[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., ARK., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 15



TEXAS:

Rep Dutton Files Bills to Abolish the Death Penalty and Prohibit Death 
Sentences in Law of Parties Cases


Rep. Harold Dutton of Houston today filed HB 64, a bill to abolish the death 
penalty in Texas.

Rep. Dutton also filed HB 147, a bill to prohibit the death penalty for people 
convicted under the law of parties. Jeff Wood received a stay of execution in 
August 2016 after many legislators expressed support by writing clemency 
letters to Gov. Greg Abbott. Wood received a stay of execution from the Texas 
Court of Criminal Appeals pending further review.

Rep Dutton first filed a bill to abolish the death penalty in 2003, which was 
the 1st abolition bill filed in the Texas Legislature in a long time up to that 
year. Everyone opposed to the death penalty should thank Rep Dutton for his 
leading role in the effort in the Texas Legislature to end the death penalty.

It was an exciting day back in 2003 when Dutton's abolition bill was heard in 
the House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. That was the 1st time an abolition 
bill was heard in a Texas legislative committee in the modern era, and maybe 
ever.

In 2017, we will hold another lobby day to abolish the death penalty. In 2015, 
during the Texas Lobby Day to Abolish the Death Penalty, we went with two death 
row exonerees, Ron Keine and Sabrina Butler of Witness to Innocence, and met 
with State Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr to ask him to file a bill in the senate to 
abolish the death penalty, which he filed 2 weeks later. It was the 1st-time 
ever a bill to completely abolish the death penalty had been filed in the Texas 
Senate.

(source: Texas Moratorium Network)






GEORGIA----impending execution//volunteer

The Latest: State: Inmate Should Be Asked If He Wants Appeal


Lawyers for the state of Georgia say a death row inmate set for execution this 
week should be asked whether he wants an appeal filed on his behalf.

Steven Frederick Spears is set to be put to death Wednesday. He was convicted 
in the August 2001 slaying of his ex-girlfriend Sherri Holland at her home in 
Dahlonega, about 65 miles northeast of Atlanta.

A lawyer on Monday filed a "next friend" petition on behalf of his ex-wife, 
saying that Spears hasn't pursued post-conviction legal options to fight his 
execution because he's mentally ill. The petition asks a judge to set a hearing 
to consider problems during his trial and sentencing.

In a filing Tuesday, the state asked the judge to ask Spears whether he wants 
the petition to go forward. They also ask that an expert examine him by 
Wednesday "in an abundance of caution" since his competency has been 
challenged.

(source: Associated Press)






ARKANSAS----new death sentence

Jury Sentences Mauricio Torres to the Death Penalty


The jury that found Mauricio Torres guilty of capital murder have sentenced him 
to the death penalty.

On Monday, a jury found Torres guilty of murdering his 6-year-old son Isaiah 
Torres. Isaiah Torres died on March 30, 2015. Police said Isaiah Torres died as 
a result of severe child abuse.

The defense said Mauricio Torres didn't knowingly cause his son's death, so he 
didn't deserve capital punishment.

Isaiah Torres' mother, Cathy Torres, also faces a capital murder charge and is 
set to go on trial at a later date.

(source: nwahomepage.com)






NEBRASKA:

Low IQ score won't save Nikko Jenkins from death penalty


Maybe it was because he would have to go along with being called intellectually 
disabled in scientific terms - dumb in slang terms.

Maybe it was because it wasn't on his agenda Monday.

Whatever the case, convicted killer Nikko Jenkins wanted no part of his 
attorney's attempts to disqualify him for the death penalty based on his last 
IQ test - a test that saw him score a 69 at age 17.

Such a score meets the standard for what Nebraska law calls "mental 
retardation." And the U.S. Supreme Court has forbidden executions of people who 
suffer from mental retardation.

No matter, Jenkins said.

"I would like to waive this IQ testimony," he said, interrupting his attorney 
during his capital-punishment proceedings. "I'm not portraying that I'm under 
the threshold to procure the death penalty."

Jenkins' attorney, Douglas County Public Defender Tom Riley, pressed on anyway.

"I'm not going to sit here and watch him put a noose around his own neck," 
Riley said. "The overriding aspect we have here is that, whether Mr. Jenkins 
agrees with it or not, he falls under the statute that precludes capital 
punishment (for the learning disabled).

"This (death penalty hearing) should end here and now."

It will last most of the week.

After 4 hours of testimony, District Judge Peter Bataillon rejected the low IQ 
argument. For one, it was an abbreviated test, given to a group of incoming 
prisoners - and not a more thorough, individual IQ test. For another, the 
prison psychologist who administered the test said Jenkins "completed it in an 
extremely rapid manner."

Another factor the judge cited: Jenkins had scored an 84 on an IQ test when he 
was 8. And there were indications, though no substantiation, that he had scored 
a 92 on an IQ test when he was 15.

Ultimately, the judge said he trusted state psychologist Jennifer Cimpl-Bohn's 
review of Jenkins' intellectual abilities, noting that she has spent more than 
40 hours with him over the past few years. She described Jenkins as smart with 
a decent vocabulary - even if he is completely narcissistic.

She attributed his inability to adapt to prison life to a personality disorder, 
not an intellectual deficit.

"Folks with narcissism have an inflated view of themselves," she said. "He 
believes he's smarter than everyone else."

That trait was on full display as the death penalty hearing began Monday. 
Bataillon - along with Judge Terri Harder of western Nebraska and Mark Johnson 
of northeast Nebraska - will decide whether Jenkins should receive the death 
penalty for a spree in which he killed four Omahans in 10 days in 2013: Juan 
Uribe-Pena and Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz on Aug. 11; Curtis Bradford on Aug. 13; and 
Andrea Kruger on Aug. 21.

The 2 judges from outside Omaha were introduced to what???s become known as the 
Nikko show.

4 times, Jenkins demanded to be heard - and began speaking without waiting. 
Such outbursts have become so commonplace that it's easy to forget how rarely 
other defendants speak in court, outside of testifying.

Judge Bataillon politely told Jenkins to wait his turn.

The 30-year-old convict obliged - sort of. At one point, Douglas County 
Attorney Don Kleine told the judge that Cimpl-Bohn, the psychologist, was 
present.

Jenkins perked up. "Where she at?" he said.

Prosecutors have alleged multiple counts of 3 different aggravating 
circumstances that could lead to the death penalty: that Jenkins killed 
multiple people; that he did so to conceal his identity and that he had a 
substantial history of violent behavior.

At one point, Kleine thumbed through court documents as he recited Jenkins' 
lengthy record, including his convictions for carjacking 2 women at age 15.

Kleine: "And he was sentenced to..."

Jenkins: "14 to 15 years."

Earlier, Jenkins called on Kleine to object to the testimony "of a doctor who 
didn't even administer the IQ test." He called her testimony hearsay.

"I'm just confused right now," an agitated Jenkins grumbled to the judge. "My 
understanding is, we weren't going to revisit competency."

"Exhibit A," Riley said. "A perfect example of him not understanding the words 
that he says."

Jenkins has repeatedly stated that his primary desire is to get out of solitary 
confinement - regardless of whether that means he goes to death row. During a 
hearing 2 weeks ago, he asserted that he would get more privileges on death 
row.

Kirk Newring, a former prison psychologist now in private practice, equated 
Jenkins' attitude to suicide by cop, where a suspect with a death wish forces a 
police officer to shoot him.

"This is suicide by state," Newring said. "A person is taking active steps to 
promote their own death. But the instrument is now the state, not himself."

Other court observers have doubted that Jenkins has a death wish. As one law 
enforcement official noted, Jenkins has never expressed any belief that he 
might be executed. Rather, he has made predictions that the U.S. Supreme Court 
will hear his case - and overturn his conviction.

Any appeals seemed years away Monday as the 1st witness testified to some of 
Jenkins' violent behavior.

In December 2009, Tecumseh prison officials came up with an idea to allow 
Jenkins to attend a grandmother's funeral in Omaha in the hopes that it would 
motivate him to behave better in prison.

Luke Morris, a corrections captain, said he and 2 other prison workers drove 
Jenkins to the funeral in central Omaha.

After arriving, Jenkins greeted a few relatives, then asked to use the 
bathroom.

Morris and another prison official escorted Jenkins, who was in leg chains and 
handcuffs, to the restroom. Once inside, they unlocked one of his handcuffs.

After using the bathroom, Jenkins turned around.

"He requested that we let him go," Morris said, "or else his boys would come in 
and it would be a bloodbath."

Morris and a case worker declined. As Jenkins argued, Morris tried to recuff 
his hand. Jenkins resisted - and punched Morris in the mouth.

A struggle ensued, and prison workers regained control of Jenkins.

It was only then that Jenkins started claiming that an Egyptian god, Apophis, 
instructed him to attack the prison officials, prosecutor Nissa Jones noted. 
Likewise, Jenkins often has blamed his crimes on voices from Apophis.

Long before the ill-fated funeral furlough was the ill-fated IQ test. Prison 
officials administer it, along with other tests, to get a read on inmates' 
intelligence and behavior.

Jenkins finished the abbreviated test in about 1/3 of the time it normally 
takes, Cimpl-Bohn said.

Among the words he got right: Talk. Hideous. Pardon.

Among the words he got wrong:

Ignorant.

Pariah.

Doom.

(source: Kearney Hub)