[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., FLA., IND., NEB., UTAH, ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 9



NORTH CAROLINA:

Top lawmakers demand NC resume carrying out executions



2 days after prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty against 4 
inmates charged in a failed escape at Pasquotank Correctional Institution that 
left 4 prison workers dead, legislative leaders called Friday for executions to 
resume in North Carolina.

No one has been put to death in North Carolina since 2006 because of a raft of 
legal challenges, from the since-repealed Racial Justice Act to physicians not 
wanting to participate in executions to questions over how the death penalty is 
carried out. Access to drugs used in lethal-injection executions also could 
become a problem, as it has in other states.

"In light of the prosecutor's decision to pursue the death penalty, Governor 
Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein need to make certain, should a jury 
sentence these men to death, that those sentences are carried out," House 
Speaker Tim Moore said in a statement.

"For over a decade, death penalty opponents like Roy Cooper and Josh Stein have 
imposed a de facto moratorium on capital punishment in North Carolina, using 
every legal trick possible - including inaction - to delay death sentences 
handed down by juries and deny justice to victims," Senate President Pro Tem 
Phil Berger said in a statement. "No matter what they say, Cooper's and Stein's 
indifference and failure to fight the moratorium endangers the lives of prison 
employees in close proximity to hardened murderers with nothing left to lose, 
who see no possibility they will face execution for killing again."

Cooper consistently backed the death penalty during his 16 years as attorney 
general, and spokeswoman Noelle Talley said he still does.

"Legal challenges halted capital punishment in North Carolina, and only the 
courts can restart it," Talley said in an email. "Capital punishment remains 
the law of the state, and Governor Cooper has a long history of upholding it."

Likewise, Stein plans to "uphold the law in North Carolina," spokeswoman Laura 
Brewer said in an email.

There are 143 inmates on death row, including a Davidson County man who has 
been there for 31 years.

(source: WRAL news)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

Prosecutor wants execution drug law 14 years after ambush



For the death penalty to mean anything in South Carolina, the killer who 
ambushed and killed 2 law officers in South Carolina in 2003 needs to be 
executed when his appeals run out, said the prosecutor whose office handled the 
case.

Solicitor David Stumbo said South Carolina's lack of drugs to carry out 
executions is changing the way fellow prosecutors do their jobs, adding another 
hurdle as he and families consider whether to seek the death penalty in murder 
cases.

Stumbo spoke Friday at a ceremony marking 14 years since Abbeville County 
Sheriff's Deputy Danny Wilson and state constable Donnie Ouzts were killed by a 
family angry over a highway widening project outside their Abbeville home.

Steven Bixby and his parents were charged with murder. They have died, but 
Bixby, 50, remains on death row after being convicted.

"If we are to have the death penalty in South Carolina, which the vast majority 
of our citizens are in favor of, it has to mean something," Stumbo said in a 
statement.

Executions in South Carolina are on hold because the state does not have the 
drugs needed for lethal injection. State prison officials want a law passed 
allowing the companies who provide the drugs to remain secret so they can sell 
the needed drugs without facing scrutiny.

Dozens of people packed a room at the Abbeville County Sheriff's Office on 
Friday to remember Wilson and Ouzts.

Wilson went to the Bixby home on Dec. 8, 2003, to speak to the family after 
they picked up survey stakes and threatened workers on the widening project for 
state Highway 72 that would have taken about 20 feet (6 meters) of their land.

Bixby shot Wilson through the door as he approached, dragged him inside, 
handcuffed him with his own handcuffs and left him to die, prosecutors said.

Ouzts was shot about 20 minutes later as he came to check on Wilson after 
dispatchers hadn't heard from him.

Over the next 14 hours, Steven Bixby and his father hid in their home and fire 
hundreds of rounds at officers, including several who managed to drag a 
mortally wounded Ouzts to an ambulance. No other officers were injured, a 
result that then State Law Enforcement Division Chief Robert Stewart called a 
miracle.

The Bixby house is still standing, decrepit and full of bullet holes. But a 
local businessman has bought the property and is talking to the county about 
clearing the land for a memorial, Abbeville County Sheriff Ray Watson said.

"We wanted to burn it. Like I wish we would have done that night when the 
propane tank caught on fire," Watson said. "We're going to tear it down ... and 
we want to put some kind of memorial up."

(source: Associated Press)








FLORIDA:

Man convicted of killing 2 people in 2008 resentenced to death



A 63-year-old man convicted of killing 2 people with a hammer in 2008 is going 
back on Florida's death row.

Citing inadequate legal representation, the Florida Supreme Court last year 
ordered Raymond Bright re-sentenced and the chance to avoid the death penalty 
for the murders of Derrick King and Randall Brown.

Prosecutors said the victims were killed what during a drug-related dispute.

In part, the Supreme Court described Bright's "nightmarish childhood," which 
included significant abuse, and said such issues were not adequately raised 
during the original sentencing to try to spare Bright from the death penalty.

"The jury never learned who Raymond Bright is," the Supreme Court opinion said. 
"Therefore, competent, substantial evidence supports the findings of the 
post-conviction court that Bright was prejudiced by the deficient performance 
of his penalty phase counsel."

But after a sentencing hearing in the Duval County Courthouse Friday morning, 
Judge Russell Healey re-sentenced Brown to two death sentences. He will be 
returned to the Florida Department of Corrections.

(source: news4jax.com)








INDIANA:

Death-penalty trial likely to be rescheduled



The trial for a Fort Wayne man facing the death penalty in the slayings of 4 
people -- 1 of them his unborn child -- will likely be pushed back.

Prosecutors and a lawyer for Marcus Dansby told Allen Superior Judge Fran Gull 
on Friday that depositions and other documents still must be gathered. The 
trial had been set to start Feb. 21, and a new trial date has not been set.

Gull set a pretrial conference for Jan. 12.

Dansby, who was in court Friday morning, is charged with killing Traeven 
Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 18, and her unborn 
child, which was later determined to be his. Trinity Hairston suffered gunshot 
and stab wounds but survived.

The killings happened in a home on Holton Avenue on the morning of Sept. 11, 
2016.

According to court documents, a man inside the house woke up to the sound of 
gunshots around 4 a.m. He called police and went upstairs to find Dansby, 
covered in blood, placing something that looked like a sheet over Consuela 
Arrington, investigators said. Dajahiona Arrington was 8 1/2 months pregnant at 
the time and was shot in the head.

Police at the scene found a knife and a gun, each covered in blood.

Dansby is charged with 4 counts of murder and 1 count of attempted murder. 
Prosecutors in January filed paperwork to seek the death penalty.

(source: The Journal Gazette)








NEBRASKA:

Omaha attorney signs on to help fight Jose Sandoval's execution



An Omaha attorney will represent condemned killer Jose Sandoval in his bid to 
fight the state's attempt to execute him via lethal injection.

Attorney Stu Dornan filed a motion in Madison County District Court this week 
arguing that Sandoval, 38, should be resentenced to life in prison or have 
another capital sentencing hearing.

? The Legislature repealed the death penalty in May 2015, then nullified the 
governor's veto of the bill (LB268) with another vote. The repeal, Dornan said, 
went into effect Aug. 30 before it was suspended again because of an initiative 
referendum vote.

"Mr. Sandoval is subject to a uniquely cruel and unprecedented form of 
psychological suffering through alternating periods of relief and terror as he 
has been told that his life would be spared, and then told again that he would 
be executed," the motion said.

That raises constitutional issues that must be addressed, Dornan said Friday. 
It's possibly the 1st time that something like this has happened.

Among other issues, the motion argues the repeal of the Legislature's bill was 
unconstitutional because it imposed a new death sentence on condemned inmates 
without an additional court hearing or trial.

Madison County Attorney Joe Smith, who prosecuted Sandoval, Erick Vela, Jorge 
Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez for killing five people at a Norfolk bank in 
2002, said it was his view the death penalty repeal never went into effect, and 
so there was never a lapse in the death sentences. That's what he would argue, 
he said.

Attorney General Doug Peterson declined to comment Friday on the Sandoval 
motion. Both he and Solicitor General James Smith have filed with the court as 
attorneys to represent the state in the case.

No request to the Nebraska Supreme Court for an execution warrant for Sandoval 
has been made, but Corrections Director Scott Frakes served notice to Sandoval 
of the lethal injection drugs that would be administered to cause his death if 
an execution takes place. The combination of drugs chosen has never been used 
in an execution.

Medical research highlights the psychological and emotional pain felt by those 
who face impending death, and how that anxiety is aggravated when uncertainty 
does not allow a person to prepare adequately. The motion compared it to a form 
of torture.

"The state has ping-ponged Mr. Sandoval from death to life and to death again," 
the motion said. "His individual fate became hostage to an ongoing political 
contest between the Legislature, the governor and the voters."

Sandoval has been in prison since 2003, sentenced for 14 crimes, including 5 
death sentences for murders of 5 men and women in a U.S. Bank branch in 
Norfolk, and 2 life sentences for murders of 2 other men in Madison County.

Dornan took on Sandoval's case after he was asked by ACLU of Nebraska to file 
the motion in Madison County. He also agreed to a different request to accept 
an appointment in federal court as the local attorney for any lawsuits or 
appeals that would be filed there.

As the previous Douglas County Attorney, Dornan has prosecuted cases that 
sought the death penalty. He has represented people in capital cases, but has 
not represented a condemned prisoner fighting execution, he said.

The death penalty is important to all Nebraskans, Dornan said.

"I believe there is no higher calling for a lawyer than to represent an 
indigent person on an important question of constitutional law, especially when 
the stakes are as high as they are in death penalty cases," he said.

In the motion, Dornan said those who led the execution reinstatement petition 
drive went beyond campaigning for the state to keep the death penalty, by 
focusing on the execution of Sandoval, and others on death row.

Television advertisements showed pictures of the men and described their crimes 
while ominous music played in the background, the motion said. An ad linked to 
the Nebraskans for the Death Penalty website opened with a photo of Sandoval 
and talked about how the men on death row terrified communities and devastated 
families, and how the death penalty protects the public, acts as a strong 
deterrent and gives justice to families.

Dornan said other lawsuits on behalf of death row inmates are pending, 
including ACLU litigation regarding the legality of the ballot initiative, a 
separation of powers issue involving Gov. Pete Ricketts, and the secrecy of 
lethal injection drug suppliers.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)



UTAH:

Suspected Golden Killer Could Face Death Penalty In Utah----Austin Boutain told 
judge 'My wife is innocent,' during a procedural hearing Friday. The couple are 
suspects in a Golden homicide.



A man accused of killing University of Utah student with a weapon stolen from a 
slain Golden, Colorado man wants a judge to let his wife go.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Austin Boutain asked for permission to speak 
during a procedural hearing Friday and said, "My wife is innocent. Please let 
her go." He then said he would give his life for hers.

His wife Kathleen Boutain isn't charged with murder but faces other related 
charges because prosecutors say she helped hatch the deadly carjacking plot 
that led to the death of Chenwei Guo on Oct. 30 in Salt Lake City. She didn't 
make any comments in her brief court appearance Friday.

Austin Boutain, an ex-convict, could face the death penalty because he's 
charged with aggravated murder.

(source: Associated Press)








ARIZONA:

Juan Martinez Will Seek Death Penalty in Serial Street Shooter Case



Maricopa County prosecutor Juan Martinez has another high-profile capital 
murder case, and suspected Serial Street Shooter Aaron Saucedo got an early 
Christmas present of his own.

He's now facing the death penalty.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office filed notice before yesterday's deadline 
that it will seek the death penalty for Saucedo. If convicted he would become 
tied as the most prolific serial killer in Arizona history.

The Maryvale Shooter, as the killer was popularly known as his rampage of 
drive-by shootings in that neighborhood escalated in summer 2016, is believed 
to have killed nine people in a dozen shootings.

Convicted Baseline Killer Marc Goudeau also killed 9 people a decade ago.

Martinez, made famous by the Jodi Arias spectacle, did not articulate in court 
documents the rationale for seeking the death penalty for Saucedo.

Saucedo is accused of these shooting deaths in Phoenix:

August 16, 2015: Raul Romero, his mother's boyfriend, in the gravel parking lot 
of his house at 920 East Montebello Avenue.

January 1, 2016: Jesse Olivias, 22, shot dead just after midnight. This was the 
1st of the apparently "random" killings.

April 1: Diego Verdugo-Sanchez, 21.

April 19: Krystal Annette White, a 55-year-old prostitute turning tricks to 
raise money for her daughter's wedding, at 500 North 32nd Street.

June 3: Horacio de Jesus Pena, 32, killed outside his house at 6700 West Flower 
Street.

June 10: Manuel Castro Garcia, 19, shot to death outside his house, near 6500 
West Coronado Road.

June 12: Stefanie Ellis, 33, and her 12-year-old daughter, Maleah, shot to 
death outside their home near 6300 West Berkley Road. Friend Angela Linner, 31, 
shot and later died.

Records released to date show that police have built their case on similarities 
between bullet fragments and shell casings found at the scene of the crimes and 
the guns Saucedo had at the time. There are also similarities with bullet 
casings found in cars he was driving at the time.

(source: Phoenix New Times)








CALIFORNIA----new female death sentene

Woman who murdered spouse for insurance sentenced to death



A death sentence was handed down for a Moreno Valley woman who fatally shot her 
56-year-old husband to collect more than $1 million in life insurance proceeds.

A Riverside jury in August convicted 62-year-old Lorraine Alison Hunter of 
murdering Albert Thomas in 2009 and ultimately recommended that she receive 
capital punishment for the slaying.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mac Fisher agreed with the jury's 
recommendation, rejecting a defense plea for Hunter's sentence to be reduced to 
life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Along with 1st-degree murder, jurors in her 2-month trial found true special 
circumstance allegations of lying in wait and killing for financial gain.

The prosecution's key witness was Hunter's now-23-year-old daughter, Briuana 
Lashanae Hunter, who confessed to plotting with her mother to kill Thomas.

Briuana Hunter pleaded guilty last year to 3 counts of attempted murder and 1 
count of voluntary manslaughter. She's slated to be sentenced Wednesday to 18 
years, 9 months in state prison.

The young woman, who's being held without bail at the Indio Jail, testified 
that her stepfather was a "calm, quiet person,'' who was "never overly 
aggressive'' in the 7 years that she and her mother lived with him in Moreno 
Valley.

The witness stated that he held down 2 jobs -- 1 as a short-haul trucker and 
another as a clerk at a Moreno Valley Auto Zone.

According to Hunter, her mother frequently argued with Thomas about not having 
enough money to spend. Deputy District Attorney Will Robinson described the 
elder Hunter as "money hungry'' and not interested in holding down a job to 
contribute to the household.

Briuana Hunter said she aided her mother in filling out at least three life 
insurance applications, naming her stepfather as the insured party and Lorraine 
Hunter as the principal beneficiary. The woman forged Thomas' name on each 
application.

Hunter took out a $750,000 policy, as well as a $10,000 policy, Robinson said. 
A 3rd policy apparently lapsed before Thomas was killed.

Thomas additionally had a $450,000 policy through the trucking company for 
which he worked, according to court papers.

In the 2 months before he was killed, Lorraine Hunter planned to shoot Thomas 3 
other times -- twice on walks through their neighborhood in the area of Day 
Street and Eucalyptus Avenue, and another time outside the victim's workplace 
-- but each time the presence of too many witnesses foiled the plots.

Briuana Hunter admitted being there on each occasion, knowing beforehand what 
her mother had planned.

On the evening of Nov. 3, 2009, Thomas and the defendants left their apartment 
and strolled to his big rig, where he wanted to grab a sweatshirt that he had 
bought for his then-15-year-old stepdaughter, according to trial testimony.

The 3 of them climbed into his truck, and Thomas ducked into the rear sleeper 
compartment to find the shirt, while Hunter and her daughter sat in the front 
seat.

Robinson said Lorraine Hunter pulled a small-caliber handgun she'd stolen from 
a member of her church and shot the victim point-blank in the back of the head 
twice, then shot him twice in the upper back as he knelt in the compartment. 
Sheriff's deputies found him dead in a kneeling position.

Hunter and her daughter fled the scene with the help of a relative, and the 
case went cold for 2 years, until the same relative confessed everything she 
knew to investigators after being arrested herself for an unrelated offense.

Robinson theorized during Hunter's penalty trial that she was a sociopath with 
blood on her hands when she married Thomas.

The prosecutor argued to jurors that she had masterminded, and probably carried 
out, the slaying of her previous husband, Allen Brown, who was gunned down in 
what appeared to be a random act of violence in Inglewood in 1996. The 
circumstances were eerily similar to Thomas' death, with Brown shot in the 
back, and like Thomas, the victim was a truck driver.

No charges were ever filed in the case, which remains officially unsolved.

(source: KESQ news)

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

Man could face death penalty in slayings of 4 family members



A Sacramento prosecutor said he will seek the death penalty in the murder case 
against Salvador Vasquez-Oliva, a man who stands accused of killing his wife, 2 
children and niece in their South Land Park home earlier this year.

Vasquez-Oliva was silent as Thien Ho, a Sacramento assistant district attorney 
prosecuting the case, made the announcement Friday morning at the Sacramento 
Superior Court's Lorezo E. Patino Hall of Justice.

"The prosecution will be seeking the death penalty in this case," if Vasquez is 
convicted, Ho said.

Vasquez-Oliva, was almost unrecongizable from his March mug shot during 
Friday's hearing. His hair was longer, combed back to reach the back of his 
neck. He wore glasses and had a greying beard as he stood inside the 
courtroom's holding cell.

Vasquez-Oliva faces 4 counts of murder for the death of his wife, 2 children 
and a niece, all who were found March 23 in their South Land Park home on 35th 
Avenue. Their bodies were found after Sacramento Police Deparment officers were 
asked by a relative to check on the family.

The wife, identified as Angelique Vasquez, 45, was a worker at the state's 
Employement Development Department. Vasquez-Oliva, 56 at the time of the 
incident, also worked at the department, public records show.

The 2 married in June 2002 in San Francisco, according to county records. 
Vasquez-Oliva was arrested the same day his family's bodies were found, near 
the city's Pierce Street and Golden Gate Avenue. The location is not far from 
an apartment on Turk Street where Vasquez-Oliva once lived, online records 
show.

The couple's children were identified as 14-year-old Mia Vasquez, a student at 
Sam Brannan Middle School, and Alvin Vasquez,11, who attended John Cabrillo 
Elementary School and was an avid basketball fan. A niece, 21-year-old Ashley 
Coleman, was also found dead in the home.

A felony complaint filed by prosecutors in the Sacramento Superior Court 
alleges Vasquez and her children were killed with a blunt-force instrument 
sometime on March 22, a day before police arrived to the South Land Park home. 
A knife was used to kill Coleman, the complaint alleges.

"It's a very sad case," attorney Jessica Graves, who stood in for Linda Parisi, 
the defense attorney for the case."There's many issues that still need to be 
resolved and we look forward to using the court process to solve them."

Ho declined to comment on a possible motive in the case.

Vasquez-Oliva is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 26 at 8:30 a.m.

(source: sacbee.com)