[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., VA., ALA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

March 26



MARCH 26, 2015:





TEXAS:

Texas prison officials acquire drug to carry out lethal injections



Texas prison officials have acquired a small supply of pentobarbital to 
replenish their dwindling inventory of the execution drug so that lethal 
injections set for next month in the nation's most active death penalty state 
can be carried out, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said Wednesday.

The agency now has a sufficient amount of the sedative for the 4 inmates set to 
die in April, a spokesman confirmed.

(source: Washington Post)

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

Questionable Texas execution leads to bar complaint against prosecutor ---- 
Texas likely executed an innocent man, and now the prosecutor faces a 
misconduct complaint



A couple of days before Christmas 1991, Cameron Todd Willingham would later 
tell investigators, he awoke from a nap to a house filled with smoke and 
flames. He couldn't reach his 3 toddlers who had been in a back bedroom, and 
the intense heat sent him stumbling outside as fire consumed the house. Arson, 
fire investigators determined, and the police quickly zeroed in on Willingham 
as the one who started it.

Willingham was convicted of murder, sentenced to death, and the execution was 
carried out in 2004 despite significant questions about whether the fire had, 
indeed, been intentionally set. Since then, more questions have been raised 
about the role of a jailhouse informer named Johnny E. Webb, who testified at 
trial that Willingham had confessed to him. Webb and the prosecutor, John H. 
Jackson, told the court that no deal had been worked out for Webb's testimony, 
something Webb now says was a lie.

The evidence is substantial that in killing Willingham, Texas executed an 
innocent man, adding yet another layer of tragedy to the horrific deaths of the 
3 children. And the evidence is pretty convincing that the prosecutor, who has 
stood by the conviction, lied about making a deal with Webb in return for the 
now-recanted testimony.

Earlier this month, the State Bar of Texas quietly filed a disciplinary 
complaint against Jackson in Navarro County District Court, Maurice Possley 
reports at the Marshall Project. Specifically, the bar accuses Jackson of 
withholding evidence of Willingham???s innocence before, during and after the 
trial. From the Marshall Project:

A lawyer for Jackson, Joseph E. Byrne, on Wednesday urged that people withhold 
judgment about the case until all the evidence was presented and took issue 
with the grievance filed against his client by the Innocence Project, a legal 
advocacy group.

If found guilty, Jackson could be disbarred -- not much of a penalty if he was 
indeed culpable for the execution of an innocent man. But it's somewhat 
remarkable that a disciplinary body is even trying to hold a prosecutor 
accountable for apparent misconduct during a trial. That an innocent man was 
likely executed may put more weight on this case, but there have been other 
similar acts of misconduct in death penalty cases, actions that rarely receive 
more than a courtroom rebuke. Though I should note that misconduct and 
prosecutorial errors are not necessarily intentional.

According to the National Registry of Exonerations, official misconduct was 
involved in 46% of the 12,569 exonerations it has tracked since 1989. Politico 
wrote about some of the post-conviction review units that a handful of 
prosecutor's offices have adopted to try to ensure the innocent have not been 
wrongly convicted, something I've written about before.

But that's just a step. I take it as a given that most prosecutors are focused 
on justice. But until prosecutors know they face accountability for their 
infractions, there is little to stop the bad actors from acting badly.

(source: Opinion; Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times)








PENNSYLVANIA:

York College-commissioned poll shows Pa. voters narrowly against death penalty



A poll commissioned by a York College professor and released on Wednesday shows 
a slim majority of polled Pennsylvanians support Gov. Tom Wolf's decision to 
temporarily put a hold on executions.

54 % of the pollees also prefer some form of a life sentence rather than a 
death sentence, according to the poll done by Public Policy Polling of North 
Carolina.

Eric Ling, an associate professor of criminal justice, said he commissioned the 
poll to see how attitudes were shaped by the governor's decision to put a 
moratorium on the death penalty in February.

"Pennsylvanians are moving with the time," he said of the results. "I think 
now's the time for reconsideration."

The poll: Of the 632 registered voters polled, 29 % strongly support and 21 % 
somewhat support Wolf's decision, while 15 % somewhat oppose and 29 strongly 
oppose. 5 % of those polled weren't sure, according to the poll.

32 % said they prefer a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of 
parole for someone convicted of murder, while 42 % said they prefer the death 
penalty. Additionally, 13 % said they prefer a sentence of life with a chance 
of parole after 20 years, and 9 % said they prefer a sentence of life with a 
chance of parole after 40 years. 4 % said they aren't sure, the poll says.

The poll has a 4.2 % margin of error and also addresses fiscal aspects of the 
death penalty.

It is the 1st of its kind since the governor said he won't sign death warrants, 
which authorize executions to be carried out, until a report on the death 
penalty by the Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Commission is completed and 
reviewed.

Since Wolf won't sign death warrants, the secretary of corrections, John 
Wetzel, must sign a notice of execution and schedule a time to carry out the 
execution. But Wolf has been granting reprieves to death row inmates who have 
executions scheduled.

Swayed: Richard Long, executive director of the Pennsylvania District Attorneys 
Association, said he saw the poll and believes the phrasing of the questions 
swayed pollees toward giving an anti-death penalty answer.

For example, the question about Wolf's decision lists "concerns about the risk 
of executing innocent people, the high cost of the death penalty and serious 
issues of unfairness" as reasons why Wolf imposed the moratorium.

"I believe the phrasing of the questions are suggestive," he said. "I think 
that influences the answers you're going to get."

The association has come out against Wolf's decision, saying that as governor, 
he is violating state law by not signing death warrants. Philadelphia District 
Attorney Seth Williams filed a lawsuit against Wolf, arguing the moratorium is 
unconstitutional.

National trend: Though the recently released poll shows Pennsylvanians appear 
to back Wolf's decision, it bucks the national trend of support for the death 
penalty.

A Gallup poll released in October shows 63 % of those polled favor the death 
penalty for someone convicted of murder, while 33 % oppose it and 4 % aren't 
sure.

The death penalty is legal in 32 states.

There are 186 people, 13 of whom were convicted in York County, on death row in 
Pennsylvania, the fifth-largest population in the nation.

However, the last execution in the state was carried out in 1999.

Proponents have long said the death penalty serves as a deterrent and brings 
closure to victims' families.

But that's not always the case, Ling said, considering almost all death 
sentences are appealed. That causes families to rehash the crime each time an 
appeal is filed.

Appeals also cause the convicted to sit on death row for years, if not decades, 
at the expense of taxpayers.

It costs more to house an inmate on death row as opposed to that inmate serving 
a life sentence, Ling pointed out.

"The thing about the death penalty is it's a false promise," he said, adding 
there's always the possibility that a guilty conviction in a capital case could 
be overturned because new evidence could clear the presumed guilty inmate of 
the crime.

However, Long said the death penalty is necessary for some cases, particularly 
heinous murders.

"We believe the death penalty is the appropriate punishment in the worst of the 
worst circumstances," he said.

(source: York Dispatch)






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

Judge: Edwards ineligible for death penalty



A Fayette County judge set aside a death sentence for Mark Duane Edwards on 
Wednesday and ordered him to serve the equivalent of 4 consecutive life 
sentences.

President Judge James F. Wagner Jr. determined that Edwards, 32, was ineligible 
for the death penalty under Pennsylvania law and a U.S. Supreme Court decision 
because of an intellectual disability.

Edwards was convicted in 2004 of killing Larry A. Bobish, 50; his wife, Joanna, 
42; and their pregnant daughter, Krystal, 17, during a burglary and arson at 
the family's North Union home on April 14, 2002.

The Bobishes' then-12-year-old son, Larry Jr., survived being shot and escaped 
the fire. A bullet remains lodged in his head.

A death warrant had been signed in November by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, but a 
motion to stay the sentence was filed in county court and resulted in a 3-day 
hearing and Wagner's ruling.

Edwards' attorney, James Moreno and Peter Williams of the Community Defenders 
Office in Philadelphia, declined comment, as did Assistant District Attorney 
Anthony Iannamorelli.

(source: triblive.com)








DELAWARE:

Duel over the death penalty



Activists and law enforcement officials made their voices heard Wednesday on 
what has become one of the legislature???s most polarizing issues: capital 
punishment.

With a bill to repeal the death penalty getting its 1st committee hearing of 
the legislative session, dozens of citizens flocked to the Senate chamber in 
Legislative Hall hoping to influence what figures to be a close vote.

Introduced last week by Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, Senate Bill 40 would 
replace capital punishment with life without parole.

After an hour of discussion featuring more than a dozen public speakers, the 
Senate Judiciary Committee released the bill to the Senate, marking 1 step in a 
long process.

Sen. Peterson spoke first, arguing the death penalty is not a deterrent. She 
said death-penalty states have a higher murder rate than those that have 
eliminated it, a statement touted by other speakers.

Sen. Peterson wants Delaware to become the 19th state to abolish capital 
punishment.

"Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same 
thing over and over and expecting different results. We keep killing people to 
teach them that it's wrong to kill people, and it's not working," she insisted, 
adding the death penalty is "barbaric."

Public defender Brendan O'Neill focused on the monetary costs. The Public 
Defender???s Office and the Office of Conflicts Counsel spent a combined $2.6 
million defending individuals facing the death penalty in fiscal year 2014, he 
said.

Several others cited the cost as well, arguing that with the need for multiple 
defense lawyers and the frequent appeals that come with a death sentence, 
capital punishment is several times more expensive than life without parole.

But the claims of some of the activists were disputed by the only anti-repeal 
speaker. Lewes Police Department Chief Jeffrey Horvath, who???s also the 2nd 
vice chairman of the Delaware Police Chiefs' Counsel, expressed doubt that 
eliminating the death penalty would save the state large sums of money.

More importantly, the death penalty is a deterrent, he said, contrary to the 
claims of several who have called for repeal.

"We hear the cost of the death penalty is exuberant," Chief Horvath said. "We 
would like to see how these high numbers are reached. We think they're 
exaggerated.

"With that said, the death penalty is reserved for the most shocking crimes 
against real people, people in our society and our community, people that we 
know. These are not minimal crimes and saving money should not be a priority."

In response to arguments the death penalty is disproportionately used on 
minorities, he said the majority of homicides in Delaware are committed by 
blacks. He also disagreed it is a cruel practice, noting the Supreme Court has 
ruled "certain crimes are themselves so grievous an affront to humanity that 
the only adequate response may be the penalty of death."

Sen. Peterson shot back in response to Chief Horvath's claim that individuals 
who were exonerated from death row are successes. Citing Jermaine Wright, who 
was freed from a Smyrna prison in January after 20 years, she said he should 
not be held up as a paragon of the system's excellence.

She also claimed that black Delawareans are seven times more likely to get the 
penalty for killing a white man or woman than another black individual.

Kirk Bloodsworth, who was sentenced to death in Maryland and became the 1st 
American to be exonerated from death row based on DNA evidence, said the death 
penalty does not protect citizens.

He said 151 individuals have been freed after being judged to be wrongly 
sentenced to death.

"If it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody in America," he said.

With the bill released from committee, it could be voted on soon - possibly as 
soon as today. A similar version passed the Senate 11-10 in 2013.

While capital punishment may ultimately be repealed or seconded by the 62 
members of the General Assembly, Chief Horvath has a different idea.

"Why can't this go to a vote, to a referendum?" he said. "Why can't we hear 
what the public wants instead of what my interest group wants and what the 
other interest groups in this room want?"

(source: delaware.newszap.com)

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

Bill to abolish Delaware death penalty clears Senate committee in renewed 
repeal effort



A bill to abolish Delaware's death penalty cleared its first legislative hurdle 
Wednesday, with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee releasing it for 
debate and a vote by the full Senate.

The legislation, which was the subject of an hour-long hearing, mirrors a bill 
that passed the Senate in 2013 by only one vote before dying in a House 
committee.

The legislation would remove execution as a possible punishment for 1st-degree 
murder, leaving life in prison without the possibility of parole as the only 
sentence.

The bill would not apply to the 15 inmates currently on Delaware's death row, 
who would still be subject to execution.

Chief sponsor Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, who also led the failed repeal 
effort 2 years ago, said opponents believe that the death penalty is arbitrary, 
discriminatory against minorities, costly to taxpayers and ineffective as a 
deterrent to crime.

"We keep killing people to teach them that it is wrong to kill people," 
Peterson said. "It's not working."

Peterson specifically rejected arguments from opponents of the legislation that 
the death penalty serves as a deterrent to attacks on law enforcement officers 
and prison guards.

Of the 13 people who signed up to speak on the measure, 12 were supporters of 
the repeal effort, including clerics representing several Christian and Jewish 
congregations in Delaware.

Brendan O'Neill, head of the state public defender's office, said death penalty 
cases are costly to taxpayers, to the tune of $2.6 million in defense costs in 
fiscal 2014.

"If we pass this bill, we won't have all of these expenses," O'Neill said, 
noting that death penalty cases require 2 defense trial attorneys, expert 
testimony on mitigating circumstances as arguments against imposing a death 
sentence, and costly and lengthy appeals.

Lewes Police Chief Jeffrey Horvath, representing the Delaware Police Chiefs 
Council, was the only person to speak against the bill. Horvath suggested that 
some of the statistics used by death penalty opponents in support of the repeal 
effort, including the number of death row inmates who have been "exonerated," 
are false or misleading.

"Being removed from the death penalty does not equate to innocence," Horvath 
noted, saying many former death row inmates are serving life in prison.

He also said cost should not be a factor in the argument over capital 
punishment.

"The death penalty is reserved for the most shocking crimes against real 
people. ... These are not minimal crimes, and saving money should not be the 
priority for getting rid of the death penalty."

Attorney General Matt Denn says he is not opposed to capital punishment in 
appropriate cases, but that state law should be changed to require a unanimous 
jury recommendation before a judge can impose a death sentence.

(source: Associated Press)








VIRGINIA:

Police Charge 2 Men with Capital Murder for Fatal Shooting in Ironbound Square 
Park



2 people accused of fatally shooting a man while attempting to rob him of drugs 
are facing the death penalty.

A grand jury indicted Jaiquan Keonta Smith, 18, and Terrance Andretti Martin 
Jr., 20, on a charge of capital murder in the commission of a robbery last week 
for the November shooting death of 26-year-old Tyler Anthony Cole.

In Virginia, capital murder cases involving the willful, deliberate and 
premeditated killing of another person during a robbery are punishable by the 
death penalty or life in prison.

Smith and Martin - along with 22-year-old Wilbert McKenley Walker - are accused 
of shooting Cole while attempting to rob him of drugs in the 300 block of 
Carriage Road in the Ironbound Square Park neighborhood of James City County on 
Nov. 7.

Phone records show Walker, Smith and Martin arranged to meet Cole to buy drugs, 
according to a criminal complaint filed against Walker in Williamsburg-James 
City County General District Court.

Walker drove the other 2 to Ironbound Square Park, located off Ironbound Road, 
and waited while they approached Cole in his car to rob him, the court 
documents show.

The 2 men then shot Cole twice and stole unidentified items from him before 
leaving the scene in Walker's car, the court papers said.

James City County Police responded to a call of shots fired at around 8:05 p.m. 
and found Cole in his car - which had crashed into a home on Carriage Road - 
suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.

Cole was transported to Sentara Williamsburg Regional Hospital, where he was 
pronounced dead.

Martin was served with the capital murder charge Wednesday in Virginia 
Peninsula Regional Jail, where he is currently being held on 7 felony counts 
for an incident that occurred May 21, in which he and a 17-year-old boy are 
suspected of entering a home on Ernestine Avenue while wearing a mask and 
robbing at least 2 people of drugs. He was arrested on those charges Feb. 6.

Court records show he was also sentenced in 2012 for robbery and conspiracy to 
commit robbery in Williamsburg-James City County Circuit Court. He received a 
suspended sentence of 15 years for those charges.

Smith was arrested in his home on Sidewinder Court in the Brookside Haven 
neighborhood in the Grove area of James City County on Tuesday.

Walker was arrested March 5 and charged with 2nd-degree murder. He and Martin 
are being held at Virginia Peninsula Regional Jail without bond, while Smith is 
being held at Western Tidewater Regional Jail in Suffolk without bond.

Smith and Martin are scheduled to appear in Williamsburg-James City County 
Circuit Court for a review hearing at 10 a.m. April 1.

Walker's preliminary hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. April 23 in 
Williamsburg-James City County General District Court.

(source: Williamsburg Yorktown Daily)








ALABAMA:

Prosecutor: Joyce Garrard deserves the death penalty



An Alabama woman is spending her birthday in court learning whether jurors want 
her to be executed for running her granddaughter to death.

Closing arguments in the sentencing phase of Joyce Hardin Garrard's trial began 
Thursday, Garrard's 50th birthday. She was convicted of capital murder last 
week in the death of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin.

Assistant District Attorney Marcus Reid asked jurors to recommend the death 
penalty, adding that he's never prosecuted a case like this one.

"This case is the only case I know of where the perpetrator forced the victim 
to participate in her own death," he said. "Joyce Garrard forced Savannah 
Hardin to help kill herself."

Prosecutors contend Garrard made the girl run as punishment for telling a lie 
about candy, and refused to let Savannah stop running even after the girl was 
vomiting and begging for an end to the exercise. In court, they cited a school 
bus surveillance video that captured Garrard saying she would run the girl and 
teach her a lesson.

Reid told jurors that Garrard had cried in the courtroom at the mention of her 
birthday, but didn't cry when jurors were shown the soiled blue pants Savannah 
was wearing the night of her collapse.

"Savannah is dead. Joyce Garrard is pitiless. She doesn't believe she did 
anything wrong," he said.

The defense, which was set to make its closing arguments after Reid finished, 
says Garrard was a good grandmother who suffered abuse in her own upbringing.

Garrard, of Boaz, testified last week she had no intention of harming the girl 
and denied she had forced her to run. Garrard said during cross examination 
that Savannah wanted Garrard to help her get faster for races at school, and 
they both ran "a bunch" before Savannah collapsed.

Because Thursday was Garrard's birthday, deputies allowed her to hug relatives 
across the short wall that separates the front of the courtroom from the 
spectators before court opened in the morning.

Joyce embraced her husband Jonny Garrard for several minutes, rubbing his back 
and the back of his head as she and her relatives wept.

Afterward, she sat down at the defense table and stared at her son and 
Savannah's father, Robert, who was in the courtroom for the 1st time. He sat 
directly behind the prosecution table and did not appear to return the eye 
contact.

Jurors will recommend either death or life without parole.

A vote of at least 10 of 12 jurors is required for the panel to recommend 
death. A simple majority can recommend life.

The final decision will be up to Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree.

(source: Associated Press)




OHIO:

Agreement reached over death row inmates' request for information about 
compounding pharmacies



An agreement has been reached over death row inmates' subpoenas of Board of 
Pharmacy information about drugs used for lethal injection in Ohio.

At issue were attempts by inmates' lawyers to find out more about the state's 
lethal injection process, which now calls for 2 drugs Ohio doesn't have and 
which may only be available in specialty doses created by compounding 
pharmacies.

Lawyers for Attorney General Mike DeWine said the request, including pharmacy 
inspection records, was too broad and would shut down the board for weeks or 
months as it provided thousands of pages of documents.

Lawyers for the state and for inmates said in a court filing Wednesday without 
giving details that the dispute has been resolved.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Cuyahoga County prosecutors will keep Akron quadruple murder a death-penalty 
case



Prosecutors will continue to pursue the death penalty in an Akron quadruple 
murder case in which an earlier conviction was thrown out.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors appointed to take over the case said Wednesday 
during a hearing that the county's capital review committee voted to keep 
pursing the death penalty against Deshanon Haywood, 23.

Haywood was convicted of being 1 of 2 men who killed 4 people in a heroin-theft 
related case. Summit County Judge Paul Gallagher vacated the convictions amid 
allegations of misconduct by prosecutors.

Defense attorney Joe Gorman said he and attorney Brian Pierce hoped the review 
committee would drop death penalty specifications against Haywood.

"In light of the fact his co-defendant was likely the principal offender in the 
case and he got life in prison, we believe it would be unjust for (Haywood) to 
even face the death penalty," Gorman said.

Assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor Mahmoud Awadallah said that the capital 
review committee, which considers all death-eligible cases in Cuyahoga County, 
decided to continue with the death specifications after meeting twice.

Prosecutors decided to take the Akron case through their normal procedures for 
capital cases after being appointed.

Prosecutors declined further comment after the hearing. Jury selection in the 
case is scheduled to begin May 11. Testimony is scheduled for May 26.

It will be the 2rd jury selection in the case where the death penalty has been 
a divisive issue.

The case first stalled in June when prosecutors accused Summit County Judge 
Mary Margaret Rowlands of being biased against the death penalty in complaints 
to the Ohio Supreme Court.

Rowlands eventually recused herself from the case, which was then sent to 
Gallagher.

Haywood's jury conviction was vacated after defense attorneys accused 
prosecutors of purposefully withholding information about deals struck with the 
2 men who testified against Haywood.

Hawyood is accused of killing Ronald Roberts, 24, Kem Delaney, 23, Maria Nash, 
19, and Kiana Welch, 19.

His co-defendant in the case, Derrick Brantley, 23, was convicted by a jury and 
sentenced to 4 consecutive life sentences.

(source: cleveland.com)