[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S.C., GA., FLA., ALA., LA.
Rick Halperin
rhalperi at smu.edu
Wed May 1 09:25:33 CDT 2019
May 1
TEXAS---- stay of impending execution
Federal judge grants Houston death row inmate Dexter Johnson a stay 2 days
before execution
Shortly after losing a long-shot bid for clemency, Houston-area death row
prisoner Dexter Johnson won a stay some 48 hours before he was scheduled to die
by lethal injection in the Huntsville execution chamber.
For more than a decade, the condemned killer lodged appeal after appeal based
on allegations of brain damage and intellectual disability, but in the end it
was the possibility of a conflicted attorney and ineffective lawyering that
prompted a federal district judge to side with him.
The high school dropout with schizophrenia was originally sentenced to die for
a 2006 carjacking that left 23-year-old Maria Aparece and 17-year-old Huy Ngo
dead. That June, Johnson and 4 accomplices came across the young couple sitting
in Aparece's Toyota, as they chatted outside Ngo's home. Johnson and 2 others
threatened them with a pistol and a shotgun, according to testimony at trial.
Then, 3 of the attackers drove the pair around Houston in Aparece's car,
stealing her cash and credit cards and trying to get money from her bank
accounts. Behind them, 2 other accomplices followed in their own car.
Eventually, the violent crew pulled over and, according to trial testimony,
Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat. Her boyfriend was forced to listen to it
all on his knees as the other attackers taunted him.
Then, Johnson shot Ngo in the head before slaughtering Aparece. At trial,
Johnson's defense team argued that it was someone else who walked the couple
into the woods and fired the fatal shot.
According to prosecutors, the double-slaying was just one of many crimes that
Johnson pulled off during a month-long spree of violence that spring and
summer. Johnson has long maintained his innocence, but still a Harris County
jury sentenced him to death. In December, a local judge gave the green light to
the May 2 execution.
Shortly afterward, Johnson wrote to the federal court complaining about his
attorney, Patrick McCann. Since McCann had been on the case for years, the
court did not kick him off but instead appointed a second legal team, headed by
federal defender Jeremy Schepers.
The North Texas attorney was tasked with figuring out whether McCann's earlier
work was up to par. While McCann continued to work on Johnson's case, filing
appeals based on claims of intellectual disability, Schepers investigated
McCann's work and alleged that the Houston attorney "violated ethical and
professional duties throughout his representation," according to court records.
In sealed federal filings, McCann disputed that characterization but the claims
were enough for the the federal judge to grant Johnson a stay to allow Schepers
more time to investigate and litigate his concerns. As of now, McCann is still
on the case; the judge asked for a hearing to determine whether he should be
removed.
Even after the last-minute win for the condemned man, the stay could have been
overturned by a federal appeals court - but the Office of the Attorney General
told defense counsel they have no plans to contest the order.
Neither Schepers nor McCann opted to weigh in on the record. Meanwhile,
McCann's co-counsel - Houston-area attorney Mandy Miller - defended him Tuesday
in an emailed statement.
"While we dispute the attack on Mr. McCann's prior representation, we are
grateful for a stay – no matter why it was granted," she wrote. "We will
continue to litigate the claim of intellectual disability that will prevent Mr.
Johnson's execution, in the event the stay is lifted. Once our duty to Mr.
Johnson is fulfilled, Mr. McCann will gladly answer to the federal court for
any questions regarding the work he has put into this case for nearly a
decade."
Though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals recently turned down the condemned
man's intellectual disability claims, Miller and McCann on Tuesday filed a
motion asking the court to reconsider, and are also working on an appeal to the
U.S. Supreme Court.
The Harris County District Attorney's Office remained confident Johnson would
get another execution date.
"His day of reckoning is inevitable," First Assistant District Attorney Tom
Berg said. "The issue at hand has nothing to do with the district attorney's
office and we anticipate a new execution date will be set shortly."
With Johnson's date likely called off, there just 2 others - including a
Montgomery County man convicted of killing a college student - scheduled in
Texas for the remainder of the year.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
************************
Texas will no longer share death row inmate's final statements
Texas prison officials on Tuesday abruptly halted the practice of sharing death
row inmate's final written statements after a lawmaker expressed outrage over
the state relaying the last words of an avowed racist executed for the 1998
dragging death of a black man, James Byrd Jr.
It marks the second recent change to execution-day procedures in the nation's
busiest death chamber. Earlier this month, Texas also stopped letting clergy
inside after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the execution of a man who wanted
his Buddhist spiritual adviser with him.
Death penalty opponents criticized the back-to-back changes, saying they
underscore a need for more oversight in decision making surrounding executions
in Texas, where a fourth person this year is set to die by lethal injection
Thursday.
State Sen. John Whitmire had chastised prison officials Monday for reading John
William King's final written statement last week after he was executed for
Byrd's killing.
"If a death row inmate has something to say to the public or victims, let him
or her say it when they are strapped to the gurney," Whitmire wrote in a letter
to prison officials.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice swiftly responded, and within 24 hours
told Whitmire it would change the policy to only publicly relay verbal comments
made in the execution chamber. Any written statements by the condemned will now
be "inventoried with their belongings" after they are executed, said Bryan
Collier, the agency's executive director.
Whitmire has served nearly 40 years in the Texas Senate and is one of the most
powerful lawmakers over the criminal justice system. In 2011, the Houston
Democrat also spurred the prison system to do away with allowing inmates to
pick their final meals after Whitmire took issue with one inmate's extensive
request.
King, who was white, said "no" when asked by a warden in the death chamber on
April 25 whether he had any last words before being executed. Afterward, prison
officials released a statement prepared by King: "Capital punishment: them
without the capital get the punishment."
Kristin Houle, executive director of the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty, said changing longstanding practices shouldn't be influenced by one
person and defended letting the condemned relay their last words on paper if
they choose.
"None of us know what our state of mind or composure is going to be as we face
imminent death," she said. "It's another kind of punitive measure at a time
when they are being put to death by our state."
(source: Associated Press)
******************
Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----43
Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----561
Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #
44---------Aug. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------562
45---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------563
(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)
**********************
USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution
With the execution of John King in Texas on April 24, the USA has now executed
1,494 condemned individuals since the death penalty was relegalized on July 2,
1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore was the 1st
person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of scheduled
executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500 executions in
the modern era.
NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.
1495-------May 2--------------Scotty Morrow--------------Georgia
1496-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee
1497-------May 16-------------Michael Samra------------Alabama
1498-------May 23-------------Robert Long--------------Florida
1400-------May 30-------------Christopher Price--------Alabama
1500-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee
1501-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas
1502-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas
1503------Sept. 12------------Warren Henness-----------Ohio
(source: Rick Halperin)
PENNSYLVANIA:
Pennsylvania lawmakers unveil bill to end death penalty
A group of lawmakers plans to introduce legislation that would end the death
penalty in Pennsylvania.
Sen. Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia), Sen. Katie Muth (D-Berks, Chester,
Montgomery), and Rep. Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia) say the death penalty has
proven to be unsuccessful as a crime deterrent, incredibly costly, and a flawed
system of punishment.
The lawmakers said since 2010, states with a death penalty have had an 18% or
higher increase in homicide rates than states that abolished the punishment.
They added that because the appeals process can last decades, most people
sentenced to death typically die of old age rather than lethal injection.
(source: WHTM news)
***************************
‘Innocence is real:’ A death row survivor makes the case for scrapping capital
punishment in Pa.
You don’t need to tell Kirk Bloodsworth about the unjustness of the death
penalty. He’s lived it.
The Baltimore County, Md., man spent 9 years in prison, 2 of them on death row,
after he was wrongly convicted in the murder of a 9-year-old girl in 1984. The
58-year-old former Marine was the 1st American death row inmate to be
exonerated by post-conviction DNA testing. Bloodsworth was released from prison
in 1993, and he was fully exonerated in 2004.
“Innocence is real. Innocence is so real,” Bloodsworth said Tuesday, as he
spoke on behalf of House and Senate proposals that would finally abolish
Pennsylvania’s long-broken and antiquated death penalty law. “There are 165
death row exonerees in America who have been found in our death row system.”
One of them was standing just a few feet to Bloodsworth’s right on the stage in
the Capitol Media Center.
James Dennis, of Philadelphia, spent 25 years on death row, until he was let
out of prison in 2013. As a condition of his release, he had to agree to
prosecutors’ demands that he plead “no contest” to the 1991 death of a
17-year-old schoolgirl, NBC News reported.
“You take the risk of killing an innocent woman or man,” Dennis, a 48-year-old
former musician, said. “It could have been me. It could be any one of you out
there.”
If Dennis’ were an isolated instance, you might — might — almost be able to
make a case for keeping the death penalty on the books, to argue that the
system worked because, after decades behind bars, that he (and Bloodsworth,
too) was found innocent of the charges against him.
But he’s not an isolated case. Not even close. Yet Pennsylvania, for some
reason, still insists on sending people to death row.
Largely because of reversals and resentencings, Pennsylvania’s death row
population has fallen over the last 16 years, going from 247 inmates in April
2002 to the current 142 inmates, according to data compiled by the Death Row
Information Center.
In all, 170 Pennsylvania death-row prisoners have seen their convictions or
death sentences overturned in state or federal post-conviction proceedings. The
commonwealth’s state courts have reversed an additional 100 death sentences on
direct appeal, according to Death Penalty Information Center data. More than 97
% of the state’s death row inmates have been resentenced to life or less, or
acquitted.
Pennsylvania has executed just three people in the last six decades. The most
recent came in 1999, when Philadelphia torture-killer Gary Heidnik was put to
death in Rockview State Prison in Centre County. Like the 2 inmates sent to the
death chamber before him, Heidnik waived his appeals.
In 2015, shortly after taking office, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf imposed a
moratorium on executions that remains in place four years later. Last year, a
death penalty study panel, authorized under a 2011 state Senate resolution,
released its long-awaited report on the state of capital punishment in
Pennsylvania.
It reinforced what we already know: The death penalty is unnecessarily
expensive, unevenly applied, and unfairly influenced by such factors as race
and income.
Yet, the machinery of death continues to grind on and prosecutors continue to
seek the death penalty in cases where the accused will, more than likely, never
be executed. That includes Eric Frein, who was convicted in the 2014 ambush
slaying of a Pennsylvania State Police trooper. The state Supreme Court on
Monday upheld Frein’s sentence, despite Wolf’s ongoing moratorium.
For state Rep. Chris Rabb, the Philadelphia Democrat who’s sponsoring the House
version of the repeal bill, the reality that, at a time of tightening budgets,
Pennsylvania and other states are spending millions of dollars they don’t have
on costly death penalty cases just doesn’t make sense.
And that’s quite apart from clear evidence of racial bias in capital cases.
“We’re approaching budget season, where we’re pinching pennies,” Rabb said,
arguing the state could find far better ways to use the money it spends feeding
and housing death row inmates and fighting their appeals. “No study shows it’s
a deterrent. Plenty of studies show that it is racist.”
In a memo seeking co-sponsors for his yet-to-be introduced proposal, Rabb
reiterated that economic argument, saying Pennsylvania’s last 3 executions
“cost the taxpayers $816 million.”
“Additionally, the Urban Institute’s study on the cost of the death penalty in
Maryland estimates a death penalty case costs $2 million more than a non-death
penalty case. We believe this to be an irresponsible use of our state’s limited
resources,” Rabb wrote.
Rabb has found an ally in state Rep. Frank Ryan, a Lebanon County Republican
and tax-and-spending hawk who’s among the General Assembly’s most conservative
members.
Ryan’s brother lives in Rabb’s district, and the two lawmakers have forged a
close friendship, Ryan said in a phone interview. They both say they’re
committed to proving that Democrats and Republicans, who harbor very different
views, can still reach agreement on key issues.
For Ryan, the argument for abolishing the death penalty is both practical and
moral.
“I’m pro-life, which means conception to natural death,” he said. “Capital
punishment isn’t natural death to me.” So far, capital punishment hasn’t been
part of that conversation. But the House and Senate bills are evidence that
could change. It’ll take work — and plenty of convincing.
State Sen. Katie Muth, of Berks County, is one of the co-sponsors of the Senate
version of the bill. The freshman Democrat has emerged as a forceful advocate
for survivors of sexual assault and abuse, as well as workplace harassment.
Muth said Tuesday that she saw no contradiction between advocating for
survivors while pursuing fairness and reform in the criminal justice system.
“As a victim, I think you would get great peace” from knowing the right person
is being punished for the crime for which they’ve been convicted, she said.
Bloodsworth now leads Witness to Innocence, a nonprofit run by exonerated death
row inmates and their families that supports capital punishment abolition
efforts nationwide. On Tuesday, he rattled off a list of people, both men and
women, who had been freed from death row.
“I could stand here and talk to you about innocent men and women all day,” he
said.
Hopefully, he won’t have to do that much longer.
(source: Opinion, John Micek; Pennsylvania Capital-Star)
SOUTH CAROLINA:
Inside the battles that mark jury selection for Tim Jones’ death penalty trial
If someone has murdered multiple children, “is death the appropriate punishment
or not,” defense attorney Boyd Young asked a potential juror Tuesday ahead of
the trial of accused child killer Tim Jones.
The potential juror, a stocky Lexington County man in his mid-30s, breathed
deeply before replying.
“If there is no reasonable doubt, and all the evidence is there, and it’s been
proved murder, I think it should be the death penalty,” he said. Earlier, he
had said he believed in “an eye for an eye” and “a life for a life.”
That answer vexed 11th Circuit Solicitor Rick Hubbard, who is seeking the death
penalty for Jones, accused of killing his five children in 2014. Jones is
pleading not guilty by reason of insanity, though there is virtually no
question he killed the children.
The man had earlier told Circuit Judge Eugene “Bubba” Griffith that he would
hear all the evidence and give Jones a “fair and impartial” trial, no matter
what the circumstances.
The judge sent the man out of the courtroom. An annoyed Hubbard told Griffith
that the potential juror “had started out to be fair” but now the defense was
trying to “lead him down the primrose path” to get him off the jury because he
had just indicated he was predisposed to give Jones the death penalty.
So it went, back and forth for more than 2 hours Tuesday afternoon with just
that one juror. More than half a dozen times, the judge sent the man out of the
courtroom as lawyers argued about his answers and whether they should
disqualify him from the jury. To be on a death penalty jury, a juror must be
able to consider multiple possible sentences.
Tuesday’s exchange highlighted the high stakes involved in picking each of the
12 jurors involved in the trial, when even 1 juror can be critical in deciding
whether Jones lives or dies.
“He is substantially impaired in his ability to follow the law,” Young told the
judge. “Even one juror who is improperly qualified could cause this case to be
reversed.”
Hubbard shot back, “He came into this courtroom. ... He wanted to hear both
sides, all the facts.” Hubbard reminded Griffith that the potential juror had
also said he would respect the opinions of other jurors and give great weight
to whether a killer showed remorse.
Shortly before 6 p.m., the judge ruled. “I think he should be qualified.”
That man, whose identity is being withheld because The State newspaper does not
identify jurors during trials, was the first and only potential juror seated so
far. The slow pace indicates it may be weeks before Jones’ trial starts. Judge
Griffin is trying to get a pool of approximately 45 or 50 potential jurors.
Such a large pool is needed because it must account for 12 jurors, up to 6
alternates, and potential jurors who are disqualified by either the prosecution
or the defense.
Griffith said Tuesday that once Jones’ trial starts, it could last into June.
Jones, 37, is charged with the killings of his 5 children — Merah, 8; Elias, 7;
Nahtahn, 6; Gabriel, 2; and Elaine, 1 — in August 2014. After strangling or
beating them to death, he is alleged to have put their bodies in garbage bags
and driving to rural Alabama, where he hid their corpses in a woods.
On Tuesday morning, U.S. Attorney for South Carolina Sherri Lydon and assistant
U.S. Attorney Nate Williams dropped by the Lexington County courthouse to
observe what sort of questions lawyers would ask prospective jurors.
Lydon is expected to be one of the trial lawyers in the upcoming federal death
penalty trial of Brandon Council, who is accused of executing 2 women while
robbing the CresCom Bank in Conway in 2017. It would be Lydon’s 1st death
penalty trial, but Williams was on the prosecution team in the death penalty
trial of Charleston church killer Dylann Roof.
Also dropping in to observe was State Circuit Judge Robert Hood, who is
scheduled to preside over a state death penalty trial on Monday in Horry County
in a case involving killings during convenience store robberies.
(soruce: thestate.com)
****************
Firing squads are a 'humane' alternative to lethal injection following shortage
of drugs, says expert----A shortage of drugs is forcing South Carolina to turn
to alternative methods of execution. The question is, will these methods be
more humane?
Lawmakers in South Carolina are actively considering legislation which would
add firing squads and the electric chair as execution options in the state. The
proposal for the same has already been passed by the state Senate by a 26-13
vote this past January, with its fate now in the hands of the House.
The legislation has been catching traction over the past few years because of a
continued problem that prison officials in the state are facing: they do not
have the drugs needed to carry out the primary method of execution, which is
the lethal injection.
Drug companies have been refusing to sell drugs such as pentobarbital,
pancuronium bromide, and potassium chloride, which are crucial elements of the
cocktail of chemicals which comprise the lethal injection, because of a fear
that they will be met with legal challenges and bad publicity.
It was something that was publicly confirmed by Gov. Henry McMaster in the wake
of the debacle surrounding the execution of 54-year-old Bobby Wayne Stone.
Having been on death row for 20 years for the murder of a sheriff's sergeant,
Stone was scheduled to be executed in December 2017, only for a shortage of
drugs, as well as other legal roadblocks, preventing it from going through.
"They are afraid their names will be made known and they don't want to have
anything to do with it for fear of retribution," McMaster revealed. "We're at a
dead stop and we can't do anything about it."
It's not for lack of effort either. Human Rights organizations have accused
Bryan Stirling, the Director of the South Carolina Department of Corrections,
of making misleading statements in an attempt to force the General Assembly to
pass a "secrecy" bill that would allow the drug companies to be shielded from
the public.
Those measures failed, prompting the House Criminal Laws Subcommittee to
approve a Senate proposal to change the state's default execution method to the
electric chair, as well as this recent push to include firing squads as an
alternative execution option.
The decision to pass the latter policy rests in the hands of the House
Judiciary Committee. All the signs seem to indicate that it has support from
either side of the aisle, meaning it could pass and become law before the
Legislature adjourns on May 9.
But is this development a humane one? Experts seem to think so. MEA WorldWide
(MEAWW) asked Evan Lee, a Professor of Law Emeritus at Hastings College of the
Law, about the change, and he said prisoners demanding an alternative method to
the lethal injection was "inevitable".
"The many critiques of lethal injection, focusing on its dangers of
unintentional suffering for those being executed, were bound to scare some
prisoners on death row," he said. "Some of them were bound to prefer something
instantaneous, such as the firing squad, even if it seems more brutal and
primitive to the public. Some condemned people were always going to understand
what happens with gunfire better than what happens with a cocktail of
chemicals."
Indeed, the problems and criticisms of the lethal injection are now
well-documented. Numerous death row inmates have challenged the method,
claiming the practice violates the ban on "cruel and unusual punishment"
enshrined in the Eighth Amendment of the constitution. Courts have even found
that the lethal injection practiced in California, Florida, and Tennessee is
unconstitutional in past years.
More recently, an attorney for a group of death row inmates challenged
Arkansas' use of a sedative called midazolam in the lethal injection process
which reportedly made the inmates feel as if they're being lit on fire because
it did not render them fully unconscious. Even in that case, it was argued that
the prisoners would be better served if they were given an option of a firing
squad.
The biggest perceived problem with the firing squad, however, is as Lee
suggested, a view that it is "primitive". While they were in extensive use
during the civil war — 433 of the 573 men executed during the war were shot by
a firing squad — since 1960, there have been just three executions by firing
squad. All of them in Utah.
It was almost all but phased out in the 21st century, and by 2009, Oklahoma was
the only state in the union utilizing this method of execution, and even then
only as a secondary method. But the reluctance of drug companies has seen it
come back into the fore of late. In March 2015, Utah enacted legislation once
again allowing for execution by firing squad if the drugs they use are
unavailable, and several other states, including South Carolina, are also
exploring a return.
Are there even other options? Lee says he's not sure. "The 'humanization' of
the death penalty has gone through a long road," he told us. "Military war
criminals often demanded to be shot rather than hung because of their view that
'common thieves' are hung, while soldiers are shot."
"California went through the gas chamber, and many states went through
electrocution. A few executions by these methods were botched, leading to
lethal injection," he continued. "As far as I know, that exhausts the methods
of execution under consideration."
Rory Little, the Joseph W. Cotchett Professor of Law at U.C. Hastings College
of the Law, shared that view, "Who knows what is 'more humane', in terms of
methods of execution?" he told MEAWW. "All methods can be 'botched'."
(source: meaww.com)
GEORGIA----new (female) death sentence)
Stepmother sentenced to death penalty for murdering 10-year-old
A Gwinnett County stepmother who murdered her stepdaughter has been sentenced
to death.
Tiffany Moss was convicted Monday of starving 10-year-old Emani Moss and then
trying to burn the girl’s emaciated body in a trash can.
The jury recommended the death penalty and Gwinnett Superior Court Judge George
Hutchinson signed off on Moss' sentence.
Channel 2's Tony Thomas has followed this disturbing case from the beginning
several years ago. He said that Moss sat emotionless as the judge sentenced her
to death. He said she did not speak except to answer "no" to the judge's
questions.
Moss, 36, acted as her own lawyer in the capital case. She offered no defense,
calling no witnesses and offering no opening statement or closing argument.
The jury deliberated for less than 3 hours before convicting her of murder,
felony murder, cruelty to a child and trying to conceal a death.
(source: WSB TV news)
************************* ---- impending execution
Condemned Georgia man asks parole board to spare his life
When a Georgia man killed his ex-girlfriend and her friend nearly 25 years ago,
his actions were spontaneous and emotionally fueled and shouldn't be punished
by death, his lawyers argue.
Scotty Garnell Morrow, 52, is set to die Thursday at the state prison in
Jackson in what would be Georgia's first execution this year. He was convicted
of murder in the shooting deaths of his ex-girlfriend Barbara Ann Young and her
friend Tonya Woods at Young's Gainesville home in December 1994. A third woman
was also shot but survived.
The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a clemency hearing for
Wednesday and on Tuesday released a declassified clemency application submitted
by Morrow's lawyers. The parole board is the only authority in Georgia that can
commute a death sentence.
Morrow and Young had been dating about 6 months when she broke it off in
December 1994 because of his abusive behavior, according to a Georgia Supreme
Court summary of the case.
Young was in her kitchen with 2 friends and 2 of her children when Morrow
arrived at her house on Dec. 29 to try to win her back.
The pair argued and Woods told Morrow to leave, saying Young wanted nothing to
do with him anymore. He yelled at Woods, pulled out a handgun and began
shooting, hitting Woods and severing her spine, the summary says.
Morrow also shot Young's other friend, LaToya Horne, in the arm.
Morrow followed Young to her bedroom, where he beat her and then followed her
into the hall, grabbed her by the hair and fatally shot her in the head, the
summary says. Young's 5-year-old son, hiding in a nearby bedroom, saw Morrow
shoot his mother.
Morrow returned to the kitchen, fired a fatal shot under Woods' chin and shot
Horne in the face and arm before fleeing, the summary says. Young and Woods
died, and Horne was severely wounded but was able to seek help.
Morrow was arrested within hours and confessed.
Spontaneous killings fueled by emotions are rarely punished by the death
penalty, and commuting his sentence to life in prison, with or without
possibility of parole, would bring his sentence more in line with other people
convicted of murder under similar circumstances, his lawyers argue in the
clemency petition.
Also, Morrow's childhood was plagued by violence, his lawyers wrote. His father
abused his mother. He was repeatedly raped by a teenage relative beginning when
he was 7 and later suffered four years of beatings at the hands of his mother's
boyfriend.
The jury that sentenced him to death didn't hear about all of that because
Morrow was unable, emotionally, to share that with a psychologist at the time
of his trial in 1999. But the parole board can consider that history and spare
his life, his lawyers wrote.
His violent childhood led him to bottle up his emotions, left him craving
acceptance and love and made it tremendously difficult for him to appropriately
communicate his emotions, his lawyers wrote.
Woods told him Young didn't need him anymore and had just been using him for
financial support while her former boyfriend was in prison, the application
says. Those comments "detonated a lifetime of unresolved torment and rejection
in Mr. Morrow," and he snapped, his lawyers wrote.
He immediately felt remorse as he drove home and decided to kill himself, only
stopping when he heard his young son calling him because he didn't want the boy
to find him dead, according to a letter from his ex-wife, Claudette McCray,
cited in the application. Morrow has been tormented by the pain and loss he
caused for the Young and Woods families, and has been especially devastated at
having taken Young from her 5 children, the application says.
He remains close to his own family and, despite being locked up, is actively
involved in the lives of his two adult sons, grandchildren and other relatives,
the petition says.
He has also sought redemption through deep commitment to his faith, the
application says. Several prison guards, counselors and chaplains are quoted as
saying he's an exemplary inmate who serves as a mentor and model to others on
death row and a help to guards.
(source: Associated Press)
FLORIDA:
The State of Florida wants the death penalty for YNW Melly. What happens
now?----Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty Information Center explains what the
State of Florida’s decision to pursue the death penalty in YNW Melly’s double
homicide means in practice.
The State of Florida wants the death penalty for YNW Melly. What happens now?
Devin Christopher for The FADER
On April 18, the State of Florida filed documents registering their intent to
seek the death penalty against 19-year-old Florida rapper YNW Melly.
Prosecutors maintain that Melly, real name Jamell Demons, last year murdered
two of his friends — YNW Sakchaser (born Anthony Williams) and YNW Juvy (born
Christopher Thomas Jr.) — "in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner
without any pretense of moral or legal justification.” They believe that they
can prove “beyond all reasonable doubt” that the murders were “especially
heinous, atrocious, or cruel,” that they were committed for financial gain, and
that Demons is a known member of a criminal gang. Demons and his alleged
accomplice YNW Bortlen (born Cortlen Henry) are both being held at the Broward
County Jail while they await trial.
30 states in America still use capital punishment; there are more than 2,600
people on death row across the country, 342 of whom are in Florida. But only a
small number of those who face the death penalty have their sentences carried
out. 5 death row inmates have been executed in Florida since the start of 2017,
and they had all been on death row for at least two decades. “The single most
likely outcome of a capital case in the United States, once someone is
sentenced to death, is that the conviction of the death sentence gets
overturned in the courts,” Robert Dunham, Executive Director of the Death
Penalty Information Center explains to The FADER.
The Death Penalty Information Center is a national non-profit that provides
data and analysis on capital punishment in the United States and abroad. They
do not take a position for or against the death penalty itself, but they are,
Dunham explains, “critical of the ways in which it's been administered.” They
oppose “the discriminatory manner in which it's imposed, issues of
arbitrariness and cost-effectiveness,” and they intend to “dispel myths about
whether the death penalty is a deterrent,” Dunham says. “There’s no evidence
that it is.”
The FADER spoke to Dunham about YNW Melly’s case over the phone. Our
conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity.
YNW Melly has been charged with double murder, and the state has issued
documentation saying that they wish to pursue the death penalty in his case. Is
the burden of proof now higher on the State?
Well, what they have to prove differs in every state; there's no national law
that governs state prosecution. What makes somebody eligible for the death
penalty in one state might not make them eligible for the death penalty in
another. What constitutes capital murder is defined differently in each of the
states that has the death penalty, and the factors that the jury will consider
in deciding whether to impose death once a person is convicted of capital
murder also differs from state to state. The national requirement — the federal
constitutional requirement — is that the state has the burden of proving every
element of the criminal offense beyond a reasonable doubt, and it has the
burden of proving every element of each aggravating circumstance beyond a
reasonable doubt.
If the state cannot prove every single count or every single piece of
premeditation involved with the crime, they could still, say, send a person to
jail for life — but a jury will have the final say on whether or not the death
penalty will be imposed?
An offense has multiple elements. Each of the elements of the offense has to be
proven beyond a reasonable doubt. So, if you don't prove premeditation, it
doesn't matter what other elements are are proved, you can't convict somebody
of premeditated murder. If you're talking about the death penalty phase, once
somebody is convicted of capital murder as defined in Florida, the case
advances to a penalty phase. That's a separate hearing in which the state has
to prove specific aggravating circumstances, and the defense has an opportunity
to introduce what are called mitigating circumstances, which is anything
relating to the defendant's character, background, or record — or in the
circumstances of the offense, there could be a reason to show that the death
penalty is unnecessarily severe or that a punishment of life without parole is
sufficient.
Now, that is subject to a jury vote. The jury must unanimously agree that at
least one aggravating circumstance is present. If there is less than a
unanimous vote in Florida, the outcome is life [in prison without parole]. If
the jury unanimously recommends death, then the case goes to a judge. There's a
separate hearing, which is called a Spencer Hearing, and after that hearing the
judge determines whether he or she will impose the death penalty.
With regards to mitigating circumstances, the documentation filed by the state
seems to suggest that they expect YNW Melly’s lawyers to call for a mental
health professional — maybe even plead insanity — as part of the defense. Is
that common?
First of all, insanity is not a mitigating circumstance. There's currently a
case in front of the United States Supreme Court as to whether states have to
allow an insanity defense, but what is colloquially referred to as "insanity"
is guilt-stage defense. It means that, at the time of the offense, you were
incapable of distinguishing right from wrong and understanding the consequences
of your actions. That is a very rare defense, and not all mental health
defenses are insanity defenses. There are also defenses of diminished capacity,
which would be based on a combination of mental health issues: it could be
mental illness; it could be intellectual impairments; it could be stresses of a
particular situation. [The defense would seek to prove that] on all of those
things, you did not have the capacity to formulate a specific intent to kill.
You will typically, in a capital case that goes to the penalty phase, see
evidence presented based on neuropsychological evaluations of brain
functioning, based on psychological evaluation, looking at the background and
upbringing of the defendant.
Broadly speaking, is Florida a particularly bad place to be defending oneself
against the death penalty? Is its history with capital punishment worse than
that of other states?
Florida has the 3rd-largest death row in the United States. Much of that is
attributable to the overly broad death penalty statues that have been in place
for much of Florida's recent history. But in 2016, the United States Supreme
Court declared the death penalty statute unconstitutional, and in in October
2016, the Florida Supreme Court issued a ruling that death sentences imposed by
a judge after a non-unanimous jury vote for death violate the state's
constitution. So, since that time, Florida has required a unanimous jury
recommendation for death before a judge is permitted to impose a death
sentence, and the number of death sentences has declined since then.
But the issue of Florida's practices is less important statewide than the issue
of the practices of the counties individually. It's up to the counties to
determine whether they're going to seek the death penalty, and county practices
vary greatly in what cases they charge capitally, in who gets appointed to
handle the representation, and what kinds of resources are made available to
defense counsel to handle the representation.
This is Broward County. What’s the record like there?
Broward has a history with the death penalty. In 2013, it was among the 2% of
counties in the United States that were responsible for more than 1/2 of
everyone who was on death row at the time. In 2013, Broward had 23 people on
its death row. Broward's population is 1.8 million, so some of that could be
expected as a result of its size. But looking at counties that were under 2
million in size at that time, there were only 11 counties with smaller
populations that had more people on death row than Broward did. Overall,
Broward had the 23rd largest county death row in the entire United States. To
give you a sense of what that means, there are 3,143 counties in the United
States. Broward County had more people on death row than did 99.27 % of all the
counties in the United States. So it was in the most prolific 1% of US death
sentencing counties.
If YNW Melly is indeed convicted and sentenced to death, how likely is it that
he will be executed?
The single most likely outcome of a capital case in the United States, once
someone's sentenced to death, is that the conviction of the death sentence gets
overturned in the courts. On average, 1 in 7 people who are sentenced to death
are ultimately executed — more than 80 % are not. So, a death sentence doesn't
mean execution, necessarily. In some states, it's different from others. In
Florida, fewer than 1 in 10 death sentences that are imposed are actually
carried out. Part of that is because the death penalty statute has been
declared unconstitutional so many different times.
Is some of that an appeals process?
Yes.
So, if somebody's lawyer were to sit on their hands, it could very well result
in an execution being carried out.
10 % of the executions in the United States have involved defendants who waived
their appeals and did not contest their execution.
So his best option after that would be to continually appeal?
A very high percentage of death-row prisoners — around 98% of them — actively
pursue their appeals. All prisoners — capital and non-capital — have three sets
of appeals: direct appeal, state post-conviction review, and federal habeas
corpus. Capital appeals are much more complex than other appeals and take years
to investigate, present, and decide. The single most likely outcome of a
capital case once a death sentence is imposed is that it will be overturned at
some point during the appeals process. Then the prosecution has to decide
whether to seek the death penalty again. Typically, the cases in which a
prisoner has been on death row, the longest are cases in which the state has
repeatedly denied the prisoner a fair trial or penalty phase and the case has
been reversed one or more times.
What are conditions like on death row? Is it essentially just solitary
confinement?
Conditions differ in each state, but generally speaking, in Florida, it's
administrative segregation — which in lay terms means solitary. If your death
sentence is overturned and you are resentenced to life, then typically you'll
be in a maximum security prison, but in general population. Even in capital
cases where there's a non-capital outcome, the prison does an individualized
assessment of the likely dangerousness of the prisoner in a prison setting, and
after making that assessment, the prison decides what level of security is
necessary.
(source: thefader.com)
ALABAMA----new and impending execution date
Christopher Price, convicted in minister’s 1991 killing, gets new execution
date
The Alabama death row inmate who narrowly avoided execution in early April has
a new execution date.
Christopher Price was initially set to die by lethal injection on April 11 at
William Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, but the execution was called
off just before midnight because the state said it didn’t have time to start
the procedure before the death warrant expired. The Alabama Supreme Court has
set a new execution date for Price on May 30.
Price, 46, was convicted in the 1991 robbery and slaying of Fayette County
minister Bill Lynn.
On the day of his 1st scheduled execution, Price was the subject of several
legal battles. About 2 hours before the scheduled execution at 6 p.m., Southern
District of Alabama Chief Judge Kristi DuBose issued a stay of execution for 60
days and ordered the state to submit evidence in contradiction to Price’s
contention the 3-drug lethal injection protocol will cause or is likely to
cause severe pain. Price was asking to be executed by the newly approved
method, nitrogen hypoxia. The U.S. Supreme Court later ruled the execution
could go forward, but their ruling came after the Alabama Attorney General’s
Office had already called it off for the night.
The AG’s Office has argued Price missed the June 2018 deadline for opting into
the nitrogen hypoxia method. Days after the called-off execution and after the
nation’s highest court allowed the execution to go on, the state asked the
Alabama Supreme Court to quickly reset an execution date in the “interests of
justice.”
Last week, DuBose set Price’s case for a non-jury trial on June 10 at 9:00 a.m.
Her order on the trial date did not prevent the Alabama Supreme Court from
setting a new execution date for Price, and DuBose wrote she would not stay the
execution if a new date was set.
Lynn was killed with a sword and knife just days before Christmas in 1991,
while he was wrapping presents for his grandchildren. He had over 30
inches-deep stab wounds and one of his arms was nearly severed. His wife,
Bessie Lynn, was injured in the attack but survived.
Bessie Lynn and 5 other relatives were present in Atmore earlier this month,
prepared to witness Price’s execution.
(source: al.com)
*********************
Alabama inmate convicted of quadruple slaying as a teen fights to avoid
execution
An Alabama inmate who is set to be executed in May has asked the Alabama
Supreme Court to stay his execution while the U.S. Supreme Court reviews his
case.
Michael Samra, 42, is set to die by lethal injection on May 16 at William C.
Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore. The Alabama Supreme Court set his
execution date on April 11.
Samra’s attorneys, Steven Sears and Alan Freedman, argue in court filings that
the Eighth Amendment bans the execution of offenders- like Samra- who were
under the age of 21 at the time of their crimes. They petitioned the U.S.
Supreme Court to review the case, and now have asked the Alabama Supreme Court
to stay Samra’s execution until the nation’s highest court can rule.
Samra was convicted of capital murder in 1998 and was sentenced to death for
his role in the killings of Randy Duke, his fiancée Dedra Mims Hunt, and her
two daughters, 6-year-old Chelisa Nicole Hunt and 7-year-old Chelsea Marie
Hunt.
According to Samra’s filings to the Alabama Supreme Court, his attorneys argue
that people under the age of 21 at the time of their crimes are not eligible
for the death penalty under the Eighth Amendment. Sears, a Montevallo-based
attorney for Samra, said the nation’s highest court’s 2005 ruling banning
execution for people who were under the age of 18 at the time of their crimes
should be modified due to “evolving standards of decency.”
In the state supreme court filing, Sears writes that Samra’s case presents “an
issue that is percolating in the courts. One Kentucky court has already held
that the reasoning of [case law] banning the execution of offenders under 18,
has now been shown to apply to those offenders under 21 years old.” The filing
also states the claim is supported by legal scholars and the American Bar
Association.
Sears called the quadruple slaying a “terrible tragedy,” but said he and his
co-counsel “don’t think that killing one more person is going to help.”
“It’s not fair to kill the small fish and let the whale go,” Sears said,
referring to Mark Duke’s sentence of life in prison without parole. Mark Duke
was also sentenced to death for the killings, but in 2005 the Alabama Court of
Criminal Appeals overturned Mark Duke’s death sentence because he was 16 at the
time of the murders, and ordered he be resentenced to life imprisonment without
parole.
Mark Duke is also now eligible for a re-sentencing hearing, where a judge will
decide whether he should continue serving a life sentence or if he should be
eligible for a shot at parole.
Samra was several years older than his friend Mark Duke and was 19 at the time
of the murders, which Sears said has made more difference than anything in
Samra’s case.
The slayings happened on March 22, 1997 after, according to court records,
Randy Duke’s sixteen-year-old son Mark Anthony Duke came up with the murder
plot because Randy Duke refused to allow his son to use a pickup truck.
Records state Samra and Mark Duke went to the Duke home, along with 2 other
friends, David Collums and Michael Ellison. Those two friends waited outside
while Samra and Mark Duke went inside, according to an appeals court ruling.
Randy Duke and Dedra Hunt were shot to death, court records state, while the
girls throats’ were slashed.
In 2013, Samra lost an appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court after he argued his
punishment was unfair because his “more culpable” co-defendant Mark Duke’s
sentence was reversed. In court filings, Samra claimed his constitutional
rights were violated because Duke’s sentence was changed.
In 2015, a 3-member panel of the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a
lower court’s denial of Samra’s appeal. That appeal focused on two claims, both
centering on ineffective counsel.
Collums and Ellison were convicted of lesser crimes and served time in prison.
(source: al.com)
*********************
New execution set for man convicted of 1991 Fayette County minister
murder----Alabama currently has 182 inmates on death row, with an average age
of 32. These are the 9 oldest male inmates and oldest female inmate.
The Alabama Supreme Court on Monday set a new execution date for Christopher
Lee Price, 2 weeks after legal proceedings and an expiring death warrant
stymied an execution attempt.
Price is now set to be killed by lethal injection on May 30.
Alabama prison officials called off Price's planned execution on April 11.
Price, who was sentenced to death for the 1991 murder of Fayette County
preacher Bill Lynn, received an 11th-hour stay of execution from federal and
appellate courts. Alabama appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the stay.
After clock runs out, Supreme Court authorizes Alabama execution
As the clock crept toward midnight without an answer, officials announced that
they would not proceed with the execution, due to concerns over proper
procedure and the remaining time before Price's death warrant expired at
midnight.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall later asked the Alabama Supreme Court
to set a new execution date in the immediate future, waiving a 30-day notice
requirement. But with the May 30 day set on April 29, it appears the court did
not acquiesce.
Price had argued Alabama's lethal injection protocol has "botched" previous
executions and could cause unconstitutional pain and suffering. Price instead
asked to opt for death by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama approved last year but
has yet to develop protocol for carrying out. The state argued Price failed to
opt in for the nitrogen method in 2018 in accordance to a state statute.
Before his planned execution in April, Price requested to be married. He and
his fiancée were married in the Holman Correctional Facility yard on April 10.
Price was convicted of the brutal slaying of Bill Lynn, a Fayette County
preacher, during the course of a 1991 home robbery. Price was 19 at the time of
the murder.
Lynn and his wife, Bessie, were at their Bazemore home three days before
Christmas when the house's power went out. When Bill Lynn went outside to check
the power box, he was attacked, according to court documents. Bessie Lynn later
testified that two assailants then beat her before stealing jewelry and money
from their home.
Bill Lynn, who prosecutors say was cut or stabbed 38 times with a sword and
dagger, died at a hospital approximately 45 minutes after the attack.
Prison officials said on April 11 that Bessie Lynn was prepared to witness
Price's execution, along with Bill Lynn's 2 daughters, 2 grandsons and a
nephew.
A Fayette County jury in 1993 sentenced Price to death by a vote of 10-2. Price
later tried to contest his sentence, alleging his original trial attorney was
unprepared for the penalty phase of his trial. Price argued the lawyer failed
to offer evidence that the then-teenager was psychologically traumatized
following years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his mother's
boyfriends. The Supreme Court declined to review his case in 2013.
Before Price's schedule execution, the state plans to kill 41-year-old Michael
Brandon Samra on May 16.
Alabama in February executed Domineque Ray after an 11th-hour U.S. Supreme
Court ruling vacated a stay of execution pending a religious rights claim. The
court ruled by a narrow majority Ray had waited too late to bring the issue to
light.
Ray, a Muslim, had argued Alabama's practice of including a Christian prison
chaplain in the execution chamber was in violation of the First Amendment. Ray
sought to have his imam present in the death chamber at the time of his death,
but the state said it would allow only trained prison employees in the chamber.
In subsequent court filings, Alabama now says it has altered its execution
protocol to exclude any religious leader, including the Holman prison chaplain,
from the death chamber.
(source: Montgomery Advertiser)
***********************
USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution
With the execution of John King in Texas on April 24, the USA has now executed
1,494 condemned individuals since the death penalty was relegalized on July 2,
1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore was the 1st
person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of scheduled
executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500 executions in
the modern era.
NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.
1495-------May 2--------------Scotty Morrow--------------Georgia
1496-------May 2--------------Dexter Johnson------------Texas
1497-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee
1498-------May 16-------------Michael Samra------------Alabama
1499-------May 23-------------Robert Long--------------Florida
1500-------May 30-------------Christopher Price--------Alabama
1501-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee
1502-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas
1503-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas
1504------Sept. 12------------Warren Henness-----------Ohio
(source: Rick Halperin)
LOUISIANA:
Senate panel OKs bill to abolish La.'s death penalty
A bill that would allow Louisiana voters to decide whether to abolish the death
penalty cleared its first hurdle here Tuesday, but it faces stronger headwinds
moving forward.
Senate Bill 112 by Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, now moves to the full
Senate, where as a constitutional amendment it will require two-thirds
approval.
Members of the committee voted 4-2 to move the bill favorably.
Some proponents said their faith supports the sanctity of all life and cited
the fallibility of the justice center.
"Killing whether it be on the streets or government sanctioned is wrong," said
state Rep. Terry Landry, D-New Iberia, who also has his own bill in the House
to abolish the death penalty.
Landry, a former superintendent of the Louisiana State Police, said his view
has evolved having once supported the death penalty.
"I now believe the death penalty is wrong," Landry said.
Only one person has been executed since 2008 and he was put to death only after
waiving his appeals.
Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, has suspended executions because of the
state's inability to procure its preferred drug for lethal injection, the
method of execution here.
"Justice can never be wrought by killing a human being," said Rob Tasman,
executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops.
But other faith leaders said scripture supports the death penalty.
"There are times when this punishment is appropriate," said the Rev. Will Hall,
a Baptist minister.
Others like Sen. JP Morrell, D-New Orleans, said a high percentage of
exoneration shows too many mistakes can be made.
"It indisputable that we had people on death row who were (later) found
innocent," Morrell said in testifying in favor of Claitor's bill.
Claitor has also said he doesn't believe the death penalty is a deterrent to
murder, which public defenders also said during testimony.
But colleague Sen. Bodi White, R-Baton Rouge, who voted against Claitor's bill,
said deterrence isn't a factor.
"Nowhere does it say we shall 'deter,' White said. "It says 'shall be punished'
and that's what this (law) does."
Twenty-first District Attorney Scott Perrilloux agreed, saying he doesn't
consider deterrence when deciding whether to seek an execution.
"What we consider is the victims and what victims consider as justice," said
Perrilloux, who said he's successfully sought the death penalty on 3 cases, 2
of which were reversed on appeal.
He said exoneration is an example of how the system works rather than how it
doesn't. Perrilloux also said some reversals aren't because the suspects are
innocent.
"There's a big difference between exoneration and innocent," Perrilloux said.
(source: Monroe News Star)
*******************
Effort to abolish Louisiana's death penalty begins again in State Capitol
Another effort to abolish the death penalty in Louisiana has begun in the state
Legislature.
State Sen. Dan Claitor's bill to let the public vote on ending the death
penalty advanced through the Senate Judiciary C Committee Tuesday after a
debate that has become familiar in the State Capitol, with Catholic leaders
invoking scripture and researchers citing statistics in arguing against the
practice.
Senate Bill 112, which lawmakers have brought several years in a row, will
advance to the full Senate, while an identical one will start in a House
committee that has killed similar efforts in recent years. The bill needs a
two-thirds vote from both chambers, along with the blessing of Gov. John Bel
Edwards.
Proponents of the measure argued in Judiciary C Tuesday the death penalty is
ineffective, costing the state $111 million in public defender spending along
since 2008 while only executing one person, who volunteered. The head of a
Catholic Bishop organization argued the punishment purports a "fallacy of
justice" and is morally wrong. A Loyola University researcher cited the
disparate effects of the death penalty on black defendants, and the state
public defender noted people on death row are 3 times more likely to be
exonerated than executed in Louisiana.
“In order for you to believe the death penalty is something that’s appropriate,
you have to hold the position that government doesn’t get it wrong," said state
Sen. JP Morrell, who presented Claitor's bill along with Landry.
The arguments against the bill were also familiar. 2 prosecutors said the death
penalty is a much-needed tool for District Attorneys trying to bring justice to
victims. Scott Perilloux, DA for the 21st Judicial District in Livingston
Parish, said many of the cases where a death penalty sentence was reversed,
cited by opponents of the practice, still ended in convictions.
He also questioned lawmakers what prosecutors would do if there was a mass
shooting in a church or another "shocking" event.
"What are we going to do when that happens in la and we tell them it’s life in
prison in Louisiana?" Perilloux said.
If Claitor's bill passes, it would go on the ballot during the next
presidential election.
The state has not executed anyone since 2010, when a defendant volunteered.
Edwards' administration has said it can't obtain lethal injection drugs, part
of a nationwide issue as pharmaceutical companies don't want to be associated
with executions.
(source: The Advocate)
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