[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., COLO., NEV., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 9



TEXAS:

Harris County death row inmate convicted of killing man over tire rims denied 
federal appeal



A Houston death row inmate who admitted to killing a man over flashy car rims 
lost out on a federal appeal Friday despite claims of bad lawyering and brain 
damage.

Former gang member Teddrick Batiste was sent to death row in 2011 for the 
slaying of Horace Holiday, who was gunned down outside a gas station along 
Eastex Freeway, according to court records.

The then-23-year-old opened fire on the Cadillac as Holiday drove down the 
highway. When the wounded man got off the road to get help, he careened into a 
gas pump at a nearby convenience store, then got out and tried crawling to 
safety.

Batiste followed and continued shooting. Police heard the gunfire and rushed to 
the scene, just in time to spot Batiste driving off in his victim's car.

The fleeing killer led officers on an 8-mile high-speed chase before he was 
captured. Afterward, he confessed to his crimes and admitted his role as the 
triggerman.

The slaying that could send him to the death house came weeks after a robbery 
and another capital murder, cases the jury heard about during the punishment 
phase of the Harris County trial.

In March of that same year, Batiste and 2 other men toting semi-automatics 
stormed into the Phat Kat Tats tattoo shop and held a family at gunpoint as 
they stole electronics and tattoo machines.

Then in early April, Batiste and two accomplices robbed Black Widow tattoo 
parlor, firing 16 shots and killing the owner.

But the court also heard about Batiste's better side - his diligent work on a 
forging crew, his role as a father and his "caring" nature as an older brother. 
Batiste told the court how he planned to step back from his role in the gang 
and be a positive influence in prison if he got a life sentence.

The jury voted for death after just over 2 hours of deliberation. When the 
court announced the verdict, the condemned man's mother screamed and pleaded 
just outside the courtroom.

"I'm sorry for what my baby did," she shouted. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

In his appeals, he raised claims involving jury instructions, religious bias in 
the courtroom, ineffective trial lawyers and frontal lobe damage. For the last 
of those claims, his appeals attorneys argued that the lawyers who represented 
him in trial should have found out Batiste had bacterial meningitis as an 
infant, and gotten experts to testify about the damage it caused.

"Batiste's brain impairment renders him unlikely to stop risky behavior once it 
has begun," his attorneys wrote in 2016, "and in fact, causes him to behave in 
a way that actually increases the risk associated with a given situation 
despite being aware of the costs."

The claim wouldn't have raised questions as to the confessed killer's guilt, 
but his lawyers said it could have diminished his responsibility for the crime 
and opened the door to a different outcome during the punishment phase of 
trial.

The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals turned down Batiste's plea on Friday, 
moving him 1 step closer to the death chamber.

So far, the state of Texas has executed seven men this year, and seven more 
death dates are on the calendar.

(source: Houston Chronicle)








GEORGIA:

Hearing in Muscogee County death penalty case scheduled for July 10



A man accused of murdering his girlfriend and infant son, then setting their 
home on fire to hide the crime, is set to appear in court for a hearing 
Tuesday, July 10.

In a hearing Friday, July 6, the defense of Brandon Conner argued against 
permitting a jury to see certain, graphic autopsy and evidence photos showing 
the charred bodies of 32-year-old Rosella "Mandy" Mitchell and 6-month-old 
Dylan Ethan Conner.

Judge William Rumer gave the prosecution and defense until Tuesday to argue 
their side.

The case stems from the August 2014 double homicide on Winifred Lane, and the 
prosecution is looking to send 36-year-old Conner to death row.

Muscogee County Coroner, Buddy Bryan, recalls the "absolutely horrific scene" 
when first responders discovered Mitchell and the child inside the smouldering 
home, stabbed and burned beyond recognition.

"So, we go inside and the house is virtually completely gutted with fire, and 
of course, we had a charred body, on the floor, face down," says Bryan. He says 
moments later first responders discovered the child.

The prosecution has a lot to prove if they are going to convince a jury to 
convict Conners to the fullest extent.

Bryan explains how the damage he saw that night could impact collection of 
evidence.

"All the basic physical evidence would have been destroyed in the fire, so 
you're working with a clean slate, and you have to be really meticulous about 
putting together a case that can be prosecuted to the tenth degree."

The defense also has their work cut out for them.

The court will also need to review victim impact statements and resolve 
requests for additional DNA data from the GBI crime lab.

"If they have the evidence to prove that he did it, and then that his life, to 
pay for his sins- that's what I'd like to see. I think that would be 
justification for Dylan and for Dylan's mom and the family," says Bryan.

Jurors will decide Conner's guilt or innocence on charges of murder, aggravated 
battery, 1st-degree arson among the other crimes he's charged with, and they'll 
determine if those alleged crimes warrant the death penalty.

When it comes to the District Attorney, Julia Slater, this will be her second 
death penalty that she's prosecuted in her 10 years as D.A.

Slater tells News the tentative start date for Conner's trial is set for 
October 1st.

(source: WRBL news)








COLORADO:

El Paso County DA 's $109,000 price tag for seeking death penalty falls short 
of true cost, critics claim



Prosecutors say their failed attempt to send a Colorado Springs double murderer 
to death row added $109,000 to the cost of the trial - a sum legal observers 
say falls short of revealing the true expense involved in the death penalty's 
legal thickets.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office released the estimate last week 
after an El Paso County jury rejected sentencing Glen Law Galloway to death, 
resulting in his receiving life without parole plus 171 1/2 years.

The $109,000 represents a fraction of the millions that were likely spent 
pursuing the death penalty, said Denver civil rights attorney David Lane, a 
longtime critic of capital punishment who represents a man facing the death 
penalty in the fatal slashing of an Ordway prison guard.

"It drives up the cost of a murder prosecution exponentially," Lane said, 
noting that the district attorney's figure didn't include costs incurred by the 
Colorado Public Defender???s Office, which represented Galloway, or reflect the 
court resources consumed in litigation, including the salaries of prosecutors, 
police, judges and clerks and others involved.

They would have been paid in any case, but people critical of capital cases say 
their time could have been better spent on solving and prosecuting other rapes, 
robberies and shootings.

Jailing, evaluating and trying Aurora theater shooter James Holmes cost 
taxpayers $3 million between 2012-2015, The Denver Post reported in 2016.

That figure would rise to $7 million if it included salaries paid to sheriff's 
deputies, police, judges, prosecutors and others who worked almost exclusively 
on the case but would have been paid anyway, the Post found in its 
investigation.

The cost of capital cases has long factored into the debate over Colorado's 
death penalty, which is rarely sought and seldom imposed.

But the issue is likely to attract new attention in El Paso County, where the 
District Attorney's Office under Day May filed for two new capital cases within 
days of a jury throwing out the death penalty against Galloway.

Prosecutors on Friday filed notice they would seek the deaths of Diego Chacon 
and Marco Garcia-Bravo, the alleged shooters in what is believed to be 
gang-related killings of 2 Coronado High School students, The Gazette 
confirmed. The decision was expected to be discussed at a hearing Monday.

Death-penalty cases involve uniquely complex legal questions, subject to rapid 
change based on new rulings from higher courts.

In the Galloway prosecution, for example, more than 100 motions were filed and 
argued before the case reached opening statements, and the court cleared at 
least 2 weeklong blocks of court time for pretrial hearings.

A 2013 study by 2 University of Denver law professors found that capital cases 
consume 5 times the number of court days compared with noncapital murder 
prosecutions.

Jury selection alone spanned 2 1/2 months and involved whittling down a 
potential jury pool of 2,800 people.

When it comes time to argue the appropriateness of the death penalty, expert 
witnesses are often the star of the show, charging thousands of dollars per day 
for testimony that wouldn't be needed in a noncapital murder case, Lane said.

Of the costs the El Paso County District Attorney's Office attributes to the 
death penalty process, the lion's share - $81,000 - was paid to a single expert 
witness, University of Iowa criminologist Matthew DeLisi.

DeLisi would have testified that Galloway would be likely to commit new crimes 
inside prison because of his defiance of authority and record of disciplinary 
problems in court, in what lead prosecutor Reggy Short called a critical 
element of his case for death.

But Judge Gregory Werner barred DeLisi from testifying when the defense decided 
not to call its expert witness to address whether Galloway posed a future 
danger .

Had the case proceeded to the final stage, Short said DeLisi's work was central 
to obtaining a death penalty. Short called DeLisi's $2,000 a day fee for 
testifying typical for his field - an assertion backed by Lane, the death 
penalty critic. The rest of what he was paid was for a voluminous written 
analysis he prepared.

So long as costs are in line with industry standards and do not "shock the 
conscience," Short said his first priority is building a successful case, and 
that he's "fortunate" to get support from his supervisors.

"If it's something we need to do for the case, I'm fortunate enough to work in 
an office that says, 'Go do that.'"

Lee Richards, the district attorney's spokeswoman, said the remainder of the 
more than $100,000 tab went for transportation and lodging for death penalty 
witnesses. A state fund reimbursed the local prosecutor's office for its death 
penalty expenses, Richards said, but further details weren't immediately 
available.

Putting a precise cost on capital cases is difficult, because their effects are 
spread across many agencies and offices, according to the 2013 University of 
Denver study, by Justin F. Marceau and Hollis A. Whitson.

The authors cite a 2013 disclosure by Alternate Defense Counsel Lindy Frolich 
that a 1st-degree murder case costs her office $16,000 per year per case, while 
a capital murder case costs $400,000 per year. The state Office of the 
Alternate Defense Counsel pays private attorneys to represent the indigent when 
public defenders cannot take a case.

The Public Defender's Office on Friday denied a written request to inspect 
Galloway's trial costs, saying the information is part of the defendant's 
confidential client file. The office routinely denies requests for information 
regarding trial costs for that reason.

Among other costs involved in the Galloway trial were $50,000 spent by the 
state court system preparing a courtroom to accommodate the case, including an 
enlarged jury box and audio-visual upgrades in one of the courthouse's aging 
courtrooms.

A senior judge was also required to cover the docket of Werner, who presided 
over the trial for 4 months.

While it's unclear if Galloway intends to appeal, most death-penalty cases get 
a 2nd life postconviction, with appeals often stretching on for a decade, 
spanning hundreds more legal filings.

2 inmates have active death sentences, both bound up in appeals.

In 1997, convicted murderer and rapist Gary Lee Davis became the only Colorado 
inmate to be executed since the death penalty was reinstated in 1975.

(source: Colorado Springs Gazette)








NEVADA----impending execution//volunteer

Legal hurdles stalled Nevada inmate's path to death



Scott Dozier murdered 2 men and, after almost a decade behind bars, said he 
wanted to die.

His case has spent another 2 years working through the court system, including 
a ruling from the Nevada Supreme Court, and now the state is ready to kill him.

In October 2016, the death row inmate wrote a letter to District Judge Jennifer 
Togliatti, who oversaw his trial when he was convicted of his second murder and 
sentenced to death. He wanted to waive his appeals and have his sentence 
carried out, he wrote.

Less than a month ago, Togliatti signed a new execution warrant for the 
condemned man, and his lethal injection is scheduled for 8 p.m. Wednesday in an 
unused $860,000 execution chamber at Ely State Prison.

As recently as Friday afternoon, after a petition from the American Civil 
Liberties Union of Nevada, a judge in Carson City ordered prison officials to 
disclose how three drugs to be used in Dozier???s execution were obtained.

The most controversial drug, midazolam, was purchased in May from the state's 
regular pharmaceutical distributor, Cardinal Health, and manufactured by 
pharmaceutical company Alvogen, according to documents released Friday.

Midazolam has been banned for executions in Arizona and its use has been 
criticized by civil rights groups across the country.

Dozier's lawyers have pushed to ensure that his execution would not cause 
suffering, examining the use of a paralytic drug in the never-before-used 
lethal injection cocktail.

A doctor testified that the drug, cisatracurium, could mask discomfort, such as 
convulsions or clenched fists. But Dozier's attorneys stood by an agreement 
with the man who has, in his own words, remained "steadfast and resolute" in 
his wish to die.

Now 47, Dozier would be the 1st inmate executed in Nevada since 2006. If his 
killing happens, he will be the 13th prisoner executed this year in the United 
States, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

A Clark County jury convicted him in September 2007 of killing 22-year-old 
Jeremiah Miller at the now-closed La Concha Motel. In 2005, Dozier was 
convicted in Arizona of 2nd-degree murder in another case.

Attorneys for the state have argued that under the suggested protocol, which 
also includes the painkiller fentanyl, Dozier would not suffer.

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

'Life in prison isn't a life,' says Nevada inmate as execution nears



Scott Dozier's final 48 hours will be tightly controlled, much like the last 
decade of his life. They will include limited time on the prison yard, his 
final shower and, of course, his last meal.

Each of his steps will be followed by a team of prison officers, some of whom 
will record the steps with a hand-held camera.

The condemned 47-year-old man will speak with family and the warden. A manual 
that details the moments leading up to Nevada's 1st execution in 12 years also 
allows Dozier to meet with a spiritual adviser, should he wish, though that's 
unlikely, given his beliefs. Should the procedure work as planned, Dozier will 
be dead by 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

In a Sunday morning phone call to a Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter, Dozier 
called himself an atheist and said he expects nothingness when he dies.

"I don't have any grand expectations," he told the reporter in a 
prison-monitored call that lasted less than 10 minutes. "I think it's just 
done. I think it's just black."

A 3-drug cocktail of midazolam, a sedative; the painkiller fentanyl; and 
cisatracurium, a paralytic, is expected to end his life at Ely State Prison.

>From a legal perspective, there's little that can stop the execution that 
Dozier requested in October 2016, when he waived his appeals.

But his words or actions could halt his death, even after the process starts.

"It must be understood that after the infusion of the lethal drugs has begun 
the execution may still be stopped," the execution manual reads, "but the 
inmate's respiratory and cardiovascular systems will be progressively more 
compromised. If the execution is ordered to be stopped at any point after the 
infusion of the lethal drugs has begun, all reasonable attempts to save the 
inmate's life will be made by the attending physician and medical personnel 
present using equipment that will be made available for that possible 
contingency."

Before the injection, direct lines will be cleared to Gov. Brian Sandoval, 
Attorney General Adam Laxalt, a federal court clerk, a state court clerk and 
District Judge Jennifer Togliatti, who signed Dozier's execution warrant last 
month.

Controversial drug

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada filed an emergency petition last 
week, asking for more transparency in the execution process. But that legal 
action is unlikely to prevent the execution from going forward.

On the same day, prison officials released a heavily redacted execution manual, 
which included the state's use of midazolam, a highly controversial drug 
obtained in May. Critics say the drug, banned in Arizona, led to botched 
executions in other states.

"Unless we uncover something extraordinary through our records request, Mr. 
Dozier is the only one who can stop his execution at this point," ACLU 
spokesman Wesley Juhl said.

Dozier described the use of midazolam in an untested execution cocktail as "a 
little weird."

He has read about previous reactions to injections and expressed concern that 
the drug could cause him to say or do something "out of character" that would 
appear to contradict his death wish.

"Let's just hope I don't do anything (expletive) ridiculous," he said.

Dozier's lead attorney, Tom Ericsson, has made clear in court that the prisoner 
is proceeding against legal advice.

But Dozier has not wavered in his wish to die. He said he first started 
speaking with family members about waiving his appeals as early as 2011.

"Life in prison isn't a life," he said. "This isn't living, man. It's just 
surviving."

He later added, "If people say they're going to kill me, get to it."

Ericsson told the Review-Journal on Friday that he knew of no outside entities 
that could step in and block the killing.

"It's his choice, and an attorney can't stop him from going down this path," 
Ericsson said.

Despite the reports of troubles in executions where midazolam has been used, 
Dozier "made it very clear he doesn't want anybody filing anything related to 
the drug protocol," the lawyer added.

'State-assisted suicide'

Defense attorney Scott Coffee, who has handled roughly 20 death penalty cases 
and analyzes capital punishment across the country, said that in order to delay 
the execution, a person, such as a family member, or group would need legal 
standing.

"With nobody asking that's in a position to ask, nothing's going to get done," 
Coffee said. "Dozier wants state-assisted suicide, and because the state's 
willing to accommodate, this is a vastly accelerated situation."

The execution manual describes what are expected to be Dozier's final moments 
in exact detail.

According to the plan, he will be placed in restraints before prison guards 
tell the warden he is ready to enter the execution area chamber room.

He will be escorted to the death table and secured to it with a set of soft 
restraints. A support will be slipped under his head, and the table will be 
maneuvered so that Dozier lies supine in what is known as the reverse 
Trendelenburg position, with his feet 15 to 30 degrees lower than his head.

A guard will announce, "Inmate secured."

His veins will be punctured, and a technician will attach cardiac leads.

Once the guards and technician exit the room, only Dozier and the warden, 
Isidro Baca, will remain.

Baca will direct the lights to be dimmed and will open the viewing room blinds. 
Among the witnesses will be 7 journalists, including a Review-Journal reporter. 
The warden will tell Dozier that those watching can now hear his last words.

The prison director then will contact the attorney general and governor to 
ensure that no stay of execution has been ordered.

"If none exists, the director will inform the warden to proceed with the 
execution," the protocol states.

And the drips of death will begin. Midazolam 1st, fentanyl 2nd and 
cisatracurium last.

As Dozier fades, an attending physician will check a cardiac monitor, the 
protocol explains, "until all signs of electrical activity of the heart have 
ceased."

(source for both: Las Vegas Review-Journal)








USA:

Prosecutors Are Using Jailhouse Snitches to Send Innocent People to Death 
Row----"The problem is the desperation to get out, and the willingness of the 
district attorney to use us."



For the last 2 decades, Curtis Flowers has been on death row in Mississippi for 
a 1996 quadruple murder. He has consistently maintained his innocence and 
appealed his case 6 different times on issues ranging from racial bias in jury 
selection to prosecutorial misconduct. But each time, District Attorney Doug 
Evans succeeded in keeping Flowers behind bars, largely because of his reliance 
on jailhouse informants who have insisted that Flowers confessed to the 
killings. But now, during the 11-episode American Public Media podcast In the 
Dark that chronicled the case, Evans' star witness confessed that he made it 
all up.

In the criminal justice system, Flowers' case is not unique. "Criminal 
snitching is an enormous problem for our justice system, in part because it's 
an enormous source of error," Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at University of 
California, Irvine and informant expert, told the Intercept in 2015. Jailhouse 
informants, colloquially known as snitches, can be unreliable because the 
prosecution tempts them to offer testimony against the defendant with a number 
of enticing incentives: reduction in sentence, for instance, or a move to a 
more desirable prison. According to the National Registry of Exonerations, a 
jailhouse snitch was used in 23 % of death penalty cases where the defendant 
was later exonerated. In a report from the Center of Wrongful Convictions, a 
project of Northwestern University, researchers found these types of informants 
to be "the leading cause of wrongful convictions in US capital cases."

"Criminal snitching is an enormous problem for our justice system, in part 
because it's an enormous source of error."

For Curtis Flowers, 1 man's testimony became the backbone of the state's case 
against him. The events began one morning, in July 1996, when Bertha Tardy and 
3 other people were found dead at the Tardy Furniture store in Winona, 
Mississippi. Flowers, who was a former employee, was quickly named the main 
suspect after eyewitnesses placed him near the car of his uncle who owned the 
type of gun that investigators say was used in the shooting. Law enforcement 
believed that Flowers was a disgruntled former employee looking for revenge. He 
had no criminal rap sheet and was known in the community as a gospel singer. 
Flowers was indicted for the murders in March 1997.

"The idea that a guy like Curtis could pull off this thing kind of boggles 
credulity," says Alan Bean, the executive director of Friends of Justice, a 
civil rights organization that focuses on the criminal justice system. "I don't 
think the average person could do this. You have to be remorseless."

Each of Flowers' trials had problems in one way or another, but the role key 
witnesses played in his conviction was especially problematic. "None of the 
witnesses who came forward were credible," Bean says. "They were all 
compromised and fearful."

Flowers was tried for the first time in 1997 for the murder of Bertha Tardy. 
Prosecutors led by District Attorney Evans obtained confessions from Flowers' 
cellmates from the Leflore County Jail where he was being detained while 
awaiting trial. Frederick Veal and Maurice Hawkins both testified that Flowers 
had admitted to the crimes. But, according to court documents, Veal would later 
say that his claim was elicited by Evans and Leflore County Sheriff Ricky 
Banks. Veal later told the Clarion Ledger that he didn't have any information 
about Flowers', but Banks and Evans "came down and gave me a piece of paper 
telling me what happened in the case." In 2015, Hawkins signed a sworn 
affidavit saying his testimony was false; Veal followed suit in 2016.

Neither Hawkins nor Veal testified in Flowers' subsequent trials, so the state 
ended up relying on Odell Hallmon - who's currently serving life without the 
possibility of parole for murdering 3 people in 2016 - as their star witness. 
His sister, Patricia Hallmon, was Flowers' neighbor and told police that she 
saw him in a pair of Fila Grant Hill shoes, the same type of shoes that 
allegedly left a foot print at the scene of the crime. Odell Hallmon originally 
told police that his sister lied about seeing Flowers because she wanted the 
reward money, but then he switched sides. In the last 4 trials, he testified 
that Flowers confessed to the murders while they were both in the state 
penitentiary in Parchman, Mississippi. In return, according to Hallmon, 2 of 
his drug charges were dropped.

"As far as him telling me he killed some people, hell naw, he ain't ever told 
me that. That was a lie."

But in an episode of the In the Dark podcast, Hallmon made a extraordinary 
confession. The 40-year-old who already spent more than 15 years in prison for 
having shot and killed his ex-girlfriend, her mother, another man, and shot at 
his own son who survived, unharmed. In May, through a contraband cellphone, 
Hallmon told the podcast that he made up his testimony. "As far as him telling 
me he killed some people, hell naw, he ain't ever told me that," Hallmon said. 
"That was a lie." He claims that he lied because Evans agreed to drop some 
charges against him. The district attorney has denied these allegations.

While the specific circumstances may be different, Flowers case illustrates 
some of the myriad problems that arise when a snitch becomes the key witness 
for prosecutors. In the most extreme cases, the defendant was executed before 
it came to light that the jailhouse informant was lying. Cameron Todd 
Willingham was executed in Texas in 2004. Accused of murdering his daughters by 
burning down their home, the case was based on extremely shoddy, 
now-discredited forensic science and the testimony of jailhouse informant 
Johnny Webb. Webb had testified that Willingham confessed to him while in jail. 
10 years after Willingham was executed, the Innocence Project discovered 
evidence that Webb was offered a reduced prison sentence in return for his 
testimony.

Some states have enacted reforms. In 2017, Texas passed a law that would force 
prosecutors to disclose a host of data on jailhouse informants including what 
benefits they may be receiving for their testimony and their history in 
speaking up about other cases.

In other instances, civil liberties groups have filed lawsuits challenging the 
use of jailhouse informants. The American Civil Liberties Union recently filed 
a lawsuit against Orange County, California, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas 
and Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens for allegedly running an illegal, 
secret, and widespread jailhouse informant program. The county has the 3rd-most 
death row inmates in California. "They have won countless convictions based on 
unreliable information - the results of jailhouse informants' coercion of 
defendants - that they passed off in court as solid, sound, and legal." said 
Brendan Hamme, a staff attorney at the ACLU of Southern California in a 
statement. Both the district attorney's office and the sheriff's department has 
denied the allegations and the DA's office released a statement saying that it 
will "continue to lawfully use all evidence lawfully developed by local law 
enforcement."

Mark Cleveland, a California man who was an informant for the Orange County DA, 
succinctly explained why the system is both so corrupt and so pervasive. "The 
problem is the desperation to get out," he told CBS' 60 Minutes host Sharyn 
Alfonsi in 2017, "and the willingness of the district attorney to use us."

(source: Mother Jones)

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

Lawyers in Death Penalty Case Seek Ruling Suspect Too Young



Lawyers for a man facing the federal death penalty on charges he kidnapped and 
then killed a Vermont woman in 2000 are asking a federal judge to rule out 
capital punishment in the case because of the age of the suspect when the 
alleged crime was committed.

The Rutland Herald reports the motion filed by the lawyers for Donald Fell said 
the question of whether Fell, who was 20 at the time, was too young had not 
been heard.

Fell, now 38, is facing a 2nd death penalty trial for the killing of 
53-year-old Terry King of North Clarendon who was abducted when she arrived for 
work in Rutland.

Fell was convicted and sentenced to death in 2005, but the case was thrown out 
in 2014 due to juror misconduct.

(source: Associated Press)