most expensive non-presidential election up to 
that point, by the way - and Velma Barfield made her own history by being the 
1st woman executed in America in 22 years.

(source: truecrime.com)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

After Charleston: Roof Should Not Be Put to Death



Recently, the terrorist who shot and killed 9 people at the Emanuel African 
Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina was apprehended, 
giving us a name and face to the crime: Dylann Roof.

As is often the case with highly publicized, clear-cut cases of terrorism, 
people immediately started calling for the death penalty. Only a month ago, 
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to death in liberal Massachusetts for his 
participation in the Boston Marathon bombings.

In regards to Roof, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley readily stated on NBC, 
"We will absolutely want him to have the death penalty." Roof's own uncle has 
stated, "I would pull the switch myself" if his nephew was found guilty.

Let us be perfectly clear: the Charleston shooting was a heinous massacre and, 
possibly, the worst example of white supremacist crime since the Civil Rights 
movement. That being said, we should categorically oppose the death penalty for 
Roof, not only for moral and economic reasons, but for reasons of racial 
justice as well.

Death Penalty by the Numbers

Like nearly all of our punitive policies, capital punishment is not a sentence 
that is handed out purely to the "bad guys" - it inevitably carries elements of 
politicization, bias and racism.

The truth is, we disproportionately sentence people of color to the death 
penalty. While black people only make up approximately 13 % of the U.S. 
population, they make up 35 percent of executions since 1976 and 42 % of those 
on death row.

The race of the victim matters as well - while only 1/2 of all murder victims 
are white, 80 % of death penalty cases involve a white victim. A 1990 U.S. 
General Accounting Office study showed that, even when controlling for legally 
relevant factors such as the crime, the number of victims and prior criminal 
record, a defendant was much more likely to receive the death penalty if their 
victim was white.

Recent state studies reflect the same information - in Louisiana, the odds of a 
death sentence were 97 % higher if the victim was white than if the victim was 
black. In Washington state, jurors are 3 times more likely to recommend a death 
sentence for black defendants than white defendants.

While capital punishment was outlawed for juveniles in 2005, when it was in 
effect, black children were still disproportionately sentenced. Between 1973 
and 2005, 41 % of offenders in juvenile death penalty cases were black and over 
2/3 of the victims were white.

Today, the same sort of numbers are reflected in juvenile life sentencing 
without parole (JLWOP). While there are only 4 times as many black minors 
arrested for killing white victims than white minors arrested for killing black 
victims, the number of black minors who receive a JLWOP sentence for killing 
white victims is 12 times more than vice versa.

This fits into our country's overall justice system hierarchy. We punish black 
crimes inflicted on white victims to a much higher degree. One need look no 
further than the myth of the black rapist and the white female victim that has 
permeated the American consciousness - a stereotype which far supersedes very 
real instances of white males raping black women.

Parity of Punishment Is an Unworthy Goal

The argument can be made that saving Roof, who is white, from the death penalty 
would only reinforce this racial trend. As recent events would suggest, if a 
black man were to have murdered 9 white victims in a church, he would have 
almost certainly been given a death sentence - probably by a cop before he ever 
stood trial. By this token, justice can only be served if Roof dies for his 
crimes.

The problem with this argument is that it advocates for a society in which 
people equally suffer under our punitive system. Not only is this not a worthy 
goal, it is highly unachievable in the current political and racial climate.

American racist sentiment informs our economic, social and judicial policies. 
The people who suffer the most from punitive policies have always been, and 
will continue to be in the foreseeable future, people of color. Thus, 
advocating for the death penalty, in any case and under any circumstances, will 
continue to punish minorities first and foremost.

This also goes for our other unjust crime and punishment policies, such as stop 
and frisk, mandatory sentencing and JLWOP sentencing. These types of punitive 
policies are some of our country's greatest tools for expressing racism and 
suppressing minority populations.

Thus, the issue isn't merely that they are incarcerating minorities at a much 
greater rate - it's that these laws, which make up the most bloated carceral 
state in the world, exist at all. In other words, the solution will never be 
parity of punishment but, rather, eliminating the punishment altogether.

Advocating for the death penalty for Roof will not bring about racial justice. 
Hundreds of other black men and women and children have been and are currently 
being sentenced to their death quietly and unobtrusively. Abolish the death 
penalty and they won't be any longer.

(source: Clio Chang is a policy associate at the Century Foundation; 
Newsweek.com)

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

U.S. Federal Hate Crime Charges Likely in South Carolina Church Shooting



The Justice Department will probably file federal hate crime charges against 
the white man accused of carrying out a massacre at a storied black church in 
South Carolina, federal law enforcement officials said Wednesday.

Dylann Roof, 21, already faces nine counts of murder in state court, where he 
could be sentenced to death, and a conviction there would make federal action 
largely symbolic. It was not clear whether state prosecutors, who did not 
return calls seeking comment, would defer to a federal case.

Analysts at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have concluded "with a high 
degree of certainty" that Mr. Roof posted a racist manifesto online, which 
could be crucial to a hate crime prosecution, a law enforcement official said. 
The website was registered in February under his name, though the person 
controlling it tried the next day to make it anonymous.

Beyond South Carolina, the campaign to remove long-venerated Confederate 
symbols from public grounds gained momentum as the Republican governor of 
Alabama, Robert Bentley, ordered Confederate flags removed from the state 
Capitol grounds and Mississippi's senators, Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran, both 
Republicans, said their state should remove the Confederate battle flag from 
its flag.

When a crime can be prosecuted under either state or federal law, the Justice 
Department often refrains from acting, particularly when a suspect faces severe 
state penalties.

But Justice Department and F.B.I. officials agreed that the Charleston shooting 
was so horrific and racially motivated that the federal government must address 
it, law enforcement officials said. South Carolina does not have a hate crimes 
law, and federal investigators believe that a murder case alone would leave the 
racial component of the crime unaddressed.

"This directly fits the hate crime statute," one law enforcement official said. 
"This is exactly what it was created for."

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized 
to speak publicly about the investigation.

The death penalty could be a factor in deciding who prosecutes; Mr. Roof faces 
possible execution under South Carolina law, and Gov. Nikki R. Haley has called 
for the death penalty. But the federal hate crime law carries a maximum penalty 
of life in prison.

Federal and state prosecutors could both bring charges, and in such instances, 
they typically coordinate so one case does not undermine the other. Officials 
said no decision had been made on the timing of charges because many details 
remained unresolved.

Mr. Roof has been assigned state and federal public defenders. In his sole 
court appearance since the shooting, in Charleston on Monday, bond was set at 
$1 million, which he has not posted.

"I am not in the position to, alone, go into the ghetto and fight," read part 
of the 2,500-word online screed attributed to Mr. Roof. "I chose Charleston 
because it is most historic city in my state, and at one time had the highest 
ratio of blacks to Whites in the country. We have no skinheads, no real KKK, no 
one doing anything but talking on the Internet. Well someone has to have the 
bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me."

The website showed photographs of Mr. Roof holding a Confederate battle flag - 
the type of banner displayed on the license plate of his car - and visiting 
Confederate heritage sites and slavery museums.

The F.B.I. laboratory in Quantico, Va., was analyzing a computer and phone that 
he used, the officials said, piecing together his communications and trying to 
recover any deleted information.

The killings took place on the night of June 17, when witnesses said Mr. Roof 
sat with a group of black people in a Bible study group at the church for 
almost an hour, then drew a .45-caliber pistol and fatally shot 9 of them. "You 
are raping our women and taking over the country," he reportedly said.

Among the dead was Mr. Pinckney, the church's widely respected pastor. His 
body, clad in a dark suit and red tie, lay Wednesday in an open coffin between 
the House and Senate chambers, near a statue of John C. Calhoun, a staunch 
19th-century defender of slavery and secession.

The line of mourners stretched from the domed lobby of the blue granite State 
House, down the green and gold stairway, around the marble floor, out a side 
door into the stifling heat, past the still-flying Confederate battle flag, 
around the grounds and up Sumter Street.

Legislators joined those who had never met Mr. Pinckney to say goodbye and to 
murmur condolences to his widow. There were whites and blacks, Catholic priests 
and Baptist preachers, men in dark suits and boys in shorts and baseball caps. 
"Clem was a good friend of mine, like a son," said State Representative Joe 
Neal, who said Mr. Pinckney had attended the funeral of Mr. Neal's mother the 
weekend before the massacre. "To lose him on the next Wednesday was almost 
unbearable."

Jeanetta Hutchinson, 64, made the trip from Charleston, though she did not know 
Mr. Pinckney. She and others called his death a galvanizing moment in the 
movement to overcome the legacy of racism.

The viewing came 2 days after Ms. Haley, a Republican, called on lawmakers to 
remove the battle flag from the Capitol grounds. Both houses of the 
Republican-controlled General Assembly voted Tuesday to take up the matter.

Southern conservatives have often defended symbols of Confederate pride as 
emblems of heritage, not bigotry. But this week, conservatives like Ms. Haley 
have joined a sudden groundswell of officials calling for removal of 
Confederate flags and statues, and the rechristening of places named for 
Confederate heroes.

South Carolina moved the Confederate banner in 2000 from atop the Capitol dome 
to a pole near the building. That change was enshrined in law, so a new law 
would be needed to move it again.

But Mr. Bentley, Alabama's governor, concluded that he could act on his own 
authority to remove the flags flying beside a Confederate memorial outside the 
Capitol building in Montgomery.

"He does not want the flags to be a distraction from other state issues, so he 
ordered them removed," said Yasamie R. August, the governor's press secretary.

In Mississippi, the Republicans who control state government have been split, 
with some saying voters should decide whether to keep the flag and others, 
including the United States senators from the state, supporting change.

"As the descendant of several brave Americans who fought for the Confederacy, I 
have not viewed Mississippi's current state flag as offensive," one of those 
senators, Mr. Wicker, said Wednesday. "However, it is clearer and clearer to me 
that many of my fellow citizens feel differently and that our state flag 
increasingly portrays a false impression of our state to others."

(source: New York Times)








GEORGIA:

As Court Prepares to Hear Juror Exclusion Case, A Look at Tactics That Exclude 
Blacks from Juries



This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a Georgia case, Foster v. Humphrey, 
in which an all-white jury sentenced a black man to death after prosecutors 
struck every black prospective juror in the case. The Court will determine 
whether prosecutors violated the Court's 1986 decision in Batson v. Kentucky, 
which banned the practice of dismissing potential jurors on the basis of race. 
In anticipation of the case, The New Yorker published an analysis of tactics 
used to evade Batson challenges by providing race-neutral reasons for striking 
jurors. In Philadelphia, a training video told new prosecutors, "When you do 
have a black juror, you question them at length. And on this little sheet that 
you have, mark something down that you can articulate later....You may want to 
ask more questions of those people so it gives you more ammunition to make an 
articulable reason as to why you are striking them, not for race." In the 
1990s, prosecutors in North Carolina -- whose use of peremptory strikes have 
been held to violate that state's Racial Justice Act -- held training sessions 
featuring a handout titled, "Batson Justifications: Articulating Juror 
Negatives." Defense attorneys can challenge these reasons, but such challenges 
are rarely successful. Stephen Bright, president of the Southern Center for 
Human Rights, who is representing Foster, said, "You're asking the judge to say 
that the prosecutor intentionally discriminated on the basis of race, and that 
he lied about it. That's very difficult psychologically for the average judge." 
Justice Thurgood Marshall recommended banning peremptory strikes so as to stop 
racial bias in jury selection. Louisiana Capital Assistance Center director 
Richard Bourke suggests a more politically realistic reform: track the racial 
makeup of juries in order to raise public awareness of bias.

(source: DPIC)

**********

Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty in Murder of Georgia Couple Who Responded to 
Craigslist Ad for Dream Car



Prosecutors are asking for the death penalty for a Georgia man accused of 
killing an elderly couple.

Bud, 69, and June Runion, 66, went missing in January after they received an 
answer to an ad on Craigslist looking for their dream car, a 1966 Ford Mustang 
convertible.

Their bodies were found days later. They had both been shot in the head.

Ronnie "Jay" Towns was arrested before the bodies were discovered on charges of 
giving false statements and criminal attempt to commit theft by deception. 
Police said that the Runions' last call was to Towns.

After their bodies were found, Towns was charged with murder - and now Telfair 
County District Attorney Tim Vaughn has said that he will seek the death 
penalty against Towns for the brutal slayings, the Associated Press reports.

Towns is currently charged with malice murder and armed robbery. He has not yet 
entered a plea and is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, reports The 
Telegraph.

(source: people.com)








FLORIDA:

Florida's Execution Procedure In Question



Over the last several years, European drug manufacturers have tried to limit 
the use of their products in lethal injection executions. As a result, death 
penalty states were left scrambling to find replacements.

In 2013, Florida began using a new drug called midazolam that is now the 
subject of a U.S. Supreme Court case: Glossip v. Gross. The state, which has 
one of the most active active death chambers, has halted all executions for the 
past 6 months awaiting a decision on the case.

The 1st time midazolam was ever used in a lethal injection procedure was in 
Florida, for the execution of William Happ in October, 2013. And some argue the 
problems were evident even in that case.

There are 3 drugs used in Florida's lethal injection process, used in order.

The last drug administered is potassium chloride, which stops the heart, an 
experience that would be excruciatingly painful if the inmate were conscious.

So midazolam is administered 1st. It's intended to put the person in a 
coma-like sleep so pain doesn't register.

William Happ was convicted of the rape and murder of a 21-year-old woman from 
Lauderdale Lakes.

Tonya Alanez was covering the execution for the Sun Sentinel. It was the 1st 
time anyone would be put to death using midazolam.

Alanez was comparing this execution to one she had covered in 2009, which used 
a different drug combination.

When the drugs started flowing through the IVs into William Happ, "it seemed 
like more inner resistance, a lot more twitching and heavy breathing, a little 
bit of spasming. The chest heaved a bit. It wasn't big, violent and dramatic, 
it was very subtle. Twitchy," says Alanez.

Alanez says William Happ's body moved more than in the other execution she had 
witnessed, but she chalked it up to Happ's reluctance to give up life.

But lawyers opposed to the use of midazolam argue the twitching could be a sign 
that William Happ had been jolted into consciousness -- that the drug's effect 
had essentially been undone -- and that Happ was feeling excruciating pain from 
the potassium chloride.

"What happened is really unknowable," says Megan McCracken, 8th amendment 
resource counsel with the Death Penalty Clinic at University of California 
Berkeley School of Law.

She says what makes it unknowable is the 2nd drug Florida injects into death 
row inmates.

In between the midazolam, which knocks the prisoners out, and the potassium 
chloride, which kills them, the state injects a paralysis-inducing drug that 
prevents the body from writhing.

"Once the prisoner's paralyzed he can't move, he can't breathe, he can't 
speak," says McCracken. "He could be fully awake, conscious, aware of what's 
happening and have no ability to signal that."

Some, like McCracken, say there is simply no way to ensure midazolam keeps 
people in a deep-sleep the entire time, that you can't tell during an actual 
execution. Some anesthesiologists argue enough studies have been done to show 
that the drug should do its job in the death chamber.

Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide: Do we know enough about 
midazolam to be sure it is not cruel and unusual?

The Florida Department of Corrections issued a short statement In response to 
WLRN's questions about Florida's death penalty procedure.

It says it's confident in its ability to carry out a sentence humanely and with 
dignity.

The state isn't saying what it will do if midazolam is taken off the execution 
table.

(source: Associated Press)








ALABAMA:

Organization works to provide post-conviction counsel to inmates



What can be done to provide adequate legal representation for indigent 
defendants in Alabama?

Alabama is one of the few states in the nation that does not have a statewide 
indigent defender program in place and is one of only a handful of states that 
does not provide post-conviction counsel to death row inmates.

That means that those in Alabama who have been accused of even a capital crime, 
but cannot afford legal counsel, are often forced to navigate the court system 
without the best representation. According to a study conducted by the Equal 
Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based nonprofit that helps provide legal 
representation to indigent defendants, "Of 41 judicial circuits in Alabama, 
only 4 have a public defender, of which only one tries capital cases." 
Furthermore, the EJI study states that, "In these counties, the attorney did 
not file a single motion in 72 % of all felony cases, and did not ask for 
experts or funds for investigators in 99.4 % of cases."

Clayton Tartt, an associate with Birmingham's Parkman, White Law Firm, believes 
this to be a critical flaw in Alabama's judicial system. Tartt is also a 
volunteer with the Alabama Post-Conviction Relief Project (APCRP), an 
organization like EJI that works to provide legal representation to those who 
cannot afford it otherwise.

"Once you are convicted of a crime in Alabama, you can go through the direct 
appeals process. Once the case makes it to the Alabama Supreme Court, then you 
have to go back to the original circuit court and file a Rule 32 petition, 
which is basically Alabama's habeas corpus," Tartt explained.

This is often a long and complicated process, and many of those seeking to 
appeal their cases must do so without proper representation because of 
Alabama's lack of public defenders, Tartt explained. Any misstep in the process 
and the court of appeals may preclude any petition.

Recently Tartt, along with the APCRP, helped to get Chris Revis, a man on 
Alabama's death row, a new trial after a lengthy appeal process, which he was 
initially denied by the Alabama Supreme Court.

"We came in and helped to draft his Rule 32. We drafted an almost 300-page 
petition and were granted an evidentiary hearing," Tartt said.

On Feb. 13, Marion County Circuit Court Judge John. H. Bentley ordered a new 
trial after evidence in the petition pointed to juror misconduct. According to 
Tartt, 2 of the jurors in Revis' 2005 murder trial prematurely deliberated 
about the case at a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Hamilton, Alabama.

"This was just one particular issue in the 300-page petition we filed. 
Basically they went out to lunch and talked about how the case was going, which 
is a big no-no. We had about 40 issues we were litigating but Judge Bentley 
cherry-picked this one and said, 'If you're right about this we don't even have 
to see anything else,'" Tartt said.

Tartt said that cases like this happen all over the country, not just Alabama. 
However, he takes issue with the fact that Alabama is the only state in the 
nation in which an elected judge can override a jury's recommendation for a 
life sentence and instead hand down the death penalty.

"There was an EJI study put out a couple of years ago that showed an increase 
in judicial overrides in election years. And of course the overrides were in 
favor of death," Tartt said.

Since 1976, there have been 111 instances of judicial override in Alabama. Of 
those instances, 91 % of the cases resulted in a judge overriding a verdict and 
imposing the death penalty, according to the EJI study on judicial override.

"Alabama's trial and appellate court judges are elected. Because judicial 
candidates frequently campaign on their support and enthusiasm for capital 
punishment, political pressure injects unfairness and arbitrariness into 
override decisions," the study states.

"Override rates fluctuate wildly from year to year. The proportion of death 
sentences imposed by override often is elevated in election years. In 2008, 30 
% of new death sentences were imposed by judge override, compared to 7 % in 
1997, a non-election year. In some years, 1/2 of all death sentences imposed in 
Alabama have been the result of override," according to the EJI study.

Because of this, nearly 20 % of all inmates on death row were sentenced through 
judicial override. Because of this in 2009, Alabama, a state with a population 
of roughly 4.5 million, sentenced more people to death than Texas, a state with 
a population of about 24 million.

Christine Freeman, the federal defender for the middle district of Alabama and 
executive director of APCRP, said that because Alabama's statute does not 
guarantee post-conviction counsel, indigent defendants are more often than not 
under-represented and left unable to appeal their cases.

"The main problem is that there is no clear, consistent way in which indigent 
defendants are appointed counsel in Alabama," Freeman said. "They don't have 
adequate resources in some of these high-security prisons to research their 
case."

In Alabama's current system, not only are indigent defendants not guaranteed 
representation, but also they are often appointed inept or inexperienced public 
defenders, Freeman explained.

The need for a statewide system for indigent representation can be felt in the 
state's overcrowded prisons, Freeman said. "It's a difficult, complex area of 
law. If only the state were to set up an institutional post-conviction defender 
or support that kind of effort, the process would certainly be fairer and would 
result in less innocent people being convicted and serving time," Freeman 
continued.

However, as it stands right now, Freeman said, there is no legislation slated 
to amend this nor does she see it happening in the near future. For now, 
indigent defendants on death row and those trying to appeal their cases on a 
federal level must rely on nonprofits like APCRP and EJI to help them navigate 
Alabama's complex legal terrain.

(source: weldbham.com)








MISSISSIPPI:

Officials: Man who killed grandparents could face death penalty



Rankin County authorities believe a Pearl couple was murdered by their 
grandson.

22 year-old Zachary Alexander Stanford is in custody in the Rankin County 
Detention Center.

Stanford allegedly used a gun and a knife to kill his grandparents, 77 year-old 
Peggy Faries and 79 year-old Robert Faries.

He is charged with 2 counts of capital murder.

Officials say Stanford, who lives in Ocean Springs, could face the death 
penalty.

On Tuesday, the Faries were discovered murdered in their home on Highway 469 
North in Pearl.

Sheriff Bailey says the couple may have been killed late on Monday or early 
Tuesday.

Bailey says Stanford was stopped by Magee police for careless driving. Officers 
took Stanford into custody after seeing his bloody clothing and weapons.

Officials say they are still investigating a motive for the homicides.

Stanford is expected in court at 9 am Thursday for an initial appearance.

(source: WLOX news)