[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MD., ALA., MISS., NEB., COLO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

September 30



MARYLAND:

Eastern Shore author to present true story of wrongful conviction in Frederick 
on Monday



After serving 8 years in a Maryland prison for a murder he didn't commit, 
Eastern Shore resident Kirk Bloodsworth was released and pardoned in 1993. New 
testing tools led Bloodsworth to become the 1st convicted death row inmate to 
be exonerated by DNA evidence.

The case set the stage for thousands of wrongfully convicted Americans to seek 
and achieve exonerations of their own.

The author of a book about Bloodsworth's case and the investigation leading to 
his release will appear at Frederick Community College on Monday.

Tim Junkin, author of "Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row 
Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence," will appear at 7 p.m. Oct. 1. Junkin's book 
is the 2018 Maryland Humanities Council's selection for the One Maryland One 
Book program.

Junkin, who lives in Talbot County, practiced law for 30 years. He has written 
2 other books set on the Eastern Shore. He started work on the book after 
reading a newspaper story about Bloodsworth's case.

"Kirk was convicted of a rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Baltimore 
County. It was a horrible crime," Junkin said. "The whole community was up in 
arms."

Junkin’s book follows Bloodsworth’s story, but also focuses on the 
investigators who built the case against him.

"I try to look at this whole story from the perspective of the investigators 
and how these very experienced people pointed to the wrong man. They became 
absolutely convinced that this innocent person was guilty of horrific crimes," 
Junkin said. "One of the things that happened in this story is the authorities 
relied on things that were not hard science, like psychological profiles and 
composite drawings, and intuition. When you get away from hard science and 
following the actual facts, and start relying on things that are squishy, you 
run into real trouble. In this case, it led to catastrophe."

Although his book was published in 2004, he said, it raises important questions 
about the U.S. criminal justice system.

"There have been 1,500 people from death row, and thousands of felons who 
weren't on death row, exonerated," Junkin said. "We have a major catastrophe in 
our criminal justice system right now."

Justice is the theme for the 2018 Maryland Humanities Council's One Maryland 
One Read program. Program director Andrea Lewis, of the Maryland Humanities 
Council, said the book was selected from hundreds of books releasing a call for 
public suggestions.

Although the book is older, "it feels very timely," Lewis said. "Justice is a 
part of our daily conversations these days."

Monday's event is a partnership between the council and Frederick County Public 
Libraries and Frederick Community College.

"We're just always pleased to be able to bring authors to Frederick because 
it's a community that is very connected to reading and supportive of the 
opportunity to hear an author," she said.

Since his release, Bloodsworth has become a prominent advocate of criminal 
justice reform. He was a program worker at The Justice Project and helped start 
the Kirk Bloodsworth Post-Conviction DNA Testing Program, which provides grant 
funding for post-conviction DNA evidence. He also lobbied to end Maryland's use 
of the death penalty.

"He's made an amazing, positive force out of his life," Junkin said. "But they 
would have killed him if they could have."

(source: fredericknewspost.com)








ALABAMA:

Alabama death row case among 1st facing US Supreme Court this term



It's the storm before the calm at the Supreme Court.

Americans watched Thursday's high court nomination hearing of Judge Brett 
Kavanaugh with rapt attention. The televised spectacle was filled with 
disturbing allegations of sexual assault and Kavanaugh's angry, emotional 
denial.

On Monday, the court will begin its new term with the crack of the marshal's 
gavel and not a camera in sight.

The term's start has been completely overshadowed by the tumult over 
Kavanaugh's nomination.

Republicans had hoped to have Kavanaugh confirmed in time for the court's 1st 
public meeting since late June, an addition that would cement conservative 
control of the court.

Instead, there are only 8 justices on the bench for the 2nd time in 3 terms, 
with a breakdown of 4 conservatives and 4 liberals. The court was down a member 
in October 2016, too, following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Justice 
Neil Gorsuch joined the court in April 2017, after all but about a dozen cases 
had been argued.

Vernon Madison, one of the state's longest serving inmates on death row, was 
scheduled to be executed on Thursday at 6 p.m. He was convicted in 1985 of 
killing Mobile police Cpl. Julius Schulte.

It's unclear how long the vacancy created by Justice Anthony Kennedy's 
retirement in July will last. Consideration of Kavanaugh's nomination by the 
Senate has been delayed while the FBI undertakes an investigation of Christine 
Blasey Ford's allegation that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.

An empty seat on the bench often forces a push for compromise and leads to a 
less exciting caseload, mainly to avoid 4-4 splits between conservatives and 
liberals.

The cases the court has agreed to hear so far this term look nothing like the 
stream of high-profile disputes over President Donald Trump's travel ban, 
partisan redistricting, union fees and a clash over religious objections to 
same-sex marriage that the court heard last term.

"It's a time of transition for the Supreme Court," Solicitor General Noel 
Francisco, the Trump administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, told a 
Federalist Society meeting in Washington recently.

Kennedy won't be on the bench for the 1st time in more than 30 years, meaning 
lawyers will not have to aim their arguments at attracting his swing vote. Now, 
Chief Justice John Roberts probably will be the justice closest to the center 
of the court, although he is far more conservative than Kennedy on most issues.

"All eyes ought to be on the chief justice," said Greg Garre, a solicitor 
general during George W. Bush's presidency. Roberts' votes in favor of 
President Barack Obama's signature domestic legislation, the Affordable Care 
Act, show "he's willing to buck other conservatives on hot-button, high-profile 
issues," Garre said.

In addition, even if Kavanaugh or another Trump nominee eventually joins the 
court, Roberts' concern about the public's perception of the court might make 
him unwilling to move the court too far, too fast in any direction, Garre said.

So far, the court has agreed to hear about 40 cases, and could add a few dozen 
more to decide by the end of the term in June.

The very 1st case involves the federal government's designation of Louisiana 
timberland as critical habitat for the endangered dusky gopher frog, though the 
frog is found only in Mississippi.

It has been nearly 33 years since Mobile Police Cpl. Julius Schulte died in the 
line of duty. With Vernon Madison facing an execution date for his murder on 
Thursday, a fellow officer said that Schulte's legacy lives on. 2 cases 
involving the death penalty will be argued in the 1st 2 months, including 1 on 
Tuesday in which lawyers for Alabama death row inmate Vernon Madison argue he 
shouldn't be executed because strokes and dementia have left him unable to 
remember the details of the killing of a police officer in 1985. In November, 
Missouri inmate Russell Bucklew says he shouldn't be subjected to execution by 
lethal injection because he has a rare medical condition that could cause him 
to choke on his own blood during an execution.

The court stopped both executions on the days they were supposed to take place, 
which often suggests the inmate will prevail in the end. But Kennedy was a vote 
for the inmates in both cases, and it's not clear there is a majority of 5 
justices for either Madison or Bucklew.

The court will also take on issues including the detention of immigrants, 
uranium mining in Virginia and the settlement of a class action lawsuit 
involving Google where the settlement largely directed money to organizations 
rather than search engine users.

Supreme Court terms often get off to a slow start, then roar to their finish.

Francisco, in his Federalist Society talk, suggested that could be the case 
over the next few months.

"The real key to the coming term is what's in the pipeline," he said.

Lawsuits over the Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from 
deportation, a new challenge to the health care law, anti-discrimination 
protections for LGBT people, the Trump policy on transgender service members 
and a new fight over partisan gerrymandering all are percolating in federal 
courts and could reach the justices this term.

Another wild card is special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation and 
the possibility that he could try to force Trump to testify to a grand jury or, 
perhaps less likely, indict him. The court has never directly addressed either 
issue regarding a president.

(source: al.com)








MISSISSIPPI:

2 Mississippi police officers killed in shootout



2 Mississippi police officers were killed in a shootout early Saturday morning.

The Brookhaven officers, who were responding to a report of shots fired, were 
identified as Patrolman James White, 35, and Cpl. Zach Moak, 31.

At a news conference Saturday, Police Chief Kenneth Collins described the two 
officers as fallen heroes, "doing what officers often do for one another."

"They responded to the call and another was under fire, and that's when the 
officer jumped in to help. They're both heroes," he said.

A suspect, Marquis Flowers, 25, who was wounded in the gunfire, is in custody 
and was transported to a Jackson hospital. He is the only suspect involved, 
although others have been questioned about the shooting, Mississippi Department 
of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said at the news conference.

Brookhaven police received the call from a neighborhood about a mile north of 
the Brookhaven high school at about 4:47 a.m. CDT. White responded to the 
residence first, with Moak quickly behind him, the chief said.

Details of the shooting remain sparse. However, the chief said both officers 
were wearing bulletproof vests and equipped with body cameras. Strain said the 
Mississippi Bureau of Investigations, which is investigating the shooting, will 
review any recording for additional details on what happened. Lincoln County 
Coroner Clay McMorris was not immediately available for comment.

By mid-morning, investigators had sealed off the 3 roads leading to the 
residence as residents looked on from their porches. Witnesses had different 
recollections of what occurred. Some said they hadn't heard any gunshots in the 
densely packed neighborhood. Another resident, who asked not to be identified, 
said he did hear the shots and immediately jumped to the floor for safety.

Collins described the events that unfolded as something that could happen to 
his officers anytime, anywhere.

"This was one of hundreds of calls we get on a day-to-day basis where this 
doesn't happen," he said

Moak graduated from Enterprise Attendance Center in Lincoln County and studied 
auto mechanics at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. He began his career with 
the Brookhaven Police Department in August 2015.

White had returned to work for the department in June 2015 after a stint with 
the Monticello Police Department, about 20 miles east of Brookhaven.

The shooting deaths come 16 months after former Brookhaven officer turned 
Lincoln County Deputy William Durr was killed in a shooting rampage that left 
seven others dead as well. Willie Cory Godbolt, who was arrested May 28, 2017, 
is awaiting trial. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The flag outside the city's police department was lowered to half-staff shortly 
after the shooting.

"This is devastating for our community, especially given what has already 
happened so recently," Brookhaven Mayor Joe Cox said.

"Our community is strong, and we'll pull together as a family. Our sympathies 
go out to the families and we want them to know we'll be with them to support 
them as they cope with this tragedy."

In a statement issued on Twitter, Gov. Phil Bryant asked for prayers "for the 
family and loved ones of these fallen heroes."

(source: KREM news)








NEBRASKA:

Nebraska Supreme Court rejects appeal by one of the 'Boys Don't Cry' killers



The Nebraska Supreme Court has once again rejected an appeal by death row 
inmate John Lotter, 1 of 2 men convicted in a triple homicide fictionalized in 
the movie "Boys Don't Cry."

The court ruled Friday that Lotter's most recent appeal was filed too late, 
missing a court-required deadline, and thus his appeal could not be considered.

Lotter, 47, and Marvin Nissen were sentenced to die for the 1993 slayings of 
Brandon Teena, Lisa Lambert and Phillip Devine at a rented farmhouse near 
Humboldt.

The case gained national attention because 21-year-old Teena was a transgender 
man, born Teena Brandon, who had dated a female friend of the 2 men. The case 
inspired the 1999 film that won actress Hilary Swank an Academy Award.

Lotter has filed a series of unsuccessful appeals of his sentence and 
conviction.

In his latest appeal, his attorney argued that state's death penalty law 
violates a defendant's constitutional rights to a jury trial and due process 
because it gives judges the final say when imposing death sentences. Juries, 
his attorney argued, should make that call, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court 
ruling.

Lotter's suit said his latest appeal should be considered despite missing the 
deadline because of a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The State Supreme Court, 
however, rejected that, stating that the ruling in Hurst v. Florida did not 
establish "a new rule of law," thus did not provide an exception to the 
deadline rule.

Last month, Nebraska had its first execution in 21 years. Carey Dean Moore was 
put to death Aug. 14 for the 1979 slayings of 2 Omaha cab drivers.

(source: starherald.com)








COLORADO:

What, in all its secrecy, is Colorado's justice system hiding?



Colorado's judicial branch has spent a year stonewalling The Independent's 
quest for court records, and I’m proud that we have stepped up our fight.

As Alex Burness reported Friday, our lawyers have petitioned the United States 
Supreme Court to strike down a state court ruling denying The Independent 
access to records in a death penalty case. That unprecedented decision shrouds 
Colorado courts in secrecy and makes us the only state without a presumptive 
First Amendment right for the press and public to scrutinize our justice 
system.

The ruling must be reversed "because it is so clearly and dangerously wrong," 
our lawyers wrote in a 112-page petition that gives this court-record geek more 
than a few goosebumps.

In the coming weeks, national news organizations and prominent legal scholars 
will be filing friend-of-the-court briefs in support of our records battle. 
They will argue that the Colorado Supreme Court ruling in June breached The 
Independent's - and, therefore, the public's - First Amendment right to gather 
information and have an informed review about the fairness of our state courts. 
They'll warn about the dangers of leaving judicial power unchecked. They'll 
spell out the chilling effect the ruling will have on journalists. And they'll 
say that, without the ability to review court decisions, voters cannot make 
informed choices about whether to retain or defrock judges.

They will argue the principle that is at stake here, the critical legal 
underpinnings guaranteed a free people in a free society. That is what this 
case is about. But I don't want to lose sight of how and why our fight for 
these records began, or of the untold number of Coloradans entwined one way or 
another in a justice system that sometimes loses sight of justice.

The story behind the case

Sir Mario Owens, 33, is 1 of 3 inmates on Colorado's death row. All 3 are black 
- which is notable, given that African Americans make up less than 4 % of the 
state's population. All were prosecuted by the 18th Judicial District 
Attorney's office now run by George Brauchler.

That office won convictions against Owens for a 2004 murder, and for the 2005 
murders of Javad Marshall Fields, the son of now state Sen. Rhonda Fields, and 
his, fiancee, Vivian Wolfe. Marshall Fields was shot to death days before he 
was scheduled to testify in Owens’ 2004 murder case. His killing landed Owens 
his death sentence.

I don't know Owens, nor do I know much about his guilt or innocence other than 
that, at his trial, there was no physical evidence or eyewitness testifying 
against him.

But I do know that the DA's office cut corners in his capital case. And having 
reported on that office under Brauchler’s watch and that of his predecessor, 
Carol Chambers, I also know the extraordinary lengths to which it will go to 
rack up a death sentence, even if it means sidestepping the rules.

In September 2017, 18th Judicial District Judge Christopher Munch found that 
prosecutors engaged in several actions constituting prosecutorial misconduct, 
including deliberately withholding evidence from Owens' defense team during his 
trial and appeal. A prosecutor admitted that under Brauchler's watch the office 
maintained a secret file on Owens's case that it didn't provide to the defense. 
That file contained information about thousands of dollars - and even a car - 
prosecutors gave to informant witnesses; a DA's office staffer threatening to 
charge a witness with murder if he didn't testify against Owens; and special 
plea deals and lesser sentences prosecutors offered key witnesses in exchange 
for testifying.

Withholding evidence that could sway a jury against a guilty verdict amounts to 
prosecutorial misconduct under the rules governing criminal law practice. It's 
a reason to disqualify a case for death penalty eligibility under Colorado law. 
Most judges presiding over capital cases expect extra care in evidence 
disclosure because the defendants' lives are on the line.

But not Judge Munch. His finding that prosecutors intentionally suppressed 
evidence didn't prompt him to overturn Owens' death sentence. Rather, he ruled 
that Owens received a fair trial because the suppressed evidence, in his 
estimation, likely would not have swayed the jury had it been presented. Munch 
seems to have concluded that jurors would have put the same stock in the star 
witnesses even if jurors had known about the money and gift cards those 
witnesses were receiving from prosecutors and the threats they faced if they 
didn't testify.

Munch's decision stunned legal experts who work on capital cases in Colorado 
and nationwide. Even those in heavy death-penalty states like Texas, Louisiana 
and Georgia told me they've never heard of a judge upholding a death sentence 
in a case in which prosecutors deliberately withheld evidence.

Stonewalled

The judge's ruling raised enough red flags that I asked for 4 court records - 
motion papers related to Owens' lawyers' request that Brauchler's office be 
disqualified from the case, the transcript of the secret hearing about that 
request, and Munch's order denying it.

But the district court wouldn't give me access. Those documents were sealed, 
administrators told me. Buzz off.

Attorneys Steve Zansberg and Gregory Szewczyk of the law firm Ballard Spahr 
have been working pro bono trying to unseal the records we sought. They've 
argued that the First Amendment guarantees the right to inspect the judicial 
documents, as virtually every higher court in the country has found. And 
they've cited case law requiring a balance test in which a judge must show a 
compelling government interest in sealing records that would outweigh that 
First Amendment guarantee.

Judge Munch denied our request without meeting that balance test or bothering 
to say why secrecy should trump our First Amendment access right.

Brauchler, in the meantime, fought hard to keep the documents from coming to 
light. In an email to Zansberg last year, his deputy Rich Orman compared 
categorizing the office's missteps as "prosecutorial misconduct" to making 
salacious and unproven allegations in a private divorce case. "The District 
Attorney believes that the court in this case has, and can continue to, limit 
access to portions of its file that may become the vehicle for an improper 
purpose, namely for the court file to improperly serve as a reservoir of 
libelous statements for press consumption," Orman wrote.

Brauchler was running for governor at the time and didn't want his office's 
shoddy record on a high-profile capital case scrutinized by the news media. So 
his office sought layers upon layers of secrecy about the misconduct records to 
the point of absurdity. It filed a response to The Independent's records 
request that it asked Judge Munch to kept secret even from our attorneys. Our 
lawyers then were expected to respond to whatever argument Brauchler's office 
was making without being able to see what those arguments were.

The premise underlying Brauchler's approach was that the records in Owens' case 
and in the records battle itself belonged to him rather than to the public, 
which underwrites his office.

Even stranger than Brauchler's requests was that Judge Munch granted them, 
allowing this blindfolded, pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey legal process to continue 
without offering a legal basis for keeping the records sealed.

The Independent filed an emergency petition with the Colorado Supreme Court 
asking that Judge Munch be made to explain his decisions. As it happens, that 
court, a year earlier, appointed Munch to Owens' case after taking the unusual 
step of booting District Judge Gerald Rafferty off it. At that point, Rafferty 
had presided over the case for more than 7 years and was just about to rule on 
Owens' appeal.

In June, the state Supreme Court unanimously upheld Munch's decision to keep 
the records sealed. In an unprecedented opinion contradicting decades of case 
law, Justice Melissa Hart wrote that the First Amendment right of “unfettered” 
public access has no application to judicial records, ever, under any 
circumstances.

But The Independent didn’t ask for “unfettered” access to court records. We 
asked for four in one specific case. Hart and her colleagues refused to grant a 
rehearing when our lawyers pointed out the error.

"If permitted to stand," our lawyers wrote in Friday's petition, "Colorado 
Supreme Court's rejection of any such First Amendment right will impede the 
functioning of the justice system, restrict the public's ability to monitor the 
courts, and undermine public confidence in the judiciary."

Holding back

It's a longshot that the U.S. Supreme Court, itself currently the focus of an 
historic level of scrutiny, will hear our case. The documents we sought in 
Owens' death penalty case may remain shrouded in secrecy indefinitely. In a new 
twist in the case, the state has now sealed the entire court file - boxes and 
boxes of records - as if People vs. Sir Mario Owens never happened.

Yet Owens is still on death row in the maximum-security Colorado State 
Penitentiary. If he’s executed, it will be without public scrutiny about 
whether his trial and appeal were handled fairly. It will be in our names.

Brauchler, in the meantime, ended his gubernatorial bid last year to run 
instead for attorney general, the state’s top law enforcement officer. On the 
campaign trail, the Republican who rose to political prominence as Colorado's 
most ardent death penalty proponent has promised "accountability and 
transparency."

"I don't hold anything back," he told me during a 2016 interview. "If people 
want information from me, I'm all into giving it to them."

If Brauchler becomes attorney general, and if the petition we filed Friday is 
granted, his office would be representing Colorado before the U.S. Supreme 
Court. In essence, he would be arguing to keep records related to misconduct in 
his former office secret. The conflict of interest is stark.

Brauchler's Democratic attorney general opponent Phil Weiser has stayed mum on 
the records fight and says he's reviewing The Independent's U.S. Supreme Court 
petition.

"I'm concerned about public access to the court system and ensuring that our 
system is as transparent as possible," he told me Friday.

The state Supreme Court ruling echoes far beyond the Owens case and could keep 
records in any court case, either criminal or civil, under seal at judges' 
whims. Denver Post reporter David Migoya has reported that Colorado's judiciary 
already has sealed records in thousands of court cases without explanation. 
Migoya's investigation has revealed that more than 6,700 cases on file in 
Colorado courts don't appear in court records available to the public. He wrote 
that "...someone could be arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced for a 
crime in Colorado without anyone outside of law enforcement ever knowing who, 
how, why or whether the process was fair."

In a column Friday in which he called Justice's Hart's opinion "sloppy and 
dismissive," Denver Post Columnist Vincent Carroll wrote that "Colorado is now 
a regressive outlier in terms of access to judicial documents, which is why The 
Independent's latest move is so important."

We owe thanks to Zansberg and his colleagues at Ballard Spahr for the year of 
tireless work they've put into this case free of cost to our nonprofit 
newsroom. We're also grateful that The Denver Post, The Colorado Sun, and a few 
dozen individual reporters, lawyers, civic leaders and watchdogs have heeded 
our ask for help defraying some of the more than $12,000 in administrative 
costs of filing Friday's U.S. Supreme Court petition. This records fight 
affects us all, including the readers for whom we spend our time digging for 
court records in the first place. It is that dig, most fundamentally, that is 
the job of journalism.

More than a year into this records fight, the reasons the state judiciary has 
dug in its heels on secrecy are as unclear to me as what exactly Brauchler has 
fought so hard to keep from coming to light. Darkness breeds mistrust, even if 
there's nothing in that darkness to doubt. As our lawyers quoted former Chief 
Justice Warren Burger in our petition Friday, "People in an open society do not 
demand infallibility from their institutions, but it is difficult for them to 
accept what they are prohibited from observing."

(source: Susan Greene, Colorado Independent)








USA:

Prosecutor: Attorney general dropped death penalty



Federal prosecutors informed the court in 2015 they would seek the death 
penalty against Donald Fell, for a 2nd time, but Christina Nolan, the U.S. 
attorney for Vermont, said she had been directed in late August to take the 
death penalty off the table.

Nolan spoke outside the Rutland federal courthouse after Fell, 38, was 
sentenced to life in prison for causing the death of Terry King.

"The attorney general of the United States directed this outcome and authorized 
this outcome. We are supporting the attorney general's authorization and 
direction, of course," Nolan said.

Asked about why the decision was made, Nolan said federal prosecutors do not 
discuss their deliberative process. However, she said her office had been 
directed to remove its intent to seek the death penalty.

Nicole Navas Oxman, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Department of 
Justice, said by email on Friday afternoon that the DOJ couldn’t comment.

She included a link to the federal "Justice Manual."

"The decision-making process preliminary to the attorney general's final 
decision is confidential. Information concerning the deliberative process may 
only be disclosed within the department and its investigative agencies as 
necessary to assist the review and decision-making process," the manual said.

Nolan said the prosecutors in the Vermont office of the U.S. attorney had 
"thought singularly about fighting for justice for Terry King and her family 
and about the suffering of Terry King and her family for 18 years."

Nolan said she respected the opinion of Barbara Tuttle, King's sister, who 
called the case a "total embarrassment to the federal justice system" but said 
justice was "not a math problem."

"In terms of whether justice was done today, I defer to those who loved Terry 
King, those who desperately want her back. I defer to the views of the people 
of Vermont, the people of the country," she said.

Nolan said the "positive takeaways" from Friday's hearing were that Fell had 
been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, taking a 
"dangerous man" away from the general public and that the case had been brought 
to a conclusion.

Nolan referenced Fell's mother, Debra Fell, and Charles Conway, her friend, who 
Fell and his friend, Robert Lee, allegedly killed. Fell has never been charged 
in connection with their deaths and Lee committed suicide while in prison 
awaiting trial for King's death.

Nolan mentioned an inmate who Fell had attacked and hurt while in prison in 
2012.

But Nolan primarily discussed King's family and what they went through from the 
time that Fell was tried, sentenced to death, had his conviction overturned and 
awaited a 2nd trial.

"This is an incredibly solemn day. This is not a good ending. There was never 
going to be a good ending to this case because Terry King died in a brutal way, 
a terrifying way, a senseless way. Her family is suffering unspeakable grief 
and they have for 18 years and they will continue to suffer unspeakable grief," 
Nolan said.

A plea agreement in the Fell case has been discussed several times over the 
years but was never reached because prosecutors were seeking a death penalty. 
Nolan was asked what she would say to the family about the death penalty 
delaying the case but later being withdrawn.

"All I can tell you is that my office fought for justice for the King family 
for those entire 18 years and thought singularly about what she suffered, what 
her family suffered and we tried to enforce the law of the United States and 
achieve justice as best we could," she said.

Attorney Michael N. Burt, a member of the team representing Fell, said after 
the hearing that Fell's attorneys would not make a statement.

Nolan talked about the legacy of the Fell case.

"I hope that Vermonters see, when you brutalize someone so senselessly - this 
is a perfect stranger to (Fell and Lee) with a family who loved her, who was on 
her way to work - when you commit an act of that kind of cruelty and depravity, 
you will suffer - well, I'm not going to say the ultimate sentence because that 
would be the death penalty, but life in prison is the next most serious. He 
will never walk a free man again. I hope Vermonters will take some comfort in 
that," she said.

(source: Rutland Herald)