[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---S.C., FLA., LA., OHIO, NEB., IDAHO, CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 17



SOUTH CAROLINA:

Years awaiting execution: 4 men with ties to T&D Region on death row



The date was July 14, 2004.

A Mercury Sable station wagon was stolen from a Lawrenceville, Virginia, auto 
auction business.

The next night, on July 15, Mikal Deen Mahdi was caught on camera robbing an 
Exxon gas station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he fatally shot the 
store clerk, 29-year-old Christopher Jason Boggs.

Then on the morning of July 18, Mahdi carjacked a Ford Expedition from a driver 
in Columbia.

He then drove to Calhoun County, where he killed Orangeburg Department of 
Public Safety Capt. James Myers that night. Mahdi set Myers' body on fire 
inside a shed where the fugitive had been hiding.

Mahdi fled in Myers' white police-issued Dodge Ram.

An intensive law enforcement manhunt led to Mahdi's capture in Satellite Beach, 
Florida, on July 21.

Mahdi pleaded guilty to the murder of Myers in December 2006 trial. After his 
plea, his grandmother, Nancy Thomas Burwell, said, "His mother left him when he 
was only 3 years old. I tried to help him as much as I could. If he'd had 
someone to love and guide him as I tried to do, things might have turned out 
differently. It's just hard to believe he did all those things.

"I'm not disputing it. It's just hard to believe," she said.

Mahdi, now 34, is on death row for killing Myers and Boggs. He pleaded guilty 
to Boggs' murder in 2011.

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal by Mahdi earlier this year 
that his lawyer didn't do enough to present evidence of his troubled childhood.

"A motion to alter or amend is presently pending in Circuit Court in Calhoun 
County," S.C. Attorney General's Office spokesman Robert Kittle said. "He is 
also currently in federal habeas in the District Court. The federal action is 
not stayed and filings are continuing."

Mahdi has been a challenging inmate, according to SCDOC records. He has made 2 
escape attempts, the most recent in October 2014. He has also been cited for a 
number of disciplinary infractions including assault and battery of a jail 
employee, possession of a weapon and possession of escape tools.

Mahdi is 1 of 4 men with ties to The T&D Region who are currently on death row.

2 of the incidents occurred in Orangeburg County and 1 in Calhoun County. A 3rd 
occurred in Dorchester County but involved a man from Branchville.

Bamberg County currently has no one on death row, according to the S.C. 
Department of Corrections.

Status of executions

Executions and new death sentences have been declining in recent years in South 
Carolina and the U.S. 20 inmates in f5 states were executed in 2016, the lowest 
number since 1991, when 14 people were put to death.

The decline has been partially due to the uncertainty of the process, but also 
because of the high costs associated with it.

South Carolina has not executed anyone since May 6, 2011, when Jeffrey Brian 
Motts was put to death by lethal injection.

Motts was sentenced to death for killing his cellmate at a state prison in 
Greenville County in 2005. He was already serving a life sentence for killing 2 
elderly people during a Spartanburg County robbery in 1995.

The state's supply of lethal injection drugs expired shortly after Motts' 
execution.

The state has been unable to obtain alternative drugs because pharmaceutical 
companies that compounded them in the past have received a great deal of 
outside pressure to end the practice.

Since then, the state has had no way of executing any of the inmates on death 
row unless they choose to die by electrocution. As a result, execution dates 
are not scheduled for any of the current death row inmates in South Carolina.

Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, who recently served on a five-member 
subcommittee of the Senate Corrections and Penology Committee to discuss the 
issue, says the matter has remained unresolved.

"We will wait for more direction from the department (DOC)," said Hutto, noting 
the committee will reconvene in the coming legislative session to discuss the 
issue. "It is not clear there is a magic law out there that will make 
everything work."

Hutto said possible solutions could include going back to electrocution as the 
only approved method, doing away with the death penalty totally and going to 
life-without-parole sentences, or having the state contract with a private 
company to compound lethal drugs.

"But that (the state compounding its own drugs) would be cost prohibitive and 
run into the same problems major pharmaceutical companies have in that they 
don't want the liability ... in the event the drugs malfunction and don't 
work," the senator said.

Currently, there are 36 individuals on death row in South Carolina, according 
to the state Department of Corrections.

Other death row inmates from the region, who are housed at Lieber Correctional 
Institution in Ridgeville, are listed in chronological order according to the 
date the crimes took place, along with a brief synopsis of each case.

Bayan Aleksey

Bayan Aleksey of Philadelphia was found guilty in August 1998 of shooting 
Highway Patrol 1st Sgt. Frankie Lingard.

On Dec. 31, 1997, Lingard was patrolling Interstate 95 near Santee with 
narcotics officer Deputy Lin Shirer of Calhoun County. It was around 11:30 p.m. 
when Lingard pulled over a white Mustang GT with Delaware license plates.

At Aleksey's trial, prosecutors entered into evidence radio transmissions that 
recorded Lingard's last moments alive.

"G8 Orangeburg ... I-95, 97-mile marker southbound ... white Ford Mustang ... 
982722 ..." Lingard's words trail off to static and finally silence.

Seconds later, a terror-stricken Deputy Shirer screams into his handset, 
"Orangeburg! Orangeburg 1033! Officer down, he's hit!"

According to the SCDOC, Aleksey has had no disciplinary infractions during his 
incarceration nor has he had any escape attempts. He was admitted to Lieber on 
Sept. 1, 1998.

Since Aleksey was given the death penalty in 1998, there has been a direct 
appeal of his case to the South Carolina Supreme Court, which was denied. A 
petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse that decision was also denied.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review Aleksey's petition for 
certiorari.

"He has a federal habeas action in District Court," Kittle said. "The federal 
action is presently stayed for Alexsey to seek a second state Post Conviction 
Relief action. We have moved to dismiss the state action."

"However, there is a claim of intellectual disability (formerly mental 
retardation)," he said. "The state Circuit Court has issued an order for an 
evaluation by South Carolina Department of Disabilities and Special Needs. That 
evaluation is presently being arranged."

Samuel L. Stokes

Stokes was sent to the S.C. Department of Corrections on Halloween Day 1999 
after being found guilty on charges of murder, kidnapping, criminal conspiracy 
and 1st-degree criminal sexual conduct.

The charges against the then 37-year-old Orangeburg man were levied after the 
nearly nude body of Connie Snipes, 21, was found in Branchville in May 1998. 
She had been shot twice in the head, and an autopsy showed she had been 
sexually assaulted.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2016 refused to consider Stokes' appeal of the death 
sentence.

Stokes admitted to a role in the 1998 contract killing of Snipes. But he 
appealed the results of his 1999 trial, noting the attorney who represented him 
had also prosecuted him 7 years earlier.

The case is currently pending in U.S. District Court. An evidentiary hearing is 
set for Nov. 13, 2017.

Should the federal district court refuse to hear Stokes' case, it would go up 
to the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and then the U.S. Supreme Court, if 
needed.

Stokes was admitted to Lieber on Oct. 1, 1999.

Since his entry into Lieber, Stokes has been cited for a number of disciplinary 
infractions including using vulgar language and throwing a substance/object on 
a government employee.

Marion (aka 'J.R.') Bowman Jr.

Bowman was found guilty of murder and arson in connection with Kandee Louise 
Martin's death.

During his trial, witnesses testified Bowman shot Martin several times before 
placing her body in the trunk of her car and setting the vehicle on fire.

Firefighters were called to a field off Nursery Road near Reevesville in 
reference to a burning car report early on the morning of Feb. 17, 2001.

Martin's severely burned body was found in the trunk of the car with gunshot 
wounds to her body and head. Investigators spoke to the victim's boyfriend, who 
indicated that Martin was last seen riding around with Bowman the previous 
afternoon.

It took approximately one hour and 55 minutes for jurors to decide on the death 
penalty during Bowman's May 2002 trial.

Bowman was admitted to Lieber on May 23, 2002. He has not attempted to escape 
but was disciplined for damaging property valued at over $100 in December 2016.

In 2005, the state Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's death penalty 
decision.

In June 2006, the court denied Bowman's certiorari position, and in 2006, 
Bowman filed for post conviction relief and was denied.

He has repeatedly argued through appeals that he didn't receive a fair trial, 
alleging, among other things, that a search of his home that netted evidence in 
the case wasn't warranted.

Bowman is currently on appeal from his initial state post-conviction-relief 
action, Kittle said.

"Argument in the appeal was heard in the S.C. Supreme Court on April 13, 2017," 
Kittle said. "An opinion has not yet been issued."

(source: thetandd.com)








FLORIDA:

Amidst tragedy of Hurricane Irma, Death Row Prisoner Mike Lambrix Declares 
Hunger Strike To Protest His Innocence



In an unprecedented move, Florida death row inmate Michael Lambrix has declared 
a "hunger strike" to protest his scheduled execution (October 5, 2017)

Michael Lambrix has consistently maintained his innocence  in a case that 
remains essentially a highly circumstantial case (no eye witnesses, no physical 
or forensic evidence, no confession). Despite the case receiving international 
attention, his appeals for justice in courts have been defeated for over 30 
years.

The State funded agency CCRC South recently filed a strong and comprehensive 
"habeas petition" in the Florida Supreme Court specifically arguing that he 
must be allowed to present and be heard upon the wealth of evidence, including 
DNA testing (see Lambrix v Jones, Case No SC17-1608)

Support in the US and around the world, as well as attorney Adam Tebrugge 
strongly believe that should Michael Lambrix lose his appeal again, he should 
then get a unique clemency hearing.

Mike Lambrix has said:

"I have been forced into a non-win situation in which the vast resources of the 
State of Florida are being employed to put me to death for a crime I am 
actually innocent of. I cannot stop anyone from executing me. But I am 
constitutionally entitled to protest against this injustice by declaring and 
maintaining a hunger strike as an expression of the free speech without 
governmental intrusion."

Background information

Summary of the case, key prior media interviews, and general campaign 
information: http://www.save-innocents.com/save-michael-lambrix.html

To access Mike Lambrix story and his life advice to others: 
https://www.save-humanity.org  For all detailed appellate actions filed in 
Lambrix's case and more information: www.southerninjustice.net

(source: Contact-- Emmanuelle Purdon emmanuellepurdon at mac.com )








LOUISIANA:

Uptick in 1st-degree murder indictments in Jefferson Parish raises eyebrows



1st-degree murder charges were rare in Jefferson Parish for the past decade. 
When they happened - just 3 times between 2006 and 2016 - prosecutors were 
clear in each case about their intention to seek the death penalty, a 
punishment that only a 1st-degree murder conviction makes possible.

But in the past 2 months alone, District Attorney Paul Connick Jr. has matched 
that tally.

And in each of those 3 recent cases, Connick has either given no public 
indication he will pursue capital punishment or, in the most recent example, 
filed documents explicitly ruling it out.

In that case, 2 2nd-degree murder charges against Shaun Barnett, for allegedly 
shooting a Kenner couple in their bed, were raised to 1st-degree murder in a 
superseding indictment handed up Aug. 31.

That same day, prosecutors filed notice in 24th Judicial District Court that 
the death penalty was off the table for Barnett, noting that as a result, they 
will need only 10 jurors to get a conviction, not the 12 required in capital 
cases.

Without the raft of special conditions imposed on capital prosecutions, the new 
indictment appears to make little difference in the outcome for Barnett if he's 
convicted. Whether found guilty of 1st- or 2nd-degree murder, he would face 
life in prison without the possibility of parole - a fact that prompted some 
head-scratching at the Gretna courthouse about the increased charges.

Connick's office, which is notoriously tight-lipped and has a policy of not 
commenting on open cases, declined to discuss what was behind the move with 
Barnett, or the wider uptick in 1st-degree murder indictments.

And it's still possible Connick's office could yet seek death in 1 or both of 
the other 2 recent 1st-degree cases it filed - against Armande Tart in July and 
Jatory Evans in August.

But some defense advocates say privately they think Connick could be turning to 
first-degree murder charges to inoculate some cases against a mounting push by 
advocates to allow parole eligibility to lifers convicted of 2nd-degree murder.

The Legislature is in the midst of a sweeping reform effort that could threaten 
Louisiana's stiff "life means life" laws, which bar parole eligibility for all 
convicted murderers in Louisiana, along with those convicted of aggravated rape 
and aggravated kidnapping.

A state task force that issued recommendations early this year to the 
Legislature suggested granting parole eligibility to inmates serving life 
sentences who have "served 30 years behind bars and have reached the age of 50, 
excluding those sentenced for `st-degree murder."

That recommendation was put on ice early in the process when proponents agreed 
to table all proposed sentence reductions for violent crimes in a political 
compromise with the state's powerful district attorneys.

Still, the reform legislation passed in the spring created a new task force to 
address possible sentencing changes for serious crimes. And advocates have 
warned if the state doesn't eventually address its rising number of 
long-serving inmates convicted of violent crimes, taxpayers will be 
increasingly burdened by a costly population of graying inmates who are 
"stacking up" in the system.

The Jefferson Parish Public Defenders Office would not comment for this story. 
State Public Defender Jay Dixon said he has noticed the uptick, but he "can't 
separate it from the natural ebb and flow of 1st-degree murder cases."

E. Pete Adams, executive director of the Louisiana District Attorneys 
Association, said he hasn't discussed such a pre-emptive strategy with Connick 
or any other district attorney.

"But I will tell you, if you just follow the trend, it's just leniency, 
leniency, leniency," Adams said of the recent direction of the Legislature. 
"Every year we're having to face proposals to create parole eligibility for 
virtually anyone."

Police often book suspected killers on 1st-degree murder counts, but it's the 
district attorneys who decide what charges to recommend to a grand jury.

In Jefferson, that charge has for years been primarily second-degree murder, 
which carries an automatic life sentence without benefit of parole, probation 
or suspended sentence.

"Jefferson Parish historically has not sought 1st-degree murder charges without 
the death penalty," said Richard Bourke, of the Louisiana Capital Assistance 
Center, "but it's something that has happened regularly across the state."

Bourke said he couldn't speculate on what has prompted the apparent change. And 
Connick's office could yet bring the death penalty in the Tart case, which 
involves a quadrouple murder, and the Evans case, which involves the slaying of 
a pregnant woman in her parents in a River Road home immediately set ablaze.

What's clear is that since 2007, 1st-degree murder has become a more viable 
charging option for prosecutors who aren't pursuing the death penalty. That's 
when state lawmakers dropped the unanimous jury requirement for 1st-degree 
murder, keeping it in place only if prosecutors seek capital punishment. 
1st-degree charges require at least 1 of a raft of aggravating circumstances - 
that the murder was committed during a kidnapping, arson or rape, or if the 
victim was a police officer, elderly or a witness, for example - that 
prosecutors need to prove in court.

But 2nd-degree murder has been and remains a potent, reliable way to guarantee 
those convicted will never set foot outside of prison for the rest of their 
lives - at least for now.

When it comes to death penalty cases, meanwhile, court watchers say the 2 
capital prosecutions Connick's office announced late last year - against 
accused cop-killer Jerman Neveaux and 1 of the suspects in the gruesome 
stabbing death of a Raising Cane's manager - don???t seem to reflect any new 
trend toward the death penalty.

"There's been no significant increase in death-penalty prosecutions in 
Jefferson Parish or across the entire state," Bourke said. "There is a clear 
and steady decline in the use of the death penalty."

Although 10 people were sentenced to death during Connick's 1st term, from 1997 
to 2003, capital prosecutions in the parish soon waned.

A capital murder prosecution against Isaiah Doyle, indicted for 1st-degree 
murder in 2005, was the last death-penalty case - and last 1st-degree murder 
indictment - against someone in Jefferson until 2013, when prosecutors sought 
the death penalty against Matthew Flugence for the murder of 6-year-old 
Ahlittia North. Flugence later pleaded guilty to the 1st-degree murder charge 
in exchange for a life prison sentence.

In a rare interview in 2009, Connick told The Times-Picayune his office's 
philosophy had evolved to reflect the reality of capital prosecutions, which he 
said require the state, the defense and judges "have to do the perfect case" to 
prevent them from being overturned.

But back then, he said his office would not shy away from seeking death in 
instances where it was warranted.

"It has to be, in our opinion, the worst of the worst," Connick said. "The 
facts of the case have to be heinous."

(source: The Advocate)








OHIO:

Inmate condemned in Ohio prison riot murders seeks review



A death row inmate convicted and sentenced in the slayings of 5 fellow inmates 
during a 1993 prison riot in Ohio is appealing his case to the U.S. Supreme 
Court on new grounds.

48-year-old Keith LaMar's latest legal push plays off the court's ruling last 
year finding Florida's death penalty scheme unconstitutional, saying it gave 
judges too much power and juries not enough to decide capital cases.

LaMar argues the Ohio Supreme Court must revisit his case in light of the new 
standard, since Ohio's scheme is similar. The state has until Sept. 18 to 
respond.

(source: WHIO news)








NEBRASKA:

How notorious serial killer John Joubert's days of slaying children came to an 
end



On Sept. 18, 1983, Danny Joe Eberle, 13, picked up his bundle of newspapers, 
loaded it on his bicycle, and pedaled off on his route delivering the Sunday 
Omaha World-Herald.

A few hours later, complaints started coming into the newspaper; the "sunrise 
edition" was late. Only 3 homes along Danny's route in Bellevue, Neb., a quiet 
Omaha suburb, had gotten their delivery.

Danny's father, Leonard, went out to search and found his son's bicycle, with 
the papers, propped up against a fence near the start of his route. "He was 
proud of that bike," Leonard Eberle told reporters - there was no way he would 
have left it, at least not willingly.

3 days later, investigators found Danny's body, bound ankle and wrist, in a 
wooded area near the Offutt Air Force Base. There were 8 stab wounds, as well 
as slashes and human bite marks on his body, but no signs of sexual assault.

Serial killer who drove 'murder mobile' pleads guilty

The hunt for his killer was the most intense the region had ever seen. Local 
troublemakers - sex offenders and pedophiles - were hauled in as possible 
suspects, but quickly ruled out. A hypnotist was called to help witnesses 
retrieve clear memories. A local bank offered a $40,000 reward for information. 
FBI psychological profiler Robert Ressler provided an analysis of the killer - 
white, young, and sexually ambivalent.

None of it led to anything in time to prevent another tragedy.

On Dec. 2, Christopher Paul Walden, 12, son of an Air Force officer stationed 
at Offutt, vanished on his way to school. Hunters found his body on Dec. 5, his 
throat slashed and body mutilated.

There were no breaks until January, when a church nursery school director 
noticed a suspicious-looking character in a car hanging around near the school.

Serial killer spotted doing volunteer work for elementary school

As she wrote down his license plate number, he attacked, screaming he was going 
to kill her. She managed to get away and reported the incident and the license 
number to police.

The car was a rental that was traced to Air Force radar technician John 
Joubert, 20, stationed at Offutt.

He fit the profile the FBI had conjured up for the murderer and resembled 
composite sketches pulled from witness memories.

An unusual kind of rope, containing about 100 different fibers, was found among 
his belongings. It matched the rope that had been used to bind Danny's hands 
and feet. The rope had been manufactured in Korea, and was rarely used in the 
United States.

Real estate serial killer pleads guilty to 7 murders

When detectives mentioned the rope to him, Joubert quickly confessed. He said 
he was glad he had been caught because he was certain he would kill again, 
Ressler wrote in "Whoever Fights Monsters: My 20 Years Tracking Serial Killers 
for the FBI."

Joubert's life appeared to have been one long, simmering rage. He was born in 
Lawrence, Mass., but moved with his mother to Portland, Maine, after his 
parents divorced. He had an IQ of 123, was an Eagle Scout, and, like one his 
victims, had a paper route.

Fantasies of violence and cannibalism erupted when he was very young. At just 
6, around the time his parents' marriage unraveled, he said he had dreamed of 
strangling his baby-sitter and eating her body. He would later say that these 
horrific musings were provoked by seeing his father try to strangle his mother.

Violence did not remain trapped in his imagination for long. In December 1979, 
he stabbed a 6-year-old girl with a pencil as he pedaled past her on his 
bicycle. Similar attacks started happening in areas near Portland, but the 
assailant was never caught.

Police had accused Phoenix serial killer's gun in 2015

After the Nebraska murders, investigators looked into unsolved cases in Maine. 
One bore Joubert's signature. Ricky Stetson, 11, had gone out jogging on Aug. 
22, 1982. He was later found stabbed in the chest. Like Danny, he had been 
mutilated and bitten, but there was no sign of sexual molestation.

Joubert was tried for the Stetson killing and received a life sentence in 
Maine. In Nebraska, he pleaded guilty to the 2 murders and got the death 
penalty.

During his confession, a detective asked him if he would kill again if he got 
out of jail. "That's my big worry," Joubert said. "It's scaring me quite a bit, 
yes."

For a dozen years on death row, Joubert pored over law texts, read Albert 
Camus, Sigmund Freud, Ernest Hemingway and the works of other literary lights, 
lifted weights, and learned to draw.

2 of his drawings depicted scenes of violence reminiscent of the murders. In 
Mark Pettit's book, "A Need to Kill: The Death Row Drawings," the author said 
he obtained copies of the artwork in 2014 and asked crime profilers for their 
opinions. To them, the drawings suggested that Joubert would find his murderous 
impulses impossible to resist, and would likely kill other kids.

As his execution date neared, Joubert insisted he was a changed man. He said he 
had even found a first love, a woman in Ireland who had been corresponding with 
him as a pen pal.

In his appeals, he argued that the electric chair was cruel and unusual 
punishment. Capt. Jeff Davis of the Sarpy County Sheriff's department told the 
Associated Press, "No matter what they do to him, nothing is going to take away 
the horror and terror those children felt, let alone what their parents will go 
through all their lives."

Pleas for clemency went to the U.S. Supreme Court, but in the end, Joubert kept 
his date with the electric chair on July 17, 1996.

(source" nydailynews.com)








IDAHO:

Jurors come, go for Renfro



More than 20 potential jurors have been selected to participate in voir dire, 
the 2nd phase of the process to seat a jury in the Jonathan Renfro murder trial 
scheduled to begin this month in Coeur d'Alene's First District Court.

The potential jurors were chosen before Friday afternoon from a panel of 100 
jurors who appeared this week for orientation at the old Kootenai County 
Courthouse at 501 Government Way.

The panel is the 1st of 10 panels making up more than 800 candidates called for 
jury duty in the murder trial of Coeur d'Alene Police Sgt. Greg Moore, which is 
expected to last 3 weeks or more.

Renfro, 29, is accused of shooting Moore with a Glock pistol he had in his 
pocket when the officer confronted him after dark in a neighborhood where 
residents had reported burglaries and vandalism.

If he is convicted, Renfro could face the death penalty.

Attorneys hoped to select 44 candidates by early next week before continuing 
the voir dire, which is the final interview phase. In voir dire, the number of 
potential jurors is winnowed down to 16, including 12 jurors and 4 alternates, 
said jury commissioner Pete Barnes.

In the trial's guilt phase, jurors must determine if Renfro pulled the trigger 
on May 5, 2015, the night Moore died. In the penalty phase, jurors will decide 
if the death penalty is warranted.

Many of the candidates from the first phase were released earlier this week, 
opening the door for candidates from the 2nd panel to begin the selection 
process. Candidates are questioned in front of fellow jury candidates, and 
privately.

Jurors who voiced strongly held beliefs against, or in favor of, the death 
penalty were released before the process began.

"They need a total of 44 jurors to participate in the voir dire process," 
Barnes said. "I heard they've got 25 right now."

Voir dire will likely begin by the middle of next week.

"No telling how long that takes," Barnes said. "They are making good progress 
in selecting the final 44 jurors for the voir dire."

(source: cdapress.com)








CALIFORNIA:

Jury Rules 62-Year-Old Moreno Valley Woman Should Receive Death Penalty for 
Killing Her Husband in 2009



A jury recommended a Moreno Valley woman be put to death for fatally shooting 
her husband in 2009 after evidence was presented suggesting he was not the 
first husband she had killed, officials said Friday.

Lorraine Alison Hunter, 62, was convicted of first-degree murder in the death 
her truck driver husband, Albert Thomas, on Aug. 21, according to a statement 
from the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

At that time, the jury also found that she had killed Thomas for financial gain 
and committed the crime while lying in wait.

Though she was prevented from collecting the money, prosecutors alleged that 
Hunter was aware of more than $1 million available in life insurance policies 
in Thomas' name in the event he was murdered.

In determining whether the 62-year-old should be given the death penalty, 
jurors were shown evidence that another husband of hers was murdered in 1996 in 
Inglewood. That time, it appears she collected around $312,000 in life 
insurance funds, officials said.

No one was ever charged in that case.

Thomas was found shot to death in the sleeper section of the semitruck he drove 
for work on Nov. 4, 2009. The vehicle was parked in a dirt lot near the 
intersection of Eucalyptus and Edgemont avenues in Moreno Valley at the time, 
officials said.

Though law enforcement interviewed Hunter in the immediate aftermath of the 
discovery, she was not arrested until 2011.

Hunter originally testified she was not aware of any life insurance policies in 
her husband's name, but investigators later determined she had already spoke to 
the trucking company that employed him and learned of 2 policies totaling 
$225,000 that would double if he were murdered.

"The administrator at the trucking company told detectives that Hunter, prior 
to Thomas being found dead, had personally been told about the policies and 
that they doubled in the case of a murder," DA's officials said in the press 
release.

A relative also provided further information that led to her arrest and helped 
authorities bring charges in the killing, according to prosecutors.

Briuana Hunter, the defendant's daughter, testified under a plea deal that she 
and her mother spent months plotting Thomas' death, according to the Riverside 
Press-Enterprise.

"She told me, 'We need to figure something out," the 23-year-old told the 
court, the newspaper reported. "She said that we needed the money. At first, I 
didn't know what she meant, but later on, it became clear."

Detectives also learned that, in addition to the $450,000 available through 
Thomas' job if he were murdered, Hunter forged her husband's signature in 
attempt to secure another life insurance policy in the amount of $750,000 6 
months before his killing.

However, her inability to obtain a certified copy of the death certificate 
prevented her from collecting any of the money.

Hunter is expected to be sentenced on Dec. 8. The DA's office said it seeks to 
sentence her to death in the case.

(source: KTLA news)