[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, KAN. COLO., WASH.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 20



OHIO:

Pike County massacre: Lawmakers want state taxpayers to foot bill for costly 
death penalty cases



Pike County simply can't afford to prosecute 4 death penalty cases so lawmakers 
and Ohio's next top cop want the state's tax money to foot the bill.

Ohio's Attorney General-Elect Dave Yost and Pike County lawmakers Sen. Bob 
Peterson and Rep. Shane Wilkin proposed a new way of paying for the prosecution 
and defense of death penalties cases involving multiple suspects or multiple 
victims.

The impetus for the proposed legislation, which is still being drafted, was the 
arrests of Angela Wagner, 48, her husband George "Billy" Wagner, 47, and their 
two sons, George Wagner IV, 27, and Edward "Jake" Wagner, 26.

The Wagners are accused of killing Christopher Rhoden Sr.,40; his older 
brother, Kenneth, 44; his former wife, Dana Manley Rhoden, 38; and their three 
children, Clarence "Frankie" Rhoden, 20, Hanna Rhoden, 19, and Chris Rhoden 
Jr., 16, on April 22, 2016. Frankie Rhoden's fiancee, Hannah Gilley, 20, also 
was killed.

The Wagners are facing the death penalty for the execution-style killings and 
multiple other charges related to planning and covering up the homicides. The 
case appears to center around a custody battle for the 5-year-old daughter of 
suspect Jake Wagner and victim Hanna Rhoden.

Under the proposal, the Ohio attorney general and state public defender would 
ask a 7-member panel called the Ohio Controlling Board to pay for death penalty 
cases that involve multiple suspects or multiple victims. It would come from 
unspent money from the state's general fund, which comes from Ohioans' taxes.

The joint application would estimate how much money is needed for the initial 
case and appeals. The attorney general and state public defender would then 
distribute that money to the county prosecutor and local defense attorney as 
needed.

"These cases can very quickly be hundreds of thousands of dollars," Yost said 
Monday. "Justice should not be a matter of affordability."

Prosecuting the Wagners could take years, and the bill could be steep: between 
$3 million and $5 million for the initial prosecution and appeals, estimated 
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters, who has handled multiple death penalty 
cases over his career.

Pike County, with a population of 28,270, has an annual budget of about $34 
million. The southern Ohio county is already facing a budget crunch, forcing 
the Pike County Sheriff's Office to freeze hiring and abandon its costlier SUVs 
for more fuel-efficient Crown Victorias. The cost of investigating the deaths 
has surpassed $600,000, Wilkin estimated.

"If you are looking at a couple million bucks to prosecute this, it's just 
devastating to a county of that size," said Wilkin, a former commissioner in 
nearby Highland County. "This could be devastating to them financially."

Some scenarios could make the case even more expensive, including paying for 
four different defense teams, sequestering a jury and moving a trial to another 
county, Yost said.

There is a precedent for spending state money on big, local cases. Ohio 
lawmakers approved money to pay for the cost of prosecuting those involved in 
the 1993 Lucasville prison riots that left 9 inmates and 1 guard dead.

Ohio's current attorney general Mike DeWine, who was elected governor on Nov. 
6, said he supports finding a way to help Pike County with the cost.

"Capital cases are very expensive. They are very difficult for a small county 
to carry out," DeWine told The Enquirer last week.

Peterson and Wilkin plan to introduce the bill in the coming weeks.

(source: cincinnati.com)

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

Proposed Ohio Law Could Make Abortion Punishable By Death Penalty



After passing a bill through the House that would ban abortion at 6 weeks, Ohio 
Republicans are considering legislation that would ban abortion completely in 
the state and make the procedure punishable by life in prison or even the death 
penalty.

House Bill 565 allows for no exceptions for abortion in cases of rape, incest, 
or danger to a woman's life. Under the law, fetuses would be classified as 
"unborn humans," making abortion punishable under the Ohio criminal code. This 
means that a woman who receives an abortion and doctors who perform the 
procedure could face criminal penalties, ranging from a prison sentence to 
capital punishment.

WOSU notes that the bill is being considered by the Ohio House's health 
committee and that it is unlikely to be voted on this year. HB 565 is just the 
latest in a string of anti-choice bills drafted by Ohio Republicans. 
Republicans' "heartbeat" bill - which passed the House last week - was 
previously vetoed by Gov. John Kasich, who instead signed a 20-week ban into 
law.

"Ohio just took us one step closer to becoming a forced-birth nation," 
#VOTERPROCHOICE cofounder Heidi Sieck said in a statement to Refinery29 Monday. 
"Legislators in Ohio are banning abortion before women even know they're 
pregnant - and we must stand up and speak out against this dangerous bill." 
After Brett Kavanaugh's contentious confirmation, the Supreme Court now has a 
conservative majority, meaning it is possible for Roe v. Wade to be overturned.

Ohio is far from the only state attacking women's reproductive rights: Alabama 
and West Virginia have added language into their state constitutions that 
curtails public funds for abortion and gives fetuses the same rights as people.

Despite the assault on abortion from Republican legislatures, polls show most 
Americans are in favor of keeping Roe v. Wade. “This November, voters 
overwhelmingly saw the important role lawmakers serve in stopping attacks on 
their health and rights," Dr. Leana Wen, president of the Planned Parenthood 
Action Fund, said in a statement to Refinery29. "People in states like Ohio 
that do not have this critical backstop face a heightened threat to abortion 
access. We must fight harder than ever to protect every woman's right to 
control her own body, life, and future. We know the majority of Americans want 
access to safe, legal abortion. It’s time politicians listen to us - access to 
safe, legal abortion is a human right."

(source: refinery29.com)








KANSAS:

Johnson County DA to seek death penalty in killing of pregnant Olathe woman



Johnson County prosecutors said Monday they will seek the death penalty for a 
man charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child.

Devonte Wash is charged in Johnson County District Court with capital murder in 
the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Ashley Harlan inside her Olathe townhouse in 
January.

She was about 20 weeks pregnant, and Wash was the father of the baby boy who 
also died as a result of the shooting.

Wash, 26, of Kansas City, Kan., was arraigned on the charge Monday, and his 
attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

District Attorney Steve Howe then filed written notice that a jury will be 
asked to sentence Wash to death if the case goes to trial.

The premeditated killing of more than 1 person during the same incident is one 
of the handful of crimes that carry a potential death sentence under Kansas 
law. Life in prison without parole is the only other sentencing option for 
capital murder.

Wash was the one who called 911 to report finding Harlan dead, according to 
testimony in a September preliminary hearing.

Investigators later found that Wash bought a 9mm handgun about a month before 
the killing.

Shell casings found in a yard where he had been seen firing it in the air 
matched shell casings from the murder scene, according to testimony.

Wash is scheduled to be in court again Feb. 6 for a hearing on pretrial 
motions.

(source: kansascity.com)








COLORADO:

Life in prison, no death penalty, for man who killed pregnant wife, 2 
daughtersLife in prison, no death penalty, for man who killed pregnant wife, 2 
daughters



A Colorado man was sentenced Monday to life in prison for killing his pregnant 
wife and their 2 young daughters and dumping their bodies on an oil work site.

Prosecutors have said they agreed not to seek the death penalty in exchange for 
Christopher Watts' guilty plea, after seeking approval from Shanann Watts' 
family.

Watts had pleaded guilty to 3 charges of murder in the deaths of his wife, 
Shanann Watts, and their young daughters. He also pleaded guilty on Nov. 6 to 2 
counts of killing a child, 1 count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and 3 
counts of tampering with a deceased human body.

The 33-year-old will not be eligible for parole.

A friend asked police to check on Shanann Watts on Aug. 13 after not being able 
to reach her and growing concerned that the 34-year-old expectant mother had 
missed a doctor's appointment. Officers initially handled the search and soon 
sought support from Colorado investigators and the FBI.

Meanwhile, Christopher Watts spoke to local television reporters from the front 
porch of the family's home in Frederick, a small town on the plains north of 
Denver where drilling rigs and oil wells surround booming subdivisions. Watts 
pleaded for his family safe return, telling reporters their house felt empty 
without 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste watching cartoons or running to 
greet him at the door.

Within days, he was arrested and charged with killing his family.

Court records revealed that Watts acknowledged to police that he killed his 
wife. Watts told investigators that he strangled her in "a rage" when he 
discovered she had killed their daughters after he sought a separation.

Prosecutors have since called his account "a flat-out lie."

Police learned that Christopher Watts was having an affair with a co-worker. He 
had denied that before being arrested.

Authorities have not released autopsy reports or any information about how the 
mother and daughters died. Prosecutors have said the reports would be released 
after Watts was sentenced.

The girls' bodies were found submerged in an oil tank, on property owned by the 
company Watts worked for until his arrest. Shanann Watts' body was found buried 
nearby in a shallow grave.

The killings captured the attention of media across the country and became the 
focus of true crime blogs and online video channels, aided by dozens of family 
photos and videos that Shanann Watts shared on social media showing the smiling 
couple spending time with their children.

But courts records showed the couple's lifestyle caused financial strain at 
times. They filed for bankruptcy in June 2015, six months after Christopher 
Watts was hired as an operator for the large oil and gas driller Anadarko 
Petroleum at an annual salary of about $61,500. At the time, Shanann Watts was 
working in a children's hospital call center for $18 per hour.

They reported total earnings of $90,000 in 2014 but $70,000 in unsecured claims 
along with a mortgage of nearly $3,000. The claims included thousands of 
dollars in credit card debt, some student loans and medical bills.

(source: Associated Press)








WASHINGTON:

Prosecutors confirm they won’t seek death in Talbott case----The state Supreme 
Court found the death penalty unconstitutional. Trial expected in 2019 in 
slayings.



1 month after the state Supreme Court set aside the death penalty in 
Washington, Snohomish County prosecutors confirmed for a judge Monday that they 
won't try to get around the ruling in a decades-old double murder cold case.

The confirmation was largely a formality during a pretrial conference.

Until the October decision, prosecutors had been considering whether to seek 
the death penalty in the case against SeaTac truck driver William Earl Talbott 
II, 55, who is charged with the aggravated murders of Jay Cook, 20, and Tanya 
Van Cuylenborg, 18. The Canadian couple were on an errand to the Puget Sound 
area to pick up furnace parts for Cook's father when they were abducted and 
killed more than 30 years ago.

Superior Court Judge Linda Krese asked deputy prosecutor Matthew Baldock Monday 
if the state didn’t intend to file paperwork seeking the death penalty.

"That is correct your honor," he said. Use of capital punishment effectively 
ended in Washington when the Supreme Court ruled last month that the state's 
death penalty law is unconstitutional. Justices concluded the law is imposed in 
an arbitrary and racially biased manner, and converted all death sentences to 
life imprisonment.

Even so, the court did leave open the possibility for lawmakers to revise the 
law in a way that's constitutional.

Monday's hearing was a chance to check on the status of the case with 
prosecutors and defense attorneys.

The plan at the moment is for trial to begin in early April with pretrial 
motions March 29.

Preparations have been challenging, given that there are more than 11,000 pages 
of investigative reports from 2 law enforcement agencies to comb through, 
Baldock told the judge.

"Discovery is voluminous," he said.

The time-consuming task is making it hard to quickly come up with a final 
witness list to send to defense lawyers, he said. Even so, that should be done 
by mid-December.

The trial is expected to last a month with the bulk of the 1st week spent 
choosing a jury, defense attorney Jon Scott told the judge.

Cook and Van Cuylenborg were killed in 1987 while on a road trip from their 
hometown of Saanich, B.C., on Vancouver Island, to Seattle's industrial area.

Days later, a passerby found Van Cuylenborg's body off a road 80 miles north, 
near Alger in Skagit County. She had been sexually assaulted, shot in the head 
and dumped in the woods.

The body of Cook was discovered beneath a blanket that week, near a bridge 
south of Monroe. He appeared to have been beaten with rocks and strangled.

Talbott's parents lived 6 miles from the bridge, according to charging papers.

The case went unsolved for 3 decades. Talbott's name never made a list of more 
than 300 potential suspects, according to the Snohomish County Sheriff's 
Office.

This year a new analysis of DNA evidence led a genetic genealogist and cold 
case detectives to identify him as the suspected killer, by way of 2nd cousins 
who had uploaded their DNA to public genealogy sites. The cousins were 
searching for relatives. If convicted, Talbott faces life in prison.

(source: heraldnet.com)