[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----COLO., ARIZ.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 18




COLORADO:

Death penalty expert: Weld County DA made right choice in Watts case--
Colorado jurors' distaste for capital punishment, cost, are considerations


As the sentencing hearing for a Frederick man who pleaded guilty last week in 
the murders of his pregnant wife and children approaches, experts agree that 
Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke made the right decision in not 
pursuing the death penalty in the case.

Christopher Watts, 33, was accused of killing his pregnant wife, 34-year-old 
Shanann Watts, and 2 daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. On 
Nov. 6, he pleaded guilty to 5 counts of 1st-degree murder, 3 counts of 
tampering with a deceased human body and unlawful termination of a pregnancy, 
as Shanann Watts was 15 weeks pregnant with a son. Her family said he would 
have been named Nico.

Christopher Watts is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in Weld County District 
Court.

By not pursuing the death penalty, Rourke saved the family of Shanann Watts 
years spent wrapped up in the criminal justice system, as well as millions of 
dollars for taxpayers, according to Michael Radelet, a professor of sociology 
at the University of Colorado and author of "The History of the Death Penalty 
in Colorado."

"Even if Mr. Watts would have been executed, it still would not have repaired 
the damage he did to those 3 people and their families," Radelet said.

At a news conference following the court hearing where Christopher Watts 
pleaded guilty to the crime, Rourke said he flew to North Carolina in October 
to speak with Shanann Watts' family after the defense approached him with a 
plea deal. Rourke said at the conference he was willing to negotiate the 
removal of the death penalty, but he would not drop any of the charges lodged 
against Watts.

Rourke said he told Shanann Watts' family the difficulties that could come with 
pursuing the death penalty, including years spent in court on not only the 
trial, but also appeals. Her family said they did not want to pursue that 
option.

"I'm not the district attorney, but I would bet that this decision was one of 
the most difficult decisions the district attorney has ever made," Radelet 
said. "But I think the decision that he made spared the family of the victims 
lots of pain for many, many years."

Even had Rourke pursued the death penalty, Christopher Watts may still have 
wound up serving a life sentence.

In Colorado, 1 person has been executed in the last 50 years in the state, 
according to Radelet. For homicides committed in the 2000s, he said there have 
been 2 dozen death penalty prosecutions, but only 2 have resulted in death 
sentences. A 3rd case is still pending, and the rest resulted in life sentences 
or less.

"So it's not a very good hit record," Radelet said. Once someone is sentenced, 
he said they should expect to be on death row for at least 20 years before they 
are executed.

Of the 3 death row inmates in Colorado, 1 was sentenced in 1996, another in 
2008 and the 3rd was sentenced in 2010.

Nathan Dunlap, sentenced in 1996, was given a temporary, but indefinite, 
reprieve by Gov. John Hickenlooper in 2013. The 2 more recent convictions are 
still being examined by trial courts, Radelet said, and may still face appeal.

While it's possible Rourke could have won the death penalty in this case, it's 
becoming increasingly difficult across the state and nation to even fill a jury 
for death penalty cases. Prospective jurors are asked if they support the death 
penalty, and Radelet said about 50 % of people in the country are against it 
when given the option of life without parole.

"That's part of why death penalty trials are so timely and so costly," Radelet 
said.

Stan Garnett, former Boulder County District Attorney and an attorney at 
Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck in Denver, also said there are benefits to 
avoiding a trial in cases like this. If the prosecution can secure a sentencing 
agreement of life imprisonment without parole, it saves taxpayer money and is 
easier on the victims' families.

"I think it's a just result to an incredibly tragic case, where three people 
lost their lives and it's awful," Garnett said.

(source: timescall.com)





ARIZONA:

Aus mum facing death penalty denies murder


An Australian woman facing a potential death sentence in the US over her 
stepdaughter's death insists she wasn't killed nor abused.

Lisa Cunningham and her American husband Germayne Cunningham have been indicted 
in Arizona for the abuse and murder of 7-year-old Sanaa.

The child, who was afflicted by schizophrenia and other behavioural disorders, 
died 4 hours after she was taken to hospital in February 2017.

Prosecutors allege the Cunninghams restrained Sanaa with plastic ties, a 
makeshift straitjacket and shackles, forced her to wear nappies and locked her 
in a laundry room or outside.

But Lisa Cunningham - speaking publicly for the 1st time since her indictment 
in September - has denied Sanaa was ever in restraints and labelled it a 
"disgrace" that she's being remembered as a victim and not somebody that was 
mentally ill.

"Nobody was murdered here. Nobody was killed, and nobody was abused," she told 
the Seven Network's Sunday Night program.

"We didn't get any help. Sanaa never got any treatment. They gave her pills."

She said it would be "illogical" if she was convicted at their upcoming trial 
and sentenced to death.

"But do I think illogical things happen? Absolutely."

(source: 9news.com.au)