[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., NEB., UTAH, WYO., ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

March 16



OHIO:

Penalty phase of trial begins for man convicted of killing ex-girlfriend, their 
son



A jury has begun the penalty phase in the continuing Summit County capital 
murder trial of a man convicted in the 2013 slayings of his former girlfriend 
and their son.

Last month, the same panel convicted Daniel Tighe, 41, of aggravated murder, 
murder, abuse of a corpse and other crimes after nine hours of deliberations 
over 2 days.

The badly decomposed remains of Wendy Ralston, 31, and the couple's 5-year-old 
son, Peyton, were found Aug. 10, 2013, buried in the woods behind a Tallmadge 
duplex they shared with Tighe.

A specific cause of death for both victims could not be determined by the 
Summit County Medical Examiner's Office, but prosecutors built their case on 
the strength of days of testimony involving extensive circumstantial evidence.

Summit Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Baumoel told the jury in closing arguments 
last month that Tighe and Ralston had a volatile relationship and that Tighe 
might have killed her, possibly by strangulation, during an argument or fit of 
rage.

Tighe was homeless and unemployed at the time and had moved into Ralston's 
Stone Creek Drive duplex in Tallmadge 3 months before her death.

Common Pleas Judge Lynne S. Callahan, who presided over the trial, is hearing 
what is known as the mitigation phase of the proceedings.

According to Ohio law, prosecutors must prove that the aggravating 
circumstances of the crimes outweigh any factors that show the defendant should 
not be put to death.

The jury then must decide whether to recommend capital punishment.

It is up to the judge to impose a death sentence.

Defense attorney Brian Pierce said Tighe will not take the stand nor give an 
unsworn statement in court.

Proceedings are expected to conclude Tuesday.

(source: Akron Beacon Journal)








MISSOURI----impending execution

Missouri to execute intellectually disabled man barring last-minute stay ---- 
Cecil Clayton, diagnosed as severely mentally impaired from a logging accident 
40 years ago, to be put to death for killing a police officer in 1996



The scan of Cecil Clayton's brain succinctly tells the story. In the front left 
corner of his skull, where his frontal lobe would normally be found, there is a 
gaping black hole about the size of a fist.

In 1972, Clayton was working on a log in a lumberyard in Purdy, Missouri, when 
a piece of wood broke off the saw mill and struck him in the head. It pierced 
his skull, sending shards of bone deep into his brain, and in the process of 
saving his life surgeons were forced to remove 1/5 of his frontal lobe - a 
vital area that controls judgment, inhibition and impulsive behavior.

The accident had a devastating impact. A man who before it occurred had been a 
teetotal devoted husband and father of five, who preached and sang the gospel 
in his own ministry, developed severe memory loss and despair, sank into 
alcoholism and split from his wife, had hallucinations and displayed bouts of 
violent rage.

24 years after the accident he shot and killed a Purdy police officer, 
Christopher Castetter. When he was arrested, Clayton displayed signs of 
confusion, saying of his victim that "he shouldn't have smarted off to me", yet 
adding "but I don't know because I wasn't out there."

Under the constitution of the United States it is forbidden to execute anyone 
who is insane and incapable of understanding the fact of his impending death 
and the reason for it. Under separate but equally clear rulings, it is also 
prohibited to execute an intellectually disabled prisoner.

Yet at 6pm on Tuesday Missouri time, barring last-minute intervention, Clayton 
- a man who as a result of losing part of his brain has been deemed by a 
succession of medical experts to be insane and intellectually disabled - will 
be put to death by lethal injection. Attempts by his lawyers to have the 
execution delayed have so far failed, with the Missouri supreme court refusing 
even to allow a hearing into the inmate's mental condition to consider whether 
he is entitled to protection under the 8th amendment of the US constitution 
that debars "cruel and unusual punishment".

The evidence of Clayton's mental impairments - and hence his constitutional 
right to protection - is considerable, dating back many years. In addition to 
that image of his brain scan, psychological evaluations stretching back to 1978 
have chronicled the after-effects of his severe brain trauma.

He has the reading ability of a 9-year-old, has visual and auditory 
hallucinations in which he is convinced that he is accompanied by a man and a 
woman wherever he goes, is incapable of simple tasks such as ordering food from 
the prison commissary, and is under the delusion that he will never be executed 
because God will intervene and free him so that he can return to his preaching 
and gospel singing.

3 forensic psychologists have spent time with Clayton in multiple visits 
spanning 2005 to this year, and have unanimously and consistently concluded 
that he is entitled to constitutional protections because of his mental 
incompetence. One of the psychologists, Daniel Foster, has written: "He is not 
simply incompetent legally, he would be unable to care for himself or manage 
basic self care, were he not in a structured environment that takes care of him 
... he still does not comprehend, appreciate nor understand its approaching 
date for him".

6 times, Clayton's lawyers have petitioned the Missouri supreme court, the 
highest judicial panel in the state, calling for a full review of his mental 
condition to see whether he is entitled to 8th amendment protections. Each time 
they have cited the expert evidence of his mental dysfunction, but each time 
the court has rebuffed the request saying that the prisoner had not met the 
level of impairment necessary to justify a hearing.

In effect, the inmate has found himself trapped in a Catch-22 where he has been 
unable to convince the Missouri justices that he is worthy of their attention. 
His final plea to the US supreme court, on which his fate now hangs, says: "The 
Missouri supreme court essentially required Mr Clayton to prove his 
incompetency in order to obtain a hearing on his incompetency."

In a dissenting opinion from the Missouri court, Laura Denvir Stith said: "The 
denial of such a hearing deprives Mr Clayton of a fair opportunity to show that 
the constitution prohibits his execution."

Missouri has become one of America's most aggressive death penalty states. 
Since November 2013 it has been executing prisoners at the rate of almost 1 a 
month, a rate rivaled only by Texas.

Should Clayton's execution go ahead, he would be the 14th death row inmate to 
be judicially killed in the past 17 months.

(source: The Guardian)

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

Missouri Killer Cecil Clayton Fights to Halt Execution Over Brain Damage



A convicted cop-killer who is missing a small part of his brain is asking the 
U.S. Supreme Court to halt his Tuesday execution, arguing mental illness and 
intellectual disability make him ineligible for the death penalty.

Cecil Clayton's appeal to the nation's top court comes after the highest court 
in Missouri rejected his claims in a 4-3 decision over the weekend.

Clayton, 74, was injured in a 1972 sawmill accident in which a piece of wood 
shot through his skull, forcing doctors to remove 1/5 of his frontal lobe - 
which amounted to just under 8 % of his brain.

His lawyers contend that after the surgery, he became hallucinatory, suicidal, 
alcoholic, paranoid, depressed and prone to violent outbursts. In 1996, he shot 
and killed sheriff's deputy Chris Castetter while the officer was responding to 
a domestic disturbance.

The defense says that 2 doctors have repeatedly deemed Clayton incompetent, but 
the Missouri court found that he understands why he has been sentenced to die, 
and therefore is considered competent for execution. 3 of the 7 judges 
disagreed and said he is entitled to a competency hearing.

"This Court, nonetheless, rushes to reject his request for a hearing before a 
special master at which he can attempt to prove his incompetency claim and his 
claim that he is intellectually disabled," they wrote in a dissent. "The 
majority's decision to proceed with the execution at this time and in these 
circumstances violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual 
punishment."

(source: NBC news)

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

Nixon Weighs Clemency Request Ahead of Tuesday Execution



Missouri's oldest death row inmate is appealing to the governor ahead of his 
execution, which is scheduled for Tuesday.

Attorneys for 74-year-old Cecil Clayton argue he suffers from dementia, and the 
lingering effects of a 1972 sawmill accident that cost him part of his brain.

Clayton was sentenced to death for the 1996 killing of a sheriff's deputy.

Clayton was convicted of shooting deputy Christopher Castetter in Barry County, 
in Southwestern Missouri.

Castetter was investigating a report of a suspicious vehicle at the time of the 
shooting.

Clayton's attorneys are seeking a competency hearing because they say he's not 
mentally fit to be put to death.

The state Supreme Court declined to intervene on Saturday, so it's ultimately 
up to Governor Jay Nixon or the U.S. Supreme Court to decide his fate.

A spokesperson for Governor Nixon said Monday only that Nixon is weighing 
Clayton's request.

(source: Associated Press)

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

This Man Is Missing a Chunk of His Brain. The Missouri Supreme Court Says It's 
Okay to Execute Him.



Cecil Clayton, a mentally ill Missouri man facing execution on Tuesday, was 
denied a crucial avenue to clemency this weekend: The Missouri Supreme Court 
ruled that Clayton is competent to be executed. But he's missing 1/5 of his 
frontal lobe.

Clayton, 74, was sentenced to death in 1997 for murdering a police officer. 25 
years before that, he suffered a horrific accident that caused the removal of 
significant parts of his brain, transforming his brain chemistry and 
personality. His lawyers are aiming to secure him a stay of execution and a 
hearing to evaluate his competency to be executed, but Missouri law makes it 
highly difficult to do so after the trial.

In a 4-3 decision, the state's highest court found that Clayton's lawyers had 
not presented a sufficiently compelling case for the state to delay his 
execution and hold a hearing to evaluate his competency. The majority argued 
that though Clayton suffers from debilitating dementia, paranoia, 
schizophrenia, and a host of other conditions, "there is no evidence that he is 
not capable of understanding 'matters in extenuation, arguments for executive 
clemency, or reasons why the sentence should not be carried out.'"

In their dissent, the 3 judges in the minority wrote that Clayton's lawyers 
presented reasonable grounds that his "mental condition has deteriorated and he 
is intellectually disabled." They noted that he is "incompetent to be executed 
and...is entitled to a hearing at which his competence will be determined." And 
they contended that the "majority's decision to proceed with the execution at 
this time and in these circumstances violates the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel 
and unusual punishment."

A few options remain for Clayton. On Monday, Clayton's lawyers filed a petition 
to the US Supreme Court to stay the execution. Missouri Governor Jay Nixon (D) 
also can stay the execution and order a competency hearing. Clayton is 
scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection - a method his attorneys claim 
could cause him a "prolonged and excruciating" death - at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

(source: Mother Jones)








NEBRASKA:

Case against death penalty gaining more momentum



One of the reasons that support for the death penalty is eroding was evident at 
last week's legislative hearing on the latest attempt to replace the death 
sentence with a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole.

Some family members of murder victims say the seemingly endless appeals in 
death penalty cases traumatize them again and again, and give unwarranted 
notoriety to the killer.

Miriam Thimm Kelle's brother was murdered by cult leader Michael Ryan almost 30 
years ago.

Without the death penalty, Kelle said, Ryan would more likely have spent the 
past 3 decades in obscurity.

Her family should be united in memory of her brother, Kelle said. Instead it is 
divided between those, like her, who want the penalty changed to life without 
parole and those who still hope to see him executed.

That may never happen. Ryan has terminal brain cancer. Kelle said he may not 
survive the year. "He's going to cheat the executioner," said Sen. Ernie 
Chambers, who introduced LB268 to replace the death penalty.

There was a time when the death penalty was an issue that divided liberals and 
conservatives.

Now there is considerable support among conservatives for doing away with the 
death penalty, as shown by the fact that 7 Republican state senators are 
co-sponsoring Chambers' bill.

The conservative argument against the death penalty is rooted in the view that 
government is too prone to error, too arbitrary and too inefficient to apply 
such an irreversible sanction. There's little doubt that the government's 
effort to use the death penalty is costly. Study after study has shown that 
death penalty cases are more costly. The average cost of an execution in 
Nebraska is estimated to be $15 million, according to Nebraskans for 
Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

As retired Lincoln police Capt. Jim Davidsaver said in a Local View in the 
Journal Star last year, "The United States Supreme Court has dictated capital 
cases must be handled differently, so they are especially complicated and time 
consuming. The millions of dollars we've spent on the death penalty would have 
been much better invested in more police officers, additional resources or 
training for our current officers."

The arguments in favor LB268 are objective, factual and overwhelming.

(source: Opinion, Lincoln Journal Star)








UTAH:

Prosecutors portray man as calculated killer in 30-year-old death penalty trial



Douglas Lovell's gruff inmate jumpsuit from so many previous hearings was gone, 
and in its place was a blue blazer worn over a collared shirt.

Lovell sported slicked back hair and talked quietly with his defense counsel 
before the beginning of his new murder trial Monday, almost blending in with 
his surroundings.

Lovell is no stranger to courtrooms. He spent years on death row for the very 
murder he's now on trial for. But it should be easy for the jury hearing his 
case to convict him since he's confessed to the crime and his own attorney even 
told jurors Monday that he did it.

This jury, however, will be asked to decide whether he should return to death 
row or be given a life prison sentence.

Prosecutors wasted no time Monday portraying Lovell as a calculating, heartless 
killer when opening arguments got underway in 2nd District Court.

Deputy Weber County attorney Gary Heward described the agony of Lovell's 
victim, 39-year-old Joyce Yost, when Lovell raped her in 1985 four months 
before she was murdered. Lovell stalked Yost from an eatery in Clearfield to 
her front driveway in Ogden, he said.

"(Lovell) forced his way into the car, threatened to kill her if she didn't 
consent to sex and grabbed her by the throat. ... Joyce is praying 'cause she 
doesn't know if she's going to live or die," Heward said. "She fights back, she 
honks the horn, she scratches him in the face with keys, which simply makes him 
more angry."

Lovell also took Yost back to his home and raped her there, Heward said.

That rape occurred in April 1985. But 2 weeks before she was scheduled to 
testify against Lovell in the rape case, she was kidnapped and killed. Years 
later, prosecutors charged Lovell with aggravated murder. He pleaded guilty to 
the crime as part of a plea bargain that he hoped would spare him the death 
penalty. As part of that deal, he was supposed to help investigators find 
Yost's body. But despite accompanying them on 5 trips to Ogden Canyon, her body 
was never found.

A judge sentenced Lovell to death by lethal injection.

However, the Utah Supreme Court allowed him to withdraw his guilty plea in 2010 
after his attorneys successfully argued that he was not adequately informed of 
his constitutional rights at the time. The case was sent back to the district 
court and a jury began hearing the evidence against him Monday.

Heward, who is seeking the death penalty anew, described Lovell's murder of 
Yost as the culmination of a 4-month plot with multiple false starts.

Lovell hired 2 other hit men, Heward said, and stalked Yost to find a way to 
kill her.

"He starts to scout her apartment. ... He goes up there on multiple occasions 
at night," Heward told the newly assembled jury of 8 men and 4 women.

When Lovell's murder for hire plans fell through, Heward said, the Clearfield 
man broke into Yost's home on 40th Street in Ogden in August 1985. Heward cited 
Lovell's confessions to his ex-wife in the early 1990s to describe Yost's 
desperate pleas shortly before she was killed.

"She is terrified. She is begging him," Heward said. "(She said), 'We can make 
a deal.' She is pleading for her life."

Heward said Lovell lied to his victim, telling Yost he simply needed to hide 
her away so she wouldn't testify against him in court.

Lovell drugged Yost so she would be too disoriented to call for help and then 
drove her to Ogden Canyon, where he "chokes her, stomps on her neck and puts 
leaves on her body," Heward told the jury.

Lovell's admissions of guilt make the retrial an open-and-shut case, he said.

(source: Deseret News)




WYOMING:

Lawyers appeal judge's decision allowing state again to seek death penalty 
against Dale Eaton



Lawyers for a Wyoming inmate convicted of killing a Montana woman filed papers 
Monday appealing a federal judge's recent decision to allow state prosecutors 
again to seek the death penalty.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne in February denied a request 
from lawyers representing inmate Dale Wayne Eaton to bar the state from seeking 
the death penalty against him for the 2nd time.

Eaton was convicted in 2004 of murdering Lisa Marie Kimmell, 18, of Billings, 
Montana. Eaton's lawyers don't dispute he killed her.

Johnson in November overturned Eaton's original death sentence, ruling he 
didn't get an adequate defense at his state trial. The judge said prosecutors 
could seek to convince another jury to resentence him to death or send Eaton to 
prison for life without parole.

(source: Associated Press)








ARIZONA:

Juror who saved Jodi Arias' from execution defends herself and tells how she 
receives death threats for being the single vote against sentencing her to 
death; Anonymous Juror 17, the 33-year-old Arizona woman and lone death penalty 
no vote says she's received death threats since the deadlock this month



The juror who single-handedly saved the life of Arizona boyfriend killer Jodi 
Arias by voting not to give her the death penalty is speaking out in her own 
defense.

The 33-year-old anonymously as Juror 17 says she's received death threats and 
widespread ridicule ever since she remained unmoved by 'brutal' jury room 
debates and an attempt to have her booted from the jury.

In a multi-part interview with KPNX in which 17 will no doubt explain her 
obstinance, the mother of three maintained she entered the trial simply to 
serve her civic duty and denied allegations she was some 'stealth juror' intent 
on saving the infamous murder's life.

Juror 17 also addressed her past encounters with Arias prosecutor Juan 
Martinez, facts that would not be revealed until after the March 5 deadlock 
announcement.

'It wasn't easy, I didn't ask for it, I didn't want it,' she said. 'All I did 
was answer the questions truthfully. I didn't want to be involved. I didn't 
want this pressure.'

Mostly, those questions revolved around what Juror 17 knew about the case going 
in, which, she insists, was very little.

'I live in Arizona so I had heard about the case and I had seen just when they 
would come up on the news,' she told KPNX. 'I would hear people talk about it 
and it wasn't something I really wanted to get sucked in to.'

When she arrived to the courthouse, Juror 17 recalls that there were many cases 
she could have been called to. In now way, she says, could she have manipulated 
it so she would.

However, her detractors point to her previous connection to Juan Martinez as 
proof Juror 17 wanted to be in the Arias trial and wanted Martinez to lose.

15 years ago, Juror 17's then husband was tried and convicted for robbery by 
Martinez and then sent to jail.

Juror 17 says she only recognized Martinez from television. Besides, she 
loathed her ex-husband and had been open about his abuse when question during 
jury selection.

'My struggles and my frustrations were always directed towards him,' she told 
KPNX. 'It's preposterous to me to hold a grudge or to blame somebody for doing 
their job.'

Nonetheless, the conspiracy theorizing and social media vexation raged on.

'Not recognizing Juan Martinez is like saying you don't recognize Mickey at 
Disney,' tweeted @Kristyannasmom.

Meanwhile, it was revealed March 10 that jurors had questioned the holdout's 
objectivity because she had previously watched a Lifetime movie about the Arias 
case, and prosecutors were upset at the juror's social media activity as she 
went on Facebook and liked several local TV stations and Nancy Grace of the HLN 
network.

The juror said her views were being ignored by the 11 jurors who wanted Arias 
to be executed for murdering boyfriend Travis Alexander nearly 7 years ago.

'My opinion isn't being heard,' the judge quoted the holdout as saying.

The holdout's identity was leaked through a Twitter account that also posted 
sympathetic comments about Alexander, while a pro-Arias website also published 
names of 11 people it said were the jurors who voted to sentence Arias to death 
for the 2008 killing.

(source: Daily Mail)








CALIFORNIA:

Cabrillo High School Student's Alleged Teen Killer Could Face Death Penalty; An 
18-year-old has been charged with capital murder in the stabbing death of 
Keshawn Brooks.



An 18-year-old reputed gang member was charged today with capital murder and 
robbery in the stabbing death of a 15-year-old Cabrillo High School student who 
was targeted while walking home from school.

Giovanny Montelongo, who allegedly stabbed Keshawn Brooks while trying to 
snatch his backpack last Thursday, was expected to be arraigned this afternoon 
at the Long Beach courthouse.

He is facing murder, 2nd-degree robbery and attempted 2nd-degree robbery 
charges, along with a special circumstance allegation of murder during the 
commission of a robbery and gang and deadly weapon allegations.

Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.

The criminal complaint states that Montelongo goes by the moniker "Drowsy" and 
alleges that an attempted robbery against another victim last Thursday was also 
committed "for the benefit of, at the direction of, and in association with a 
criminal street gang."

Brooks was attacked with a "sharp instrument" around 3:25 p.m. Thursday in the 
2800 block of Santa Fe Avenue as he walked home from Cabrillo High, according 
to Long Beach police and prosecutors.

Montelongo was arrested within hours at a residence in the 1700 block of West 
Columbia Street. Police said he had 3 outstanding warrants, including one 
no-bail warrant, all for alleged acts committed while he was a juvenile.

Keeyon Layton, Brooks' father, said his son was an innocent victim.

"My son was not a gang member," Layton said Thursday night. "This was murder 
... and he didn't deserve this."

Long Beach City Councilman Roberto Uranga offered his condolences last week to 
the victim's family and vowed to work with police and the Long Beach Unified 
School District to ensure the safety of students and community members affected 
by a scourge of racially motivated and gang-fueled violence.

"The ongoing racial and gang tensions in West Long Beach are unacceptable in a 
city as diverse as Long Beach and I will not allow our communities to 
continually live in fear," he said.

(source: patch.com)