[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., OKLA., NEB., NEV., ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 23




MISSOURI:

Prosecutor Intends on Seeking the Death Penalty in Murder Case


According to online court documents, the Christian County Prosecutor will seek 
the death penalty against a man charged with killing a woman near Ozark last 
summer.

Aaron Clemons is charged with 1st degree murder and kidnapping in the death of 
Bailey Clemons. The body of Clemons was found in her burned home in June 2014.

According to a probable cause statement, the state Fire Marshall found 2 melted 
gasoline containers in the basement of the house in northeast Ozark.

Online court records show County Prosecutor Amy Fite filed a notice of intent 
to seek the death penalty on Wednesday of this week.

(source: ozarksfirst.com)

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

Prosecutor wants death penalty for man accused of wife's death, burning


The Christian County prosecutor is seeking the death penalty for an Ozark man 
accused of beating a woman in front of her 2 young children before killing her 
and burning her body, according to court documents.

In June 2014, police arrested Aaron Clemons, now 32, saying he killed his wife, 
Bailey Clemons, in her Ozark home and that her burned body was found the day 
after the home was set on fire. At the time, police sent a probable cause 
statement to prosecutors, who then charged Clemons with murder, kidnapping, 
armed criminal action, arson and multiple counts of child endangerment.

The children, who were 6 and 9 years old at the time, saw their mother being 
beaten, but did not see her slain, the News-Leader previously reported.

According to the court documents, Christian County Prosecutor Amy Fite will 
look to prove that murder of the first degree took place because it was 
"outrageously or wantonly vile, horrible or inhuman in that it involved 
torture, or depravity of mind" and that Clemons was "engaged in the 
perpetration (of) ... a felony of any degree of kidnapping."

(source: Springfield News-Leader)






OKLAHOMA:

Suspension of capital punishment an indictment on Oklahoma


There is significant irony in the fact that Oklahoma had its ability to carry 
out the death penalty suspended because officials couldn't execute it properly.

The state delayed executions after Clayton Lockett juddered around on a gurney 
while the drugs were improperly administered during the process. The misplaced 
needles didn't do anything to build sympathy for a murderer who got off much 
easier than his victim, but it certainly gave opponents of capital punishment a 
good argument to take before judges that the 8th Amendment's "cruel and unusual 
punishment" clause had been violated by the state.

Then, the state admittedly used the wrong drug when it resumed carrying out the 
death penalty and substituted potassium acetate for potassium chloride in the 
execution of Charles Warner early this year.

Next Oklahoma officials broke through several months of delays to carry out 
final justice on Richard Glossip only to discover the wrong drug was delivered 
again. Glossip's execution was stayed after he ate his 2nd last meal and now 
the state won't head back to the death chamber until at least January of 2016.

A federal judge granted a request by defense attorneys and Oklahoma Attorney 
General Scott Pruitt where both requested the delay. Pruitt wants time for his 
office to do a complete review. Defense attorneys for inmates on death row want 
time to prove the state is incapable of carrying out executions in a manner 
that is constitutionally acceptable.

"We cannot trust Oklahoma to get it right or to tell the truth," said defense 
attorney Dale Baich. "The State's disclosure that it used potassium acetate 
instead of potassium chloride during the execution of Charles Warner yet again 
raises serious questions about the ability of the Oklahoma Department of 
Corrections to carry out executions."

Oklahoma has proven as a state that we can't be trusted with the keys to the 
car.

7 states in the past decade have voted to eliminate capital punishment. Kansas 
has the death penalty but they haven't used it since 1988 and have no plans to 
begin anytime soon.

When the United States Supreme Court heard the Richard Glossip appeal recently, 
Ruth Bader-Ginsburg pointed out that more than 100 people convicted of capital 
crimes had been proven innocent while on death row. She also argued the innate 
unfairness of the fact that only seven states had executed inmates last year 
and, even in those states, the use of the death sentence varies wildly by 
county.

"If you commit a crime in Louisiana, the chances that you would get the death 
penalty are very high," the justice said. "But if you committed the same deed 
in Minnesota, the chance of getting the death penalty are almost nil."

The Glossip case is one of a cluster of cases that all came up at the same time 
where convictions and the resulting death sentences were based primarily on the 
testimony of a co-conspirator who actually committed the crime in question.

The suspect with blood on his hands got a lighter sentence in exchange for a 
guilty plea and testimony against an alleged partner in crime.

It is a strange system that gives a killer who talks a break as long as they 
sell out another participant. The possibility that the convict is innocent or 
has at least had his or her role in the murder exaggerated by a confessed 
murderer with something to gain is far too high for me to feel comfortable 
watching the state take that person's life.

Oklahoma's issues have national implications. The state has to reboot the 
system. We have to renew competence in our Department of Corrections to order, 
verify and administer the death penalty properly.

Beyond that, Oklahomans have to make sure the sentence is reserved for 
appropriate cases where the act is heinous and guilt is sure.

Incompetence cost Oklahoma its credibility on capital punishment. These 
mistakes are so serious and inexplicable as to threaten the legality of the 
death penalty nationwide. It will take swift and sure action from the Governor 
and Attorney General if the house is going to be put back in order.

(source: Kent Bush, Pekin Daily Times)






NEBRASKA:

'Daily Show' crew in Lincoln for segment on Nebraska's 'death penalty mess'


"The Daily Show" with Trevor Noah came to Nebraska Tuesday to satirize the 
state's death penalty tug-of-war.

Yes, "The Daily Show" airs on Comedy Central, and there's not a whole lot funny 
about the death penalty. But then there is.

The TV show sent one of its new correspondents, Desi Lydic, for an interview 
and walk around the Capitol with Sen. Colby Coash. Lydic was either very 
pregnant or playing a very pregnant correspondent for the bit.

According to "Variety," Lydic has appeared in comedies on TV and in film, with 
a starring role on MTV's "Awkward" and appearances on "Two and a Half Men," 
"The League" and "The Odd Couple."

Coash and Lydic did some filming in the Capitol, with part of the interview 
taking place outside the glass doors of the legislative chamber.

At one point she asked him where's the minibar? That's over in Walt's office, 
he answered, referring to lobbyist Walt Radcliffe, whose office is across the 
street.

Coash said earlier in the week he really didn't know what angle they would 
take.

"Believe me, I'm losing sleep thinking I may be made a fool of," he said. "I 
guess I can only control what I say, you know?"

The crew later showed up at The Mill in the Haymarket and Lydic did a 
monologue, of sorts, with barista Alison Schuerman.

"They were poking fun at our death penalty mess," said Mill co-owner Tamara 
Sloan.

The owners don't usually take political stances, she said, but since it was 
lighthearted, they agreed to do it.

"It was fun," she said.

Nebraska has had the death penalty for years, but hasn't used it for nearly 2 
decades, even though 10 men sit on death row in Tecumseh.

Sen. Ernie Chambers, along with Coash and other senators, were successful in 
passing a repeal in May, but Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed it. Then 30 senators 
voted to override the veto.

Now, a group of death penalty supporters -- bankrolled in part with several 
hundred thousand dollars from Ricketts and his father, Joe -- have successfully 
gathered enough petition signatures to put the repeal on hold until a vote can 
be taken in a year.

In the meantime, the Nebraska Department of Corrections has no way to carry out 
the penalty, because it can't get the drugs needed.

That all may be the mess the comedy show is poking fun at.

The Mill may get a little free publicity out of the gag. Sloan is hoping a shot 
of Lydic holding a Mill mug makes it into the segment, which could air the week 
of Nov. 2.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)






NEVADA:

Defense rests in Ammar Harris death penalty trial


Jurors are expected to hear closing arguments Monday in the death penalty trial 
of Ammar Harris, a felon charged in a shooting that led to a fiery crash that 
left 3 dead on the Strip.

While prosecutors introduced 2 of Harris's prior convictions - possession of a 
stolen firearm and bribery of a public officer - during the 5 days of testimony 
that wrapped up Thursday, the jury will not be told of his conviction on sexual 
assault and robbery charges. Prosecutor David Stanton declined to elaborate on 
why the latter conviction would not be introduced.

Authorities say Harris shot and killed Kenny "Clutch" Cherry Jr. after pulling 
alongside the victim's Maserati in the pre-dawn hours of Feb. 21, 2013. As the 
bullet plowed through Cherry's chest, he crashed his car into a taxi, causing 
an explosion that killed driver Michael Boldon and his passenger, Sandra 
Sutton-Wasmund of Maple Valley, Wash. A passenger in Clutch's Maserati suffered 
a minor gunshot wound and survived.

After calling 2 witnesses, defense attorneys rested their case Thursday 
afternoon.

Harris faces 3 counts of murder with use of a deadly weapon, 1 count of 
attempted murder with use of a deadly weapon, 2 counts of discharging a firearm 
into a vehicle, and 5 counts of discharging a firearm out of a vehicle.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to death.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)






ARIZONA:

Lethal Injection Drug Seized At Phoenix Airport ---- Arizona paid $27,000 for a 
shipment of sodium thiopental, but the FDA seized the drug from a British 
Airways flight.


A shipment of an illegally imported lethal injection drug bought by the state 
of Arizona has been stopped at Phoenix airport, according to documents.

Arizona paid nearly $27,000 for the batch of anaesthetic sodium thiopental, 
which has been used to carry out executions but is no longer manufactured by 
companies approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

When the drugs arrived on a British Airways flight at Phoenix International 
Airport, they were seized by federal officials and have not been released, 
Associated Press news agency reported.

Andrew Wilder, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said: "The 
department is contesting FDA's legal authority to continue to withhold the 
state's execution chemicals."

The documents obtained by AP are part of a lawsuit against the department over 
the transparency of its executions.

Arizona, along with other states with the death penalty, have struggled to 
obtain legal execution drugs for years after European companies refused to sell 
those needed to carry out death sentences.

States have had to change the combinations of drugs used in lethal injections 
or put executions on hold.

Earlier this year, Nebraska was told by the FDA that it could not legally 
import sodium thiopental after the governor said the state had obtained the 
drug from India.

Ohio, which earlier this month halted executions until at least 2017 because of 
a lack of drugs, sent a letter to the FDA stating it believed it could obtain 
the drug overseas without violating any laws.

On Thursday, Texas said it had obtained a licence from the US Drug Enforcement 
Agency (DEA) to import sodium thiopental.

Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, was 
unable to say whether the state had purchased or received any drugs from 
overseas.

Last year, Governor Jan Brewer ordered an investigation into the Arizona's 
execution process after Joseph Rudolph Wood, 55, took nearly 2 hours to die in 
a Florence prison.

Wood had been injected with 15 times the intended dosage of a sedative and 
painkiller.

(source: Sky News)






CALIFORNIA:

Jailhouse informant scandal rocking criminal justice system in Orange 
County----Eyewitness News investigates the snitch scandal that's led to at 
least one confessed killer walking free.


Oct. 12, 2011 is a dark day in Orange County history. Scott Dekraai, a former 
tugboat captain, stormed a Seal Beach hair salon and opened fire. Minutes 
later, 8 people were dead and 1 critically injured. The massacre remains the 
deadliest mass killing in Orange County history.

8 victims shown clockwise from top left: Michelle Fournier, Randy Fannin, Laura 
Webb Elody, Michele Fast, Christy Wilson, Lucia Kondas, Victoria Buzzo and 
David Caouette.

The murders and their aftermath have wrought unimaginable pain on family 
members of the victims. 4 years later, the legal case against Dekraai, who 
pleaded guilty last year, is in disarray. The entire Orange County District 
Attorney's Office has been kicked off the death penalty phase of Dekraai's 
case. Orange County sheriff's deputies have been accused of lying under oath. 
There are calls from one of the most respected legal minds in the nation and 
the New York Times for the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate.

How did Dekraai's crimes lead to this? It all comes down to whether or not 
prosecutors and sheriff's deputies broke the law in the pursuit of convictions. 
Critics say the most powerful law enforcement entities in Orange County cheated 
the system, pursuing a win-at-all costs legal strategy for decades, at the 
expense of not just Dekraai's constitutional rights, but potentially scores of 
other defendants.

"THEY'RE IN COVER-UP MODE"

Scott Dekraai had already confessed to the murders to police when he found 
himself in an Orange County Jail cell next door to prolific jailhouse snitch 
Fernando Perez.

Perez, a former leader in the Mexican Mafia and third-striker facing possible 
life in prison, turned informant in 2010 and quickly racked up confession after 
confession from a series of suspects, all of whom wound up in a jail cell right 
next to Perez.

Perez may have sensed an opportunity when Dekraai started talking about his 
crimes. He knew that if Dekraai gave up information police and prosecutors 
wanted, Perez might be able to leverage that into a more lenient sentence for 
himself.

"They didn't need to put an informant in that cell next to him," said Paul 
Wilson who lost his wife of 26 years in Dekraai's rampage and is outraged by 
delays in the case and what he calls "absolute crimes" by elected officials.

"They're in cover-up mode," Wilson tells Eyewitness News.

JAILHOUSE SNITCHES

It's perfectly legal for law enforcement to use jailhouse informants. But it is 
illegal for law enforcement to deliberately deploy informants to coax 
incriminating statements from a defendant who's already been charged and has 
the constitutional right to an attorney and to remain silent.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals determined that Perez was 
acting on behalf of law enforcement when he secured Dekraai's confession, which 
was recorded by a wire set up by the Orange County Sheriff's Department at the 
request of Seal Beach police and prosecutors with the Orange County District 
Attorney's Office.

"When the Orange County D.A.'s Office and the Sheriff's Department structure 
the use of jailhouse informants to gain information from inmates, that violates 
the constitution," said Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the U.C.I Law School.

Chemerinsky is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate 
allegations of systemic misconduct, allegations that have spread to numerous 
other cases dating back decades. Defense attorneys for other suspects are now 
using those allegations to argue for new trials and negotiate plea deals. One 
confessed killer has already walked free; two attempted murder defendants got 
plea deals; other convicted murder defendants are asking for new trials, all 
based on the alleged misuse of jailhouse informants and hidden evidence about 
those informants.

"What we're really talking about is - how many people's constitutional rights 
were violated? How many people were convicted in an unconstitutional manner?" 
Chemerinsky tells Eyewitness News. "We don't have the answers to those 
questions, and we must!"

The D.A.'s office and the Sheriff's Department say it was a coincidence that 
Dekraai, the highest-profile murder suspect in Orange County history, landed in 
a cell right next to the prized informant. They say Perez was told he could not 
ask Dekraai questions about his crimes -- that he could only act as a 
"listening post."

"There's no evidence of a conspiracy. There's no evidence of intentional 
violations...there's none of that," said Orange County District Attorney Tony 
Rackauckas.

Rackauckas admits his office made a handful of mistakes in Dekraai and other 
cases by not turning over evidence related to jailhouse informants. But he says 
those are a "drop in the bucket" among the 20,000 felony cases his office 
handles each year.

Rackauckas tells Eyewitness News that the identity of informants needs to be 
protected for the informants' own safety and insists some cases would never be 
solved without the use of snitches.

"That's why it's so often said -- if there's an evil plot hatched in hell, 
you're not going to have angels as witnesses," said Rackauckas.

THE FALLOUT

The fallout from the Dekraai investigation into jailhouse informants and hidden 
evidence is staggering. In March, Judge Thomas Goethals recused all 250 of the 
D.A.'s attorneys from the death penalty phase of Dekraai's case, citing 
prosecutors' "chronic failure" to turn over exculpatory evidence to the 
defense.

"As chief law enforcement officer in this county the District Attorney is 
responsible for the actions of his agents. In this case the evidence 
demonstrates that some of those agents have habitually ignored the law over an 
extended period of time to the detriment of this defendant," Goethals wrote in 
his ruling.

The judge also singled out OCSD Deputies Seth Tunstall and Ben Garcia for 
having "either intentionally lied of willfully withheld material evidence" from 
the court.

Much of the withheld evidence at issue comes from a trove of jailhouse records 
known as "TRED." In his ruling, Judge Goethals referred to TRED as a "computer 
data base built and maintained by the Orange County Sheriff," that remained 
secret "despite numerous specific discovery orders issued by this court."

"There's no secret about it. Certainly, the District Attorney's office has 
known about it for years," Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens tells 
Eyewitness News.

District Attorney Tony Rackauckas says that's not true, and that his office had 
only seen TRED records in one case before the Dekraai investigation brought 
them to light.

Eyewitness News anchor Marc Brown asked Rackauckas about Hutchens' claim that 
the D.A.'s Office had known about the secret records for years.

"I wasn't there for your conversation with the Sheriff," Rackauckas said. "The 
truth of the matter is we have not been privy to those records in our cases."

TRED records are key to this controversy because they can show who moved an 
inmate and why. For instance, was an informant deliberately placed next to a 
suspect to elicit incriminating information?

DEPUTIES PLEAD THE FIFTH

On the witness stand at a hearing for Dekraai last year, Orange County "Special 
Handling" Deputies Seth Tunstall and Ben Garcia denied the jails have an 
informant program and despite repeated questions, never brought up the 
existence of the then still-secret TRED records.

Sheriff Hutchens does not believe the deputies intended to mislead the judge, 
but says she can't question the deputies until a criminal investigation being 
conducted by the California Attorney General's Office is complete.

"It's information in the jail world that they want to keep secret to protect 
the security of the facility, to protect the inmates and I really think he was 
unsure about what he could or couldn't say at that point," said Sheriff 
Hutchens.

Deputy Seth Tunstall's claim that the jail has no informant program and that as 
a "Special Handling" deputy he did not handle informants came under scrutiny 
after Dekraai's public defender, Scott Sanders, unearthed a 2013 sworn 
affidavit by Tunstall in another case.

In that affidavit, Tunstall declares under oath that as part of his duties with 
the Sheriff's Department, he has "cultivated, interviewed and supervised 
numerous confidential informants."

When confronted with the seeming contradiction, Tunstall, a veteran deputy with 
doctorate in psychology, backed off from his previous sworn statement. "I guess 
I put the wrong word in there," Tunstall testified.

Tunstall, Garcia and two other "Special Handling" deputies are now refusing to 
testify, and pleaded the fifth at a hearing related to informant issues earlier 
this month. That hearing will determine if convicted killer Eric Ortiz should 
get a new trial based on allegedly hidden evidence connected to yet another 
jailhouse informant.

One by one, deputies Seth Tunstall, Ben Garcia, William Grover and Bryan Larson 
took the witness stand at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana with their 
defense attorneys in tow. The deputies each invoked their Fifth Amendment right 
against self-incrimination, refusing to answer even basic questions like where 
they work.

When questioned by Judge Richard King about what potential crimes their 
testimony could reveal, defense attorneys for the deputies said it could expose 
them to possible charges of perjury, withholding evidence and conspiracy to 
obstruct justice.

Pleading the fifth is not an admission of any wrongdoing. Attorneys for the 
deputies say they believe the criminal investigation will ultimately prove 
their innocence and invoking the right to remain silent is "the right call" 
until that investigation is concluded.

The Sheriff's Department, meanwhile, has stepped up training and put in place 
new policies on the use of confidential informants.

Alexandra Natapoff is a professor at the Loyola Law School and a nationally 
recognized expert on the use of informants. Natapoff says the Dekraai 
investigation raises serious questions about whether Orange County law 
enforcement has been playing by the rules with scores of other defendants.

"It's a terrible blow to the integrity of the criminal justice system itself 
when you have judges recusing entire DA's offices," said Natapoff. "When you 
have an entire public looking at the DA's office and Sheriff's Department and 
realizing - they lied under oath, they hid records for decades, they disobeyed 
the constitution."

KEY INFORMANT: FERNANDO PEREZ

Fernando Perez, the jailhouse informant at issue in Dekraai's case, has 
admitted he lied on the witness stand at his own trial. His motivation to work 
as an informant was made clear by his repeated statements to law enforcement 
that he would "do anything" to avoid a possible life sentence.

In one handwritten note to an OCSD deputy, Perez writes, "I love this little 
job I got." In another, he declares, "I believe my mission is done," after 
obtaining a confession from a murder suspect.

Informant Fernando Perez

Perez's apparent skill at eliciting damning information from his jailhouse 
neighbors is so impressive, he once delivered two confessions in one day as 
murder and attempted murder suspects were rotated into and out of the jail cell 
next to him.

A coincidence, the Sheriff's Department says, in a jail that holds 5,000 
inmates.

Eyewitness News asked Sheriff Hutchens how random it could be if time and time 
again, Perez wound up in a cell next to inmates who so readily confessed.

"I can't...I don't know how to answer that question," said Sheriff Hutchens.

Judge Goethals found that Perez was "a professional informant working at the 
direction of law enforcement," when he engaged in conversation with Dekraai. 
That's a violation of established law known as "Massiah", which prohibits law 
enforcement or their agents from eliciting incriminating statements from 
charged suspects. The D.A.'s Office ultimately agreed to exclude the confession 
Perez got from Dekraai in the mass murderer's death penalty phase.

Eyewitness News has obtained an "Informant Assistance" memo written by District 
Attorney Investigator Robert Erickson less than a month after Perez secured a 
confession from Dekraai.

In it, Erickson explains to the Deputy District Attorney handling Perez's case 
that the informant has provided facts and intelligence that will "likely 
greatly enhance the prosecution of Dekraai."

Erickson tells Deputy D.A. Erik Petersen that he's providing the memo for his 
"consideration," and that it has not been discovered to Dekraai's defense.

That memo was not turned over to Dekraai's defense team for nearly 2 years. 
Prosecutors for Dekraai later claimed they never saw the memo because they 
forgot to open an email attachment.

SECRET RECORDS

Eyewitness News asked Rackauckas about the centralized database his office 
keeps on informants like Perez. It's known as the OC Informant Index.

"Our policy is to always turn over Brady information," Rackauckas said, 
referring the law that requires prosecutors to turn over evidence that could be 
helpful to defendants. "We don't withhold that, we turn that over to the 
defense."

Eyewitness News then asked about a specific entry in that index about informant 
Fernando Perez. It states: "PEREZ WAS TERMINATED AS A CI (confidential 
informant). DO NOT USE AS A CI."

That entry could be used by defense attorneys to cast doubt upon the 
credibility of Perez, but it was not turned over to defense attorneys. Why not?

"Well, I told you the problem with that, at least at the time, was that to 
release that would be to release the identity and would be put the informant at 
risk," replied Rackauckas. "So, in that one area, yeah, that was withheld."

It's not just TRED records and OC Informant Index entries that were allegedly 
withheld. Defense attorneys for multiple defendants say handwritten notes by 
informants, including Perez, were largely hidden from them, judges and juries 
for years.

Many of the notes were written to "Special Handling" deputies like Ben Garcia. 
Defense attorneys argue that the notes contain potentially exculpatory 
information and suggest the informants are actively engaged in building cases 
from behind bars.

Informant Perez titles his many of notes "Operation Daylight," a nod to his 
admitted hope that his hard work behind bars will earn him a more lenient 
sentence, even without an explicit promise from prosecutors.

"It's the worst kept secret in the criminal word," said Professor Natapoff. 
"Everyone in the criminal justice system knows that a deal will be forthcoming 
if an inmate provides information."

Perez, who was convicted on firearms charges in 2009, is still waiting to find 
out what, in any, "consideration" in sentencing he'll receive for his work as 
an informant. While the D.A. recommended life in prison for Perez after his 
initial conviction, they took no position at his most recent hearing this 
summer.

Perez has also done informant work for the FBI and 1 of their agents showed up 
at his sentencing hearing to tell the judge that Perez's work had "led to the 
incarceration of 100 or more people."

Perez's attorney, Richard Curran, wants Perez to be released promptly on credit 
for time served. Curran asked the judge to consider a deputy sheriff's claim 
that "eleven persons had been saved from being stabbed or killed by information 
provided by Mr. Perez."

Curran says Perez has "thrown off the lifestyle that led to his previous 
offenses," obtained a GED certificate, and while in custody "has participated 
in a dog training program for bomb sniffing dogs."

Sentencing for Perez was delayed again until December.

PLEA DEALS FOR CONFESSED KILLERS

The plea deals aren't just for informants. Prosecutors have dropped or pleaded 
down cases against confessed killers Isaac Palacios and Leonel Vega. 2 
attempted murder defendants have also seen their charges reduced or dropped.

2 more convicted murderers, Eric Ortiz and Henry Rodriguez, are now pushing for 
new trials, all based on issues related to the alleged misuse of jailhouse 
informants.

Professor Natapoff says those cases and others are now at risk.

"Because the malfeasance spread so far within the D.A.'s Office and within the 
Sheriff's Department, it really has called into question the fabric, the 
integrity, of really, the entire law enforcement process in Orange County," 
said Natapoff.

INVESTIGATIONS

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas says an internal investigation 
conducted by his own staff found that "mistakes" were made, but they were not 
intentional. Prosecutors and investigators were interviewed as part of that 
internal investigation, but Rackauckas says no notes were taken, no interviews 
were recorded, and no report was generated for the public to view.

"Basically, we made certain findings that there had been some mistakes made. 
There were some discovery violations and this is what we have to act on," 
Rackauckas told Eyewitness News.

His office has stepped up training for prosecutors on turning over Brady 
material to defendants. Rackauckas says his office also created a committee 
that must approve the use of informants in felony cases.

In July, Rackauckas announced the creation of a new, "independent, external" 
committee to look at the use of jailhouse informants. But some critics question 
the independence of a committee whose members were primarily handpicked by 
Rackauckas himself.

Rackauckas tells Eyewitness News that he selected four of the 5-committee 
members. The 5th, Professor Laurie Levenson of the Loyola Law School, was 
selected by the committee members to serve as an advisor.

DEATH PENALTY FOR DEKRAAI?

Confessed mass murderer Scott Dekraai is the face of the scandal that's rocked 
Orange County law enforcement. And some may wonder why it matters if the 
constitutional rights of a confessed killer were violated?

"We can't just write this off as bad guys getting bad guys," said Professor 
Natapoff. "The criminal justice system is not just for the Scott Dekraais of 
this world, it's for all of us!"

In a strange turn of events, some family members of Dekraai's victims agree and 
now find themselves more aligned with Dekraai's public defender. They want the 
District Attorney's Office to take the death penalty off the table for Dekraai, 
to bring some closure to four years of courtroom hell.

"It is so physically and mentally draining to have to walk into that courtroom 
and look at that guy, to sit 10-15 feet away from that guy, that coward," said 
Paul Wilson, husband of Dekraai victim Christy Wilson.

Wilson believes Dekraai deserves to be executed for his crimes, but has no 
faith in the death penalty process as it currently stands in California where 
no prisoner has been put to death since 2006.

"Why are we doing this? He's admitted he's guilty," said Paul Wilson. "He knows 
he's going to jail for the rest of his life. Why are we going to court for 
another 4 years?"

Death penalty proceedings for Dekraai are on hold for now. Judge Goethals' 
recusal of the D.A.'s office sent the case to the California Attorney General's 
Office. That ruling is being appealed.

Rackauckas says if the recusal is overturned, his office will continue to 
pursue the death penalty. He questions who, if not Dekraai, deserves the 
ultimate penalty of death?

"To give up the death penalty in that case would be to throw in the towel 
altogether, and frankly I'm not willing to do that," Rackauckas told Eyewitness 
News.

Beth Webb lost her sister to Dekraai's rampage. Laura Webb Elody was a 
newlywed, whose maid of honor, fellow hairstylist Victoria Buzzo, was also 
killed in the mass murder.

"She was a really, really good soul. She had a smile that came from the 
inside," said Webb.

Webb says she has pleaded for Tony Rackauckas to accept Dekraai's offer to 
serve life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is spared from the 
death penalty.

"For Tony Rackauckas, it's all about saying 'I'm tough on crime, I'm not going 
to be the one that lets the biggest mass murderer go without the death 
penalty," said Webb.

Webb does not forgive Dekraai for his crimes, but does not want to see him 
executed.

"I...don't want to be like him. So I don't wish for his death," Webb said 
through her tears."

(source: ABC news)

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

Windows Of Death Row Exhibit Opens In Annenberg----The exhibit displays artwork 
from artists and editorial cartoonists, as well as inmates on death row.


The Windows on Death Row art exhibit in Annenberg East Lobby opened its doors 
to the public Thursday night. The exhibit displays paintings, drawings, 
cartoons and more from artists, as well as more than 70 inmates sentenced to 
death, who were asked to illustrate their lives on death row.

Some of the most striking works also poked fun at the very idea of execution 
and incarceration, leading visitors to consider the ethical and legal 
dimensions of the death penalty. Journalist Anne-Frederique Widmann and 
cartoonist Patrick Chapette, the exhibit's curators, gave speeches at the event 
and walked around to meet visitors. Artist Ndume Olatushani was in jail for 28 
years and wrongfully sentenced to death before being released in 2012. 
Olatushani also spoke at the event.

This exhibit is particularly close to home in California, which has more than 
700 inmates on death row--the highest for any state in the country. The United 
States currently has more than 3,000 people total on death row.

Admission is free and the event is schedule to run through November 18th.

(source: atvn.org)