[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., LA., OHIO, TENN., KAN., COLO., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

June 23



TEXAS----impending execution

Judge rejects Houston serial killer's claims he's too ill to be executed



Danny Bible is scheduled for execution Wednesday.

A federal judge this week rejected a Houston serial killer's argument that he 
should get a stay because he's in such bad health he can't be executed.

Danny Bible is scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday, but in recent 
weeks his attorneys have said the aging quadruple murderer has such bad veins 
that any attempts to execute him could end in a gruesomely botched procedure.

But federal judge on Thursday deemed his claims "speculative" and 
"hypothetical" and faulted the defense for not raising such concerns sooner. 
Any difficulty finding a usable vein would fall into the category of an 
"isolated mishap" that wouldn't rise to the level of cruel and unusual 
punishment, the court said.

"In the end, the Constitution does not guarantee a painless death," Judge 
Kenneth Hoyt wrote. "Bible surely shows that his execution will result in 
discomfort and some level of pain. The pain he describes, however, does not 
rise to the level requiring this Court to take the drastic step of intruding 
into the execution process."

After the federal district court denied his legal claim, Bible on Thursday 
filed a notice of appeal in the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The 
66-year-old also still has an appeal pending in state court, where he's arguing 
that his lawyers in 2003 should have demanded a new trial after he was severely 
disabled in a head-on car wreck on the way to prison. That crash, his current 
lawyers argue, left Bible in a wheelchair and made him no longer a future 
danger - one of the requirements for a death sentence in Texas.

The death row inmate is also waiting on word regarding a clemency petition 
filed with the state's parole board. In the 27-page plea for reprieve, Bible 
argues that he's a changed man, one who's found God, feels remorse and is no 
longer capable of posing a threat. He also delves into his abusive childhood, 
psychological problems, a past suicide attempt and current medical problems, 
including everything from Parkinson's to diabetes to chronic necrotizing 
pancreatitis.

Bible was sentenced to death in 2003, after he confessed to the 1979 slaying of 
Inez Deaton. The young mother had been stabbed 11 times with an ice pick and 
left along the slope of a Houston bayou.

For 2 decades, the murder went unsolved, but Bible's violent streak continued.

In 1984, he was sent to prison for killing his sister-in-law Tracy Powers and 
her infant son Justin. Then, he killed her roommate, Pam Hudgins, and left the 
woman's body hanging from a roadside fence.

He was released after 8 years behind bars, and went on to rape and molest 
multiple young relatives, including a 5-year-old. In 1998, he raped a woman in 
a Louisiana motel room, then stuffed her in a duffel bag before she broke free 
and called for help.

Bible was eventually caught in Florida, and freely confessed to his crimes 
under questioning.

Texas has already executed 6 men this year, including another Houston serial 
killer, Anthony Shore. Aside from Bible's, there are 8 other death dates on the 
calendar in Texas.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----33

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----551

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

34---------June 27----------------Danny Bible-------------552

35---------July 17----------------Christopher Young-------553

36---------Aug. 30----------------Joseph Garcia-----------554

37---------Sept. 12---------------Ruben Gutierrez---------555

38---------Sept. 26---------------Troy Clark--------------556

39---------Sept. 27---------------Daniel Acker------------557

40---------Oct. 10----------------Juan Segundo------------558

41---------Oct. 24----------------Kwame Rockwell----------559

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Death penalty sought in trial of inmate accused of killing Abilene corrections 
officer



The death penalty will be sought during the Capital Murder trial of an inmate 
accused of killing a corrections officer at an Abilene prison in July of 2016.

Dillion Gage Compton, 21, will stand trial for the death of Officer Marianne 
Johnson in Jones County beginning on August 13 - a proceeding which could take 
weeks to complete due to the high-profile nature of the crime.

Compton appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing Friday, where legal teams 
reviewed evidence with the judge, a date was set, and State Prosecutors made it 
known they were seeking the death penalty.

Officer Johnson was found unresponsive in the kitchen area of the French 
Robertson Unit in Abilene around 3:00 a.m. the morning of July 16, 2016.

A press release says Compton, "who was assigned to the kitchen area, allegedly 
attacked Officer Johnson when she entered a storage area near the kitchen."

The TDCJ says Compton was serving time at the French Robertson Unit in Abilene 
after he was convicted on an Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child Under the Age 
of 14 charge issued out of Dallas County in December of 2011.

Compton is no longer in the French Robertson Unit and is being held in maximum 
security at an undisclosed location.

A Serious Incident Review took place following the murder, which led to 
disciplinary against the following TDCJ employees:

-- Jimmy Webb - Assistant Warden. 4 months probation, 7 days suspension

-- Edward McQuade - Major Correctional Officers. Recommended for dismissal

-- Gregory Cruse - Food Service Manager. Recommended for dismissal

-- Patrick Roach - Food Service Manager. Recommended for dismissal

(source: bigcountryhomepage.com)

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

Cheers for 'Abolish death penalty'



The Juneteenth Parade, an annual event in Houston, memorializes the day in 1865 
when the Emancipation Proclamation was put into effect, ending slavery across 
Texas.

This year it was celebrated on June 16. As the parade wound its way from Texas 
Southern University down Emancipation Avenue to Emancipation Park, the crowds 
were treated to beauty pageant participants, politicians, bands and community 
organizations.

But real emancipation was on the minds of many as the Texas Death Penalty 
Abolition Movement entry in the parade rolled by. It was warmly received with 
loud cheering, applause and fists in the air. Lots of photos were taken.

The contingent focused on several cases of innocent people on death row, 
including Big Lou Perez, Gerald Marshall, Tony Medina and Linda Carty. But the 
main focus of the Abolition Movement was on Christopher Young. There were 
posters and signs with a photo of Young along with his artwork - a graphic of a 
clenched fist crushing the needle of a lethal injection device.

Texas has set July 17 for Young's execution, despite several jurors saying they 
voted to convict him because their god had told them that Young, who is 
African-American, should not have had a white spouse and 2 children with her.

Showing the blatant bias in jury selection, a member of the jury pool in 
Young's case was eliminated because her church has a prison ministry, even 
though she was not part of it.

The parade ended at Emancipation Park, where the 146th annual Juneteenth 
Festival was in full swing. More information on Young's case is posted at 
tinyurl.com/y8y7scrw/.

(source: workers.org)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Duquesne death penalty case continues with Facebook evidence, testimony from 
friends of the accused



Attorneys and audience members in Allegheny Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony M. 
Mariani's courtroom spent nearly 13 1/2 hours over the past 2 weeks watching 
footage from the 2014 Allegheny County police interrogation of James Karr, 50, 
of Duquesne.

10 hours into the interrogation on Dec. 30, 2014, Mr. Karr admitted to knocking 
his 56-year-old estranged wife unconscious, tying her to a chair, dousing her 
with vodka, and setting their Friendship Street house on fire in the early 
hours of that morning.

In pre-trial motions for the death penalty case, Mr. Karr's defense attorneys 
argued that footage of the interrogation should be suppressed because Mr. Karr 
asked for a lawyer and never received one.

The pre-trial judge ruled that the video was admissible as evidence, but after 
hearing arguments from the defense, Judge Mariani agreed to review the entire 
tape.

Friday, after playing the final minutes of the interrogation, the prosecution 
went back to calling its witnesses.

First on the stand was a toxicologist with the Allegheny County Medical 
Examiner's Office, who testified that lab tests had identified cyanide and high 
levels of carbon monoxide in Maureen Karr's blood. Cyanide is created when 
plastic burns.

Next, the court heard from 2 men who were with Mr. Karr the night of his wife's 
death.

Clifford Jackene, who said that he and Mr. Karr had "loafed together" for 
years, testified that he and Mr. Karr had spent the early evening of Dec. 29, 
2014, drinking in bars in Duquesne. They then headed to the house of a friend, 
Lance Ludwick, where the three men continued drinking and smoked crack.

A little after 8 p.m., Mr. Jackene said, Mr. Karr told him he needed some air 
and was going for a walk.

When Mr. Karr did not return and failed to answer his phone, Mr. Jackene said 
he got worried. Mr. Jackene knew that Ms. Karr had a protection from abuse 
order against Mr. Karr.

"I said to Lance, 'Come on and let's go take a ride down there near his old 
house to make sure he isn't getting into trouble,'" Mr. Jackene said.

He and Mr. Ludwick drove to the house where Mr. Karr had lived with Ms. Karr. 
After searching unsuccessfully for about 10 minutes, he said they headed home.

A little after midnight, Mr. Jackene said, Mr. Karr called him and asked for a 
ride home. Mr. Jackene said he didn't have enough gas to take Mr. Karr all the 
way to his mother's house in South Park, and dropped him at a gas station, 
where Mr. Karr said his mother would pick him up.

Mr. Jackene said he had just gotten back in bed when Mr. Ludwick knocked on his 
door to tell him that the Karrs' house was on fire, and that he thought Ms. 
Karr was inside.

He immediately called Mr. Karr, asking, "What did you do?"

He said Mr. Karr sounded calm, telling him to "get out of here, I didn't do 
nothing."

Mr. Ludwick, who took the stand next, mostly corroborated Mr. Jackene's story, 
though he disputed some of his estimates of time and denied that he had been 
smoking crack.

In the afternoon, the commonwealth called Doreen Collins, who said Ms. Karr - 
whom she called "Reeny" - had been her best friend.

Ms. Collins told the court that sitting in the backyard of the Karrs' house 
with the couple, she had heard Mr. Karr say to Mrs. Karr, "I'll burn it down 
before you don't let me have it," referring to the house.

Ms. Collins also read aloud posts that Mr. Karr made on Facebook in the days 
leading up to the hearing about his wife's PFA on Dec. 29.

"It's no use going to court tomorrow I'm not going to get my wife back so I 
guess my eyes will take my life now that's what I'm doing goodbye I hope 
somebody shows up at my funeral," he wrote on Dec. 28.

In another post on Dec. 25, he wrote, "we'll see if it works probably not I'll 
probably end up going to jail for it but it's worth giving anything a try to be 
back with my wife the one and I love."

(source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)






LOUISIANA:

Lockport man sentenced to death for slaying of woman, 2 daughters

A Lockport man was formally sentenced to death by a judge Friday for the 
stabbing deaths of a woman and her 2 daughters.

David Brown was sentenced to death back in November 2016 after being convicted 
for the triple-homicide. As a formality, there is a 2-year waiting period in 
death penalty cases. The judge in the case was able to officially hand down the 
death sentence Friday.

Brown,was arrested and charged in 2012 after he stabbed his Jacqueline 
Gautreaux Nieves, 29; her 6-year-old daughter, Gabriella Nieves and 
20-month-old daughter Isabella Nieves.

Investigators believe Brown broke into the Lockport apartment armed with a 
knife. They suspect he went into one of the bedrooms and sexually assaulted 2 
of the victims before stabbing all 3 of them several times each, according to 
former reports.

According to deputies, Brown set the apartment on fire and left. The woman's 
husband, Carlos Nieves, Jr., was asleep downstairs the whole time. He 
eventually woke up and called 911 because the apartment was on fire.

Detectives said they found what they thought was the knife used in the attack 
on the victims and DNA at the scene that was matched to Brown.

Carlos Nieves Jr. was initially considered a "person of interest" in the crime 
and was questioned for several hours. Detectives said he was cooperative, and 
there was no evidence implicating him in the crime.

Lockport Police Chief Warren Vedros said it was the city's 1st homicide in 
about 40 years at the time of the crime.

(source: WVUE news)








OHIO:

Parole Board Recommends No Halt to Death Sentence for Raymond 
Tibbetts----Despite reservations from a former juror in the case, the Ohio 
Parole Board announced today that it believes the death penalty is still 
appropriate for Raymond Tibbetts.



After a special clemency hearing this month, the State of Ohio Adult Parole 
Authority today released its recommendation that Ohio Gov. John Kasich not halt 
the execution of Raymond Tibbetts, a Cincinnati man convicted in 1998 of 2 
brutal murders. The 9-member parole board arrived at that decision 8-1.

Earlier this year, Kasich called for the special clemency hearing after 1 of 
Tibbetts' jurors said he had not been given enough information about Tibbetts' 
background before voting for the death penalty 2 decades ago.

Tibbetts was convicted of stabbing to death 67-year-old Fred Hicks and beating 
his 42-year-old caretaker Judith Crawford to death with a baseball bat in 
Hicks' Cincinnati home in 1997. Tibbetts had married Crawford a few weeks 
prior. Authorities found 3 knives left in Hicks. The grisly case made big local 
headlines, and Tibbetts was sentenced to death for Hicks' murder and life in 
prison without parole for Crawford's.

Just weeks before Tibbetts' originally scheduled Feb. 13 execution, 1 of the 
jurors who helped put him on death row asked Kasich to pump the brakes on the 
death sentence.

Ross Geiger's name appears on the list of Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas 
jurors who in 1998 convicted Tibbetts of murder and recommended he be put to 
death. But in a Jan. 30 letter to Kasich, Geiger said new evidence about 
Tibbetts' childhood had convinced him that the death penalty isn't appropriate 
for Tibbetts.

"I am writing today to ask you show mercy to Raymond Tibbetts by commuting his 
death sentence to life in prison with no possibility of parole," Geiger writes. 
"This is not an easy request for me as I was a juror on the trial for that 
horrible crime."

But the parole board says that Geiger's reservations shouldn't sway Kasich into 
halting Tibbetts' execution.

"While the Parole Board believes that Geiger submitted his letter with the best 
of intentions, members are not convinced that his decision would have been 
different had the information been presented in the same manner at trial, when 
the results would have been deliberated within the jury setting. The vicious 
and gratuitous murder of Fred Hicks immediately following the brutal slaying of 
Judith Sue Crawford was so heinous that the mitigation as presented does not 
outweigh the aggravating factors in this case."

Family members of both victims testified at the clemency hearing earlier this 
month that the delay in Tibbetts' execution was causing them mental anguish, 
and that they believed he should be executed despite his difficult background.

Geiger's reasons for the letter stem from revelations not discussed at 
Tibbetts' original trial about horrific abuse he suffered as a child, details 
about his drug addiction and mental illness, lack of preparation from Tibbetts' 
defense team during the sentencing portion of his trial and other factors.

Tibbetts, who was heavily addicted to opiates and alcohol, had undiagnosed 
mental illnesses stemming at least in part from a chaotic and unstable 
childhood. His biological mother and father were mostly absent, according to 
testimony from his attorneys before a clemency board hearing in January 2017.

When they were around, they were physically abusive. Tibbetts and his siblings 
were taken from the home when he was 2 years old, and he then bounced around 
between different foster homes and orphanages, where he also experienced abuse 
and neglect.

Testimony from Tibbetts' sister about their upbringing, as well as social 
service records about his childhood, were available but not presented at trial.

In the months before the murders, Tibbetts attempted suicide. He had attempted 
to get into a treatment program for drug and alcohol addiction a month and a 
half before killing Hicks and Crawford, but was turned away. Those efforts show 
Tibbetts was suffering from mental illness, his attorneys have argued.

"A juror on Mr. Tibbetts' trial identified a serious malfunction in the system, 
one that clemency is designed to correct," said Erin Barnhart, an attorney for 
Tibbetts and an assistant federal public defender. "Mr. Tibbetts faces 
execution because the jury did not receive complete and accurate information 
about his background during sentencing proceedings. This was due to ineffective 
representation by defense attorneys and reinforced by misleading statements by 
the prosecution. Under Ohio law, his single vote as a juror for a life sentence 
would have prevented the death penalty. Failing to correct the error caused by 
these breakdowns in the adversarial process would irreparably damage the 
integrity of our criminal justice system."

At least 1 member of the parole board agreed with that reasoning.

"The issue under consideration is whether the jury was sufficiently presented 
with full details of the mitigating circumstances, enabling them to make an 
informed decision in the case," the dissenting parole board member wrote. "The 
defense did not fully present the scope of the childhood abuse suffered by 
Tibbetts and the long-term impact of that abuse."

Kasich isn't bound by the board's recommendation, and could still choose to 
permanently cancel Tibbetts' execution.

(source: citybeat.com)

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

Ohio Parole Board: Cincinnati killer still deserves death penalty even after 
juror sought mercy



The Ohio Parole Board ruled that Raymond Tibbetts, convicted of killing 2 
people in Over-the-Rhine, still deserved the death penalty - even after an 
11th-hour plea from a juror for mercy.

The board, in an 8-1 vote, did not recommend clemency for Tibbetts to Gov. John 
Kasich, according to a report released Friday. Kasich will soon decide whether 
to continue with Tibbetts' execution, which is set for Oct. 17.

The board gave Tibbetts' case a second look after a former juror, Ross Geiger 
of Loveland, wrote a letter to Kasich, expressing concern that jurors didn't 
know more about Tibbett's background before sentencing him to death.

Tibbetts was sentenced to death for beating his wife, Sue Crawford, to death 
and fatally stabbing his landlord, Fred Hicks, on the same day in 1997. Geiger 
told The Enquirer that he had no doubts Tibbetts committed those murders.

Even so, Geiger said he might not have recommended the death penalty if he had 
known about how Tibbetts had been abused as a child, put into foster care as a 
toddler and endured years of abuse and neglect, along with his siblings. That 
information was not presented before sentencing, Geiger said.

Kasich delayed Tibbetts' execution after receiving the letter. But on Friday, 
the Ohio Parole Board found that evidence of Tibbetts' childhood would not have 
outweighed the heinous crime - even if Geiger and other jurors had all the 
details.

One member disagreed, saying "the defense did not fully present the scope of 
the childhood abuse suffered by Tibbetts and the long-term impact of that 
abuse." Tibbetts attorney, Erin Barnhart, said the parole board's decision 
would "irreparably damage the integrity of our criminal justice system."

Mark Hicks, the nephew of victim Fred Hicks, expressed surprise and frustration 
that Geiger was able to delay the execution at all.

"It is absolutely unbelievable to my family and I that we are back here 
considering clemency for Raymond Tibbetts AGAIN because a juror was surfing the 
Internet one night," Hicks wrote, pleading for Kasich to go forward with the 
execution.

(source: cincinnati.com)








TENNESSEE:

Study: Mental illness exemption to death penalty would save Tennessee more than 
$1 million a year



Banning the death penalty for defendants with severe mental illness would save 
the state of Tennessee an estimated $1.4 to $1.9 million a year, a new ABA 
study says.

The study was released by the ABA's Death Penalty Due Process Review Project, 
which advocates for a severe mental illness exemption in any jurisdiction that 
uses the death penalty. To analyze the cost savings associated with such an 
exemption, the study focused on Tennessee.

"A severe mental illness exclusion could result in cost savings [because] a 
subset of individuals who currently could face expensive capital prosecutions 
and decades of appeals would become ineligible," the report says. "[T]heir 
trials and appeals would be significantly truncated, while still resulting in 
guilty verdicts."

The study sampled Shelby County, Tennessee's death row population to determine 
what percentage of those people had severe mental illness. Severe mental 
illness was defined as a documented diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective 
disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression or delusional disorder. 15 % of 
Shelby County capital defendants had such a disorder, and the authors applied 
that proportion to all death sentences handed down in the state since 1977. It 
estimated that 28 cases may have involved severe mental illness over that time.

Using an Urban Institute study of Maryland death penalty costs, conducted in 
2008, the authors then estimated that a death penalty case costs roughly $1.9 
million more than a non-capital case. Thus, they calculated that a severe 
mental illness exemption would have saved the state $54.8 million from 
1977-2017, or an average of $1.4 million a year. If the true proportion of 
capital defendants with severe mental illness is 20 %, they say, the average 
yearly savings would be $1.89 million.

Tennessee was chosen because it makes detailed data available on all 1st-degree 
murder cases filed since 1977, the authors say, and because there's currently a 
campaign in that state to exempt capital punishment for defendants with severe 
mental illness. Several other states are considering, or have considered, such 
an exemption, the study notes. These campaigns focus on the cost of 
implementing the death penalty, as well as law and public policy arguments.

The authors note that the ABA has called for a severe mental illness exemption 
in 2006's Resolution 122-A. (As a matter of policy, the ABA does not take a 
stand on the death penalty itself.) That resolution says such an exemption 
would be a natural extension of Supreme Court cases limiting the death penalty 
for people with intellectual disabilities.

(source: abajournal.com)



KANSAS:

Wyandotte County deputies' killer deserves the death penalty



It's too bad there are so many obstacles to actually carrying out the death 
penalty of a murderer in Kansas because the suspect in the recent killing of 2 
sheriff's deputies in Wyandotte County - if found guilty - should be sentenced 
to die by lethal injection.

That should send a clear message that when you murder cops in cold blood or 
commit mass murder, your life also will end, sooner rather than later. Although 
research finds that the death penalty may not deter murders today, some experts 
believe if executions happened more quickly, there could be a significant 
deterrent effect.

In Kansas, the death penalty must be decided by a unanimous vote of a jury in 
cases of 1st-degree murder without aggravating factors. The murder in Wyandotte 
County appears to be such a case. An inmate being transferred in a van got hold 
of the gun of one of the two deputies present, then fatally shot them both. 
Antoine Fielder has been charged in the 2 deaths and has been booked into the 
Johnson County Jail.

Kansas is not big on capital punishment, although it is among 33 states where 
it is legal. Only 2 of those death-penalty states - Kansas and New Hampshire - 
have carried out no executions since capital punishment was reinstated in the 
U.S. in 1976. Kansas does have 9 inmates on "death row," but complex laws and a 
Kansas Supreme Court that appears to want to stall these cases have resulted in 
executions being postponed indefinitely.

The death penalty should be the punishment in the Wyandotte County case, and 
the legal morass should be cleared away to allow for this execution to actually 
occur. But there has not been a groundswell of support for expediting 
executions because Kansans have been squishy when it comes to actually 
following through on death sentences.

In 1978, Kansas Gov. Robert Bennett, a former Republican attorney from Prairie 
Village, was defeated for re-election after 1 term by John Carlin, the 
Democratic candidate who ran on the platform of get-tough-on-crime by 
legalizing the death penalty in Kansas. Carlin beat Bennett and then 
immediately changed his mind. He vetoed legislation in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 
1985 that would have made capital punishment legal in Kansas. He explained this 
change of heart as the result of soul-searching that led him to see capital 
punishment as immoral.

Of the states that allow the death penalty, Kansas became the last to reinstate 
that punishment in 1994. It happened during the reign of former Kansas Gov. 
Joan Finney, who announced she personally opposed capital punishment but 
allowed it to become law in Kansas without her signature.

If only for retribution, there needs to be a punishment for killing 2 law 
enforcement officers that is harsher than sending the killer to a life in 
prison. And that should be nothing less than a death sentence.

That opinion puts me line with the majority of Americans who believe capital 
punishment is justified in the case of murder. Although I have not seen a 
survey indicating how citizens feel about the murder of law enforcement 
officers, I imagine the numbers would be even higher, perhaps significantly so. 
As it is, in the United States, 55 % favor the death penalty if a person is 
convicted of murder. That number has dropped markedly over the past 25 years 
from a high of 80 % in favor.

At the same time, there have been movements in several states to create 
specific legislation identifying "death penalty murders." That penalty would be 
the mandatory sentence for those who are convicted of killing a law enforcement 
officer - as well as for mass murderers.

Kansas should consider such a law. This would take the sentencing discretion 
away from a jury when such murders are committed. Capital punishment would and 
should always apply in those heinous cases. Then we must do more to make 
certain execution by lethal injection in Kansas is swiftly implemented in hopes 
of deterring would-be cop killers and mass murderers.

(source: Opinion, Steve Rose; kansascity.com)








COLORADO:

El Paso County jury asks about lesser charges while deliberating in 
death-penalty case



A jury deliberating double-murder charges in an El Paso County death-penalty 
case appears to be weighing whether Glen Law Galloway acted in self-defense in 
the 1st of 2 fatal shootings for which he is on trial.

During Thursday's deliberations, the jury asked for guidance on self-defense 
and 2nd-degree murder.

After discussing the issue with attorneys in the case, 4th Judicial District 
Judge Gregory Werner sent back a response that jurors had all the evidence and 
instructions they need to decide the case. The 9-man, 3-woman panel then 
resumed deliberations.

Although far from definitive, jury questions can provide a window into a 
panel's thinking, and Thursday's query goes to the heart of Galloway's defense 
that he didn't plot the killing of Marcus Anderson, as prosecutors alleged.

Prosecutors must obtain at least 1 1st-degree murder conviction for Galloway to 
be facing the death penalty.

If the jury votes for 2nd-degree murder in one of the shootings, the 
prosecution would be on shakier ground in requesting the state's ultimate 
punishment, legal observers say.

The issue of whether Galloway acted in self-defense has already generated 
controversy in the county's 1st capital case in a decade.

Earlier this week, the defense accused Werner of "bias" and asked him to recuse 
himself after he barred the defense from using the phrase "self-defense" in its 
closing remarks.

Under Colorado law, a self-defense instruction is generally approved if the 
defense presents even a "scintilla" of supporting evidence, legal observers 
say.

Werner ruled the defense had failed to provide any evidence of self-defense, 
despite expert testimony about gunshot residue found inside Anderson's pants 
and on his underwear, which the defense argued was consistent with Galloway's 
story that Anderson had a gun in his waistband before pulling it on Galloway.

The judge previously ruled there wasn't sufficient evidence for the jury to 
consider lesser offenses of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide, 
leaving the panel no alternative beyond 1st- and 2nd-degree murder.

Galloway, an ex-Fort Carson soldier, is charged in the May 2016 fatal shootings 
of Anderson and Janice Nam, the defendant's ex-girlfriend. Prosecutors allege 
both killings were a revenge plot against Nam, whom he blamed for an October 
2015 conviction for stalking.

The judge's rulings on self-defense are likely to figure into any future 
appeals should Galloway be convicted, experts say.

Phil Cherner, a retired Denver defense attorney who has argued post-conviction 
matters in a prominent death-penalty case, previously told The Gazette that 
jury instructions are fertile grounds for appeal in capital cases.

"Of cases that get reversed, frequently it's the jury instructions," he said.

The Galloway jury was sent home at 5 p.m. Thursday without reaching a verdict. 
The panel will not deliberate on Friday and is expected to resume deliberations 
on Monday morning.

(source: Colorado Springs Gazette)








CALIFORNIA:

Fresno judge rejects death row inmate's motion to dismiss his 1978 murder case



A Fresno Superior Court judge on Friday rejected a defense motion to dismiss 
death row inmate Douglas Ray Stankewitz's 1978 murder case, but invited 
Stankewitz legal team to file a new motion if they find new evidence of 
prosecutorial misconduct.

Judge Arlan Harrell made his ruling after hearing arguments from Fresno defense 
lawyer Peter Jones, legendary San Francisco attorney Tony Serra and his 
associate, San Francisco attorney Curtis Briggs.

Stankewitz, an American Indian known as "Chief" who is now 60, is the longest 
tenured condemned inmate at San Quentin State Prison.

Putting him to death hasn't been easy.

He was initially given the death penalty in 1978 for killing 22-year-old 
Theresa Graybeal after kidnapping and robbing her. But in 1982 the California 
Supreme Court tossed his 1st death sentence due to judicial error. A year later 
he was convicted by a different jury and sentenced to death again.

His case has returned to Fresno County Superior Court because a federal 
appellate court in 2012 overturned his 2nd death sentence due to incompetent 
defense counsel. Fresno prosecutor Noelle Pebet is seeking to get Stankewitz's 
death sentence reinstated through a third jury trial. His trial is scheduled to 
start in April 2019.

Friday's hearing dealt with a gun that prosecutors say Stankewitz used to kill 
Graybeal in February 1978.

Stankewitz's legal team claimed that prosecutors, in order to get a death 
sentence, lied to jurors in both the 1978 and 1983 trials when they said 
Stankewitz used the same gun to kill Graybeal south of Fresno and in the 
attempted murder hours later of a farm worker outside a bar west of Fresno.

That's not true, his lawyers said, because Graybeal was shot with a .25 caliber 
handgun; .22-caliber shell casings were discovered at the scene where the farm 
worker was attacked.

Jones pointed out he didn't receive a report about the different shell casing 
evidence from the prosecution until 2017. And when Jones looked closer at the 2 
shootings, he said he discovered that 3 .25-caliber shell casings that were 
test-fired from the Graybeal murder weapon were "in the evidence bag" for the 
farm worker shooting.

"They framed out client," Briggs argued. "They hid the evidence. This is a 
conspiracy by the prosecution to kill Mr. Stankewitz."

Another issue involved Billy Brown, who was 14 years old when he testified in 
Stankewitz's 2 trials. According to Brown's testimony, Stankewitz raised a gun 
and shot Graybeal from about a foot away. "Did I drop her or did I drop her?" 
Brown quoted Stankewitz as saying.

For his testimony, Brown's murder charge was dropped. But in a declaration 
Brown made in September 1993, he says he never saw Stankewitz with a gun and 
never heard him utter the words that led to the death sentence. Brown has died 
since making the declaration.

In ruling Friday, Harrell reminded the lawyers that in December he had ruled 
the prosecution's argument about Stankewitz shooting Greybeal and at the farm 
worker with the same gun didn't rise to dismissal of the murder case. He also 
said Brown's 1993 declaration was unreliable. After hearing arguments, Harrell 
said he still believed the case should not be dismissed.

After Friday's hearing, Stankewitz's legal team said they will ask an appellate 
court to overturn Harrell's ruling.

(source: fresnobee.com)








USA:

US should sanction Iran's notorious 'hanging judge'



The story is as jarring as it is depressingly familiar.

In mid-May, Iranian judge Abolghassem Salavati told a British-Iranian prisoner 
to expect a new conviction on fresh charges of "propaganda against the state." 
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, whom Salavati first sentenced to 5 years in prison 
in 2016 on equally specious espionage allegations, constitutes one of more than 
a dozen known dual and foreign nationals - including at least 7 U.S. citizens 
and permanent residents - languishing in Iran's notorious jails for putatively 
seeking to overthrow the Islamist regime.

The Trump administration, as part of its newly announced Iran strategy, has 
called for their release and pledged to support the Iranian people's larger 
struggle for freedom. But while the European Union sanctioned Salavati for his 
human rights abuses in 2011, Washington has yet to follow suit. A U.S. 
designation of Salavati, one of the harshest figures in Iran's judiciary, would 
mark an important way to increase pressure on the regime for its longstanding 
repression of Iranians and Americans alike.

Widely known in Iran as the "hanging judge" and the "judge of death," Salavati 
has presided over the trials - or, more accurately, the show trials - of 
numerous Iranian dual and foreign nationals. More infamously, Salavati has 
imposed draconian sentences, including the death penalty, lashes, and elongated 
jail terms, on countless political prisoners. For millions of Iranians, 
Salavati serves as the foremost symbol of Tehran's domestic repression and the 
radical Islamist creed that drives it.

Salavati holds the title of "judge," but the term, as Bloomberg's Eli Lake has 
noted, is a misnomer. Salavati heads the 15th branch of Iran???s Revolutionary 
Court, which functions primarily to prosecute ideological opponents of the 
regime. Distinct from Iran's civil and criminal court system, the Revolutionary 
Court aims not merely to enforce Iranian law per se, though its routine denial 
of due process runs roughshod over various Iranian statutes. Rather, the court 
effectively serves as an agent of Iran's intelligence ministry and Islamist 
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime's praetorian guard, which seeks to 
advance Tehran's vision of the 1979 revolution both at home and abroad.

Salavati achieved international renown when he presided over televised show 
trials of hundreds of Iranians who participated in the nationwide protests that 
began in June 2009. He sentenced several of them to death, including a 
20-year-old student who threw 3 rocks during the uprising. (On appeal, Tehran 
commuted the sentence to three years in prison.) Other protestors received 
lengthy prison sentences.

These rulings typify Salavati's career. In his courtroom, trials often last a 
few minutes, sentences often occur on the basis of coerced confessions with 
little or no evidence, Salavati himself frequently serves as prosecutor as well 
judge, and defendants receive little or no access to a lawyer. He routinely 
dismisses or ignores allegations of torture in prison. He habitually accepts 
sentencing recommendations from the IRGC and the intelligence ministry, 
undercutting any pretense that his court offers an independent check on the 
executive branch. In fact, the regime consistently brings him cases when it 
seeks to make an example of a political prisoner it regards as especially 
dangerous.

Salavati has displayed particular scorn for captured Americans. In 2011, 
following a closed-door trial, Salavati imposed 8-year prison sentences on 2 
vacationing U.S. citizens who had been hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan and 
accidentally crossed the border into Iran. The court, without any evidence, 
accused them of spying. Eventually, thanks in part to intense international 
pressure, Iran released them after more than 2 years behind bars.

Since then, Salavati has consigned multiple other Americans to protracted 
prison terms based on unsubstantiated charges of espionage. In January 2016, 
the Obama administration secured the freedom of 4 American prisoners, including 
former U.S. Marine Amir Hekmati and Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, 
both of whom Salavati sentenced, by releasing 7 Iranian sanctions violators, 
dropping charges on 14 other at-large Iranians suspected of similar offenses, 
and airlifting $400 million in cash to the regime.

Today, at least 5 of Iran's imprisoned American citizens and permanent 
residents still reside in jail due to Salavati's exorbitant sentences, 
including Iranian Americans Siamak Namazi and his elderly father, Bacquer 
Namazi. The most recent known sentencing of an American occurred in January 
2018, when Salavati sentenced art gallery owners Karen Vafadari, an 
Iranian-American, and his wife, Afarin Niasari, an Iranian national with U.S. 
permanent residency, to 27 and 16 years in prison respectively for "acts 
against national security." Salavati later reduced their sentences to 15 and 10 
years respectively.

Tehran is sensitive to international criticism in the realm of human rights: 
Past global pressure campaigns have resulted in the release of some prisoners, 
if not an overwhelming number of them. Naming and shaming Salavati, in 
conjunction with other economic sanctions against Tehran, would amount to a 
significant 1st step in extracting American hostages from Iran while 
demonstrating solidarity with the long-suffering Iranian people.

(source: Tzvi Kahn is a senior Iran analyst at the Foundation for Defense of 
Democracies, a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on 
national security and foreign policy----thehill.com)