[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., GA., MO., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

September 19




NORTH CAROLINA:

N.C. homicide case highlights elements for deciding bond



Documents filed in Caswell County District Court paint a contradictory picture 
of the bond status of Donald Layne, a Danville man accused of homicide and 
sexual assault.

One document, dated Friday, lists him as held without bond. Another, dated 
Monday, listed his bond at $5 million.

Paradoxically, both documents are correct.

Law enforcement charged him Friday on 1st-degree counts of murder and attempted 
murder. Warrants filed in Caswell County state that Layne attempted to kill 
Stephanie Snead - a former employee of his now-defunct indoor playground 
business, Mega Bounce - and killed Juanita Hankins that day at their house on 
New Walter's Mill Road in Providence, North Carolina. On those charges, he was 
held without bond.

Then Layne was charged Monday with 1st-degree counts of rape, sexual offense 
and kidnapping along with felonious breaking and entering in connection to the 
same incident. For that, he was given a $5 million bond, court documents show.

Despite the 2 conflicting bonds, Layne is still held without the possibility of 
pretrial release. The murder charges supersede the bond listed for the 
additional charges filed Monday.

Bond can be paid directly to the court or through a bondsman, who fronts money 
for a defendant's release and charges a percentage of the collateral they or 
their agency puts up. If the defendant shows up for court, the bondsman gets 
back the money he put up for release. If the defendant doesn't show up, the 
bondsman loses the money unless he brings the missing person to court.

1st-degree murder - in conjunction with such other aggravating factors as 
robbery, rape or other violent crimes - is the only charge that warrants the 
death penalty in North Carolina, said Greensboro attorney Charles A. Lloyd.

The bond in capital charges is set at the judge's discretion, Lloyd explained. 
Judges also have to set bond for lesser charges a defendant faces, even if they 
have no hope of being released should they post that bond.

"A judge can set a bond in a murder case, but does not have to," Lloyd said in 
a phone interview. But on other ancillary charges, "the court has to set a 
bond."

According to North Carolina law, 1st-degree murder is a Class A felony. Bond 
guidelines recommend no bond for that grade of crime - a classification which 
also includes injuries stemming from unlawful use of biological, chemical and 
nuclear weapons, Greensboro attorney Robert Edmunds Jr. said. For using those 
weapons, the punishment is life without parole, according to North Carolina 
law.

Bond guidelines in capital murder cases are not mandatory for judges, who can 
set bonds above or below the advised limits, according to North Carolina law.

1st-degree rape was also a capital offense in North Carolina until 1979, 
according to a 2012 paper from the University of North Carolina's School of 
Government. After 1979, the document states, the state retooled its sexual 
assault laws and struck the death penalty as a potential consequence for rape.

Because of the charges filed against Layne, he could face the death penalty if 
convicted. But executions are seldom carried out in the Tar Heel state.

It's last execution was in mid-2006, Gretchen Engel of the Durham-based Center 
for Death Penalty Litigation said. Today, the state has the sixth largest death 
row in the country, she said.

In Virginia, Layne faces charges of rape, abduction and kidnapping that were 
certified to Danville Circuit Court on June 25. According to documents filed in 
Danville General District Court, Layne was released on $50,000 secured bond in 
April. As conditions of his release, he was prohibited from contacting the 
woman he is accused of raping and from possessing a firearm. He was also 
prohibited from leaving Virginia while out on bond.

Layne's trial in Danville has been rescheduled for Nov. 20, and he is scheduled 
for a hearing in Caswell County District Court on Wednesday.

(source: godanriver.com)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

Death penalty sought for SC man accused of 'brutally' molesting, killing 
toddler



Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for the South Carolina man accused of 
molesting his girlfriend's 2-year-old son and beating the toddler to death.

Eighth Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo and Laurens County Sheriff Don Reynolds 
announced Tuesday that the state will seek a death sentence for William Ryan 
Looper, who is charged with murder in the death of 2-year-old Brantley Justin 
Smith, according to a release from the solicitor's office.

Brantley was found dead in a Clinton home in June, McClatchy reported 
previously. The boy had been "brutally beaten" and was "brutally sexually 
assaulted before his death," the Laurens County Sheriff's Office said at the 
time.

The death penalty notice was filed Monday, according to Laurens County online 
court records. Looper faces charges of murder, criminal sexual conduct with a 
minor under 11 years of age and 2 counts of unlawful neglect of a child.

South Carolina law provides several aggravating circumstances under which 
prosecutors can seek a death sentence, including killing a person during the 
commission of criminal sexual conduct or killing a child age 11 or younger. The 
release from the solicitor's office said prosecutors will provide at a later 
date the "multiple aggravating circumstances" upon which the state will seek 
the death sentence.

Looper's girlfriend and Brantley's mother, Jessica Blake Smith, also faces 
charges of unlawful neglect of a child and homicide by child abuse in 
Brantley's death.

(source: thestate.com)









GEORGIA:

2 weeks before death-penalty trial, Brandon Conner needs state-paid defense, 
attorneys say



2 weeks before he's to go to trial in Columbus' only pending death-penalty 
case, Brandon David Conner no longer can pay his private attorneys and needs a 
state capital defender to represent him, his attorneys told Judge William Rumer 
during a Monday hearing.

Defense attorney Mark Shelnutt told the court Conner has had no income since 
his arrest in 2014. Both his parents were working when they hired Shelnutt and 
partner William Kendrick 4 years ago, but Conner's father since has died, 
depriving the family of that income, Shelnutt said.

Conner's mother still is working, in Texas, but she can't afford to take on the 
legal expenses alone, so Conner will need an indigent defense team, Shelnutt 
told Rumer: "He is no longer capable of funding any more of his defense."

Attending Monday's hearing was Jerry Word, director of the Georgia Public 
Defender Council's Office of the Capital Defender, which represents indigent 
defendants facing the death penalty.

"I am prepared to assign a team," he said of Conner's defense. Shelnutt still 
may be involved, but he can't be the lead defense attorney once the capital 
defender takes over, Word said.

"The only thing we ask is sufficient time to prepare the case properly," Word 
told Rumer.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly said bringing in a new defense 
team will delay the case beyond the scheduled Oct. 1 trial date.

Prosecutors tried in the beginning to ensure Conner would be able to keep his 
private representation: They put off holding an initial court hearing for a 
month just to see whether Shelnutt and Kendrick would continue as Conner's 
attorneys, Kelly said.

"This is going to put a long delay in the case," he told Rumer. "There's just 
no other way around it."

Kendrick said he and Shelnutt have to deal with circumstances they could not 
have foreseen in 2014: "The financial circumstances for Mr. Conner have 
changed, and changed drastically."

After hearing briefly from both sides, Rumer had the prosecutors and public 
leave the courtroom so he could speak privately with Word, Shelnutt, Kendrick 
and Conner.

The judge and defense had to have a closed-door conference because discussing 
how to proceed could reveal the defendant's trial strategy, which prosecutors 
otherwise would not be privy to, as the defense has no obligation to weaken its 
position by revealing that before the trial.

They conferred only for a few minutes, after which Rumer said he would issue a 
ruling on the matter within a few days.

Attorneys said a death-penalty trial can cost the defendant up to $300,000, 
depending on the case.

Shelnutt and Kendrick last sought to postpone the trial Aug. 17, saying they 
had not received crucial discovery evidence related to quality control and 
other administrative procedures at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime 
lab conducting DNA tests for the prosecution.

The prosecution, led by District Attorney Julia Slater with assistance from 
Kelly and Assistant District Attorney Wesley Lambertus, argued the information 
the defense sought was not covered under the law governing pretrial discovery, 
and must be obtained by other means, such an open-records request.

Rumer heard arguments on that motion Aug. 21, and issued an order denying the 
defense request Aug. 31.

The homicides

Conner, 39, is accused of fatally stabbing girlfriend Rosella "Mandy" Mitchell, 
32, and killing their 6-month-old son Dylan Ethan Conner before setting their 
1324 Winifred Lane home afire on Aug. 21, 2014.

The fire was reported at 12:35 a.m. About 30 minutes later, Officer Jason 
Swails saw Conner's blue 2001 BMW turn from Wynnton Road onto Cedar Avenue in 
midtown as Conner parked near Davis Broadcasting, where he worked. Conner then 
sat in the car for 10 minutes, the officer said.

Because of recent business burglaries in the area, Swails questioned Conner and 
saw the suspect was shaking and sweating, and apparently had blood on him, the 
officer said.

Conner told Swails he had just left work, which Swails didn't believe because 
he'd seen Conner turn off Wynnton Road and park. Conner then altered his story, 
claiming he'd left work to get some food, but changed his mind and returned, 
Swails said.

Swails arrested Conner for breaking a city law against lying to police. Because 
police routinely search suspects being detained, officers checked Conner's 
pockets, and found a bloody, yellow dishwashing glove, a bloody baby wipe, a 
cigarette lighter and an extended grill lighter.

Learning of the bodies found on Winifred Lane, police had Conner's BMW 
impounded, and got a warrant to search it. Inside they found a bag of bloody 
clothes, a bottle of bleach and a bent steak knife with blood on the handle, 
they said.

Arson investigators searched the burned home with a dog that alerted to 
flammable liquids poured in three places. They also found a gas can stored in a 
closet. An autopsy revealed Mitchell was stabbed multiple times in the throat 
and torso. Authorities have not said how the infant died.

On April 14, 2015, a grand jury indicted Conner for murder, aggravated battery, 
1st-degree arson and using a knife to commit a crime. 6 days later, Slater 
filed notice she would seek the death penalty.

Conner's is the 2nd case in which she has sought the death penalty since taking 
office in 2009. The 1st was the fatal shooting of local radio disc jockey Heath 
Jackson during a burglary at his Carter Avenue home on Sept. 7, 2010.

In May 2013, defendant Ricardo Strozier pleaded guilty to Jackson's homicide 
and a string of related crimes. Judge Gil McBride sentenced him to life in 
prison without parole.

Jerry Word, director of the Georgia Public Defender Council's Office of the 
Capital Defender(standing) told Superior Court Judge William C. Rumer that his 
office is prepared to assign a team to defend Brandon David Conner.

(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)








MISSOURI:

Missouri Supreme Court hears appeal from man sentenced to death for killing 
state trooper, for a 2nd time



The Missouri Supreme Court in Jefferson City is considering a death sentence 
appeal from Lance Shockley, who was convicted of killing a state trooper in 
2005. Arguments were made Tuesday before the high bench for a 2nd time after 
the judges affirmed his conviction and sentence once before in 2013.

Shockley killed Missouri State Highway Patrol Sergeant Dewayne Graham on March 
20, 2005. In 2009, a jury convicted him of 1st-degree murder and armed criminal 
action for the shooting. It also convicted him of leaving the scene of an 
accident in November 2004.

Sergeant Graham was outside his home near southeastern Missouri's Van Buren 
when he was gunned down. Investigators said Shockley killed Graham because 
Graham was investigating Shockley for involuntary manslaughter and leaving the 
scene of a 1-vehicle fatality crash in which the person who died was initially 
thought to have been the driver.

The jury that found Shockley guilty in 2009 failed to agree on a sentence, 
leaving the responsibility with the judge. On May 22, 2009, Judge David Evans 
sentenced Shockley to death. After the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the 
decision four years later, Shockley had an execution date set for Jan. 31, 
2014. But the state high court stayed the execution because of pending 
litigation.

Shockley had filed a post-conviction request in a lower court to have his 
judgment reversed and a new trial set. He claimed his defense attorney was 
ineffective.

Judge Kelly Parker of southern Missouri's Salem, who was appointed by the 
Missouri Supreme Court to hear the post-conviction appeal, denied Shockley's 
claim and upheld his conviction and death sentence in June of 2017.

In the interim, the U.S. Supreme Court had declined to take the case in 2014 
and 2016, and after the 2017 lower state court decision, Shockley once again 
appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.

Those arguments were heard Tuesday, where Shockley's defense focused on a juror 
it claimed had tainted the jury trial in 2009. According to court documents, 
Juror58 told the judge during jury selection that he thought everyone would 
want to know his son was a Springfield, Missouri police officer and that he was 
a "published author".

Shockley claims his trial attorney was ineffective because he failed to inquire 
about the contents of Juror58's book, even though he did raise concern of 
possible bias because the juror's son was an officer. The trial attorney sought 
unsuccessfully to have the case tossed much later in the penalty phase of the 
case when he was given a copy of the book.

In the Supreme Court Tuesday, Shockley also claimed the trial court erred by 
not disqualifying Juror58 after he shared the book with his peers. Juror58 had 
brought 4 copies that he distributed to other jurors and a deputy during the 
trial. Shockley's attorney, Bill Swift, opened up Tuesday's proceedings by 
describing the front and back cover of the book as being covered in blood 
spatter and characterized themes on the back cover as being about vengeance, 
murder and a court system that's unsympathetic to the plight of victims.

The book is described in court papers filed by Swift as sympathetic to its 
protagonist, a former Green Beret who assassinates a drunk driver who was freed 
after killing his wife. Swift said the novel did irreparable harm to the case.

"His book is an indictment of the court system, and specifically how judges and 
courts handle criminal defendants, so it goes to the substance of what the jury 
is being required to decide," argued Swift before the high court.

In court documents submitted by Swift, he said "Juror58 initially disavowed his 
book???s plot that the protagonist intended to make America pay for allowing 
murderers to go free. But when he was confronted with his book's Amazon/Barnes 
and Noble web postings he authored that said exactly that, he had to admit the 
plot."

Arguing for the state before the Supreme Court, Assistant Attorney General Dan 
McPherson defended the juror. "If he was really so biased that he was trying to 
get on this jury to fulfill some kind of personal agenda, why would he even 
volunteer in the first place that he wrote a book," said McPherson. "He could 
have kept his mouth shut. Nobody would ever have known about it."

McPherson further state that Juror58's book wasn't a reflection of his views. 
"He wrote these to make an entertaining story, not because he felt that way 
personally," McPherson said.

Juror58 ended up being discharged from the trial later on during the penalty 
phase of the case. According to court documents filed by Shockley attorney 
Swift, the judge informed Juror58 that his decision was based on matters 
associated with Juror58???s book, and informed Juror58 he could be "subject to 
subpoena at a later date regarding these matters."

The death penalty case has now stretched out over 13 years and Shockley has 
aged from 28 to 41-years old. He's incarcerated at the Potosi Correctional 
Center in southeastern Missouri.

His appeal was 1 of 4 cases heard Tuesday by the Missouri Supreme Court. The 
bench could hand down a decision at any time.

(source: missourinet.com)








CALIFORNIA:

Death Penalty case in murder of attorney will go forward to jury trial



A judge has found there is enough evidence against the young man accused of 
torturing an up-and-coming Bakersfield attorney to death in order to move 
forward with a jury trial.

This case stands out for so many reasons. For one-the brutality is like nothing 
we've ever seen. The victim by all accounts was a compassionate and brilliant 
young attorney. And the suspect, barely an adult and somewhat small in stature, 
had a seemingly ordinary life. The horrific murder has revealed secrets of both 
the victim and the suspect.

We warn you-some of the details of the murder may be disturbing to some 
viewers. One by one, Bakersfield Police Officers and crime scene techs 
described a bloody crime scene that seems too graphic even for horror films. 
Blood covered six different walkways at the Golden Valley Luxury Apartment 
complex. Bloody footprints and hand prints showed a trial to at least six 
different apartments where the victim pounded on the door-frantic for help 
before ultimately dying.

When a crime scene tech was asked to describe the inside of victim Marcos 
Vargas's apartment, she replied "there's just blood everywhere." The crime 
scene photos shown in court depict the victim so covered in blood it's nearly 
impossible to make out any wounds. Autopsy photos painted a sickening picture 
ofa suspect who tried to inflict so much pain and damage to the victim, 
frankly, it's difficult to describe.

In addition to near decapitation, the suspect seemed to carve out a large piece 
of the 26-year-old's face. The most gut-wrenching part of all is the fact that 
he was alive during the savagery inflicted on him. The nuts and bolts of the 
evidence against the baby-faced, petite suspect are as followed :Less than 24 
hours before Vargas was murdered, police allege the men met each other on the 
dating app "Meet Me", where the victim made it clear he was looking for sex.

Though the user police say is Quintana doesn't say much of anything sexual in 
response, and is initially a bit reluctant, he eventually agrees to come over. 
Both men, believed to be straight by those closest to them, allegedly met up 
just after midnight. Inside Vargas's apartment, prosecutor Eric Smith told the 
judge Vargas was anticipating a sexual encounter where as Quintana had 
something else in mind.

As the victim undressed and laid down on the bed, smith theorized the 19 
year-old took out a large knife and began hacking away at the unsuspecting 
attorney. An un-used condom was found on the floor.

Vargas's iphone was later recovered in long beach, 600 feet from Quintana's 
longtime girlfriend's home.

Crime scene techs also said Quintana's DNA was found on a beer can inside 
Vargas's apartment.

We didn't hear much from the defense today, as is typical at preliminary 
hearings, but they did establish that much of the DNA found at the scene did 
not much Quintana. The number one question everyone's been asking with this 
case is what is the motive? It seems we may never know for sure. If convicted, 
the 19-year-old faces the death penalty.

The victim, Marcos Vargas was an active member of the legal community working 
with Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance. He was also involved with the 
Immigration-Justice Collaboration and the young lawyers section of the Kern 
County Bar.

(source: KGET news)

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

Calgary man charged with brother-in-law's murder could face death penalty in 
L.A.



A Calgary man was charged with his brother-in-law's fatal stabbing while on 
vacation in California, authorities said Tuesday.

Loi Vi Tran, 40, was charged with killing his brother-in-law - 45-year-old 
Stephen Tran of El Monte, Cal. - in a bowling alley parking lot in El Monte on 
Sept. 16, according to the L.A. County District Attorney's Office. Loi had been 
bowling with his extended family during his visit to California, prosecutors 
said.

After the group played for several hours, Loi paid for everyone's games and 
went outside to wait for them, investigators said.

Around 12:30 p.m., after an exchange of words, Loi is accused of stabbing 
Stephen several times in the chest.

El Monte police arrived and arrested Loi on scene. Stephen was transported to 
hospital where he later died.

"There are no allegations of anyone else being hurt in the complaint," said 
Paul Eakins, public information officer of the L.A. County District Attorney's 
Office.

Loi faces 1 count of murder with the "special circumstance allegation of lying 
in wait," making him eligible for the death penalty, according to the District 
Attorney's new release.

"It means he was lying in wait in order to commit the crime, that it was a 
planned crime," Eakins said. "It wasn't something that happened in the heat of 
the moment."

Loi is accused of using a deadly and dangerous weapon, a kitchen knife, 
according to the criminal complaint in the case.

If convicted, Loi faces the death penalty or life in state prison without the 
possibility of parole.

His arraignment was postponed from Sept. 18 to Oct. 17, which Eakins said is 
not unusual in these cases.

Loi is in custody at Men's Central Jail in L.A. and was denied bail because of 
the special circumstances.

The Homicide Bureau of the L.A. County Sheriff's Department continues to 
investigate.

(source: globalnews.ca)