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

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 16




TEXAS----execution

Texas Executes Man For 1990 Murder----Gustavo Garcia died by lethal injection 
on Tuesday for killing a store clerk during an armed robbery.


Gustavo Garcia, 43, was executed in Texas on Tuesday for the 1990 murder of a 
liquor store clerk during an armed robbery.

Garcia fatally shot Craig Turski, 43, with a shotgun as he and an accomplice, 
Christopher Vargas, robbed the Beverage Warehouse in Plano. Garcia, who was 18 
at the time of the crime, has spent more than 1/2 of his life on death row.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejected Garcia's clemency petition, the 
Associated Press reported. A U.S. district judge on Friday refused to halt 
Garcia's execution. His attorneys had argued that Garcia's execution should be 
stayed to provide time for new independent counsel to review his case and to 
determine if there were claims that his former attorneys failed to raise in 
previous proceedings. The U.S. Supreme Court has also previously rejected 
Garcia's appeals.

On Dec. 9, 1990, Garcia ordered Turski to hand over money from the cash 
register at the Beverage Warehouse, while Vargas, who was 15 at the time, stole 
beer and transported it to their vehicle, according to court documents. After 
Turski handed over around $500, Garcia ordered him to get on his knees in a 
room next to the cash register, according to Garcia's written confession. After 
a customer walked into the store and saw Garcia, he said he "panicked" and shot 
Turski with a sawed-off shotgun.

"The clerk started coming at me and threw a chair at me and then he ran 
outside," Garcia's confession said. "I loaded the shotgun and shot the clerk 
again outside the store. The clerk had jumped over the fence and was in some 
grass when I shot him the 2nd time."

A month later, Garcia, Vargas and Garcia's girlfriend stopped at a gas station 
in Plano. Garcia and Vargas entered the station with the same .20 gauge shotgun 
Garcia used to kill Turski. The store clerk, Gregory Martin, told his 
girlfriend over the phone to call the police. Martin was taken to a back room 
and fatally shot at point blank range in the back of his head. The police found 
Vargas standing over Martin's body while Garcia was hiding in a freezer close 
to where the shotgun was lying. Garcia claimed that Vargas shot Martin but the 
identity of the shooter was never confirmed, court documents showed.

As a minor, Vargas was ineligible for the death penalty, and was sentenced to 
life in prison.

In 1998, Garcia and 6 other death row inmates attempted to escape the 
Huntsville prison on Thanksgiving night. While 1 inmate managed to flee, 
Garcia, along with the others were caught before they escaped the prison 
complex.

Garcia's death sentence was overturned on appeal in 2000, due to testimony from 
psychologist Walter Quijano, who the Texas Tribune reported had testified "that 
Hispanics were more likely to pose a future danger to society." He was granted 
a new sentencing trial, but was sentenced to death again in 2001.

"He was just a callous murderer," Kevin Turski, the victim's brother told The 
Dallas Morning News. "They took the money, and they shot him anyway."

Garcia becomes the 3rd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Texas 
and the 534th overall since Texas resumed executions on December 7, 1982. 
Garcia becomes the 16th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since Greg 
Abbott became governor in Jan. 2015.

Garcia becomes the 6th condemned ionmate to be put to death this year in the 
USA and the 1428th overall since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 
1977.

At least 9 other Texas inmates have executions scheduled in the coming months, 
including 3 in March.

So far this year, 6 inmates have been put to death nationwide - 3 in Texas and 
1 each in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Last year, 28 executions took place in 
the U.S., 13 of them in Texas.

(sources: BuzzFeedNews, Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----16

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----534

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

17---------March 9------------------Coy Wesbrook----------535

18---------March 22-----------------Adam Ward-------------536

19---------March 30-----------------John Battaglia--------537

20---------April 6------------------Pablo Vasquez---------538

21---------April 27-----------------Robert Pruett---------539

22---------May 11-------------------Terry Edwards---------540

23---------June 2-------------------Charles Flores--------541

24---------July 14------------------Perry Williams--------542

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Jury finds Smith guilty of 1st-degree murder in North Hills murder trial


A Wake County jury on Tuesday found Travion Devonte Smith guilty of 1st degree 
murder in the 2013 bludgeoning death of Melissa Huggins-Jones.

The jury took less than 2 hours to render a verdict that brought audible sights 
of relief from the family of Huggins-Jones.

Jurors, having convicted Smith of 1st-degree murder, will return at 9:30 a.m. 
Wednesday to decide whether he gets the death penalty or something less.

The jury tasked with deliberating Smith's fate heard 2 competing narratives on 
Tuesday as prosecutors and defense attorneys stitched together evidence from 
the past 2 weeks in closing arguments.

Prosecutors argued that Smith, 23, was guilty of 1st-degree murder, that he was 
inside the North Hills apartment where Huggins-Jones was found bludgeoned to 
death on May 14, 2013, and struck her during a violent attack.

Defense attorneys countered that prosecutors had not proved Smith was in the 
North Hills apartment and instead put the blame for her killing on Ronald Lee 
Anthony, who already has pleaded to 1st-degree murder in the case.

Before sending the 6-man, 6-woman jury behind closed doors to begin their 
deliberations, Judge Paul Ridgeway laid out the possible verdicts they could 
reach.

Among those verdicts are first-degree murder, which requires premeditation or 
malice, felony murder, which encompasses a killing that occurred as a burglary 
took place, or second-degree murder, which includes a reckless disregard for 
life. Prosecutors argued that Smith was guilty of both 1st-degree murder and 
felony murder, in part, under the theory that he was acting in concert with 
someone who committed the murder.

"You can decide this case on acting in concert even if you believe the 
defendant never touched her," Assistant Wake County District Attorney Jason 
Waller said. "You've got to decide if there was a burglary...all he has to do 
is step into the apartment."

The defense argued that the witness for the prosecution who put Smith inside 
the apartment - a jailhouse informant who shared a cell with Smith - suffered 
from a psychotic disorder that affected his credibility.

"The question is 'Can you trust what he said?'" Defense attorney Jonathan Broun 
asked in his closing arguments.

Smith faces the possibilty of capital punishment if he is found guilty of 
1st-degree murder.

He was arrested a little more than a week after Huggins-Jones was found dead in 
her bed by a construction worker.

Mother's Day visit

Melissa Huggins-Jones had been with her parents shortly before her death. They 
had been together for a post Mother's Day meal and parted ways with 
Huggins-Jones telling them that she planned to take a walk in the neighborhood.

When Huggins-Jones moved to Raleigh, shortly before her death, she had left 
Tennessee to start anew after the breakup of her marriage. Her daughter Hannah, 
just 8 at the time, was with her. Her son planned to join them after finishing 
the school year in Tennessee.

"Peaceful setting, urban location," Waller said. "When Melissa Huggins-Jones 
decided to move here back in 2013 that's what she was looking for - a peaceful 
setting. An urban location."

About the same time Huggins-Jones was moving to Raleigh, Waller pointed out, 
Smith and Anthony were moving in together in Oxford.

Prosecutors contend that Smith and Anthony were like brothers, they did 
everything together.

The defense team countered that Anthony, who was older than Smith had a 
charisma that pulled people towards him. Defense attorneys described Anthony as 
a master manipulator who preyed upon a vulnerability they say Smith had.

Anthony, Smith and Sarah Redden, who also is accused of murder in the case, 
were together on May 13 for much of the day. The 3 were at North Hills, where 
they went to an ice cream store and had a kerfuffle about whether they needed 
to list criminal histories on a job application. That visit led to an encounter 
at a Starbucks, where the ice cream store manager was confronted by Anthony, 
according to trial testimony.

The trio continued their time together, breaking into cars in the shopping 
center parking lot and taking electronics and GPS equipment. They then went to 
a Bonefish Grill restaurant, where the waitress remembered them because of the 
odd assortment of pins, golf tees and other small items left behind on their 
table.

Waller described the items as things they picked up in the car break-ins.

After leaving the restaurant that night, Anthony bought gloves, according to 
testimony, and the trio set out for the North Hills apartment complex where 
Huggins-Jones lived with her daughter.

Redden, who testified for prosecutors, said she acted as a lookout that night. 
The men had split away from her, telling her to remain in a breezeway.

That's when prosecutors contend that Smith and Anthony scaled the wall of the 
apartment building where Huggins-Jones lived and crawled onto the balcony, 
where an unlocked door awaited them.

Prosecutors contend that Smith and Anthony left behind foot prints and fabric 
prints on opposite ends of the balcony where their gloves left impressions on 
the railing.

Redden testified that she saw Smith on the balcony at one point during the 
night and asked where Anthoy was. Smith, she testified, pointed to the inside 
of the apartment.

One shoeprint on an outside air-conditioning unit, prosecutors argued, matched 
shoes that Smith had. A shoeprint found inside the home on the new carpet 
matched shoes that Anthony had.

Forensic evidence

Prosecutors argued that crime scene investigators did not find DNA evidence at 
the crime scene to implicate Smith or Anthony because they wore gloves.

They argued that Smith struck at least 1 of the 18 blows that Huggins-Jones 
suffered, and reminded jurors that he recounted for an investigator on the day 
of his arrest, hearing a "horrifying scream" that reminded him of a horror 
movie.

Redden alerted Smith when he was on the balcony that Raleigh police were in the 
area. They were crusing around after reports of break-ins.

Once she caught up with Anthony and Smith on the ground level, Waller said, 
their gloves were gone and they had water bottles they had not had before. 
Waller contends they used the water bottles to wash blood off their hands.

Broun argued that if Smith had been in the apartment where so much blood was 
shed that he would have been covered with blood and he was not. Redden reported 
seeing blood splaters on the bottom of his shirt and seeing Anthony remove his 
shirt and put on a different one.

The trio eventually got a ride from a friend of Anthony's who drove them to a 
strip club to the north, where they were to return the car to their driver???s 
girlfriend.

They all went to a Motel 6 afterward. Redden said Smith was quiet that night, 
not his typical goofy self. He was worried about his child, Redden said, and 
turned to Anthony inside the motel room and asked: "What the hell just 
happened?"

Prosecutors and the defense team put different spins on the meaning of that 
question.

Defense attorney Phoebe Dee told the jury in closing arguments, that everybody 
was in that room because of Anthony's ability to make people do what he wanted 
them to do.

"Everyone in this case is involved because of him," Dee said.

The jury began deliberating behind closed doors at 2:40 p.m.

A Wake County jury has not sentenced anyone to death row since 2007.

(source: newsobserver.com)