[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., NEB., COLO., ARIZ., IDAHO, NEV., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 9




MISSOURI----female faces death penalty

Pam Hupp judge considers motions to suppress evidence and statements



The death penalty is still in play for Pam Hupp as she approaches a scheduled 
September murder trial, but a St. Charles County Judge says he needs more time 
to consider other defense motions.

Hupp is charged with murder first and armed criminal action after the August 
2016 shooting death of Louis Gumpenberger.

Hupp claimed Gumpenberger, a man with disabilities, forced himself into her 
home. She says she shot him in self-defense.

12 police officers and investigators took the stand Friday, painting a picture 
of premeditated murder by Hupp. They also suggested she planted evidence, such 
as a knife.

The defense argued that the supposedly planted evidence only had Gumpenberger's 
fingerprints.

The most intense arguments were about the death penalty.

"I would put this case against any in the country in terms of depravity of mind 
- this woman (he points at Hupp)," prosecutor Phil Groenweghe.

Defense attorney Kim Freter interrupted, "Your honor, I'm going to object at 
this point. This is a preliminary matter. He doesn't get to yell and scream and 
point fingers at my client and keep calling me out by name and keep saying 
'Her. Her. Her.'"

At another point in the arguments, Groenweghe said, "This is a woman who went 
all over St. Charles County looking for someone she could set up and make a 
fake 911 call so she could execute the person while they were on the phone with 
911."

Again, Freter interjected.

"Your honor, the court hasn't heard any evidence," she said. "This is the 
argument about the statutory scheme regarding Missouri's death penalty."

There was one humorous break in the hearing after continued discussion of a 
search warrant involving Pam Hupp's safe. Investigators were looking for cash 
when they reportedly found "1 thing" inside the safe ??? "KY intense." There 
was no further explanation.

We also learned a little about what it was like the day officers responded to 
Hupp's shooting. 2 officers described driving up to the scene and seeing Hupp 
outside of her home walking her dog on a leash. One officer described her as 
"excited," not crying, but talking fast and breathing heavy when she said she's 
shot someone in her home. Another officer said Hupp told her, "What's with all 
the home burglaries around here lately?"

The judge said he'll decide on the suppression arguments soon.

(source: Fox News)








NEBRASKA:

ACLU asks Nebraska Supreme Court to delay setting execution date



The ACLU of Nebraska asked the State Supreme Court on Friday to postpone 
setting an execution date for Carey Dean Moore until four lawsuits are 
resolved.

The request could delay an execution date for months for Moore, who's spent 38 
years on death row, far longer than any of the 11 other inmates sentenced to 
die.

The motion contests arguments by Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, who 
has maintained that the legal battle is over and has asked the Supreme Court to 
expedite the scheduling of Moore's execution. He argued that all "subsequent 
collateral attacks and other various postponements have been exhausted." Plus, 
1 of the state's 4 drugs needed for the execution will expire Aug. 31.

Peterson suggested a July 10 date for the state's 1st execution in 21 years, a 
date that coincides - by accident, according to the attorney general - with the 
birthday of State Sen. Ernie Chambers, an ardent foe of capital punishment.

The ACLU, in its filing by legal counsel Amy Miller, said that "several 
substantial (legal) questions" are pending and that the court should put off an 
execution to ensure that the state doesn't engage in an "unconstitutional or 
unlawful execution."

The Attorney General's Office, in response, said that state law requires the 
setting of an execution date when a death sentence is "final" and no court has 
issued a stay of execution, which is the case at this point.

"Today's late filing by the ACLU is their latest dilatory effort to obstruct 
the requirement to carry out final death penalty sentences," said Suzanne Gage, 
a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office. She noted that the ACLU has 
lost recent court rulings on the issue.

Whether the Supreme Court would set an execution date quickly, or wait until 
other court cases are resolved, has been a question for speculation.

Moore recently filed a sworn statement with the Supreme Court, affirming that 
he wants no legal representation to fight the setting of an execution.

Previously, he had told The World-Herald that after spending 38 years on death 
row, he will not oppose becoming the 1st Nebraska inmate to die by lethal 
injection. The state's last execution, in 1997, was via the electric chair, 
which has since been deemed unconstitutional.

But despite Moore's withdrawal, others who oppose capital punishment, including 
the ACLU, have continued to fight.

The ACLU, in its request to file a brief on behalf of Moore, cited 4 pending 
lawsuits that relate to the state's death penalty that the group says should 
"constitute 'just cause' for delaying issuing an execution warrant until they 
are resolved."

Those pending legal actions are:

-- A lawsuit, now on appeal to the Supreme Court, that seeks to nullify the 
2016 referendum approved by voters that reinstated the death penalty. The suit 
asks the court to declare that the vote came too late and that the sentences of 
all death row inmates at the time should be changed to life in prison.

-- A lawsuit, also under appeal, that alleges that the state violated its 
procedures in adopting a lethal injection protocol.

-- A public records action, filed by the ACLU of Nebraska, that seeks the 
release of information about where, and from whom, the state obtained its 
supply of lethal injection drugs. That lawsuit is pending before a Lancaster 
County district judge.

-- A legal spat over whether the state's prison director, Scott Frakes, should 
comply with a subpoena from the State Legislature to testify about the 
procurement of lethal injection drugs.

Moore, 60, was sentenced to death for the 1979 killings of Omaha cabdrivers 
Reuel Van Ness and Maynard Helgeland.

(source: Omaha World-Herald)








COLORADO:

Cold-case effort encouraging



I was so heartened to read Boulder County's Michael T. Dougherty's oped 
describing steps that will be taken to beef-up our county's attention to cold 
cases.

About a decade ago, the board of directors of Coloradans for Alternatives to 
the Death Penalty launched the 1st of 4 bills to abolish the Colorado Death 
Penalty and ensure that the savings from the wasteful and ineffective death 
penalty, death row and execution protocol would go toward reinvestigation of 
some, preferably all, of the 1,500 unsolved murders in our state.

Each year, CADP and members of other non-governmental organizations committed 
to criminal justice reform, got closer and closer to abolition of the death 
penalty.

Because we saw so clearly that we could do something far more positive with the 
squandered funds used in the death penalty regime that's in place in our state, 
we made common cause with many individuals and groups that represented 
individuals and family members that had suffered loss at the hands of brutal 
criminals.

The real closure, if there can ever truly be closure for murder victims' 
families, is arrest and imprisonment of murderers. Family members have told us 
in CADP that executions and the lengthy run-up to them re-traumatize families.

I salute Boulder County for committing to reducing the scandalous backlog of 
cold cases, and urge members of the public to read widely the facts and figures 
about the ineffectuality of our Colorado death penalty, and more precisely to 
support men and women running for public office who are courageous enough to 
say no more funds wasted on barbaric capital punishment.

Ellen V. Moore

Nederland

(source: Letter to the Editor, Daily Camera)








ARIZONA:

Arguments against death penalty expected in Phoenix case



A court hearing is scheduled for a former city bus driver charged in a string 
of deadly nighttime shootings in Phoenix.

Attorneys for Aaron Juan Saucedo are expected to argue for the dismissal of the 
death penalty during a hearing Friday morning.

Saucedo has pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges in attacks that left 
9 people dead and 2 others wounded in 2016.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in 8 of the deaths.

Saucedo's lawyers say the death penalty should be taken out of consideration 
because authorities released video showing him in his jail cell to news 
organizations.

The jailhouse video showed Saucedo talking on the phone and looking out of a 
cell-door window.

They say that violated Saucedo's right to bodily privacy.

(source: Associated Press)








IDAHO----female may face dath penalty

Woman confesses to killing father



A 35-year-old Montana woman potentially faces the death penalty for the 
premeditated murder of her father on Tuesday.

At minimum, the courts could sentence her to at least a decade in prison and a 
life sentence for the killing. Jessica Conser came before Judge Mark S. Rammell 
Wednesday afternoon at the Madison County Courthouse. There, Rammell asked 
Conser if she understood her rights to which she responded in the affirmative.

The Judge also appointed Jim Archibald as her defense attorney. Because Conser 
faces a possible death penalty, Archibald requires the assistance of a second 
attorney. It's up to the Madison County Prosecutor's Office to decide what kind 
of punishment to seek against Conser. That decision won???t be known for 
another 2 weeks and not until after Archibald meets with Madison County 
Prosecutor Sid Brown.

During Wednesday's hearing, Rammell asked Conser if she understood her rights, 
and the charges filed against her. Conser quietly answered that she did. 
Rammell also explained the charges and the possible punishment that Conser 
faces.

"Under the statute, if you are convicted on count 1, the murder charge - and 
these are the maximum penalties, not what necessarily happens - you could be 
punished by death or by imprisonment for life with a minimum of 10 years," 
Rammell said.

The Judge explained that Conser could also be fined $50,000 plus additional 
restitution for the crime. The state is also charging her with a weapons 
enhancement.

"The weapons enhancement on part two increases possible punishment for 1st 
degree murder by up to 15 years imprisonment and a $5,000 fine," Rammell said.

Should the prosecutor's office push for the death penalty, Archibald requires 
the assistance of a 2nd attorney and a mitigation specialist.

"The prosecutor and I have talked, and he has agreed to give me an answer (on 
the death penalty)," Archibald said. "I'll let the court know if I need 
assistance within 2 weeks."

Rammell doesn't handle felony cases and could not accept a "guilty" or "not 
guilty plea from Conser on Wednesday. Despite whatever Conser pleads, she has 
already told police that she killed her father and did so shortly after 
officers arrested her Tuesday night.

"Jessica fully admitted and confessed to driving from Butte, Montana, to 
Rexburg to shoot and kill her father," police stated in their report.

The incident started around 9 p.m. Tuesday when Conser arrived at her father 
Mathew and step-mother Barbara Travao's home in Hibbard.

According to Barbara Travao, the couple didn't know that Conser was heading to 
Hibbard. When Conser entered the home, Barbara Travao was in a back bedroom 
with her 2 step-grandchildren who also happen to be Conser's children. The 
Travaos had cared for the youth since May.

"Barbara indicated that she heard yelling, and then she heard shots. As Barbara 
came out of the room she was in, she saw Jessica running out of the house," the 
police reported.

At that point, Travao found her husband had been shot in the face and was 
bleeding. Barbara Travao called 911 and met police in her front yard. Officers 
entered the home, and found Mathew Travao slumped on the couch.

"It appeared he had a wound to his eye and facial area. (Officers) observed a 
large amount of blood on the couch," stated police.

Officers reported that Mathew Travao's breathing proved shallow and labored. An 
officer attempted to remove blood from Mr. Travao's mouth and tried keeping the 
victim's airways open. Shortly after, EMTs responded to administer first aid to 
Mr. Travao.

Barbara Travao gave police a description of Conser's truck, stating that her 
step-daughter was driving a blue 2005 Chevrolet Silverado pickup and had driven 
westbound on 2000 North.

In the meantime, family members removed Conser's children from the Travao home. 
During that time, 1 child asked officers if her mother "had shot Papa." The 
child also told police that she had heard her mom's voice.

EMT's transported Mathew Travao to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center 
where he died from his wounds at 10:11 p.m.

Madison County Sheriff's deputies contacted the Clark County Sheriff's Office 
concerning Conser and about an hour later, Clark Sheriff's deputies located the 
vehicle on I-15 near the Idaho/Montana border.

Idaho State Police helped investigate and found a 26 9mm pistol underneath the 
driver???s seat of Conser's truck.

Shortly after, Conser admitted to killing her father. Police took Conser into 
custody and transported her to the Madison County Jail. She remains there and 
has been denied bond.

Travao's neighbors were horrified by the shooting and initially thought someone 
was shooting one of the numerous skunks known to roam the neighborhood.

Blake Hart lives across the street from the Travaos and said the shots he heard 
Tuesday night were unusually loud and too close for comfort.

"We saw cop cars coming in, and then we saw the ambulance. The cops went in 
with guns," he said. Shortly after, Hart witnessed ambulance workers take 
Mathew Travao out on a stretcher.

Concerned about the man, Hart tried checking on his neighbor, but officers 
stopped him from entering the house.

Hart said he had noticed Conser visiting at the victim's home on numerous 
occasions prior to the shooting.

"I had seen her come here to hang out," he said.

Mr. Travao proved an avid gardener who routinely shared his extra produce with 
neighbors, Hart said.

"He was the type of guy who would give the shirt off his back just to help you 
out. If you were in need, he would give you anything," Hart said. Hart said 
that the victim's grandchildren had visited last summer as well. "That man 
would do anything for his grandkids," he said.

Hart said that Hibbard traditionally proved an incredibly safe neighborhood, 
and that for something like a murder to take place is unbelievably shocking.

"You just don't think that somebody's going to shoot somebody out here," Hart 
said.

Police spent much of Wednesday at the scene. A large piece of cleaning 
equipment with a hose attached to it leading into the Travao home was seen on 
Wednesday. Police had placed yellow crime scene tape around the house but had 
been removed by Thursday.

Conser is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 11 a.m., June 20, again with 
Judge Rammell at the Madison County Courthouse.

(source: Idaho State Journal)








NEVADA:

NV Death Row Case Earns State Rebuke From SCOTUS



Last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court took the unusual approach of dressing down 
Nevada for a death penalty case decided more than 20 years ago.

Michael Rippo was found guilty in the murder of 2 women in 1992, and sentenced 
to death in 1996.

But the nation's high court says Nevada messed up the trial, and Ripp's fate 
remains in a state of limbo.

Las Vegas defense attorney Dayvid Figler wrote about the case for the Nevada 
Independent.

Figler told KNPR's State of Nevada that the case is an example of how the legal 
system in Nevada was "really the wild west" at one time.

The main issue the Supreme Court had with the case was the allegations of bias 
against the trial judge.

At the time of the trial, the judge was being investigated for bribery and the 
district attorney's office was part of that investigation.

Rippo's attorneys allege the judge favored the district attorney in the trial 
in order to curry favor in his bribery case. Attorneys asked that he recuse 
himself from the trial, but he refused.

The judge was eventually acquitted of the bribery charges but he didn't know 
that while presiding over Rippo's trial.

Figler says the Supreme Court decision could have a far-reaching impact.

"And now, all these years later, the United States Supreme Court says that the 
Nevada Supreme Court and subsequently all the other courts in Nevada have been 
applying the wrong standard, asking the wrong questions, on whether or not a 
judge should be removed from a case," he said.

The allegations of wrongdoing in the case go beyond just the judge. Attorneys 
for Rippo have launched a myriad of complaints against the prosecution, 
including that they withheld information, used bad science, and put poor 
witnesses on the stand.

Despite all of the allegations and the decision by the Supreme Court, Rippo's 
case remains in limbo.

Figler explained that it is really up to the Nevada Supreme Court to make a 
decision on the case and since they don't have deadlines the case has lingered.

In fact, it has been 14 months since the Supreme Court said Nevada was wrong 
about its bias standard mandated changes and nothing has been fixed.

"Meanwhile, this is a very important standard that doesn't just effect Mr. 
Rippo's case, although I'm sure Mr. Rippo is very concerned about what the 
Nevada Supreme Court will do now that the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken, but 
for any case where there was an allegation - especially in a criminal case, 
especially a case of life or death like a death penalty case, where the judge 
had a possibility of bias or a probability of bias that met the United States 
Supreme Court standard and wasn't given the relief," he said.

At this point, Figler said the federal public defender's office could try to 
"gently petition" the court to move ahead with a decision but that would be an 
unusual step.

They could also take the even more unusual step of going to the higher court to 
ask it to tell the Nevada Supreme Court to do something.

But for now, the case waits in limbo.

Figler believes the case speaks to a more difficult problem in Nevada: choosing 
unbiased judges.

Nevada elects its judges and most people would find it extremely difficult to 
suss out a judge's bias either by looking at their campaign donation records or 
reading past written decisions.

"We elect our judges and most voters really can't discern who should be the 
judge," he said.

(source: KNPR news)








CALIFORNIA:

Gabriel Fernandez's mother gets life, boyfriend sentenced to death



It's been 5 years that Pearl Sinthia Fernandez called 911 to the Palmdale home 
that she shared with her boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre. Her 8-year old son Gabriel 
son was not breathing; he had fallen and hit his head on a dresser, she told 
sheriff's deputies.

When paramedics arrived that May 22, 2013, they found Gabriel unconsciousness, 
naked and not breathing in a bedroom. His skull was cracked, ribs broken, skin 
burned, with missing teeth and BB pellets embedded in his lungs and groin, 
according to testimony later reported in the Los Angeles Times. Gabriel died 2 
days later after being removed from life support.

In more than 800 pages of sworn grand jury testimony made public in August 
2014, the extent of Gabriel's tortured life was revealed, including the 
suspicion that he was abused because Aguirre thought the child was gay.

"It was just like every inch of this child had been abused," LA County Fire 
Department paramedic James Cermak testified.

"For 8 straight months, he was abused, beaten and tortured more severely than 
many prisoners of war," Deputy District Attorney Jonathan Hatami told the grand 
jury. The couple not only tortured the boy to death but they tried to hide 
their abuse with forged doctor's notes and lies to authorities, he added. On 
Nov. 15, 2017, Aguirre, 37, was convicted of 1st-degree murder for fatally 
torturing and murdering Gabriel. During the penalty phase of his trial, Hatami 
told jurors that for months before the murder, Aguirre "reveled in his 
brutalization, forcing Gabriel to eat cat feces and his own vomit. The boy 
slept in a small cabinet, the prosecutor said, with his ankles handcuffed, his 
hands bound and his mouth gagged with a sock," The Times reported.

"No human with a heart and soul could do that to an innocent little boy," 
Hatami said. Jurors deliberated for 7 hours over 3 days before recommending the 
death penalty that December.

Fernandez pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder in February - a plea that 
included admitting that Gabriel was tortured and his murder was intentional. 
Her plea also enabled her to avoid the death penalty, which her defense argued 
would not be appropriate because of her very low IQ and her history of being a 
victim of abuse and torture herself. Apparently, Fernandez was taking a massive 
amount of opioid drugs, including OxyContin and Norco.

On Thursday, after Deputy Public Defender Michael Sklar argued that Aguirre's 
death sentence was "grossly disproportionate" with his culpability, Superior 
Court Judge George G. Lomeli - who sentenced Gabriel's mother, 34, to life in 
prison without parole and her boyfriend, 37, to death - could not contain his 
disgust.

It was the worst case of abuse he'd seen in nearly 20 years on the bench, 
Lomeli said, abuse that was "horrendous, inhumane and nothing short of evil."

"I hope you think about the pain you caused this child and that it tortures 
you," Lomeli said. "I rarely say that."

Lomeli cited evidence, such as bashing Gabriel's teeth out with a bat and 
shooting BB pellets at him, The Times reported, saying that some might call the 
abuse "animalistic." Except that animals don't do that to their own family.

The torture and murder of Gabriel Fernandez shocked the conscience of the 
country. In LA County, which has had serious problems with their Department of 
Children and Family Services, supervisors appointed a child protection czar, 
initiated a number of child welfare reforms and the DA brought criminal charges 
against County social workers who visited the home repeatedly and knew of at 
least 6 reports of abuse yet failed to removed Gabriel from a clearly dangerous 
home situation.

It is unclear whether Aguirre will ever actually be put to death for torturing 
and murder his 8 year old ward. As of Aug. 2017, 747 inmates are on death row, 
The Times reports. Only 13 men have been executed since 1978.

(source: Los Angeles Blade)