[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., OHIO, MICH., IND., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

May 30



LOUISIANA:

Agreement defers motion in Sonnier death penalty case



A hearing was held Tuesday morning in the death penalty case of Matthew 
Sonnier, the Alexandria man accused with his sister in the killings of 3 people 
in one day back in October.

Both Sonnier, 29, and his 31-year-old sister, Ebony Nicole Sonnier, face the 
death penalty in the slayings of Latrice Renee White, Jeremy Deon Norris and 
Kendrick Dwann Horn. The siblings were arrested within and week and indicted on 
Nov. 29, 2017.

The bodies were found in 2 different locations early on Oct. 18, 2017. The body 
of White, 42, was the 1st to be found, lying on Melrose Street in Pineville. 
She had been stabbed and thrown from a car.

The bodies of Norris, 28, and Horn, 33, later were found wrapped in a pool 
liner that had been set on fire in a ditch on Old Boyce Road outside of 
Alexandria.

Matthew was indicted on 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and 2 counts of 
obstruction of justice. Ebony was indicted on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, 1 
count of 2nd-degree murder and 2 counts of obstruction of justice. The 
2nd-degree murder charge against Ebony is for White's death.

Hugo Holland is representing the Rapides Parish District Attorney in the case, 
and he filed a motion concerning ex parte motions that might be filed by the 
defense. Those are motions that don't require any notice to be given to the 
other side in a case.

He also filed a similar motion in Ebony Sonnier's case. A hearing date was set 
for July 2.

Holland told ad hoc Judge Harry Randow that he only asks to be notified should 
Matthew Sonnier's defense attorney, Kyla Blanchard-Romanach of Baton Rouge, 
file any such motions. He said it's been his experience in capital cases that 
the motions can be abused.

Romanach said she didn't anticipate filing any ex parte motions now, but she 
said it could be necessary in the future. She explained that Sonnier's defense 
is bound to conduct an independent and full investigation of the case.

Some items that the defense could seek might only be available through 
subpoenas, she said. In those cases, it could be necessary to file such 
motions.

Holland didn't disagree, but again asked for notice.

"I'm just asking for that notice," he told Randow. "That's all I'm asking for."

Because both sides seemed to be in agreement regarding the issue, Randow 
deferred any action on the motion.

Romanach and Holland also established a deadline for defense motions to be 
filed in the case.

(source: thetowntalk.com)

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

Matthew Sonnier returns to court for several motions in capital case



Matthew Sonnier, the man accused of murdering three people with the help of his 
sister, Ebony, back in October, was back in Rapides Parish court on Tuesday for 
a hearing on several motions. The state is seeking the death penalty for both.

Sonnier was indicted in November for the murders of Jeremy Norris, Kendrick 
Horn and Latish White. He pleaded not guilty to 3 counts of 1st degree murder, 
obstruction of justice, criminal conspiracy, and carrying of a firearm by a 
convicted felon.

On Tuesday, Judge Harry Randow heard a motion for discovery which Sonnier's 
capital defense attorney Kyla Blanchard-Romanach said she was "satisfied with 
what we've received so far." The state has also filed a motion for discovery.

Special prosecutor Hugo Holland filed a motion to prohibit ex parte which he 
said from his experience is "a process that his been abused." Holland said if 
the defense requests a need for ex parte, he wants the state to be notified.

Romanach told the court, "Sometimes there is a need for ex parte requests, 
particularly with funding. [...] I think the law is clear on that, that we have 
a right."

Judge Randow deferred the matter for now.

As the motions wrapped up, a pre-trial conference date was set for July 18 at 
10:30 a.m. to set a schedule of any upcoming dates.

(source: KALB news)








OHIO:

Jury to weigh death penalty in Youngstown murder case



The jury that found 48-year-old Lance Hundley guilty of beating a Youngstown 
woman to death, setting her home on fire, and attacking her mother is scheduled 
to be back in court today deciding if they think he should be sentenced to 
death for the crimes.

After deliberating only 3 hours earlier this month, a jury convicted Hundley of 
aggravated murder, attempted murder, felonious assault, and aggravated arson.

Since the murder charge included a death penalty specification, the same jury 
must now hear testimony to help them decide if they should recommend that 
Hundley be executed for killing 41-year-old Erika Huff in 2015.

Prosecutors say Hundley attacked Huff at her home on Cleveland Street, beat her 
to death, and then set the home on fire to cover up the crime.

Officials say when Hundley encountered Huff's mother, Denise Johnson outside 
the home, he attacked her with a claw hammer.

Officers responding to calls for help removed an air conditioner from the back 
of the home and rescued Johnson.

After that rescue, they found Huff's body. Huff was confined to a wheelchair, 
unable to walk because she suffered from MS.

Police originally said Hundley was living in the home and was inside when 
police arrived. Hundley was arrested and was also taken to St. Elizabeth Health 
Center for injuries.

Erika had a 6-year-old daughter who was not in the home at the time of the 
fire.

The jury will make a recommendation, but Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge 
Maureen Sweeney will actually be the one who passes sentence.

(source: WFMJ news)








MICHIGAN:

The 'Grim Reaper' is coming to Michigan



Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to visit Michigan on Thursday to give a 
speech at the annual dinner of the state's chapter of the Federalist Society, 
an influential conservative legal group known for promoting late Supreme Court 
justice Antonin Scalia's brand of constitutional originalism.

The talk will be held in Plymouth, outside Detroit, where Sessions' Justice 
Department is hoping to have a gang member executed as part of a ramp-up in the 
federal government's use of the death penalty. Under the Obama administration, 
death-penalty authorizations were sought only in cases involving terrorism, the 
killing of children or law-enforcement officers, and murders by prisoners 
already serving life sentences. But Sessions - who as attorney general of 
Alabama tried to execute so many people he earned the nickname "Grim Reaper" - 
has taken a more ruthless approach. In January, his DOJ said it would seek the 
death penalty in the case of Detroiter Billy Arnold, a Seven Mile Bloods leader 
charged with killing 2 rivals. Sessions in March urged federal prosecutors to 
pursue the death penalty even in non-violent drug cases.

More recently, the trigger-happy AG has made headlines for his plans to 
criminally prosecute anyone who illegally crosses into the U.S. from Mexico and 
separate children from their parents.

(source: metrotimes.com)








INDIANA:

State secret: DOC presses lethal injection confidentiality



A law slipped into the 2017 budget bill during the General Assembly's final 
hours declared that information about drugs that the state would use to execute 
someone was confidential. The last-minute law was written into the bill even 
though a judge had ruled months earlier that the very same information was a 
matter of public record and had ordered the Department of Correction to provide 
it.

"It's the damnedest thing," Indianapolis attorney Peter Racher said of what he 
calls the secrecy statute inserted into must-pass legislation at the eleventh 
hour. "There was no substantive debate," he said, describing the law's 
insertion into the budget bill as "anti-democratic. ... But that is the process 
the General Assembly followed in enacting this new statute."

Racher, of Plews Shadley Racher & Braun P.C., represents A. Katherine Toomey, 
an attorney with the law firm of Lewis Baach Kaufmann Middlemiss PLLC in 
Washington, D.C. Beginning 4 years ago, Toomey formally requested information 
from the DOC regarding the drugs it would use or planned to use in lethal 
injections, were the state to order an execution to be carried out.

Despite a ruling years ago from the Indiana Public Access Counselor that the 
information Toomey sought was public, the DOC largely denied her requests for 
information, leading Toomey to sue the department in 2015. Marion Circuit Judge 
Sheryl Lynch granted summary judgment for Toomey in October 2016, ordering the 
DOC to provide the information within 30 days.

Toomey is still waiting. But she's also still litigating. She and Racher said 
they're perplexed by what they consider extreme lengths DOC has gone to in 
court, and in the Statehouse, to keep the information about lethal injections 
from the public.

More broadly, Racher said the case poses a significant test for Indiana's 
Access to Public Records Act, as well as for the fundamental principle of 
separation of powers between branches of government.

"You can't just go to the General Assembly to unwind a judgment entered by a 
court," Racher said. "That intrudes into the judicial function, not to mention 
that you can't legislate in Indiana in a way to defeat a specific citizen's 
request for information."

The lawsuit, A. Katherine Toomey v. Indiana Department of Correction, 
49C01-1501-PL-3142, remains in Lynch's court, with further proceedings 
scheduled in June. The DOC continues its fight to bar access to the information 
Toomey seeks, now relying heavily on the law passed after Lynch's initial 
summary judgment ruling in Toomey's favor.

Questioning DOC

The Department of Correction declined to answer specific questions from Indiana 
Lawyer about its duty to release information regarding drugs used in lethal 
injections, or why it continues to fight against disclosure.

"The Indiana Department of Correction is well aware of its obligations related 
to release of information under the Public Records Act," DOC spokesman Ike 
Randolph wrote in response to emailed questions. "... At this time, there has 
been no final order in (Toomey's) case, but when the case is over, our agency 
will comply with any final outcome."

Toomey asked the DOC 8 questions seeking information on the DOC's inventory of 
lethal injection drugs. Among other things, she asked for information about the 
kinds of drugs DOC has on hand for lethal injection purposes by amount and 
expiration date, as well as documents regarding drugs the department was 
considering using and communications the department has had regarding obtaining 
lethal injection drugs.

"While I can only speculate about the state's motives for hiding this 
information from the public, it does appear clear that it is concerned that its 
actions behind closed doors won't survive scrutiny in the light," Toomey wrote 
in response to emailed questions. "This may well be because, for instance, 
documents previously disclosed show that officials had purchased Somnasol, a 
drug that is intended for use by veterinarians in the euthanasia of dogs. This 
drug should not be used under any circumstances on a human being."

Randolph declined to provide Indiana Lawyer with the formulation the state 
would use in an execution. "With respect to withholding the identities of 
companies which manufacture or sell materials used in the lethal injection 
process, or the identities of persons who participate in actions or decisions 
related to the lethal injection process, we believe our agency has justifiable 
reasons why such information is properly withheld from disclosure," he wrote.

Confidentiality or secrecy?

Racher calls Indiana Code 35-38-6-1(e) and (f) "the secrecy statute." The DOC 
prefers to call it "the confidentiality statute." By any name, its terms are 
sweeping and clear - and they were never subjected to debate or the normal 
legislative process in the Statehouse. The statute provides a means by which 
pharmacies, drug distributors or other facilities can provide drugs to the DOC 
for use in lethal injection while also declaring the identity of those 
suppliers to be confidential.

"Pharmaceutical companies simply don't want their pharmaceuticals used in 
executions," Racher said.

He noted the statute's reach is broad, essentially imposing a gag rule on 
anyone who may be in the supply chain of lethal injection drugs supplied to 
DOC. "If you're an employee of a pharmacist that provides that material to the 
state and you want to talk," Racher said, "the statute mandates that you 
maintain confidentiality." He believes the language applied to someone who 
divulges the information would violate freedom of conscience protections under 
Article 1, Section 3 of the Indiana Constitution.

The language of the confidentiality statute added to House Bill 1001 by a 
conference committee was posted online at about 2 a.m. on April 21, 2017 - the 
day before the session adjourned. House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Tim Brown, 
R-Crawfordsville, introduced the changes, calling them "limits of liability 
related to pharmaceuticals purchasing. And this is related to potential death 
penalty cases. ... (T)he drug companies request this ... in their purchase 
pricing."

The bill ultimately passed, but not without protests from legislators, 
including Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, who said lawmakers hadn't had a chance 
to review the law. "Something is wrong with a system that allows ... 1 person 
somewhere to put these things into the budget without any vetting," Tallian 
said after the amended budget was introduced.

Neither Brown nor Tallian responded to messages seeking comment. A spokeswoman 
for House Speaker Brian Bosma said he was traveling on a trade mission with 
Gov. Eric Holcomb and could not be reached for comment.

There are currently 12 men who have been sentenced to death on Indiana's death 
row, as well as 1 woman who's housed in Ohio. No executions are currently 
scheduled, and several condemned inmates' death sentences have been overturned 
on appeal.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in Roy Lee Ward v. 
Robert E. Carter, Jr., et al., 46S03-1709-PL-00569, that the DOC can alter its 
lethal injection protocols without going through public rulemaking. A panel of 
the Indiana Court of Appeals had reached the opposite conclusion. During 
arguments in Ward, the DOC told justices it had abandoned the untried lethal 
injection formulation at issue in the case and was seeking guidance on how it 
should proceed.

Despite multiple requests, Randolph declined to identify to Indiana Lawyer the 
lethal injection drugs or protocol DOC would use if an execution were ordered.

Toomey said there's a basic reason she's fighting in court to get the DOC to 
disclose how it would execute someone. "I believe it is important that citizens 
in every state know what the government is doing in their names, and this is 
all the more important when it comes to an act as grave as carrying out 
executions," she said.

(source: Indiana Lawyer)








CALIFORNIA:

Another Birthday on Death Row----Jarvis Jay Masters has spent almost 30 years 
on death row for a crime many think he did not commit. Rebecca Solnit 
celebrated his 56th birthday with Masters as he seeks freedom through 
meditation until the day his conviction is overturned.



Bolted to the wall is a box painted a glistening red, and on it stenciled in 
white are the letters TRAUMA. Inside there must be equipment for physical 
traumas because this is not a place that's well-equipped for addressing 
emotional traumas, though it is full of them.

There's a big black lock on the trauma box, and I wonder if the guards wearing 
utility belts with handcuffs and guns have the key to unlock TRAUMA, or if it 
is with the guard at the entry booth, behind the thick plexiglass. How do you 
unlock trauma? Who holds the keys to freedom? One of the guards has an 
insulated lunchbox sitting on the TRAUMA box, from which he removes a doughnut; 
the other one has a small ziplock bag of what looks like Oreo cookies.

To the right of the TRAUMA box is a series of cages in which there are people 
visiting face-to-face but locked in those cages. To the left, people visit 
through thick windows, sometimes using a phone receiver to communicate with the 
person they're facing. 2 Latino men and a woman crowd around a window so that I 
can't see who they're talking to; a woman with her hair in tiny braids speaks 
to a big, handsome man on the other side of the glass, and another woman with 
long red hair props her tiny daughter on the shelf where a man is trying to 
connect with her from the other side. Sometimes the child responds; sometimes 
she looks away. I wave and smile, but she's having none of it from me and not 
so much of it from the man who might be her father.

He's managed to make, in some ways, a good life within the most horrific limits 
imaginable.

It's visiting day at San Quentin State Prison: February 24, 2018. It's also 
Jarvis Masters's 56th birthday, and I'm waiting to see him. These are some 
things you might want to know about Jarvis Masters: Pema Chodron drops by to 
see him when she's in the Bay Area. He took the precepts with Chagdud Tulku 
Rinpoche in 1989. He has a serious meditation practice and a lively sense of 
humor. And he's on death row in San Quentin for a crime he did not commit.

Jarvis has been waiting for more than three decades for a chance to have the 
shoddy evidence and corrupted trial that convicted him reviewed and his 
conviction overturned. During that time, he's written a few books, converted to 
Buddhism, spent a lot of time meditating, and built a remarkably wide and 
thriving social life beyond the prison walls, much of it with fellow Buddhists.

I admire the ways he's managed to make, in some ways, a good life within the 
most horrific limits imaginable. Though our earlier visits were in cages, today 
I have to talk to him through thick glass because he's being punished for 
protesting his own situation and that of the men around him. He's waited 
decades for a chance to challenge the verdict and introduce new evidence, 
during which time he's lived with a death sentence hanging over him.

Here in California, we are not sure whether we want to have state-sanctioned 
murders or not, so we keep sentencing people to death but have held few 
executions since the death penalty was reinstated. There are now more than 700 
people on death row, far more than in any other state. The last execution was 
in 2006, of a man sentenced in 1981.

It's cruel and unusual punishment to keep someone waiting, not knowing if and 
when a state-inflicted death will happen. When Jarvis went on a hunger strike, 
he was thinking of all the condemned men there with him who die of natural 
causes or go mad in the bleak conditions under which they live. It's a 
complicated situation - many prisoners fear that if the death penalty is 
overturned, they will be given life without parole and lose their access to the 
appeals process and to legal representation. They are, in a way, prisoners of 
bureaucracy. On election day in 2016, Californians voted to pass Proposition 
66, a measure designed to speed up the death penalty. But there is a stalemate 
about what drugs can be legally used for executions. In a way, the prisoners 
are locked in a box labeled TRAUMA, and who holds the key remains to be seen.

Jarvis and I talk about his case, and his hunger strike, and the legal 
situation, and the deep suffering he sees all around him. Then we talk about 
writing, and his books, and then my books, and then the trauma of those 
subjected to violence on the street, in the home, and in prison. Somehow 2 
hours pass, and then the guards take him away as I hastily sing a few lines of 
"Happy Birthday." And so he enters his 56th year of a life spent mostly in this 
prison.

Jarvis was a Black child in Southern California who lived through the worst of 
what poverty and the state foster care system and juvenile justice system had 
to offer. He was imprisoned as a child for running away from abusive homes, and 
then at eighteen he held a gun in a robbery organized by his uncle???s friend 
and at nineteen went to San Quentin.

There he might have served out his time, but he was accused of sharpening the 
weapon with which a prison guard was murdered in the summer of 1985, when he 
was 23. There are layers of reasons to question the charges, including the 
apparent physical impossibility of his having transported a weapon from where 
he was locked up to where the murderer stabbed the guard. The trial was a 
farce, with shoddy evidence, missing evidence, witnesses who were bribed, and 
others who changed their story. Someone else has confessed to sharpening the 
weapon. The murderer and the prisoner who ordered the murder did not receive 
the death penalty. The murderer has testified that Jarvis is innocent.

Pema Chodron says,"I believe in Jarvis Masters's innocence. This is not simply 
because of my love for him, but my certainty is based on having heard much of 
the evidence."

There is a community of Buddhists who hope to build a bigger movement to free 
him. They're drawing attention to his case by raising his profile with letters 
to California's governor, attorney general, and a key state senator, and 
pressing for a fair hearing soon. On January 26, there was a worldwide day of 
meditation with and for Jarvis. You can learn more at freejarvis.org.

(source: Commentnary; Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the 
author of books on feminism, Western and Indigenous history, social change and 
insurrection, hope and disaster----lionsroar.com)