[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 29



MISSOURI:

25 Years Later, Ozark Murder Case Back Before Supreme Court----Walter Barton 
appeals his 3rd death sentence


Gladys Kuehler was viciously murdered in her trailer home in Ozark, Missouri on 
an October afternoon in 1991. The man who has been convicted 3 times for her 
death, is back before the state Supreme Court this week with another appeal.

In his latest appeal to avoid the death penalty, Walter Barton, now 60, claims 
he was abandoned by his public defender after his 2006 conviction. It was the 
3rd time a Missouri jury found him guilty of the grisly murder of his former 
landlady.

The case comes before the state Supreme Court Tuesday, where judges will hear 
arguments from Barton's lawyers and state prosecutors.

This latest appeal is only the latest twist along a lengthy path Barton's case 
has taken since he was first found guilty of the grisly death of his former 
landlady. Barton is now among the inmates who have been on Missouri's death row 
the longest.

Now Barton is appealing claiming he was abandoned by his attorney during the 
post-conviction appeal process, effectively denying him his constitutional 
right to due process.

Over the 25 year history of the case, Barton has been granted several changes 
of venue.There have been 2 mistrials, a trial and conviction followed by a 
reversal and remand by the Missouri Supreme Court, and a second trial ending in 
conviction which was upheld by the Supreme Court but later thrown out by a 
lower court. Barton's 5th and latest trial was held in Cass County, where the 
jury also found him guilty and recommended the death penalty. Barton appealed, 
the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the conviction and sentenced again.

(source: Court Opinions

State v. Barton, 936 S.W.2d 781 (Mo. banc 1996) (remanding for new trial); 
State v. Barton, 998 S.W.2d 19 (Mo. banc 1999), cert. denied, 528 U.S. 1121 
(2000); Barton v. State, 76 S.W.3d 280 (Mo. banc 2002) (reversing denial of 
post-conviction relief); State v. Barton, 240 S.W.3d 693 (Mo. banc 2007), cert. 
denied, 129 S.Ct. 79 (2008)

The crime

Gladys Kuehler, 81, managed the Riverview Mobile Home Park in Ozark, Missouri 
in October, 1991. Her trailer was a busy place, with family, friends, tenants 
and business partners making a constant stream of visits most days.

It was the same on October 9. According to testimony in all 4 of Barton's 
trials, Kuehler had visits from Carol Horton, one tenant of the park, who often 
helped Kuehler with errands and chores because she was limited to moving around 
with a cane. Also visiting the day of the murder were Bill and Dorothy 
Pickering, the owners of the trailer park, who came by to pick up rent 
receipts. And Walter Barton was also in and out of Kuehler's trailer that day, 
stopping by to ask to borrow money.

Kuehler was last seen about 2:45 by Ted and Sharon Bartlett, former residents 
of the trailer park who stopped by to visit Kuehler.

Family and friends made several attempts to reach Kuehler after 3:00 p.m., but 
could not get an answer on the phone or at the door. About 7:30 p.m., Kuehler's 
granddaughter, Debra Selvidge and Horton flagged down an Ozark police office, 
who called a locksmith to open the door to Kuehler's trailer.

Selvidge and Horton, went inside, followed by Barton. Selvidge found Kuehler's 
body in the bedroom. Kuehler's partially nude body lay on the floor between the 
bed and the wall. She had been brutally attacked with a knife. Her throat was 
slit, she had been stabbed more than 50 times, including 23 times in the back 
and there were also 2 X-shaped slash wounds to the abdomen.

Barton was almost immediately a suspect after small blood stains were found on 
his clothes and DNA testing determined one of the stains was Kuehler's blood. 
Barton argued it must have gotten on his clothes when they discovered the body.

Barton also admitted he answered the phone in Kuehler's trailer about 3:15 when 
the owner of the trailer park called for her.

(source: ozarksfirst.com)

*********

Man charged in Missouri girl's death fights death penalty


Defense attorneys for a man charged in the death a 12-year-old Missouri girl 
are fighting against a possible death sentence even before the man goes on 
trial.

A circuit judge heard testimony Friday on motions challenging the prosecution's 
notice of intent to seek the death penalty against Bobby Bourne Jr., 36, of 
Lockwood, who is charged with 1st-degree murder and kidnapping in the 2013 
death of Adriaunna Horton of Golden City. His trial is scheduled for July. 
Prosecutors say she was kidnapped from a park and killed on a farm near Golden 
City.

Thomas Jacquinot, a capital murder case attorney with the state's public 
defender's office, filed the motions to lay the groundwork for a possible 
appeal on constitutional grounds if Bourne is convicted and sentenced to death, 
The Joplin Globe reported (http://bit.ly/1Tec8eE ).

Circuit Judge James Journey indicated at a hearing in October that he doesn't 
believe he has the authority to overturn the death penalty law. He said Friday 
he would rule on the motions soon.

Wanda Foglia, a professor of law and criminal justice studies at Rowan 
University in New Jersey, was the only witness at the hearing. Foglia is an 
investigator with the Capital Jury Project, a 14-state study funded by the 
National Science Foundation. She discussed seven critical findings of the 
project, which surveyed 1,198 people who served as jurors in the guilt and 
punishment phases of capital murder trials.

The study found:

--About 1/2 the jurors said they made decisions on punishment of defendants 
before hearing any testimony or evidence in the punishment phase.

--Jury selection doesn't remove jurors who feel the death penalty is "the only 
acceptable punishment" for the type of murder case they are hearing. More than 
half the jurors considered it the only acceptable punishment for defendants 
with prior murder convictions, for premeditated murders and for murders with 
multiple victims.

--Those jurors displayed significant rates of failure to understand jury 
instructions.

--Many jurors erroneously believe the death penalty is mandatory in certain 
cases. In Missouri, 48.3 % of the jurors surveyed believed it was mandatory if 
the defendant's conduct was proved to be "heinous, vile or depraved," and 29.3 
% believed it was required if the defendant could be shown to pose a future 
danger to others. The Supreme Court has ruled that there are no mandatory 
requirements of the death penalty.

--Capital jurors often don't understand that the primary responsibility for 
sentencing rests with them.

--Race strongly influences the process. Defendants are more likely to receive 
the death penalty if the victim is white and chances are highest when the 
victim is white and the defendant is black.

--Jurors tend not to believe that a sentence of life without parole, the only 
other sentence possible in capital murder cases in Missouri, actually means 
life without parole.

Foglia said that in Missouri cases, 46 % of jurors were deciding in favor of 
the death penalty in the guilt phase of the trial. Jurors who took premature 
stances were more likely to believe the defendant was guilty, to think the 
death penalty was the only acceptable punishment and to have inappropriate 
discussions of their penalty inclinations during deliberations in the guilt 
phase.

She also said capital jurors also frequently do not understand how to handle 
mitigating and aggravating circumstances presented in the punishment phase.

(source: Associated Press)






NEBRASKA:

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty is finalizing Repeal the Repeal campaign


The campaign to bring back capital punishment is about to start its next phase.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty gathered 166,000 signatures last year to get a 
referendum on the issue the November General Election ballot.

Group co-founder Bob Evnen says a grassroots campaign will convince voters the 
death penalty is needed and not a broken system.

"And what I would really hope that the Unicameral would turn its attention to 
would be how to carry out the sentence and to focus on that instead of just 
throwing in the towel," Evnen tells Nebraska Radio Network.

Evnen says they are putting together a coalition of groups and people who 
believe the state needs to execute those who commit serious crimes.

"It will be a campaign that covers all the bases. It certainly will be a 
grassroots campaign," Evnen says. "There are tens and hundreds of thousands of 
Nebraskans who favor retaining the death penalty - repealing the repeal."

The legislature repealed the death penalty last year, and the group Retain a 
Just Nebraska is fighting to keep that from being overturned in November???s 
election.

(source: Nebraska Radio Network)

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

Death penalty debate heats up as both sides fight for voters


This November major issues will appear on the ballot in Nebraska beyond who's 
elected to the presidency.

The death penalty debate is heating up again, bot sides launching re-newed 
campaigns.

Last Wednesday, the advocated for abolishing the death penalty launched "Retain 
A Just Nebraska". But coming soon, the people who want to keep the death 
penalty will launch "Repeal the Repeal".

"We think that the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for heinous 
murderers and we are going to do anything we can to make sure Nebraskans 
understand that and go out and vote in November," said Rod Edwards, state field 
director of Nebraskans for the Death Penalty.

9 months from the general election, both sides are already gearing up for a 
fight to win over voters.

"It's just costing us money," said Lincoln Senator Colby Coash during a Retain 
A Just Nebraska commercial.

Nebraska hasn't carried out an execution since 1997. Supporters of the 
abolishment say capital punishment isn't cost effective.

However Edwards disagrees, "They try and say that the death penalty is more 
expensive--that is not accurate."

Edwards said opponents are tipping their hand by starting to advertise already.

"Our opposition is out there already with slick television ads 9 months before 
the election just goes to show that they know they have a lot of ground to make 
up," said Edwards.

The Nebraska legislature overrode a veto from Governor Pete Ricketts to abolish 
the death penalty in the state.

Since then, more than 166,000 Nebraskans signed the petition to reinstate the 
death penalty.

Voters will decide which side will win in November.

(source: KMTV news)