[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., FLA., KAN., MO., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 2



TEXAS:

British woman on Texas death row should not get new trial, judge says -- Linda 
Carty's lawyers argued that she was denied due process in trial for 2002 
kidnapping and murder of neighbor, but judge found evidence insufficient


A judge has recommended that a British woman on death row in Texas should not 
be granted a new trial, dealing a blow to her hopes of avoiding execution.

David Garner made his decision on Thursday after listening to closing arguments 
on Monday at the end of a hearing in which Linda Carty's defence team argued 
that she was denied due process at trial because prosecutors allowed false 
testimony, failed to disclose evidence and hid the existence of deals with 
witnesses.

Carty was sentenced to death in 2002 for orchestrating the kidnap and murder of 
her neighbour in Houston, Joana Rodriguez, who was found bound and asphyxiated 
in the trunk of a car the previous year. Prosecutors said that after several 
miscarriages, Carty was desperate for a child, wanted to steal Rodriguez's 
newborn baby and recruited 3 men to carry out the plot. The baby survived.

The 57-year-old former teacher and ex-Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) 
informant, who is a British citizen because she was born on the Caribbean 
island of St Kitts when it was under UK rule, has insisted she is innocent.

But Garner, a visiting judge based in nearby Galveston County, recommended that 
her application be denied, finding that the evidence did not show that Texas 
knowingly used perjured testimony, failed to correct untrue testimony or 
presented misleading testimony at trial.

His assessment will be passed to the Texas court of criminal appeals, which 
will review it and decide whether to grant a new trial.

"The judge found that the State did not coerce any witnesses to provide false 
or misleading testimony," Jeff McShan, a spokesman for the Harris County 
district attorney's office, said in a statement. "The court of criminal appeals 
will review the case and make a final determination on Carty's writ."

Garner did determine that the state withheld or failed to disclose witness 
statements and information that could have helped Carty's cause - known as 
Brady violations - but concluded it was unlikely that this would have made a 
difference to the jury's decisions. He ruled that it is up to the appeals court 
to decide whether he can make a judgment on the significance of an alleged deal 
between the state and a witness.

Carty has lost multiple state and federal appeals, previously contending that 
her counsel was ineffective. Her trial lawyers spent only 2 weeks preparing; 
one, Jerry Guerinot, became infamous for his lack of success when representing 
capital murder clients.

She did not appear at this hearing, which centered on the alleged lengths that 
prosecutors in a county dubbed "America's death penalty capital" went to in 
order to secure a death sentence for a high-profile and particularly egregious 
killing.

Connie Spence and Craig Goodhart, 2 trial prosecutors who still work for Harris 
County, were accused during the hearing in Houston of "gamesmanship" and a 
"pervasive ends justify the means attitude" by Michael Goldberg, one of Carty's 
attorneys.

He claimed that prosecutors cherry-picked questionable evidence to fit their 
narrative and withheld information from Carty's trial attorneys, resulting in a 
distorted picture that persuaded a jury to convict Carty of capital murder.

The judge was also told by Carty's lawyers that prosecutors had destroyed 
documents and emails that might have helped her cause.

Charles Mathis, a former DEA agent, testified that Spence threatened to invent 
a story about him having had an affair with Carty in order to blackmail him 
into testifying against her.

Carty's alleged accomplices avoided the death penalty. One, Chris Robinson, 
claimed in a 2014 affidavit that he was told to testify that he saw Carty put a 
bag over Rodriguez's head, which he said was untrue.

"Spence and Goodhart had a version of events in their minds and they were 
alternating between coaching me and threatening me to get me to say their 
version," he said.

Spence and Goodhart appeared at the hearing and denied misconduct, with Spence 
rejecting Mathis's claim, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Judge Garner made it clear in his findings that he was not persuaded by 
Mathis's testimony or Robinson's affidavit.

Joshua Reiss, an assistant district attorney, conceded Monday that standards 
are now different regarding the ways prosecutors provide information to defence 
attorneys. "There are things that went on in the trial that today might 
honestly make us wince a little bit," he said. "[But] that was the law [at the 
time]."

Goldberg disagreed. "The state's basic theory was that they could hide what 
they wanted because that was the norm back in 2002, but the reality is the 
constitutional requirements have never changed," he told the Guardian after the 
hearing. The judge concurred, writing that prosecutors at the time operated 
under a misunderstanding of the law, deciding whether to turn over certain 
evidence based on "gut instinct" and "judgment call".

The scrutiny of Carty's case and unusual decision to hold a hearing into the 
misconduct claims comes at a testing time for the death penalty even in Texas, 
which carries out the punishment more than any other US state.

15 people have been executed in the US this year; 6 in Texas, which is the only 
state with executions scheduled in the remainder of 2016, according to the 
Death Penalty Information Center.

Though Texas has not endured the botched executions and difficulties sourcing 
lethal injection drugs that have paralysed the process in other states, it has 
not put anyone to death since 6 April - an unusually long gap caused by 
multiple stays granted by the appeals court, which seems to have become more 
willing in recent months to give inmates extended opportunities to push for the 
re-examination of their cases.

(source: The Guardian)

*****

Death row Briton Linda Carty loses latest appeal


A Texas court has dismissed the latest appeal by a British grandmother against 
her death sentence in America.

Linda Carty has been on death row since 2002 after she was convicted and 
condemned for the murder of her neighbour, Joana Rodriguez, and the abduction 
of Ms Rodriguez's 4-day-old son the year before.

The 57-year-old was previously granted the chance for her case to be reviewed 
after lawyers claimed to have unearthed new evidence, saying prosecutors 
coerced witnesses into giving false evidence at her trial.

But a district court judge dismissed her appeal that they engaged in misconduct 
or hid information which may have changed the outcome of the trial.

Responding to the decision, minister for the Americas Sir Alan Duncan said: "I 
am disappointed by the decision to dismiss Linda Carty's latest appeal. The 
British Government is deeply opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

"We have long held concerns about the handling of Ms Carty's case and will 
continue to raise these with the relevant authorities. We will continue to 
provide assistance to Ms Carty and her family."

Carty, from the British Virgin Islands, had lived in Houston for nearly 20 
years.

(source: bt.com)

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

LaHood defends decision to seek death penalty against Avalos, will keep open 
mind


The trial against a San Antonio man accused of killing multiple women last year 
will move forward as a death penalty case, for now. That decision is a story we 
broke last week.

"It's a matter of justice," Bexar County District Attorney Nico LaHood says.

By the time 29-year-old Celia Lopez's body was found in a field, her accused 
killer was already sitting in the Bexar County Jail. Johnny Avalos was there 
because police say he sexually assaulted and strangled 15-year-old Natalie 
Chavez. San Antonio police say he also killed 45-year-old Genevieve Ramirez, 
and is considered a person of interest in the murder of 27-year-old Rosemary 
Perez.

On just the Natalie Chavez charges alone, LaHood says his office will seek the 
death penalty, "At this point we're moving forward with death."

Chavez's dad told us this last September about the prospect of the death 
penalty, "The lethal injection would be good but for what? I'd rather him get a 
life sentence."

In an exclusive interview with Lopez's mom, who's serving 15 years on a heroin 
charge in Gatesville, said the death penalty would let Avalos off too easy, 
"Having been incarcerated Most of my adult life, I know what goes on back here. 
And the death penalty is really too good for an individual like that," Maria 
Avila says.

LaHood says it's possible for him to reverse his decision to seek death for 
Avalos, "I'm always open minded to make sure we get it right and seek justice 
in every situation."

He'll weigh the family's wishes, even meet with them if they want, but also 
consider 2 other main factors: future danger he could pose and are there any 
reasons or mitigating evidence why Avalos shouldn't be put to death.

"We'll make that analysis and I'll ultimately reassess it over those 2 issues."

For now, that decision is death.

In December, the trial will be scheduled.

(source: foxsanantonio.com)






VIRGINIA:

Prince William judge: Death penalty possible for man accused of killing wife, 
officer


A Prince William County judge on Thursday said that prosecutors can seek the 
death penalty in the case of Ronald W. Hamilton, the Pentagon 
information-technology specialist accused of fatally shooting his wife at their 
Woodbridge home and then a responding rookie police officer.

Circuit Judge Lon E. Farris denied two requests by Hamilton's attorneys to bar 
a jury from weighing execution as an option in potential sentencing. Hamilton, 
32, dressed in a navy blue blazer and lighter-blue collar shirt and slacks, 
appeared straight-faced as Farris announced his ruling.

Prince William Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert has said he is "likely" to 
ask a jury to impose a death sentence if Hamilton is convicted.

In court, Hamilton attorney Edward J. Ungvarsky, pointedly criticized Prince 
William's longtime prosecutors for seeking the death penalty more frequently 
than the vast majority of other jurisdictions, arguing that Hamilton might be 
executed simply because of the "arbitrary" nature of where the shootings 
happened. If the killings had occurred elsewhere in Virginia or in a different 
state, Ungvarsky contended that his client would likely face - at most - life 
in prison if found guilty. Prince William's high rate of death penalty cases 
compared with the rest of the nation's, he said, violates Hamilton's 
constitutional rights against "cruel and unusual punishment."

James A. Willett, a Prince William County prosecutor who handled the capital 
murder case of Washington sniper John Allen Muhammad, who was convicted and 
executed, fought back against the contention that his office seeks the death 
penalty without careful consideration. Willett also lashed out against 
Ungvarsky's motion labeling Prince William as "one of the few counties 
nationwide that is actively involved in seeking death and executions of its 
citizens."

"It's stunning," Willett said. "It reveals the mind-set of the defendant," he 
said, adding that Ungvarsky's criticisms of his office have "abandoned any 
pretense of objectivity." He pointed at Hamilton and said there was nothing 
"arbitrary" in pursuing the death penalty against someone who "gunned down 2 
people with no justification at all."

"Yes, it is arbitrary," Ungvarsky told the judge.

He then cited a 1998 interview that Ebert, the top prosecutor, gave to the 
Richmond Times-Dispatch saying that he frequently seeks a capital murder charge 
"even if it's questionable as whether or not it fits in that category."

Ungvarsky laced his argument and written motion with numerous statistics: He 
said that despite a downward trend in death sentences in Virginia, Prince 
William leads the commonwealth with the highest number of executions since 1976 
and that it still ranks among the top 2 % of counties - 62 out of more than 
3,100 - that have produced the majority of executions "in the modern death 
penalty era."

A 2013 analysis by the D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center found that 
in Prince William, there were 9 executions of death row inmates between 1976, 
when the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, and 2102.

Farris denied the defense motions but didn't say why.

Under Virginia law, prosecutors can seek capital murder in specific 
circumstances that include the killing of a law enforcement officer, a 
murder-for-hire or the premeditated killings of more than 1 person within 3 
years.

On the night of Feb. 27, Hamilton and his wife, Crystal Hamilton, 29, a 
recovery-care coordinator for wounded and ill Marines, had an argument in their 
Woodbridge home, according to police, family and friends. Crystal was planning 
to go out with friends for dinner, and their 11-year-old son, Tyriq, had just 
returned home from a slumber party and was taking a shower. But Hamilton began 
arguing with his wife, telling her not to go.

After Crystal Hamilton called 911, her husband threw her against a wall and 
shot her while their son was fleeing the house, authorities said.

3 Prince William police officers arrived, including Ashley Guindon, 28, who was 
on her 1st day on the street. When Guindon approached the door to their home, 
Ronald Hamilton fatally shot her with a rifle and wounded the other 2 officers, 
police said. The Hamiltons' son, their only child, had safely reached a 
neighbor's house.

The double slaying prompted an outpouring of support and grief across 
Washington. Thousands of people turned out for a live-streamed memorial service 
for Guindon, who had been sworn in the day before the shooting. Services for 
Crystal were held in her home state of South Carolina and at the Marine 
Memorial Chapel in Quantico.

During an earlier hearing, a sergeant testified that Hamilton confessed to the 
killings after his arrest.

For Hamilton's family, charges that he killed his wife, let alone a police 
officer, generated an excruciating irony. His father, also named Ronald 
Hamilton, served as a former 2nd-in-command of the Charleston, S.C., police 
department before retiring in 2001. The younger Hamilton has claimed, through 
his attorney, that his 2 tours in Iraq psychologically damaged him.

(source: Washington Post)






FLORIDA:

Prosecutors to seek death penalty in David Mariotti case, records show


Prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the 1st-degree murder trial of David 
Mariotti if he's found guilty of killing an elderly Leesburg woman in June, 
Lake County court records show.

Mariotti was jailed in early July, following an investigation into the 
disappearance of Bernadine Montgomery, an 84-year-old woman who lived alone in 
the Palmora Park neighborhood of Leesburg. Police said Mariotti tried to 
convince Montomgery to allow him to help around the house while Tracie Jo 
Naffziger was raiding it.

When Montgomery discovered Naffziger, Mariotti, who police said was high on 
heroin, struggled with the woman before grabbing a piece of rope from the couch 
and suffocating her.

Assistant State Attorney Rich Buxman listed five factors the state believes can 
be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. They are that the crime involved the abuse 
of an elderly person resulting in great bodily harm, that the felony was 
committed to avoid arrest, it was committed for financial gain, was especially 
heinous and the victim was vulnerable because of age or disability, records 
show.

New information released in discovery says Mariotti told a man that he did 
something that could send him away for life, and told another "Don't ask me no 
questions, I'll tell you no lies."

In the days that followed Montgomery's slaying, Mariotti and Naffziger hid the 
woman's body on the couch beneath blankets and pillows while they used her 
credit cards at various local restaurants and convenience stores and pawned a 
few of her items.

Using the name of Tyler Everett Mason, a current state prisoner, Mariotti 
received $100 for a set of cuff links and a pendant with a large stone. He also 
pawned a set of antique silverware in a decorative box for $250 and a silver 
flatware set for $225, records show.

Last week, Mariotti was charged in connection with drug-smuggling ring that 
sheriff's officials allege smuggled narcotics into the Lake County Jail. He was 
hit with charges of illegal use of a 2-way communication device as well as 
conspiracy to introduce contraband into a county detention center.

(source: Orlando Sentinel)






KANSAS:

Man charged with capital murder after body of Overland Park woman is found ---- 
Overland Park police continued their investigation near Indian Creek Parkway 
and Bluejacket Drive Thursday morning in the death of Julianna Pappas, an 
Overland Park woman whose body was found in that area late Wednesday.


The Johnson County district attorney's office has charged a 22-year-old man 
with capital murder and rape less than a day after he was taken into custody in 
connection to the disappearance of an Overland Park woman.

Korrey Raine White Rinke of Ottawa, Kan., was charged Thursday in the killing 
of Julianna Pappas.

Rinke made his 1st appearance Thursday afternoon in Johnson County District 
Court.

Because the capital murder charge carries a possible death sentence, an 
attorney from the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit was appointed to represent 
Rinke.

Rinke's next court appearance was set for Wednesday.

The body of 46-year-old Pappas, who was last seen Aug. 22, was found late 
Wednesday in a wooded area south of 115th Street, between Switzer Road and 
Indian Creek Parkway. Police say Rinke killed Pappas on or around Aug. 22 after 
assaulting her. Court documents do not say how she was killed.

Rinke was booked into the jail early Thursday, according to jail records. His 
bond is set at $1 million.

Records show that Rinke is unemployed and has lived in both Iowa and Kansas in 
the past decade. He was born in Iowa.

(source: Kansas City Star)






MISSOURI:

Muckraker Wants Executions Stopped Until He Can Watch


A reporter who exposed questionable execution procedures in Missouri, including 
cash payments to pharmacists and members of the execution team, sued the state 
Wednesday for refusing his request to witness executions.

Christopher McDaniel sued Missouri Department of Corrections Director George 
Lombardi in Federal Court, alleging due process violations.

McDaniel wants an injunction to stop executions in Missouri until its process 
for selecting witnesses for executions meets constitutional requirements of due 
process.

2 years and 8 months ago, McDaniel applied to the Department of Corrections to 
witness an execution. He's still waiting for a response.

McDaniel is a death penalty reporter for BuzzFeed News and a former reporter 
for St. Louis Public Radio.

The state's refusal to reply to his January 2014 application "effectively 
den(ied) him the opportunity to witness any of the 17 executions that the state 
has carried out since he submitted his application," his attorneys with the 
ACLU of Missouri said in a statement.

ACLU of Missouri legal director Tony Rothert added: "The Missouri Department of 
Corrections has shown a disturbing pattern of behavior that's been keeping the 
public from knowing about its unsavory and possibly illegal practices related 
to the death penalty."

Rothert is McDaniel's lead attorney. He says in the 7-page lawsuit that 
McDaniel's reporting "shone an unfavorable light" on Missouri and its 
officials.

One of McDaniel's stories revealed that Missouri's execution drug supplier was 
not licensed to sell in Missouri.

Another exposed Missouri's practice of injecting inmates with dangerous levels 
of a sedative before ushering in witnesses to an execution.

His Jan. 28 story this year "showed that high-ranking Department of Corrections 
officials have handed out more than $250,000 in cash stuffed in envelopes to 
pharmacists and members of the execution team, likely in violation of federal 
tax law," according to the complaint.

Missouri law allows the Department of Corrections director to select and invite 
at least 8 "reputable citizens" to be present at an execution. It allows the 
director "unfettered discretion to determine who is, or is not, permitted to 
witness an execution," according to the lawsuit.

"The Department of Corrections maintains no policy governing how the director 
decides whether to grant or deny requests to witness an execution by members of 
the public or media, leaving the decision of who is a reputable citizen and who 
among those qualified should be selected to the discretion of the director," 
the complaint states.

McDaniel and Rothert say a question on the witness application allows the 
department of prisons to discriminate against anyone who opposes the death 
penalty, by asking: "Are you, or have you ever been, a member of any group or 
organization opposed to, or in support of, the death penalty?"

This provides a perfect "opportunity for discrimination based on viewpoint or 
retaliation for First Amendment protected activity," the complaint states.

It gives the prisons director "unbridled discretion to deny an adult citizen 
the benefit of serving as an execution witness based on the individual's 
viewpoint, expressive or press activity, or membership in a church or other 
organization."

It also violates the due process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, McDaniel 
says.

The Department of Corrections did not respond to an emailed request for 
comment.

McDaniel seeks a permanent injunction barring the prison director from inviting 
anyone other than the Missouri attorney general as an execution witness until 
the Department of Corrections establishes a policy for selection that does not 
violate due process.

"Execution witnesses are an important check to ensure the department does not 
abuse its power," Rothert said. "That check does not work when the department 
can choose to exclude anyone critical of its behavior."

(source: Courthouse News)


NEBRASKA:

Nebraska needs death penalty


To the editor:

Let's analyze the death penalty for its positive benefits.

Earlier, prior to recent assaults on penitentiary guards, a public conversation 
in a local business regarded the elimination of the death penalty. One man 
said, "I feel sorry for the guards." "What?" He stated that getting rid of the 
death penalty makes the guards a target; and inmates will say, "What are you 
going to do, give me life in prison? I already have that."

It's not only the guards. "No penalty" also places other inmates at higher 
risk.

Life in prison: Free room, free meals, free health care, free recreation, at 
least some free education. Without the death penalty, nothing much to lose. And 
so far, inmates sentenced to life are still eligible for parole/release.

What does one do with the serial killer? Or the unrepentant, already-confined 
killer who remains a risk to those around him? How much money is the state 
going to save when sued for failure to provide any ramifications whatsoever for 
the deaths or serious injuries of prison guards and inmates? Further, who wants 
to work in a position so undervalued that your life can be taken with 
absolutely no risk to the perpetrator?

Fear of wrongfully putting people to death can better be addressed by changing 
other laws, perhaps only allowing external/originating death penalties in 
heinous crimes based on actual physical evidence.

The financial aspect can also be addressed by law changes. If the ultimate goal 
is saving tax dollars, review and amend the appeal process itself.

Fear of the death penalty is supposed to inhibit the likelihood of murder in 
our communities and further murders by incarcerated inmate killers. We may need 
to enact laws to limit when the penalty is applied, but eliminating it entirely 
invites anarchy. We need the death penalty.

Anita Zavadil--Columbus

(source: Letter to the Editor, Columbus Telegram)