[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

November 23






FLORIDA:

Prosecutors to seek death penalty against handyman accused of killing elderly 
couple



A handyman accused of murdering an elderly Osceola County couple in their home 
in July could face the death penalty, according to court records.

This week, prosecutors filed paperwork that said they intend to seek the death 
penalty against Federico Gondola.

Osceola deputies found the couple, Roosevelt and Janette Dixon, shot dead in 
their home in July. The couple's handyman, 35-year-old Gondola, was arrested in 
connection with the crime.

Gondola was grilled by detectives but denied any involvement in the couple's 
death.

"I didn't murder nobody, though. I would not murder nobody," Gondola said.

According to court records, investigators believe Gondola tried to extort Mr. 
Dixon after claiming to have found child porn on his computer. They said the 
shooting happened during a confrontation.

Deputies said there were no signs of forced entry and the hard drive for the 
home surveillance system was missing.

Deputies said the suspect tried to recruit a friend to remove the bodies, which 
helped them crack the case.

Neighbors of the couple are still in disbelief.

"They were nice, quiet people, and then for something like this to happen to 
them, it's pretty sad," said neighbor Jose Rivera.

Gondola remains in custody. Another court hearing is scheduled for next week.

(source: WFTV news)








OKLAHOMA:

With all appeals exhausted, Julius Jones' fate lies in the hands of the 
Oklahoma Governor and the US Supreme Court



Oklahoma is set to resume executions by the end of 2018 by means of Nitrogen 
gas, meaning time is well and truly running out for Julius now.

With all appeals exhausted, Julius Jones' fate lies in the hands of the 
Oklahoma Governor and the US Supreme Court

The case of Julius Jones remains a divisive one. Convicted and sentenced to 
death over the murder of insurance executive Paul Scott Howell on July 28, 
1999, in Edmond, Oklahoma, the fact remains there are far too many 
inconsistencies and loopholes in the prosecution's case that should have seen 
him exonerated by now. Yet, he inexplicably continues to languish in jail, 
awaiting the state - which had suspended executions over a previous botched 
attempt - to set his execution date.

While lawyers at the Innocence Project - which works to exonerate the wrongly 
convicted through DNA testing - have been working tirelessly in the years since 
his conviction to set him free, it is the Viola Davis-produced documentary, 
'The Last Defense,' that has once again brought his plight back into the 
spotlight and to the attention of the American public.

Meaww talked to Dale Baich, an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Arizona and 
Supervisor of the Capital Habeas Unit, whose lawyers represent death row 
prisoners in federal proceedings challenging their convictions and death 
sentences. We asked Dale his thoughts on how Davis' documentary could possibly 
impact Julius' case. "In February 2017, we learned that the producers of the 
docu-series were looking at a number of cases across the country where there 
was a potential wrongful conviction," he replied. "Over the next few months, we 
had a number of calls and meeting with the producers about the issues in 
Julius’ case."

"We were quite happy when we were told that Julius’ case was 1 of the 2 cases 
that 'The Last Defense' would feature," he continued. "The last time there was 
any real attention to the case was when Julius was sentenced to death in 2002, 
and the story then was basically untold. The public did not know of the deals 
with the confidential informants or that the co-defendant bragged about setting 
Julius up and that he would only have to serve 15 years of his 30-year 
sentence. There was no defense put forward by Julius’ lawyers during the trial. 
There was no airing of the police misconduct or the systemic racism, as well as 
the racism in Julius’ case."

Dale's office was appointed to represent Julius in August 2016 because the 
Federal Public Defender in Oklahoma City had a conflict and could not represent 
him. The case was already out of court at the time and the last avenue for 
acquittal was clemency from Governor Mary Fallin, and now, Republican 
Governor-elect Kevin Stitt, but Dale said the case has more to it than met the 
eye. "The case looked bad," he said. "But, as we peeled away the layers and 
began our investigation - something that was not thoroughly done during the 
life of the case - we uncovered misconduct by the police, bad lawyering at 
trial, secret deals, and racism."

What Dale is referring to are the various facets of the case that had been 
conveniently ignored during Julius' conviction. Whether it's the failure of the 
detectives to properly investigate 'accomplice' Chris 'Westside' Jordan, the 
litany of accusations of bad conduct against prosecutor Bob Macy - 
prosecutorial misconduct was discovered in approximately one-third of his death 
penalty cases, with courts reversing close to half his death sentences - or the 
fact that it was uncovered how at least one juror harbored racial prejudice.

The latter of those alone should have been enough to overturn his death 
penalty, especially taking into consideration that the US Supreme Court as 
unambiguously condemned racial prejudice from playing any role in a single 
juror's decision to convict a defendant and sentence him to death. Yet, the 
Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals (OCCA) dismissed his lawyers' petition - 
which contested that a member of the jury said the trial was "a waste of time" 
and they should "just take the n***** out and shoot him behind the jail - this 
past September, ruling there was no 'racial bias.'

His case took another hit when the results of the DNA analysis on a red 
bandana, tied to the killing, came to light. After years of petitioning, the 
bandana - which was found wrapped around the murder weapon inside Jones' home 
and which Howell's sister claimed the killer was wearing - was sent for testing 
at an independent lab. In the last week of October, Oklahoma Attorney General 
Mike Hunter revealed the bandana tested positive for Julius' DNA, with analysis 
showing that the probability it belonged to someone other than Jones was 1 in 
110 million African Americans.

"The lab results, which indicate that Julius Jones’ DNA is present on the red 
bandana, is an additional validation of the trial and appellate process in 
proving his guilt," Hunter announced, according to Fox 25. But Dale maintained 
that the results were inconclusive and that numerous DNA profiles were found on 
the piece of clothing.

"The testing cannot tell us when DNA was deposited on the bandana, which is why 
we cannot draw any conclusions when there are profiles of three or more 
individuals," he said. "Additionally, the final report showed that the DNA 
sample of Mr. Jones’ co-defendant Chris Jordan yielded only a partial profile 
that could not be compared to the 3 or more other profiles located on the 
bandana."

Some hope remains in form of the US Supreme Court, which previously refused to 
consider the case, but is now set to review a petition based on an Oklahoma 
race study that concluded an African American who killed a white male was three 
times as more likely to get the death penalty. However, despite being 
distributed for conference on 21 different occasions - the most recent being 
November 13 - the petition remains unheard.

"Race has always been an issue in the criminal justice system," Dale explained. 
"Historically, the courts have been reluctant to address the systemic issues 
surrounding race in the justice system. Until the issue of racism is directly 
confronted by the courts, it will continue to be part of the system."

While Julius was seemingly 'lucky' enough to have a docu-series chronicle his 
plight and the injustice he faced, there are currently 47 defendants on death 
row in Oklahoma alone, 16 of whom have exhausted all modes of appeal. Dale 
confesses it wouldn't be easy for them to have their cases revisited and 
reheard. "As a death penalty case progresses through the state and federal 
judicial review process, it is harder for courts to look at the merits of the 
claims raised," he said. "This is because the Congress and state legislatures 
have erected procedural barriers to keep the courts from taking a good, hard 
look at the merits of the issues through a full and fair hearing process."

At the time Julius was accused of the murder in 1999, he was just 19-years-old. 
He was a model student who was a member of the National Honor Society and had 
graduated from the John Marshall High School he attended with top honors. He 
was also the co-captain of the school's football, basketball, and track teams, 
and had been accepted into the University of Oklahoma on an academic 
scholarship and had his whole life ahead of him.

But the conviction has seen him spend the last 18 years behind bars in 
conditions that can only be described as inhumane. Julius is kept in solitary 
confinement for 23 hours a day and is bound with shackles for the hour he's 
allowed outside. He also gets only 3 5-minute showers a week and is allowed no 
physical contact with visitors, not even his family. 'The Last Defense' was not 
given permission to film Julius either, something Dale confessed was odd 
because the Oklahoma Department of Corrections has a policy that allows for 
death row inmates to be interviewed and filmed by the media.

Furthermore, Oklahoma is set to resume executions by the end of 2018 by means 
of Nitrogen gas, meaning time is well and truly running out for Julius now. 
However, family and friends say he still maintains a positive outlook. "Julius 
has a strong spirit and the fact that his story is finally being told, has 
given him strength and hope," Dale said.

(source: meaww.com)