[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., N.C., GA., FLA., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 4



TEXAS:

'I would like to apologise for all of the trouble I've caused': Final words of 
death row inmates give a unique insight into their state of mind minutes before 
death...and they're almost always POSITIVE----Psychologists analysed language 
in 407 statements of men on death row


Have you ever imagined what your last words would be as you face death? It's a 
morbid thought, but one that almost 3,000 people currently on death row in the 
US may be contemplating.

To get an insight into the state of mind of these inmates' final thoughts, 
psychologists have analysed statements of the condemned in Texas, spoken 
minutes before they were given the lethal injection.

The researchers found that despite their impending death, the words conveyed 
were extremely positive expressions that reflected the emotional processes of 
coping with their fate.

The study was carried out by psychologists Sarah Hirschmuller and Boris Egloff 
from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany.

They analysed emotional language in 407 statements from people facing the death 
penalty in the state of Texas.

The offenders were put to death at the Huntsville Unit, which houses the State 
of Texas' execution chamber - the most active in the US.

Poignant examples include the last statement of Daniel Lopez, who at the age of 
27 was put to death on 12 August last year. It reads: 'I would like to thank 
you. I hope this execution helps my family and also the victim's family.

'This was never meant to be, sure beyond my power. I can only walk the path 
before me and make the best of it. I am sorry for putting y'all through this. I 
am sorry, I love you. I am ready. May we all go to Heaven.'

----EXAMPLE EXTRACTS FROM FINAL STATEMENTS OF CONDEMNED OFFENDERS----

The researchers found the prisoner's words conveyed extremely positive 
expressions that reflected the emotional processes of coping with their 
impending death.

Some examples include:

Richard Masterton, 43: 'Sending me to a better place. I am alright with this, 
you have to live and die by the choices that we make. I have made mine.' 
(Executed 20 January, 2016)

Raphael Holiday, 36: 'I love you, love y'all, always going to be with y'all.' 
(Executed 18 November, 2015)

Juan Garcia, 35: 'To the Solano family, I want to tell them to forgive me. 
While I am still alive I bring suffer to you all. The harm that I did to your 
dad and husband, I hope this brings you closure to all of you. I never wanted 
to hurt any of you all.' (Executed 6 October, 2015)

Gregory Russeau, 46: 'I would like to thank my family and friends for what 
y'all have done for me. Thank you for being here with me that I do not have to 
transition alone. I have peace. To my daughter, I love you, to my grandbabies, 
sisters and brothers, I love you. I am ready to go home.' (Executed 18 June, 
2015)

Lester Bower, 67: 'I am not going to say goodbye, I will simply say until we 
meet again.' (Executed 3 June, 2015)

Kent Sprouse, 42: 'I would like to apologise to the Moreno family and the 
Steinfeldt family for all of the trouble I have caused them. I would like to 
apologise to my family for all of the trouble that I have caused them. I would 
also like to thank my family for all of their support. I guess that's it.' 
(Executed 9 April, 2015)

Robert Ladd, 57: 'Teresa I am really sorry, please don't have hate in your 
heart. I really feel like this. I hope you can find peace in your heart and 
happiness. A revenge death won't get you anything.' (Executed 29 January, 2015)

Arnold Prieto, 42: 'There are no endings, only beginnings. Love y'all, see you 
soon.' (Executed 21 January, 2015)

Lisa Colemen, 38: 'I just want to tell my family I love them; my son, I love 
him. The girls on the row, I love them and keep their heads up.' (Executed 17 
September, 2014)

Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas, 44: 'I look into my family's eyes, and I see sadness. 
Don't be sad, I'm happy. I am sorry for what I have done. Be mindful that I am 
happy till the end.' (Executed 9 April, 2014)

Jose Villegas, 39: 'I am ok. I have peace in my heart and ready for the next 
journey. I'm really ok.' (Executed 16 April 2014)

Ray Jasper, 33: 'To the Christian hip-hop community, all the positive brothers 
I've done time with. To all the people that took the time to write a letter. 
Thank you. To my family, we are one. To my beautiful daughter, the best thing 
that ever happened to me. I love you endlessly. I am you and you are me 
forever.' (Executed 19 March, 2014)

Jerry Martin, 43: 'I would like to tell the Canfield family I'm sorry; sorry 
for your loss. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. I hope this gives you 
closure. I did not murder your loved one, it was an accident. I didn't mean for 
it to happen. I take full responsibility.' (Executed 3 December, 2013)

Kimberly McCarthy, 52 : 'This is not a loss, this is a win. You know where I am 
going. I am going home to be with Jesus. Keep the faith. I love ya'll. Thank 
you, Chaplain.' (Executed 26 June, 2013)

Beunka Adams, 29: 'First, I want to let my mom know not to cry, there is no 
reason to cry, everybody dies. Everybody has their time, don't worry about me. 
I'm strong. To my family: my old man, my kids, daddy is sorry. I love each and 
every one of you.' (Executed 26 April, 2012)

Franklin Alix, 34: 'I got your letter. It touched me and changed me. What 
happened was I been wanting to apologize to yall for your son. They told me not 
to do it in court. I wrote him a letter but they told me that they tore it up 
in court. I am not the monster they made me out to be.' (Executed 30 March 
2010)

Michael Sigala, 32 : 'I would like to ask forgiveness of the family. I have no 
reason for why I did it, I don't understand why I did it. I hope that you can 
live the rest of your lives without hate. I pray the Lord grant me 
forgiveness.' (Executed 2 March, 2010)

Danielle Simpson, 30: 'I want to tell my family I love ya'll...I'm gonna miss 
ya'll. I'm ready, ready.' (Executed 18 November, 2009)

However, there are also examples of statements that are mostly negative, where 
inmates profess their innocence. Others chose not to leave a statement.

Licho Escamilla, 33: 'Pope Francis, God's children has asked the State of Texas 
to switch my death sentence to life in prison. But the State of Texas has 
refused to listen to God's children, they will have to take that up with God. 
Let everyone know it's not over. (Executed 14 October, 2015)

Michael Yowell, 43: 'To Gerald: you're a zero.' (Executed 9 October, 2013)

Douglas Feldman, 55: 'I hereby declare, Robert Steven Everett and Nicholas 
Velasquez, guilty of crimes against me, Douglas Alan Feldman. Either by fact or 
by proxy, I find them both guilty. I hereby sentence both of them to death, 
which I carried out in August 1998. As of that time, the State of Texas has 
been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years. I hereby 
protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief.' (Executed 31 July, 
2013)

Milton Mathis, 32: 'The system has failed me. This is a miscarriage of justice. 
There are people on death row that need help. I asked the Lord to have mercy on 
me and I hope He has mercy on these people carrying out this mass slaughter.' 
(Executed 21 June, 2011)

Lee Taylor, 32,: 'I am sorry that I killed him, but he would not have been in 
prison if he was a saint.' (Executed 16 June, 2011)

Steven Woods, 31: 'You're not about to witness an execution, you are about to 
witness a murder. I am strapped down for something Marcus Rhodes did. I never 
killed anybody, ever. I love you, Mom. I love you, Tali. This is wrong. This 
whole thing is wrong. I can't believe you are going to let Marcus Rhodes walk 
around free. Justice has let me down. Somebody completely screwed this up.' 
(Executed 13 September 2011)

Richard Masterton, 43, who died on 20 January, left the positive message: 'I am 
alright with this, you have to live and die by the choices that we make. I have 
made mine.'

Juan Garcia, 35, who died on 10 June 2015, said in Spanish: 'To the Solano 
family, I want to tell them to forgive me.

'While I am still alive I bring suffer to you all. The harm that I did to your 
dad and husband, I hope this brings you closure to all of you. I never wanted 
to hurt any of you all.

Previous studies of condemned inmates have revealed many seek forgiveness and 
turn to God in their final hours.

Other research has suggested people are automatically drawn towards emotionally 
positive information and use positive emotional words such as 'love' and 
'happy' before death, in order to regulate their fear of the unknown.

Drs Egloff and Hirschmuller used a database of inmates' last statements 
available on the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's website.

The pair used computerised quantitative text analysis to measure emotional 
language used in the final statements objectively.

----THE DAY OF THE EXECUTION: THE CONDEMNED'S FINAL HOURS----

Condemned people in Texas can have 5 witnesses at their execution, including 
immediate family, friends and a spiritual adviser, according to the Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice.

Since 1996 the immediate family and close friends of a victim have been allowed 
to watch an execution too.

Inmates scheduled for execution are brought from death row to the Walls Unit 
early in the afternoon of their scheduled execution.

Unlike other states, Texas prohibits inmates from special meals because of 
abuse of the privilege by past prisoners and the rationale that they did not 
offer a meal to their victims.

Inmates can, but are not required to, make a last statement prior to their 
execution.

By law, executions are scheduled to begin after 18:00 Huntsville time.

On the afternoon of an execution, victim witnesses and their support people are 
given an overview of the process and schedule, as well as a list of people that 
will be present and information about the offender's offence.

Victim witnesses and the offender's witnesses wait in separate parts of the 
Huntsville Unit before the execution and are kept separated throughout.

The inmates are housed until that time about 30 feet (9 metres) from the door 
of the execution chamber.

The execution chamber is a 9ft by 12ft (3 metres to 4 metres) room with 
turquoise walls and a gurney. Executions are carried out by lethal injection, 
and have been since 1977.

2 adjacent rooms, which view into the execution room through glass windows, 
house 2 groups.

The viewing process takes between 7 and 8 minutes, from entering the viewing 
room, to watching the procedure and being escorted back to a secure area for a 
debriefing.

For some witnesses, the process is traumatic, while others hold a media 
briefing.

----

The duo relied on a recent text analysis program called Linguistic Inquiry and 
Word Count (LIWC).

This counted the total number of words, percentage of categorised dictionary 
words, percentage of positive emotion words, and percentage of negative emotion 
words in each statement.

Examples of 'positive emotion' words are happy and love, while examples of 
negative emotion words are sad and hate, the paper published in the journal 
Frontiers in Psychology explained.

The experts also analysed personal pronouns and 'social orientation words' in 
the statements, to explore how death row inmates referred to other people in 
their statements.

These are typically words revolving around family and friends.

'We determined LIWC results for cognitive-processing words (e.g., think, know, 
or because), indicating the extent to which death row inmates were concerned 
about intellectually understanding the topics addressed in their final 
statements,' the researchers explained.

They compared their findings to the rates of positive emotion word use in 
general using a sample of speech and writing from 23,000 individuals.

They also looked at words used in the contexts of contemplated death and 
suicide.

The researchers showed that the inmates' final words, spoken minutes before 
their executions, contained a significantly higher proportion of positive than 
negative emotion words.

'The final statements of Texas death row inmates conveyed extremely positive 
expressions that reflected the emotional processes of coping with mortality,' 
the study said.

The experts added that this positivity was significantly higher than positive 
emotion word use in usual speech and books, as well as among people 
contemplating suicide.

'Additional analyses showed that emotional positivity in final statements was 
associated with a greater frequency of language use that was indicative of 
self-references, social orientation, and present-oriented time focus,' the 
study said, meaning inmates tended to be philosophical and more socially aware, 
with some asking forgiveness for their actions.

The study continued that the death row inmates' statements contained a total of 
42,328 words - an average 104 words per person.

'On the individual level, a positivity index, which was statistically different 
from zero on average, showed that statements by over 80 % of executed death row 
inmates contained more positive than negative emotion words,' they said

----

THE WORKINGS OF DEATH ROW

Hanging was means of execution in Texas between 1819 and 1923, when it changed 
to the electric chair.

A total of 361 inmates were electrocuted in the state.

They include Raymond Hamilton, a member of the 'Bonnie and Clyde' gang who had 
escaped death row but was recaptured and put to death on 10 May, 1935.

Capital punishment was declared 'cruel and unusual punishment' by the US 
Supreme Court on 29 June, 1972 but in Feburary 1974 executions were resumed.

Texas adopted lethal injection as means of execution in 1977 and the 1st man to 
be killed by this method was Charlie Brooks, for the murder of a Fort Worth 
mechanic in 1982.

Texas leads in the number of executions since the death penalty was reinstated 
in 1976, while California, Florida, and Pennsylvania have the largest death row 
populations.

There are 5 methods of execution in the United States: lethal injection, 
electrocution, lethal gas, hanging, and firing squad.

The average time spent on death row before execution in Texas is 10.87 years. 
The shortest is 252 days and the longest, 31 years.

The average age of executed offenders is 39 and the youngest was Jay Pinkerton, 
24, who was executed on May 15, 1986.

(source: Daily Mail)






VIRGINIA:

Va. murder trial may become part of national debate on jail informants


When a Virginia man faces a possible death sentence in a murder trial later 
this year, his fate may rest on the testimony of four jailhouse informants, 2 
of whom were initially found mentally incompetent to stand trial in their own 
cases.

The case of Joaquin S. Rams could soon become part of a growing national 
backlash over the government's use of testimony from "snitches" - inmates who 
offer information against other inmates in exchange for lighter sentences or 
other benefits - to obtain convictions, sparked by a significant number of 
wrongful convictions attributed to false informant testimony.

The issue erupted last year in Orange County, Calif., when a capital case 
against an admitted mass-murderer, and numerous other murder cases, stalled 
because of the discovery of a "snitch tank": a ring of county jail informants, 
closely managed by jail deputies, dedicated to testifying against fellow 
inmates. A judge ordered the county district attorney off the case, and the 
prosecution of a man accused of killing 8 people in 2011 has been delayed 
indefinitely.

And in Washington last year, a judge ordered a new trial for the man accused of 
killing federal intern Chandra Levy in 2001 after defense attorneys 
successfully challenged the history and credibility of a key jailhouse 
informant in the 2010 trial.

The use of informants is not new, nor are the challenges to their credibility. 
But informants' role in recent wrongful convictions and high-profile cases is 
causing lawmakers nationwide to look at regulating their use.

In Texas, the revelation of false testimony by a snitch against a man who was 
later executed led to the introduction of legislation to ban informant 
testimony in death penalty cases. In Illinois, the law requires courts to hold 
"reliability hearings" before a jailhouse informant can testify. A similar 
proposed law in North Carolina failed last year. In Washington state, the 
legislature is considering a bill requiring judges to weigh informants' 
"incentivized" credibility before trial. And several high-profile murder cases 
in the Tidewater area of Virginia took drastic turns in recent years when 
jailhouse snitches were found to be unreliable.

In Rams's case, in Prince William County, Va., one of the informants, who 
pleaded guilty to the murders of three people in Manassas, Va., in 2011, 
reported frequent hallucinations and said he knew the whereabouts of Osama bin 
Laden. Another was diagnosed as a "malingerer" who was purposely lying to evade 
trial.

In arguing to exclude the informants from the Rams trial, defense attorney Joni 
C. Robin argued that such testimony was "inherently unreliable, that it 
involves witnesses who categorically are more willing to lie or perjure 
themselves than other categories of witnesses."

Calls for safeguards

The Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University's law school 
found in 2005 that of the 111 people sentenced to death since the 1970s and 
later exonerated, "snitch" testimony was involved in 45.9 % of the cases. "That 
makes snitches the leading cause of wrongful convictions in U.S. capital 
cases," the report concluded.

Defense attorneys and academics have long called on states to initiate 
safeguards so that jail cell information is either recorded or corroborated, 
but only Illinois has written anything into law.

"There have been multiple snitch scandals in multiple places," said Brandon 
Garrett, a University of Virginia law professor who studies wrongful 
convictions. "Since more states are looking at wrongful convictions, it's 
becoming part of the conversation."

Informants present dilemmas to both sides of a criminal case. For prosecutors, 
they must decide whether to believe that one inmate confessed crucial 
information to the informant, what the informant's history is, whether to wire 
the informant for recorded conversation with the target and what they are 
willing to trade for the information. For the defense, attorneys must try to 
refute a typically unrecorded conversation, investigate the background of the 
informant and then convince a jury that sworn testimony is a lie.

Officials with 2 national prosecutors' groups said they would tread very 
carefully with jailhouse informants. David LaBahn, president of the Association 
of Prosecuting Attorneys and a former deputy prosecutor in California, said 
prosecutors "have to be able to specifically articulate the reason you're using 
an informant and making a deal." And judges must exercise "court oversight 
before that testimony is admitted. Can you corroborate it, or did they just 
pick up the newspaper?"

But prosecutors don'tt necessarily favor laws that regulate informant use. Josh 
Marquis, a county prosecutor in Oregon who is with the National District 
Attorneys Association, said: "I think jurors are very discerning. We don't 
believe it's appropriate for Congress or state legislatures to take away from 
juries what weight to give evidence."

Defense attorneys strongly disagree. "Jurors believe jailhouse informants," 
said Doug Ramseur, a Virginia capital public defender. "They think criminals 
are not that smart and they sit around and brag about their crimes."

Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert, the chief prosecutor in 
the county for 47 years, said it was "amazing to me that these people 
[defendants] will talk [to informants], despite their counsel's advice not to. 
Informants do have very valuable information at times." Asked how his office 
corroborates an informant's claims, he said, "Many times they will know things 
that only the defendant would know."

Ebert acknowledged having to cut deals with convicts but added, "I've often 
told juries, 'Sometimes you have to pet a skunk to catch another one.'"

Ebert declined to discuss the pending Rams capital case, in which the defendant 
is accused of drowning his 15-month-old son in his Manassas home in 2012 to 
collect more than $500,000 in life insurance. Rams's attorneys argued in 1 
motion that investigators "sought out and elicited the testimony of at least 2 
jailhouse snitches" after Virginia's chief medical examiner reversed the 
initial autopsy finding of drowning and ruled that the child's cause of death 
couldn't be determined.

Potential witnesses

In October, prosecutors disclosed four jail informants who may testify against 
Rams. The most notable was Jose Reyes Alfaro, who in February 2011 fatally shot 
three people and nearly killed a fourth during a rampage in Manassas. In 2011 
and 2012, a judge found Reyes Alfaro incompetent to stand trial. A psychologist 
wrote in 2012 that "Reyes Alfaro's reporting of past events, actions and 
relationships give me pause to question his ability to distinguish memories 
from fantasy."

Reyes Alfaro was later sent to Central State Hospital, administered psychiatric 
drugs and treatment, and found to be restored to sanity in 2013, although a 
psychiatrist noted that Reyes Alfaro "described a number of far-fetched ideas 
about his past" such as being a member of an elite paramilitary force and 
"claiming to know the existence of Osama bin Laden in Venezuela."

Reyes Alfaro also "has previously falsely incriminated other individuals," 
Robin, the defense attorney, argued in November, "leading to the arrest of 
those other individuals," who were later released. He pleaded guilty in 2014 to 
3 counts of capital murder and received 7 life sentences.

In exchange for Reyes Alfaro's testimony, prosecutors said they asked the state 
Department of Corrections to move him away from Wallens Ridge State Prison, 
which houses many of the state's most serious offenders.

Prosecutors also want to use Jamal A. Thompson, an Oakland, Calif., man 
arrested on charges of prostituting a 15-year-old runaway girl at a Manassas 
hotel, against Rams. Thompson also was initially found incompetent to stand 
trial, but when he was sent to Central State, doctors there found him to be 
engaged in "volitional malingering .... intentional feigning or exaggeration of 
psychiatric, cognitive or physical symptoms for secondary gain, such as .... to 
avoid prosecution."

Prince William prosecutors also listed Gavin Simms, who had multiple 
convictions for theft, as a witness and said he received no considerations for 
his testimony. But when 1 of Rams's attorneys attended Simms's sentencing 
several weeks later, court records show, they found that prosecutors had agreed 
to dismiss 9 felony theft charges and recommend a sentence of 18 months. He 
faced up to 4 years in prison.

The prosecutors also said they may call Aric A. Smith, who pleaded guilty to 
randomly shooting and killing retired ATF agent Gregory Holley as he walked his 
dog in Woodbridge, Va., in 2013.

Rams's attorneys asked Prince William Circuit Court Judge Craig D. Johnston to 
hold a "reliability hearing" to determine whether the four informants could 
testify, similar to a "Daubert" hearing held in civil cases to rule whether 
scientific evidence is admissible.

Johnston declined. "There's no Virginia case that I know of that authorizes 
such," the judge said. "I understand the defense's frustration. .... But that 
said, that's the way we do business in criminal cases, rightly or wrongly."

Rams's attorneys declined to comment on the case. The trial was scheduled to 
begin this week but was postponed at the defense's request. Rams, 43, has 
maintained his innocence in the death of his son, Prince McLeod Rams. 3 other 
people who were in the house when the boy fell unconscious say that Rams did 
not kill him.

A 'snitch factory'

Before another capital murder trial, Ramseur was the attorney for Christopher 
Artis in a Suffolk, Va., case in 2012. Ramseur listened to jailhouse phone 
recordings because he had been warned that the Western Tidewater Regional Jail 
in Suffolk "was a snitch factory." He said he found "there was a network of 
guys trying to corroborate stories so they could get on a capital case and 
reduce their own case. I heard a guy call his mother and instruct her on how to 
look at my client's file."

At trial, he said 4 informants were "clearly on tape admitting they were lying 
to get their sentence reduced." Prosecutors quickly agreed to a mid-trial plea 
deal for 2nd-degree murder and 10 years for Artis. In Virginia Beach, the 2010 
slaying of a Norfolk police officer remains unsolved after prosecutors in 2014 
dropped all charges against 2 men because they found jailhouse witnesses had 
lied.

Prosecutors in the District last year acquiesced in the ???high-profile Chandra 
Levy case, in which Ingmar Guandique was convicted largely on the testimony of 
jailhouse informant Armando Morales. Morales testified that Guandique confessed 
the slaying to him.

But Morales, a convicted drug dealer and gang member, lied when asked whether 
he had testified in other cases, and Guandique's attorneys claim the confession 
testimony was also false. Last May, the U.S. attorney's office dropped its 
opposition to Guandique's demand for a new trial.

Now, "we understand the full scope of just how problematic criminal informants 
can be," said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los 
Angeles.

"The rules permit precisely this result. Weak discovery rules, unfettered 
prosecutorial discretion and payments to criminals. What did we think would 
happen? It's time to ask why the American criminal justice system permits these 
practices to exist."

(source: Washington Post)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Rev. Joseph B. Ingle lectures on U.S. Death Penalty at Mars Hill University 
Feb. 15----Chaplain to Death Row Inmates to Present Lecture on the Death 
Penalty at Mars Hill University


Rev. Joseph B. Ingle, a United Church of Christ minister and a leading voice in 
faith-based opposition to the death penalty, will be presenting a public 
lecture Monday evening, February 15, at 6pm in Belk Auditorium, Mars Hill 
University. The lecture will be titled, "Why does the United States execute 
more of its citizens than any country in the world?"

Ingle will also be holding a workshop about the same issue on Monday afternoon, 
3- 4:30 pm in Bentley Fellowship Hall. The workshop is entitled: "...and the 
criminals with him." The workshop will be interactive, examining Jesus of 
Nazareth and Socrates of Athens, who were both convicted criminals, and what 
lessons they teach us about criminals today and our relationship to them. In 
addition to Christians and philosophers of various sorts, Jews, Buddhists, 
Muslims, Atheists, Others, and "Nones" are welcome.

Ingle, a graduate of Union Theological Seminary, has been the chaplain to 
dozens of people on death row over the past 40 years across the South.

In a January 2015 article in Faith and Leadership, the Duke Divinity School 
newsletter, Ingle said his interest in counseling inmates on death row began 
during seminary, from reading the biblical book of Isaiah and Mary's 
"Magnificat," along with declarations in the Bible about "freeing the 
captives." He realized that he had never even been inside of a prison. This 
interest grew, and he decided to dedicate his senior year in seminary to 
visiting prisons.

"What you find out when you visit prisoners is they're doing something for you. 
The ministry that goes on is not me ministering to the prisoners. It's the 
other way around, and I think Jesus really knew that and that's why he wanted 
us to get in the prisons."

According to Ingle, the U.S. prison system is a "giant killing and caging 
machinery," which meets out retributive justice. Ingle says those values are 
inconsistent with the values of the Christian Gospel, which promotes 
restorative justice.

Ingle is the author of Last Rights: Thirteen Fatal Encounters with the States 
Justice (1990), The Inferno: A Southern Morality Tale (2011), and, most 
recently, Slouching Toward Tyranny: Mass Incarcerations, Death Sentences and 
Racism (2015).

The events at Mars Hill University are sponsored and coordinated by the 
following programs and departments: the Department of Religion, History, and 
Philosophy, The Visiting Artists and, Lectures Committee, The Office of the 
Chaplain and the Religious Life Program, The Office of Diversity and 
Multicultural Affairs, The Ethics-Across the-Curriculum Program, The Department 
of Criminal Justice, and The Advocates of Justice Club.

The public lecture on February 15, 6pm in Belk Auditorium is free to the 
public. Ingle's workshop on Monday afternoon is also free to the public, but 
admission is limited and an RSVP is required. If you are interested in this 
workshop please contact Dr. Katharine Meacham at kmeacham at mhu.edu; 
828-689-1119.

Ingle will also be speaking at the university's Crossroads worship service on 
Tuesday, February 16 at 11am in Broyhill Chapel, with a message titled 
"Homecoming."

Mars Hill University is a premier private, liberal arts institution offering 
over 30 baccalaureate degrees and one graduate degree in elementary education. 
Founded in 1856 by Baptist families of the region, the campus is located just 
20 minutes north of Asheville in the mountains of western North 
Carolina.www.mhu.edu.

(source: mountainx.com)






GEORGIA----impending execution

Georgia is already preparing for the next lethal injection


After carrying out the execution of its oldest death row inmate this week, 
Georgia is already preparing for the next lethal injection.

In 2 weeks, Travis Hittson, 45, is scheduled to die for the April 1992 killing 
of Conway Utterbeck, who was hit with a metal bat while he was sleeping, shot 
and dismembered, his remains buried in two places. The 2 were Navy sailors 
stationed in Pensacola, Fla., at the time of the killing. Another sailor was 
also convicted in the killing and reached a plea deal for a life sentence.

Georgia has at least 3 other death row inmates eligible for execution, meaning 
all of their standard appeals have been exhausted.

On Wednesday, Brandon Astor Jones was pronounced dead at 12:46 a.m. after an 
injection of the barbiturate pentobarbital. He was convicted in the 1979 
shooting death of suburban Atlanta convenience store manager Roger Tackett 
during a robbery.

Last year, the state's plan to carry out executions in rapid succession was 
temporarily thwarted by a problem with its drug.

After executing 2 inmates in January 2015, corrections officials postponed 
executions scheduled for March after they noticed white chunks floating in a 
syringe of the normally clear compounded pentobarbital they had planned to use.

Officials said they investigated the problem and a judge rejected a related 
legal challenge. Executions resumed in the fall, bringing the year's total to 
5, the most Georgia had carried out in a calendar year since 1987. Jones was 
the first Georgia inmate executed this year.

4 news reporters, including one from The Associated Press, witnessed his 
execution but only one was present when Jones was strapped down and the IV 
lines that would deliver the lethal drug were placed on his body. That reporter 
said the process took about an hour and 10 minutes, which is longer than usual.

A doctor was called in to help the 2-person team place the IV lines, said 
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath. One line was put in Jones' 
right arm and another in the groin area, which is unusual but follows the 
state's execution protocol if access through veins in the arm or hand is not 
possible.

Georgia doesn't announce exactly when lethal injections begin, and the 
injection isn't visible to observers. But the warden left the execution chamber 
at 12:30 a.m., and records from past executions show the lethal drug generally 
begins to flow within a minute or 2 of the warden's departure.

Jones was convicted in October 1979 and sentenced to death. A federal judge in 
1989 ordered 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.

Van Roosevelt Solomon, who was also convicted and sentenced to death for 
Tackett's killing, was executed by electric chair in February 1985.

(source: Associated Press)






FLORIDA----impending execution

Judge denies request to delay execution of Jacksonville white supremacist


A Jacksonville white supremacist will die on St. Patrick's Day unless the 
Florida Supreme Court stops his execution.

Wednesday afternoon Jacksonville Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador rejected Mark 
James Asay's request for a stay of execution. Asay's case will now go to the 
state Supreme Court for a final appeal before he is scheduled to die by lethal 
injection March 17.

But Asay's chances of another reprieve are likely, considering the Florida 
Supreme Court stayed - or delayed - a Feb. 11 execution of a Glades County man 
this week after lawyers argued there was too much uncertainty to execute Cary 
Michael Lambrix. It follows the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling declaring the 
state's death-penalty sentencing procedures unconstitutional.

Salvador said the decision on whether the U.S. Supreme Court case affects Asay 
was best left to the Florida Supreme Court, and she prefers not to speculate on 
what the higher court will do.

Asay, 51, was 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.

Attorney Martin McClain, who represents both Asay and Lambrix, said the 
arguments for delaying Lambrix's execution apply to Asay as well.

"There's just too much uncertainty right now to justify executing someone," 
McClain said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Jan. 12 that Florida's death-penalty procedures 
are unconstitutional because the final decision on whether someone is sentenced 
to life or death is made by a judge instead of a jury. The ruling did not say 
how the decision would affect the 390 people now on death row, which means the 
Florida Supreme Court must figure it out.

McClain argued earlier this week that everyone on death row should be 
resentenced to life in prison. But for now he's mainly arguing that his clients 
should not be executed until legislative leaders and the court system determine 
how to deal with the problem.

"If Mr. Lambrix is being stayed it only makes sense to stay Mr. Asay," McClain 
said. "I'm disappointed that the judge didn't follow what the Florida Supreme 
Court has done."

While the Florida Supreme Court had the power to delay an execution, Salvador 
said she didn't have that ability.

"This court is without power or authority to stay defendant's execution set by 
the governor of this state," Salvador said in her ruling.

McClain also said he hasn't had time to prepare a defense for Asay because he 
only became Asay's lawyer on Jan. 13. He said many of the documents have been 
lost or destroyed and he was still waiting for materials until the deadline 
required for him to file motions in the appeal.

McClain also argued that new evidence that suggests Booker and McDowell were 
not killed with the same gun diminishes the reliability of firearms evidence 
presented during the trial.

Salvador rejected all of McClain's arguments. She found that the evidence 
presented during Asay's trial was enough to convict him and found that the new 
evidence wasn't enough to cast doubt on the verdict.

Salvador also ruled that McClain has had enough time to properly defend Asay.

Prosecutors and defense lawyers will file motions this month to the Florida 
Supreme Court and oral arguments are now scheduled to occur during the 1st week 
of March, although the court could delay the execution without court filings or 
hearing oral arguments.

(source: jacksonville.com)

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

Justices weigh new trial for Morris in wake of death penalty ruling


Relatives and friends of 2 slain Tampa police officers sat in silence Wednesday 
as the Florida Supreme Court spent an hour debating with a public defender and 
state prosecutor about whether Dontae Morris deserves a new trial based on a 
recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Morris, convicted of fatally shooting officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab 
in 2010, was the first death row inmate to have his direct appeal heard by the 
Florida Supreme Court after the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Jan. 12 ruling 
that invalidated Florida's death penalty sentencing procedures.

The Florida high court is already struggling over how to proceed in light of 
that ruling, issuing an indefinite stay of execution for Cary Michael Lambrix 
while it considers arguments made Tuesday. Lambrix was sentenced to die Feb. 11 
for the 1983 murder of 2 people in Glades County.

The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion has far-reaching implications, including 
whether Florida should require unanimous jury decisions instead of a simple 
majority in sentencing someone to death, and whether the high court's ruling 
should be applied retroactively to the 390 Florida death row inmates.

"We are still trying to figure this out," Florida Justice Barbara Pariente said 
during arguments.

The Florida Legislature is also grappling with the issue, with both the Senate 
and House holding hearings over how best to rewrite statutes to preserve the 
death penalty against future constitutional challenges. One House measure 
follows a recommendation by statewide prosecutors to require a 9-3 jury vote to 
impose the death penalty.

And circuit courts throughout the state are putting their death penalty cases 
on hold until the Supreme Court and Legislature come up with a solution.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 8-1 in Hurst v. Florida that the state's death 
sentencing statute violated the Sixth Amendment because Florida law gives a 
judge the right to override a jury's recommendation after reviewing the facts. 
The U.S. Supreme Court said only a jury can impose a death sentence.

"This statute has been declared unconstitutional on its face," Cynthia Dodge, a 
10th Circuit public defender from Bartow who represents Morris, said during 
oral arguments Wednesday.

Morris was found guilty by a unanimous jury and sentenced to death in May 2014 
for the shooting death of the 2 officers. A unanimous jury also recommended 
death.

Dodge's motion for a new trial was filed over a year ago and had nothing to do 
with the issues raised by Hurst, but rather rested on whether Morris had 
received a fair trial.

Dodge raised several issues in her motion, including whether Morris' right to 
an impartial jury was violated because of a change in venue, whether the court 
should have left out a redacted statement it allowed to be introduced as 
evidence, and whether the court should have let law enforcement identify the 
voice and image of the shooter on the police dash cam as that of Morris instead 
of leaving that for the jury to decide.

Dodge had 3 days after the U.S. Supreme Court's Hurst ruling to file a 
supplemental brief Jan. 15, laying out an argument that Hurst also applies to 
her client. She said the 12-0 recommendation by the jury didn't matter since 
"the required findings of fact regarding aggravating circumstances were not 
made by the jury."

In his 21-page order, Circuit Judge William Fuente said he gave great weight to 
2 aggravating circumstances - the fact that the officers were killed in the 
line of duty and Morris' prior conviction for murder. Fuente said the 26 
mitigating circumstances didn't outweigh the aggravating circumstances.

Pariente asked Dodge why she didn't ask for a new sentencing hearing that 
complies with Hurst. "Why isn't renewal for a new sentencing phase not an 
appropriate way to appeal?" Pariente asked.

Dodge said the case couldn't go back for resentencing because there is no 
longer a statute in place. Justice Peggy Quince also asked if there weren't 
still enough remnants of a statute in place to proceed with a resentencing 
hearing.

"Statutorily you have the judge sentencing, not the jury sentencing," Dodge 
said.

The Legislature would have to step in and write a new statute before any new 
resentencing trials are ordered, Dodge said.

Assistant Attorney General Carol Dittmar said Hurst doesn't apply to this case 
or other already decided cases because the procedures are still in place to 
conduct a fair resentencing hearing and it would cause an undue burden on the 
court system.

Florida has the 2nd-highest number of people on death row, after California.

Morris is 1 of 43 death row inmates who have filed direct appeals with the 
state following their sentencing and conviction. A direct appeal is the 1st 
appellate proceeding after the sentence of death has been imposed by a trial 
judge, Supreme Court spokesman Craig Waters explained.

The Florida high court has several options in the Morris case: uphold the 
verdict, vacate the sentence, order a new trial or a new sentencing hearing, or 
commute Morris' death sentence to life.

"If they give him a new trial, all this Hurst stuff becomes irrelevant," Dodge 
said.

(source: The Tampa Tribune)






ALABAMA:

Judge rejects claims Alabama's death penalty system is unconstitutional, John 
Clayton Owens murder trial starts Monday


John Clayton Owens appears to be headed to trial Monday on charges he killed 
his elderly neighbor. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

Owens is charged with killing his 91-year-old next-door neighbor Doris 
Richardson on Bide-a-wee Drive near Five Points in Huntsville in August 2011.

Owens' lawyers were unsuccessful Wednesday in persuading Madison County Circuit 
Judge Alison Austin that Alabama's death penalty system is unconstitutional.

Defense attorneys Brian Clark and Ron Smith argued that Alabama's system is 
essentially the same as Florida's. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hurst vs. 
Florida, on January 12, that Florida's death penalty system is unconstitutional 
because it gives judges the final say in death penalty sentencing, not juries.

Smith told the court the same holds true in Alabama. He pointed out that judges 
are allowed to ignore a jury's recommendation on whether a defendant should get 
life in prison without parole or the death penalty for a capital murder 
conviction.

Smith also argued the Hurst opinion found fault with the practice of allowing 
judges to hold an independent fact-finding process before sentencing - just 
like Alabama, after the jury has weighed in.

Madison County Assistant District Attorney Bill Starnes disagreed, telling the 
court that the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected a request to consider Alabama's 
death penalty law at the same time as it agreed to take up the Hurst case.

Starnes also noted that before the January 21 execution of Christopher Eugene 
Brooks, the Supreme Court was asked to stay the execution based on the Hurst 
ruling. A majority of the court rejected that argument.

Starnes said that showed the high court found Alabama's death penalty system 
was constitutional.

Judge Austin rejected the defense argument, also pointing out the Supreme Court 
could have considered the Alabama death penalty system along with Florida's, 
but it didn't.

The judge said the capital murder charge against Owens alleges that he killed 
Richardson in the commission of a burglary. The judge noted that burglary is 
among the "aggravators" jurors are to consider - normally during the 
post-conviction penalty phase - in weighing whether a defendant should be 
sentenced to death.

Austin said that if a jury convicts Owens of capital murder, that means it 
unanimously agreed that his crime included an aggravator, which would make him 
death-penalty eligible.

Defense attorney Brian Clark said the defense is still considering whether to 
appeal Austin's ruling to a state appeals court. That would likely delay the 
trial's start date.

Delaware's death penalty system is similar to Alabama and Florida's. Those are 
the last 3 states where a judge has the a, thority to override a jury's 
recommendation and issue a life or death sentence in capital murder cases.

A Delaware judge this week sent a request to the Delaware Supreme Court asking 
it to address questions raised by the Hurst decision. Delaware's death penalty 
cases are currently stayed, pending the state's Supreme Court opinion.

Owens' case is set to begin on Monday morning. 60 would-be jurors will be given 
questionnaires asking a range of questions, including their views on the death 
penalty.

The case is expected to take more than a week to complete.

(source: WHNT news)

*********

Jury recommends death penalty in case of slain mentally challenged man


Dennis Hicks, 57, has been convicted of the death of Joshua Duncan, 23, in 
2011. Hicks previously served a 25-year sentence for a 1979 double-homicide in 
Wayne County, Mississippi.

The Mobile County District Attorney's office tweeted Wednesday afternoon that 
the jury in the trial of Dennis Hicks has recommended the death penalty.

Hicks, 57, was convicted last week of the 2011 murder of Joshua Duncan, a 
mentally challenged man.

Duncan had been missing for a month when his remains were found in October 2011 
in the former Mobile Police Firing Range on Cody Road. Duncan's body was 
decapitated and disemboweled.

Hicks was previously imprisoned for 25 years for a 1979 double-homicide in 
Wayne County, Mississippi. Hicks stabbed and shot those two victims. The bodies 
were later found in his vehicle.

While still a suspect in this investigation, he was arrested for theft of 
property in Spanish Fort, thus violating his parole. While in jail, he was 
charged with capital murder in the death of Duncan.

Lt. Paul Burch of the Mobile Sheriff's Office told AL.com in December 2012 that 
Hicks befriended Duncan at a church in west Mobile.

Although the DA's office has released information about the jury's 
recommendation, it is currently unknown how long the penalty phase of Hicks' 
sentencing will continue.

(source: al.com)