[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., GA., ALA., LA., MO., NEB., S.DAK., COLO., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

April 16



NORTH CAROLINA:

After being spared death sentence for killing neighbors, Wake Forest man pops 
off in court



A Wake Forest man who avoided a death sentence for the murders of 3 of his 
neighbors 3 years ago insisted Monday that he was framed, blasted prosecutors 
and his defense attorneys and threatened jurors before being led off to prison.

Jon Frederick Sander was convicted a week ago of gunning down Sandy Mazzella, 
47, his wife, Stephanie Ann Mazzella, 43, and his mother, Elaine Mazzella, 76, 
in their home on March 25, 2016.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty against Sander for the brutal murders – 
all 3 victims were shot several times at close range with a pump-action 
shotgun. But jurors deliberated for almost 5 hours over 2 days before 
recommending the life sentence.

Before Superior Court Judge Graham Shirley imposed the sentence, Sander went on 
a 27-minute rant, railing against the Mazzellas and the justice system and 
implicating Sal Mazzella, Sandy Mazzella's father and Elaine Mazzella's 
husband, in the killings.

"Everything's a lie and a scam," Sander said. "This whole thing was fabricated. 
Sal killed his family for the insurance money."

Sal Mazzella choked back tears earlier in the hearing as he forgave Sander for 
killing his wife and the parents of his grandchildren.

"Though we will forever live with the loss of my precious family members, I do 
not hate you," Sal Mazella told Sander. "You heard what I said? I do not hate 
you."

"Wait till I'm done with my speech," Sander replied, sarcastically applauding 
after Sal Mazzella finished, despite his hands being shackled.

Shirley cut Sander off when the convicted killer started telling jurors he 
would be set free on appeal and wouldn't forget their faces. The judge then lit 
into him as he handed down the sentence.

"You love the spotlight," Shirley said, noting that Sander repeatedly spoke 
directly to a camera in the courtroom. "You've delighted in your celebrity. Let 
me tell you something, as horrific as this crime was, when the light goes out 
in this courtroom today ... the memory of you in the eyes of the public is 
going to fade, and it's going to fade quickly.

"Come Monday, they're going to be watching something else," the judge 
continued. "They won't care about you. They won't care about this trial. They 
look for entertainment. You'll no longer matter in their eyes. You won't even 
be a footnote."

Sander admitted to investigators that he shot the Mazzellas, but he maintained 
that he had been overcome with rage and had "snapped."

He lived next door to Sandy and Stephanie Mazzella, and he and Sandy Mazzella 
worked together in a landscaping business. But difficulties in dissolving the 
struggling business and an allegation that Sander touched a member of the 
Mazzella family inappropriately sparked a feud that escalated quickly in early 
2016.

The Mazzellas took out restraining orders against Sander in February 2016, when 
Sander was charged with threatening the family. The orders expired the day 
before the shootings, when a judge said there was no reason to extend them.

In the videotaped interview, which took place several hours after the 
shootings, Sander told a Wake County Sheriff's Office investigator that he 
feared losing his family because of the molestation allegation, so he wanted to 
"get even" and grabbed a loaded shotgun in the garage and headed next door.

During his rambling statement Monday, Sander said he had no problems with the 
Mazzellas before the restraining orders, saying he was a "caring friend" to 
Sandy Mazzella who tried to help the business grow in every possible way.

But the restraining orders, an attempt by Sandy Mazzella to charge him with 
auto theft and the molestation accusation sent Sander over the edge, he said in 
court.

"I was going to go to jail for something I didn't do? No," he said. "I was 
built up with anger. I was built up with paranoia. I was built up with 
anxiety."

During the sentencing hearing last week, the defense presented testimony that 
Sander suffered from mental health problems, including being bipolar, that went 
untreated and likely contributed to his actions.

Sander said he blasted his way into the Mazzella home and fired shots near both 
women and 2 shot into Sandy Mazzella's abdomen before leaving. But he said all 
3 were already dead, noting that he was too drunk to notice then and remember 
later when he spoke to investigators that the victims were already on the floor 
when he went inside.

The Mazzellas' son, Nicholas, wasn't at home during the shootings. On Monday, 
he pointed out that Sander destroyed two families that day 3 years ago.

"Was what you did really worth the consequences?" Nicholas Mazzella asked. 
"Now, your kids don't even get to see you anymore."

(source: WRAL news)








GEORGIA:

Death-penalty trial begins for Gwinnett woman representing herself



Jury selection is underway in a death-penalty trial against a Gwinnett County 
woman who is acting as her own lawyer.

Tiffany Moss, 35, is accused of starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter, Emani, 
to death in 2013. Her trial is expected to take about 3 weeks.

Moss sat alone Monday at the defense table, occasionally taking notes with pens 
and a legal pad brought to the courtroom for her by District Attorney Danny 
Porter. She also thumbed through questionnaires filled out last week by 
potential jurors.

Superior Court Judge George Hutchinson is bringing jurors into the courtroom 
one by one for individual questioning.

They are being asked for their views on capital punishment and whether they 
could consider all three sentencing options if Moss is convicted of murder: the 
death penalty, life in prison without the possibility or parole and life with 
the possibility of parole.

When it’s his turn to ask questions, Porter is telling jurors know that Moss 
has a constitutional right to represent herself and that she’s exercised that 
right. He is also asking them what they think about that.

“It’s pretty brave,” said one potential juror.

The man, a former U.S. Navy nuclear engineer who now works for Kroger, said he 
wouldn’t hold that against Moss.

As for the death penalty, he said, “If the circumstances equate to it, it 
should be a just form of punishment.”

After Porter finished his questioning, Moss rose and posed the first and only 
question she asked a juror during the morning session. She reminded the man he 
said he wife had talked to him about the case long before he’d received his 
jury summons.

If your wife thought I was guilty, Moss asked, would that affect your ability 
to be fair and impartial?

No, the man answered, adding, “My wife is over-opinionated.”

Another potential juror, however, said she wasn’t sure how Moss’s decision to 
represent herself would affect her thinking.

“Well, if you’re defending yourself you’ve got a certain confidence,” said the 
woman, a massage therapist. “… I would think if you’re confident enough to do 
that now, why could you not have stopped the death of someone before.”

Moss, who has said she’s putting her fate in God’s hands, has refused 
representation from 2 lawyers from the state’s capital defender office. Those 
attorneys, Brad Gardner and Emily Gilbert, are sitting behind Moss in the 
courtroom gallery as “standby counsel” and are there to assist Moss if she asks 
for help. But the defenders have said Moss stopped talking to them months ago.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








ALABAMA:

Court: Alabama can‘t keep its lethal injection method secret



A federal appeals court sided with news media organizations Monday in ruling 
that Alabama can’t keep its lethal injection protocol secret from the public.

A 3-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta rejected 
Alabama’s argument that its execution method is not a court record and thus 
should remain secret.

“Judicial records provide grounds upon which a court relies in deciding cases, 
and thus the public has a valid interest in accessing these records to ensure 
the continued integrity and transparency of our governmental and judicial 
offices,” the court stated in its ruling.

At issue is what the court described as the botched execution of Doyle Hamm on 
Feb. 22, 2018. The court said that after several failed attempts to insert a 
needle into his veins, the execution was called off as midnight approached. The 
Associated Press and other news outlets then sought the state’s execution 
protocol and related records.

“Alabama is the most secretive state in the country with respect to its 
protocol,” said Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty 
Information Center.

“The intense secrecy has obvious problems,” he said. “The Doyle Hamm case is 
one classic example of that because the difficulties in finding a vein all 
happen out of the view of the public.”

Representatives of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office did not immediately 
respond to requests for comment on Monday’s decision, so it wasn’t known 
whether they would appeal.

Alabama could ask the appeals court for reconsideration of the case, or appeal 
to the United States Supreme Court, Dunham said. The state also could ask for a 
stay of Monday’s ruling as appeals play out, he said.

Monday’s decision upheld a federal judge’s ruling last year that the public has 
“a common law right of access” to the records. In that May 2018 ruling, U.S. 
Judge Karon Bowdre decided that some information can remain secret in the 
interest of security, such as the names of low-level prison employees involved 
in executions.

Last year’s ruling found that the execution protocol and related records 
“clearly concern a matter of great public concern, i.e., how Alabama carries 
out its executions,” the appeals court wrote in Monday’s ruling.

(source: Associated Press)








LOUISIANA:

John Bel Edwards may be willing to keep source of Louisiana’s death penalty 
drugs a secret



Gov. John Bel Edwards said he might be willing to sign legislation that would 
keep the source of Louisiana’s lethal injection drugs a secret and out of the 
public record -- a move that could make executions easier to carry out in the 
state.

"I would suspect that if it comes to my desk I won’t have a problem with it, 
but I always reserve the right to look at it because [bills] typically get 
amended, they get changed and that sort of thing. But we will take a look at it 
when it gets there, if it gets there,” Edwards said in an interview Saturday 
(April 13), referring to House Bill 258.

Louisiana has 72 death row inmates, but hasn’t executed anyone since 2010. A 
federal judge has ordered that all executions in Louisiana be delayed until 
July 2019 because the state hasn’t been able to obtain lethal injection 
ingredients.

Edwards, a Democrat, has also refused to say how he personally feels about the 
death penalty. As a legislator in 2014, he voted against a previous piece of 
legislation to keep the source of death penalty drugs secret.

Louisiana executions won’t resume anytime soon, but it’s not clear anyone will 
do something about it

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the state can't get the drugs to execute people, and 
no lawmaker has come forward with legislation to make those types of purchases 
easier yet.

Edwards was 1 of just 7 lawmakers -- and 2 House members -- to vote against 
that bill 5 years ago. It was supported overwhelmingly, but didn’t end up 
getting enacted because its sponsor, former state representative and current 
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto, pulled the bill over an unrelated dispute 
with then-Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Edwards’ reticence over the death penalty has led Republican Attorney General 
Jeff Landry and other conservatives to speculate that the governor is dragging 
his feet over executions, possibly because the governor might have moral 
objections to capital punishment.

The Department of Public Safety and Corrections, which Edwards oversees, have 
pushed back on that notion and says the governor’s personal views on the death 
penalty have nothing to do with the delay in executions. The problems carrying 
out the death penalty extend back to when Jindal was in office, officials say.

The agency is struggling to obtain lethal injection drugs for executions, in 
part, because Louisiana’s public records laws allow for the disclosure of the 
manufacturer and pharmacists that supply the substance, Corrections Secretary 
Jimmy LeBlanc has said in previous interviews.

Sources for the lethal injection drugs are unwilling to do business with the 
prison system over fear of the blowback from being involved in executions. Some 
drug manufacturers also refuse to sell products to the state if they are going 
to be used for executions, according to the prison system, according to the 
prison system.

The new death penalty drug bill, sponsored by Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, 
R-Hammond, would exclude from the public record the identity and any 
identifying information of people, pharmacies, manufacturers and others who are 
responsible for getting Louisiana lethal injection drugs or “medical equipment” 
used to carry out an executions. Courts, boards, tribunals, commissions and 
agencies as well as individuals wouldn’t have access to this information, under 
this legislation.

Louisiana AG Jeff Landry pushes new execution options: gas, electrocution, 
firing squad, hanging

Landry said he will back legislation to make the death penalty easier to carry 
out.

It resembles draft state legislation that Landry started pushing last summer, 
when the attorney general said that a public records exemption might help get 
executions moving again. Several states, including Texas, has passed laws in 
recent years to keep the source of their execution drugs a secret. The Arkansas 
legislature just approved an updated version of their death penalty drug 
secrecy law earlier this month.

The stall in Louisiana’s executions upsets the families of victims of people 
sitting on death row. Many families have already been waiting decades to see 
the offender who killed their family member put to death, since appeals in 
death penalty cases can already take several years. A delay because death 
penalty drugs can’t be obtained is frustrating for some, according to recent 
testimony from families at a hearing on the death penalty.

While some lawmakers are seeking to resume executions, other are hoping to 
abolishment the death penalty. 2 legislators -- State Rep. Terry Landry, D-New 
Iberia, and state Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge -- have introduced bills to 
end the death penalty for people facing criminal charges moving forward. The 72 
people on death row would still be subject to executions, but people who face 
criminal charges in the future couldn’t join them on death row.

(source: nola.com)








MISSOURI:

St. Charles man will face death penalty in family murder trial



A man accused of killing his girlfriend, her 2 children, and the children’s 
grandmother will face the death penalty in the upcoming trial, the St. Charles 
County Prosecuting Attorney said Monday.

Prosecutor Timothy Lohmar said a grand jury indicted Richard Darren Emery last 
Friday for the December 2018 killings.

Emery is accused of shooting and killing 39-year-old Kate Kasten, 8-year-old 
Zoe and 10-year-old Jonathan Kasten, and 61-year-old Jane Moeckel, Kate’s 
mother.

The murders took place at Kasten’s home in the 100 block of Whetstone Drive. 
Police found the victims inside the home. 3 of them were dead at the scene. One 
of the victims was taken to a hospital where she later died.

Emery was arrested the following day after attempting to carjacking a woman. He 
also engaged in a brief shootout with police. Emery was located inside a gas 
station bathroom, wounded and covered in blood.

(source: Fox News)








NEBRASKA:

Aubrey Trail's attorneys ask court to order prosecutors to disclose reasons 
behind decision to seek death penalty



Aubrey Trail's defense attorneys have asked a judge to order attorneys 
prosecuting him to disclose documents in an effort to see if Gov. Pete Ricketts 
is behind their decision to seek the death penalty against him.

In a filing Friday afternoon, Ben Murray, one of Trail’s court-appointed 
attorneys, said he had no other means of obtaining the reasons behind their 
decision.

"To be clear, this motion does not accuse the government of any wrongdoing," he 
said. "Instead it seeks information that is necessary to ensure that the 
decision to seek the death penalty in this case was based on circumstances of 
the case and not on improper political or personal motive."

Murray's motion pointed out that Ricketts and his family spent a large amount 
of money on a referendum to reinstate the death penalty after the Legislature 
voted to abolish it in 2015.

He said the Nebraska Attorney General's office, which took over prosecution 
from the Saline County Attorney, decided to seek the death penalty.

"Absent a court order compelling the prosecuting attorneys to disclose their 
reasons, defendant will be unable to investigate and determine whether the 
state is acting in an unconstitutional and biased manner in seeking his 
execution, contrary to his constitutional rights to due process and equal 
protection and his protections against cruel and unusual punishment," Murray 
wrote.

He is asking Saline County District Judge Vicki Johnson to order counsel to 
disclose:

* All communications between the prosecuting attorneys, any employee of the 
Attorney General's office or any agents of the Governor's office regarding 
seeking the death penalty in criminal cases.

* All communications between them regarding seeking the death penalty against 
Trail and Bailey Boswell, his co-defendant.

* Any documents or records, including emails, letters and phone messages, 
between them regarding the decision to seek the death penalty in this case.

Trail is set to go to trial in June on charges of 1st-degree murder and 
improper disposal of human remains in the November 2017 slaying of Sydney 
Loofe.

Last month, they added a conspiracy charge alleging he conspired with Bailey 
Boswell to solicit young women online, to recruit others to carry out a murder 
and to select Loofe as their victim.

Loofe, 24, met Boswell on the dating app Tinder and went missing Nov. 16, 2017, 
after going on a date with Boswell the night before.

Loofe’s remains were found in Clay County on Dec. 4, 2017, and investigators 
allege Trail strangled her before he and Boswell dismembered and dumped her 
body and then fled the state, according to court documents.

Trail has told investigators and news reporters that Loofe died at his hands 
accidentally.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)



SOUTH DAKOTA:

Supreme Court won't hear death penalty appeal alleging anti-gay remarks from 
jurors



The Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up the case of a gay South Dakota 
man who alleges that homophobia played a role in his death penalty sentence.

Charles Rhines, who was convicted of murder in 1993, claimed that members of 
the jury made anti-gay statements that influenced their decision to sentence 
him to death and that a 2017 Supreme Court ruling that states must consider 
racist sentiments of jurors should apply to his case as well.

But the court's decision to not review his case prevents them from expanding 
the scope of that ruling and keeps Rhines's death sentence in place.

Rhines alleged that several jurors made anti-gay comments during the course of 
his trial, with one juror allegedly saying that Rhines “was a homosexual and 
thought that he shouldn’t be able to spend his life with men in prison.”

Rhines claimed that another juror said that a member of the jury made “a 
comment that if he’s gay, we’d be sending him where he wants to go if we voted” 
to sentence him to life in prison.

A 3rd juror allegedly said the panel had “lots of discussion of homosexuality” 
and “a lot of disgust.”

Rhines argued that a 2017 divided Supreme Court ruling that a judge might 
reject a verdict if there is evidence of jurors using racial stereotypes or 
sentiments during non-death penalty convictions should also be used in his 
case, pointing to the severity of his sentence.

Several LGBT rights groups had advocated on behalf of Rhines in the case, 
including Lambda Legal, the National LGBT Bar Association and the ACLU.

Rhines was convicted of the 1992 murder of Donnivan Schaeffer at a donut shop 
where Schaeffer worked.

The state, which said that Rhines didn't have standing to make his claim of 
anti-gay bias, argued that jurors made their decision to sentence Rhines to 
death over the "calloused and gruesome nature of the murder."

(source: thehill.com)








COLORADO:

Left-leaning Outlet In CO Says Hickenlooper ‘Making Stuff Up’ On Death 
Penalty----Death penalty discussion 'never happened under Hick's watch'—'not 
even close'



A left-of-center news outlet in Colorado says presidential candidate and former 
Colorado governor John Hickenlooper is exaggerating his track record on the 
death penalty while on the campaign trail.

The death penalty has been a significant policy issue for Colorado over the 
last decade as Democrats have sought to repeal the punishment in the state.

The left-leaning Colorado Independent said the former two-term governor 
"started flat-out making stuff up when he went on to suggest that, as governor, 
he encouraged a broad dialogue about capital punishment, its effectiveness and 
whether it's being meted out fairly."

In May of 2013, the execution of Nathan Dunlap was fast approaching. Dunlap had 
been convicted of killing 4 people and seriously injuring another in a Chuck E. 
Cheese restaurant in 1993.

Rather than commute the sentence, Hickenlooper issued a "temporary reprieve," 
meaning Dunlap's execution would only be put on hold, and the next governor 
could potentially lift the reprieve and allow the execution to go forward.

"He did not make a decision," former state Republican chairman Dick Wadhams 
told the Washington Free Beacon last month. "He found a third way that I don't 
think anybody was aware existed, and that is: Kick it to your successor."

After issuing the Dunlap reprieve, Hickenlooper said he wanted to use the 
moment to engage in a "statewide" conversation, something he's now selling on 
the presidential campaign trail as part of his record of being a 
consensus-builder.

"What we've done in Colorado is a statewide conversation on the death penalty, 
and I mean it doesn't deter," he said recently on CNN. "I mean of the states 
that got rid of the death penalty 40 years ago have no more homicides or mass 
killings than states that execute people multiple times a year."

"But such a discussion never happened under Hick's watch," the Independent 
wrote.

"Not even close."

"He did call for one in 2013 while under scrutiny about his decision to grant 
Dunlap, the convicted Chuck E. Cheese killer, a temporary reprieve rather than 
commute Dunlap's death sentence altogether. But once scrutiny blew over and 
Hick was re-elected a year later, he seemed to forget about the conversation he 
promised and clammed up about the issue during his next 4 years in office."

"It is only now that the moderate seeking support among party progressives has 
chosen to speak out," the Indy concluded.

As the Free Beacon has previously reported, Colorado attorney David Lane, one 
of the most well known lawyers in the state and a long-time opponent of capital 
punishment, has leveled similar arguments against Hickenlooper.

Talking to a local talk-radio show in August of 2014, Lane was highly critical 
of the then-governor, who was just three months away from a reelection vote.

"The legislature in Colorado, last year [2013] had the votes to abolish the 
death penalty," Lane said on the Craig Silverman Show. "That bill was killed 
amazingly, and shockingly, and disappointingly by Governor Hickenlooper. He 
killed the bill and lobbied against it, while at the same time he was giving 
Nathan Dunlap a reprieve, not a commutation to life without parole."

"The governor called for a statewide conversation on the death penalty, and has 
studiously avoided having that conversation since he called for it," Lane said 
later.

The high-powered lawyer said he personally called the governor's office to 
volunteer to travel the state and participate in town halls as part of 
Hickenlooper's proposed statewide conversation.

"I never heard another word from them," he said.

The issue flared up again in 2015 during the sentencing phase for the man 
convicted of the Aurora Theater shooting in 2012 that killed 12 and injured 
scores more.

A Denver Post article that year again raised the question of how much of a 
statewide conversation had occurred since Dunlap's temporary reprieve.

"I'm not aware that's happened, and I think I would have been aware of it," 
Senate Minority Leader Lucia Guzman, a Democrat from Denver, told the Post.

"What kind of conversation was Lucia looking for? What kind of conversation was 
she expecting?" Hickenlooper said in response.

In Hickenlooper's defense, the Post story also noted "the formation of the 
Better Priorities Initiative, aimed at ending the death penalty, and a series 
on capital punishment at both the Denver Seminary and the Iliff School of 
Theology."

Currently, Hickenlooper has promised if elected president he would suspend the 
death penalty at the federal level. Most other Democrat presidential candidates 
have also indicated their opposition to capital punishment.

Requests for comment from the Hickenlooper campaign as well as his leadership 
PAC were not returned.

(source: Washington Free Beacon)








CALIFORNIA:

DA Todd Spitzer releases letter to CA governor regarding death penalty 
moratorium



Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer and members of his executive team 
met with Governor Gavin Newsom’s office to share the concerns of crime victims 
over the governor’s death penalty moratorium.

District Attorney Spitzer hand-delivered this letter to the governor to share 
the stories of crime victims and how the governor’s moratorium is preventing 
these families from having justice for their loved ones. To read the entire 
letter, please visit www.orangecountyda.org and select Reports under the 
Reports pull-down menu.

This article was released by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office. The 
letter from Todd Spitzer addressed to Governor Gavin Newsom is as follows:

Honorable Governor Newsom:

Your blanket mortarium [sic] of the death penalty devastated hundreds of 
innocent crime victims and denied them of long-awaited justice. This week is 
National Crime Victims’ Rights Week. It is a time when we as a nation remember 
those who have been victims of violence and honor the survivors. As a 
prosecutor, I have seen firsthand the utter devastation that violent crime has 
taken on individuals. I have also witnessed the incredible strength that 
victims possess in the pursuit of justice.

Steve Herr spent his son’s 27th birthday praying that police would find his 
son’s head. Sam Herr, a combat veteran, had been shot and killed by his friend 
and neighbor. The next day, Sam’s killer dismembered his body and cut off his 
head, scattering the body parts in a park.

When Sam’s father came to the morgue to identify his son’s body parts, he asked 
the coroner to sew Sam’s body back together so he could be buried in one piece. 
They did, except for the hand that was never found.Ron and Bruce Harrington 
have spent the last 40 years searching for the man who killed their youngest 
brother and his wife. Keith Harrington was just 24 years old when he was 
bludgeoned to death. Patti Harrington was 27 years old when she was raped and 
then bludgeoned to death.

Their lives were just starting. Their possibilities were limitless.

But a monster walked through an unlocked door and beat those possibilities to 
death.

Your protection of vicious, brutal, tortuous, and sadistic murderers does not 
give you the moral high ground. The crime victims are the only ones entitled to 
moral high ground. The decision to show compassion belongs to the victims and 
the victims alone.

On April 8, 2019, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office stood with 
victims of crime and listened to their stories of the horrendous crimes 
perpetrated against their loved ones – and the pain they endured as they 
pursued justice.

These stories are hard to tell – and hard to listen to.

But you have not listened.

You have not listened to Steve Herr recount how he spent what should have been 
his son’s 27th birthday praying for his son’s head to be found.

You have not listened to how Thanksgiving traditions – and the family that kept 
them – were shattered by the loss of the youngest Harrington brother.

For your benefit, the victim’s speeches were videotaped and are being delivered 
to you.

Listen to the pain caused by your decision. I am requesting that you view this 
tape so that you have an understanding of the devastation and the reopening of 
painful memories caused by the moratorium and denial.

Compassion should not be reserved for monsters. Compassion should be reserved 
for the victims.

Sincerely,

Todd Spitzer

District Attorney, County of Orange

(source: oc-breeze.com)








USA:

Breyer Signals Tension Surge on Death-Penalty Cases



Unable to muster enough votes Friday, the Supreme Court’s liberal minority 
signed onto a biting dissent that shows an increasing division on death-penalty 
cases at the court.

“Should anyone doubt that death sentences in the United States can be carried 
out in an arbitrary way, let that person review the following circumstances as 
they have been presented to our court this evening,” Justice Stephen Beyer 
wrote, joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

The dissent comes after the conservative wing of the court voted to vacate a 
stay of execution granted to Christopher Price in Alabama.

Price, who was convicted of the 1991 murder of pastor William Lynn, contends 
that the state’s 3-drug lethal-injection protocol will cause extreme pain and 
that it would be more humane to kill him in a gas chamber.

Though the state court found the inmate’s evidence credible, Breyer notes that 
the conservative wing of the court hastily overturned the stay on Thursday 
night rather than wait a few hours to discuss the case during a Friday morning 
conference.

“To proceed in this way calls into question the basic principles of fairness 
that should underlie our criminal justice system,” Breyer wrote. “To proceed in 
this matter in the middle of the night without giving all members of the court 
the opportunity for discussion tomorrow morning is, I believe, unfortunate.”

Breyer noted that the jurisdictional issue presented by the state warrants 
fuller briefing.

“It is possible that Price was given no more than 72 hours to decide how he 
wanted to die,” he wrote. “That is not a reason to override the lower courts’ 
discretionary determination that the equitable factors warrant a stay.”

Price’s appeal comes nearly 2 weeks after the Supreme Court refused a similar 
challenge to lethal injection from Russell Bucklew, a Missouri inmate with a 
rare blood disorder.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote for the majority in the case that “courts should 
police carefully against attempts to use such challenges as tools to interpose 
unjustified delay.”

Alabama Attorney General Steven Marshall issued a statement Friday where he 
said that Price’s legal fight has revictimized the family of his victim. 
Marshall did not return a request for comment Monday.

Because the Supreme Court wrangling stretched so late into the night on 
Thursday, Alabama must set a new execution date for Price.

Aaron Michael Katz, an attorney for Price with the Boston firm Ropes and Gray, 
did not return request for comment.

In a separate order, Ginsburg, the court voted 5-4 against a new bid by Price 
for a stay of execution.

(source: courthousenews.com)

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

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Won’t Face Death Penalty On Ecuador’s Request



Arrested Wikileaks founder Julian Assange may not face the death penalty in the 
U.S if extradited.

The arrest of this Internet activist took place in London on April 9 from the 
Ecuador Embassy on 2 warrants—1 from the U.K. and other from the US.

Assange faces a U.S warrant of December 2017 relating to his alleged conspiracy 
with Chelsea Manning, the Army intelligence analyst, who leaked many classified 
materials to WikiLeaks.

The U. S reportedly gave this assurance to the South American country, during 
back-channel negotiation to finally evict the activist from the London embassy 
and face the legal process.

Since Ecuador opposes death penalty it wanted an explicit assurance from the 
U.S. that Assange would be spared from capital punishment if extradited.

The first request in this regard went to the U.K. seeking assurances that it 
would not extradite Assange to a country where the death penalty exists.

According to reports, the U.S assurance followed a deal brokered by Ecuadorian 
ambassador to Germany and his U.S. counterpart in Germany.

The U. S envoy Richard Grenell updated the State Department about the South 
American country’s request, to which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein 
favorably responded.

The report said Ecuador took a decision to insulate from Assange in March 2018. 
Assange has been hiding in its London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, 
where he faced a case of sexual assault on a woman.

Burden on Ecuador

The Latin American country was facing the pressure of financial burden as well. 
It reportedly spent $10 million on Assange, including food, medical expenses, 
legal counsel and other things in the last seven years.

However, there is no official confirmation from the U.S. Justice Department 
that the U.S. would spare the death sentence.

In the U.S, there are 41 federal offenses punishable by the death penalty. 
Treason and espionage are part of such crimes.

It is unknown if the U.S contemplated an espionage charge on Assange under the 
indictment filed in March 2018 in the Eastern District of Virginia.

The indictment alleged Assange in 2010 sought to assist Manning in cracking a 
password stored at the United States Department of Defense computers on a 
Secret Internet Protocol Network that houses classified documents and 
communications.

(source: International Business Times)