[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MD., N.C., ALA., MISS., LA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

September 18



TEXAS:

Death penalty not ruled out for Texas border patrol agent accused of killing 4 
women



A U.S. Border Patrol agent charged with killing 4 women and abducting a 5th may 
face the death penalty - if the evidence stacks up.

There was a clear pattern to the murders allegedly committed by Juan David 
Ortiz - he took each of the women out to desolate areas near or just outside 
the limits of the city of Laredo, Texas, before allegedly killing them using a 
handgun, according to Webb County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz.

Authorities said Ortiz knew the women - all believed to be sex workers - and 
targeted them for their vulnerability, amid fears of more deaths at his hands 
remaining undiscovered.

Alaniz didn't rule out prosecutors pursuing the death penalty for Ortiz, 
although he said it's too early to tell because the crime is still being 
investigated and evidence compiled.

"At the appropriate time, we will make the decision on what final charges Ortiz 
will be facing," Alaniz said. "There is a possibility that we will elect - if 
the evidence supports - to charge capital murder, and then the decision will be 
made if it will be capital murder non-death or capital murder seeking the death 
penalty."

Ortiz is currently being held on $2.5 million bond, although Alaniz said the 
bond option will be rescinded if evidence supports a death penalty prosecution.

Ortiz, 35, amassed weapons at his home in anticipation of a possible 
confrontation with police, authorities said.

When officers did try to apprehend him, he fled to a nearby parking lot before 
brandishing his cellphone like a weapon in the hopes of being shot, but he was 
captured without incident around 2 a.m. Saturday.

According to affidavits, Ortiz confessed to the killings after he was taken 
into custody on Saturday. Authorities are still trying to ascertain what 
sparked the suspected 10-day killing spree.

Ortiz served in the U.S. Navy for nearly 8 years before being hired by Border 
Patrol. The law enforcement agency said there was nothing in his background to 
suggest he was capable of murder.

(source: globalnews.ca)








MARYLAND:

Author to discuss his book about Kirk Bloodsworth, exonerated death-row 
inmate----Tim Junkin, author of 'Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death 
Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence,' will speak about his book on Oct. 2 at 
7 p.m. at the Abingdon Library.



Tim Junkin, the 2018 One Maryland One Book author of "Bloodsworth: The True 
Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence," will speak 
about his book on Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Abingdon Library. This event is free 
and open to the public.

Copies of Junkin???' book will be available for purchase and signing the 
evening of the talk.

In his book, Junkin, an attorney with 30 years of experience as a trial lawyer 
and advocate of civil rights, details the story of Kirk Bloodsworth, who was 
charged with the rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in 1984. He was tried, 
convicted and sentenced to die in Maryland's gas chamber.

Maintaining his innocence, Bloodsworth read everything on criminal law 
available in the prison library and persuaded a new lawyer to petition for the 
then-innovative DNA testing.

After nine years in prison, Bloodsworth became the 1st death row inmate 
exonerated by DNA evidence. He was pardoned by the governor of Maryland in 1993 
and has gone on to become a spokesman against capital punishment.

In addition, 18 book discussion programs will be held at libraries and other 
locations throughout Harford County through Oct. 25. For times and locations, 
visit hcplonline.org or pick up a copy of Headlines & Happenings at any Harford 
County Public Library.

One Maryland One Book is a program of Maryland Humanities and is presented in 
Harford County by Harford County Public Library and its partners Harford 
Community College and Harford County Department of Community Services.Junkin 
lives on the Wye River on Maryland's Eastern Shore. An award-winning writer and 
a teacher, he is also the author of "The Waterman: and "Good Counsel."

Junkin graduated from the University of Maryland in 1973 and completed his law 
studies at Georgetown University Law Center in 1977. He has taught at American 
University, Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard University Law School and 
the Bethesda Writer's Center.

"Hosting the author of this year's One Maryland One Book is quite an honor for 
Harford County Public Library," Library CEO Mary Hastler said. "If you lived in 
Maryland when Kirk Bloodsworth was exonerated, you will remember what a big 
news story it was. We are pleased to welcome author Tim Junkin as he describes 
Kirk Bloodsworth's incredible account about an innocent man who faced the death 
penalty and was freed thanks to new technology at the time - DNA testing. It 
will be an incredible evening for our customers to hear how justice was served, 
and an innocent man was set free."

Harford County Public Library operates 11 branches located throughout Harford 
County. The library serves more than 194,000 registered borrowers of all ages 
and has an annual circulation of more than 4.7 million. Harford County Public 
Library is the recipient of a 2018 Graphic Design USA American Inhouse Design 
Award. For more information, visit hcplonline.org.

(source: Baltimore Sun)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Case considered capital crime as additional charges lodged against Danville 
suspect in Friday homicide



Donald Scott Layne, a former business owner from Danville, could face the death 
penalty in North Carolina if convicted on recently filed sexual assault charges 
and the related homicide.

Just days ago, Caswell County authorities arrested and charged him in 
connection with the fatal shooting of Junita Hankins and the shooting of her 
adult daughter Stephanie Snead - a former employee of Layne???s now-defunct 
indoor playground business Mega Bounce.

Authorities would not provide details on Snead's condition. Local and regional 
hospitals would not confirm if Snead was a patient.

The mother and daughter were attacked in their Providence, North Carolina, home 
at 1010 New Walters Mill Road early Friday and neighbors described how 
sheriff???s deputies escorted a handcuffed person from the back door.

Investigators on Monday charged Layne, 52, with 1st-degree counts of rape, 
sexual offense and kidnapping along with a charge of felonious breaking and 
entering, Lt. Darrell McLean said. Those charges come atop the counts of 
1st-degree murder of Hankins and attempted 1st-degree murder of Snead.

The case is being considered a capital murder case, McLean said. At the time of 
writing, Jacqueline Perez interim district attorney for Caswell County, could 
not be reached for comment.

Gretchen Engel, executive director of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation 
in Durham, North Carolina, explained that state prosecutors only pursue capital 
punishment in homicide cases that also involve such aggravating factors as 
multiple violent crimes, rape, robbery or killing a law enforcement officer.

"The only kinds of cases that are eligible for the death penalty [are] 
1st-degree murder, and then the state has to have evidence of an aggravating 
factor," Engel said. "If there is evidence of an aggravating factor... it is a 
capital offense"

For the death penalty to become an option, prosecutors must name those 
aggravating factors in a hearing but are not required to present evidence. They 
are allowed to pursue a lesser sentence if their evidence at trial is not as 
strong as they believe it is.

"It is really the decision of the [district attorney]," Engel said. "It is 
really a pro-forma kind of unchecked decision."

The charges filed against Layne on Monday might not be the last ones to enter 
the case.

"There may be an additional charge... but we can't discuss that right now," 
McLean said.

While the sheriff's department has been reticent to share details about the 
ongoing investigation, McLean said Layne did not resist arrest or attempt to 
flee deputies when they arrested him at Hankins' home on Friday.

"He complied when he was confronted by the deputies," McLean said. "He complied 
with the orders to step outside [the house]."

A neighbor at the scene said he saw a man in handcuffs escorted to a sheriff's 
car from the 1-story house's back door.

Layne has a history in Danville - as a former business owner and as a defendant 
in a rape case set for a jury trial on Nov. 20, according to court documents. 
He faces a charge in Danville Circuit Court of rape of an employee at his 
former indoor playground business on March 1.

The Danville Register and Bee usually withholds the name of those alleging 
sexual assault to encourage people to report assaults to police, unless 
requested by the accuser.

A search warrant filed in Danville states that Layne is suspected of using the 
pretext of wanting to speak to the woman to lure her to the business before it 
opened. There, the warrant claims, he locked the doors, threatened her and 
raped her.

His former business has since been sold, rebranded and disaffiliated from 
Layne, the Register & Bee confirmed with an employee at the rechristened Family 
Fun Zone USA.

Layne is scheduled for his 1st court appearance in Caswell County District 
Court on Wednesday, McLean said. The investigation is ongoing, police said.

Snead also faces charges in Danville Circuit Court - around the same time 
investigators sifted through the crime scene Friday she was scheduled for an 
attorney advisement hearing on charges of forgery, uttering and obtaining money 
by false pretenses. Indictments state that she forced 2 checks for $1,500 from 
Layne's account and made them payable to herself, Danville Commonwealth's 
Attorney Michael Newman wrote in an email.

That hearing has been re-scheduled for Oct. 23, court records show.

(source: godanriver.com)








ALABAMA:

Capital murder trial set for Oct. 15



The trial of a Franklin County man accused of killing his girlfriend's 22-month 
old baby in 2016 is set for Oct. 15.

Franklin County Circuit Judge Terry Dempsey placed the trial on the October 
criminal court docket during a recent motion hearing on the case.

Shannon Dale Gargis, 23, of Rail Splitter Road, Phil Campbell, has been 
indicted for capital murder and aggravated child abuse.

The child's mother, Halie Renfroe, 24, Hackleburg, pleaded guilty to 1st-degree 
hindering prosecution after it was determined she lied to authorities during 
the investigation.

She was sentenced to serve 18 months in the Franklin County Community 
Corrections Program.

Investigators said Gargis is accused of becoming "overly aggressive" and 
"causing the injuries" that killed the baby.

An autopsy reported the baby died from blunt force trauma to the head.

He faces the death penalty if convicted.

(source: Times Daily )

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

Yellowhammer News 21 hours ago



Alabama's Supreme Court on Friday voted 5-4 to overturn the death sentence of a 
Birmingham man convicted in a 2009 robbery and shooting, instead directing a 
Jefferson County judge to sentence Anthony Lane to life without possibility of 
parole.

The ruling came after the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered Alabama's courts to 
reconsider the death sentence in 2015, citing cases that say states cannot 
execute people with mental disabilities. However, even after that, the Alabama 
Court of Criminal Appeals had reaffirmed that Lane should get the death 
penalty.

The Alabama attorney general's office conceded in the case that the trial court 
shouldn't have sentenced Lane to death, filing a joint motion with the defense.

Lane confessed that he killed Frank Wright at a car wash, stole his wallet and 
car and then partially burned the car in an attempt to conceal evidence.

Wright's wallet was found in the car.

"It is undisputed that Lane has an IQ of 70," Associate Justice William Sellers 
wrote for the majority Friday. "The state has never seriously argued that his 
intellectual functioning is anything but significantly subaverage. Rather, the 
dispute has centered around whether Lane also has the requisite deficits in 
adaptive skills necessary to render him intellectually disabled."

Sellers wrote that clinical neuropsychologist Dr. John Goff has chronicled that 
Lane had deficits in all of those adaptive skills as laid out by the U.S. 
Supreme Court.

That evidence was presented to the trial court and the state didn't present its 
own expert, but the trial judge sentenced Lane to death following a 10-2 
recommendation by the jury.

Sellers wrote that the judge's reasoning in sentencing Lane did not follow the 
rules.

"The state has indicated that it concedes that the evidence established that 
Lane is intellectually disabled and that the trial court simply substituted its 
own standards for intellectual disability for those accepted by the medical 
community," Sellers wrote.

2 dissenters say the majority was acting prematurely because the state did not 
file its motion in a procedurally proper way.

"The State may have very good reasons to concede the issue. Lane may very well 
be entitled to a judgment in his favor. But there is a better, more 
procedurally proper way to do this," Associate Justice Greg Shaw wrote in a 
dissent joined by Associate Justice Kelly Wise.

Shaw also argued Alabama should more closely examine whether the Supreme Court 
case which determined intellectually disabled people are not eligible for the 
death penalty applies to Lane.

Shaw wrote that Lane failed to prove to the trial judge that he"exhibited 
significant or substantial deficits in adaptive behavior."

Justices Tom Parker and Tommy Bryan dissented without stating any written 
reasons.

(source: yellowhammernews.com)








MISSISSIPPI:

DA to seek death penalty against man charged in 2014 murder of 
13-year-old----They are accused of killing the boy and wounding his father

The Madison County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty 
against a man charged in the 2014 murder of a 13-year-old in Canton.

1 of 2 men facing murder charges in the death of 13-year-old Muhammed Saaed 
appeared in court in Madison County Monday. 38-year-old Tony Clark is charged 
with capital murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a 
convicted felon as a habitual offender. Investigators say Clark shot and killed 
Saaed while he was working at the Fat Boy convenience store in November of 
2014.

Tony Clark's 23-year-old nephew, Teaonta Clark, is also charged with murder in 
the case. Madison County District Attorney Michael Guest says he faces a 
separate trial.

The prosecution anticipated bringing 4 to 5 witnesses to testify, including 
Muhammed's father, Fahd Saeed.

Officer Jackson of the Canton Police Department was the 1st to testify.

"Fahd was on the floor of the store", asking her "to check on his son" who she 
found "shot in the head" and unresponsive, Jackson said describing the scene.

The 3rd witness is Greg Eklund, former investigator with the DA's office. He 
walked the jury through composite surveillance videos of the shooting of 
Muhammad and Fahd Saeed. There was no reaction from defendant Tony Clark.

Last witness for the prosecution is Muhammed's father, Fahd Saeed, who 
immediately was heavy in emotion when asked about his family. At the time of 
the murder, Muhammad was his only son.

More emotion when Fahd is asked who came into his store after 10 p.m. He says 
Tony and Teonta Clark, then points to the defendant identifying him "as the man 
who killed my son".

He identifies Tony and Teonta Clark as customers of his businesses in Canton 
over 15 years. He says Teonta was a daily visitor to Fat Boy, Tony had only 
been in that store once.

Fahd says that Tony Clark didn't get any money from the register after shooting 
them both. He testifies that Tony "punched the register" but was unable to 
access it, and says Teonta told Tony that "people are coming, hurry up". Both 
suspects then left according to Fahd.

In opening statements, the defense claims no robbery took place and that the 
victim's father may have shot himself.

Fahd Saeed bought the Fat Boy store in 2013 and renovated it to be a home for 
he and his son, known as Lil Ali to patrons. The 13-year old helped his father 
run the store and was working the cash register the night he was killed.

The prosecution has rested in this case as well as the defense who called no 
witnesses. Jurors are expected to be given instructions before closing 
arguments in Tuesday morning.

(source: WLBT nerws)








LOUISIANA:

Frustrations mount in alleged FB Live killer's case



Frustrations are starting to mount on both sides in the case against alleged 
Facebook Live killer Johnathan Tremaine Robinson.

Both the family of Rannita Williams and Robinson are growing tired of inaction 
in the case and want to progress.

But there's a major roadblock.

The hiccup preventing this case from progressing centers around who's capable 
of defending Robinson in his trial.

Family members of Rannita "NuNu" Williams, who allegedly was fatally shot by 
Robinson, quietly lined the back room of the courthouse and are growing 
increasingly irked with the trial's delay.

"It's very tiring that we have to sit in there and hear that they're constantly 
arguing about the man power to represent someone," said Claudette Robinson, 
aunt of Rannita Williams. "If you're constantly in court and don't have the man 
power to represent, it's really like you're saying he can go home."

The Caddo Parish district attorney is seeking the death penalty for Robinson. 
But due to funding cuts, there's a lack of public defenders qualified to try 
death penalty cases in Northwest Louisiana. That is delaying his prosecution.

"Louisiana is Louisiana, no matter where the lawyers come from, they should be 
here to represent," said Robinson. "That's very tiring, that's very hurtful for 
anybody."

Robinson sat in court Monday visibly irritated by inaction on finding him a 
defender.

"Get this over with. It's a bunch of nonsense," he blurted out.

(source: KSLA news)








OHIO:

Execution date sought for convicted Ohio prison riot killer



A prosecutor has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to set an execution date for an 
inmate sentenced to die in the slayings of 5 fellow inmates during a 1993 
prison riot in Ohio.

Forty-nine-year-old Keith LaMar was convicted of aggravated murder in 1995 for 
the deaths of 5 inmates during an uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional 
Institution at Lucasville. He received the death penalty for 4 of the 5 
killings.

Mark Piepmeier is a Hamilton County prosecutor serving as special prosecutor 
for Scioto County, where the killings happened. He asked the court on Monday to 
set the date, saying LaMar had exhausted his appeals.

A message was left with LaMar's attorneys, who are expected to oppose the 
request.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Ohio killer on death row hit with 2 more murder charges



A convicted killer rotting on Ohio's death row has been hit with 2 more murder 
charges.

Shawn Grate has now been charged with the slayings of Rebekah Leicy and Candace 
Cunningham in Richland County.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Grate was first arrested on Sept. 13, 2016, when a terrified woman called 911 
and told operators she had been abducted.

When cops arrived they found 2 other women - Elizabeth Griffith, 29, and Stacey 
Stanley, 43 - dead in the home.

He was found guilty in the aggravated murders and the jury recommended the 
death penalty.

Richland County Prosecutor Gary Bishop said Grate's new charges will not be a 
death penalty case.

"There are no aggravating circumstances alleged," Bishop told local reporters. 
Cops believe Leicy, 31, was kidnapped sometime between Jan. 1, 2015, and Feb. 
6, 2015.

Her corpse was found on a rural road near a fort where Grate lived for a year 
after the woman's body was discovered.

Grate allegedly kidnapped and killed Cunningham, 29, on June 6, 2016.

She was found dead near a burned-down house on Sept. 13, 2016, the same day 
Grate was arrested.

He is currently appealing his death penalty conviction. Detectives have said 
Grate confessed to murdering Leicy and Cunningham along with a third, 
unidentified woman.

The Jane Doe's remains were found in 2007. Grate has not been charged in that 
case.

The killer was convicted in May in the murders of Stanley and Griffith 
following a 5-week trial.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, the judge in the 1st trial had signed his 
death warrant for last Thursday - 2 years to the day of his arrest.

However, with the new charges, the clock stops on Grate's countdown to 
oblivion.

"He has to set a date as part of the sentencing," Ashland County Prosecutor 
Chris Tunnell said. "It's the initial date. It never happens (that quickly)."

(source: The Sun Times)