[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., IND., KY., TENN.

[Rick Halperin]

November 1



TEXAS----new death sentence

'You executed my daughter': Hit man condemned to die for killing Dallas dentist



A Dallas County jury on Wednesday condemned to death the hit man in a 
murder-for-hire plot against an Uptown dentist — a scheme allegedly set in 
motion by the jealous ex of the victim's boyfriend.

Kristopher Love was convicted last week of capital murder in the September 2015 
slaying of Kendra Hatcher, who was ambushed and shot in the parking garage of 
her Dallas apartment complex.

"For 3 years, you've only been known as the shooter. I will never call you by 
your name because you are just the shooter," Hatcher's mother, Bonnie Jameson, 
told Love after he was sentenced. "You executed my daughter."

Love, 34, was paid in cash and drugs for his part in the meticulously plotted 
crime that was meant to look like a botched robbery.

"It was planned. It was thought out," Hatcher's sister Ashley Turner said 
Wednesday. "It could've been stopped."

Love is the 1st Dallas County killer sent to death row since 2013, when 3 
people were condemned to die. It took jurors about 3 hours to decide Love's 
punishment: lethal injection.

The death sentence will be automatically appealed.

Arguing for the death penalty, prosecutor Kevin Brooks said Love would always 
be a threat to society and to his fellow prisoners if he were housed with the 
general population.

"If you put this man in gen pop, he becomes the go-to guy if you want something 
done," Brooks said.

After the sentence was read in the courtroom, Love's sobbing mother rushed out 
to the hallway. Several of his other relatives remained in the courtroom, their 
bodies shaking from crying.

Love didn't show any emotion when the sentence was read and looked back at his 
family before he was led from the courtroom.

Before deciding on punishment, jurors had to determine whether Love was a 
future threat to society, which can include prison, and whether there were 
reasons to save his life.

Defense attorney Paul Johnson questioned the fairness of Love's sentence when 
the others involved in the murder-for-hire plot won't receive capital 
punishment.

He said prosecutors didn't prove that Love would be dangerous even behind bars 
and said the punishment should not be solely about the heinousness of the 
crime.

Hatcher, 35, was found fatally shot in the head on Sept. 2, 2015, in the 
parking garage of her Uptown apartment building.

Prosecutors demonstrated how Hatcher must have looked in her final moments: 
hands raised behind her head to protect herself with her chin tucked. She was 
shot in the back of the head. The bullet pierced her spinal cord and exited 
through her chin.

The medical examiner said Hatcher would've labored to breathe during the final 
minutes of her life.

"She knew as she struggled for breath that she was going to die," prosecutor 
Glen Fitzmartin said in closing arguments Wednesday. "He needs to feel that as 
well."

But Johnson argued that Love was the "instrument" for 36-year-old Brenda 
Delgado, who was said to be jealous of Hatcher's relationship with Delgado's 
ex-boyfriend, Ricardo Paniagua.

Delgado's capital murder trial has not been scheduled. She can't face the death 
penalty because of an extradition agreement with Mexico, where she fled after 
Hatcher's killing.

"Kendra Hatcher was dead the moment Brenda Delgado decided to take her life," 
Johnson said during closing arguments.

Several witnesses testified during Love's trial that Delgado had asked them to 
harm or kill Hatcher.

One woman, 26-year-old Crystal Cortes, agreed to act as the getaway driver in 
exchange for $500. Though originally charged with capital murder like Delgado 
and Love, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of murder in exchange for a 
35-year sentence.

Cortes testified against Love and is expected to testify against Delgado.

Prosecutors argued that Hatcher's death was possible only because Love agreed 
to kill her.

"This wasn't even happening until he said yes," Fitzmartin argued.

Prosecutors painted a picture of a career criminal who first got in trouble at 
age 17 for stealing a car. Defense attorneys portrayed Love as a model inmate 
and a beloved member of his family.

Relatives who testified on Love's behalf Tuesday described him as a loving 
father of 3.

They also said his childhood had been disrupted by his parents' frequent 
breakups. His mother estimated that she and Love's father separated at least 20 
times before ultimately divorcing.

Jailers described Love as "peaceful" in the Dallas County Jail and said he 
caused no problems.

Love hadn't shown much emotion or reacted visibly during the trial until 
Tuesday when his sister, Meisha Beasley, testified. While she spoke of their 
bond and childhood, Love stood to leave.

Several bailiffs hurried over to him to put him back in a cell while jurors 
were escorted from the courtroom. It was about 20 minutes before he was brought 
back in and testimony resumed.

Prosecutor Justin Lord pointed to that moment during closing arguments 
Wednesday. He called Love a "cold-blooded, evil assassin" who is "motivated by 
greed."

"He did somebody else's bidding, put a bullet in Kendra Hatcher's head for 
someone else," Lord said. "He has no regard for anybody else."

Lord told jurors that Hatcher screamed for her life in the moments before she 
was shot.

"The last thing she ever saw in life was that," Lord said, pointing to Love. 
"She saw the face of evil with a gun pointed at her."

By contrast to the man Hatcher's family and prosecutors called "evil," Hatcher 
was described as a "beacon of light."

Hatcher loved children and traveled to Third World countries to treat 
underprivileged kids. Her nieces and nephews called her "Aunt KK."

Her friends and family said that her laugh was infectious and she always helped 
people.

Hatcher's 12-year-old niece wrote about how she felt after her aunt's death. 
Neil Hatcher read his daughter's words to Love.

"Aunt KK's death made me very shocked and confused," Neil Hatcher said for his 
daughter.

The girl said the loss of her aunt made her "hide in my room and cry."

Neil Hatcher told Love that he had "introduced me to new feelings of absolute 
hate and disgust."

"May God have mercy on your soul," Hatcher told his sister's killer.

During victim impact statements, Hatcher's mother transitioned from calling 
Love "shooter" to "executioner," alluding to his coming demise.

"Your life, executioner, will end peacefully," Jameson said, "unlike my 
daughter's."

(source: Dallas Morning News)

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

The evil at the heart of Kendra Hatcher's murder



Kendra Hatcher was only 35 years old when she was gunned down in cold blood in 
an Uptown parking garage on Sept. 2, 2015. She and her boyfriend, Ricardo 
Paniagua, were to head off for a Mexican vacation the following day.

Just over 3 years later, a jury found the man who pulled the trigger in the 
pediatric dentist's shooting death, Kristopher Love, guilty of capital murder. 
The jury deliberated Love's sentence and imposed the death penalty.

Regardless of the decision they reach, we mourn for the loss and also confront 
the ugly truth that evil is real.

Relationships and marriages break up every day in this country. After a period 
of hurt, most people move on. In the case of Brenda Delgado, she could not. 
Delgado was Paniagua’s former girlfriend. She was indicted for capital murder, 
accused of hiring Love to kill Hatcher - an alleged act of hatred born of 
jealousy and the inability to handle a breakup.

It’s unthinkable, even if it is too common, that a promising and precious life 
would be ended because of someone's cruel-hearted rage. Just as terrible is the 
complicity of Love and getaway driver Crystal Cortes, both of whom thought so 
little of a human life they agreed to carry out a brutal murder for a pittance 
of cash and drugs.

Hatcher's family has been left to face the pain of a senseless loss. Her 
sister, Ashley Turner, testified at Love’s sentencing phase of the trial and 
said through tears, "We didn't know evil like this existed." It wasn't just the 
victim's family that had to confront the reality of evil. Love's father, Kim 
Love Sr., was in the courtroom to testify. He offered a tearful apology to 
Hatcher's family. "I'm so sorry, y'all," he said. "I just wanted to make sure I 
apologized to the folks sitting there."

Our hearts go out to Hatcher's family. Their confrontation with the evil done 
to someone they love is not complete. They will go through it again during 
Delgado's trial, reliving the pain and forced to have to again listen to the 
details of how the murder was planned and carried out.

Through all of it, Hatcher's family will have a better understanding of human 
darkness than most of us could ever imagine. For them, evil is not something 
they will see from a distance, looking at it as an observer. They've met evil 
face to face.

The only measure of comfort anyone could give them is justice. It is our view 
that society must meet that evil head-on and severely punish those who chose to 
take Kendra Hatcher's life. This page opposes the ultimate punishment because 
it is irreversible and delivered by a justice system that has too many flaws to 
ensure it is always just. But it is easy to understand, in cases such as this, 
the passion of jurors who determine it is warranted.

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Gov. Wolf says Bowers, if convicted, should get maximum penalty allowed



Gov. Tom Wolf has declared a moratorium on signing death warrants, but he said 
in an interview with KDKA radio on Tuesday that he would agree with whatever 
punishment accused synagogue gunman Robert Bowers receives if he is convicted.

"When it comes to the murder here, this anti-Semitic violence was a heinous 
crime and Bowers deserves swift justice. He is being and is indicted by the use 
of federal statute and he should get the harshest penalty under the law," the 
governor told KDKA's John Shumway and Larry Richert.

In 2015, Mr. Wolf issued a moratorium on executions pending the publication of 
the General Assembly's joint state committee report on capital punishment. The 
report was published in June.

The report found majority support for the death penalty in Pennsylvania, but 
problems with its administration, including inadequacy of counsel and 
disproportionate numbers of people with mental illnesses on death row.

Since 1978, 6 people on Pennsylvania's death row have been exonerated of the 
crimes for which they were sentenced to death.

Mr. Wolf's office did not respond to requests from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 
on Tuesay for comment on the report and his current stand on the death penalty.

But he told KDKA: "I don't think anyone's supporting anybody in prison. People 
committing heinous crimes should be punished and I believe they should get the 
harshest penalty under the law and I think those penalties ought to be 
administered fairly."

(source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)








FLORIDA:

1 year later, state hasn't ruled out death penalty in Chad Absher case



The state says it has not ruled out seeking the death penalty against the man 
accused of shooting 2 sisters in their condo 1 year ago Tuesday.

Court records show Chad Absher's trial is scheduled to start in January.

Police said he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Ashlee Rucker, while her sister, 
Lisa Rucker survived being shot in the head.

Officers said the shooting happened last Halloween at the Cedar Creek Landing 
condos in Hyde Park.

"I'll wipe off the dirt or the dust, usually get bitten by the ants and I feel 
like that's her," Lisa Rucker said, brushing off her sister's cemetary plot.

Tuesday, she was able to crack a smile at the plot, knowing that night wouldn't 
be easy.

"Tonight, I'm just going to have a panic attack and think that someone's going 
to try to kill me," she said.

Lisa is still recovering after surviving being shot in the back of the head. 
The bullet went out her cheek.

Absher isn't currently facing the death penalty, but Lisa Rucker is pushing for 
it.

"He tried to kill 2 people in front of their children and succeeded with one, 
so, I don't think he should be alive right now," Rucker said.

Action News Jax posed that to the State Attorney's Office.

In a statement, they told us, "Seeking the death penalty requires a grand jury 
indictment for 1st-degree murder and there is no time limit for our office to 
make such a presentation. We continue to investigate this case to determine the 
appropriate action."

"I can't wait for him to get what he deserves," Lisa Rucker said.

Action News Jax also reached out to Absher's attorney, who said he does not 
wish to make a statement, and they are just preparing for trial.

(source: Action News Jax)








INDIANA:

Murder suspect lawyers: IN death penalty unconstitutional



Lawyers for a Fort Wayne man facing execution for the alleged murders of 4 
people in 2016 are asking a local judge to declare the state's death penalty 
law unconstitutional.

Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers argue in court documents filed in Allen 
Superior Court the law violates several portions of the U.S. and state 
constitutions and should be thrown out. The death penalty "is disproportionate 
and vindictive" and "has no deterrent effect," according to a motion they filed 
this week.

"Indiana's death penalty scheme violates due process of the law as required by 
the 5th and 14th amendments to the United States Constitution and the 8th 
Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because the Indiana 
Supreme Court has failed to develop a rational and uniform analysis for the 
appellate review of death sentences," the document states.

Marcus Dansby, 23, is charged with 4 counts of murder in the Sept. 11, 2016, 
slayings of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 
18, and the fetus she was carrying. The unborn child was later determined to be 
his.

A 5th person was shot and stabbed, but survived.

Prosecutors filed paperwork in early 2017 to seek the death penalty. Dansby's 
is the only capital murder case pending in Allen County.

The motion, which asks Judge Fran Gull to toss aside Indiana's death penalty 
statute, is the latest turn in a case that has had several.

Gull removed a defense attorney from the case in January amid questions about 
his qualifications to handle a death penalty case and his caseload. In October, 
she ordered jurors for Dansby's April trial to be selected from Marion County 
after defense attorneys argued he can't receive a fair trial in Allen County.

The request from Kraus and Gevers is accompanied by a 96-page document that 
cites recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions they argue support invalidating the 
state's law.

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

Reject death penalty, judge asked----Defense in quadruple slaying makes request

Lawyers for a Fort Wayne man facing execution for the alleged murders of four 
people in 2016 are asking a judge to declare the state's death penalty law 
unconstitutional.

Michelle Kraus and Robert Gevers argue in documents filed in Allen Superior 
Court the law violates several portions of the U.S. and state constitutions and 
should be thrown out. The death penalty is "disproportionate and vindictive" 
and "has no deterrent effect," according to a motion they filed Tuesday.

"Indiana's death penalty scheme violates due process of the law as required by 
the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments to the United States Constitution and the 
Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment because the 
Indiana Supreme Court has failed to develop a rational and uniform analysis for 
the appellate review of death sentences," the document says.

Marcus Dansby, 23, is charged with 4 counts of murder in the Sept. 11, 2016, 
slayings of Traeven Harris, 18, Consuela Arrington, 37, Dajahiona Arrington, 
18, and the fetus she was carrying. The unborn child was later determined to be 
his.

A fifth person was shot and stabbed but survived. Dansby is charged with 
attempted murder in that alleged attack.

Prosecutors filed paperwork in early 2017 to seek the death penalty. Dansby's 
is the only capital murder case pending in Allen County.

The motion, which asks Judge Fran Gull to toss aside the state's death penalty 
statute, is the latest turn in a case that has had several.

Gull removed a defense attorney from the case in January amid questions about 
the lawyer's caseload and his qualifications. In October, she ordered jurors 
for Dansby's trial in April to be selected from Marion County after defense 
attorneys argued pretrial publicity and potential juror bias makes it 
impossible for him to receive a fair trial in front of local jurors.

The request from Kraus and Gevers cites case law and studies that they say 
highlight flaws in the state's death penalty law. Among them: jurors often 
decide the penalty in capital cases before the penalty phase of the trial, and 
jurors in death penalty cases often misunderstand or ignore penalty phase 
instructions.

Many jurors also believe a death sentence is mandatory when it is not, the 
motion states. Jurors in Indiana can sentence defendants in capital cases to 
life in prison without parole.

Kraus said Wednesday it's unlikely the judge will approve the request, which 
she described as a necessary part of Dansby's defense.

"Across the nation, I think we're seeing more and more the death penalty is 
falling out of favor," she said.

Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards declined to comment.

The request from Kraus and Gevers is accompanied by a 95-page document filled 
with citations from news articles, case law and academic research. The dense 
document also cites U.S. Supreme Court cases from 2015 and 2016 that "clearly 
suggest Indiana's 4-decade experiment with the death penalty is a 
constitutional failure."

The document provides context for claims included in the motion and refers to 
cases that Dansby's attorneys say show the state's death penalty was applied 
irrationally. Defendants convicted in some grisly murder cases were executed 
and some were not, they argue.

"Race may also play a role in a prosecutor's charging or plea negotiation 
decisions, even when it is not motivated by racial animus," Kraus and Gevers 
wrote.

Kraus said Wednesday a particularly troubling study showed jurors believed 
defendants would be let out of prison if they were sentenced to life without 
parole even though, "Life without parole in Indiana really means life without 
parole."

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center in 
Washington, D.C., reviewed both documents Wednesday and said they provide 
powerful arguments against capital punishment. Particularly, he said, legal 
arguments in the documents are bolstered by academic research and news reports.

The death penalty in at least 2 states - Connecticut in 2016 and Washington 
last month - was abolished after challenges in court, and Dunham said he 
expects more to be filed.

"I would expect that, as the data begins to mount ... we'll begin to see more 
sophisticated and focused challenges on the constitutionality of the death 
penalty," he said.

(source for both: journalgazette.net)








KENTUCKY:

Prosecutor won't say if he'll seek death penalty for Kentucky Kroger shooter



A Kentucky prosecutor says it's too early to announce whether he'll seek the 
death penalty against the man facing murder charges in the shooting deaths of 2 
grocery store patrons.

Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Tom Wine told reporters Wednesday that 
he first wants to talk to the families of the victims in last week's shooting 
before deciding whether to pursue the death penalty against the suspect, 
Gregory Bush.

Wine says it's "too early to talk to them about that weighty decision." He says 
the families need time to grieve, and that he'll talk to them at the 
"appropriate time."

A grand jury indicted Bush on 2 counts of murder, 1 count of criminal attempted 
murder and 2 counts of 1st-degree wanton endangerment.

Bush was seen on surveillance video trying to enter a historically black church 
minutes before the shootings at the grocery store. Police say he was not able 
to enter the church.

(soruce: Associated Press)








TENNESSEE----impending execution

A Tennessee death row inmate is set to die in the electric chair. He didn't 
want the lethal injection.



Weeks after choosing the electric chair over lethal injection, a Tennessee 
death row inmate would be the 2nd person in the state to be executed that way 
in nearly 6 decades.

Edmund Zagorski, 63, was sentenced to death for the 1984 murders of 2 men. His 
execution is scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m. (local time).

He requested electrocution on the eve of his original execution date in early 
October because the state uses a controversial drug in lethal injections.

Zagorski's attorneys argued the lethal injection would make him spend the last 
10 to 18 minutes of his life in "utter terror and agony" while the electric 
chair would only cause him "excruciating pain for (likely) 15-30 seconds," 
court documents show.

Despite the decision, Zagorski's attorneys said he was forced into a "terrible 
choice," arguing that electrocution though "relatively fast" is also "dreadful 
and grim."

The legal battle over his execution continues.

Zagorski's attorney, Paul Bottei, said he is still asking the US Supreme Court 
on Wednesday to delay the execution.

The nation's high court declined to hear Zagorski's case in early October.

Zagorski was moved for his final 3 days to a cell adjacent to the execution 
chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville.

Why is the electric chair an option?

9 states have death by electric chair as an alternative to lethal injection. In 
2014, Tennessee became the first state to make use of the electric chair 
mandatory when lethal injection drugs are unavailable.

By Tennessee law, any person convicted of a capital offense before January 1, 
1999, may choose electrocution.

Zagorski began his sentence in March 1984 and the state's prosecutors have 
argued "the statute also gives the Tennessee Department of Correction the 
authority to promulgate rules to carry out the election (of electrocution 
instead of lethal injection)."

The state has only used the electrocution method once since 1960.

Daryl Holton -- who killed his three young sons and his ex-wife's daughter -- 
chose to die by the electric chair in 2007.

Before Holton's execution, Tennessee had not used the electric chair in 47 
years.

The electrocution protocol is practiced monthly by the execution team and 
public records indicate the chair was tested in February, the Tennessean 
newspaper reporter.

After Zagorski chose the electric chair, Gov. Bill Haslam issued a reprieve of 
10 days to prepare for the execution.

"[T]his brief reprieve will give all involved the time necessary to carry out 
the sentence in an orderly and careful manner," the governor said in a 
statement. If the execution moves forward, Zagorski would also become the 1st 
person in the United States put to death by electrocution in 5 years. In 2013, 
Virginia killed a man convicted of 2 murders.

What's wrong with lethal injection?

The legal case surrounding Zagorski's method of execution has moved through the 
court system for months and initially was focused on the lethal injection. In 
July, Zagorski joined more than 30 death row inmates who sued the state over 
the use of midazolam -- 1 of 3 drugs the state uses in lethal injections.

After months of appeals, the state's Supreme Court ultimately rejected the 
inmates' challenge claiming they failed to prove there was an alternative to 
the drug available.

The use of midazolam remains controversial, as death penalty critics have long 
argued that it's not a painkilling anesthetic and that the condemned would feel 
tortuous pain from the drugs that come next.

The drug was used in several executions that were widely considered botched in 
2014.

It was used in the execution of Joseph Wood, who took nearly 2 hours to die, 
and led Arizona to stop using midazolam. Earlier that year, another inmate, 
Clayton Lockett, had been injected with midazolam, but instead of becoming 
unconscious, he twitched, convulsed and spoke. The execution in Oklahoma was 
halted, but Lockett died after 43 minutes. In Ohio, Dennis McGuire gasped and 
convulsed for 10 minutes before dying.

In 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that the use of midazolam in lethal 
injections is not a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual 
punishment.

(source: CNN)

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

Death-penalty trial begins in shooting of Tennessee officer



A death-penalty trial has begun in the fatal shooting of a police officer in 
Memphis, Tennessee.

Lawyers made opening statements Wednesday in the state trial of Tremaine 
Wilbourn, who has pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder in the killing of 
Officer Sean Bolton in August 2015.

Authorities said Wilbourn shot Bolton several times after the 33-year-old 
Bolton interrupted a drug deal in a car Wilbourn was sitting in.

Wilbourn already has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on weapons 
charges. His lawyer said his client did not intend to kill Bolton.

Bolton is 1 of 4 Memphis police officers killed in the line of duty since July 
2011.

(source: Associated Press)