[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., OHIO, NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 13



FLORIDA:

State to seek death penalty on man accused of killing girlfriend, her 
uncle----2 killed July 7 in Southside mobile home park; suspect arrested in 
Georgia


A man accused of killing his girlfriend and her uncle on the Southside in July 
will face the death penalty if convicted.

Thomas Brown, 34, is charged with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths 
of 59-year-old Robert Massey and 32-year-old Amy Lynn Hatfield, who were found 
in Massey's home.

Detectives say they searched Hatfield's phone and discovered she had recently 
drove to the area, from Pennsylvania with her boyfriend, "T.J." Brown. 
Detectives said they were able to track the rental car the 2 drove down to 
Thomasville, Georgia, through to a GPS tracker. They were able to find Brown at 
a drug treatment facility not far from there and he was arrested and extradited 
to Duval County to face the charges.

At a pretrial hearing Tuesday, prosecutors told the judge they indent to seek 
the death penalty on Brown. The next court date is set for Oct. 11.

(source: WJXTnews)






OHIO:

Death penalty upheld in execution-style killing


The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for a man who was 
convicted of choking his girlfriend to death and a year later killing a man to 
prevent his testimony about the strangulation.

Calvin McKelton, 39, was known in Cincinnati as "C-Murder." He was convicted in 
Butler County of killing Fairfield attorney Margaret "Missy" Allen, who was 
McKelton's girlfriend, and in the 2009 execution-style shooting of Germaine 
"Mick" Evans Sr.

McKelton lived with Allen and her 2 nieces in her Butler County home, and 
prosecutors said he was physically abusive. Her body was found in Schmidt Field 
in Cincinnati's East End in July 2008, several days after she went missing.

According to testimony, Evans saw McKelton strangle Allen and helped cover up 
the crime and dispose of her body. McKelton found out police wanted to talk to 
Evans about Allen's death, and prosecutors connected McKelton to the 
execution-style shooting of Evans in Mount Auburn's Inwood Park in February 
2009.

McKelton was convicted in 2010 in Butler County of charges including murder and 
aggravated murder. He received the death penalty for the killing of a witness 
to prevent testimony.

The state Supreme Court, in a ruling announced Tuesday, upheld the death 
sentence, finding that the evidence showed McKelton was properly convicted of 
murder and that the aggravating circumstances supported the death penalty. 2 
justices, William O'Neill and Paul Pfeifer, said the death sentence should be 
dismissed because McKelton had inadequate representation during the case's 
sentencing phase.

(source: cincinnati.com)






NEBRASKA:

Nebraska death penalty repeal referendum: Here's what's at stake in the 
November 2016 vote


For more than a year, politicians and organizations have lobbied voters for and 
against the death penalty in Nebraska. Capital punishment split Nebraska's 
Republican governor and its conservative state senate over cost and whether it 
is moral.

In 2015, Nebraska's senate - the state is unicameral, meaning there is only one 
legislative body - voted to repeal the death penalty. Some conservative 
legislators argued the death penalty wastes millions of dollars while others 
objected to the government killing its citizens. A recent study said Nebraska 
pays more than $14 million annually for the death penalty.

But Gov. Pete Ricketts disagreed. He argued the death penalty gives families 
justice and vetoed the senate's bill. Nebraskans for the Death Penalty says the 
state estimates there is "minimal" to "no" cost for capital punishment. But in 
May 2015, the Republican legislature overrode Ricketts veto.

The battle over whether Nebraskans who commit heinous crimes should be put to 
death will be settled on the ballot in November.

Conservatives vs. Conservatives

Americans are used to Democratic vs. Republican political debates. But raucous 
contests among Republicans are rarer. While 31 states have the death penalty, 
19 states and the District of Columbia do not use capital punishment.

The quirk that makes Nebraska stand out is the state's conservative politics 
linked to an anti-death penalty stance. Bluer states typically oppose capital 
punishment, while red states support death for certain crimes. Nebraska's 
legislature is solidly Republican. The state has gone Republican in every 
presidential election since 1968. But a majority of the votes to repeal 
Nebraska's death penalty came from Republicans.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty and Retain a Just Nebraska, a group opposed to 
the death penalty, say they both have polling showing a majority of Nebraskans 
support their position. In October 2015, 61 % of Americans said they favored 
the death penalty.

A win for anti-death penalty supporters in Nebraska would show conservative 
voters will buy-in to an argument the death penalty is immoral and too 
expensive.

November Decision

The lives of 10 inmates are in the hands of voters this fall in Nebraska. Those 
prisoners, previously on death row, were given lifetime prison sentences when 
the senate overruled Gov. Ricketts.

Nebraska has not executed anyone since 1997 and there have only been 3 
executions in the state's history, according to a report commissioned by death 
penalty opponents. The report added that only 2 % of convicted murderers were 
sentenced to the death penalty.

For Nebraska voters, a vote this November to "repeal" would reinstate the death 
penalty in Nebraska because the senate-passed law still stands. A vote to 
"retain" would keep Nebraska death-penalty free.

(source: mic.com)