[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., NEB., NEV., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 27



OKLAHOMA:

Coalition and Supporters to Hold "Free Julius Jones" Rally at State Capital


The Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and supporters of Oklahoma 
death row inmate Julius Darius Jones will hold a peaceful and non-violent "Free 
Julius Jones" rally on the South Plaza of the Oklahoma State Capitol on 
Tuesday, July 31 at 6:30 p.m. They believe that Jones has been wrongfully 
convicted of a crime he did not commit.

Speakers will include members of Julius Jones' family.

In 1999, Julius, an African American resident of Oklahoma City, was arrested 
days after a Caucasian businessman was shot to death in Edmond, OK. At the time 
of his arrest, Julius was a successful 19-year-old athlete on scholarship at 
the University of Oklahoma.

Jones, who turned 38 this week, has spent 18 years on Oklahoma's death row.

Recently, the ABC documentary, "The Last Defense," executive produced by 
Academy Award winning actress Viola Davis, gave the Julius Jones case national 
attention by spotlighting serious flaws in the American justice system - and in 
particular the high rate of exonerated death row inmates. There have been 156 
exonerations from death row in the United States - 10 in Oklahoma.

Jones' current attorneys, Federal Public Defenders Dale Baich and Amanda Bass, 
featured in the docu-series, believe Jones was wrongfully convicted and now 
have new evidence that they hope will cause the State to grant Jones a new 
trial.

"The Last Defense explores police and prosecutorial misconduct in the Jones' 
case, racism in the criminal justice system, as well as during Julius's 
criminal proceedings," Baich said.

Jones has consistently maintained his innocence.

"Basically, the motive of this rally is to continue the momentum of the 
exposure of the ABC documentary The Last Defense and to get Julius a new trial 
and ultimately exonerated," said rally organizer Jimmy Lawson, and longtime 
close friend to Julius.

Rev. Don Heath, OK-CADP chair, said, "The Last Defense has finally allowed 
Julius to tell his story and present it to a broad audience, and it is very 
disturbing. Julius admits that he is not a saint, but he insists that he is not 
a murderer. He was convicted largely on the testimony of 3 informants, who were 
rewarded by having their jail time reduced and their charges dismissed."

The City Sentinel recently broke the news that the Oklahoma Court of Criminal 
Appeals (OCCA) has decided to take a fresh look at some questions raised by 
Jones' attorneys earlier this year of racial bias on the Oklahoma County jury 
that convicted Jones of murder in 1999.

Court documents state, "newly discovered evidence establishes that racial 
prejudice influenced the decision of at least 1 juror to convict Mr. Jones and 
sentence him to death in violation of his rights under the Sixth, Eighth and 
Fourteenth Amendments."

The judges also concluded (Case #PCD-2017-1313) they could not ignore court 
mismanagement of exhibits earlier this year.

T-shirts with original art by Julius Jones will be available for purchase at 
the rally. Attendees are encouraged to bring signs.

Learn more at the Free Julius Jones Rally event page.

The Last Defense episodes examining Jones' case can be watched online. For more 
information, visit OKCADP.org and JusticeforJulius,com.

(source: The City Sentinel)






NEBRASKA:

Killer of 4 in Omaha will learn sentence in September


A former doctor convicted of killing 4 people connected to an Omaha medical 
school will learn his fate in a few weeks: life in prison or the death penalty.

On Tuesday, Judge Gary Randall set the sentencing of Anthony Garcia for Sept. 
14 in Douglas County District Court in Omaha. A 3-judge panel last month heard 
arguments about the sentence options.

Garcia, of Terre Haute, Indiana, was convicted of fatally stabbing 11-year-old 
Thomas Hunter, son of Creighton University School of Medicine faculty member 
William Hunter, and the family's housekeeper, 57-year-old Shirlee Sherman, in 
2008.

Garcia also was found guilty of 2 other killings in a separate incident 5 years 
later, the 2013 Mother's Day deaths of another Creighton pathology doctor, 
Roger Brumback, and his wife, Mary, in their Omaha home.

Prosecutors say Garcia blamed Hunter and Brumback for his 2001 firing from 
Creighton's pathology residency program.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)






NEVADA:

Nevada argues broad US effect of drugmaker execution delay


A court-ordered delay of Nevada's 1st execution in 12 years over a drug 
company's bid to block the use of its product could have a ripple effect in the 
other 30 states that allow capital punishment, experts said Thursday.

"The Nevada case could stall executions in other states if other companies and 
organizations follow Alvogen's lead," said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University 
law professor who studies death penalty.

Denno referred to a lawsuit filed last week in Las Vegas by New Jersey-based 
pharmaceutical firm Alvogen that stopped Scott Raymond Dozier's scheduled 
execution July 11.

Nevada's Attorney General Adam Laxalt's office on Wednesday raised the specter 
of syringe, intravenous equipment and even latex glove manufacturers mounting 
courthouse bids to block executions to protect company reputations and avoid 
criticism in an era of sharp public debate about executing inmates.

"Why not, for instance, the chef of the inmate's last meal? It's easy to see 
where this road leads," state Deputy Solicitor General Jordan T. Smith wrote in 
a 64-page appeal filed with the state Supreme Court.

The state is expected to also seek an expedited hearing.

The document revealed the Nevada Department of Corrections would have kept the 
Alvogen name secret, but was forced to disclose it after the American Civil 
Liberties Union of Nevada filed a hurried public records lawsuit.

Alvogen spokesman Halldor Kristmannsson declined to comment Thursday.

The court filing states the difficulty the state had obtaining drugs for an 
execution and asks justices to overrule Clark County District Court Judge 
Elizabeth Gonzalez's temporary order banning the state from using the Alvogen 
drug midazolam for a lethal injection.

"Without midazolam, NDOC no longer had (or has) the means to carry out the 
execution," the appeal said.

It noted that Gonzalez was deciding whether the company had a legal right "to 
decide not to do business with someone, including the government, especially if 
there's a fear of misuse of their product."

It acknowledged that Gonzalez concluded there was a reasonable probability that 
Alvogen would "suffer irreparable damages, including damages to its business 
reputation" if its drug was used in an execution.

But it said the judge's ruling "will not only prevent the execution of Dozier 
... it will also open the floodgates for yet another nationwide wave of death 
penalty litigation that will stall capital sentences indefinitely."

The state argues it didn't do business with Alvogen, but got the drug from a 
3rd party, its usual prisons pharmaceutical supplier, Cardinal Health.

Cardinal Health officials did not respond to messages Thursday.

"Neither the state nor the 3rd-party distributor needed an elaborate ruse or 
'subterfuge' to evade supposed manufacturer sale 'control,'" the court filing 
said. "No controls existed, despite the manufacturer's public relations 
comments to the contrary."

Manufacturers "do not retain a property interest in products that their 
distributors resell," the document declared, "and they cannot sue states to 
recover lawfully purchased drugs."

Robert Dunham, at the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, D.C., 
characterized the court fight as "a property dispute with life at stake."

"This is not a stay of execution," Dunham said. "It's a temporary restraining 
order on the use of the drug. The fact that it stops the execution is 
secondary."

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Monterey County DA to pursue death penalty against man charged with 1998 murder 
of 13-year-old girl


The Monterey County District Attorney's Office revealed in a court proceeding 
Wednesday it will pursue the death penalty against Charles Holifield, who faces 
1st-degree murder charges in the 1998 kidnapping and death of 13-year-old 
Christina Williams.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Berkley Brannon said he couldn't get into the 
facts of the case, while explaining the DA's Office takes multiple factors into 
consideration before making the decision to pursue the death penalty.

"We consider his prior record and we consider the circumstances of this 
offense, we consider any mitigating evidence, the defense came and made a 
presentation to us - we considered that," he said.

Holifield, 57, faces charges of kidnapping and lewd acts on a child, in 
addition to 1st-degree murder. He is currently serving a 3rd-strike sentence of 
25 years to life in prison for kidnapping and making criminal threats against a 
woman in September 1998. He is serving his time at the state prison 
Correctional Training Facility in Soledad. Holifield was convicted of raping 2 
teenage girls, and he was suspected of raping a 3rd, between 1979 and 1983. He 
was convicted for an assault with intent to commit rape charge from 1980. All 
of the attacks took place on Fort Ord.

District Attorney Dean Flippo is tasked with making the decision of pursuing 
capital punishment in eligible cases. Brannon said Flippo met with the 
prosecutors handling the case and the DA's Office investigators to make his 
decision.

"We make a determination at this point whether we think the death penalty is 
warranted, meaning does he deserve the death penalty, and the determination by 
the district attorney is that yes, he does deserve it," Brannon said.

Holifield will return to court Aug. 22 for trial setting. Brannon said the 
trial likely will not take place until next year.

"These cases take a long time to prepare," he said. "I'm sure the defense will 
give us an idea of when they want to go to trial and the court will consider 
that and set a date."

Judge Pamela Butler will preside over the trial. Jeremy Dzubay of the Public 
Defender's Office is representing Holifield.

Christina, a Fitch Middle School student, vanished about 7:40 p.m. June 12, 
1998, while walking her dog near her home on Fort Ord. Her mother spotted the 
dog walking alone with the leash still attached within 45 minutes. Despite 
massive searches of the area, it was not until 7 months later that a plant 
surveyor stumbled upon Christina's remains on property near Imjin Road.

The District Attorney's Office filed charges against Holifield in April 2017 
after a match was made on DNA extracted by the Justice Department. A Monterey 
County cold case team requested items of physical evidence be retested after 
looking for new leads and re-examining crime scene evidence in 2016.

(source: mercurynews.com)






USA:

Hazelton inmates want death penalty option off the table----Senior U.S. 
District Judge Irene M. Keeley has scheduled a hearing Wednesday in a death 
penalty case involving a homicide at U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton.

The lawyers for 2 inmates facing prosecution in a 2012 U.S. Penitentiary 
Hazelton homicide want the court to rule out the death penalty, citing speedy 
trial rights and insufficient time to prepare.

Senior U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley had scheduled a hearing for Thursday 
afternoon on the motion.

There's no way the defense could be ready for trial within 3 months of the 
government signaling a death penalty prosecution, the motion argues. Defendants 
Michael A. Owle, 29, of Cherokee, N.C., and Ruben Laurel, 39, of San Antonio, 
are scheduled for trial beginning Aug. 20, by order of a federal magistrate 
judge.

Owle and Laurel were indicted May 1, and the government gave notice of its 
intent to seek the death penalty May 2. The initial scheduling order set a 
discovery deadline June 21, ordered motions filed by July 5, responses by July 
12, set a motion hearing July 19, and established the late August trial date.

None of those dates was reasonable, according to the defense motion. The filing 
cited a study from the Federal Death Penalty Resource Counsel Project 
contending the average time between filing of a notice of intent to seek the 
death penalty and the trial date is about 20.4 months.

The defense lawyers, however, also insist their clients are due a speedy trial 
Aug. 20. The motion references, among other things, the amount of time the 
defendants had the possibility of a death penalty prosecution hanging over 
their heads.

The answer, the defense lawyers argue, is for Keeley to bar the death penalty 
from the trial, and allow it to go forward as a standard criminal trial.

The government agrees a continuance is in order due to the complexity of the 
case.

The government's lawyers contend, however, that they filed the death penalty 
notice as soon as possible, a day after the indictment, and that it isn't their 
fault that the trial date was set Aug. 20.

Because of that, they assert the court would be in error to bar a death penalty 
prosecution of Owle and Laurel.

The defense motion points out that the homicide occurred almost 6 years prior 
to U.S. Attorney Bill Powell's office filing the death notice after being 
directed to do so by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The defense attorneys admit they're "privy to the details of the 
decision-making information of the Department of Justice."

Still, "based upon the reception of the defense arguments against seeking death 
presented during both a meeting with the local U.S. Attorney's office and 
before the Capital Case Committee, it is believed that the Attorney General's 
decision to seek death in this matter was not only a surprise to the defense 
but also to the U.S. Attorney's office," the defense motion asserts.

Owle and Laurel are accused in the Aug. 29, 2012, homicide of fellow Hazelton 
inmate Anthony Morris Dallas.

Laurel and Owle are charged with one count each of first-degree murder and one 
count of assault with a dangerous weapon. Another inmate also was stabbed.

Dallas, who was 31 at the time of his death, was serving a total sentence of 55 
years imposed in 2004 by Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker.

Dallas' crimes: The 2nd-degree murder Feb. 21, 2003, of Alfred Jake on the 
Navajo Reservation in McKinley County, New Mexico, as well as using, carrying 
and possessing a firearm (a Remington .243) in connection with that crime.

Laurel has been serving a lengthy sentence (294 months) for being part of a 
cocaine distribution conspiracy in Tennessee involving more than 5 kilograms of 
cocaine. Laurel also has gotten in trouble behind bars for committing assault 
with serious injury, which added more time to his sentence; possessing weapons; 
using drugs or alcohol; and destroying property, according to court records.

Owle's crimes include robbery by force or violence and using, carrying and 
discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, May 26, 2008, on the Eastern 
Band of Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina. Owle also has gotten 
into trouble behind bars previously for assaulting a corrections officer and 
another inmate, and is serving a lengthy sentence.

The notice to seek the death penalty includes factors that allege Owle and 
Laurel acted with intent against their victim and that their intentional acts 
of violence resulted in the victim's death.

The notice alleges Owle and Laurel committed the crime after substantial 
planning and premeditation to cause death, and committed the offense in an 
especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner.

Both men have previously been convicted of 2 or more felonies.

Owle is represented by attorneys Jay McCamic of McCamic, Sacco & McCoid PLLC in 
Wheeling, John Tinney Jr. of Charleston law firm Hendrickson & Long, and Las 
Vegas federal public defenders Brenda Weksler and Ryan Norwood.

Laurel is represented by attorneys Gary Collias of Charleston and Gary Proctor 
of Baltimore.

The government's lawyers are assistant U.S. attorneys Stephen Vogrin and Robert 
H. McWilliams Jr., and Department of Justice Capital Case Section attorney 
Robert J. Feitel, from Washington.

Laurel is a prisoner at the high-security federal penitentiary Coleman II in 
Sumterville, Florida. Laurel's current release date is July 22, 2027.

Owle, who has pleaded innocent and is presumed innocent unless convicted, has 
been moved from the administrative maximum-security penitentiary Florence Admax 
in Florence, Colo., to high-security U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton. He has a 
release date of Jan. 15, 2033.

(source: The Preston County (W. Va.)News Journal)