[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., FLA., OHIO, ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

September 22




GEORGIA:

Change in defense postpones Columbus death-penalty trial until 2019 ---- 2 
weeks before trial, the only defendant now facing the death penalty in 
Columbus, Ga., has run out of money and needs a state indigent defense team to 
represent him, his attorneys say.



The Columbus death-penalty trial once set for Oct. 1 now is postponed until 
next year.

After Brandon David Conner's private lawyers argued Monday that their client is 
out of money and needs a state-funded defense team, Superior Court Judge 
William Rumer ordered the case removed from his October docket and set the next 
hearing for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 14.

The Georgia Office of the Capital Defender will take over Conner's 
representation, though 1 of his 2 private attorneys, Mark Shelnutt, may remain 
on the defense team to facilitate the transition and offer advice.

Jerry Word, director of the capital defender's office, told Rumer at Monday's 
hearing that his staff is prepared to assume Conner's defense.

"After hearing the evidence, the court orders the substitution of defense 
counsel and orders that the Office of Capital Defender shall take over 
representation of the defendant in this case from this day forward," Rumer 
wrote in his order.

"Mr. Word stated that the capital defenders may keep Mr. Shelnutt as 3rd chair 
in an advisory capacity and as a bridge between teams that have worked on Mr. 
Conner's defense," the judge added. "Because of this change in representation, 
the trial on October 1, 2018, is not possible."

Shelnutt told the court Monday that Conner has had no income since his arrest 
in the deaths of his girlfriend and infant son 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 needs an indigent defense team, Shelnutt told 
Rumer: "He is no longer capable of funding any more of his defense."

Word told the court his office was ready to take over: "The only thing we ask 
is sufficient time to prepare the case properly," he told Rumer.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Don Kelly told the court then that an 
extended delay was likely, if Conner changed attorneys: "There's just no other 
way around it," he said.

Conner, 39, is accused of fatally stabbing 32-year-old Rosella "Mandy" Mitchell 
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.

Finding that suspicious, Swails questioned Conner, who told the officer he had 
just left work to get some food, but changed his mind and returned. Swails said 
he knew that wasn't true, so he 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 3 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.

(source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)








FLORIDA:

Jury to decide whether Waffle House murderer lives or dies



Christina Delarosa's last moments had to be pure terror.

In March 2002, 2 robbers marched her into the freezer of the Davie Waffle House 
where she worked. They ordered her to her knees. She wondered if she would ever 
see her baby, Kyle, again.

She wouldn't. Gerhard Hojan gunned her down as she called out for her child. 
Delarosa was 17.

In 2003, a jury determined by a 9-3 vote that Hojan deserved to die for her 
murder and that of her co-worker, Willie Absolu. But under current law, that's 
not good enough. Hojan is off death row and back in Broward County ready to 
face a new jury.

Lawyers will join Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman on Tuesday to begin 
picking a jury to determine not whether Hojan is guilty - that was decided 
beyond a reasonable doubt at his 2003 trial - but whether he forfeited his 
right to live when he deprived Delorosa and Absolu of theirs.

The Florida Supreme Court overturned Hojan's death sentence in 2017, a year 
after the U.S. and Florida Supreme Courts determined that the state's death 
penalty scheme at the time of Hojan's conviction was unconstitutional.

Under the old law, a jury could recommend death by a majority vote, and a judge 
could consider it when passing sentence.

A new law passed in 2017 made it necessary for the jury to unanimously find 
that the death penalty was legally permissible and recommended.

Hojan was 1 of 11 death row inmates whose cases are returning to Broward courts 
because the juries that recommended their deaths was not unanimous.

There were no such cases in Palm Beach county.

Other Broward cases include:

Howard Steven Ault, the Fort Lauderdale man convicted of murdering DeAnn 
Emerald Mu'min, 11, and her sister, Alicia Sybilla Jones, 7, after luring them 
to his Fort Lauderdale home with the promise of Halloween candy. Dozen sent to 
death row by Broward eligible to seek new sentences

Ronnie Keith Williams, convicted of murdering Lisashantill Dyke, 18, who was 
babysitting for her boyfriend's sister in Wilton Manors on Jan. 26, 1993. 
Williams burst into Dyke's apartment that night looking for his ex-girlfriend, 
and when he didn't find her, he fought with and stabbed Dyke repeatedly. Dyke 
was pregnant at the time of her death. Her baby survived, brain damaged, but 
died in 2016. Williams has been charged in the latter death as well.

James Herard, part of a group of men convicted of multiple violent robberies at 
Dunkin Donuts franchises in South Florida in 2008. Herard, now 27, was 
sentenced to death for a murder that was otherwise unrelated in which he wasn't 
the gunman.

Prosecutors explained that Herard goaded another man to shoot and kill Eric 
Jean-Pierre, 39, a restaurant worker coming home to Lauderhill after a day's 
work. Pierre was chosen at random as part of a "body count" competition. Bell 
pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

But the murder would not have taken place if not for Herard's insistence, 
prosecutors said. Jurors agreed by an 8-4 vote, and Broward Circuit Judge Paul 
Backman imposed the sentence in January 2015.

Backman is the same judge who will oversaw Hojan's trial in 2005 and will 
preside over the retrial in Hojan's penalty phase.

Broward's chief prosecutor steps up when criminals target law enforcement

State Attorney Mike Satz will handle the prosecution - his job will be to 
secure a unanimous death recommendation, a complicated challenge. The jury that 
heard all the evidence in 2005 did not return a unanimous death recommendation, 
but because it was not required then, prosecutors are entitled to try again 
with a new jury.

Selection is expected to take a couple of weeks, with testimony scheduled to 
begin Oct. 8.

"What changes is your approach," said defense lawyer Mitch Polay, who 
represented Hojan in 2005 and will represent him again. "There really is a 
different way to approach the case when you are seeking just one vote as 
opposed to a majority."

Hojan had no prior criminal history and was well-liked before this crime, Polay 
said.

But the brutality had prosecutors convinced the death penalty was the only 
appropriate sentence.

Backman would be bound by the jury's decision if the death penalty is rejected, 
but would be able to override the jury if it orders Hojan's execution.

Hojan’s original co-defendant, Jimmy Mickel, is serving 5 life sentences for 
his role in the crimes, but he was acquitted of murder charges after jurors 
determined Hojan was solely responsible for the deaths.

Under the new death penalty law, passed last year, Broward has sent only inmate 
to death row - Peter Avsenew was sentenced to death last month for the 2010 
murders of a Wilton Manors couple who took him into their home during the 
holiday season.

Avsenew barely fought for his life in the penalty phase of his trial. He fired 
his defense lawyers, told the jury that convicted him he had no regrets, and 
told the judge in court that he has killed before and will again.

Broward juries rejected the death penalty in three other cases, including the 
2006 murder of Broward Sheriff's Deputy Brian Tephford.

(source: South Florida Sun Sentinel)








OHIO:

Appeals court overturns Ohio murder-for-hire death sentence



A man sentenced to die in an Ohio murder-for-hire case says statements alleging 
his involvement were hearsay, and a federal court has agreed and has thrown out 
his conviction and death sentence.

Friday's ruling came in the case of Ahmad Fawzi Issa, convicted of aggravated 
murder for arranging the killing of Maher Khrais, a Cincinnati convenience 
store owner shot outside his store in 1997.

Authorities say Issa paid a man $10,000 to kill Khrais at the request of 
Khrais' wife, Linda Khriss.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave Hamilton County prosecutors 6 months 
to retry the 48-year-old Issa or release him.

A message was left with the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office, which could 
appeal the ruling.

(source: Associated Press)








ARKANSAS:

Panel says Arkansas Supreme Court justices violated ethics by removing 
pastor/judge from death penalty cases



A state government commission tasked with investigating claims concerning the 
ethical conduct or disability of judges on Thursday filed formal charges 
against six members of the Arkansas Supreme Court for their handling of a case 
involving a Little Rock judge who also serves as a Baptist pastor.

The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission, a board established by the 
state constitution, found probable cause that the justices violated canons of 
judicial ethics in 2017 when they barred Judge Wendell Griffen from all cases 
involving the death penalty because he had attended a vigil against capital 
punishment with members of his church.

Griffen, pastor of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship-aligned New Millennium Church 
in Little Rock, signed an order in April 2017 granting a pharmaceutical 
company's request to block the state from using its drugs as part of Arkansas' 
execution by lethal injection protocol.

Later in the day, Griffen and church members attended a Good Friday prayer 
vigil protesting the state's plan to execute 8 men in 11 days. Griffen was 
photographed lying motionless on a cot "in solidarity with Jesus, the leader of 
our religion who was put to death by crucifixion by the Roman Empire."

The Arkansas Supreme Court reacted by barring Griffen from hearing any cases 
that involve the death penalty or the state's execution protocol and referring 
him to the Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission to determine if he had 
violated the Code of Judicial Conduct.

The ethics complaint against Judge Griffen has yet to go to the full 
commission, but new charges by special counsel J. Brent Standridge say the 
Supreme Court justices ruled improperly on an "extraordinary" complaint against 
Griffen without giving him proper notice.

"In acting on such matters involving judges, it is important to consider the 
well-established case law that judges are presumed to be impartial and unbiased 
and presumptively will act with honesty and integrity in adjudicating cases," 
the new complaint says. "A personal belief of a judge, even if expressed 
publicly by word or conduct, is insufficient to overcome this strong 
presumption of a judge's impartiality in ruling on matters of law before the 
court."

Griffen - a product of the black church tradition of pastors who preach 
prophetically on social issues - contends that his personal views against the 
death penalty, while widely known, have nothing to do with his ability to rule 
impartially on matters of law. For him, he says, it's a matter of religious 
freedom.

According to the judicial code, judges "are permitted and encouraged to engage 
in educational, religious, charitable or civic extrajudicial activities not 
conducted for profit, even when the activities do not involve the law.

Based on their investigation, the panel found probable cause that Supreme Court 
justices "acted arbitrarily and capriciously" against Griffen and that the 
complaint against them "should proceed further before the commission."

In a process separate from the ethics complaints, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals recently dismissed a lawsuit by Griffen accusing the Arkansas Supreme 
Court of violating his civil rights. Griffen's attorney has said he plans to 
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

(source: Baptist News)