[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., FLA., ALA., ILL., OKLA., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

September 27



TEXAS----executions

Texas puts Daniel Acker to death, the 2nd execution in 2 days----Acker was 
convicted in the 2000 murder of his girlfriend in East Texas. Her body was 
found on the side of the road after neighbors said they saw him abduct her.



For the 2nd time in 1 days, Texas carried out an execution Thursday. It was the 
state's 10th execution of the year, and the 18th in the nation.

Daniel Acker, 46, was put to death in Huntsville's execution chamber hours 
after the U.S. Supreme Court denied his last appeal, just 24 hours after 
another man, Troy Clark, died by lethal injection in the same spot.

Acker was sentenced to death in the 2000 East Texas murder of his girlfriend, 
32-year-old Marquetta George. Her body was found on the side of the road 
several miles away from the trailer they shared in Hopkins County after their 
neighbors said they saw Acker grab her, toss her over his shoulder and shove 
her into his truck, according to court records. Acker had maintained that he 
was taking her to confront a man she had slept with and she jumped from his 
moving vehicle.

With all appeals exhausted, Acker was injected with a lethal dose of 
pentobarbital shortly after 6 p.m. and pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m., according 
to the prison department. He gave no final statement.

George's brother attended the execution, according to a prison witness list. 
Acker had no friends or family present at the time of his death.

Both Acker and the state agreed that he kidnapped his girlfriend during a fight 
on March 12, 2000. The 2 had argued at a club the night before, and he spent 
the night searching for her around town, he testified at trial. Shortly after a 
man brought her home the next morning, she ran to her neighbor's home asking 
for help, and Acker took her away in his truck.

But there are multiple theories as to what happened between George’s abduction 
and her severely wounded body being found on the side of the road. At Acker’s 
trial in 2001, the state told the jury that George died by strangulation, blunt 
force injuries or both, court records show. The state's main theory was that 
Acker strangled George to or near death, pulled her out of his truck and then 
ran her over.

But during an appellate hearing, the state’s own expert said George's injuries 
weren't consistent with strangulation, and the theory arose that Acker pushed 
her from the truck and then ran over her. The federal judge who took over the 
case after the hearing wrote in a later opinion that the evidence pointed to 
her having been "unconscious or incapacitated" when pulled from the truck and 
then run over by Acker.

Acker's attorney argued that the change of theory necessitated a new look at 
his case. He said in a filing last year that his conviction and death sentence 
were upheld "based on false evidence, a now-discredited theory, and a new 
theory never presented to his jury."

"There are now serious doubts as to whether this case was a homicide at all," 
wrote Acker's attorney, Richard Ellis, in a recent filing to the Texas Court of 
Criminal Appeals. "Mr. Acker was tried and convicted on the theory that he had 
abducted the victim Marquetta George and then strangled her while driving, a 
theory that the State has now disavowed in federal court."

But despite the shifting primary theory, federal and state courts upheld 
Acker's murder conviction, saying the indictment and jury charge allowed the 
jury to decide George was killed by blunt force injuries alone, even if much of 
the evidence presented - including autopsy testimony - focused on 
strangulation.

"The district court found that the jury could have convicted Acker based on a 
theory of strangulation, a theory of blunt-force injury, or a combination of 
the 2," wrote the federal appellate court in its opinion upholding the lower 
court's ruling. "... Although the prosecution referred to strangulation in 
closing argument, the same argument could easily apply to running over George, 
regardless of whether she had been strangled."

Acker turned himself in after George's death - he flagged down a patrol car as 
it passed by his mother's house, according to court documents. His attorney 
wrote that he has admitted to her kidnapping and has expressed remorse for that 
but that George's death was "a tragic accident, and never a homicide."

The state, represented by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his office, 
said in its last briefing filed Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court that Acker 
has already failed to persuade the courts - and the jury - of this claim.

"Acker produces no new evidence showing he did not commit the crime but 
continues to assert that George’s death resulted from her leap from the vehicle 
- a theory rejected by the jury at the time of trial," wrote Assistant Attorney 
General Ellen Stewart-Klein.

(source: Texas Tribune)

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

Texas man put to death in state's 2nd execution in 2 nights



The whole thing started with a fight at the Bustin' Loose nightclub. It was a 
late night, with lots of booze - and whispers of another man involved.

When it was all said and done, Marquetta George ended up dead and bloodied on 
the side of the road. 18 years later, on Thursday night, her former boyfriend 
Daniel Acker was put to death for her murder.

He always maintained his innocence but gave no final statement. He took one 
deep breath and kept his eyes closed the entire time, according to Texas prison 
officials.

The 46-year-old was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m., 14 minutes after the lethal 
dose began.

(sources: Houston Chronicle)

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

Texas Death Row Inmate Troy Clark Executed, Last Words Revealed



A Texas man was put to death on Sept. 26 for the torture and killing of a woman 
in May 1998, according to reports.

The Associated Press reported that Troy Clark, a drug dealer, denied killing 
Christina Muse before his execution. He laughed as he talked to several friends 
who were watching the execution from a window, telling them that he loved them 
and "it's all good."

"I'm not the one who killed Christina," he also said. "But, hey, whatever makes 
you happy."

As a lethal dose of pentobarbital was administered, he kept laughing and said 
the drug "burned." He added: "I feel it" before officials pronounced him dead 
21 minutes later.

Margaret Bouman, the aunt of Muse, saw the execution and said: "I'm a Christian 
and the death penalty and accepting it was very, very difficult for me."

"But I also believe the law of the land is important," she said, adding that 
Clark's demeanor during the execution was disturbing.

According to the Texas Tribune, Clark had been accused by prosecutors of 2 
other murders and several other crimes. Prosecutors said that he beat and 
drowned Muse before putting her remains in a barrel filled with concrete.

During the trial's punishment phase, Clark stated: "I really ain't got no story 
to tell. It's just I want the death penalty," AP reported.

(source: The Epoch Times)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----37

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----555

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

38---------Oct. 10----------------Juan Segundo------------556

39---------Oct. 24----------------Kwame Rockwell----------557

40---------Nov. 7-----------------Emanuel Kemp, Jr.-------558

41---------Nov. 14----------------Robert Ramos------------559

42---------Dec. 4-----------------Joseph Garcia-----------560

43---------Dec. 11----------------Alvin Braziel-----------561

44---------Jan. 15----------------Blaine Milam------------562

45---------Jan. 30----------------Robert Jennings---------563

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








VIRGINIA:

Jury hears closing arguments in trial for slain officer



Defense lawyers for an Army staff sergeant accused of killing his wife and a 
police officer on her 1st shift pleaded with a jury to convict their client on 
a charge other than capital murder.

A jury heard closing arguments Tuesday in the death penalty trial of Ronald 
Hamilton, 34, of Woodbridge, who is charged with capital murder and other 
counts in the February 2016 fatal shootings of Crystal Hamilton and Officer 
Ashley Guindon.

He is also charged with attempted capital murder of two police officers who 
survived the shooting, Jesse Hempen and David McKeown.

During 2 weeks of testimony, jurors heard evidence that Crystal Hamilton called 
911 after her husband struck her and slammed her to the floor. Jurors heard the 
911 call which ended with Crystal Hamilton pleading, "Stop!" Prosecutors say 
Ronald Hamilton shot his wife four times with a Glock handgun.

Several officers responded to the 911 call. The officers tried to enter the 
house to check on Crystal Hamilton's welfare, but Ronald Hamilton refused to 
let them in. One of the officers then kicked open the front door, only to find 
Hamilton crouched with an AK-47 rifle opening fire. All 3 officers who 
initially responded to the home were struck, including Guindon, who had just 
been sworn in as an officer. Hempen and McKeown, who testified at the trial, 
survived but suffered serious injuries.

Gene Hart, one of Hamilton's public defenders, acknowledged to the jury during 
Tuesday's closing arguments that Hamilton is guilty of the slayings. But he 
argued that the killings lacked the premeditation necessary for a 
capital-murder conviction and possible death penalty. Instead, he urged the 
jury to convict on lesser charges of either second-degree murder or voluntary 
manslaughter, saying Hamilton was acting in the heat of passion.

"The government has to prove to you - what was Ronald Hamilton's intent? What 
were his thoughts? It is getting inside the mind of the defendant," Hart said.

Prosecutor Richard Conway said the most obvious evidence of premeditation is 
the fact that Hamilton selected a Glock handgun to shoot his wife, and then 
upgraded to a more powerful AK-47 rifle in preparation for the anticipated 
police response.

"A .45 Glock, that's just not going to do it when the police arrive," Conway 
said.

While prosecutors presented an overwhelming amount of evidence, they were 
hamstrung by a ruling that barred them from presenting expert testimony like 
DNA and ballistics evidence or the conclusions of the medical examiner's 
report.

The judge barred the testimony after prosecutors missed a deadline requiring 
advance notice to the defense of such experts.

Hart sought to capitalize on that during closing arguments, noting the lack of 
DNA and fingerprint evidence and suggesting that prosecutors should have been 
more thorough in a potential death-penalty case.

"The failure to provide readily available evidence is just startling," Hart 
said.

Conway told jurors their obligation was to decide the case on the evidence that 
was in front of them as opposed to "speculating on what else might be out 
there."

If convicted of capital murder, prosecutors will seek the death penalty during 
the trial's sentencing phase. A sentencing phase would likely involve several 
weeks of testimony, and jurors would choose one of two options: execution or 
life in prison.

(source: Associated Press)








FLORIDA:

Parkland Shooter Due in Court Facing Death Penalty



The young man accused of going on a deadly shooting rampage in Parkland, 
Florida will be back in court Wednesday.

19-year-old Nikolas Cruz is facing the death penalty, charged with killing 17 
people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February.

Officials say a number of issues could come up at Wednesday's status hearing 
including the release of evidence and witness interviews.

Defense lawyers say Cruz is willing to plead guilty to the murders if he could 
dodge the death penalty in exchange for life in prison.

But prosecutors are rejecting the plea.

(source: 9and10news.com)








ALABAMA----new death sentence

Ala. jury recommends death for Dearman----Leakesville native found guilty of 
mass killing near Citronelle



Editor's Note: The following was produced with permission from reports by 
reporter Mark R. Kent of the Call-News newspaper in Citronelle. Readers are 
advised that it contains disturbing details from testimony.

A Mobile County jury has recommended a Greene County man be sentenced to death 
for one of Alabama's most gruesome mass murders.

It took a Mobile County jury 65 minutes to find Leakesville resident Derrick 
Dearman guilty of capital murder last Thursday and recommended he be sentenced 
to die by lethal injection.

The sentence came after a week of testimony in Mobile County Circuit Judge Rick 
Stout's courtroom. Stout will formally sentence Dearman on Oct. 12.

Dearman, now 30, acted as his own attorney during the four days of testimony 
and deliberation. Earlier this month, Dearman entered pleas of guilty to 10 
counts of capital murder. Despite his admittance of guilt in the killing of 5 
people who had once considered him to have been a friend, Alabama law required 
the case to go to trial and be presented in full detail because of the death 
penalty consideration. He showed little emotion when the jury's decision was 
read aloud.

"Death penalty cases are always difficult, but we believe the jury's verdict 
was the appropriate verdict," Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich said. 
"What the defendant did was barbaric, it was unconscionable, and what made it 
more unconscionable is that he knew exactly what he was doing. He wanted to do 
it."

"And then he came in here and during the entire trial, he never showed any 
emotion."

The actions Dearman is likely to pay for with his life occurred over 2 years 
ago in the pre-dawn hours of Aug. 20, 2016. That is when Dearman admits forcing 
his way into a home west of Citronelle on Jim Platt Road. After making his way 
inside, Dearman went on an unspeakably savage rampage. By the time he left the 
house, there were 5 people dead after Dearman attacked them repeatedly with an 
ax before using a handgun and shotgun, belonging to the victims, to shoot them 
in an effort to confirm their deaths.

Victims in the case included Robert Lee Brown, Joseph Adam Turner, Shannon 
Melissa Randall, Justin Kaleb Reed and Chelsea Marie Reed, who was pregnant at 
the time.

The only adult to survive the deadly event was Dearman's off-again, on-again 
girlfriend, Laneta Lester, who was staying at the home as Turner was Lester's 
brother. Turner and Randall's 3-month-old son was also in the house as the 
killings unfolded but was spared from the attacks.

During testimony, Lester told of grabbing the child during Dearman's rampage in 
an effort to protect the infant from the attacks. Dearman reportedly spared the 
lives of Lester and the infant but forced them to leave the scene with him in a 
vehicle belonging to one of the victims.

Lester testified that Dearman drove them around southeast Mississippi for hours 
before arriving at the home of Dearman's father in Leakesville. Lester said 
while the father was making an effort to convince Dearman to turn himself in, 
she was able to drive away from the house and make her way back to Citronelle 
to report the crime. Dearman turned himself in to authorities at the Greene 
County Sheriff's Office.

Dr. Staci Turner of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, who performed 
autopsies on 3 of the victims and certified the autopsies of the other 2, 
testified that all 5 of the victims were struck repeatedly, mostly in the head 
and face, with the ax Dearman confirmed he found outside the house before he 
burst inside.

Despite the fact all were badly wounded and in great pain, Turner testified, 
the victims continued to resist Dearman's attacks including Justin Reed who 
tried to defend himself with a handgun. Dearman was able to wrestle the 
.45-caliber pistol away from Justin Reed and used it to fatally shoot him and 3 
of the other victims.

According to testimony presented at trial, after Dearman fired all of the 
rounds in the handgun he picked up a 12-gauge shotgun he found in the home and 
used it to shoot Randall.

A particularly striking sight occurred on the trial's 1st day when a Mobile 
County Sheriff's Office video of the crime scene showed the victims dead in the 
home where they fell.

Brown, 26, lay dead by the front door, while the Reeds, both 23, lay in the 2nd 
bedroom. In the master bedroom, Turner, 27, and Randall, 36, lay dead.

As the soundless, 11-minute film clip played, every eye in the court appeared 
to follow the slow walk the MCSO videographer took though the house - every set 
of eyes, that is, except Derrick Dearman, who looked away, head down, from a 
computer screen just to his left on the defendant's table.

Throughout the trial, Dearman acted as his own attorney and freely admitted the 
murders were portrayed in the trial exactly as he committed them.

"Everything the district attorney has said is true," Dearman said.

Lester testified that on the Wednesday before the killings, Dearman and Joseph 
Turner got together at Jim Platt Road to chop up an old trailer so that Dearman 
could sell it for scrap. That night, she said, Dearman spent the night with 
Lester at the home. The next day, Randall, who owned the home along with 
Turner, told Dearman he couldn’t stay, so Lester had Turner take her back to a 
home in Lucedale where they were staying at the time.

That night, she testified, Dearman beat her again, and she called her brother 
and asked him to take her back to the home on Jim Platt Road. That Friday 
night, Dearman made multiple appearances at the home but was continually asked 
to leave, she said.

Detective Nick King, then with the Citronelle Police Department, testified that 
he was dispatched to the home about 12:40 a.m. Aug. 20 for a trespassing 
complaint regarding Dearman.

Lester testified she felt a tap on her shoulder later that morning as Dearman 
reached in through a living room window to awaken her. She stated that Dearman 
begged for a cigarette and something to drink, when she told him no and that he 
needed to leave, she said Dearman became angry. Lester said she refused to go 
outside and went back to sleep, but was awakened again, this time by the sounds 
of gunfire.

During his defense presentation in the penalty phase, Dearman put both his 
parents, Sonja and Gary Dearman, on the stand.

"I take full responsibility for how he was raised," Gary Dearman said during 
his testimony.

Several other family members and friends spoke, mostly about the defendant's 
years growing up, and occasionally making reference to his getting involved 
with drugs.

Dearman himself also testified.

"The state presented evidence and there is nothing I can do to make it right," 
he said during a brief statement. "It doesn't mean I don't try. I put my 
mitigation on behalf of my family."

(source: greenecountyheraldonline.com)




ILLINOIS:

Rauner doubles down on call to reinstate death penalty



Illinois hasn't executed anyone since 1999, but Gov. Bruce Rauner is once again 
pushing to bring back the death penalty.

The governor told officers at a ceremony Tuesday for murdered Chicago Police 
Cmdr. Paul Bauer that people who kill cops should be put to death.

"That is what is right. That is what is just," Rauner said. "Our police 
officers put themselves at risk to protect us. And we must protect you."

The governor first talked about reinstating the death penalty back in the 
spring, but the idea failed to gain traction with lawmakers.

"I call again on the members of the General Assembly to join with me and 
reinstate the death penalty for anyone convicted beyond any doubt of killing a 
police officer," Rauner said.

Former Gov. George Ryan emptied Illinois' death row in 2000 after a series of 
wrongful convictions. Lawmakers abolished the death penalty in 2011.

(source: Illinois News Network)








OKLAHOMA:

Death row inmate weds undertaker 34 years his junior



An apprentice undertaker was due to marry a death row inmate 34 years her 
senior who has survived an appointment with an executioner and is awaiting 
another.

Leigha Jurasik, 21, has not had any physical contact with Richard Glossip as 
the couple have always been separated by bars and thick glass on jail visits.

However, after the ceremony in Oklahoma yesterday they were due to be allowed 
30 minutes together, overseen by prison guards.

Glossip was sentenced to death for arranging the murder in 1997 of Barry Van 
Treese, the owner of an Oklahoma City motel that Glossip was managing.

He maintains his innocence and was found guilty on the basis of the account of 
a maintenance man, who confessed to the killing but escaped.

(source: The Times)








CALIFORNIA:

Suspect in DTLA homeless attacks charged with 3 murders, 5 attempted murders



The suspect in a series of vicious attacks on homeless men in LA has been 
charged with 3 counts of murder and 5 counts of attempted murder, officials 
said Wednesday.

Ramon Alberto Escobar, 47, has been accused of a series of attacks on men, most 
of them homeless, while they were sleeping in downtown Los Angeles and Santa 
Monica. 3 of the men died.

Officials have said the motive for the attacks was robbery. He is also being 
charged with 4 counts of 2nd-degree robbery.

If convicted, Escobar is eligible for the death penalty. He also could face a 
possible maximum sentence of life in prison without parole. The District 
Attorney's Office said it will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.

Escobar has also been linked to the disappearance of his own aunt and uncle 
from the Houston area.

He appeared briefly in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday afternoon. Cameras 
were not allowed to show his face out of concerns it could influence the jury 
in his upcoming case. A plea was not entered and he is expected back in court 
for an arraignment on Nov. 8

Escobar was arrested Monday after another attack on a man sleeping on the beach 
in Santa Monica.

Police officials call him a "violent predator."

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Tuesday night that 
Escobar had been deported six times from the United States. He was first 
ordered removed from the United States by a federal immigration judge in 
February 1988.

He was then removed to El Salvador 6 times from 1997 to 2011. He also has 6 
felony convictions for burglary and illegal reentry.

According to an ICE statement: "After illegally reentering the U.S. following 
his most-recent removal Alberto-Escobar filed an appeal of his immigration case 
with the Board of Immigration Appeals in June 2016, which the courts granted in 
December 2016. ICE released him from custody on an Order of Supervision in 
January 2017 pursuant to the court's decision."

ICE has now filed a detainer against Escobar following Monday's arrest. A 
detainer indicates the agency would like to take a person into custody if he or 
she is released from the custody of another law enforcement agency.

ESCOBAR'S ALLEGED VICTIMS:

The court complaint filed by the Los Angeles County DA's office details the 
names of the alleged victims of Escobar's attacks:

Alleged murder victims: Branden Ridout, Kelvin Williams, Steven Cruze.

Alleged attempted murder victims: Tievon Harmon, Willliam Rivera, Khiry Elijah 
Clark, Juan Antonio Ramirez, Jorge Martinez.

The complaint says all of the attempted-murder victims were left comatose, with 
brain injury and paralysis, after the attacks.

Most of the victims have been identified as homeless. Cruze's family said the 
San Gabriel man was not homeless. He was a father of 2 who worked two jobs and 
sometimes slept under the Santa Monica pier after fishing. His family has 
started a GoFundMe page to help pay for funeral expenses.

Corwyn McKinney said he was best friends with Kelvin Williams. McKinney told 
Eyewitness News they grew up together in St. Louis and both were homeless 
together in Los Angeles.

He said he's still trying to process his friend's death and the anger he feels 
toward Escobar, wondering if he'll ever find it in his heart to forgive.

"For him to take the time to prey on these people who were in these secluded 
spots for their own safety - he's a monster," McKinney said. "He's a monster. 
He's a real boogeyman, he really is."

(source: KABC News)








USA:

U.S. District Judge Keeley: Death penalty jurors to fill out questionnaires at 
home



Potential jurors in a death penalty case involving 2 U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton 
prisoners set for spring 2020 will fill out jury questionnaires at home, Senior 
U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley ruled Tuesday.

During a status conference in the case of defendants Michael A. Owle, 29, of 
Cherokee, North Carolina, and Ruben Laurel, 39, of San Antonio, Texas, Keeley 
said because the federal courthouse in Clarksburg is too small to accommodate 
the 300 person jury pool needed for the trial, the questionnaires will be 
mailed to selected individuals in Harrison, Braxton, Calhoun, Doddridge, 
Gilmer, Pleasants, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Ritchie and Taylor counties.

The questionnaire process is expected to take around 15 days to complete, 
Keeley said.

Keeley has previous ruled jury selection will begin March 16, 2020, with time 
set aside between April 6-30, 2020 for the trial. The lawyers believe it could 
take up to 10 days to seat a jury, a week or more for the trial and then 
possibly twice that long for a separate trial - if necessary - on whether the 
death penalty should be imposed.

Although Keeley has presided over such prosecutions before, none has reached 
trial with the death penalty still on the table.

Owle and Laurel were indicted May 1 on charges of aiding and abetting 
1st-degree murder and of assault with a dangerous weapon.

They're accused in the alleged Aug. 29, 2012, stabbing death of fellow Hazelton 
inmate Anthony Morris Dallas, 31, as well as the stabbing of another inmate.

Dallas, who was 31 at the time of his death, was serving a total sentence of 55 
years imposed in 2004 by Senior U.S. District Judge James A. Parker.

Dallas' crimes: The 2nd-degree murder Feb. 21, 2003, of Alfred Jake on the 
Navajo Reservation in McKinley County, New Mexico, as well as using, carrying 
and possessing a firearm (a Remington .243) in connection with that crime.

Laurel has been serving a lengthy sentence (294 months) for being part of a 
cocaine distribution conspiracy in Tennessee involving more than 5 kilograms of 
cocaine. Laurel also has gotten in trouble behind bars for committing assault 
with serious injury, which added more time to his sentence; possessing weapons; 
using drugs or alcohol; and destroying property, according to court records.

Owle's crimes include robbery by force or violence and using, carrying and 
discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, May 26, 2008, on the Eastern 
Band of Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina. Owle also has gotten 
into trouble behind bars previously for assaulting a corrections officer and 
another inmate and is serving a lengthy sentence.

(source: wvnews.com)