[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 28



TENNESSEE:

Death penalty sought in slaying of Cleveland mother, child


The man accused of shooting to death a Cleveland woman and her 5-year-old son 
in December will face the death penalty if convicted.

Steve Crump, attorney general in the 10th Judicial District, said this morning 
he has filed a notice to seek the death penalty against Ross Anderson.

Friends and family were shocked at the slayings of 30-year-old Rachel Johnson 
and her son, Colton, in their home last year.

Anderson, a former Cleveland firefighter, was arrested in Murfreesboro, Tenn., 
after he knocked on a stranger's door around 4 a.m., telling the homeowner it 
looked like a nice place to stay.

9 hours later, officers in Cleveland found the bodies of the mother and child 
in their home on Hillview Drive NW, according to newspaper archives.

(source: timesfreepress.com)






NEBRASKA:

Omaha Press Club's Noon Forum for September focuses on the death penalty


In May of 2015, the Nebraska Unicameral passed a bill that banned the death 
penalty in the state.

Since then, Nebraskans for the Death Penalty obtained 166,692 signatures to 
place the death penalty issue on the November ballot.

Voters will decide whether or not to keep the ban in place when they head to 
the polls.

September's Omaha Press Club Noon Forum focused on the death penalty and 
featured presentations from Robert Evnen, co-founder of Nebraskans for the 
Death Penalty and Senator Colby Coash, co-chair of Retain a Just Nebraska.

At the end of the forum, the 2 were asked to respond to the argument that 
innocent people have been put to death under the death penalty. Evnen says 
there are no claims that anyone currently on death row in Nebraska is innocent.

"We have to take a look what happens in our state. Then when you look at what's 
happening across the country and you have these examples of others. Well maybe 
there are 156 people that claim to have been exonerated but for 90% of those 
people, it isn't that they were found innocent. It's that a court concluded the 
evidence was not sufficient. That's a lot different than saying, 'We know 
they're innocent'"

Senator Coash had a slightly different take on the issue.

"This happens and it's a risk. Many of us in the legislature have talked about 
it. I've met people who've been on death row, who were close to execution, and 
then DNA exonerated them. Criminal justice is full of people. So it's full of 
fallible humans. And it is that risk that weighed on many of our minds as to 
whether or not this is a punishment we ought to have on our books."

You can hear the Omaha Press Club Noon Forum on the Death Penalty in its 
entirety on Thursday, November 3rd at Noon.

(source: KIOS news)