[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, IND., OKLA., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 18



OHIO:

Trumbull prosecutor to judge: Strike Danny Lee Hill filing


The Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office has asked a visiting judge to strike 
the entire 419-page document filed this week by attorneys for Danny Lee Hill 
that ask for the judge to grant him a new trial.

Hill, 49, is on death row for killing Raymond Fife, 12, in September 1985 in a 
wooded area along Palmyra Road Southeast.

Visiting Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove recently granted attorneys for Hill the 
opportunity to ask the judge for a new trial based on bite-mark evidence used 
at Hill's trial that Hill's attorneys said has been proven unreliable.

Hill's attorneys "filed a 47-page motion augmented with 20 exhibits on June 13, 
2016," the prosecutor's office said in Thursday's filing. "This motion totals 
more than 400 pages, most of which have absolutely NOTHING to do with bite 
marks detected on Raymod Fife's lifeless body 30 years ago," the prosecutor's 
motion says.

"The state submits that the bulk of [Hill's] motion is so far beyond the scope 
of this court's [permission] that it should be stricken immediately."

As an example, Hill's filing includes an affidavit questioning whether Hill was 
too intellectually disabled to be interviewed by police, a question that "has 
been litigated and relitigated ad nauseam in the state and federal courts for 
30 years," the prosecutor's office filing says.

"The defense here makes a brazen attempt to taint other heretofore 
uncontroverted evidence - separate and apart from the bite-mark evidence 
already at issue - which was accepted by a 3-judge panel and affirmed 
repeatedly as sufficient evidence to sustain a conviction on multiple counts, 
not just the oral rape of the victim, and the lawfully imposed death penalty."

The prosecutor's filing says a phone conference scheduled for Tuesday morning 
would be premature without the judge first reviewing the prosecutor's formal 
response to Hill's request for a new trial, to be filed later, as well as the 
entire case file, record and proceedings of the 3-judge panel that convicted 
Hill and imposed the death penalty.

"As has been discussed in previous filings, the considerable amount of other 
evidence positively identifying [Hill] as 1 of only 2 assailants in the 
systematic destruction of this child precludes the need for a new trial. He is 
no innocent man. The record and facts show he will always remain guilty."

In a separate filing, the prosecutor's office asks Judge Cosgrove to set a date 
for the prosecutor to file a response to Hill's motion for a new trial.

(source: vindy.com)






INDIANA:

Psychiatrists to evaluate man accused of killing IMPD officer


Calling his public defenders "very disrespectful, evil and unprofessional," the 
man accused of killing an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer 
in 2014 once again asked a judge to allow him to represent himself in the death 
penalty case he faces.

Major Davis, 27, appeared in court Friday morning to ask a judge to allow him 
to fire his public defenders, Eric Koselke and Ray Casanova. Davis is charged 
with murder in the shooting death of officer Perry Renn.

Yet Marion Superior Court Judge Marc Rothenberg warned that a death penalty 
case is unlike other cases, and said the court must determine whether Davis is 
competent to both stand trial and represent himself.

Rothenberg appointed a forensic psychiatrist and a psychologist and plans to 
appoint another psychiatrist to evaluate Davis. After that, he said, he could 
determine whether Davis should proceed without an attorney.

"They are not my attorneys," Davis said. "I am asking you today to fire them."

Davis' attorneys presented the court with an affidavit from a doctor that said 
Davis suffers from "paranoia and delusions." Davis disputed the doctor's 
report.

Rothenberg noted that the doctors he appointed are not connected to the defense 
or the prosecutors.

Davis has repeatedly asked to dismiss his public defender, and has filed a 
series of requests with the court against the advice of his attorneys. In July, 
he asked for a speedy trial and for his murder charge to be dismissed without 
authorization from his attorneys. Rothenberg denied those requests because they 
weren't signed by the attorneys.

Davis in April told Rothenberg he wasn't getting along with his attorneys, and 
asked to represent himself. The judge said he would not grant the request until 
it was properly filed.

The judge scheduled a hearing on Aug. 2 to take place after the doctors have 
evaluated Davis.

(source: Indianapolis Star)






OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma County jurors decide against death penalty in 'Cathouse' murders


Jurors decided Friday against the death penalty for the last 2 men convicted of 
the 2009 "Cathouse" slayings.

Instead, the Oklahoma County jury chose life in prison without the possibility 
of parole as punishment for all the murders. Jurors deliberated about 10 hours 
Thursday night and Friday morning.

"2 incredibly violent men, and dangerous men, are going to die in prison. And 
that's what this jury decided," Assistant District Attorney Gayland Gieger told 
reporters afterward. "If you're going to commit these kind of crimes, be 
prepared to spend the rest of your life, and die, in prison. ... These 2 men 
will never, ever see the light of day."

Monday night, jurors found Denny Edward Phillips, 38, of Salina, and Russell 
Lee Hogshooter, 38, of Oklahoma City, guilty of 6 counts of 1st-degree murder 
and 1 count of conspiracy. The men were convicted in the deaths of an Oklahoma 
City drug dealer and 3 women.

Get complete coverage of OKC's homicides

Prosecutors charged the men with 6 murder counts because 2 victims were 
pregnant.

On Tuesday, the jury chose a punishment of 35 years in prison for the 
conspiracy count.

The men remained stone-faced Friday as District Judge Timothy Henderson 
announced their punishments. They didn't speak to reporters as they were 
escorted out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

During the trial, prosecutors said Phillips was the "puppet master" behind a 
plan to rob and kill the drug dealer, Casey Mark Barrientos, 32. Phillips was 
accused of directing Hogshooter and 2 other men to go to the south Oklahoma 
City drug house early Nov. 9, 2009, to carry out the plan.

The women at the house, Brooke Phillips, 22, of Moore; Milagros Barrera, 22, of 
Mustang; and Jennifer Lynn Ermey, 25, of Edmond; were killed to eliminate them 
as witnesses, prosecutors said. Brooke Phillips and Barrera were pregnant.

Prosecutors said the victims were stabbed, shot and their bodies were set on 
fire.

The case entered the national spotlight because Brooke Phillips, who wasn't 
related to Denny Phillips, was a prostitute on "Cathouse," an HBO reality show 
about a legal brothel in Nevada.

Denny Phillips and Hogshooter denied any involvement. The 2 other men involved 
in the killings, David Allen Tyner, 34, of Locust Grove, and Jonathan Allen 
Cochran, 37, of Oklahoma City, already have pleaded guilty to the murders and 
testified for prosecutors during the trial.

Tyner is serving 6 consecutive life sentences without the possibility of 
parole. He accepted a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

Cochran received a 25-year sentence as part of his plea agreement.

Tyner testified Denny Phillips, a "war chief" in the Indian Brotherhood Gang, 
threatened to kill his family if he didn't participate in the plan. Tyner 
admitted to shooting each victim except Brooke Phillips.

Hogshooter was accused of attacking and torturing Brooke Phillips and then 
setting the house on fire.

Defense attorneys contended Tyner was the one who orchestrated the plan.

The trial lasted 5 weeks.

(source: The Oklahoman)






CALIFORNIA:

California Voters to Choose Between Abolishing the Death Penalty or Speeding Up 
Executions ---- A measure to abolish the death penalty has made it to the 
November ballot to compete with a measure aiming to increase execution rates.


An initiative that would repeal the death penalty and replace it with life 
imprisonment without possibility of parole has qualified for the November 
ballot, Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced today.

The initiative would apply retroactively to persons already sentenced to death. 
It would also require prisoners serving life sentences without the possibility 
of parole for murder to work while in prison.

What backers dubbed as the "Justice That Works Act" required valid signatures 
from 365,880 registered voters -- 5 % of the total votes cast for governor in 
the 2014 general election -- to qualify for the ballot, according to Padilla.

Passage of the initiative would result in a net reduction in state and local 
government costs of potentially around $150 million annually within a few 
years, according to an analysis conducted by the Legislative Analyst's Office 
and Department of Finance.

"Because of all the problems with the death penalty, not a single person has 
been executed here in the last 10 years. Nonetheless, Californians continue to 
pay for it in many ways," said initiative proponent Mike Farrell, a longtime 
death penalty opponent best known for his portrayal of Army Capt. B. J. 
Hunnicutt on the classic 1972-83 CBS comedy "M.A.S.H."

"Whether you look at the death penalty from a taxpayer, a criminal justice or a 
civil rights perspective, what is clear is that it fails in every respect. We 
have to do better in California."

An initiative aimed at expediting executions is alsso expected to appear on the 
November ballot.

"Justice is not easy, and it is certainly not gentle. But justice denied is not 
justice," said Kermit Alexander, the former NFL player who is the proponent of 
the Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act. Alexander's mother, sister and two 
nephews were murdered in 1984.

"We the people of California have consecutively and systematically voted to 
reinstate and preserve the use of capital punishment despite the efforts of 
those who refuse to carry out an execution."

Passage of the Death Penalty Reform and Savings Act would result in increased 
state costs that could be in the tens of millions of dollars annually for 
several years related to direct appeals and habeas corpus proceedings, with the 
fiscal impact on such costs being unknown in the longer run.

There could also be potential state correctional savings in the tens of 
millions of dollars annually, according to an analysis conducted by the 
Legislative Analyst's Office and Department of Finance.

In the unlikely event both measures were approved by voters, the measure with 
more yes votes would go into effect.

A measure to repeal the death penalty on the November 2012 ballot was rejected 
by a 52 % - 48 % margin.

(source: patch.com)

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

Measure to repeal state's death penalty qualifies for Nov. ballot


Californians will vote in November on whether to repeal the state's long-unused 
death penalty law, four years after a similar measure was defeated by 4 
percentage points.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced Friday that the initiative to 
eliminate capital punishment and replace it with a sentence of life in prison 
without parole had received more than the 365,880 valid signatures it needed to 
qualify for the ballot.

The measure is likely to compete with an initiative sponsored by prosecutors 
that seeks to speed up executions by requiring a large group of defense lawyers 
to accept capital cases, and by requiring the state Supreme Court to decide all 
death penalty appeals within 5 years. Supporters of that measure said they have 
submitted nearly 600,000 signatures to election officials, who are in the 
process of verifying them.

If both measures pass, the one with the larger majority would become law.

Backers of the initiative to repeal the death penalty cite an estimate by the 
Legislature's fiscal analyst that it would save the state $150 million a year 
in costs of prison housing and protracted court appeals. They also say opinion 
polls show a decline in public support for capital punishment since November 
2012, when an initiative to end the death penalty was defeated by 52 to 48 %.

California has the nation's largest death row, with nearly 750 prisoners, but 
has executed only 13 since reinstating the death penalty in 1977. After the 
state's last execution, in January 2006, a federal judge ruled that flaws in 
the state's lethal injection procedures and prison staff training had created 
an undue risk of a botched and agonizing execution.

Prison officials have revamped their procedures several times since then but 
have encountered further obstacles in federal and state courts and have not 
found a source of injection drugs since the last U.S. manufacturer stopped 
making them. The state has settled a lawsuit by crime victims' groups by 
agreeing to switch from the 3-drug combination used in past executions to a 
single, lethal dose of a powerful barbiturate.

(source: San Francisco Chronicle)