[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 18



TEXAS----impending execution

In Texas death row case, punishment does not fit crime


Jeff Wood has an appointment he hopes to miss.

On Aug. 24, 2016, at about 6 p.m., the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 
plans to inject a lethal dose of pentobarbital into Jeff???s veins to stop his 
heart as punishment for the 1996 murder of Kris Keeran.

What makes this execution controversial is that everyone, including law 
enforcement and the prosecution, agrees that Wood, the driver of the getaway 
car, did not kill Kris Keeran inside a Kerrville convenient store on the 
morning of January 2, 1996. In fact, Daniel Reneau, the actual and sole killer 
of Keeran, was executed for his crime on June 13, 2002.

Wood was convicted and sentenced to die under Texas' arcane felony-murder law, 
more commonly known as the "the law of parties" - for his role as an accomplice 
to a killing, which he had no reason to anticipate. Under the law of parties, 
those who conspire to commit a felony, like a robbery, can be held responsible 
for a subsequent crime, like murder, if it "should have been anticipated." The 
law does not require a finding that the person intended to kill. It only 
requires that the defendant, charged under the law of parties, was a major 
participant in the underlying felony and exhibited a reckless indifference to 
human life. In other words, neglecting to anticipate another actor's commission 
of murder in the course of a felony is all that is required to make a Texas 
defendant death-eligible.

Texas is not the only state that holds co-conspirators responsible for one 
another's criminal acts. However, it is one of few states that applies the 
death sentence to them. There have been only 10 people in the U.S. executed 
under the law of parties - and 5 of those 10 executions were in Texas. The last 
such execution was in 2009, where the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) 
recommended, with a 5-2 vote, that Robert Thompson's death sentence be commuted 
to life. Rick Perry rejected that vote and allowed the execution to proceed. 
Thompson was executed, even though it was his co-defendant, Sammy Butler, who 
actually killed the victim. Butler was given a life sentence.

When the convenient store robbery took place, Wood was sitting in a car 
outside, under the impression that Reneau was going into the store to get "road 
drinks and munchies." Although it is true that Wood and Reneau had talked about 
robbing the store at the behest of the manager, Wood had backed out of the 
idea. Wood had no idea Reneau was carrying a gun and was going to attempt to 
rob the store. Wood also claims he was forced to drive Reneau away from the 
crime scene at gunpoint. Wood's actions before the murder, namely sitting in a 
car unarmed and unaware that another person was going to commit a robbery, does 
not constitute reckless indifference to human life.

Even many supporters of capital punishment agree that the Texas law of parties 
is wholly unfair. In 2009, the Texas Moratorium Network and Wood's family led 
an advocacy campaign to end the death penalty for people convicted under the 
law of parties. The Republican-controlled Texas House overwhelmingly voted in 
favor of the bill. Unfortunately, the bill died in the Senate after Gov. Perry 
threatened to veto it. Last year, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence 
voted again in favor of a bill to exclude the death penalty as punishment in 
law of parties cases. However, the session ended without an opportunity for a 
floor vote.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles should recommend that the governor 
commute Wood's death sentence to life in prison or a lesser term consistent 
with Wood's level of participation in the crime. They have made that 
recommendation in similar cases, including those of Kenneth Foster in 2007 and 
Robert Thompson in 2009.

Wood might deserve punishment for driving away from the crime scene, but he 
does not deserve to die. He has never taken a human life with his own hands.

(source: Opinion; Hooman Hedayati is an attorney and a member of the Texas 
Moratorium Network Board of Directors----Austin American-Statesman)






CONNECTICUT:

Connecticut Court Reaffirms Ruling Abolishing Death Penalty


The Connecticut Supreme Court has upheld its decision to abolish the state's 
death penalty, including for the 11 inmates on Connecticut's death row.

The Connecticut Supreme Court has reaffirmed its decision that Connecticut's 
abolition of the death penalty must also apply to those already convicted of a 
capital felony.

Monday's ruling comes in the case of Daniel Webb, who was sentenced to death 
for the 1989 murder of Diane Gellenbeck. The 37-year-old bank vice president 
was killed in a Hartford park after being abducted from a downtown parking 
garage.

The court last August found the 2012 state law that banned executions for 
future crimes did not go far enough, ruling the death penalty was 
unconstitutional for those already on death row.

The court on Monday said the same reasoning applies to Webb's appeal and 
ordered him to be resentenced. He now faces life in prison without parole.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

Jury Selection, Other Matters Considered in Church Shooting


A federal judge is taking up jury selection and other matters in the trial of a 
white man charged in the shooting deaths of nine black parishioners at a South 
Carolina church.

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel holds a motions hearing Monday in the case 
of 22-year-old Dylann Roof. He's scheduled to stand trial Nov. 7.

Roof is charged with hate crimes and other counts and faces the death penalty 
in the June, 2015, shooting deaths at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. He will 
not attend the hearing.

A hearing notice said jury selection is being considered, although there is 
also a motion before the court to dismiss the charges.

Defense attorneys say they are willing to have the jury selected from the 
Charleston area instead of from across South Carolina.

(source: Associated Press)