[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, DEL., GA., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

April 2



TEXAS:

Man indicted over death of his parents


A Gladewater man could face the death penalty after his indictment Thursday on 
a capital murder charge in the death of his parents.

Gladewater police found the bodies of Charles and Raye Lansdale, both 68, on 
Jan. 22 during a welfare check at a North Main Street home. Police Chief Robert 
Vine said a relative outside the state reported the couple was missing.

Officers encountered Casey Lansdale, 41, who said he lived with his parents. He 
also said his parents were not home, but officers said they had reason not to 
believe the son and asked consent to search the residence.

Vine said police found Charles Lansdale in a spare room and Raye Lansdale in a 
bedroom closet. The son was arrested and remained in the Gregg County Jail on 
Friday under $1 million bond.

A motive for the homicides has not been released by authorities.

Reports from last summer indicate tension then between the father and son.

Casey Lansdale was arrested last July on 2 counts of assault causing bodily 
injury to a family member. The incident arose from an argument between father 
and son over whether Casey Lansdale had stolen his father's pistol, reports 
showed.

(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)

******

Meet an anti-death penalty activist who's fighting to end executions in Texas


Texas has executed 1,291 inmates in the last century. And each of those people 
has a file in Pat Hartwell's filing cabinet.

Hartwell, 64, has dedicated her life since retirement to ending the death 
penalty in this state, and that starts with keeping attention on the issue. 
Mugshots of death row inmates tend to make the news on the day they're 
arrested, the day they're sentenced to die, and the day they're executed. And 
then for most of the world, these men and women are forgotten.

A small but dedicated group of activists like Hartwell are working hard to make 
sure that that doesn't happen.

"You've taken a relatively healthy human being and you've killed him - not in a 
robbery, not in a burglary, not in a rape, but in a calculated, 
state-sanctioned moment, you've killed a man," she told me. "There should be 
something wrong with that."

One tool in her fight is her encyclopedic, printed-out database of executed 
Texans. Hartwell, who has short sandy hair and a strong handshake, gave me a 
tour on a Saturday morning earlier this month. She's dedicated a room in the 
back of her sunny apartment south of downtown to a makeshift library on the 
death penalty. On the top of the bookcase are wanted posters of former Gov. 
Rick Perry, calling him a "serial killer."

Pat Hartwell's bookcases are filled with files on the men and women Texas has 
executed.

Below, separated with paperweights in the shape of Buddah heads, are colorful 
binders containing a file on every Texas death row inmate, organized by the 
number the state gives them. The files go back to 1924, when the state 
legalized the electric chair and took over executions from the counties.

Hartwell flipped back to No. 000001, pulled out a sheet of paper and read an 
old newspaper clipping. Mack Matthews, a black man, was scheduled to die on 
Jan. 16, 1924, but the warden of his prison resigned instead of carrying out 
the execution. "A warden can't be a warden and a killer too - the penitentiary 
is a place to reform a man, not to kill him," the warden was quoted as saying. 
Matthews was executed the next month, under a new warden, along with 4 other 
black men.

For everyone up to death row inmate No. 999601 (Mark Gonzalez, who was 
sentenced to death earlier this year), she's kept meticulous records, 
researching court documents, mental health issues, and studying the particulars 
of the gruesome crimes that put them on the row. She prints out all the 
information on each inmate from the state Department of Corrections website, 
and fills the margins with notes in her clear, steady handwriting.

Further down on her shelf there's a binder marked innocent - containing the 
records of all the inmates who claimed they were innocent - and a much, much 
thinner one marked "released." On another bookshelf is a framed photo of 
Hartwell hugging former inmate Alfred Dewayne Brown, who was released last 
year. "Those are the pinnacle moments," she said.

Fighting the death penalty in Texas is more or less a full-time job. Hartwell 
writes letters with about 60 or 70 death row inmates, relaying messages to 
family members or just letting them know someone on the outside is thinking of 
them. She also contributes to a weekly show on a local radio station where she 
talks directly to the death row inmates - they're allowed to have radios but 
not TVs - and tells them about any recent death penalty news or court rulings.

But she stressed that she's not doing it alone. She's part of a much larger 
movement fighting the death penalty in Texas.

Most weeks, Hartwell drives back and forth to West Livingston, the northern 
Houston suburb where male death row inmates are housed, to meet with them. On 
execution days, she'll instead head to Huntsville, the site of the state's 
execution chamber, and help organize protests outside the prison walls. 
Sometimes 1 of her 6 grandkids will come with her, and help her carry the 
signs.

When it's an inmate she knows well, Hartwell heads to the local funeral home 
afterward, to say goodbye. And then she usually drives back to Houston by 
herself. "After an execution, I spend that hour and a half alone," she said. "I 
think about the execution and what it's done to the families."

Hartwell first got into activism as a high school student in the ???60s, 
growing up in the Austin suburbs. "I came of age when you could walk out your 
door any given day and there'd be a demonstration," she said. "The Vietnam War, 
the gay rights movement, the Chicano rights movement, MLK, the Black 
Panthers... you would have had to have a pillowcase on your head not to get 
involved in something."

Meanwhile, she became 1 of the first female telephone pole climbers in Austin, 
she said, and later one of the first female plumbers in Houston. When she had 3 
daughters, she put aside most of her activism. But once they grew up and left 
home, she realized she had some time on her hands, so she got involved with the 
anti-death penalty movement. Before long, she found herself clearing out a room 
in her apartment and filling it with files and letters and photos of death row.

Some observers are hopeful that changes to the death penalty could be coming. 
Supreme Court justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in a dissent 
last year that they believe it is "highly likely that the death penalty 
violates the Eighth Amendment."

Unless the Court declares the death penalty unconstitutional for the entire 
country, Hartwell doubts that Texas will ever repeal it. After all, the state 
has executed 536 people since 1976, more than the next top 6 states combined. 
"We have the attitude of 'Don't Mess with Texas,' and that's more than just a 
slogan," she said. "It's an arrogant pride."

For now, she'll keep going to protests, writing letters, raising attention, and 
paying witness to the death penalty. And she'll keep her binders updated.

"I don't think any of my children are going to want it," she said of her 
self-made library. "When I die, I don't know who to give it to."

(source: fusion.net)






DELAWARE:

No bail for former death row prisoner


A former Delaware death row inmate will still be denied bail as he awaits a new 
trial.

A state Superior Court judge ruled this month to withhold bail for Chauncey 
Starling, who was convicted of a 2001 barbershop shooting that left a man and a 
5-year-old boy dead.

That's despite the state Supreme Court overturning Starling's conviction late 
last year over his lawyer's "ineffective" performance.

Starling was originally denied bail in a 2002 hearing and isn't allowed to 
contest the ruling barring new circumstances.

Despite the passage of time, Judge Andrea Rocanelli says the case doesn't meet 
the legal threshold to warrant a new bail hearing.

Rocanelli says Starling's other argument - that the state Supreme Court is 
ruling on the constitutionality of Delaware's death penalty - is too 
speculative to stick at this time.

(source: delawarepublic.org)






GEORGIA----impending execution

Stop the state of Georgia from executing Kenny Fults


Kenny Fults is a Georgia death row inmate facing execution on April 12, 2016. 
Because Kenny's death sentenced is contaminated by racial bias, his case is an 
embarrassment to our justice system. His execution must be stopped.

Kenny is an African-American man who reads only on a 4th grade level and has an 
IQ that places him in the bottom 3 % of the population. In 1996, he pled guilty 
to the murder of a white woman in a small Georgia town. After his guilty plea, 
a jury sentenced Kenny to death.

A few years after the trial, Thomas Buffington, one of the jurors who sentenced 
Kenny to death, said this in a sworn affidavit: "I don't know if he ever killed 
anybody, but that nigger got just what should have happened. Once he pled 
guilty, I knew I would vote for the death penalty because that's what that 
nigger deserved."

In a recent editorial, professors Charles Ogletree and David J. Harris asked 
readers to "raise your hand if you believe that a juror could make this 
statement and be considered fair and impartial." Of course, no one would raise 
their hand. However, the courts in Georgia have refused to even consider the 
issue and now Kenny Fults is in line to be executed by the state of Georgia 
despite the fact that racism infected the sentencing process in Kenny's case.

In addition to the racist juror, Kenny was represented by an overworked, 
contract defense lawyer with a checkered racist history. The attorney, Johnny 
Mostiler, carried a crushing caseload. It was so bad that one of the leading 
experts in the field of attorney caseloads stated that he had "grave concerns 
about Mr. Mostiler's ability to adequately defend any of his clients given the 
workload he was carrying." Jurors interviewed after Kenny's trial commented on 
the minimal effort that Mostiler put into the case and observed him sleeping in 
court during the trial. In other cases, Mostiler was accused of using the term 
"nigger" and calling his client "a little nigger." Mostiler did not deny 
accusations, but added that "nigger" was not a phrase that he would use in 
public.

A person's race can never be a factor in judicial decision making. In Kenny's 
case, however, it was the only factor that mattered to Juror Buffington. 
Kenny's execution should not be allowed to go forward under these 
circumstances. In Georgia, only the State Board of Pardons and Paroles can 
grant clemency and commute Kenny's sentence to life without any possibility of 
parole.

It is time to raise your hand and say that because racial bias taints this 
death sentence, Kenny Fults should not be executed. Please sign this petition 
asking the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to commute Kenny Fults's death 
sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

For more information please visit www.savekennyfults.com

[To sign petition, go to: 
https://www.change.org/suggested?alert_id=&petition_id=4745298]

(source: change.org)






FLORIDA:

Letter: Kill Florida's death penalty


By Jo Anne Engelbert

Kill Florida death penalty

Editor: "The death penalty is collapsing under the weight of its own corruption 
and cruelty," said Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree in a recent article.

Our state leads the nation in its total of wrongful capital convictions. Since 
1979, 26 of Florida's death row inmates have been exonerated, proof of the 
shocking fallibility of our system. And the chemicals used in Florida for 
lethal injection have been called into question by human rights advocates 
around the world. It's time to demand a moratorium on executions in Florida and 
move toward the abolition of the death penalty.

We pay a price for tolerating capital punishment. Each execution done in our 
name reinforces a practice that numbs our conscience. Execution is not only 
brutal, it is also brutalizing. When we fail to condemn executions, we 
inexorably condone them.

Most industrialized countries eliminated the death penalty long ago as a 
barbaric practice that has no place in modern life. The top 5 executing 
countries today are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the United States!

Let our legislators know your thoughts about the death penalty. Let the weight 
of your words speed the collapse of the capital punishment in our state and in 
our country.

St. Augustine

(source: Letter to the Editor, St. Augustine Record)

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

Defense and prosecution continue feuding in Metro PCS murder case


Attorneys are continuing to squabble over the death-penalty case of a man 
charged with killing a Metro PCS phone store employee, with the latest topic 
being a contention that prosecutors broke the law.

James Xavier Rhodes, 24, is accused of shooting 20-year-old Shelby Farah during 
a 2013 robbery at the North Main Street store in Jacksonville.

But the case has generated attention because Shelby's mother, Darlene Farah, 
opposes the death penalty, and now Shelby's younger brother, Caleb Farah, has 
broken with his mother and said he wants to see Rhodes executed.

Lawyers with the office of Public Defender Matt Shirk are expressing anger at 
Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda over his decision to show the 
video of Farah's death to her brother, saying the law prohibited him from doing 
so. But de la Rionda asserts he has done nothing wrong.

Florida law only allows a parent to view video of a killing, and the only way 
Caleb Farah should be allowed to see the video is if his mother consents, 
Assistant Public Defender Debra Billard said in a letter to de la Rionda.

"It is clear that only Darlene Farah had authorization to view the video and no 
written authorization was obtained from Mrs. Farah to allow any other member of 
the public to see the video," Billard wrote.

She said de le Rionda has committed a 3rd-degree felony punishable by up to 5 
years in prison.

"Frankly I am disturbed to think you would have considered violating a clearly 
written Florida statute and, as a result, attempted to justify your desire to 
have to have Mr. Rhodes killed by citing the opinions of Caleb Farah," Billard 
said.

Darlene Farah has accused de la Rionda of turning her son against her, 
something de la Rionda and Caleb Farah both deny.

In a letter back to Billard, de la Rionda told Billard her letter was more of a 
threat or attempt at extortion than an arguable claim.

"I've been doing this job for 33 years and don't take kindly to your veiled 
extortion attempt," de la Rionda said. "It's not working. I didn't do anything 
illegal and based on the facts of the case, your client's criminal history and 
the law, the State Attorney's Office will continue to seek the death penalty in 
this case."

Billard has asked Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador to allow Rhodes to plead 
guilty and be sentenced to life in prison. Salvador has refused to do that, 
saying if Rhodes pleads guilty the state may still seek to put him on death 
row.

Billard previously asked Salvador to cite de la Rionda for showing the video, 
but she said the 19-year-old was an adult who had the right to see it if he 
chose.

In his letter to Billard, de la Rionda said the Florida law she cites does not 
apply in criminal proceedings. Therefore, he had the right to show the video.

De la Rionda said he also had an obligation to avoid a situation where a 
victim's family member sees a photo or video for the 1st time at trial and has 
an emotional reaction in front of a jury.

"In such a case, the defense attorney would move for a mistrial and the trial 
judge would ask me why I had not shown the video or photo before the trial 
beginning," de la Rionda said.

Darlene Farah has made it clear she doesn't want her family to go through the 
years of appeals that will occur if Rhodes is sentenced to death. Caleb Farah 
agreed with his mother until a few months ago but said he's changed his mind.

Prosecutors have said they respect the mother's opinion but have a 
responsibility to seek the death penalty when they believe it's warranted even 
when a family member is opposed.

According to police reports, Rhodes pulled a gun on Shelby Farah and shot her 
in the head after she gave him several hundred dollars. The killing was 
captured on surveillance video.

Rhodes is scheduled to go on trial Aug. 29.

(source: The Florida Times-Union)

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

Death row inmate wants early execution


A 2-time convicted murderer is asking for mercy from the courts, but not for a 
lesser sentence. Wayne Doty, who is on death row, wants to waive his right to 
counsel and be executed without post conviction proceedings.

The Bradford County Courthouse held a hearing to first determine if Wayne Doty 
was competent. This morning we heard from 3 expert witnesses testifying Doty is 
competent enough to make an informed decision and recognizes the consequences 
of his decision. One witness even stated Doty, who has an 8th grade formal 
education, was of above average intelligence and his reasonings for wanting to 
be executed now we're logical.

After Judge Nilon found Doty competent, the Court proceeded with a 
Durocher/Faretta hearing to determine whether Doty can not only discharge his 
counsel, but also dismiss pending post conviction proceedings in both state and 
federal courts. The judge said it was his obligation as a judge, and human 
being, to advise Doty to reconsider. In response, Doty said he would stick with 
his decision and feels he deserves he punishment that's been given.

The hearing lasted about 4 hours and Judge Nilon listened as Doty made his case 
for continuing without an attorney. Doty admitted during his initial trial, he 
didn't have any emotional feelings toward the victims or their families. 
However now, Doty wants everybody he hurt to move on and he doesn't think that 
can happen while he's still in prison.

"I've been a prosecutor since 1973," says state attorney Bill Cervone, "and 
this is the 1st time I've been through a proceeding like this where a defendant 
is as articulate and specific in outlining his requests that all proceedings 
stop and that the sentence of the law be carried out."

The judge did not make a ruling on the Durocher/Faretta hearing today, but says 
he hopes to rule in a reasonable time.

"Once the judge enters his order, whatever that may be, an automatic appeal to 
the Florida Supreme Court, which will consider this case and that ruling as a 
part of the overriding decisions that they will have to make on Florida's death 
penalty," says Cervone.

At this time we do not know when the judge will make his ruling. Even when his 
decision is made, we won't know when the Florida Supreme Court can hear Doty's 
case.

(source: WCJB news)

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

Murder defendant Mesac Damas believed to have brain injury, his lawyers say


Lawyers for murder defendant Mesac Damas believe their client suffers from a 
traumatic brain injury, which could impact whether he should be sentenced to 
death if convicted of slaughtering his family in 2009, according to newly 
obtained court records.

The filings in Collier County mark the first time that Damas' lawyers have 
publicly stated their belief that Damas has a traumatic brain injury. Damas' 
mental health has been a constant source of contention in his case, though his 
lawyers hadn't previously discussed in public any possible underlying causes 
for any mental illnesses.

Damas, 39, is charged with 6 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of his 
wife and 5 children, who were between the ages of 1 and 9. Damas has twice 
confessed to the Daily News that he committed the homicides, and prosecutors 
are seeking the death penalty. His case has been delayed by competency issues 
and challenges to Florida's death penalty laws.

In an interview, one of Damas' lawyers, James Ermacora, refused to detail why 
he believes Damas suffers from a traumatic brain injury and what impact it has 
on Damas' mental health. He said the claim was made with information from an 
expert report, declining to elaborate on specifics.

"I wouldn't have just made the statement without having some support for it," 
Ermacora said. "There was an occurrence prior to the murders that provides some 
basis for that, but I'm not going to elaborate any more at this point."

Damas' lawyers also wrote that their client "has a long and documented history 
of mental illness, beginning even in his youth in Haiti."

"Furthermore, there is evidence of serious family dysfunction, including, but 
not limited to, alcohol abuse, spousal abuse, and serious mental illness on 
both genetic sides of (Damas') family," his lawyers wrote. These claims are 
backed by "voluminous records" from hospitals, prisons and other institutions, 
they said.

The claims, which were included as part of a defense request to appoint a 
forensic psychiatrist, likely won't impact Damas' trial.

Rather, if he's convicted, Damas' mental health and any underlying brain trauma 
would be cited at sentencing as a "mitigating factor," the legal term for 
reasons why a defendant shouldn't be given the death penalty. At sentencing, a 
judge and jury must weigh whether any mitigating factors are significant enough 
to keep the defendant off death row.

Since his arrest 6 1/2 years ago, Damas has frequently been uncooperative and 
disruptive, refusing to follow orders in jail and during court appearances. His 
lawyers have said on multiple occasions that he refuses to help with his case, 
and he was temporarily found to be incompetent to stand trial in 2014. At that 
time, doctors determined Damas had "major mental illness," according to a 
judge.

But on other occasions, Damas has been deemed competent and able to follow 
directions. In October 2014, a judge wrote that doctors found Damas "can be 
aggressive, manipulative, and deceitful, and would engage in cooperative 
behavior when necessary to get something he wanted."

Ermacora said he has "good support" for Damas' history of mental illness, and 
that he will be traveling to Haiti this summer to gather more evidence.

(source: Naples News)