[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., OHIO, USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 11



TEXAS----impending execution

Texas man set to die for killing pranksters who told him gravel was crack 
cocaine


A Fort Worth jury sent Christopher Wilkins to death row for killing 2 men he 
admitting shooting over a $20 phony drug deal after Wilkins said he didn't care 
whether he was sentenced to death.

"Look, it is no big deal," Wilkins calmly said from the witness stand at his 
2008 trial.

On Wednesday, more than 11 years after the killings, the 48-year-old Wilkins is 
scheduled to die by lethal injection, pending the outcome of an appeal in the 
U.S. Supreme Court. If the execution goes ahead, it will be the nation's 1st 
this year.

In 2005, after serving time in prison for gun possession, Wilkins drove a 
stolen truck to Fort Worth, where police tied him to several aggravated 
assaults and burglaries. There he befriended 2 men, 40-year-old Willie Freeman 
and 33-year-old Mike Silva, who duped him into paying $20 for a piece of gravel 
he thought was a rock of crack cocaine.

According to court records, Wilkins said he shot Freeman on Oct. 28, 2005, for 
laughing about the scam, then he shot Silva because he was there.

Their bodies were found in a ditch. Wilkins' fingerprints were found in Silva's 
wrecked SUV, and a pentagram matching one of Wilkins' numerous tattoos had been 
carved into the hood.

"When I get wound up, I have a fuse that is short," Wilkins testified. "I don't 
think about what I am doing."

He also admitted that a day earlier he had shot and killed another man, Gilbert 
Vallejo, 47, outside a Fort Worth bar in a dispute over a pay phone, and about 
a week later he used a stolen car to try to run down 2 people because he 
believed 1 of them had taken his sunglasses.

"I know they are bad decisions," Wilkins said of his actions. "I make them 
anyway."

Kevin Rousseau, a Tarrant County assistant district attorney, described Wilkins 
as "a professional criminal. Very violent. He used violence as a means of 
achieve his means on a routine basis."

Wilkins' attorneys have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the execution, 
saying he had poor legal help at trial and during other appeals, and that the 
courts should have authorized money to his current lawyer to support other 
appeals and a clemency petition.

"He has never had a meaningful opportunity at any stage to develop that claim, 
to have any court address it on the merits, or even to have it considered as 
part of a petition for executive clemency," attorney Seth Waxman, told the 
justices in his appeal.

Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, said investigation of 
those arguments "would either be redundant or fruitless," and called the 
appeals a delaying tactic.

30 convicted killers were executed in the U.S. last year, the lowest number 
since the early 1980s. 7 were carried out last year in Texas, the fewest since 
1996, but Wilkins is among 9 Texas inmates already scheduled to die in the 
early months of 2017.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----20

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----538

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

21---------January 11---------------Christoper Wilkins----539

22---------January 25---------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane----540

23---------January 26---------------Terry Edwards---------541

24---------February 2---------------John Ramirez----------542

25---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------543

26---------March 14-----------------James Bigby-----------544

27---------April 12-----------------Paul Storey-----------545

28---------June 28------------------Steven Long-----------546

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Mother, boyfriend now charged in death, dismemberment of Montgomery County teen


A Montgomery County couple acted out a hate-fueled rape and murder fantasy on 
14-year-old Grace Packer, authorities said, charging the girl's mother Sara 
Packer and her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan in a conspiracy to kill her and 
dismember her body.

The information Bucks County prosecutors used to charge Jacob Sullivan came in 
Sullivan's hospital bed confession Saturday as he recovered from a failed 
suicide pact with Packer a week earlier as authorities increased pressure on 
the couple following the discovery of Grace Packer's body near a Luzerne County 
reservoir last year, District Attorney Matthew Weintraub said Sunday.

Weintraub said that although Sullivan's statement cannot be used against 
Packer, investigators have a strong case alleging that she was complicit in the 
plot to kill the girl, who she adopted as a toddler. Packer purchased sedatives 
allegedly used in an attempt to poison her daughter and the bow saw allegedly 
used to remove her limbs, court documents say. She also stored the body for 
three months packed in kitty litter in an attic closet one floor above her 
bedroom, authorities allege.

"Unfortunately, she was just a disposable child to them," Weintraub said.

Packer, 41, of Horsham, is a former caseworker with Northampton County's 
Children and Youth agency, working with children from troubled homes, according 
to court records. She was named in a 2007 lawsuit against the agency along with 
several other case workers which was later dismissed. Packer left the agency at 
some point after her husband David W. Packer was arrested on charges of child 
sex abuse. He pleaded guilty to indecent assault of someone under 13-years-old 
age in 2011.

Packer was arraigned in district court in Newtown, Bucks County, at noon Sunday 
on 17 charges including criminal homicide, rape conspiracy, kidnapping and 
abuse of a corpse.

Sullivan, 44, was charged and arraigned after midnight Sunday. He faces 19 
charges including criminal homicide, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a corpse. He 
could face the death penalty, according to Larry King, a spokesman for the 
Bucks County District Attorney's office.

District Judge Michael Petrucci denied bail for both Sullivan and Packer.

Charging documents say Sullivan told investigators the couple had planned to 
murder the girl for nearly a year before killing her in July.

"We never have to prove motive, but it's certainly helpful," Weintraub said. 
"This is one of the most shocking stunning motives I've ever heard of in my 
career as a prosecutor."

Charging documents describe in gruesome detail Sullivan's admission of the 
rape, killing and cover up. He told investigators he and Sara Packer drove 
Grace Packer in the wee hours of July 8 to a rented Richland Township home. 
There, Sullivan allegedly physically and sexually assaulted Grace Packer while 
her mother watched.

The couple then allegedly drugged Grace Packer and left her bound and gagged in 
a closet of the stiflingly hot attic, expecting her to die. When they returned 
hours later and found her still alive, Sullivan got down on the floor behind 
her and "slowly squeezed the life out of her," charging documents say.

Sara Packer reported her daughter missing several days later. Sullivan told 
investigators they stored Grace Packer's body in kitty litter in the attic 
until October, when, fearing police would discover it, they dismembered it in a 
bathtub and drove north on back roads to a Luzerne County reservoir where they 
dumped the body parts.

"It was a cold blooded crime that was calculated and planned with deadly 
detail," Weintraub said.

Timeline in death of Grace Packer

--July 4: Sara Packer's father, Franklin Pielaet, tells police that Grace 
Packer attended a family picnic in Laurys Station.

--July 8: Jacob Sullivan and Sara Packer drive with Grace Packer from Abington 
Township, Montgomery County, to new home in Richland Township, Bucks County.

--July 11: Sara Packer files missing persons report on Grace Packer with 
Abington Township police

--Sept. 7: Abington Township Detective Pettinato discovers Grace Packer's 
brother is enrolled in Quakertown Community School District, but Grace is not.

--Oct. 11: Pettinato tells Sara Packer that he is going to enter Grace into a 
national database for missing and unidentified persons.

--Oct. 31: Grace Packer's body is found in Bear Creek Township, Luzerne County.

--Nov. 11: Sara Packer charged with child endangerment and obstruction of the 
administration of law.

--Dec. 30: Sullivan and Sara Packer attempt suicide by overdose of pills. Both 
survive.

--Jan. 7: Sullivan admits to several hospital personnel his role in the murder 
of Grace Packer.

--Jan. 8: Sullivan is charged with homicide, rape, kidnapping and abuse of a 
corpse. Sara Packer is charged with homicide, rape conspiracy, kidnapping and 
abuse of corpse.

[source: Bucks County District Attorney's office]

(source: Morning Call)






VIRGINIA----impending execution

Judge declines to halt Virginia inmate's execution


A federal judge has refused to halt the execution of a man convicted of killing 
a family of 4 in Virginia.

Ricky Gray's attorneys had asked U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson for a delay 
to enable him to challenge the state's plan to use lethal injection drugs from 
a secret compounding pharmacy. Gray's attorneys say the state risks "chemically 
torturing" the man.

Hudson ruled Tuesday that Gray failed to show he's likely to win that 
challenge. Gray's execution remains scheduled for Jan. 18. His attorneys can 
appeal Hudson's decision to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Gray was convicted of killing Bryan and Kathryn Harvey and their young 
daughters at their Richmond home on New Year's Day 2006.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO:

Lawyer to address ethics of capital punishment

Jeff Gamso surveys the infliction of capital punishment across the country and 
sees a series of problems.

There are the ethical dilemmas of whether the state can justifiably take a 
convicted offender's life. Questions of innocence still remain in some cases. 
And the logistics of administering lethal drugs have proved difficult.

"We should not be in the business of executing," Mr. Gamso said.

Mr. Gamso, an assistant Cuyahoga County public defender and former defense 
attorney in Toledo, will address the topic at 7 p.m. Thursday. His speech, The 
Death Penalty in Ohio and the Nation: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow, details 
capital punishment's history since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 
1976.

The forum will take place at First Unitarian Church of Toledo, 3205 Glendale 
Ave. Toledoans for Prison Awareness and the American Civil Liberties Union of 
Ohio are hosting the free event.

Mr. Gamso said use of the death penalty, capital prosecutions, and support for 
capital punishment are trending downward.

"When we choose to execute people, it seems to me we're saying something about 
ourselves. When we choose not to execute people, we're also saying something 
about ourselves," Mr. Gamso said.

Capital punishment is not a necessary response for these criminal cases, Mr. 
Gamso said. An alternative sentence of life without parole provides the same 
result in which an inmate dies in prison, he said.

On California's death row, more people die from natural causes and suicides 
than executions, he said.

Permitting capital punishment shows a society that outlaws premeditated killing 
but does so itself, Mr. Gamso said.

"I think that's something we need to think about as a state, because it's done 
in our names, after all," he said.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction lists 32 inmates scheduled 
for execution through 2021, including 7 Lucas County cases. Ohio has executed 
393 convicted murderers in its history.

(source: Toledo Blade)






USA:

What's next for Dylann Roof?

Dylann Roof will be formally sentenced Wednesday after jurors recommended the 
death penalty for killing 9 people in a 2015 massacre at a historically black 
church in Charleston.

Roof will become the 1st federal hate crime defendant to be sentenced to death, 
a Justice Department spokesman said.

US District Judge Richard M. Gergel, who has presided over the trial, will hold 
the formal sentencing Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Roof, who had chosen to represent himself during the penalty phase, has told 
the judge he wants to file a motion for new lawyers. Gergel said Roof can argue 
that on Wednesday but the judge is not inclined to let that happen.

The avowed white supremacist was convicted last month of federal murder and 
hate crimes charges. During the penalty phase, he cast his defense attorneys 
aside, telling jurors that he chose to represent himself to "prevent my lawyers 
from misrepresentation."

On Tuesday, he expressed no remorse during his closing argument. Roof 
reiterated that he had no choice but to kill 9 people at the Emanuel African 
Methodist Episcopal Church in June 2015.

"I felt like I had to do it, and I still do feel like I had to do it," he said.

His statement followed the prosecutor's impassioned, 2-hour argument. Assistant 
US Attorney Jay Richardson reminded jurors that Roof sat with the church 
members for 40 minutes before opening fire. He pulled the trigger "more than 75 
times ... reloading 7 times" as he stood over his victims, shooting them 
repeatedly, Richardson said.

Jurors had the option to recommend life in prison without the possibility of 
parole, but the 10 women and 2 men delivered a unanimous vote for the death 
penalty.

Yet, the jury's recommendation and the sentencing phase may not mean the end 
for the case.

Case could go on for 'very long time'

Death penalty cases are notorious for their complexity, often spending years in 
appeals and processes.

A group of defense attorneys and others who worked on Roof's behalf issued a 
statement, saying the death penalty decision means the case will not be over 
for a "very long time."

A former prosecutor in South Carolina, Holman Gossett said it's possible for 
Roof could ask for a new trial.

"He didn't have any attorneys helping him in the penalty phase so he may make 
that motion after reflecting on it," Gossett told CNN affiliate WSPA. "Then it 
would go through the process of automatic hearings with appellate courts to see 
if there's any reason under the law that it should not stand legal grounds."

Federal executions rare

Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988 after a 16-year 
moratorium, 3 federal inmates have been executed in the United States. There 
are 63 federal prisoners awaiting execution.

And Roof's court appearances may be far from over.

He is also set to be tried on state murder charges, and prosecutors have said 
they'll also seek the death penalty in that case.

(source: CNN)