[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.Y., VA., FLA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

April 5



TEXAS----impending execution

'Vampire' killer who scalped 12-year-old boy then drank his blood to be 
executed tomorrow


A murderer who cut the throat of a 12-year-old boy, drank his blood and 
sickeningly mutilated the body will be executed tomorrow.

Pablo Lucio Vasquez, 38, killed 12-year-old David Cardenas in April 1998 in the 
town of Donna in Texas.

On the night of the murder Vasquez, then 20, attended a party with his 
15-year-old cousin Andy Chapa and met the boy.

Afterwards the 3 were walking home when when Vasquez - who was drunk and high 
on cocaine - picked up a pipe and hit David over the head, then cut his throat.

The cousins took David's body to a field, where they scalped him, cut off one 
of his arms and part of the other and removed the skin from his back.

They also robbed him and then attempted to crudely hide the body under 
aluminium sheets.

Vazquez was quickly picked up by police and admitted the murder. He also told 
officers he had drunk his blood.

Chapa later testified that Vasquez killed the boy because the child did not 
"give him what he wanted."

During his trial, Vasquez said: "The devil was telling me to take [David's 
head] away from him."

On a videotaped confession shown to the jury, he said: "One side of my head 
said, 'You did wrong'.

"The other side said, 'Keep doing it. Keep doing it'."'

The Austin Chronicle reported that Vasquez argued that he had serious learning 
difficulties and is mentally ill, and therefore incompetent and should not be 
executed.

Judges rejected the claim.

Vasquez, if his sentence is carried out, will be the 6th Texan executed this 
year, and the 536th since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Chapa was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty for his role. 3 
others were convicted of helping to cover-up the murder.

(source: mirror.co.uk)






NEW YORK

Winston Moseley, murderer of Kitty Genovese, dies in prison


The man who killed Kitty Genovese, the woman whose public slaying on a quiet 
Queens street became a symbol of witness indifference and the big city's 
collective apathy, has died in prison 52 years after his gruesome crime, state 
officials said.

Winston Moseley, 81, formerly of South Ozone Park, was pronounced dead at 3:10 
p.m. on March 28 at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, said Patrick 
Bailey, a spokesman for the state Department of Corrections and Community 
Supervision. The cause of death has not been determined, but Moseley's body was 
scheduled for an autopsy, officials said.

He was serving a sentence of 20 years to life on convictions for murder, 
2nd-degree robbery and 2nd-degree attempted kidnapping. He was originally given 
a death sentence but that was reduced to life in June 1967 shortly after the 
state's death penalty was abolished. A state appellate panel ruled that the 
court did not properly consider Moseley's mental health.

Moseley later confessed to killing at least 2 other women.

Moseley's crimes were committed in Queens and Erie County, but he was best 
known for the chilling March 13, 1964, stabbing death of Catherine "Kitty" 
Genovese, 28, of Kew Gardens, for which he was convicted on June 11, 1964.

Genovese, who was randomly targeted after she drove home from her job as 
manager of a bar in Hollis, parked in a Long Island Rail Road parking lot and 
was stalked, raped and stabbed to death in 2 attacks occurring over half an 
hour as residents - it was rumored and later debunked - heard her screams and 
glanced out of their windows, but did not move to call police or intervene.

The alleged reluctance of witnesses to get involved despite Genovese's 
bloodcurdling shouts seemed to symbolize the apathy of the nation's largest 
city as its citizens were loath to get involved out of fear of reprisals: 
Reports in newspapers said as many as 38 witnesses from neighboring buildings 
did nothing to save Genovese.

"The indifference of those people appalled me," Harold R. Florea of Wantagh 
told Newsday in April 1964 as he started a neighborhood watch group. "It may be 
due partly to fear. But it seems to me it's mostly an ingrained reluctance on 
the part of bystanders to butt into somebody else's business."

The crime was a case study for law, psychology and criminal justice students. 
For decades, it was a sobering cautionary tale, detailed in history books and 
retold by campus public safety experts during college orientation. It gave rise 
to the term "Genovese effect" or the "bystander effect."

The bystander effect refers to the fact that people are less likely to offer 
help when they are in a group than when they are alone," wrote Melissa Burkley, 
professor of social psychology at Oklahoma State University, in Psychology 
Today.

But a new book about the case, "Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the 
Crime that Changed America," and an upcoming documentary, raise questions about 
whether the witnesses were indifferent to Genovese's cries, casting doubt that 
the 38 people ignored her.

(source: Newsday)






VIRGINIA:

Plea to McAuliffe to veto electric chair bill


Last week marked the beginning of the Easter season for Christians worldwide. 
It is a time of mercy and hope, a celebration so desperately needed in a world 
burdened by violence. Pope Francis, himself a symbol of hope, encouraged 
Christians to "commit ourselves anew to bringing God's mercy to all men and 
women" in this season.

Pope Francis' call is an invitation for Virginia lawmakers to re-evaluate their 
zeal for the death penalty. Governor McAuliffe, a professed Christian, has the 
opportunity to lead the way by vetoing a bill that would that would allow the 
state to execute death row inmates using the electric chair when lethal 
injection drugs are unavailable. McAuliffe's decision not only affects the 7 
men awaiting execution but will set a moral stance for the state.

Currently, the electric chair can only be used in Virginia if those condemned 
select it. If they do not, the state must execute by lethal injection. The 
Virginia Department of Corrections has claimed it is difficult to find a 
reliable, FDA-approved source for the necessary lethal drugs. Drug companies 
have consistently banned the use of their products in executions over moral, 
legal or public relations concerns. A return to the active use of the electric 
chair is not a sensible solution.

Even contemplating the best way for the government to execute is a disturbing 
notion. Electrocution is particularly ghastly. It is widely accepted as a 
torturous method of execution that prolongs death. It is proven to cause 
external bleeding, burning and blistering. The Georgia and Nebraska State 
Supreme Courts found the electric chair to be unconstitutional because it 
inflicts unnecessary pain and is contrary to standards of decency.

Virginia has been responsible for many botched executions with the electric 
chair. In 1991, the execution of Derick Lynn Peterson took over 7 minutes and a 
2nd bolt of electricity was needed after it was discovered he still had a 
pulse.

The electric chair is gruesome because the death penalty is gruesome. Is there 
any good way to kill someone?

Ending the use of the death penalty, like general criminal justice reform, is 
gaining traction on both sides of the aisle. Most of the country, red states 
and blue, have abandoned the death penalty in practice or by formal repeal of 
death penalty statutes. Evangelicals, human rights activists, advocates for 
small government, attorneys and fiscal conservatives all make varied, 
compelling arguments for ending the death penalty. But there is an inherent 
moral undertone in the debate over the government's mandate to kill its 
citizens.

When Nebraska's legislature voted to repeal the death penalty last year, the 
moral argument was explicit and exemplified by the words of Sen. Tommy Garrett 
(R) to his fellow lawmakers: "Let us join together as a legislature to promote 
a culture of life." Similarly, Delaware House of Representatives member, Rep. 
Sean Lynn (D), asked his colleagues "if we have the right, as a society, to 
take the life of someone who is incarcerated" in a debate over repeal of the 
death penalty in their state. The bill did not pass but the Delaware State 
Supreme Court has put all death sentence proceedings on hold while it evaluates 
the constitutionality of state laws in light of a recent U.S. Supreme Court 
ruling.

As most of the nation abandons the practice of capital punishment, McAuliffe 
cannot allow Virginia to return to the gruesome history of the electric chair.

The message of Easter can provide Virginia with a new path forward. As we 
celebrate renewal, let's reflect whether we want our government to be in the 
business of killing. After all, Christians believe in Jesus who suffered 
execution by the state and preached forgiveness.

(source: Guest Column; Karen Clifton, a former resident of Virginia, is the 
executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a faith-based nonprofit 
working against the death penalty----Richmond Times-Dispatch)






FLORIDA:

Arguments set to begin in Cocoa death penalty case


Lawyers for both sides are expected to make opening statements later in the 
death penalty trial of a man suspected of burying a Bahamian woman alive in 
concrete and sand in 2006.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys could begin present their cases sometime this 
afternoon in the 4F Moore Justice Center courtroom of Brevard Circuit Judge 
Jeffrey Mahl. The case has garnered international interest, particularly in the 
Bahamas, where the victim, 22-year-old Darice Knowles, competed in the Miss 
Bahamas Universe beauty pageant in 2004.

Prosecutors are set to tell jurors that the defendant, Vahtiece Alfonzo 
Kirkman, now 37, targeted Knowles because he feared she may have shared 
information about his involvement in another murder with a Cocoa police officer 
she briefly dated.

Knowles was visiting friends in the U.S. when she disappeared in March 2006. 
Her body, duct-taped and encased in concrete, was located of State Road 524 in 
2010 by detectives and forensic investigators after Cocoa police acted on a 
tip.

For the last week, lawyers for both sides questioned jurors in groups and 
individually, asking about their stance on the death penalty, connections with 
law enforcement and other issues.

Testimony in the case could last at least another week and include gruesome 
details - including autopsy photos - to describe Knowles' last moments alive.

It is not known if Kirkman will testify.

A social media page with tributes from Knowles' family in the Bahamas has also 
been set up.

If convicted by jurors, Kirkman will face a penalty phase in which the same 
jurors determine a recommendation to the judge for either life in prison or 
death by lethal injection.

This is the 2nd time Kirkman has faced the death penalty. In the last case, 
Kirkman was sentenced to life in prison in connection with the 2006 fatal 
shooting of 29-year-old Willie Parker in Cocoa.

(source: floridatoday.com)



OHIO:

Death-penalty opponents to present clergy letter to Ohio lawmakers


When the Rev. Richard Burnett was ordained in the 1980s, there was a big gap 
between what he preached from the pulpit in opposition to the death penalty and 
what people felt in the pews.

Over the past 25 years or so, he's seen that gap shrink.

"I find a lot of people in the congregations who are really concerned," said 
Burnett, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church Downtown. "I'm for abolition, but 
even people who just want a moratorium are finding that there's more and more 
support, on a moral and on a practical basis."

Burnett is one of about 325 faith leaders who have signed a letter on the issue 
that will be given to state lawmakers next Tuesday, when Ohioans to Stop 
Executions will hold a legislative lobby day at the Statehouse.

The letter, part of OTSE's Faith Leader Initiative, notes that some signers are 
unopposed to capital punishment and others seek to abolish it.

It calls on the General Assembly to act on recommendations made by an Ohio 
Supreme Court task force that reviewed administration of the death penalty. 
Among the dozens of recommendations: banning the execution of mentally ill 
people; requiring DNA evidence or a videotaped confession when the inmate might 
face the death penalty; reserving the death penalty for those who commit the 
worst crimes; and creating a fund to help pay for the defense of someone in a 
death-penalty case.

"All of us want our society protected and dangerous criminals held accountable, 
but not in a way that treats offenders and victims differently based on skin 
color, geographic location of a crime, or in a way which does not consider 
mental culpability. We cannot accept the possibility of executing an innocent 
person," says the letter.

"The Scriptures and sacred texts of all our faiths demand fairness, accuracy 
and mercy at a threshold far higher than the law currently prescribes. There is 
no question in any of our minds that if Ohio is to continue to have a death 
penalty, it must be administered fairly."

Though the letter is signed by a number of Jewish leaders, OTSE offers a 
separate letter that speaks to the Jewish faith and calls for banning the death 
penalty.

Cantor Jack Chomsky of Congregation Tifereth Israel on the Near East Side said 
he's pleased to see more Jewish clergy members engaging in the initiative and 
the effort to end capital punishment.

"Although capital punishment is outside actual historic Jewish practice, it is 
sometimes hard to fight this fight, because of the feeling that the goal is out 
of reach," Chomsky said. "The involvement of more Jewish clergy is, hopefully, 
a reflection of greater hope and a feeling that the goal is more within reach 
than ever before."

Clergy members have the ears of hundreds of thousands of people each week and, 
as community leaders, can speak to legislators for their congregations, said 
OTSE's Abraham Bonowitz. Many major faiths stand against capital punishment, he 
said, and the OTSE Faith Leaders Initiative webpage offers ways in which clergy 
can advocate for, preach about and pray over that position.

The Ohio Council of Churches has long opposed the death penalty, said the Rev. 
Rebecca Tollefson, a Presbyterian minister who serves as executive director for 
the counil.

She cited racial and mental-health injustices in implementing the penalty, the 
costs to execute an inmate and the lack of comfort that capital punishment 
tends to give victims. She encouraged other religious leaders to participate in 
lobby day next Tuesday.

"It's important for people of faith to express to their legislators why it's 
important to them," she said. "And I wish more people of faith would do that. 
We just aren't good at turning up to talk to our legislators."

Jim Tobin, of the Catholic Conference of Ohio???s social-concerns department, 
said that each year a few more state legislators agree that there is no need 
for the death penalty.

"It's a long journey. We don't know how long," he said. "It's a hard issue. We 
try not to be cavalier. What these people have done is not defensible. The 
question is, 'As a society, what is our best response?' And the death penalty 
is not our best response."

Burnett considers the death penalty a "gateway issue" that can inform social 
policy on other issues, such as gun violence, the Black Lives Matter movement 
and regard for the poor.

"It's also a gateway issue for spiritual maturity," he added. "It opens up a 
lot of questions about compassion, and not just pity, not just sympathy, but 
real compassion."

(source: Columbus Dispatch)

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

Jury considering fate of Brunswick man who killed mom


A Medina County common pleas jury started deliberating Monday whether a 
Brunswick man convicted of killing his mother should be sentenced to death. 
"Please allow me to live out my natural life to where I can reflect ... on the 
poor decisions I made," defendant James Tench, 30, asked the jury in an unsworn 
statement - meaning prosecutors could not cross-examine him on the statement.

The jury now deliberating whether Tench should receive the death penalty found 
him guilty March 23 on 3 counts of aggravated murder, 2 counts of murder, and 
one count each of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and tampering with evidence in 
the 2013 death of his 55-year-old mother, Mary Tench.

During this part of the trial - called mitigation - the defense can call 
witnesses or present evidence to weigh against three specifications in Tench's 
charges in order to argue he should not receive the death penalty.

The specifications include killing a witness, which county Prosecutor Dean 
Holman said was incorporated into the charges because Tench was concerned his 
mother would tell police he was stealing from her. The other specifications - 
kidnapping and aggravated robbery - refer to Tench forcefully removing his 
mother from their shared Brunswick home's front porch and then stealing her car 
to run her over, Holman said.

Tench could receive the death penalty, life in prison without parole, life in 
prison with parole in 30 years and life in prison with parole in 25 years. The 
decision must be unanimous; and if the jury can't reach a unanimous decision, 
it must notify the court.

Defense attorneys Rhonda Kotnik and Kerry O'Brien called friends, family 
members and corrections officers to the stand during about 3? hours of 
testimony Monday morning.

"He's made bad decisions. He's not a perfect individual, but his life has 
value," O'Brien argued.

Holman said the state is calling for the death penalty.

"You heard nothing in the courtroom today ... that was mitigating evidence," 
Holman said during his closing arguments.

Tench's uncle, Gregory Tench, testified James grew up in a troubled home where 
his father, who died in 2012, often started arguments and caused unrest.

"I wasn't there everyday but there were issues and problems best described as 
ongoing," Gregory Tench said. "Most of those situations that I saw involved 
drinking or pain medication."

Several friends, including one who drove from Florida and another from 
Tennessee, said James Tench was like a brother to them.

Friend and former roommate Sierra Mason said she trusted Tench to take care of 
her now 9-year-old daughter when they lived together in 2012.

"He would give the shirt off his back. Not just to me. To anyone," she said.

Holman said the friends' statements meant little.

"It's admirable, but it's not mitigating," Holman said.

"He gets along with people he lived with," he said. "Well, he didn't get along 
with Mary."

James Tench also took the stand and talked about the loss of his mother, 
father, many of his relationships and his 2 dogs, Mindy and Diesel.

"I will never stop loving or missing my mother," Tench said.

Holman argued Tench's testimony did not offer any mitigating evidence.

"To me it sounded like a denial," Holman said. "A denial that he committed the 
crime."

O'Brien asked Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler to admit into evidence a 
photograph of a tattoo Tench received on his forearm in July 2015. The tattoo 
says mom or mother with a Christian cross.

Kimbler denied the request.

Corrections officers from the Medina County Jail, where James Tench is staying 
during the trial, testified Tench was well behaved. Tench was transferred to 
the jail several months ago from Richland Correctional Institution in Mansfield 
where he is serving a 5-year prison sentence for a restaurant robbery in 
Strongsville.

O'Brien withdrew his request to enter Tench's Richland Correctional Institution 
prison files as evidence after Holman pointed out the documents describe an 
incident that included gambling and a fight.

During closing arguments, O'Brien mentioned Gregory Tench's testimony where he 
said Mary Tench spoke positively about her son at a dinner 3 weeks before her 
death.

"What would Mary want?" O'Brien asked the jury.

Holman shot back that the question was unfair.

"Really is that a fair question to ask to you?" Holman said. "What would a 
mother want for her child?"

Holman argued that punishing someone for killing a potential witness - one of 
the specifications that make Tench eligible for the death penalty - is 
essential to upholding the American justice system.

"If a witness can't come to court and testify without fear of being hurt ... 
our entire justice system goes down the tubes," Holman said.

O'Brien took a different stance.

"Justice in any civilization is often measured by how we treat the worst," he 
said.

(source: Medina County Gazette)