[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., DEL., N.C., GA., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 2



PENNSYLVANIA:

Black History & case of unequal justice in Delco----Author and educator Sam 
Lemon has spent decades investigating the circumstances surrounding the trial 
and execution of a 16-year-old black youth for the murder of a Glen Mills 
matron back in 1930.


At 7:03 a.m. on June 8, 1931, Alexander McClay Williams was put to death in the 
electric chair at Rockview Prison in Centre County.

He was 16 years old.

Williams had been convicted in the stabbing murder of a matron at the Glen 
Mills Schools, where he had been a resident since the age of 12, when he was 
charged with setting a barn on fire.

More than 8 decades later, questions remain about the case and whether Williams 
was wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit.

The case has haunted local educator and author Sam Lemon, who has spent years 
examining the case and raised serious questions about Williams' guilt and a 
system of law that could so easily dispatch a young African-American youth to 
death.

Lemon believes strongly that the Williams case was a miscarriage of justice. In 
the process, his work offers a chilling look at how race received distinctly 
different forms of justice in 1931. Some would argue, given the events across 
the nation the past couple of years, that things have not changed all that much 
in 8 decades of the struggle for civil rights and equal treatment under the 
law.

Lemon's makes a strong case that the execution of Williams, believed to be the 
youngest person executed by the state of Pennsylvania, was anything but just.

Williams was convicted by an all-white jury of the murder of Glen Mills matron 
Vida Robare. She had been brutally stabbed 47 times with an ice pick.

Lemon has spent 30 years researching the case. He first heard of it from his 
grandmother, whose father, Lemon's great-grandfather, had the task of 
representing Williams in court.

William H. Ridley was the 1st African-American admitted to the Delaware County 
Bar Association. In October 1930, he was the only African-American attorney in 
Delaware County, and found himself by the court to represent the young 
Williams.

He would soon encounter several problems.

Lemon believes 3 of the youth's constitutional rights were violated: his Fifth 
Amendment right not to incriminate himself; his Sixth Amendment right to 
confront any witnesses; and his 14th Amendment right to due process and equal 
justice under the law.

Lemon, who points out there was no physical evidence linking Williams to the 
murder, as well as no fingerprints or witnesses, believes the teen's confession 
was coerced.

He's not the only one. Robert Keller, a former Delaware County prosecutor who 
is now a criminal defense attorney, reviewed Lemon's findings.

Keller agrees that Williams was questioned continually without counsel.

"It is clearly an important case for all to hear about," Keller said. "The 
justice system of the '30s clearly failed this young African-American."

Keller is working with Lemon to push for a pardon for Williams.

Back in 2005, the United State Supreme Court outlawed the death penalty for 
anyone under the age of 18. That came about 3/4 of a century too late for 
Williams. And it might not have kept him from a date with death anyhow. Adding 
insult to injury, Williams' death certificate appears to have been altered. It 
correctly notes his date of birth as July 23, 1914, but his age was clearly 
altered by someone who converted the 6 into an 8, making it appear as if 
Williams was 18.

Williams' case was certainly not the 1st time in American history where race 
cast a shadow over the justice system.

8 decades after he was walked to the death chamber, Lemon points to the Trayvon 
Martin case, unrest in several U.S. cities, including Ferguson, Mo., after the 
shooting of black youths by police, as evidence that while we've made great 
strides, the pursuit of justice for all Americans continues.

This week we mark the beginning of Black History Month. Every year February is 
set aside to note the accomplishments of African-Americans, and the continuing 
pursuit of the Rev. Martin Luther King's elusive "dream."

Alexander McClay Williams did not have much in the way of dreams. In his scant 
16 years, he had a troubled life - and an even more troubling death.

This coming Sunday, Lemon will present his findings and preview his book at 
Media Fellowship House in Media.

If you're looking for a fitting way to take note of Black History Month, you'd 
be hard-pressed to find a better example.

We congratulate Lemon and others for their work in uncovering and seeking to 
redress the wrongs inflicted on Williams.

Maybe part of the dream is realizing the nightmare too many suffered along the 
way. And working to ensure they never occur again.

(source: Editorial, delcotimes.com)






DELAWARE:

Delaware halts all death penalty cases as Supreme Courts weighs legality


Delaware has put all of its nearly 40 pending death penalties on hold as the 
state's Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of its capital punishment 
system. The move comes on the heels of a Florida case, during which the death 
penalty was ruled unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court has until April 14 to review and answer 5 questions from 
Superior Court judge regarding the roles of judges and juries in Delaware death 
penalty cases.

On Monday, Judge Jan Jurden ruled a temporary stay of the pending trials, 
penalty hearings, and applications related to the capital 1st-degree murder 
cases.

The decision stems from Rauf v. State of Delaware, but applies for the all of 
the state's 39 pending cases. Benjamin Rauf has been indicted on charges that 
include Murder in the 1st Degree (Intentional Murder) and Murder in the 1st 
Degree (Felony Murder) and is currently awaiting trial.

"In light of the Hurst decision, this Court certified [on January 28] 5 
questions of law to the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware in a pending 
capital murder case," Judge Jurden wrote. "Specifically, the determination will 
control the procedure to be applied in all such cases."

The move overall, is based on the Hurst v. Florida case, in which the state's 
Supreme Court ruled in favor of convicted murder, whose defense claimed that 
death penalty sentence was violating the Sixth Amendment. At the heart of the 
matter was the sole power of state judges, not juries, to make decisions to 
deal out capital punishment.

The Sixth Amendment grants defendants the right to have their verdict decided 
by a jury if the death penalty is involved, the highest federal court ruled. 
However, in Florida's death sentencing system the judge could only consider the 
jury's recommendation, without being bound by it, thus, this diminished the 
jury's role to "advisory only." The practice is also known as "judicial 
override".

This is the case with Delaware's death sentencing law, too. There the jury can 
also be allowed to recommend a death sentence non-unanimously.

"If they don't know whether they have a constitutional statute, they won't want 
to try the case just to discover they have to redo it," Robert Dunham, 
executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said, according to 
the Huffington Post.

Last Thursday, in a 23-16 vote Delaware lawmakers rejected a bill to abolish 
the death penalty in the state.

(source: rt.com)






NORTH CAROLINA:

CUAB exhibit takes students to death row


UNC students are going to prison.The Carolina Union Activities Board is 
bringing "Windows on Death Row: Art from Inside and Outside the Prison Walls" 
to the halls of the Student Union. The free exhibit will feature a keynote 
speech Tuesday by creator Anne-Frederique Widmann and former death row inmate 
Ndume Olatushani.

Widmann will be speaking at the event from the point of view of someone on the 
outside of the system who has gone inside to gain deep insight into the 
everyday lives of death row inmates.

She said she hopes to reveal to the world their humanity and suffering.

But Olatushani is speaking from a perspective he can relate to - the prisoner. 
He spent 28 years on death row, convicted of a crime he said did not commit. He 
was freed after new evidence came to light, and he accepted a plea deal that 
allowed him to be freed without formally exonerating him.

Widmann said she hopes the exhibit opens peoples' eyes to the raw humanism of 
death row.

"Its not about crime," creator and organizer Widmann said. "This project - it's 
really about what comes after. It's about justice; it's about our collective 
response to crime. It's about the sentence and the way it's delivered."

The 2nd aspect of this work is the political cartoon collection. Although 
vastly different, it blends smoothly with the inmate work to display a gallery 
of harsh ironies, truths and the raw experiences associated with the American 
justice system and the death penalty.

Widmann said they will also be calling current inmate Kenneth Reams of Varner 
Unit high-security prison. Reams has been on death row since age 18 and has 
found art as an outlet in his solitary confinement.

"What he's saying, I think it really interesting. He said 'OK, I have no power 
to open the door of my cell, but I can try to do something positive with my 
life while I'm inside," Widmann said.

Boateng Kubi, a junior and CUAB's vice president of outreach and public 
relations, said he hopes the event will spark conversation among students.

"I think that it's going to foster really inclusive dialogue on the death 
penalty, and after tomorrow, we expect campus to be buzzing with noise about 
the art gallery," he said.

Already the exhibit seems to have caught the attention of students passing 
through the Union. Many stop, take a look at one piece of art and soon are 
moving down the entire gallery, inspecting each piece.

Senior Meghana Shamsunder found herself in this situation walking through the 
gallery of the Union. "I literally was walking, turned to a picture and stopped 
and was like, 'That is actually very true,'" she said.

"It hurts your heart to see some of these pictures turn out to be true in real 
life."

(source: dailytarheel.com)

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

Accused ISIS plotter in North Carolina charged with earlier murder


A North Carolina man was indicted on Monday in the murder of a 74-year-old 
neighbor police said he killed months before federal authorities arrested him 
on allegations that he planned mass shootings to support Islamic State 
militants.

Justin Nojan Sullivan, 19, of Morganton, North Carolina, is charged with murder 
in the December 2014 slaying of John Bailey Clark, said Burke County District 
Attorney David Learner.

Sullivan also faces 7 federal charges related to supporting Islamic State and 
plotting murders, according to an 11-page federal indictment unsealed Monday. 
He faces trial on those charges later this month.

Islamic State is a militant group that controls parts of Syria and Iraq and has 
vowed attacks on the West.

"Justin Sullivan had elaborate plans to kill hundreds of innocent people to 
show his support for the terrorist organization, ISIL," said FBI Special Agent 
in Charge John A. Strong.

The 1st-degree state murder charge is punishable by life in prison without 
parole or the death penalty.

The federal charges range in punishment from 20 years in prison for attempting 
help Islamic State to 8 years for lying to a federal agency.

Attorneys for Sullivan could not be reached Wednesday.

The FBI began tracking Sullivan in September 2014 after his parents, with whom 
he was living, told police he supported Islamic State and was destroying 
Buddhist objects at home.

In December, 2014, Clark was killed with the .22-caliber rifle later identified 
as one that Sullivan stole from his father and hid under their house, according 
to the indictment.

Beginning on June 6, 2015, Sullivan began talking about his Islamic State 
loyalties with an undercover federal agent Sullivan took for a fellow 
supporter.

"I liked IS from the beginning then I started thinking about death and stuff so 
I became Muslim," Sullivan told the agent, according to the indictment.

Over the next 2 weeks, Sullivan told the agent that he wanted to kill hundreds 
or thousands with an assault rifle and silencer, and planned to practice 
killing with minor assassinations, the indictment said.

He instructed the agent to obtain weapons, had the agent make and mail him a 
silencer to use, planned to buy an AR-15 at a gun show and tried to buy 
hollow-point bullets.

When his parents questioned him about the silencer, he tried to hire the agent 
to kill them, the indictment said.


He was arrested in late June 2015 and remains in federal custody, authorities 
said.

(source: Reuters)

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

DA goes after death penalty in murders of mother & baby


The district attorney for Onslow County announced he will seek the death 
penalty in the case of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend and their 
baby.

Sebastian Mendez appeared in Onslow County Superior Court Monday morning. That 
is when District Attorney Ernie Lee announced this is now a capital murder case 
and he will seek the death penalty against Mendez.

Mendez, 26, is accused of strangling his girlfriend, Shuang Liu, and their 
5-month-old son, Archer Liu, in July of 2015. Investigators said Mendez was 
found outside Liu's home the night of the murders with a knife sticking out of 
his back. They said Mendez stated it was Liu who had stabbed him. After an 
investigation, deputies arrested Mendez for the murders. Investigators said 
they found the bodies of the mother and the child stuffed inside suitcases.

Mendez is also charged with trying to pay someone to kill a witness in the 
case. According to arrest warrants, Mendez offered to pay a fellow inmate 
$9,000 to kill the witness. The inmate alerted authorities to Mendez's plan. 
Mendez is charged with solicitation to commit murder for that. Mendez will 
return to court June 27.

(source: WCTI news)






GEORGIA----new execution date

Georgia set execution of former sailor for Feb. 17


As Georgia prepares to execute a 72-year-old man on Tuesday night, the state 
has also scheduled the lethal injection for another death row inmate for later 
this month.

On Monday, a Houston County judge signed the execution warrant for former 
sailor Travis Hitton for murdering and dismembering a fellow shipmate from the 
USS Forrestal, an aircraft carrier based in Pensacola, Fla.

The warrant says he should be executed between noon on Feb. 17 and noon on Feb. 
24. The Department of Corrections sets the specific time and usually the agency 
chooses 7 p.m. on the first day of the window, which would be Feb. 17.

On Tuesday at 7 p.m. Georgia is scheduled to execute Brandon Astor Jones for 
the 1979 murder of the manager of a Cobb County Tenneco convenience station and 
gas station.

Hittson was 21 years old in 1992 when he and another sailor visiting Houston 
County killed Petty Officer Edward Vollmer.

Vollmer had invited Hittson and Conway Utterbeck to go with him to his parents' 
home in Warner Robins for the 1st weekend in April in 1992.

They spent most of that Saturday hanging out in the house - Vollmer's parents 
were out of town - until Hittson and Vollmer decided that evening to hit the 
bars.

As the 2 were headed back to the Vollmer house, Vollmer told Hittson that 
Utterbeck had a hit list with their names on it and he was "going to get us." 
Vollmer said they needed to kill Utterbeck before he could kill them.

When they pulled into the driveway. Vollmer put on a bulletproof vest and then 
a long trench coat. Vollmer took out of the car a sawed-off shotgun and a 
.22-caliber hand gun for himself and gave Hittson an aluminum bat.

Utterbeck was asleep in a lounge chair when Hittson hit him in the head. As 
Utterbeck begged for his life, Hittson and Vollmer shot him.

They cut up his body, burying some parts in Houston County and taking others 
with them back to Pensacola.

A logger found Utterbeck's torso buried in Houston County. Almost 2 months 
after his death, Navy investigators linked Hittson and Vollmer to Utterbeck's 
disappearance and his murder.

Hittson eventually told detectives he and Vollmer murdered and dismembered 
Utterbeck. His recorded confession was played for the jury during the 
punishment phase of his trial.

Vollmer reached a deal with prosecutors and was sentenced to life in prison.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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

Parole Board Denies Clemency for Georgia Inmate


The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a clemency request from the 
state's oldest death row inmate.

The board announced its decision Monday after holding a hearing on the request 
from Brandon Astor Jones. The 72-year-old is scheduled for execution at 7 p.m. 
Tuesday at the state prison in Jackson.

The parole board is the only entity in Georgia with the authority to commute a 
death sentence.

Jones was convicted in the 1979 killing of Cobb County convenience store 
manager Roger Tackett.

A federal judge granted Jones a new sentencing hearing because jurors had 
improperly been allowed to bring a Bible into the deliberation room. He was 
resentenced to death in 1997.

Another man convicted in the killing, Van Roosevelt Solomon, was executed in 
1985.

(source: Associated Press)






FLORIDA----impending execution

Execution Delay Sought In Jacksonville Double-Murder Case


Attorneys for a man convicted of 2 Jacksonville murders, who's scheduled to be 
put to death on St. Patrick's Day, are asking the Florida Supreme Court for a 
stay in his execution. They're arguing that case records - including some 
stored in an insect-infested shed - were destroyed.

Death row inmate Mark James Asay hasn't had a lawyer to represent him in state 
court for nearly a decade and had no legal representation when Gov. Rick Scott 
signed the warrant ordering his execution, Asay's new attorney wrote in a 
motion filed 2 weeks ago.

A Jacksonville judge appointed Marty McClain to represent Asay, 5 days after 
Scott signed the warrant scheduling Asay's execution for March 17.

McClain argued a 27-page filing that proceeding with the case "would be a 
violation of due process, equal protection and fundamental fairness."

He added, "Providing an attorney without the client's files and records is the 
equivalent of providing no counsel at all."

Scott may not have been aware that Asay did not have a lawyer, as required by 
state law for inmates on death row, when the governor signed the death warrant.

"Given that the statute requires that collateral counsel be in place at all 
times, I would think it would be wise for the governor's office to make sure 
that the statute has been complied with before a warrant is signed," McClain 
said in a telephone interview.

In the court filing, McClain wrote that Scott's staff contacted the state 
agency that represents death row inmates after the warrant was signed on Jan. 
8. Capital Collateral Counsel for the Northern Region Robert Friedman told the 
governor's representative that his agency did not represent Asay.

Scott's staff then contacted Thomas Fallis, a private attorney who had 
represented Asay in federal court. Fallis told the governor's aide that he no 
longer represented Asay.

"What additional steps the governor's office took to notify Mr. Asay's state 
court counsel of the death warrant is unclear," McClain wrote. "What is clear, 
however, is that despite being given information that at a minimum, Mr. Asay's 
representation was unknown, Governor Scott did not pause or delay the execution 
date in order to ensure that Mr. Asay was or would be represented by competent 
post-conviction counsel."

Asay was convicted in 1988 of the murders of Robert Lee Booker and Robert 
McDowell in downtown Jacksonville. Asay allegedly shot Booker, who was black, 
after calling him a racial epithet. He then killed McDowell, who was dressed as 
a woman, after agreeing to pay him for oral sex. According to court documents, 
Asay later told a friend that McDowell had previously cheated him out of money 
in a drug deal.

McClain said he and his partner, Linda McDermott, started trying to locate 
Asay's files after they were assigned to the case.

"What was learned was quite disconcerting. Numerous boxes, probably a majority, 
of Mr. Asay's files and records had been destroyed, while those records that 
theoretically still exist, have yet to be located," McClain wrote, adding that 
33 boxes of records pertaining to Asay's file are missing or were destroyed.

Asay was once represented by the predecessor of the Capital Collateral Counsel 
for the Northern Region, but the Legislature shut down the agency in 2004. At 
least some of Asay's records were transferred to Mary Katherine Bonner, a 
lawyer who once worked on his case, according to McClain's brief filed Tuesday.

Fallis, who represented Asay in federal court from 2010 through 2014, obtained 
about 10 boxes of documents from a shed that was "infested with snakes, rats 
and insects" where Bonner stored them, McClain wrote.

Fallis decided the files were "worthless due to the condition in which they 
were stored" and ultimately destroyed them, McClain wrote.

McClain, who has worked on death penalty cases for nearly three decades and 
represented more than 250 clients, and his partner "have never found themselves 
in such dire and disturbing circumstances when representing a capital 
post-conviction defendant with an active death warrant," the lawyers wrote.

During a case-management hearing, lawyers with Attorney General Pam Bondi's 
office and the state attorney who prosecuted Asay told McClain they would 
provide copies of their records regarding Asay's case. Bondi's office was 
unaware that Asay had gone so long without a lawyer, McClain wrote.

McClain is also trying to get copies of other case files from the Department of 
State's archives, but he is unsure when the documents will be provided, he 
wrote.

"Historically, this (Supreme) Court has been especially vigilant to the need 
for procedural fairness in capital proceedings, and has accordingly not 
hesitated to enter stays of execution in order to ensure that capital 
petitioners are treated fairly in the litigation of claims for relief during 
the pendency of a death warrant," McClain wrote.

The Florida Supreme Court has granted stays in at least 2 other cases when new 
lawyers for inmates scheduled for execution needed more time. In 1990, the 
court delayed the execution of Paul Christopher Hildwin to give his lawyers 
extra time to review his files. In 2014, the court threw out Hildwin's death 
sentence based on new DNA evidence.

(source: WJCT news)

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

Florida Supreme Court considers stay for death row inmate Cary Michael Lambrix


A Florida prison inmate who has spent more than 1/2 his life on death row will 
ask the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday to block his execution, scheduled for 
next week.

Michael Lambrix, 55, was sentenced to die in 1984 after he was convicted of 
killing a man and a woman who had visited him at his trailer in Glades County. 
He has been on death row for more than 31 years.

Gov. Rick Scott signed Lambrix's death warrant in November. He's scheduled to 
die by lethal injection at Florida State Prison in Starke on Feb. 11.

The state's high court last month denied Lambrix's motion for a stay of 
execution. But justices agreed to hear oral arguments after the U.S. Supreme 
Court ruled Jan. 12 that Florida's death penalty sentencing system is 
unconstitutional because it limits the jury's role, a violation of the Sixth 
Amendment.

Lambrix has denied committing the 2 1st-degree murders. He said he killed 
Clarence Moore in self-defense after Moore assaulted the other victim, Aleisha 
Bryant.

In court documents, Lambrix's lawyers raise a series of arguments that his 
rights were violated, including not being able to conduct DNA tests on the 
victims' clothing and on a tire iron that the state says was the murder weapon.

Attorney General Pam Bondi argues that Lambrix has repeatedly used "dilatory" 
tactics to delay his execution and that he should die as scheduled.

(source: Tampa Bay Times)

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

Attorneys for Florida inmate argue for execution delay


Attorneys for a condemned inmate in Florida are scheduled to argue that his 
execution should be delayed after the U.S. Supreme Court found the state's 
death penalty system to be unconstitutional.

Tuesday's arguments are scheduled before the Florida Supreme Court, and Michael 
Lambrix is scheduled to die by lethal injection Feb. 11.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi's office argues that Lambrix should be 
executed as scheduled.

Lambrix was sentenced to death for the 1983 slayings of two people he met at a 
bar. Prosecutors said he killed them after inviting them home for a spaghetti 
dinner.

The U.S. Supreme Court found Florida's death penalty system flawed because it 
allows judges, not juries, to decide death sentences.

Lambrix's attorneys want the state to give their client a new sentencing 
hearing.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Multiple Jacksonville death-penalty cases returning to court this week


The confusing and uncertain status of the death penalty in Florida will be the 
focus of multiple hearings and oral arguments this week in Jacksonville and 
Tallahassee.

Days after Gov. Rick Scott signed the death warrant of Florida white 
supremacist Mark Asay, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the state's 
death-penalty procedures are unconstitutional. But as of right now, Asay is 
still scheduled to be executed on St. Patrick's Day.

Defense attorneys for Asay are saying he cannot be executed because of the 
Supreme Court ruling, and that issue was the focus of a hearing Monday morning 
in Jacksonville.

Prosecutors say the ruling doesn't preclude Asay's execution because the crime, 
conviction and appeals occurred well before any Supreme Court ruling occurred.

A similar argument could occur Tuesday for Donald James Smith, who is charged 
with the rape and murder of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle. Smith has not been 
convicted of the crime and his attorneys will argue that he cannot face a 
possible death sentence since the state no longer has constitutional 
death-penalty procedures.

It's unclear if Smith's argument will occur Tuesday or if Senior Circuit Judge 
Mallory Cooper will set another date.

The Supreme Court ruling found that Florida's death-penalty procedures violated 
the U.S. Constitution because the final decision on whether someone gets 
sentenced to death rests with the judge. Justices said that decision must be 
made by a jury.

Meanwhile, the Florida Supreme Court will consider the convictions and 
sentences of Jacksonville death row inmates Raymond Curtis Bright and Jacob 
Dougan this week. Bright's oral argument is Tuesday while Dougan's will be 
Wednesday.

Bright's death-penalty sentence was thrown out, but his conviction was upheld 
after the trial judge found that his lawyers did an incompetent job defending 
him during the penalty phase of his trial. Dougan, who has been on death row 
for over 40 years, had his conviction and death sentence thrown out over 
allegations that his trial lawyer was sleeping with Dougan's sister and that 
prosecutors did not reveal the full nature of agreements they made with a 
co-defendant who testified against Dougan.

The U.S. Supreme Court will factor into the cases of Bright and Dougan, with 
lawyers for both likely to argue that the ruling precludes the state from 
executing them.

The planned Feb. 11 execution of Glades County resident Cary Lambrix also is 
being discussed before the Florida Supreme Court Tuesday, and whatever the 
justices decide with Lambrix could have an impact on Asay, Bright and Dougan.

Lambrix, 55, has been on death row for 31 years following his conviction in the 
killings of a man and a woman in Glades County in 1983.

During Monday's hearing Asay's lawyer Martin McClain argued that no 
death-penalty execution could go forward because the state has no death-penalty 
procedure.

But prosecutors disagreed and said the U.S. Supreme Court ruling was not 
retroactive, meaning that people already sentenced to death can be executed.

McClain also argued that he needs more time to come up with a proper defense 
for Asay because he was only appointed to the case last month. Monday he argued 
that he needed more time to look into claims that Asay may not have been the 
shooter, as well as examine Asay's mental health.

Assistant Attorney General Charmaine Millsaps argued that Asay has had decades 
of appeals, and all arguments against his execution have been examined and 
found to be lacking.

McClain also represents Lambrix and plans to be in Tallahassee for his appeal 
Tuesday morning. He will argue that Lambrix also cannot be executed because of 
the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The Florida Supreme Court has instructed Jacksonville Circuit Judge Tatiana 
Salvador to issue a ruling on whether Asay gets a stay of execution by the end 
of the day Wednesday. That puts Salvador in a difficult situation because she 
doesn't know how the Supreme Court will rule in Lambrix's case. If her ruling 
conflicts with what the Supreme Court rules for Lambrix, Salvador's ruling will 
likely be overturned.

After Salvador rules, her decision will go to Florida Supreme Court for review 
the 1st week of March. If Salvador and the Florida Supreme Court reject Asay's 
appeal, he is scheduled to be executed on March 17.

Asay, 51, was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Robert Lee 
Booker and Robert McDowell in 1987. Both victims were black and McDowell was a 
cross-dressing prostitute.

Dougan, 68, was convicted of killing 18-year-old Stephen Orlando in 1974. 
Prosecutors said Dougan, who is black, killed the white Orlando as part of a 
plot to start a race war.

Circuit Judge Jean Johnson threw out Dougan's conviction and death sentence in 
2013 after finding that his original trial attorney, Ernest Jackson, had a 
conflict of interest because he was having an affair with Dougan's sister, 
Thelma Turner, during the trial. Jackson later left his wife and married 
Turner.

The judge also found that prosecutors hid evidence of a deal they had with 
another defendant in the case, William Lee Hearn, who testified against Dougan.

Bright, 62, was convicted of bludgeoning Randall Brown, 16, and Derrick King 
III, 20, with a hammer in 2008. But Senior Circuit Judge Charles Arnold threw 
out the death sentence last year, citing concerns about the performance of 
trial attorneys Richard Kuritz and James Nolan, particularly about not looking 
into Bright's history of mental health and substance abuse.

(source: jacksonville.com)