[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., FLA., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 6



NORTH CAROLINA:

Conover man charged with murder may face the death penalty



Scott Anthony Putnam, the Conover man charged with a July murder, will appear 
in Catawba County Superior Court this week for a Rule 24 hearing to learn 
whether or not he faces the death penalty.

Court documents say Putnam, 37, shot and killed 24-year-old Anthony Killian and 
wounded Killian's mother Roxanne Killian at their home on Curlee Drive on July 
24. Killian died on the scene.

Putnam was arrested at his home on Naked Creek Road on July 25.

Warrants, obtained by the Hickory Daily Record in August, reveal Putnam said 
during his post-arrest interview there was an incident between him and the 
Killians, which is the reason he committed the crime.

Documents, obtained from the Catawba County Sheriff's Office through a Freedom 
of Information Act request, reveal the sheriff's office received an incident 
report filed by someone at the Putnam residence on July 2, 2018. The incident 
is listed as a sexual offense.

The incident report says the offense originally took place in 2013. The only 
information provided on the suspected offender is they are a 24-year-old white 
male. The status of the investigation says it was closed/cleared due to refusal 
to cooperate.

However, the Putnams and Killians did have an altercation in 2013. Court 
records reveal Putnam faced a misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon charge 
in 2013, but the charge was dismissed. The witness listed on the charge is 
Donald Killian, Anthony Killian's father.

According to the July warrants, Putnam attempted to shoot Donald Killian on 
July 24, 2018 but he was out of bullets.

Despite witness statements and a possible post-arrest confession in the 
warrants, Putnam is innocent until proven guilty.

Putnam remains in the Catawba County Jail without a bond.

He is charged with 1 count of felony murder, 1 felony count of assault with a 
deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury and 1 felony count 
of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

If the district attorney plans to seek the death penalty against Putnam, it 
will be up to a jury to convict him of 1st-degree murder and to determine 
whether or not he should be sentenced to death.

(source: Hickory Record)

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

Rockingham County prosecutor to seek death penalty against Rontae Hayes



For the 1st time since 1999, the Rockingham County District Attorney's Office 
will prosecute a capital murder case.

Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Reese stated during a pre-trial 
conference on Tuesday in Rockingham County Superior Court that she intends to 
seek the death penalty against a man charged with killing 2 and injuring 
several others during an overnight crime spree in the summer of 2016.

Rontae Devore Hayes, 38, of 4704 Fewell Road in Greensboro, faces 18 felony 
charges in Rockingham County - including 2 counts of murder, 2 counts of 
attempted 1st-degree murder, 2 counts of 1st-degree kidnapping, 3 counts of 
assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, 
violent habitual felon, 1st-degree burglary and 1st-degree arson.

According to police, Hayes began a 12-hour crime spree at approximately 9 p.m. 
on Saturday, June 11, 2016, after showing up unexpectedly at a backyard 
barbecue taking place in the 100 block of Madison Street in Reidsville.

Witnesses said Hayes allegedly shot Leroy Angelo Blackwell in the leg, 
shattered a beer bottle over the head of Craig Lee, and drove over Gregory 
Tyrone Blackwell in the process of stealing Blackwell's car.

10 minutes later, authorities with the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office 
responded to a different scene, approximately 7 miles away at a residence on 
Knowles Road, where 49-year-old Kavin Allen Galloway was found with a gunshot 
wound. They also located the vehicle stolen from Blackwell - ablaze and just 2 
houses away from the new crime scene.

Hours later, at approximately 1:30 a.m. Sunday, firefighters found the bodies 
of Mike Land and Gilbert Breeze dead inside a burning house on Grooms Road.

An older woman, also at the residence, was also located by police officers with 
wounds to her head and areas of her face.

Later, when being transported to a local hospital, the woman told paramedics 
that she had been raped.

An hour after the Grooms Road incident, deputies were dispatched to 121 Jack 
Trail in Reidsville, where a homeowner spotted Hayes peeping from outside a 
window, wearing only in his underwear.

The incident was caught on the resident's security system.

In the following hours, the sheriff's office issued public text alerts to local 
residents warning them of their search for an armed and dangerous suspect and 
to keep their doors locked.

With the help of nearly 50 officers from local and state agencies, Hayes was 
eventually captured at approximately 9 a.m. near Busick and Grooms Road.

Officers were able to connect the suspect to the line of crime scenes by 
locating Hayes' driver's license in Blackwell's car and the scattering of 
dry-cleaning tickets at each crime scene that were also found in Blackwell's 
vehicle.

That night of violent crimes took place less than four days after a 1st-degree 
murder charge against Hayes was dropped and he was released from jail after 
being the primary suspect in the shooting death of Larry "Bud" Settle Jr. in 
Eden on April 26.

Reese said the state was proceeding with the death penalty in the case due to 
several aggravating circumstances, which stem from Hayes' long and violent 
criminal history in the Triad.

Per state statute, Superior Court Judge Julia Lynn Gullet approved the 
appointment of Forsyth County Assistant Capital Defender William Soukup as 
assistant council to Hayes, who is represented by fellow Forsyth Assistant 
Capital Defender Vincent Rabil.

According to previous reports, Hayes went missing for 3 years as a juvenile, 
after being charged with assault at the age of 15.

Published reports state that in 1993, Hayes rode on a bike to a bus stop 
outside of High Point Central High School and shot two students at the end of 
the school day.

He was later charged with assault in the matter, after police began searching 
for him when he returned to the area a week later, following the death of his 
father, who was shot in the back 15 times.

While being lodged at a juvenile detention center in Greensboro awaiting trial, 
Hayes escaped in 1994.

After clearing an 8-foot fence, Hayes wasn't seen by law enforcement again 
until 1997, when he was arrested by the Reidsville Police Department for 
disorderly conduct.

His was identified as a fugitive after his arrest and later convicted of the 
high school shooting, before being paroled 2 years later.

Hayes later pleaded guilty in the shooting death of Gary Steverson, who was 1 
of 2 brothers convicted of shooting Hayes' father - 40-year-old Ronnie Lee 
Hayes - in July of 2000.

He was sentenced to 9 years in prison.

Hayes was also sentenced to 8 years in prison last February on a federal charge 
of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. After pleading guilty, 
pursuant to an amended plea agreement, Hayes appealed the guilty decision to 
the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in September of 2017.

In early October of that year, 3 circuit judges concluded that the United 
States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina gave Hayes a 
sentence that is "procedurally and substantively reasonable".

The rule 24 hearing, which stems from Rule 24 of the General Rules of Practice 
for the Superior and District Court in North Carolina, is mandatory in all 
cases in which a defendant is charged with a crime that is punishable by death.

According to North Carolina General Statute 15A-2004, "The state in its 
discretion may elect to try a defendant capitally or noncapitally for 1st 
degree murder, even if evidence of an aggravating circumstance exists."

Currently, 142 convicted murders are on death row in the state of North 
Carolina, according to information tallied by the North Carolina Department of 
Public Safety.

The last execution in the state took place on Aug. 18, 2006, when Samuel 
Flippen was executed via lethal injection.

At the start of 2007, a moratorium was placed on executions in the state, 
following legal challenges to execution procedure and whether or not it 
violates an individual's constitutional protection against cruel and unusual 
punishment.

Since the start or 2010, only 8 convicted murderers have been sentenced to 
death in the state.

Nobody has been sentenced to death row in the last 2 years.

Clinton R. Rose, who was sentenced to death in December of 1991, is the only 
killer convicted in Rockingham County that remains on death row.

In recent history, natural death has played the biggest role in a reduction of 
members on the death row roster.

In 2017 alone, 5 death row inmates, whose average age was 64, died of natural 
causes.

Since 2015, 13 offenders have been removed from the state's death row roster.

Of those, 8 were removed after dying of natural causes, according to the North 
Carolina Department of Public Safety.

In the other 5 cases, a sentence was vacated and a new trial was ordered, or 
the offender was re-sentenced to life without parole.

The Hayes case is expected to return to the Rockingham County Superior Court 
Calendar in November.

It's the 1st capital case the Rockingham County District Attorney's Office has 
handled since the October 2000 conviction of Christene K. Kemmerlin, who was 
found guilty as a murder-for-hire defendant in the 1999 shooting death of her 
husband, Wayne Kemmerlin.

Kemmerlin's execution was vacated by the North Carolina Supreme Court in 
January 2003 and a life sentence was imposed.

(source: greensboro.com)








FLORIDA:

Mom deemed incompetent to stand trial in child 'ritual sacrifice' 
case----Prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty against Egypt Robinson, 
who is accused of stabbing her toddler to death in a ritual sacrifice.



A mother accused of fatally stabbing her toddler son in 2015 in what 
authorities described as a "ritual sacrifice" has been committed to a state 
mental hospital for treatment, according to court records.

Egypt Moneeck Robinson, 30, was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a 
competency hearing in the case. Prosecutors have been seeking the death penalty 
against her since Dec. 29, 2015, when authorities discovered her 3-year-old 
son, Aries Juan Acevedo, stabbed to death and stuffed in a suitcase in a swamp 
behind a Callaway home. Robinson had been tentatively scheduled for trial on 
charges of aggravated child abuse and felony 1st-degree murder at the end of 
October, but the future of her case is uncertain with Robinson being sent to a 
mental hospital for treatment, court records state.

Documents filed in the case do not reveal the grounds for the decision as 
psychological and health records are not public. However, Circuit Judge Michael 
Overstreet deemed Robinson incompetent to proceed Wednesday and is expected to 
sign an order for her to be committed to a mental hospital.

In recent months, Robinson's defense attorney, Kim Jewell, filed a notice that 
she would be presenting testimony of 2 psychologists during the penalty phase 
of her trial. Their findings likewise are unclear. But the psychological 
testimony would be aimed at convincing jurors to not sentence Robinson to death 
for the killing of her child.

Authorities discovered the boy's body on Dec. 29, 2015. Aries had been stabbed 
in the chest, and investigators found a 3- to 4-inch piece of concrete in his 
throat allegedly placed there by Robinson. However, officers said he had been 
dead since Dec. 26, and in the interim Robinson had been arranging to get a bus 
ticket out of town.

As a sheriff's deputy approached Robinson to arrest her, she allegedly told him 
she had killed her son to save him from a biblical flood and asked to be taken 
to jail, BCSO reported.

"Just put me in handcuffs," officers quoted Robinson as saying. "I did it. ... 
I killed my baby and put him inside the suitcase. ... He is floating on top of 
the water."

According to court records, Robinson also admitted under oath to stabbing 
Aries. She allegedly told authorities she threw the suitcase into the swamp 
behind her Callaway home to protect him from a "Noah's Ark"-type flood, 
officials reported.

A cellmate of Robinson's later came forward to tell investigators that Robinson 
said she did not believe what she did was wrong. Robinson allegedly said her 
son was evil and had the "soul of Hitler," the cellmate told investigators.

"She still thinks to this day that he is supposed to be dead," court records 
quote the cellmate as saying. "She did it because she said he was the soul of 
Hitler. His birthday is 4-20 and um he was an evil child, she said. And she 
said if she didn???t kill him um ... he was going to keep, grow up and kill all 
of use (sic). She basically she like saved us by sacrificing him."

Robinson's case has been one of many in Bay County slowed down as officials 
waited on changes to Florida's death penalty procedure, although prosecutors 
still intend to pursue the death penalty. Her case is scheduled to come back 
before Overstreet on Oct. 1 for a routine hearing.

(source: Panama City News-Herald)








USA:

Government Joins Objection to Closed Hearing in Death Penalty Case



Federal prosecutors have filed a formal motion supporting VtDigger's objection 
to the closing of the courtroom to the public during a pretrial hearing last 
week in the death penalty case against accused killer Donald Fell.

Judge Geoffrey Crawford closed a hearing to the public and press last Wednesday 
over concerns that potential "volatile" testimony from a prison informant could 
"taint" the jury selection process, which kicked off on Tuesday and is expected 
to last several weeks.

Fell is facing capital charges in the November 2000 carjacking and beating 
death of Terseca King, 53, of North Clarendon, Vt., according to court records.

VtDigger filed a hand-written motion objecting to the closing of the courtroom 
last week, and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Vermont, which is prosecuting 
Fell, filed a motion in support of the news organization's position.

"In this case, which has played out in the courts and the press for over 17 
years, the government is not convinced that the defense has shown a 
'significant risk of prejudice to the defendant's right to a fair trial' from 
further coverage of the matter," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Doyle 
wrote in the filing.

"The current order excludes, among others, family members of victims who have 
steadfastly followed the court proceedings for nearly 2 decades," Doyle added. 
"If the Court believes it must evaluate the reliability of witnesses prior to 
their taking the stand about personal interactions with the defendant, this 
sort of unprecedented hearing should be open to the public. The government 
continues to oppose the closure of the courtroom."

Doyle also wrote that the closing of the courtroom is not something that should 
be taken lightly, and only after a "showing of a significant risk of prejudice 
to the defendant's right to a fair trial or danger to persons, property or the 
integrity of significant activities entitled to confidentiality."

He then added, "The defense has presented nothing more than bare assertions to 
support closure at this time."

Fell's attorneys did not submit a filing in support of closing the courtroom 
for the hearing and did not make any arguments in open court. Instead, they 
said they were relying on arguments made earlier during a closed door meeting 
in the judge's chambers prior to the hearing.

It's unclear what, if any, steps beyond the filing of a motion the federal 
government will take in light of the hearing already having taken place behind 
closed doors.

VtDigger is exploring the possibility of seeking the public release of the 
transcripts of the hearing as well as the chamber's meeting.

Vermont does not have the death penalty. However, because King was abducted as 
she arrived to work early one morning at a supermarket bakery in Rutland and 
was killed in New York state, federal prosecutors took jurisdiction. Fell's 
defense has been unsuccessful in multiple attempts to take the death penalty 
off the table as a possible punishment.

Fell's trial in the case is expected to begin in early November.

This will be the 2nd trial for Fell. He previously had been convicted and 
sentenced to death. However, due to juror misconduct that conviction and 
sentence were overturned.

An alleged accomplice of Fell's, Robert Lee, was also charged with capital 
offenses. But, before he could be tried, Lee died in prison.

(source: vnews.com)