[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MASS., FLA., ALA., OHIO, ARK., MONT., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 7



TEXAS:

Attorneys attempt to get Andre Thomas another appeal



Editor's note: This article contains graphic descriptions of crimes.

Attorney Catherine M.A. Carroll spent about 30 minutes Tuesday attempting to 
get convicted murder Andre Thomas the right to an appeal before the entire 
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.

If Carroll's argument succeeds, she and other attorneys working for Thomas 
could get another shot at making the court see Thomas as a man too mentally ill 
to execute. If she fails, Thomas could move one step closer to getting an 
execution date.

Thomas' trek through the ups and downs of death penalty litigation began in the 
spring of 2004 when he broke down the door of the apartment of his wife Laura 
Boren and fatally stabbed her, her infant daughter Leyha Hughes, and Andre Jr., 
the 4-year-old son she had with Thomas. After killing the 3, Thomas ripped 
organs out of each of the bodies to take with him. He then stabbed himself 
several times before he returned to his own home and talked with family and 
friends about what had done.

Thomas then turned himself in at the Sherman Police Department.

5 days later, Thomas, by then charged with capital murder, pulled out his own 
right eye. Despite that and this attorneys' arguments that Thomas was insane at 
the time of the murders, he was convicted of capital murder in the death of 
Leyha, and sent to Texas' death row.

In December 2008, Thomas pulled out his left eyeball and ate it.

Thomas is currently incarcerated at the Jester IV Unit in Richmond.

One of the trial attorneys who represented Thomas in the state capital case, 
Bobbie Peterson Cate, said she hopes the oral arguments Tuesday result in 
either a full appeal for Thomas or the commutation of his sentence to one of 
life in prison without parole based on his mental illness. She said she thinks 
he should spend the rest of his life in a mental hospital.

Thomas' other state trial attorney, R.J. Hagood, died in 2010.

The way Hagood and Cate handled the case makes up a large part of the appeal 
that Carroll supported with arguments on Tuesday. A Texas Monthly article, "Is 
Andre Thomas Too Crazy to Be Executed?" says his lawyers will argue Thomas 
didn't know right from wrong when he committed the murders and the jury that 
sentenced him to death row was racially biased based on the fact that 3 jurors 
said they didn't agree with interracial marriages like the one Thomas and Boren 
shared.

The article also said the appeal claims that Cate and Hagood "were 
constitutionally ineffective, failing to fight the change in his competency 
ruling, failing to keep the anti-mixed-marriage jurors off the jury, and 
failing to compile much evidence about Thomas' mental illness and hard-luck 
upbringing at the punishment phase of his trial."

But more than that Thomas' appellate lawyers are asking the court to end the 
use of the death penalty as punishment for the mentally ill, "arguing that the 
constitutionality accepted justifications for capital punishment - retribution 
and deterrence - don't work for the mentally ill and their diminished moral 
culpability."

The state has argued in most all of its filings that Thomas' most recent 
appeals are actually a second attempt at habeas corpus relief. They argue that 
Thomas might be crazy but that crazy is not insane by Texas law and that the 
courts have not extended protection from execution to the mentally ill. The 
state also argues that much of Thomas' behavior was brought on by his own 
choices to abuse substances from marijuana to cold medicine from an early age.

(source: Sherman Herald Democrat)

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

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals upholds death sentence for Bobby Moore, 
rejecting claim of intellectual disability----After the U.S. Supreme Court 
rejected Texas' method for determining intellectual disability in Moore's death 
penalty case last year, the Texas court decided on Wednesday to change its 
standards, but said Moore still didn't qualify.



The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has upheld the death sentence of Bobby 
Moore in a case over the definition of intellectual disability - despite pleas 
from both Moore and the prosecution to change his sentence to life in prison.

More than a year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down Texas' method of 
determining intellectual disability for death-sentenced inmates in Moore's 
case, ruling it used outdated medical standards and rules invented by elected 
judges without any authority. In a 4-3 ruling on Wednesday, the Texas Court of 
Criminal Appeals accepted the use of current medical standards to determine 
intellectual disability but said Moore still fails to qualify - making him 
eligible for execution.

Moore was sentenced to death nearly 38 years ago, 3 months after he walked into 
a Houston supermarket with 2 other men and fatally shot James McCarble, the 
73-year-old clerk behind the counter, according to court documents.

The recent fight over his mental deficiencies began after a lower Texas court 
ruled in 2014 that Moore was intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible 
for execution, basing its decision on current medical standards. The Court of 
Criminal Appeals overturned that ruling using its own test, which the Supreme 
Court later invalidated, sending the case back to Texas.

The Texas test created by the court included questioning whether a neighbor or 
family member would consider the person disabled, the person's ability to lie 
and the planning involved in the murder.

In a new evaluation using the current medical framework, the majority of the 
Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that Moore still did not show enough adaptive 
deficits to qualify as intellectually disabled, citing the fact that he learned 
to read and write in prison and buy items from commissary - the prison's store. 
The Supreme Court had warned against using strengths gained in a controlled 
environment like prison, but the Texas court said some of Moore's deficits were 
due to the "lack of opportunity to learn," according to the opinion written by 
Presiding Judge Sharon Keller.

The court's opinion also noted that before the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that 
people with intellectual disabilities were exempt from execution, Moore had 
claimed in court that he did not have a disability and that his difficulties 
were due to an abusive childhood and his lack of learning opportunities.

In a 67-page dissent, death-penalty critic Judge Elsa Alcala, joined by Judges 
Bert Richardson and Scott Walker, said the court's majority erred in its use of 
the current medical standards, and that Moore is intellectually disabled. 
Alcala said the court disregarded the standards by improperly weighing Moore's 
strengths against his deficits in his adaptive functioning and put too much 
weight on his progress in a controlled death row environment.

She cited the decision by the lower Texas court that held a live hearing on the 
issue, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg's request for a change of 
sentence based on Moore's deficiencies, and many observations in the Supreme 
Court ruling that appeared to agree Moore was disabled.

"I'm in good company in reaching this conclusion," Alcala wrote. "There is only 
1 outlier in this group that concludes that applicant is ineligible for 
execution due to his intellectual disability, but unfortunately for applicant, 
at this juncture, it is the only one that matters."

In court, it has been shown that Moore lacked understanding of days of the week 
at 13 and struggled to tell time or do basic math. He dropped out of school 
after failing every subject in 9th grade, according to the Supreme Court 
ruling. Though it hasn't changed his sentence, the Supreme Court ruling in 
Moore's case has had repercussions throughout Texas. At least two men on death 
row had their sentences changed to life in prison after the ruling, and on 
Tuesday, the Court of Criminal Appeals halted an execution set for June 21 
because of the Moore case. The judges sent the case of Clifton Williams back to 
a lower court to look into claims of intellectual disability given the Supreme 
Court ruling.

Though Moore will remain on the row in solitary confinement, it seems unlikely 
he will get an execution date set while Ogg is in office. Execution dates are 
set by convicting county courts after appeals have been exhausted, usually 
prompted by the district attorney's office. And Ogg asked the Court of Criminal 
Appeals to change Moore's sentence to life in prison last November, agreeing 
that he was intellectually disabled.

Ogg's office said Wednesday morning it was preparing a statement, but did not 
immediately have a response to questions.

(source: Texas Tribune)

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

Court upholds death sentence for Harris County death row inmate Bobby Moore



Harris County killer Bobby Moore - the man whose claims of intellectual 
disability sparked a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision - is set to stay on 
Texas death row after an appeals court on Wednesday ignored the district 
attorney's request and upheld his death sentence.

The high-profile case made waves in 2017 when the nation's highest court 
decided that Texas didn't properly consider whether the former carpenter was 
too intellectually disabled to face execution. The 5-3 ruling booted Moore's 
case back to a lower court, where prosecutors asked for a life sentence.

"I'm doing what I believe the law requires," District Attorney Kim Ogg said in 
a statement at the time. "The nation's highest court has ruled that 
intellectually disabled persons can't be subject to the death penalty."

But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals didn't agree.

(source: Houston Chronicle)








MASSACHUSETTS:

Here's What Massachusetts' Moderate GOP Governor Has in Common With 
Trump----"Republicans may forgive him on other matters if he pursues the death 
penalty."



On April 12, Sean Gannon, a Yarmouth, Massachusetts, police officer went to 
serve Thomas Latanowich with a warrant for his arrest for a parole violation. 
While attempting to enter the room the suspect was in, Gannon was shot in the 
head and almost immediately died. The next day, Latanowich, who has a lengthy 
criminal rap sheet, was arrested and pleaded not guilty to murder.

While Gannon's family, friends, and fellow officers mourned his death, 
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, seized the opportunity to renew calls for the 
death penalty for people who kill cops.

"I just can't think of anybody else who - literally every single day - puts 
themselves in a position where they're vulnerable to this sort of thing," Baker 
said in May about Gannon's death. "They deal with people who in many cases 
don't care, and that bothers me."

As a popular governor in a liberal state, where executions have been banned 
since 1984, his position might seem to be unusual. But it's not. "I am not 
surprised to see Charlie Baker to go after the death penalty for cop killers," 
explains Mary Anne Marsh, a Democratic political strategist. "Certain 
Republicans may forgive him on other matters if he pursues the death penalty."

Gov. Baker has enjoyed astronomical favorability ratings. In January, polling 
done by WBUR, a Boston radio station, found that 74 % of voters approve of the 
job he's doing. This is especially significant given that Massachusetts is 
considered to be a liberal stronghold, even though in the last 27 years, there 
has been only one Democratic governor - Deval Patrick who served 2 terms from 
2007 to 2015.

Nonetheless, Donald Trump earned 33 % of the Massachusetts' vote in the 2016 
election, so despite his personal popularity, Baker's reelection campaign must 
maintain traditional Republican support. With this support of the death 
penalty, Baker, who has positioned himself as a social liberal - he supports 
gay rights and is pro-choice - offers conservative voters some red meat. "This 
is a way to appease the flank of the Republican party who would maybe skip the 
governor's race," Marsh says.

Right now, Baker faces no real challenge in the primary, which will be held in 
September. Early polling shows the governor beating Democrat Jay Gonzalez by a 
landslide. As a moderate Republican governor in a blue state, Baker has had to 
carefully toe the line in dealing with President Trump. After Trump referred to 
Haiti and African countries as "shitholes" in January, Baker said the president 
should apologize. However, on the subject of sanctuary cities - localities that 
limit cooperation with federal immigration officers and turn over undocumented 
immigrants - which are widely criticized by the Trump administration, Baker 
punted, saying it was a decision best left to local leaders. There are several 
such cities in Massachusetts, including Boston, Amherst, and Cambridge.

But his call for death for people who kill police officers is straight from the 
Trump playbook. "The Trump administration has a policy and it's very clear: We 
will protect those who protect us." Trump said at the National Peace Officers' 
Memorial Service last month. He added, "we believe criminals who kill our 
police should get the death penalty - bring it forth."

Baker agreed. "It's so hard for me to think of [jobs] where people, literally 
every day, potentially walk into a life-threatening situation where someone can 
just take them out in what would seem to be the most routine circumstance of 
that particular job," Baker said during a radio interview on a local Boston 
station in May. "For that reason and that reason only, I believe that for 
people who take these people out, they deserve to be held to a very high 
standard, and for me, that standard would be death."

His plan would reverse decades of existing policy. The last execution in 
Massachusetts took place in 1947, when 2 men were electrocuted for the murder 
of Robert William. In 1972, the US Supreme Court ruled in Furman v. Georgia 
that the death penalty was unconstitutional, but 4 years later the high court 
reversed itself, ruling in Gregg v. Georgia that capital punishment was 
constitutionally sound. In 1982, Massachusetts voters voted to reinstate the 
death penalty, but before anyone could be executed, a state court ruled that 
the new capital punishment law was unconstitutional just 2 years later.

Today, Marsh says, the overwhelmingly blue Massachusetts legislature "would 
never let him bring back the death penalty, but the vote would be closer than 
people think." Death penalty support runs high in communities with police 
officers and Republican lawmakers.

"Massachusetts has a reputation for being soft on crime and unfortunately that 
hurts our public safety," said Republican state Rep. Shaunna O'Connell shortly 
after Officer Gannon was killed. "We need to send a message to criminals that 
'you kill law enforcement officers you are going to get the death penalty.'"

In raising this as an issue, Baker has awakened the call for capital punishment 
for cop killers among others. O'Connell says she would support legislation that 
reinstates capital punishment. Boston Police Commissioner William Evans weighed 
in last month, telling Boston Herald Radio that while he has "mixed emotions" 
and isn't a "big supporter" of the death penalty in general, "we have to 
protect our cops and have it." There is no evidence that the death penalty 
deters crime, however, and states without capital punishment have lower murder 
rates.

Support for the death penalty nationwide remains low and Massachusetts is no 
exception. A 2015 Boston Globe poll found that only 30 % of the state's 
residents supported capital punishment. Even in the highly emotional case of 
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston Marathon bombers, only 18 % of those 
surveyed said he deserved to be put to death.

Over the last decade, several attempts to revive executions have failed. 
Harriette Chandler, the president of the Massachusetts Senate doesn't think 
capital punishment will be returning to the state. "I am personally opposed to 
the death penalty," she said, "and I do not foresee Massachusetts reinstating 
capital punishment.

But even with widespread disapproval of the death penalty, Marsh has a simple 
explanation for Baker's calls to bring executions back to the state: "This is 
one of several tactics to keep the 33 % of Trump voters happy."

(source: Mother Jones)








FLORIDA:

Appeals court: State can't seek death penalty in 2017 Boca Raton murder



An appellate court Wednesday upheld a judge's decision barring Palm Beach 
County prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against a 28-year-old man 
because of a missed filing deadline in a case where he is charged with killing 
a man who helped send him to jail.

In a 12-page ruling, Florida's 4th District Court of Appeal denied a request to 
overturn the December decision from Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes, which came 
after an attorney for Tashane Chantiloupe argued state prosecutors had missed 
the 45-day deadline after Chantiloupe's August arraignment to announce they 
intended to seek a death sentence against him for the May 2017 murder of 
Augustus "Gus" Byam in Boca Raton.

Statements Byam made to police in 2016 had led to Chantiloupe's May 2016 arrest 
in the attempted murder of another man. Court records show prosecutors allowed 
him to plead guilty to an aggravated battery charge in November of that year in 
exchange for a sentence that allowed him to go free a month before Byam's 
death.

Chantiloupe was arrested and arraigned in connection with Byam's shooting death 
in August, but in late October, Assistant Public Defender Joseph Walsh asked 
Kastrenakes to bar prosecutors from seeking a death sentence. In his request, 
he said 56 days had passed from the time of the arraignment.

Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts filed the death penalty notice 
three days later and asked Kastrenakes to deny Walsh's request.

The judge ultimately ruled that he had no discretion in the matter. But even if 
he did, he ruled, he would keep prosecutors from seeking the death penalty 
because McRoberts "failed to allege a good faith delay, excusable neglect, or 
any other circumstances" to justify the missed deadline.

The higher court concluded that although Kastrenakes did, in fact, have the 
legal right to extend the deadline if he wanted, he had not acted unlawfully by 
deciding against it, either.

"Because it sought to enlarge a lapsed deadline, the State needed to establish 
both good cause and excusable neglect," 4th District Court of Appeal Judge 
Jeffrey Kuntz wrote in the ruling released Wednesday.

Kuntz, agreeing with Kastrenakes, wrote that McRoberts failed to do that, both 
in a 4-paragraph initial objection to Walsh's request and a later 5-page 
petition to the judge.

In a separate case, prosecutors last month announced that they would no longer 
seek the death penalty in the case of Lajayvian Daniels. Daniels, 24, is 
accused of shooting Wellington gas station clerk Shihab Mahmud in May 2014. The 
shooting at the time was the 1st in more than 4 years in the village.

Court records in that case show Assistant State Attorney Jill Richstone filed 
the notice to seek the death penalty less than a month after Daniels waived his 
September 2015 arraignment, but in a short memo on May 8 she told Circuit Judge 
Samantha Schosberg Feuer that prosecutors would no longer be seeking a death 
sentence. The announcement offered no reason for the change in course.

(source: Palm Beach Post)

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

Death row inmate up for re-sentencing in brutal murder says he wants to be 
executed



Death row inmate Jonathan Lawrence has a chance to avoid execution for the 
murder of Jennifer Robinson - a victim who he and a co-defendant killed and 
mutilated in 1998 - but he has said he wants to die.

Lawrence, 43, has been on death row since 2000, when a Santa Rosa County jury 
convicted him of murder and recommended 11-1 that he should be sentenced to 
death. Now, a judge will decide whether to uphold the death sentence or instead 
sentence Lawrence to life in prison.

In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled death penalty recommendations that are 
not unanimous are unconstitutional, and since then, numerous death penalty 
cases have returned to local courts for re-sentencing. In those cases, the 
defendants' guilty convictions remain but a jury or judge is tasked with 
deciding whether that person should remain on death row or serve a life 
sentence.

What happened?

Lawrence and his co-defendant, Jeremiah Rodgers, 41, killed Robinson in 1998 at 
the culmination of a 2-month crime spree in Santa Rosa County. Another man, 
Lawrence's cousin Justin Livingston, was killed and a third victim, Leighton 
Smitherman, was shot, during the spree. Lawrence was sentenced to life in 
prison for Livingston's murder and 8.5 years for the non-fatal shooting of 
Smitherman.

Both Rodgers and Lawrence are on death row for Robinson's murder. The men 
brutally mutilated the woman's body after death and cut off her calf muscle and 
stored it in a freezer.

Lawrence's case returned to Santa Rosa County Court on Monday for a re-hearing 
of the penalty phase, but it was halted to allow for a court-appointed attorney 
to begin gathering mitigating evidence.

How are death penalty cases decided?

Death penalty cases are divided into 2 parts - the guilt phase and the penalty 
phase. During the guilt phase, a jury hears the evidence and decides if the 
defendant is guilty. If the defendant is convicted, the case moves to the 
penalty phase and the prosecution presents aggravating factors that may have 
played into the crime and the defense presents mitigating factors, such as a 
troubled upbringing or community involvement, that could influence a sentence.

Usually, a re-hearing of the penalty phase would be conducted before a jury, 
but Lawrence waived his right to have a jury decide his fate and instead chose 
for a judge to decide whether to uphold his sentence.

Why he wants the death penalty

In a letter addressed to Circuit Judge David Rimmer dated Aug. 14, 2017, 
Lawrence wrote he doesn't want his case to go back to court, and he wishes to 
die.

He wrote that he wants his death sentence reinstated and said that's what he 
deserves.

"I've had no intention of putting the families, friends and loved ones of the 
innocent people I deliberately helped murder through all these 20 long years of 
grief, suffering and loss to have to indure (sic) more," reads the letter, 
which was filed in court documents. "They deserve justice and every amount of 
peace my death sentence and conclusion might give them."

Prosecutor John Molchan said the letter was recently addressed in court, but 
Rimmer ruled it was necessary to hold the re-sentencing, regardless of 
Lawrence's wishes.

Molchan said Lawrence directed his attorneys not to gather mitigating evidence 
and not to present an active defense, but Rimmer appointed attorney Michelle 
Hendrix to present mitigating evidence on Lawrence's behalf.

Hendrix declined to comment on the case.

Molchan said there have been other death penalty cases in which defendants did 
not want a re-sentencing but courts have ruled they need to go through the 
proper processes.

"In essence, the courts have told us that while a person may want to die or 
want the death penalty, it's important that the court consider everything," 
Molchan said.

Lawrence's co-defendant, Rodgers, is not eligible for resentencing under the 
new law.

The Florida Supreme Court ruled that evidence in Rodgers' initial sentencing 
phase wasn't handled correctly and the case was sent back to Santa Rosa County 
Court in 2007, according to News Journal archives.

During that re-sentencing, Rodgers waived the right to a jury and instead had 
Circuit Court Judge Paul Rasmussen impose the sentence. Rasmussen maintained 
the death sentence.

Because at that 2nd sentencing Rodgers chose for a judge, rather than a jury, 
to hear the penalty phase, he is not eligible now to have his case reviewed 
under the new ruling.

Molchan said there has not yet been another hearing scheduled in Lawrence's 
case.

Lawrence remains out of Florida Department of Corrections custody while the 
local case is ongoing and is currently housed at the Santa Rosa County Jail.

(source: Pensacola News Journal)

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

1st degree murder charges filed against Lois Riess in April homicide of Pamela 
Hutchinson



1st-degree murder and related charges have been filed against Lois Riess in the 
April homicide of Pamela Hutchinson on Fort Myers Beach.

Riess is accused of killing Hutchinson, 59, who was found shot to death in a 
Fort Myers Beach timeshare on April 9. She's also accused of stealing 
Hutchinson's car, identity and money before fleeing to Texas.

Authorities found Hutchinson inside of room 404 at the Marina Village at Snug 
Harbor on April 9, but detectives believe she was likely killed on April 5 
between 7:46 p.m. and 8:34 p.m.

Riess, a 56-year-old Minnesota grandmother, was arrested April 19 by U.S. 
Marshals at a restaurant in South Padre Island, Texas. Her husband, David 
Riess, 54, was found shot at their home in Blooming Prairie, Minnesota in 
March.

Riess had been on the run since then, driving south from Minnesota, with a stop 
at a casino in Iowa, and then arriving in Fort Myers Beach.

The State Attorney's Office convened a Lee County Grand Jury which indicted 
Riess Wednesday on charges of first degree murder with a firearm, grand theft 
of a motor vehicle, grand theft and criminal use of personal identification 
information of a deceased individual, $5,000 or More.

The charge of 1st degree murder with a firearm carries a mandatory life 
sentence in prison.

For the death penalty to be sought the State Attorney's Office would have to 
decide to convene a death penalty review committee, Samantha Syoen, 
communications director for the State Attorney's Office, said.

"That decision can also be guided by how the law applies to the case. The 
committee, made up of experienced prosecutors in our office, would review the 
facts of the case and the evidence and make a decision if they feel the death 
penalty is warranted," Syoen said. "That opinion would then be presented to 
State Attorney Steve Russell who would make the final decision on whether or 
not a motion to seek the death penalty would be filed."

A 1st-degree murder indictment was filed Wednesday The 1st degree murder with a 
firearm indictment supersedes a 2nd degree Murder charge filed earlier by the 
State Attorney's Office. In Florida, only a Grand Jury may charge 1st degree 
murder.

Riess' arraigned on these charges on Monday.

(source: News-Press)








ALABAMA:

Killer who twice avoided death penalty dies in prison infirmary



A 66-year-old man who killed a Birmingham woman and then escaped from prison 
and killed a 68-year-old man has died.

Donald Thigpen died Tuesday night in the William Donaldson Corrections Facility 
in Jefferson County after serving 45 years for the murders which happened in 
the 1970s.

Thigpen was found unresponsive in his infirmary bed at 7:55 p.m., according to 
the Jefferson County Coroner's Office, and pronounced dead 5 minutes later. 
There was no foul play in his death.

Thigpen was convicted in May 1972 shotgun shooting death of his girlfriend, 
Cassie Lee Davis. The shooting happened in one of Birmingham's public housing 
communities where the victim lived. Authorities said Birmingham Housing 
Authority officials had told Davis that Thigpen could not live with and that 
had been conveyed to Thigpen.

Witnesses testified that Thigpen, while gathering his belongings to leave, 
picked up the single-barrel, sawed-off shotgun from a table, pointed it at 
Davis and fired. He then left the apartment and returned a moment later, 
asking, "Did I kill her?" The shooting happened in front of a public housing 
manager.

Thigpen was convicted and sentenced to death. The Alabama Court of Criminal 
Appeals later reduced to the sentence to life in prison.

While serving that life sentence, Thigpen and 10 other inmates in April 1975 
escaped from Alabama's Holman Prison. The next day, Thigpen and another one of 
the escapees, came across a 68-year-old farmer who was building a fence along a 
roadway way.

Authorities said 1 of the escapees killed Henry Lambeth with an ax or fence 
post and fled in his pickup truck. Again, Thigpen was sentenced to death but 
escaped execution when the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the death 
penalty statute under which Thigpen was sentenced.

(source: al.com)








OHIO:

Reagan Tokes' killer could still face death penalty



At Brian L. Golsby's murder trial this year, his attorneys labored not to prove 
his innocence but to save his life.

In the end, they succeeded.

A Franklin County jury convicted Golsby in March of the kidnapping, rape and 
murder of Ohio State University student Reagan Tokes but could not agree on the 
death penalty. He was sentenced instead to life without parole.

"You're standing here alive because of your lawyers," Judge Mark Serrott told 
him. "I hope you know that."

It seemed a trifle odd, then, that a little over a month later, Golsby's new 
appellate lawyers would file an appeal, which in theory could land him back 
where he started: facing another trial, the same mountain of evidence of his 
guilt, and another crack at the death penalty. It seemed odder still when they 
asked the appeals court last week to dismiss the appeal they had filed just a 
few weeks earlier.

In a memorandum supporting Golsby's waiver of his right to appeal, Franklin 
County Public Defender Yeura Venters explained only that "The waiver had been 
prepared by Mr. Golsby's trial attorneys, who mailed it to Mr. Golsby, who in 
turn mailed the document to (Venters).

"Mr. Golsby's attorneys have fully apprised Mr. Golsby of all the substantive 
and procedural rights (both state and federal) he gives up by waiving his 
appellate rights," Venters wrote. "Mr. Golsby has indicated that it is his wish 
to forgo an appeal in this matter."

The reason behind this sudden change of heart, or strategy, isn't any clearer 
than that. Venters and his appellate-unit chief, Timothy Pierce, could not be 
reached to comment.

And there might be nothing mysterious at work. As the wheels of justice 
routinely click past the stage of convictions, appeals are filed almost as a 
matter of habit. It might have been something as simple as that in the case of 
Golsby.

His decision to leave well enough alone doesn't mean, however, that he is in 
the clear.

Shortly after Venters and Pierce requested the appeal on May 3, Franklin County 
Prosecutor Ron O'Brien filed a 53-page motion, along with more than 100 pages 
of exhibits, requesting a cross-appeal.

When O'Brien learned on May 31 that Golsby was waiving his right to appeal 
after all, the prosecutor and Steven Taylor, the chief of his appellate 
division, responded: "The State does not oppose defendant's voluntary dismissal 
of his own appeal, but the State wishes to note that its own cross-appeal would 
remain pending."

In other words: You might be happy with the life sentence, Mr. Golsby, but 
we're not.

O'Brien said Wednesday that he had planned to seek the cross-appeal regardless. 
He and Taylor are arguing that Serrott erred in his instructions to the jury 
during the penalty phase of Golsby's trial.

"The State must emphasize that it is not appealing from any 'final verdict,'" 
the prosecutors wrote. "Defendant was not 'acquitted' from receiving a death 
sentence. The jury was deadlocked on whether to recommend a death sentence and 
therefore did not render any 'acquittal' in relation to the death penalty. A 
deadlocked jury does not render any 'verdict' at all on the deadlocked issue."

Therefore, O'Brien said, it would not be considered double jeopardy to hold 
another death-penalty hearing.

Prosecutors still need the approval of the appeals court for their cross-appeal 
to go forward.

"There were ample reasons to pursue the death penalty," O'Brien and Taylor 
wrote in their request. "Defendant is a remorseless recidivist violent offender 
prone to rape and robbery and now aggravated murder. In fact, given the many 
crimes committed by defendant, the life-without-parole sentence for the 
aggravated murder can be viewed as a failure of justice that warrants 
correction upon showing of legal error."

Reading a statement like that must set Golsby's cold heart thumping, the idea 
that his survival is still not ensured, that his death would be welcomed by 
some as a correction.

(source: Columbus Dispatch)

*********

Detective secretly recorded Warren County man facing death penalty



Lawyers for the 38-year-old South Lebanon man facing the death penalty in 
connection with the beating death of his adoptive sister want all his 
statements to police thrown out, citing the likelihood he was feeling the 
effects of heroin or withdrawal from it when he was questioned.

They also argued that a detective secretly recorded the man's statements during 
a "smoke break."

Assistant County Prosecutor John Arnold said the statements were all taken in 
keeping with state law, noting Christopher Kirby recited the Miranda warnings 
as he was given them by Henning.

Kirby and his wife, Jacqueline, were arrested on Sept. 15, 2017, after Debra 
Power and her husband, Ronnie Power, were found at the home they shared with 
the Kirbys in South Lebanon. Police had been summoned by a 911 call from an 
8-year-old boy.

Debra Power was dead, her husband badly beaten.

On Wednesday, Christopher Kirby's lawyers urged Judge Donald Oda II to suppress 
statements made in a series of interviews, sometimes by detectives alternating 
between him and his wife.

While they re-interviewed his wife, a detective led an unrestrained Kirby 
outside and talked with Kirby, who was crying and expressing concern for his 
wife and children and expressing ignorance of who was responsible - all while a 
small recorder was running in the detective's pocket.

Kirby was first interviewed at West Chester Hospital, the day after the 
incident. At the hospital, Detective Jay Henning said he recovered the victims' 
truck and 3 credit cards allegedly taken from the Powers.

Henning said he knew Kirby had recently used heroin and was in the hospital, 
but indicated he determined Kirby was able to knowingly respond to questions 
there and at the sheriff's office in Lebanon.

Kirby's lawyer, Timothy McKenna, noted Henning was aware Kirby was having 
bladder problems that could be associated with a heroin high and moved his 
knees nervously, possibly indicating withdrawal, but no drug tests were given.

McKenna also pointed out another detective advised Kirby he needed to quit 
heroin, noting how it was aging him prematurely.

"The statements were involuntary," McKenna said Wednesday in Warren County 
Common Pleas Court.

Detective Paul Barger acknowledged Kirby was unaware he was being recorded 
during the smoke break.

"He was not. I had it in my pocket," Barger said.

Parts of 3 recordings, 2 including video, were played.

"Can Jackie go home?" Kirby asked as detectives urged him to say what happened.

Oda said he would rule on the suppression motion later. The capital murder 
trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 22.

In April, Jacqueline "Jackie" Kirby, 31, was sentenced to 3 years on probation 
for her part in the case and ordered her to enter the Women's Recovery Center, 
an outpatient substance abuse program in Xenia.

(source: Dayton Daily News)




ARKANSAS:

Court filing: Ark.'s 2017 executions unveiled problems



18 condemned inmates say in new court filings that the executions of 4 men in 
Arkansas last year exposed problems that should render the state's lethal 
injection procedure unconstitutional.

The prisoners late Monday asked a federal judge to let them amend a lawsuit 
filed after Arkansas scheduled 8 executions in an 11-day period last year. Four 
inmates from the original lawsuit were put to death, 3 received stays and Gov. 
Asa Hutchinson granted clemency to 1.

The inmates initially claimed Arkansas' use of the surgical sedative midazolam 
might expose them to excruciating pain because it couldn't render them 
unconscious before 2 other drugs stopped their lungs and hearts. The revised 
lawsuit says the 4 executions last year support their view.

"During several of the executions, the condemned moved when they should have 
been anesthetized or paralyzed," lawyers for the inmates wrote, citing witness 
accounts from various media, including The Associated Press. "During Kenneth 
Williams' execution, Williams began bucking against his restraints so hard that 
it caused bruising to his head."

Jack Jones' lips continued to move after he made a final statement, and 5 
minutes into his execution his lips moved another 3 to 5 times, the lawyers 
said, citing an AP report.

The amended lawsuit, which must be accepted by U.S. District Judge Kristine 
Baker, says it was never clear whether the Arkansas Department of Correction 
followed its guidelines. The lawyers say there was no way to tell when each 
drug was administered and that it wasn't clear an attendant performed proper 
consciousness checks on each inmate.

"The consciousness check is necessary to discern awareness but insufficient to 
determine whether the prisoner is insensate to pain," the lawyers wrote.

Arkansas uses midazolam to sedate inmates at the start of its executions. The 
lawyers said late Monday it would be unconstitutionally cruel to subsequently 
shut down the inmates' lungs and hearts if the prisoners weren't unconscious. 
The 2nd drug in a 3-drug sequence paralyzes inmates, rendering them unable to 
cry out.

"The person has the desire to breathe but no ability to do so," the lawyers 
wrote. "Once the paralysis is total, the recipient is unable to communicate and 
feels as if he has been buried alive."

The inmates' lawyers said a firing squad, an overdose of pentobarbital or the 
anesthetic gas sevoflurane might be better options.

Courts last year rejected the inmates' effort to have the midazolam protocol 
declared unconstitutional and the Arkansas attorney general's office said 
Tuesday that this year's effort would fail, too.

"The death row inmates' proposed amended complaint is yet another attempt to 
delay justice for the victims and their families," Jessica Ray, a spokeswoman 
for the attorney general, said in an email.

(source: Associated Press)








MONTANA:

Montana's GOP Just Nominated an Anti-Death Penalty Candidate----Rosendale wins 
in a state where Republicans overwhelmingly support capital punishment.



Winning 34 % of the vote in a 4-way race, state Auditor Matt Rosendale will be 
the Republican nominee facing Montana's Democratic senator, John Tester, this 
fall. In the waning days of the campaign, one of Rosedale's rivals, former 
judge Russ Fagg, attacked him for not supporting the death penalty. In a state 
where the overwhelming majority of Republican voters support capital 
punishment, Rosendale's win is notable.

Rosendale, who is Catholic, is one of a growing number of conservative leaders 
calling for an end to the death penalty. "Those who support the death penalty 
usually use the same, tired arguments: It saves money. It deters crime. 
Everyone who gets the death penalty is guilty and deserves to die," he co-wrote 
in an 2013 op-ed in the Billings Gazette. "We're here to say those arguments 
are wrong, wrong and wrong."

Heather Beaudoin, the national coordinator for Conservatives Concerned About 
the Death Penalty notes that his position, "is absolutely consistent with what 
we're seeing across the country with conservative leaders taking a stand and 
being able to withstand the pressure."

A 2017 CCATDP report found that Republican legislators were warming up to the 
idea of repealing the death penalty in their states. In 2000, only 4 Republican 
lawmakers introduced death penalty repeal bills in their states. By 2016, 40 
conservative lawmakers had introduced such bills.

Conservatives against the death penalty consider their religious beliefs, the 
importance of consistency in championing pro-life principles, and the high 
financial cost of putting someone to death as their main arguments in favor of 
death penalty repeal. "Matt Rosendale is willing to stand on those principles," 
Beaudoin said.

Despite his long history of opposition to the death penalty, Rosendale never 
directly responded to the attacks against him.

(source: Mother Jones)








CALIFORNIA:

Death sentence upheld. 'Russian mafiosi' to pay for murders of Kingiseppskie 
gang leader and four businessmen in USA



Crimes committed by a 'Russian mafia group' in the early 2000s are often 
compared with the deeds of Charles Manson's Family by the severity of their 
felonies. Several natives of the USSR had kidnapped their compatriots and 
killed them after getting the ransom. The gang leaders have been sentenced to 
death in 2007 but still remain alive. In early May 2018, the US Court of 
Appeals has upheld their death penalty again. The CrimeRussia performed an 
inquest into the Californian manhunt on fugitive banker George Safiev, one of 
the leaders of Kingiseppskie organized criminal group, and the 'Russian trace' 
in this entire story.



On May 9, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 
California has upheld the indictment and death penalties imposed on 2 
Russian-speaking immigrants earlier found guilty of a series of 
kidnappings-for-ransom and subsequent murders of 5 people in 2001-2002.

The 3 judges have unanimously found the evidence against Lithuanian native 
Jurijus Kadamovas and former St. Petersburg resident Iouri Mikhel overwhelming. 
According to the indictment, 17 years ago, the 2 immigrants have devised an 
atrocious get-rich-quick scheme. In the course of its implementation, they have 
gained over $1.2 million in a few months by murdering 5 people and drowning 
their bodies in the New Melones reservoir. The funds received from victim's 
relatives as ransoms were siphoned off through a network of accounts belonging 
to various companies, including those incorporated in Latvia and the United 
Arab Emirates (UAE). In 2007, both of them have been convicted to death for 
hostage taking and intentional murders and attempted to appeal the sentence 
since then. Other gang members - also natives of the former Soviet Union - were 
convicted to various prison terms depending on the severity of their crimes and 
collaboration with the investigation.

A report from the Court of Appeals published by The Associated Press in May 
hasn't caused much media hype - the case of Kadamovas and Mikhel was forgotten 
shortly after their conviction 11 years ago. But in the early 2000s, the story 
of cold-blooded murders of wealthy Russian-speaking immigrants in California 
became the basis for several documentaries and TV shows and was included into 
criminal investigation manuals alongside with other classic examples of 
grievous crimes committed in the USA.

Counting drowned bodies The high-profile investigation was launched on October 
18, 2001 - after a discovery of the body of an elderly person with tied hands 
and a plastic bag on his head 20 m off the shore in an artificial lake not far 
from Yosemite National Park by a father and son from Stockton, CA returning 
from a fishing trip. The police have determined that the person was strangled 
prior to being thrown into the reservoir. There was a scar on the victim's leg 
from a weight bound to it - apparently, it was poorly attached because the body 
has ultimately come to the surface. The victim had no ID but his identity has 
been established through a review of the missing persons list. It was 
58-year-old Meyer Muscatel, an immigrant from the USSR and successful developer 
specializing in renovations and sales of private homes in the San Fernando 
Valley. His wife Nancy Shapiro Muscatel has reported his disappearance to the 
Los Angeles police 7 days prior to the discovery of his body. In that period, a 
suspicious attempt to withdraw a large sum of money from his account was made - 
and the bank has blocked the Muscatel's card and requested the client to attend 
the branch in person. According to the American media, the thugs managed to get 
$50 thousand from Muscatel - a developer's partner has allegedly transferred 
this sum to a dummy company - but the court materials don't confirm this.

Bodies of 3 victims were tossed into the reservoir from the Parrotts Ferry 
Bridge

After the failed attempt to get money from Muscatel, the criminals started 
looking for new victims. Mikhel and Kadamovas were pretty wealthy persons 
having good homes and expensive cars - so they needed some really hardcore 
stuff with big money.

According to the indictment, in fall 2001, rich businessman George Safiev, who 
has recently relocated to Moscow, attracted the attention of Mikhel and 
Kadamovas. Safiev has launched Matador Media producing company in California 
with the purpose to make major investments into the film industry. Upon arrival 
to the USA, Safiev has purchased a home for $2.5 million and lived the high 
life in spheres inaccessible for the criminals. The malefactors had been 
watching Safiev for some time and identified the circle of his acquaintance. 
They decided to use 39-year-old Rita Pekler from Encino, CA as a bait. She was 
the owner of Pekler Group accounting company providing outsourcing services to 
a number of companies belonging to Russian-speaking immigrants. In particular, 
she was doing the bookkeeping for Safiev's Matador Media having the same legal 
address as Pekler Group.

Parents brought Rita Pekler to California from Leningrad when she was a child, 
she was fluent in English, received financial education in the USA - but 
retained close ties with the Russian community of Los Angeles. The Pekler's 
company was reportedly involved in some shady affairs as well, including 
laundering of funds transferred from Russia, but she never had problems with 
the law.

On December 5, 2001, Pekler did not return to her office from a business 
meeting; she was never seen alive since then. Later it became known that the 
bandits didn't even demand any money from her. After luring her to the home of 
Kadamovas pretending to be interested in her advice on a real estate 
transaction. Mikhel, Kadamovas, Altmanis, and Petro Krylov, a native of Kiev, 
told her at gunpoint that, if she brought Safiev to them, they would get her 
drunk with vodka or inject her with Dimedrol and leave her unharmed in a motel. 
The woman was unhappy with such a perspective and told them that she was 
pregnant and afraid alcohol or drugs would harm the baby. Undeterred, the 
criminals persisted in trying to use her to lure Safiev. Pekler eventually 
contacted Safiev, but he told her he was too busy to meet. Shortly thereafter, 
Safiev left Los Angeles for Russia. Mikhel and Kadamovas decided Pekler had 
outlived her usefulness; they injected her with Dimedrol, strangled her, and as 
with Meyer Muscatel, threw her body off the Parrotts Ferry Bridge.

According to the FBI, the selection of the next victim was determined by 
personal motives of one of the bandits. Petro Krylov used to work for a long 
time in Advanced Mobile Technologies car electronics shop belonging to 
35-year-old Odessa native Alexander Umansky of Sherman Oaks, CA. His business 
was pretty successful - the turnover of a company installing TV sets and audio 
and alarm systems in luxury cars of Hollywood residents has increased by 200% 
since 1998. According to Dun and Bradsheet, the turnover of Advanced Mobile 
Technologies was $1.2 million in 2000. Umansky and Krylov had a conflict 
resulting in the termination of Krylov. Being well aware of the financial 
standing of his former boss, Krylov suggested abducting Umansky.

On December 13, 2001, the businessman was abducted. Mikhel, who posed as a 
customer needing audio systems installed in two cars, asked Umansky for a ride 
to one of those. Mikhel directed Umansky to Kadamovas's house, where Kadamovas, 
Altmanis, and Krylov were already waiting for him - Kadamovas with a gun and 
Altmanis with a stun gun. When Umansky arrived, Kadamovas sat him on a chair, 
handcuffed his hands behind him, and bound his legs with plastic ties.

In the morning, the father of Umansky has discovered in his son's office faxes 
providing details of an account in a New York Standard Chartered branch where a 
weird sum of $234,268 had to be transferred for further transfer to the Dubai 
branch. Later it became known that the faxes were sent from Russia. Umansky 
remained trapped in Kadamovas's home for three days, during which Mikhel and 
Kadamovas forced him to call his brother and plead for money to secure his 
release - concurrently warning him against addressing the police or FBI. In the 
meantime, Mikhel and Altmanis used Umansky's debit card to withdraw money from 
an ATM and were captured doing so on a surveillance camera (the record has been 
later attached to the case file).

In 2003, BBC reported that the relatives of Umansky had contacted the FBI that 
launched an investigation and advised them to pay just a part of the ransom to 
give the kidnappers a reason to keep Umansky alive.

The sum of $89,598 paid by the Umansky family in 3 installments has immediately 
been transferred to the Dubai branch of Standard Chartered. On that day, 
Alexander Umansky spoke with his brother for the last time.

On December 27, unknown persons called Mikhail Umansky again demanding the rest 
of the sum. Mikhail said that he won't pay anything until he hears the voice of 
his brother. 1.5 hour later, an ultimatum was delivered to him: neither 
Alexander, nor the intermediary, no abductors would call him anymore until the 
addressee receives the rest of the money. Then Mikhail Umansky has transferred 
the requested $145 thousand to an account belonging to Al-Shaza Sanitary and 
Building Materials TRD incorporated in Dubai. Later it became known that by 
that time, Alexander was dead for more than 7 days already. Mikhel shoved 
plastic bags in Umansky's mouth, duct-taped his mouth shut, and put a bag over 
his head, while Kadamovas held him down and pinched his nose shut. When these 
efforts proved ineffective, Mikhel and Altmanis twisted a rope around Umansky's 
neck and strangled him from behind. The killers then tied a weight plate 
specially purchased by Altmanis in a sporting goods store around Umansky's body 
and then drove him to the New Melones Reservoir.

'Russian trace'

The money transfers made by the Umansky family have given momentum to the 
stalled FBI investigation. The operatives found out that the above-mentioned 
account of Al-Shaza Sanitary and Building Materials TRD belongs to the company 
owner - UAE citizen Andrei Ageev. Ageev has immediately transferred the money 
from the corporate account to a personal account in the same bank belonging to 
himself and his wife Irina. FBI investigators have questioned Ageev in the UAE; 
he told that his former partner and employer Aleksander Afonin had arrived to 
Dubai from Barnaul and asked him to deliver the received funds to Andrei 
Lyapin, their common business partner from Barnaul.

Lyapin told the FBI agents that he used to work in Sharjah-based Saisam Tourism 
& Cargo belonging to Afonin and specializing in cargo transportation. He had 
lived in one Barnaul neighborhood with Afonin and knew him for many years. 
According to Lyapin, Afonin once asked him to receive money from New York and 
transfer those to various accounts in Latvian banks.

In December, Ageev and Lyapin have been arrested by the UAE authorities 
following a request from the USA and handed to the FBI. Afonin, who has already 
relocated to Russia by that time, was put on the international wanted list. 
During the searches, instructions left by Afonin were seized; one of these 
documents referred to an US-based company Designed Water World. Initially, 
Afonin had asked to transfer $32 thousand to its account in Bank of America but 
then changed his mind and redirected the funds to GlenstreamVentures, Inc. 
incorporated in Latvia. The FBI has checked the account of Designed Water World 
(a fish aquarium store in Sherman Oaks) and found out that the Californian 
company belonged to Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas. Prior to the first 
money transfer by the Umansky family, the store had only $78 on its account. On 
January 3, 2002, Designed Water World received $6,280 from Riga-based 
GlenstreamVentures, Inc. Two weeks later, the aquarium store received the 
above-mentioned $32 thousand that Afonin was afraid to transfer to the USA 
directly.

In the course of the investigation, it became known that GlenstreamVentures, 
Inc. belongs to Kadamovas and Mikhel in equal shares. And unlike Designed Water 
World having $78 on its account as of August 31, 2001 (i.e. prior to the 
abduction and murder of Meyer Muscatel), the Latvian company had assets worth 
some half-million dollars.

Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas were not poor at all. Back in 2000, Mikhel 
has purchased two adjacent apartments in Encino worth $430 thousand. Kadamovas 
owned there a home worth $714 thousand. In an interview to The Los Angeles 
Times, vendors operating next door to Designed Water World described its owners 
as 'new Russians' driving luxury cars and maintaining dangerous liaisons - 
"ferociously looking Russian guys" had visited the store on a regular basis. In 
2003, Assistant United States Attorney Susan DeWitt told the court that 
abductions and murders were not of a novelty to the defendants - Kadamovas and 
Mikhel had earlier committed at least 2 murders in Cyprus and Turkey. 
Apparently, they were not going to settle down - according to their accomplices 
who have made a plea deal, the criminal duo had planned trips to Aspen ski 
resort and yacht show in Florida to scout for new victims.

The FBI was unable to find out how had Kadamovas and Mikhel become aware of the 
wealth of Safiev; according to one of the versions, the information about the 
fugitive businessman could likely be received from Russia.

Gang leader Iouri Mikhel, who was 36 at that time, had a criminal past. He 
arrived to St. Petersburg from Barnaul in the early 1990s and became a member 
of an organized criminal group. Reportedly, he was put on the wanted list by 
the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Russian Federation in 1993 for 
extortion - but managed to escape to the USA and obtain American citizenship. 
The FBI believes, however, that Mikhel continued maintaining criminal ties with 
his motherland. George Safiev, a criminal banker and one of the leaders of 
Kingiseppskie organized criminal group, who has fled to the USA from creditors 
and prosecutors in 1998, had plenty of enemies in Russia.

----Kingiseppskie criminal group was created in 1992 in Moscow on the basis of 
Pereval (Mountain Pass) Private Security Company by George Safiev, Imran 
Ilyasov, and Sergei Finagin - all of them were residents of Kingisepp, 
Leningrad region. The 2 latter ones were former boxers, while George Safiev, a 
cousin of Ilyasov, was running a business. By that time, Safiev has already 
established Rossiisky Kapital (Russian Capital) Bank and needed an enforcement 
division for business protection and criminal operations. For that purpose, 
they have invited to Moscow a few former athletes from Kingisepp who quickly 
switched from the protection of the bank and Manhattan Express Night Club 
belonging to Safiev to racketeering and contract killings. The organized 
criminal group had operated for more than 10 years after the death of Safiev. 
According to the investigation, it has committed at least 12 murders. An 
inquest against Kingiseppskie gang was launched in 2004, after the arrest and 
death of former submarine officer Aleksander Pumane, 'staff killer' of the 
criminal group. Pumane was beaten to death by police officers who had mistaken 
him for a terrorist plotting an assassination of Vladimir Putin after 
discovering mines in the car of Pumane. Killer's associate Aleksander Ivanov 
was arrested shortly after that; he has confessed to 5 murders and provided 
evidence against other gang members. In 2007-2008, 16 members of Kingiseppskie 
criminal group, including Finagin and Ilyasov, were sentenced to prison terms 
varying from 3 to 19 years behind bars. During the trial, Finagin and Ilyasov 
told the court that since the mid-1990s, the criminal group had been 
'patronized' by Igor Izmestiev, Senator from Bashkortostan, who is currently 
serving a life term for masterminding murders.

(source: crimerussia.com)