[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., FLA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

April 6



TEXAS----impending execution

Bid To Block Execution Of 'Blood-Drinker' ---- Pablo Vasquez was found guilty 
of killing a 12-year-old boy and told police he also drank the victim's blood.

Pablo Vasquez, 38, a south Texas man who bludgeoned and slashed to death a 
12-year-old boy, mutilated the corpse and said he drank the blood of his victim 
is set to be executed on April 6, 2016

The US Supreme Court has been asked to block the execution of a Texas man who 
claimed he drank the blood of his young victim.

Pablo Lucio Vasquez, 38, is due to be executed by lethal injection after 6pm on 
Wednesday evening (CDT) for the murder of 12-year-old David Cardenas in 1998.

His execution would be the 11th this year in the US and the 6th in Texas.

But Vasquez's lawyer James Keegan says several potential jurors in the murder 
trial may have been improperly excused because they were either against the 
death penalty or not comfortable imposing such a judgement.

Mr Keegan has appealed to the Supreme Court for a reprieve so his claims can be 
reviewed.

But state lawyers oppose the move.

Assistant Texas Attorney General Jeremy Greenwell said that any exclusion of 
potential jury members was legally proper, adding that the latest appeal is 
"nothing more than a meritless attempt to postpone (Vasquez's) execution".

The appeal is the latest in a number of attempts to save Vasquez.

The most recent was a month ago and asserted that Vasquez was mentally ill and, 
therefore, should not be able to be sentenced to death.

David Cardenas had been a friend of Vasquez's cousin Andres Rafael Chapa and 
both boys had been at a party in the Texas border town of Donna with Vasquez 
and others on 18 April, 1998.

Vasquez told police he was drunk and high when voices told him to kill 
7th-grader David, beating him with a pipe and then slitting his throat, saying 
that the devil had told him to "take (the head) away from him".

He said Chapa had used a shovel in an attempt to help. Chapa pleaded guilty to 
murder and is serving a 35-year jail term.

Vasquez told detectives that he had later lifted David's body, allowing the 
blood to drip on his face before drinking it, adding in a statement: "Something 
just told me to drink".

David's body was found missing limbs and nearly decapitated in a vacant field 5 
days after the murder.

Joseph Orendain, the lead trial prosecutor, described the case as "really 
horrendous", adding: "Did he drink (the blood)? I don't know."

(source: Sky News)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Luzerne County child killer off death row


The last remaining killer from Luzerne County to await execution is officially 
off death row.

After spending the past 23 years appealing his death sentence for molesting and 
strangling his 3-year-old niece, Michael Bardo, now 46, was resentenced Tuesday 
to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

"This case has lingered through the appeal process and the state court system - 
and into the federal system - for the past 23 years, routinely tearing open the 
old wounds associated with revisiting the death of this young, beautiful little 
child," Assistant District Attorney Jarrett Ferentino said after the hearing. 
"We have a disposition here that ends all of that."

The move takes the death penalty off the table for the last Luzerne County 
defendant who was still facing it. It has been more than 77 years since an 
inmate from Luzerne County was actually executed.

According to prosecutors, the murder took place in September 1992 after Mr. 
Bardo came home drunk and found Joelle asleep on a couch with his mother. Mr. 
Bardo ate some soup and bread, began to molest the sleeping child, then choked 
her to death when she began to whine, prosecutors say.

He later wrapped the girl's body in a garbage bag and threw her body into a 
South Wilkes-Barre creek.

A Luzerne County jury convicted Mr. Bardo of 1st-degree murder and sentenced 
him to die in 1993 - the last time a Luzerne County jury imposed a death 
sentence.

After years of appeals, Mr. Bardo won a new penalty phase in December 2014. The 
Supreme Court split on whether a lower court erred in granting Mr. Bardo a new 
sentencing hearing. Several justices found it "highly unlikely" a jury would 
have given him life based on expert testimony that Mr. Bardo had a personality 
disorder, while others said the testimony could have had an impact on the 
sentence.

During a resentencing hearing Tuesday morning, Mr. Ferentino said Joelle's 
mother, her sole surviving relative, requested prosecutors "not to tear open 
this old wound."

He requested Luzerne County Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr. resentence Mr. Bardo 
- who has agreed to waive all future appeal rights - to life in prison without 
the possibility of parole.

Mr. Bardo spoke only briefly during the hearing, saying "Yes, your honor," when 
asked if he agreed to give up his right to further appeals.

Judge Sklarosky agreed to the resolution and ordered Mr. Bardo to serve life in 
prison without parole.

After the hearing, defense attorney William Ruzzo said Mr. Bardo had thought 
about his actions for nearly 25 years and that he is now a "completely 
different person."

Mr. Ferentino said that had prosecutors pursued a new penalty phase and won a 
verdict of death once more, that would have triggered a new round of appeals 
that could have left the case in limbo for decades more. The agreement puts an 
end to all of that, he said.

"This man will die in the hands of the state, but not at the hands of the 
state," Mr. Ferentino said. "It's not easy when you're dealing with a child to 
forego that ultimate punishment, but it's the right thing when the family is on 
board and considering the history of this particular case."

(source: The Times-Tribune)






NORTH CAROLINA----new death sentence

Hustle Mart Trial: Judge formally sentences Antwan Anthony to death penalty


The judge formally sentenced Antwan Anthony to death, following the jury's 
recommendations.

The jury presented the judge with their decision after 7 1/2 hours of 
deliberations spread out over t3 days.

They told the judge the factors the defense presented to save Anthony from 
execution do not outweigh the factors the state presented.

Video captured Anthony's reaction to the sentencing decision and then the 
victim's family's.

The same jury convicted Anthony of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder for the Hustle 
Mart murders back in 2012. Surveillance video shows Anthony shooting 3 people 
execution style at the convenience store in Farmville.

The victims' family members sat in the Pitt county as the verdict was read. 
They say the decision brings them a feeling of relief.

Family member Fathi Muhssen said, "Long and very painful years, justice was 
finally served today."

Before this trial even started, Anthony also took a plea deal for 2-separate 
murders in Edgecombe County.

During this case's deliberations, the jury asked for testimonies, video and 
phone conversations.

The Sheriff's office and the District Attorney's office worked together to 
bring this family justice and they are pleased with how Tuesday went.

District Attorney Kimberly Robb said, "I think the jury said, when you commit 
this type of crime in our county that we're not going to tolerate it, and that 
this is what's going to happen if you do this type of crime in this county."

"Citizens should now have great confidence in their local law enforcement and 
the District Attorney's office," Sheriff Neil Elks said.

Anthony's lawyers say they will appeal this decision. Until then, he will sit 
in the solitary confinement.

The last time someone in Pitt County was sentenced to the death penalty was in 
2000.

(source: WNCT news)






FLORIDA:

St. Augustine double murder suspect could face death penalty


A St. Johns County man could face the death penalty as the principal suspect in 
a 2015 double-murder of his estranged wife and her friend in their Murabella 
home, court records show.

James Terry Colley, Jr., 35, and his attorneys filed a brief in court to have 
the death penalty taken off the table, but that junction was denied by a St. 
Johns County judge on Monday.

Colley is accused of shooting and kill 2 women in their home before driving up 
to Virginia and trying to run a woman off the road, deputies said.

(source: First Coast News)




OHIO----new death sentence

ury recommends death penalty for Tench


A Medina County jury recommended Tuesday that James Tench receive the death 
penalty for killing his mother in 2013.

"It's a sad day," defense attorney Kerry O'Brien said.

Common Pleas Judge Joyce V. Kimbler will take the jury's unanimous death 
penalty recommendation into consideration when sentencing Tench on April 25.

The judge will have the same sentencing choices as the jury: the death penalty, 
life without parole, life with parole in 30 years and life with parole in 25 
years.

The jury deliberated for several hours Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning 
before announcing its recommendation at 11 a.m.

Jury members declined to be interviewed.

The body of 55-year-old Mary Tench was found Nov. 13, 2012, in a car not far 
from the Camden Lane home in Brunswick she shared with her son, now 30.

James Tench was found guilty March 23 on 3 counts of aggravated murder, 2 
counts of murder, and 1 count each of aggravated robbery, kidnapping and 
tampering with evidence.

On Monday, friends, family and corrections officers testified on Tench's behalf 
before the jury began deliberating whether Tench should receive the death 
penalty.

Friends described Tench as like a "brother" and his uncle, Gregory Tench, said 
James grew up in a troubled household with a substance-abusing father.

James Tench took the witness stand, asking the jury for his life and time to 
reflect on the loss of his mother, father and relationships with others.

County Prosecutor Dean Holman, who asked the jury Monday to recommend the death 
penalty, thanked members Tuesday for their service.

"We are appreciative of the jury's service and diligence in this matter," he 
said.

During the trial, prosecuting attorneys said Tench was stealing money from his 
mother and killed her to stop her from going to police.

Tench waited for his mother to get home from working late on Nov. 12, 2013, and 
struggled with her on their home's front porch before running her over with her 
own SUV, Holman told the jury in closing arguments Monday.

Her body and car were found in a field off Carquest Drive near her home the 
next day.

The jury's death penalty recommendation comes just more than three years after 
a jury made a similar recommendation for Steven Cepec, who was convicted in the 
2009 death of a 73-year-old Chatham Township historian.

Judge James L. Kimbler - who is Joyce V. Kimbler's husband and her predecessor 
on the court - sentenced Cepec to death in April 2013.

Cepec awaits execution at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. He is the 
first Medina County resident to sit on death row in 60 years.

Executions in Ohio have been on hold since early 2014 because of a shortage of 
lethal injection drugs.

The next execution in Ohio isn't scheduled until January 2017.

(source: Medina County Gazette)

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

Victims' families react to Anthony Sowell death sentence appeal


Loved ones say it is opening up old and painful wounds. The state's highest 
court heard arguments Tuesday morning on convicted serial killer Anthony 
Sowell's appeal. He is asking for a new trial and to have his death sentence 
overturned.

"I pray our Supreme Court justice system does not entertain the fact that this 
man even warrants a new trial," said Donnita Carmichael, whose mother Tonia 
Carmichael was one of Sowell's victims.

Relatives of 3 of the 11 women Anthony Sowell was found guilty of killing 
gather to support each other on the day the convicted serial killer's lawyers 
took his appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court.

"We're asking this court to affirm the convictions and death sentence of 
Anthony Sowell," said Christopher Schroeder, a lawyer representing the State of 
Ohio.

In 2011, Sowell was convicted of killing 11 women and putting their bodies in 
and around his home on Cleveland's Imperial Avenue. They were discovered in 
2009. In court, Sowell's attorneys argued that he deserves a new trial and his 
death sentence overturned.

They say, in part, because Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Dick Ambrose 
closed a hearing about whether his videotaped police interrogation should have 
been brought up in trial.

"It's never had a case where there were serial murders over two and a half 
years, deliberate, thoughtful, planned and action, trying to cover those 
murders up and lure women into his house so he could do it again and again and 
again, so I think that's why the death penalty is appropriate in this case," 
Schroeder said.

During jury selection, relatives of 8 of the 11 victims sent a petition to 
prosecutors, asking them to allow Sowell to plea and accept a life sentence.

"We don't even really have to be here today...he'd be sitting in prison right 
now with a life sentence 11 times over," said Carmichael.

Defense attorneys argued that if jurors knew that, it could have changed the 
outcome of the trial.

"Remember it only takes one, a single juror as this court has said to prevent 
the sentence of death, and I think under those circumstances it is a real 
possibility, if not a likelihood,??? attorney Jeffrey Gamso, who represents 
Sowell, told the justices.

"He just trying to think of anything he can to squeeze out of paying for what 
he did," said Barbara Carmichael, mother of victim Tonia Carmichael.

"Losing your mother is like, taking a lot from you," said Audrey Williams, 
daughter of victim Nancy Cobb.

"I understand he has to have an appeal 'cause that's the law, but the girls 
can't get another trial," said Debra Williams, who adopted the son of victim 
Telacia Fortson.

The families say they continue to receive support from the Mount Pleasant 
Ministerial Alliance.

No word on when the Ohio Supreme Court will make a ruling.

(source: Fox news)