[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., LA., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

April 30




TEXAS:

Death penalty diminishes our humanity, undermines mercy----Bishop says God's 
gift of life is sacred, abandon culture of death


Recently, Pope Francis captured international headlines by appealing to 
Christians - and particularly Catholic governmental officials - to take the 
"courageous and exemplary act" of ending the death penalty during the Holy Year 
of Mercy.

The pontiff's plea reaffirmed Catholic doctrine that views capital punishment 
as a cruel and inhumane offense to the dignity of human life. What was 
noteworthy was Francis' call for Christian political leaders - especially those 
who profess a commitment to protecting and preserving human life - to 
acknowledge that commitment is not limited solely to birth, but throughout our 
entire lives until natural death.

Francis' statement merely echoed the teachings of his predecessors. In 
particular, St. John Paul II's encyclical letter the Gospel of Life (1995) 
strongly emphasized that modern societies have the capacity to punish and 
isolate violent offenders by non-lethal means without resorting to killing them 
and denying them any hope of repentance. He argued that the instances where the 
use of the death penalty are justified "are very rare, if not practically 
nonexistent."

In opposing capital punishment, neither the pope, nor the church, are oblivious 
to the suffering of the victims of heinous crimes. Nor do we dismiss the grief 
and anguish of their families. The deep pain, grief and suffering of those who 
have lost loved ones to violence cry out for our care and attention. They 
deserve our support, our deepest compassion and our voices in the call for 
justice. However, more killing is not the answer.

The death penalty does not provide true healing for those who mourn, nor does 
it restore the loss of a loved one. It does not honor the victim's memory, nor 
does it provide justice or redeem our suffering. It is not justice nor is it 
redemptive. Instead, the death penalty only further erodes our society's 
respect for the sanctity of life. It coarsens our culture. It diminishes our 
humanity. It undermines our mercy.

Our moral condemnation of capital punishment - along with abortion, war, 
euthanasia and human trafficking - are drawn from the single core tenet of our 
faith: that God's gift of life is sacred. That faith is not conditional, it is 
not what is merely politically expedient. Jesus - who was himself executed as a 
criminal by the state - taught us that life is sacred, and that all of us can 
pray for mercy and redemption for our sin through the promise of the Holy 
Spirit.

We live in an age in which we are constantly confronted with the atrocity of 
suffering and violence - often against those of faith. Our moral opposition to 
evil in the world, and our credibility as witnesses to the sanctity of life and 
the dignity of the human person, is demonstrated when we unite our voices in 
rejecting the use of the execution.

This is especially critical in Texas, which is recognized around the world for 
the frequency at which we resort to capital punishment. So far this year the 
state has put 4 inmates to death. While we may be psychologically able to 
distance ourselves personally from the act of execution, we cannot escape that 
truth that in a democracy those executions are performed in our name.

By ending the use of the death penalty we would urge Christian leaders - 
especially those who are guided by their faith - to heed Francis' call to 
abandon the culture of death in this state and embrace the culture of life.

(source: The Most Rev. Placido Rodriguez, CMF, is the bishop of the Catholic 
Diocese of Lubbock and leader of 135,894 Roman Catholics in the area----Lubbock 
Avalanche-Journal)

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

Appeals court lowers bail for capital murder defendant


An intermediate appellate court in Waco has reduced the bail for an Arlington 
man charged in the July shooting death of a Crawford woman, ruling that a judge 
abused his discretion by setting bail at $5 million and refusing to reduce it.

Attorneys for James Ray Brossett appealed his bail amount set by 54th State 
District Judge Matt Johnson and the judge's decision not to reduce it at a 
hearing in November.

In a ruling made public Friday, Waco's 10th Court of Appeals reduced 
Brossett???s bond to $1 million and sent the matter back to Johnson's court so 
he can place terms and conditions on the bond should Brossett be able to secure 
his release from the McLennan County Jail.

"We are pleased that the court of appeals granted our request and reduced our 
client's bond to a reasonable amount similar to the amounts set in other 
similar cases of accused people in similar circumstances," said Waco attorney 
Michelle Tuegel, who represents Brossett with attorney Walter M. Reaves Jr.

Tuegel said that despite the court's ruling, she doubts Brossett will be able 
to post bail because he has been in jail for 8 months and his masonry business 
has failed.

Death penalty sought

Brossett is charged with capital murder in the death of Laura Patschke, with 
whom he once had a dating relationship. Prosecutors intend to seek the death 
penalty against the 49-year-old Brossett, who prosecutors said confessed to the 
crimes.

Brossett was free at the time of Patschke's death on two bonds related to 
stalking and violating a protective order involving Patschke. He also is 
charged with shooting Patschke's 18-year-old son, Trevor, in the arm during the 
early-morning incident at their home.

At a hearing in November, District Attorney Abel Reyna told the court it was no 
coincidence that Brossett drove from Arlington to Crawford that Sunday night or 
early Monday morning when Trevor and his younger brother and sister had just 
returned to their mother's home from a holiday visit with their father. 
Brossett intended to kill the whole family, Reyna said.

Reyna said Brossett parked his truck about a mile from Patschke's home on 
Bosque Ridge Boulevard and walked through the woods. He got lost along the way 
and it took him more than 2 hours to reach Patschke's house, Reyna said.

In a concurring and a dissenting opinion, 10th Court of Appeals Chief Justice 
Tom Gray said he also thinks the $5 million bond was an abuse of Johnson's 
discretion, but he said the appeals court should not be in the business of 
setting bonds.

"As for me, I do not understand why we, as an appellate court, should in the 
first instance set the amount of bail we think is appropriate. All we have is a 
cold record before us," Gray wrote. "I would much prefer a remand to allow the 
trial court to set the amount and conditions of bail it deems appropriate and 
leave this court to review the trial court's order."

In arguing against the bond reduction at the previous hearing, Reyna told the 
judge that Brossett sent Patschke more than 200 harassing text messages on the 
day he was freed from jail the last time.

Reyna also told the judge that Patschke's sons slept with loaded weapons near 
their beds because they were aware of Brossett's violent nature.

Brossett kicked open a door and went to Patschke's bedroom and fired a shot at 
her. The boys came running from their rooms with guns, and Brossett shot Trevor 
in the arm, Reyna said.

As their sister hid in her room, the boys fled the house. Brossett then 
returned and fired 2 more shots at Patschke, striking the 48-year-old at close 
range with his 12-gauge shotgun, he said.

Brossett, who had taped a flashlight onto his shotgun barrel, then went outside 
to look for the children to "finish what he had started," the district attorney 
said.

He later found the keys to Patschke's car, which he drove to where he had 
parked his truck, then left her car and went to the Fort Worth area in his 
truck, where authorities arrested him.

Brossett served 3 years in prison after pleading guilty to assault family 
violence with bodily injury in 2003 and has a 1997 conviction for violating a 
protective order. He has 3 other arrests relating to violence against women 
dating back to 1987, prosecutors said.

No trial date has been set in the case.

(source: Waco Tribune)






FLORIDA:

Man recieves death penalty for murder of St. Lucie County deputy


A man convicted of the 2013 murder of a St. Lucie County Sheriff's deputy was 
sentenced to death Friday.

Circuit Judge Dan L. Vaughn imposed the penalty during a sentencing hearing for 
Eriese Tisdale. Tisdale, 28, was convicted in October of fatally shooting Sgt. 
Gary Morales during a February 2013 traffic stop near Fort Pierce. A jury 
recommended he receive the death penalty.

"We are pleased with today's ruling by the court and applaud Judge Vaughn for 
following the wishes of the jury in sentencing Mr. Tisdale to death," St. Lucie 
County Sheriff Ken Mascara said in remarks posted on the department's Facebook 
page. "Judge Vaughn eloquently articulated his reasoning for the verdict."

Morales was conducting a traffic stop the morning of Feb. 28, 2013 in an 
unincorporated pocket of St. Lucie County south of Fort Pierce.

He was was calling in his location in the 3200 block of Naylor Terrace and 
giving license-plate information when Tisdale got out and began firing. Morales 
opened his squad door but "never had a chance" to get out of his car, sheriff's 
officials said at the time.

Before he was sentenced, Tisdale spoke to the court, WPTV-NewsChannel 5 
reports.

"I am truly regretful for being responsible for the pain that the (Morales 
family) has today," he said.

(source: Palm Beach Post)






ALABAMA:

Alabama court re-affirms sentence for death row inmate who claims intellectual 
disability


The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday re-affirmed the death sentence 
for Anthony Lane, who claims he is intellectually disabled and shouldn't be 
executed for his conviction in the 2009 robbery and shooting death of an 
Indiana man who was in Birmingham on business.

The U.S. Supreme Court in October had vacated Lane's sentence and ordered the 
Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals to take another look at Lane's sentence and 
his claims of intellectual disability.

The Equal Justice Initiative, which represents Lane, had not responded to a 
request for comment prior to publication of this story.

Anthony Lane was convicted in 2011 of capital murder during the commission of a 
robbery in the death of 57-year-old Frank Wright, who was killed off Messer 
Airport Highway while en route to pick up his wife at Birmingham's airport.

Following the jury's recommendation, Circuit Judge Clyde Jones sentenced Lane 
to death. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Lane's conviction and 
sentence and the Alabama Supreme Court denied Lane's request to review his 
conviction on Jan. 30, 2015.

On Oct. 5, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated Lane's sentence and remanded it 
back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama for further 
consideration. The high court asked the Alabama appeals court to look at the 
case in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 ruling that declared 
unconstitutional Florida's method of determining whether a capital murder 
defendant is intellectually disabled.

Under Florida law, the definition of intellectual disability required an IQ 
test score of 70 or less. If a prisoner was deemed to have an IQ above 70 then 
any further investigation of whether the inmate was intellectual disability was 
abandoned. But the supreme court justices held that that Florida's "rigid rule 
... creates an unacceptable risk that persons with intellectual disability will 
be executed, and thus is unconstitutional."

Lane had a full-scale IQ of 70.

A hearing had been held after Lane's conviction, but before sentencing, to 
determine whether he was intellectually disabled, the Alabama Court of Criminal 
Appeals stated in Friday's order. The hearing included experts that discussed 
Lane's IQ score and evidence of deficits in his adaptive behavior, the appeals 
court stated.

Anthony Lane was convicted of capital murder and armed robbery and sentenced to 
death in 2011

"As he did on direct appeal, Lane takes issue with the trial court's 
determination that Lane failed to demonstrate deficiencies in two or more areas 
of adaptive functioning," according to the state appeals court ruling. 
"According to Lane, the trial court's decision was 'in direct opposition to the 
definitions used' by the medical community.

However, the Alabama Court of Appeals states the Florida ruling "is not as 
broad as Lane contends and does not require this court to revisit that issue."

Instead, the Florida case centered only on the medical community's 
interpretation of the significance of an IQ test score, the Alabama Court of 
Criminal Appeals stated. Because Lane was afforded a hearing on his 
intellectual disability, the trial court was not barred from considering other 
evidence in determining whether Lane was intellectually disabled, the appeals 
court stated.

Therefore, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled, Lane is due no relief 
under the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Florida case.

Circuit Judge Clyde Jones followed the jury's sentencing recommendation in the 
capital case over the May 22, 2009, death of executive Frank Wright of Indiana.

Dissent

The ruling by the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals wasn't unanimous.

Appeals Court Judge Samuel Welch was the lone dissenter in the opinion and 
believes Lane shouldn't face execution.

"Considering the case in light of Hall (the Florida case), as the United States 
Supreme Court has directed this Court to do, I continue to believe that the 
trial court's rejection of all expert testimony about Lane's substantial 
deficits in adaptive functioning constituted an abuse of discretion," Welch 
stated in his dissenting opinion. "Based on the parameters the United States 
Supreme Court has established for determining intellectual disability, it is my 
opinion that Lane is ineligible for the death penalty."

Other issue

Judge J. Elizabeth Kellum concurred with the majority in rejecting Lane's 
claims of intellectual disability and affirmation of his capital murder 
conviction. But she dissented from the affirmation of Lane's death sentence 
without the court first addressing the impact, if any, of the United States 
Supreme Court's recent opinion in Hurst v. Florida on Alabama's 
capital-sentencing scheme.

In the Hurst case, the U.S. Supreme Court had in January ruled unconstitutional 
that Florida's system that allowed judges to override jury sentencing 
recommendations in capital punishment cases.

Alabama also is one of the few states that allow judicial overrides. Alabama 
also has been the only state where judges in the past 2 decades have used it to 
override jury recommendations for life without parole and impose death 
sentences.

Alabama officials have argued that Alabama's override law is different that 
Florida's. A number of attorneys have asked local judges on behalf of their 
clients facing capital murder charges to also rule Alabama's capital punishment 
sentencing scheme unconstitutional. So far, only 1 judge, Circuit Judge Tracie 
Todd in Jefferson County has ruled Alabama's sentencing scheme 
unconstitutional. That ruling, however, is on appeal by the Alabama Attorney 
General's Office.

(source: al.com)






LOUISIANA:

Is the death penalty worth what we are losing?


We usually get it right.

We cannot even say that about our pathetic attempts to use the death penalty as 
part of our system of "justice."

If you have not done so already, check out the story on the front page of 
today's newspaper about Louisiana's horrible record on its most permanent 
sentence.

Don't worry, I'll wait. Like the vast majority of prisoners our state has on 
death row, I'll just wait around.

Did you finish the story? Great. It was an eye-opening one.

Here are a few highlights from it:

In the past 40 years, Louisiana courts have sentenced 241 people to death.

In that same time span, 28 of them have been executed. That is less than 12 % 
of those who were sentenced.

127 - more than 1/2 - had their sentences reversed. In those cases, either new 
trials were ordered or the death sentence was overturned.

9 people were completely exonerated. Nine out of 241 have been exonerated. Let 
that sink in. Nearly 4 % of the people we have sentenced to death in the past 
40 years were not even guilty - not in real life, anyway. There has been no 
word on how many of the 28 who were killed by Louisiana were actually innocent. 
We'll likely never know.

"People don't realize, nationally speaking, that after you're handed down a 
death sentence your odds of being executed are 13 %," the article quotes Frank 
Baumgartner, a University of North Carolina professor who worked on the report 
"Journal of Race, Gender and Poverty," released earlier this week. "The numbers 
we see in Louisiana are even worse than nationally, which is amazing."

In speaking about Louisiana's deplorable record on the death penalty, the 
study's authors are given to using words such as "amazing," "shocking" and 
"deeply dysfunctional."

In all honesty, the authors were trying to keep it clean. They easily could 
have used much coarser language to describe our "justice" system's habitual 
disregard for rights, truth and justice.

The study found that defense attorneys, prosecutors and even judges have erred 
to such a degree that death sentences had to be reversed.

For instance, here's a good piece of trivia to give you an idea of Louisiana's 
thirst for equality: If you kill a white person, you are 10 times more likely 
to be sentenced to death than if you kill a black person.

So there are numbers and facts and logic. But there is also this issue: Is it 
right for the state to take a life?

Many, including such disparate groups as the ACLU and the Catholic Church, 
argue that the death penalty should be eliminated.

In the Catholic Church's case, the argument is that life - every life - is a 
precious gift from God that should not be ended, even if the courts usually get 
it right.

So there are lots of arguments that cite the pragmatic problems with the death 
penalty. Prosecutors, defenders, judges, jurors and even defendants are flawed 
human beings, given to making mistakes.

Should we trust a system so given to error with deciding who should live and 
who should die?

Then there is the money argument. Even if you don't care anything about such 
high-falutin' notions as rights and justice, you might care about your tax 
money.

According to the article, 1 study has found that the prosecution of a death 
penalty case costs on average $1 million more than the prosecution of a life 
sentence case.

Add to that number the cost of repeated appeals over years and the likelihood 
that the death sentence, even if it is imposed at trial, will eventually be 
reversed. What you have is a giant hole into which we are pouring money in the 
service not of justice - we have seen that that is rarely the outcome - but of 
a collective blood lust.

We have to ask ourselves what it's worth to see that the occasional execution 
has taken place. Is it worth a horrifically skewed racial disparity? Is it 
worth repeated reminders that the ultimate sentence was imposed improperly? Is 
it worth all that money we are spending on it?

To me, the answer to all of those questions is no. But even the most callous 
defender of the present system would be hard-pressed to prove that the answer 
to all of them is yes.

(source: Michael Gorman, Editorial Page Editor, Houma Today)






CALIFORNIA:

'Grim Sleeper' 10-murder trial nears closing arguments


Testimony wrapped up Friday in the trial of the man accused in the "Grim 
Sleeper" killings of 9 women and a teenage girl.

Jurors in the trial of Lonnie David Franklin Jr. were told that they will hear 
closing arguments from attorneys Monday.

"We have reached a milestone, ladies and gentlemen. Both sides have concluded 
the evidence," Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy told the panel 
after the prosecution's sole rebuttal witness finished his testimony.

The judge told jurors - who heard about 2 months of testimony - that the 
attorneys' closing arguments "will take some time," and likely would continue 
into Tuesday.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Franklin, who is charged with 
murdering nine women, mostly in their 20s, and a 15-year-old girl and dumping 
their bodies in alleys and trash bins in and around South Los Angeles, 
Inglewood and unincorporated Los Angeles County.

The 63-year-old former city garage attendant and sanitation worker also is 
charged with the attempted murder of Enietra Washington, who survived being 
shot in the chest and pushed out of a moving vehicle in November 1988.

In testimony Feb. 25, she identified Franklin in court as her assailant and 
said he took a Polaroid-type photo of her after shooting her.

In her opening statement Feb. 16, Deputy District Attorney Beth Silverman told 
jurors that DNA and firearms evidence linked Franklin to the attacks.

The killings occurred between 1985 and 1988, and 2002 and 2007, with the 
assailant dubbed the "Grim Sleeper" because of the apparent 13-year break in 
the killings.

Most of the victims were shot in the chest or strangled, and all of the victims 
were "connected to the same serial killer" either through DNA evidence or 
firearms evidence, the prosecutor said.

"And that serial killer, ladies and gentlemen, is the defendant Lonnie 
Franklin," Silverman told the jury.

She said 8 of the victims were linked through firearms evidence, and DNA 
collected from 7 of the victims was linked to the same male profile, which was 
matched to "the defendant's unique DNA profile" during an LAPD task force 
investigation into the killings.

Jurors watched a videotape of Franklin being interrogated by LAPD detectives. 
He denied killing anyone, but called one of the victims "butt ugly" and another 
"fat" after the detectives showed him photos of them.

When the defense started its portion of the case last month, 1 of Franklin's 
attorneys, Seymour Amster, cited more than 20 DNA tests of victims' clothing 
and sexual assault kits that excluded his client as a contributor.

"Lonnie Franklin was excluded as the source of the major DNA profile. The minor 
portion was inconclusive," defense attorney Seymour Amster told the jury over 
and over again in his opening statement, referencing samples taken from 
victims' bodies or clothing.

In each instance, Amster detailed the number of other sources of DNA found in 
semen and other swabs and samples.

Amster also questioned Washington's testimony, saying she told a friend that 
more than one person assaulted her. He told jurors that Washington "repeatedly 
used the word 'they' and not a single person."

Franklin is charged with murdering:

--Debra Jackson, 29, who was found dead from 3 gunshot wounds to the chest in 
an alley on Aug. 10, 1985.

--Henrietta Wright, 34, who was shot twice in the chest and found dead in an 
alley on Aug. 12, 1986.

--Barbara Ware, 23, who was shot once in the chest and found dead in an alley 
on Jan. 10, 1987.

--Bernita Sparks, 26, who was shot once in the chest and found dead in a trash 
bin on on April 15, 1987.

--Mary Lowe, 26, who was shot in the chest and found dead in an alley on Nov. 
1, 1987.

--Lachrica Jefferson, 22, who was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the 
chest in an alley on Jan. 30, 1988.

--Alicia Alexander, 18, who was killed by a gunshot wound to the chest and 
found in an alley on Sept. 11, 1988.

--Princess Berthomieux, 15, who was strangled and discovered in an alley in 
Inglewood on March 19, 2002.

--Valerie McCorvey, 35, who was strangled with a ligature and found dead at the 
entrance to an alley on July 11, 2003.

--And Janecia Peters, 25, who was shot in the back and found dead inside a 
sealed plastic trash bag in a trash bin in an alley on Jan. 1, 2007.

Authorities said after Franklin's arrest that he was identified as a suspect 
using familial DNA - investigators determined that his son had DNA similar to 
the killer, and when they subsequently got Franklin's DNA, his genetic material 
allegedly matched forensic evidence from 8 killings between 1985 and 1988, and 
3 killings between 2001 and 2007.

Detectives have said since Franklin was taken into custody in July 2010 that 
they were also investigating whether he might be connected to the 
disappearances or deaths of 8 other women whose photos were found in his home 
near 81st Street and Harvard Boulevard.

(source: mynewsla.com)

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

Wozniak attorney seeks deputies' notes about jailhouse informants


The defense attorney for convicted murderer Daniel Wozniak argued in court 
Friday that he needs access to any secret records kept by Orange County 
Sheriff's Department deputies who worked with jailhouse informants in area 
lockups.

Public defender Scott Sanders said the documents could be crucial to a motion 
he's crafting asking an Orange County judge to grant Wozniak a new trial or 
throw out the death sentence recommended by jurors.

Wozniak, a 31-year-old community theater actor from Costa Mesa, was convicted 
last year of a gruesome double murder and bizarre attempted coverup from 2010.

Jurors convicted Wozniak of shooting to death Army veteran Sam Herr, 26, and 
Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 23.

After the killings, Wozniak tried to throw police off his trail by staging 
Kibuishi's body to look as if Herr had sexually assaulted her and fled, 
according to prosecutors. He then tried to do away with Herr's body by 
dismembering it and tossing some of the limbs into a Long Beach park, 
authorities said.

After finding Wozniak guilty, jurors took about an hour of deliberation to 
decide he deserved the death penalty.

For the sentence to be finalized, a judge must confirm it at a hearing 
scheduled for next month.

Sanders, however, has crusaded against capital punishment for his client, 
arguing it's impossible for death-penalty defendants to receive a fair trial in 
Orange County because, he alleges, law enforcement and prosecutors routinely 
fail to turn over evidence to defendants that they're entitled to see. Most of 
his allegations focus on the use of informants in Orange County jails.

The county district attorney's office has said that any failure to hand over 
evidence was incidental and unintentional.

Most recently, Sanders issued 2 subpoenas seeking any notes kept by sheriff's 
deputies about their interactions with jailhouse informants.

Sanders said deputies may mistakenly believe that such notes are exempt from 
having to be turned over to defendants.

In court papers, Elizabeth Pejeau, deputy county counsel representing the 
Sheriff's Department, called Sanders' request overly broad and irrelevant to 
the Wozniak proceedings.

She has asked Orange County Superior Court Judge John Conley to quash the 
subpoenas for any records not related to the Wozniak case.

Sanders and Pejeau are scheduled to present their sides to Conley on Tuesday.

It's an open question whether this will have any bearing on Wozniak's sentence.

A jailhouse informant did speak to Wozniak while he was behind bars, according 
to court records, but prosecutors say they immediately ruled out using any 
evidence gleaned from informants.

"In the court's view, the issue of informants was off the table before I ever 
got the case," Conley said during Friday's hearing.

If the notes prove to be important, Conley said he's open to delaying Wozniak's 
May 20 sentencing date so Sanders can argue his point.

But what happens depends on the contents of the documents Sanders has 
subpoenaed.

"This could be a bombshell or it could be a dud. We don't know," Conley said.

(source: Los Angeles Times)