[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MASS., N.C., FLA., MISS., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

July 18



JULY 18, 2018:





TEXAS:

Texas executes man for 2004 slaying of store owner



A Texas prisoner was executed Tuesday evening for the fatal shooting of a San 
Antonio convenience store owner after courts turned down appeals that the state 
parole board improperly rejected the inmate's clemency request because he's 
black.

Christopher Young, 34, never denied the slaying, which was recorded on a store 
surveillance camera, but insisted he was drunk and didn't intend to kill 
53-year-old Hasmukh "Hash" Patel during an attempted robbery after drinking 
nearly 2 dozen beers and then doing cocaine that Sunday morning, Nov. 21, 2004.

Asked by the warden if he had a final statement, Young said he wanted to make 
sure his victim's family knew he loved them "like they love me."

"Make sure the kids in the world know I'm being executed and those kids I've 
been mentoring keep this fight going," he added.

As the lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital began taking effect, he twice 
used an obscenity to say he could taste it and that it was burning.

"I taste it in my throat," he said.

As he slipped into unconsciousness, he said something unintelligible and began 
taking shallow breaths. He stopped moving within about 30 seconds and was 
pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. CDT.

25 minutes had passed since he was first given the lethal drug.

Young became the 8th prisoner put to death this year in Texas, 1 more than all 
of 2017 in the nation's busiest capital punishment state.

Young's attorneys sued the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles after the panel 
last week rejected a clemency plea where they argued Young was "no longer the 
young man he was when he arrived" on death row, that he was "truly remorseful" 
and that Patel's son did not wish the execution to take place.

In their federal civil rights suit, Young's lawyers argued a white Texas 
inmate, Thomas Whitaker, received a rare commutation earlier this year as his 
execution was imminent for the slaying of his mother and brother. Young is 
black and race improperly "appears to be the driving force in this case," 
attorney David Dow said in the appeal that sought to delay the punishment.

A federal judge in Houston dismissed the lawsuit and refused to stop the 
execution, then hours later Tuesday the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals 
turned down an appeal of that ruling. Young's attorneys did not take the case 
to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stephen Hoffman, an assistant Texas attorney general, said the lawsuit was a 
delay tactic, improper, speculative and "legally and factually deficient."

Young and his lawyers argued he no longer was a Bloods street gang member, had 
matured in prison and hoped to show others "look where you can end up."

"I didn't know about death row," Young told The Associated Press recently from 
prison. "It needs to be talked about. You've got a whole new generation. You've 
got to stop this, not just executions but the crimes. Nobody's talking to these 
kids. I can't bring Hash back but I can do something to make sure there's no 
more Hashes."

According to court documents, Young sexually assaulted a woman in her apartment 
with her 3 young children present, then forced her to drive off with him in her 
car. She managed to escape, and records show he drove one block to the Mini 
Food Mart where owner Patel was shot. He was arrested 90 minutes later after 
picking up a prostitute and driving to a crack house where the stolen car was 
parked outside and spotted by San Antonio police.

>From prison, he denied the sexual assault, although court records said DNA 
tests confirmed the attack. He said he shot Patel in the hand and the bullet 
careened into Patel's chest, killing him. The surveillance camera recorded both 
video and audio of the shooting and two customers in the parking lot identified 
Young as the shooter.

Mitesh Patel, whose father was killed by Young, said he supported Young's 
clemency bid because "nothing positive comes from his execution" and carrying 
out the punishment would leave Young's three teenage daughters without a 
father.

The victim's son met privately with Young in prison Monday.

"I don't agree with the state's choice to execute him," he told the San Antonio 
Express-News after the meeting.

Young said the shooting stemmed from a dispute he believed involved the mother 
of 1 of his 3 children and the store owner. The woman, however, lied to him, he 
said.

"He was not a bad dude at all," Young said. "I was drunk. We knew the victim. 
The whole confrontation went wrong. I thought he was reaching for a gun and I 
shot."

Young said he excelled at chess and violin, cello and bass but "all that 
stopped" and he joined the Bloods when he was about 8 after his father was shot 
and killed in a robbery.

At least 7 other Texas inmates have execution dates in the coming months.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----35

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----553

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

36---------Sept. 12---------------Ruben Gutierrez---------554

37---------Sept. 26---------------Troy Clark--------------555

38---------Sept. 27---------------Daniel Acker------------556

49---------Oct. 10----------------Juan Segundo------------557

40---------Oct. 24----------------Kwame Rockwell----------558

41---------Nov. 7-----------------Emanuel Kemp------------559

44---------Dec. 4-----------------Joseph Garcia-----------560

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








MASSACHUSETTS:

MA Gov. Baker Calls for Death Penalty for Cop Killers, Raimondo Opposed



WBZ is reporting that Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker is once again 
calling for Massachusetts to pass legislation for the death penalty for those 
that kill police officers.

Speaking Monday at the State House about the death of Weymouth Police Officer 
Michael Chesna, Baker reiterated his belief that those who murder police should 
face execution. Chesna was shot this past weekend ten times.

"I've said before that I support the death penalty for people who kill police 
officers," Baker said, reports WBZ. "That's been my position for a long time, 
and it continues to be my position."

Baker made the same assertions after the death of Sgt. Sean Gannon on Cape Cod.

According to Mike Raia, Director of Communications for Governor Gina Raimondo, 
she opposes the death penalty for those that kill police officers. "Governor 
Raimondo does not support capital punishment," Raia told GoLocal on Tuesday 
night.

(source: golocalprov.com)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Civil rights group: NC death penalty cases rife with racial bias



Lawyers with a prominent national civil rights group told the state's highest 
court Tuesday that 4 black death-row inmates deserve the opportunity to 
challenge their sentences after prosecutors systemically excluded black jurors 
from their cases.

In a friend-of-the-court brief, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund 
cited statistical evidence of racial discrimination by Cumberland County 
prosecutors, who dismissed more than 1/2 of all eligible black jurors compared 
to a quarter of all others. This bias "unquestionably tainted" the sentencing 
process, lawyers argued.

"The continuing stain of racial discrimination not only invalidates the death 
sentences imposed on these defendants, but it also undermines public confidence 
in North Carolina???s judicial system as a whole," Jin Hee Lee, LDF senior 
deputy director of litigation, said in a press release. "The Court must be 
unequivocal in rejecting racial bias in North Carolina juries, especially in 
death penalty cases, by giving the defendants a chance to challenge the 
discrimination they faced."

A spokesperson for state Attorney General Josh Stein declined to comment 
Tuesday afternoon, citing pending litigation before the state Supreme Court.

The legal brief centers on the 4 separate cases of Marcus Robinson, Christina 
Walters, Tilmon Golphin and Quintel Augustine, convicted and sentenced to death 
in Cumberland County. Their appeals pinballed between North Carolina courts in 
the wake of the 2009 passage and the 2013 repeal of the Racial Justice Act, 
which allowed challenges to death-penalty sentences on claims of racial bias.

After seeing their death sentences flip to life without parole and back again, 
the defendants this year will argue their case before the state Supreme Court 
in State v. Robinson.

The LDF's amicus brief sides with the defendants, concluding that black North 
Carolina residents are "routinely and systemically excluded from capital juries 
because of their race."

North Carolina hasn't executed an inmate since August 2006, when Samuel Flippen 
was killed by lethal injection. Various legal disputes, including the Racial 
Justice Act, have prevented death sentences from being carried out since then.

Currently, 143 inmates are on North Carolina's death row.

(source: WRAL news)

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

Cumberland death row inmates take race bias claims to NC Supreme Court



4 death row inmates from some of the Fayetteville area's most-notorious 
homicides this week continued their years-long battle to avoid the death 
chamber.

Their lawyers filed motions with the North Carolina Supreme Court on Monday. 
They contend their constitutional rights against double-jeopardy were violated 
when their death sentences were reinstated in 2015 after a judge in 2012 
removed them from death row under the North Carolina Racial Justice Act.

Double-jeopardy is a legal concept the nation's founding fathers put into the 
Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to prevent the government from abusing 
its power over the people. It says a person can't be prosecuted more than once 
for the same crime if he's been acquitted.

The U.S. Supreme Court has interpreted the amendment to mean that once a person 
is cleared from a death sentence for a particular crime, the death sentence 
can't be reimposed later.

A spokeswoman for North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, whose office has 
been opposing the inmates' efforts, declined comment because the case is 
pending.

The 4 inmates are Marcus Reymond Robinson, Quintel Augustine, Christina Walters 
and Tilmon Golphin.

Robinson killed a teen in a robbery in 1991.

Augustine was convicted of killing a Fayetteville police officer in 2001. He 
contends he is factually innocent and was wrongly convicted.

Walters led a gang that randomly kidnapped and killed 2 women in 1998 in a gang 
initiation ritual.

Golphin and his brother killed a Cumberland County deputy and a state trooper 
in a traffic stop in 1997.

Juries sent all 4 inmates to death row.

Then in 2009, North Carolina passed its Racial Justice Act. The act said that 
if a death row inmate could produce evidence to persuade a judge that racism 
was a factor in his prosecution, conviction or sentence, he had to be removed 
from death row and resentenced to life in prison without parole.

Nearly every death row inmate in the state sought to use the law.

In 2012, lawyers for Robinson, Augustine, Walters and Golphin persuaded a 
Cumberland County judge that black jurors were illegally blocked from serving 
on their juries. The judge commuted their sentences.

The state appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court. That court in 2015 said 
the Cumberland County judge had made errors in how he conducted his Racial 
Justice Act hearings and the state deserved a new chance to make its case. The 
4 inmates were returned to death row.

And meantime, the legislature repealed the Racial Justice Act. The law had been 
highly controversial and attracted more criticism when these 4 inmates were 
removed from death row. These 4 are the only ones to come off death row under 
the Racial Justice Act.

When the 4 inmates tried to use the law to again be removed from death row, the 
judge said they couldn't.

So now they are back before the North Carolina Supreme Court.

The inmates have additional arguments that other rights under law and under the 
constitution were violated when their death sentences were reinstated.

Several organizations and individuals have filed briefs on behalf of the 
inmates, the N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty said in a 
news release that announced the inmates' latest effort.

These include the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People of 
North Carolina, the N.C. Association of Black Lawyers, the N.C. Council of 
Churches and the N.C. Advocates for Justice. A group of former prosecutors also 
filed a motion on behalf of the defendants.

Former Virginia Attorney General Mark Earley is among those prosecutors.

"Whatever one thinks of the death penalty, we should all agree that execution 
can never be an option when racial stereotypes are used to keep black citizens 
off capital juries. No civil right is more basic than this," he said in the 
news release.

(source: The Fayetteville Observer)








FLORIDA:

Accused cop-killer Markeith Loyd to get Miami lawyer he requested, judge 
decides



A judge in Orange County on Tuesday appointed Markeith Loyd the Miami-based 
defense attorney he asked for a year ago.

Terry Lenamon strongly opposes the death penalty and was once described in the 
Miami Herald the highest grossing private attorney handling capital murder 
cases for indigent clients in Florida.

Loyd is facing the death penalty in the killings of his pregnant ex-girlfriend, 
Sade Dixon, in December of 2016, and an Orlando police officer, Lt. Debra 
Clayton, in January 2017. The cases will go to trial separately.

Chief Judge Frederick Lauten last month dismissed Loyd's 1st lawyer, 
Orlando-based Roger Weeden, because of a technical issue with his death penalty 
qualifications.

As he has in the past, Loyd told Chief Judge Frederick Lauten his case is 
"exceptional."

"There's more that has to be done in my case, and we have waited a year and a 
half with an incompetent lawyer," Loyd said Tuesday. "He never did anything, he 
never did no investigations."

Defense attorney Ted Marrero will be staying on the case as co-chair. 
Defendants in death penalty cases typically have two attorneys because of the 
large workload.

"I expect that Mr. Loyd is happy to have Terry on board as well, so hopefully 
he'll be more inclined to communicate effectively with him," Marrero said. "I 
think it was very generous of the judge to keep his mind open, even though I 
know Mr. Loyd can sometimes be a little antagonistic in court with him. I think 
he [Loyd] perceives the entire system as being after him, and I'm not sure I 
can blame him after the beating that he took from law enforcement."

Officers who arrested Loyd after a manhunt in 2017 kicked his head, leaving him 
blind in 1 eye.

After his arrest Loyd said he wanted to represent himself. Then he changed his 
mind, saying he wanted Lenamon on his case.

Chief Judge Frederick Lauten said at the time that he was hesitant to appoint 
Lenamon. Loyd is entitled to an attorney, but because taxpayers are paying for 
his defense he cannot choose any attorney he wants, Lauten said last April.

With Loyd's approval Lauten appointed a local defense attorney, Weeden. Lenamon 
did some unpaid work on the case and put his own name on the roster of 
attorneys who can take capital cases in Orange and Osceola counties, which he 
was not on before, he said in court Tuesday.

After Lauten dismissed Weeden from the case last month, Loyd, 42, again said he 
wanted Lenamon on his case.

"[I] believe that the more somebody is hated, the more they need me as a 
lawyer," Lenamon said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel last year. He 
declined to comment after he was appointed Tuesday.

The trial for Dixon's killing is tentatively set for January, 2 years after her 
death. Her mother, Stephanie Dixon-Daniels, was in court Tuesday but declined 
to speak with reporters.

Lauten said he was concerned with bringing the case to trial in a timely 
manner.

Before that lawyers will have to talk to more than 100 witnesses - there are 
194 listed witnesses in Dixon and Clayton's cases. So far fewer than 30 have 
been interviewed by both sides, Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway said 
Tuesday.

"For me to say outright, unconditionally, that I would be ready - I think any 
lawyer under the ABA [American Bar Association] would be ineffective for saying 
that. There are a lot of things that come into play," Lenamon told Lauten 
Tuesday. "...We would make a great effort."

(source: Orlando Sentinel)

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

No cases removed from state attorney's office have ended in death sentences, 
yet----Gov. Scott removed cases from SA after she declined to pursue death 
penalty



When Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced last year that her 
office would not seek the death penalty, Gov. Rick Scott's reaction was swift: 
He reassigned 30 cases to neighboring State Attorney Brad King, along with more 
than a million dollars from Ayala's budget.

"If someone does a heinous crime, they ought to be prosecuted to the fullest 
extent of the law," Scott said.

Ayala sued Scott, claiming that the governor unconstitutionally deprived the 
"democratically elected" state attorney of her position by removing the cases. 
In a 5-2 opinion, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that Ayala's blanket 
prohibition against the death penalty provided the governor with "good and 
sufficient reason" to remove those cases from her office.

Of those cases transferred, four have made it through the judicial process and 
so far, not one has ended in a death sentence.

Earlier this month a jury found Darell Avant guilty of 1st-degree murder for 
killing his 5-year-old son. The jury recommended he be sentenced to life in 
prison instead of the death penalty.

In April, a jury found Sanel Saint-Simon guilty of killing his ex-girlfriend's 
16-year-old daughter Alexandria Chery. They recommended life in prison.

Florida statute requires juries be unanimous in seeking the death penalty, and 
2 of the 12 jurors voted for life. However, even a unanimous jury is no 
guarantee that the death penalty will be carried out.

In March, Larry Perry was convicted of killing his infant son. A jury 
unanimously recommended death for Perry, but he was granted a Spencer Hearing, 
which allows defendants to present evidence to change penalties. After the 
hearing, the judge sentenced Perry to life in prison.

Last month, Juan Rosario was convicted of murdering his 83-year-old neighbor, 
Elena Ortega. The jury recommended the death penalty, but Rosario was also 
granted a Spencer Hearing which is now scheduled for September.

The judge will have the final say.

News 6 legal analyst Steven Kramer said death penalty cases are costly to 
prosecute and require a lot of resources.

"If Brad King pursues the death penalty in virtually every one of these cases 
and is unsuccessful in having the death penalty imposed on any of these 
defendants, the optics on that are just not going to look right," Kramer said.

Kramer said some people may look at prosecuting death penalty cases and wonder 
if it was a waste of resources.

The last person to be sentenced to death in Orange County was Bessman Okafor in 
2015. However, because of a 2016 Supreme Court ruling that death sentences have 
to be unanimous, he will be resentenced later this year.

News 6 contacted Brad King's office for comment but did not hear back in time 
for this story.

(source: clickorlando.com)

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

Media seek Florida school shooting suspect's statement



Media organizations asked a judge Monday to order public release of much of 
Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz's statement to investigators after 
the Valentine's Day massacre that killed 17 people.

Attorneys for The Associated Press and other media outlets asked Broward 
Circuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer to allow disclosure of the statement under 
public records law. Attorneys for the 19-year-old Cruz wanted the entire 
statement suppressed, contending it would improperly influence jurors in his 
trial. The judge did not immediately rule.

Media lawyer Dana McElroy said the only portions that should be suppressed are 
any comments that appear to be a substantive confession, but not the entire 
statement. She said Florida's broad public records law requires that much of it 
be disclosed even in high-profile cases such as this.

"The coverage of this case will and should continue. It's important to the 
public and to everyone who's watching this case that all of the facts be 
reported," McElroy said. "There's a great public concern about how this case is 
handled."

Cruz faces the death penalty if convicted of the attack at Marjory Stoneman 
Douglas High School that also wounded 17 others. His attorneys say he would 
plead guilty in exchange for a life prison sentence, but prosecutors have 
rejected that offer.

Throughout the hearing, Cruz sat with his forehead resting face-down on the 
defense table. His 18-year-old brother, Zachary Cruz, attended the hearing but 
declined to speak with reporters.

Cruz attorney David Frankel urged Scherer to consider the impact of the 
wall-to-wall media coverage of the shooting before allowing the statement's 
release. Frankel said "98 %" of the statement contains some element of a 
confession and would make it impossible for Cruz to get a fair trial.

"The right of access is not absolute, but the right to a fair trial is," 
Frankel said. "This court's obligation is to go to whatever lengths are 
necessary to see he gets a fair trial."

One of the prosecutors, Assistant State Attorney Steven Klinger, said the 
statement has been thoroughly redacted and is ready for public release. Under 
Florida law, most evidence in a criminal case becomes public once prosecutors 
turn it over to the defense.

Cruz's lawyers also want to prevent public release of a 70-page report prepared 
by Broward County school officials about his educational record. Cruz had many 
documented behavioral problems and was eventually expelled from Stoneman 
Douglas, authorities have said. The report summarizes some 2,500 pages of 
Cruz's educational record.

"Those records are exempt from disclosure," said another Cruz lawyer, Melisa 
McNeill. "It's our position that the entire thing should not be released."

That argument is pending before a different judge who last week ruled she would 
inspect the 70-page educational report and then decide whether it will be made 
public.

The next status hearing in Cruz's criminal case is set for Aug. 15.

(source: Associated Press)








MISSISSIPPI:

Missouri appeal could delay Mississippi death penalty case



A Missouri appeal over whether lethal injection would violate the 
Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment could delay a Mississippi 
case over similar issues.

Lawyers for some death row inmates in Mississippi are asking a federal judge to 
postpone an August trial on Mississippi's death penalty procedures. They say 
state Attorney General Jim Hood doesn't oppose the delay.

The U.S. Supreme Court in April agreed to review the Missouri case.

Both it and the Mississippi case hinge on what an inmate must do to show an 
alternate execution method is available that would reduce risk of needless 
suffering.

If a judge agrees, no executions in Mississippi are likely until after the 
Missouri case is decided. Arguments are set for this fall, and a ruling might 
not come until 2019.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO----imminent execution

Execution of 'homosexual panic' murderer set for 10 a.m.



Convicted murderer Robert Van Hook will be executed by lethal injection at 10 
a.m. today - 33 years after he stabbed a man to death in a Cincinnati 
apartment.

He will be the 1st killer from Hamilton County to be executed in 7 years. He 
will be the 56th person put to death in Ohio since the death penalty resumed in 
the state in 1999.

The execution will take place at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in 
Lucasville.

Van Hook's victim, 25-year-old David Self, was found nearly disemboweled by his 
neighbor in Feb. 1985. The gaping wound in his torso revealed his internal 
organs and was stuffed with a cigarette butt and the murder weapon itself: a 
paring knife.

Van Hook arrived at Lucasville Tuesday morning and spent the day watching TV, 
sleeping, listening to music and talking to his family, according to Ohio 
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction spokeswoman JoEllen Smith.

He had a restless night, without much sleep. This morning he received communion 
and was witnessed performing a Buddhist chant with a friend.

A murder, a 'homosexual panic' argument

The night of the 1985 slaying Van Hook, then 25, met Self at Subway bar, a 
Downtown establishment popular among gay men. During the appeals process, Van 
Hook's defense team said "homosexual panic" may have prompted the killing.

However, Van Hook admitted to police he had been robbing gay men since he was 
15.

In 1985, he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A panel of the 3 Hamilton 
County judges found him guilty and sentenced him to death.

Van Hook, now 58, has exhausted his appeals. In May, the Ohio Parole Board 
voted against clemency for Van Hook. Gov. John Kasich rejected his plea for 
clemency without comment.

Ohioans to Stop Executions will gather at the Lucasville prison and in Columbus 
beginning at 9:30 a.m. Other protests are expected in Cleveland, Dayton, 
Euclid, Mansfield and Toledo.

"Our thoughts are with the family of David Self, the family of Robert Van Hook, 
and those tasked with carrying out another state-sanctioned execution," said 
Kevin Werner, executive director of the anti-death penalty group.

(source: cincinnati.com)

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

Deters: 'It's total nonsense' to hold resentencing for serial killer Anthony 
Kirkland



"It's total nonsense," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said Tuesday, that 
he'll be relitigating the case of serial killer Anthony Kirkland beginning July 
23. To him, the death sentence Judge Charles J. Kubicki handed down March 31, 
2010, is an appropriate punishment for a "monster" -- and the remark Deters 
himself made to prompt the imminent resentencing hearing was an appropriate 
comment to the jury.

He might even say it again.

"Frankly, I think he is a monster," Deters said. "He killed 5 girls, 2 of which 
were 13 and 14 years old respectively, and if the death penalty is not 
applicable to Anthony Kirkland, I don't know who the person would be that 
should get it."

The case touches a personal nerve for Deters: His daughter was the same age as 
Esme Kenney in 2009, when police discovered the 13-year-old performing arts 
student's body in a wooded area near her home. Kenney had been raped, strangled 
and set on fire after leaving home for what her mother believed would be a 
short jog around the nearby water tower.

Police found Kirkland less than 100 yards away with her iPod and purple watch 
in his hands. Hours after his arrest, he would confess to killing her as well 
as 3 other women found dead in similar states: 14-year-old Casonya Crawford, 
45-year-old Mary Jo Newton and 25-year-old Kimya Rolison, all killed in 2006. 
He had previously been imprisoned for 16 years after killing and burning his 
girlfriend, Leola Davis, in 1987.

He received a sentence of life in prison for Newton and Rolison's murders in 
2010. Deters said defense attorneys argued that ought to be enough for the case 
of Kenney and Crawford the same year. He deserved a life sentence, which he had 
already received; he did not, they said, deserve to die.

Deters responded: "So I guess Casonya and Esme are just freebies for him?"

Jurors recommended a death sentence, and Judge Charles J. Kubicki agreed. 
However, Deters' closing comment became an element of Kirkland's case for 
appeal.

Citing the 2015 case of Hurst v. Florida, in which the United States Supreme 
Court said Timothy Hurst's death sentence was issued in a way that violated his 
Sixth Amendment right to due process, Kirkland's attorneys argued Deters' 
prosecution had been prejudicial and inappropriate in a way that violated his 
right to a fair trial.

4 of Ohio's 7 Supreme Court justices agreed and granted Kirkland a resentencing 
hearing.

(source: WCPO news)