[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., GA., FLA., ALA., LA., ILL.

[Rick Halperin]

January 6




TEXAS:

Man, 18, Arrested in Christmas Eve Homicide



Damarcus Antwon Williams, 18, mugshot from the Irving Police Department.

An 18-year-old man is behind bars, accused of fatally shooting a 17-year-old in 
the chest during a drug deal on Christmas Eve.

Irving police said 17-year-old Brett Adkins, of Plano, drove to an Irving home 
on the 200 block of Red River Trail to sell marijuana.

Investigators learned that during the transaction a fight broke out between 
Adkins and 2 other people and that someone shot Adkins once in the chest 
shortly after 9 p.m.

Police and EMS arrived to find Adkins injured; he was transported to Baylor 
Medical Center in Grapevine where he died early Christmas morning.

On Friday, Irving police said they arrested 18-year-old DaMarcus Antwon 
Williams, of Irving, on Thursday and charged him with capital murder. Police 
have released no information about the other person at the scene of the 
shooting.

A capital murder charge in Texas automatically carries with it a sentence of 
either life in prison without parole or the death penalty. It is not yet clear 
which penalty the Dallas County District Attorney may seek while prosecuting 
the case.

It is not clear if Williams has obtained an attorney.

(source: nbcdfw.com)








PENNSYLVANIA:

31 employees let go from district attorney's office----3 days into new 
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner's tenure, a number of assistant 
district attorneys found out they will not be part of his staff



A total of 31 employees - mostly assistant district attorneys - were dismissed 
from District Attorney Larry Krasner's office on Friday, although the office 
was closed due to inclement weather.

Supervisors and prosecutors with caseloads that include homicide charges were 
reportedly among the departing prosecutors.

One of those fired was Assistant District Attorney Andrew Notaristefano, who 
was in the process of seeking the death penalty in a murder case from 40 years 
ago.

The district attorney's office released a statement late Friday in an email 
sent by Krasner's spokesman, Ben Waxman, about the employees who were asked to 
resign earlier that day.

"D.A. Larry Krasner has long promised to bring culture change to the 
Philadelphia District Attorney's Office," the statement said. "This includes a 
broad reorganization of the structure of the DAO. As part of that process, 31 
DAO employees were asked to resign from their positions today, effective 
immediately."

The statement went on to talk about the change in employees being a part of 
Krasner's effort to fulfill his campaign promises.

"D.A. Krasner thanks them for their service to the city," the statement said. 
"However, he made clear his intention to take the office in a different 
direction. Reorganization and a change in some key personnel are necessary to 
fulfill that promise.

"There are nearly 600 people who work at the DAO. D.A. Krasner has confidence 
in the ability of our employees to adapt to these changes," the statement 
added.

"That includes appropriately handling cases or other matters that are scheduled 
for the coming weeks. Change is never easy, but D.A. Krasner was given a clear 
mandate from the voters for transformational change. Today's actions are 
necessary to achieve that agenda. He looks forward to working as a team with 
the dedicated, talented and hard-working employees of the DAO to make it the 
best prosecutorial office in the nation."

Beth Grossman, Krasner's Republican opponent in the election last year, issued 
a brief statement on Facebook on Friday.

"To my friends and former colleagues who were unceremoniously fired from the 
District Attorney's Office today: I just want to thank you for the privilege of 
working with you, your devotion to victims and public safety and your 
commitment to public service," Grossman said. "I wish you all good luck in the 
future."

Krasner addressed his staff on Wednesday, a day after he was sworn in. He spoke 
on many points that he ran on during his campaign, looking for a transformation 
in Philadelphia's criminal justice system.

His policy agenda includes ending the death penalty, reducing mass 
incarceration and civil asset forfeiture reform.

"Open your minds, open your hearts, and listen to the facts," Krasner told his 
staff. "I need a team that wants to be part of the best D.A.'s office in the 
nation."

"I need a team willing to make this office the best in the country."

(source: phillytrib.com)








GEORGIA:

Columbus 'Stocking Strangler' pursuing final death-row appeals



Carlton Gary, the "Stocking Strangler" who was convicted in one of the most 
notorious serial rape and murder cases in Georgia history, has long claimed 
police arrested the wrong man. But his death-row appeals have now almost run 
their course, meaning an execution date could be set for him soon.

Gary, now 67, was sentenced to death more than 3 decades ago for a crime spree 
that terrified those living in the Wynnton Road neighborhood near downtown 
Columbus. The "Stocking Strangler" raped his elderly female victims in their 
homes and then strangled most of them with a stocking. Over the past decade, 
newly discovered physical evidence has raised questions about the prosecution's 
case. At the same time, however, the new evidence helped to prove the 
prosecution's assertions that Gary was indeed involved.

Gary was convicted at trial of raping and killing 3 elderly women - Florence 
Scheible, Martha Thurmond and Kathleen Woodruff in 1977. Prosecutors presented 
additional evidence alleging that Gary raped and killed 5 other Columbus women 
and sexually assaulted another who survived because she played dead after her 
attack. Evidence was also presented that indicated Gary had committed similar 
crimes in New York.

But Gary's lawyers contend newly discovered physical evidence, including a DNA 
test of semen found on the clothing of one of the victims, shows that Gary 
could not have committed all the crimes prosecutors claimed he did. They say 
the prosecution didn't get it right and Gary's jury did not hear the true 
story.

"It is an abomination in the state of Georgia for us to be sending someone to 
be executed when it is obvious he did not get a fair trial," said Atlanta 
lawyer Jack Martin, who is asking the Georgia Supreme Court to take another 
look at the case. There is "compelling physical evidence" of Gary's innocence, 
he said.

This includes a bite mark found on one of the victims that did not match Gary's 
teeth, a size-10 footprint found near the entrance to another victim's home 
that could not have been made by Gary's size-13 1/2, blood evidence and the new 
DNA evidence, Martin said.

Prosecutors strongly reject such assertions.

"The state has complete confidence in the verdict because of the overwhelming 
evidence presented at trial and Gary's subsequent DNA match to the vaginal 
washing of a victim in this case," Muscogee County District Attorney Julia 
Slater said. "This verdict has been reviewed by no fewer than 13 courts, none 
of whom have found any reason to reverse the conviction or the sentence."

Gary's execution was scheduled for December 2009, but the state Supreme Court 
stopped it with 4 hours to spare. It ordered a judge to consider DNA testing.

Superior Court Judge Frank Jordan Jr. subsequently allowed DNA testing and held 
evidentiary hearings. In September, Jordan denied Gary's extraordinary motion 
for new trial.

Gary's lawyers filed an appeal, but the state Supreme Court recently decided 
not to hear it.

"This is an important case raising unresolved issues about the death penalty in 
Georgia, and it is the duty and responsibility of the Supreme Court to consider 
those cases," Martin said. "It was shocking to me that they would not even take 
the case."

Martin is now asking the high court to reconsider its decision.

The "Stocking Strangler" case received sensational publicity during the 
harrowing 7-month-long period of the attacks. The victims shared common 
characteristics: They were white women at least 55 years old. They died in 
their own homes where they lived alone. Except for one case, there were forced 
entries.

In the Scheible, Thurmond and Woodruff cases, prosecutors relied on a 
confession Gary gave to police and on fingerprint evidence that put Gary at the 
scenes. (Gary has claimed that an accomplice sexually assaulted and killed the 
women.)

In 2010, a year after Gary's execution was halted, DNA tests excluded Gary from 
being the person who raped Thurmond, a 69-year-old retired schoolteacher. This 
was big news until it was later determined the semen sample had been 
contaminated at the GBI Crime Lab, rendering the initial findings meaningless.

The contamination also meant the sample taken from Thurmond was no longer 
suitable for DNA testing. Gary's lawyers have contended that the state's 
"reckless" handling of such potentially critical evidence should be enough to 
give Gary a new trial. In his ruling, Jordan denied that request.

Another DNA test was conducted on a swab of semen taken from the sleeping gown 
of Gertrude Miller, who survived her attack. Miller, 64 at the time, was the 
Stocking Strangler's 1st victim, raped and severely beaten on Sept. 11, 1977.

Miller testified at Gary's trial that she identified him as her attacker when 
she saw him on television after his arrest. But DNA tests determined the semen 
on Miller's gown could not have come from Gary.

Tests did match Gary's DNA to semen taken from 71-year-old Jean Dimenstein, who 
was found raped and strangled with a stocking in September 1977.

During the 1986 trial, prosecutors did not try to convict Gary in the Miller 
and Dimenstein cases. Instead, they presented evidence of those attacks to show 
jurors that Gary committed similar crimes.

"The state can indict and attempt to convict Mr. Gary on the Dimenstein case if 
they so choose," Gary's lawyers said in a recent court filing. But the newly 
discovered evidence should allow Gary to have either a new trial or a new 
sentencing hearing, they said.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








FLORIDA:

Bishop's opposition to death penalty isn't universally shared by Catholics



I am responding to the recent Lead Letter by Bishop Felipe J. Estevez of the 
Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine in which he hailed the apparent drop in 
public support for the death penalty.

In his letter, the bishop stated that public support for the death penalty has 
fallen "to its lowest level in 45 years."

I don't know what individuals the bishop talked with to reach this conclusion, 
but he didn't speak with me - a practicing Catholic for 76 years - nor I 
suspect with many of the other Catholics in his diocese.

Our justice system has become a joke. Criminals who receive the death penalty 
sit on death row for decades while their public defenders, lawyers primarily 
paid for by our tax dollars, file appeal after appeal declaring their innocence 
- or point to some minor flaw during a previous trial to justify holding a new 
one.

This nonsense goes on and on.

Often the criminals die of natural causes before they are executed for their 
crimes.

And if they do remain incarcerated for many years, taxpayers pay the costs to 
keep them confined.

Many of our larger cities could now rightfully be referred to as killing 
fields. It is not safe to go out at night in places like Chicago, Baltimore and 
many other communities - including our own city.

Another very tragic result of this opposition to the death penalty is the lack 
of justice for the families of the slain.

The rights of the accused criminals take precedence over the rights of victims.

The families of the victims must attend and endure trial after trial in hopes 
of getting justice.

I cannot believe that a just God would ask our judicial system to just turn the 
other cheek.

Justice delayed is justice denied.

Roger Cable, Jacksonville

(source: Letter to the Editor, Florida Times-Union)








ALABAMA----impending execution

Alabama Gives Vernon Madison Execution Date of January 25, 2018



Vernon Madison is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Thursday, January 
25, 2018, at the Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama. 67-year-old 
Vernon is convicted of the murder of Officer Julius Schulte on April 18, 1985, 
in Mobile, Alabama. Vernon has spent the last 32 years on Alabama's death row.

On April 18, 1985, Officer Julius Schulte was dispatched to the home of Cheryl 
Green to investigate the disappearance of Cheryl's 11-year-old daughter. 
Schulte was not in uniform or in a marked car, however, he was wearing a badge 
that identified him as a member of the Mobile Police Department. Upon his 
arrival, Cheryl's daughter had already returned, however, neighbors has the 
police officer to stay until Cheryl's ex-boyfriend, Vernon Madison left, as the 
2 were having a domestic dispute.

Cheryl and Madison had broken up a few days before and he had returned to 
Cheryl's home in order to retrieve some of his belongings. Madison was angry, 
believing that Cheryl had called the police on him. When Officer Schulte 
arrived, both Cheryl and Madison approached him in his vehicle and spoke with 
him. Madison left the building a short time later. Madison walked a block away 
to where a former girlfriend was waiting in her car.

Madison retrieved a pistol from the car and returned to the apartment building. 
He walked up behind Officer Schulte, who was still in his vehicle and shot him 
twice in the head at point-blank range. Officer Schulte died later that day. He 
then shot twice at Cheryl before fleeing the scene. She survived her injuries. 
He later admitted to an acquaintance that he had "just killed a cop."

Madison was arrested the following day. He was convicted and sentenced to death 
in November of 1985. He had his sentence twice overturned and each time he was 
re-sentenced to death.

Madison was previously scheduled to be executed in 2016, however, his execution 
was stayed due to concerns over his competency. According to his attorneys, 
Madison has suffered multiple strokes while in prison and is unable to 
understand why he is being executed.

Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Julius Schulte. Please pray 
for strength for the family of Vernon Madison. Please pray that if Vernon is 
innocent, lacks the competency to be executed or should not be executed for any 
other reason, that evidence will be provided before his execution. Please pray 
that Vernon may come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus 
Christ, if he has not already.

(source: theforgivenessfoundation.org)








LOUISIANA:

Court extends halt in Louisiana executions after judge dies



A court order blocking Louisiana from carrying out any executions has been 
extended indefinitely after the death of the federal judge who issued it.

A lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection protocols has kept death 
sentences on hold since 2014. U.S. District Judge James Brady, who died Dec. 9 
after a brief illness, oversaw the lawsuit and agreed to order the temporary 
stay of all executions.

Brady's order was due to expire next Monday, but U.S. District Judge Shelly 
Dick agreed Thursday to extend it until another judge is assigned to the 
lawsuit.

Louisiana has more than 70 inmates on death row. The state's last execution was 
in January 2010, when it carried out a death sentence for Gerald Bordelon, who 
was convicted of killing his 12-year-old stepdaughter in 2002.

(source: The Republic)








ILLINOIS:

Investigator's lawsuit alleges 'swift boat' plot to undermine Northwestern 
Innocence Project



A private investigator at the center of one of the most controversial murder 
cases in Illinois history is doubling down on allegations that a cabal of 
pro-police lawyers and advocates conspired to torpedo efforts by former 
Northwestern University professor David Protess to expose wrongful convictions.

Paul Ciolino, who obtained Alstory Simon's sensational confession to a 1982 
double murder that led to the exoneration of death row inmate Anthony Porter, 
filed a defamation lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court alleging his reputation 
and career were destroyed by the "swift boat" plot to undermine Protess' work.

The 66-page complaint largely mirrors a counterclaim filed by Ciolino in 2016 
in an ongoing federal lawsuit filed by Simon. The counterclaim was thrown out 
last year by a federal judge who ruled Ciolino's allegations were too 
tangential to the underlying case.

The lawsuit filed this week, however, contains details about the alleged 
conspiracy to attack Protess, including allegations that witnesses were paid to 
recant their stories and that Simon himself was paid thousands of dollars while 
in prison by those who eventually won his freedom.

Ciolino's attorney, Jennifer Bonjean, also included several emails from Chicago 
police Officer Martin Preib, now the 3rd-in-command of the Fraternal Order of 
Police in Chicago, detailing his work on a documentary about the Simon case 
called "Murder in the Park."

The emails - which were obtained by Bonjean though discovery in the federal 
litigation - show that as far back as 2012, Preib was lobbying the police union 
to "take a stand" on Simon's innocence. In one message to then-FOP President 
Michael Shields, Preib said he and his fellow filmmakers had a large "body of 
evidence showing the whole case is a fraud."

"We are hopeful this case will turn the tide on all these false accusations 
against poilice (sic)," Preib wrote in August 2012, according to the suit.

The next month, Preib wrote in an email to the film's co-producers about an 
idea to go to a public Police Board meeting, show members a promotional video 
for the documentary and claim there were many other cases in which "the wrong 
man is imprisoned and the right one was freed," the lawsuit alleged.

"Man, they wouldn't know what to do. But they would have to respond on some 
level," Preib wrote.

He then made a vulgar remark that appeared to be aimed at the female head of 
the city's police oversight agency, who regularly attended the Police Board 
meetings.

"That c--- from OPS (Office of Professional Standards) would just be floored," 
Preib wrote.

Named as defendants in Ciolino's lawsuit were Preib, Simon and his attorneys, 
Terry Ekl and James Sotos, as well as James Delorto, a private investigator 
hired by Ekl to delve into the Porter case.

Also sued was William Crawford, a former Tribune reporter who wrote a scathing 
book about the Simon case and later worked on the documentary, and former Cook 
County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez, who in 2013 made the stunning decision 
to drop the charges against Simon based largely on the dubious confession that 
Ciolino obtained.

Reached by phone Thursday, Preib called the lawsuit "frivolous and without 
merit." Ekl said the allegations in Ciolino's lawsuit "are so false as to be 
sanctionable."

A spokeswoman for Alvarez had no comment Thursday. Crawford and Delorto could 
not be reached for comment.

Protess taught investigative reporting at Northwestern's prestigious journalism 
school and founded the Medill Innocence Project, a key engine of the often 
successful local movement to unearth injustices. He left the school in 2011 
amid controversy over tactics allegedly employed by his students, including 
giving witnesses money for drugs, lying about their identities and flirting 
with witnesses.

The convoluted history of Simon's case stretches to August 1982 when Jerry 
Hillard and Marilyn Green were fatally shot on Chicago's South Side. Several 
witnesses implicated Porter, who had a low IQ and a criminal record, and he was 
convicted and sentenced to death.

Porter, who at one point had come within days of execution, was still on death 
row at the time of the dramatic revelation that Simon had confessed on video to 
Ciolino. Confronted with the video, prosecutors agreed to Porter's release. 
Simon pleaded guilty to the murders and tearfully apologized to the victims' 
families moments before he was sentenced to 37 years in prison.

Porter's release helped spur then-Gov. George Ryan to halt executions, a step 
toward the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois in 2011.

In 2013, Alvarez, who had recently clashed with Protess in another contested 
murder case, agreed to review Simon's allegations that he was framed. A year 
later, Alvarez announced that the review by the Conviction Integrity Unit 
raised serious doubts about the tactics used to secure Simon's confession and 
that she was dropping the charges against him, saying it was impossible to 
determine who killed the victims.

In his lawsuit, Simon alleged Ciolino impersonated a police officer, showed him 
a video of an actor falsely claiming to have seen Simon fire the fatal shots 
and told Simon he could avoid the death penalty if he confessed to shooting the 
victims in self-defense. Ciolino also promised Simon legal representation and 
large sums of money from book and movie deals if he gave a statement, the suit 
alleged.

Last year, however, a bombshell internal report obtained by the Tribune showed 
that Alvarez's 2 top deputies had actually recommended that Simon remain in 
prison, noting that he continued to admit to committing the murders long after 
he was sentenced, including in a letter to 1 of his lawyers in which he said 
he'd killed Hillard in self-defense and Green by accident.

The memo also accused Simon's supporters of mischaracterizing the strength of 
the evidence against Porter in their "zeal" to prove that he was guilty.

(source: Chicago Tribune)