[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.H., ALA., LA., OHIO, CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 31



NEW HAMPSHIRE:

For Death Penalty Opponents, Repeal Victory in N.H. Has Been A Long Time Coming



Opponents of capital punishment cheered from the Senate gallery when the 
override vote was tallied. They hugged and they cried. And worked to put the 
demise of the death penalty into perspective. Hampton Democrat Rep. Renny 
Cushing had sponsored repeal bills unsuccessfully for years. Until now.

“There is a Seamus Heaney poem that talks about moments when hope and history 
rhyme, and for me this is one of those moments when hope and history rhyme," he 
said after the Senate vote.

The override cleared the Senate by precisely the 2/3 margin required. The 
debate was short, and at times sharp. Senator Sharon Carson, a Republican from 
Londonderry, offered a lengthy argument against repealing the death penalty.

“This is not Louisiana of the 1920s, where Old Sparky was put up on a flatbed 
truck and driven around from prison to prison and people were executed," she 
said. "We are not those people.”

But for other senators, like Bob Guida of Warren, also a Republican, granting 
the state the power to take life, period, goes too far.

“This is called an issue of conscience because it supersedes any consideration 
of politics and for that I respect my colleagues, for that anyone who would 
subordinate this issue to political motives is a reprehensible person,” Guida 
said.

But politics were at play on this vote.

The governor’s office was urging GOP senators to back his veto right up until 
the vote. Last week in the House, some 2 dozen Republicans who had voted for 
repeal flipped to support Sununu’s veto. But just 1 senator did on Thursday: 
David Starr of Franconia.

In a statement, Sununu said he was “incredibly disappointed” by the override. 
Senate President Donna Soucy, meanwhile, said her chamber “did the right 
thing.”

"There is a Seamus Heaney poem that talks about moments when hope and history 
rhyme, and for me this is one of those moments when hope and history rhyme." - 
Renny Cushing

This vote also split Democrats.

Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester supports the death penalty but says getting 
rid of it appears to be the will of the people.

“I think it’s been going on and on and on and on, and for years and years and 
years, and finally, those who want the death penalty gone have won the case, 
but they haven’t cured the situation," he said.

D’Allesandro was talking about violence, and the threats faced by law 
enforcement. New Hampshire's lone death row inmate, Michael Addison, was 
sentenced to death for killing Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs in 
2006. That case has shaped the debate over capital punishment here for years, 
and this repeal could alter its outcome. As written, the repeal would leave 
Addison’s death sentence intact. But death penalty bans in other states – even 
prospective ones – have ended up sparing inmates on death row.

And for activists who gathered on the State House steps after the vote to 
celebrate, people like Arnie Alpert of American Friends Service Committee, this 
fight didn’t sound over.

"And where we are today is not the end, we are at a point on the arc of the 
moral universe, and it is bending towards justice and we can see that today," 
Alpert told the crowd.

But as a smiling Renny Cushing reminded the activists, now might be an 
opportune time for a rest.

“But come on," he said, "let’s break bread together, let’s have a meal.”

(source: New Hampshire Public Radio)

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

New Hampshire Catholic officials laud state's death penalty ban



On May 30, New Hampshire lawmakers garnered enough votes to abolish the death 
penalty in the state, overriding a veto from Gov. Chris Sununu and becoming the 
21st state to ban capital punishment.

Bishop Peter Libasci of Manchester thanked lawmakers shortly after the vote in 
a statement issued on the New Hampshire diocese's website.

"As good citizens, we must not look upon this vote as a victory, for that would 
dishonor the grief of those whose lives have been tragically altered by the 
crimes committed against their loved ones and society in general," he said.

"Instead, we need to stand together as a citizenry and live by what we said 
when we spoke of human dignity, incarceration that rehabilitates, especially in 
cases of life without possibility of parole," Libasci said. "Being part of a 
society that is committed to dealing with the ills that lead to the 
decomposition of personhood and the evil crime of murder is the work of a noble 
people who uphold the sacredness of human life."

Though the New Hampshire Legislature had passed the bill repealing capital 
punishment in mid-April, the governor in early May vetoed the bill, but 
legislators in the state garnered enough votes to override the veto.

"Today's repeal is a major step toward building a culture that unconditionally 
protects the dignity of life and is yet more evidence that the death penalty is 
falling out of favor with the American public," said Krisanne Vaillancourt 
Murphy, executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, a Washington-based 
organization that works to end the use of the death penalty.

"Along with death penalty abolition comes the opportunity to create more 
restorative responses to incidents of harm," she said in a May 30 statement 
following the announcement of the repeal. "Today, we especially hold in prayer 
all murder victims and their family members and ask for their continued 
healing."

The organization referred to efforts by Catholics in New Hampshire to support 
the measure that abolished the death penalty.

"In New Hampshire, Catholics played key roles to advance H.B. 455," the 
organization's statement said in referring to the bill. It also noted Libasci's 
"written testimony in support of the bill, where he labeled capital punishment 
'a faulty response' to crime and urged legislators to 'repeal the death penalty 
and devote more resources to providing services to (families of murder victims) 
so we may offer a true path of support and healing.' "

Though the governor who vetoed the bill is a Republican, a group called 
Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty pointed out the bipartisan 
effort in overriding the veto and spoke of support among conservatives to 
abolish capital punishment.

"Ending New Hampshire's death penalty would not have been possible without 
significant Republican support. Increasing numbers of GOP state lawmakers 
believe capital punishment does not align with their conservative values of 
limited government, fiscal responsibility, and valuing life. The state of New 
Hampshire will be much better off because of it," Hannah Cox, the group's 
national manager, said in a statement.

Without a single vote to spare, 4 Republicans voted with 12 Democrats to 
override the veto 16-8.

(source: National Catholic Reporter)

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

New Hampshire Repeals the Death Penalty



Reacting to news that the New Hampshire legislature has voted to repeal the 
death penalty, Kristina Roth, Senior Program Officer at Amnesty International 
USA stated:

“We welcome this outstanding news. With this vote, New Hampshire will become 
the 21st state to have abandoned the death penalty. This inhumane practice is 
the ultimate irrevocable punishment and denial of human rights. It does not 
deter crime and disproportionately impacts communities of color. This system is 
fundamentally broken and must end once and for all.”

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty unconditionally.

(source: Amnesty International USA)

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

New Hampshire repeals death penalty as Senate overrides veto



New Hampshire, which hasn’t executed anyone in 80 years and has only 1 inmate 
on death row, on Thursday became the latest state to abolish the death penalty 
when the state Senate voted to override the governor’s veto.

The Senate vote came a week after the 400-member House voted by the narrowest 
possible margin to override Republican Gov. Chris Sununu’s veto of a bill to 
repeal capital punishment.

“Now it’s up to us to stop this practice that is archaic, costly, 
discriminatory and final,” said Sen. Melanie Levesque, D-Brookline.

New Hampshire’s death penalty applies in only seven scenarios: the killing of 
an on-duty law enforcement officer or judge, murder for hire, murder during a 
rape, certain drug offenses, or home invasion and murder by someone already 
serving a life sentence without parole.

The state hasn’t executed anyone since 1939, and the repeal bill would not 
apply retroactively to Michael Addison, who killed Manchester Officer Michael 
Briggs and is the state’s only inmate on death row. But death penalty 
supporters argued that courts will interpret it differently, giving Addison a 
chance at life in prison.

“If you think you’re passing this today and Mr. Addison is still going to 
remain on death row, you are confused,” said Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry. 
“Mr. Addison’s sentence will be converted to life in prison.”

Carson argued that New Hampshire has a narrowly drawn law and a careful, 
deliberative process to ensure innocent people are not executed.

“This is not Louisiana of the 1920s where Old Sparky was put on a flatbed truck 
and driven from prison to prison and people were executed. We are not those 
people,” she said. “That doesn’t happen here in New Hampshire.”

The Senate vote, 16-8, was exactly the 2/3 majority necessary to override the 
veto. 12 Democrats and 4 Republicans supported ending the death penalty, while 
6 Republicans and 2 Democrats voted to keep it. The latter included Sen. Lou 
D’Allesandro, D-Manchester, who represents the district in which Officer Briggs 
was killed. He urged his colleagues to remember law enforcement officers who 
put their lives on the line every day.

“I can’t abandon these people,” he said. “These people are there for us. 
They’re there for us, and I believe strongly we have to support them.”

Sununu, who vetoed the repeal bill surrounded by officers at a community center 
named for Briggs, said Thursday he was incredibly disappointed in the vote.

“I have consistently stood with law enforcement, families of crime victims, and 
advocates for justice in opposing a repeal of the death penalty because it is 
the right thing to do,” he said in a statement.

But Sen. Bob Giuda, R-Warren, a former FBI agent, said while he greatly 
respects law enforcement, the death penalty is at odds with his pro-life 
principles. He called execution a “ghastly” process and urged his colleagues to 
“move our civilization” past it.

“I think we’re better than that,” he said. “I choose to move our state forward 
to remove the death penalty.”

30 states allow capital punishment, but in 4 of them, governors have issued 
moratoriums on the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty Information 
Center. 20 states have abolished or overturned it. New Hampshire lawmakers have 
been considering and rejecting repeal efforts for the last 2 decades.

Former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat, vetoed a similar bill in 2000. Another 
Democrat, former Gov. John Lynch, signed a bill in 2011 expanding the death 
penalty to cover home invasions in response to a machete and knife attack that 
killed a woman and maimed her daughter in Mont Vernon.

(source: Associated Press)








ALABAMA----execution

Alabama inmate who killed a pastor in 1991 is executed



An Alabama inmate convicted of stabbing a minister nearly three decades ago 
died by lethal injection Thursday night, officials said.

Christopher Lee Price's execution was carried out at 8:12 p.m. ET. at William 
C. Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Bob Horton, a spokesman for the 
state Department of Corrections, said in an email to CNN. Price was pronounced 
dead at 8:31 p.m. ET, according to Horton.

"Tonight, the family of Pastor Bill Lynn, who was brutally murdered nearly 30 
years ago, has finally seen Lynn's killer face justice," Alabama Attorney 
General Steve Marshall said in a statement.

Marshall said Price was "fighting until the very end to avoid facing the 
consequences of his heinous crime."

The execution went ahead after the US Supreme Court narrowly denied a request 
for a stay from the 46-year-old inmate. Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader 
Ginsburg, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor dissented. It was the second time the 
nation's highest court has addressed Price's case.

In a narrow decision in April, the Supreme Court ruled that Price's execution 
could go forward hours after Price's death warrant in Alabama had expired.

Price had argued the lethal injection protocol would cause him severe pain and 
asked that the state use lethal gas as an alternative. Two lower courts agreed 
to put the execution on hold.

But after Marshall petitioned the Supreme Court, the majority agreed to lift 
the stay of execution. The court said that Price had waited too long to make 
his claim.

Death row inmates in Alabama had the choice back in 2018 to elect to "be 
executed via nitrogen hypoxia" but that Price did not do so, the majority said 
in the unsigned order.

"He then waited until February 2019 to file this action and submitted 
additional evidence today, a few hours before his scheduled execution time," 
the majority held.

Breyer, joined by the three other liberal justices on the high court, penned a 
dissent.

Price and an accomplice wielded a sword and a knife in 1991 and stabbed Lynn to 
death, according to the state attorney general's office.

"On December 22, 1991, Bill Lynn was wrapping Christmas gifts for his 
grandchildren when he was ambushed outside his home, slashed and stabbed with a 
sword dozens of times," Marshall said in an earlier statement.

"His killer has dodged his death sentence for the better part of 3 decades by 
employing much the same strategy he has pursued tonight -- desperately clinging 
to legal maneuverings to avoid facing the consequences of his heinous crime," 
the statement said.

Earlier on Thursday, Price released a statement to his victim through his 
attorneys.

"I am so terribly sorry to the victim and his family for my crime. Neither he 
nor his family deserved what I did. Nobody deserves that," he said.

(source: CNN)

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

PUT TO DEATH ---- Alabama death row killer’s ‘belly heaves’ as he’s executed on 
gurney for butchering pastor with sword in 1991



An Alabama man convicted of butchering a country preacher with a sword during a 
1991 robbery was put to death by lethal injection on Thursday.

The execution was carried out at Holman prison weeks after Price avoided 
another execution date amid disagreements between U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Price was convicted in the killing of Bill Lyn, a north Alabama pastor slain 
just days before Christmas.

Lynn was at home with his wife assembling toys for grandchildren on Dec. 22, 
1991 when the house’s electricity failed.

After Lynn went outside to check the power box, his wife heard a noise and 
looked out the window to see a man dressed in black and holding a sword above 
her husband.

She ran outside and attempted to flee in a van, but was beaten and robbed of 
money and her wedding ring. An autopsy found that Lynn had been cut or stabbed 
more than 30 times.

Price was arrested several days later in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He admitted 
participating in the robbery but blamed another man for the killing.

Kelvin Coleman pleaded guilty to the murder and was sentenced to life in 
prison, while jurors convicted Price of capital murder and a judge sentenced 
him to death.

JUSTICE ADMINISTERED

Strapped to a gurney moments before his death, Price: said "A man is much more 
than his worst mistake". He was pronounced dead at 7:31 p.m.

Alabama Govenor Kay Ivey issued a statement saying Price had had to be 
punished.

"Finally, the loved ones of Pastor Lynn can feel at ease knowing that justice 
has been administered,” she said.

“I pray that, after all these years later, his family can feel a sense of peace 
and comfort.”

Relatives of both Price and Lynn were among those present to witnesses the 
execution, which was delayed by more than an hour awaiting the verdict of a 
final request for a stay made to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Price lifted and lowered his head twice after the initial knockout drug was 
administered, and his belly heaved 5 times, the Associated Press reported.

He then didn’t respond when an office tested for consciousness consciousness by 
flicking his eyelashes and punching him in the arm.

A statement from Lynn's family thanked friends and relatives for their support 
during a "long and difficult journey."

'WE ARE PRAYING TO HAVE PEACE'

"We are praying to finally have peace," said the statement, read by a prison 
official.

Price’s attempt to secure a stay of execution was based on a challenge to 
Alabama’s practice of using 3 drugs for lethal injections.

The nation’s highest court voted 5-4 on Thursday night not to halt the 
execution, though no reason for the decision was given.

Price had asked to instead die by nitrogen hypoxia, an execution method Alabama 
has legally authorized but not developed.

His lawyers argued the method, which kills by depleting the body’s supply of 
oxygen, would be less painful than lethal injection.

At the time Price admitted to participating in the robbery but blamed someone 
else for the murder.

(source: thesun.co.uk)


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

Examining the “sanctity of life” in Alabama



We cannot give Alabama lawmakers (mostly men) and Gov. Kay Ivey a pass on their 
flippant claim they revere life, as they say they demonstrated in passing the 
nation’s most strict and unconstitutional anti-abortion law.

Claiming they care a whit about the “sanctity of life” demonstrates total 
cynicism and disrespect to their constituents.

Much of this has already been underscored in the national media over the past 
couple weeks; if Alabama politicians know anything, they know how to become 
laughingstocks and fools to the rest of the nation. It’s their “special” skill.

And to those extremely rare Republican lawmakers who are reasonably sound of 
mind, that you went along with this charade is deeply disappointing.

Shame on you Sen. Cam Ward. You know better. Grow a pair. The great majority of 
lawmakers have no issue in serving without integrity. You were not one of them, 
Sen. Ward.

Writing that last sentence in the past tense is painful. But then, the truth 
really does hurt.

The anti-woman, anti-physician, anti-choice law would send doctors to prison 
for up to 99 years for performing an abortion on a woman unless her life was in 
serious danger. There’s no exception for rape. There’s no exception for incest. 
There’s certainly no respect for women or their doctors.

As Ivey stabbed the great majority of Alabama’s women in the back by signing 
the fatally flawed bill, she smugly, hypocritically, declared: “Today, I signed 
into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, a bill that was approved by 
overwhelming majorities (of men) in both chambers of the Legislature. To the 
bill’s many supporters (angry white men and their subservient white wives), 
this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held 
belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from 
God.”

And: “The Legislature has spoken. It underscores the sanctity of life the 
people of Alabama value so highly.”

Then Ivey proceeded to oversee her 7th execution of an Alabama inmate. She’ll 
preside over her 8th execution tonight, unless a court intervenes. We know Kay 
“Sanctity of Life” Ivey sure won’t.

Every life is precious. Every life is a sacred gift from God. Sanctity of life?

More like sanctity of bull****.

Ivey refuses to push for an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care 
Act. That alone would save actual lives. Alabama’s infant death rate is among 
the worst in the nation. Third World nations like Cuba have lower infant death 
rates than Alabama. Yet, not one bill passed this legislative session to 
address that sad reality.

Our political leaders believe strongly in what they can’t see or prove and then 
proudly, stubbornly ignore what they can see and do.

Journalist Annalisa Merelli points out there’s nothing new about white women 
betraying their gender. Merelli first quotes former U.S. Secretary of State 
Madeleine Albright: “There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help 
other women.”

And then Merelli writes: “It might be disappointing to witness women stripping 
away other women’s rights, but it shouldn’t be surprising. Women — 
overwhelmingly the white ones — have time and again supported, and in fact 
fought for, the patriarchy in the US.”

That’s right. Many white women know their place – under their husband’s thumb, 
and they like it there.

All manner of issues, from women’s suffrage to the Equal Rights Amendment to 
reproductive freedom have been opposed by white women. They still are.

Right Rep. Terri Collins? Right Gov. Ivey?

Alabama is one of the poorest states in the nation. Yet, our societal safety 
net is awfully small (more of a dip net, really) and getting smaller. Sanctity 
of life? Please.

Alabama makes it difficult for poor children even to get food. We want folks 
who receive government aid to show they’ll work for it, even when they can’t, 
and we’ll make them take a drug test before they even apply.

Journalist Sasha Abramsky quickly makes the same point about Alabama: “Sanctity 
of life? Don’t make me laugh. Not surprisingly, in a state whose political 
leaders view access to basic medical care as a privilege rather than a right, 
the infant death rate is shockingly high. … At the back end of life, people 
also die sooner in Alabama than almost everywhere else in the U.S. A lethal 
cocktail of poverty, malnutrition and lack of access to health care has 
resulted in a life expectancy that places Alabama 49th out of all the 50 
states. An Alabaman born today can expect to live about three years less than 
the average for an American.”

Abramsky continues: “Additional stresses on Alabamans’ life expectancy come 
from two other state-specific factors: Alabama has one of the highest 
gun-fatality rates in the country, and one of the most anti-gun-control 
legislatures. For every 100,000 Alabamans, Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention data show that 22.9 will die of gun-related injuries every year; 
that compares to 7.9 per 100,000 in California. It also has one of the highest 
car crash fatality rates in the country … Sanctity of life? More like a 
potpourri of cruel or unthinking policies that, cumulatively, make life tougher 
and shorter for Alabama residents.”

Are Ivey and Collins and all those white Republicans in the Legislature just 
trying to fool themselves? Or are they intentionally scamming us because they 
assume we’re stupid?

We have to admit we ain’t too smart.

Elections have consequences, folks. We generally get what we deserve. Don’t 
like it, do something about it. You can, you know.

And women: Don’t be a slave to any man.

(source: Opinion; Joey Kennedy, a Pulitzer Prize winner, writes a column every 
week for Alabama Political Reporter)

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

Old death penalty conviction creates an opportunity for JeffCo’s new DA



Last November, Danny Carr was elected District Attorney of Jefferson County. 
Carr ran on a platform of reforming a criminal justice system that too often 
prioritized convictions over truth and transparency. His election, and the 
promise of a new regime in the District Attorney’s Office, could not have come 
at a better time.

In a 2018 interview, Carr explained that while public safety is his top 
priority, “we’re going to make sure that it’s done fair, that it’s done 
respectfully [and] done in a transparent manner.” Six months into his first 
full term, District Attorney Carr has an opportunity to stand up for fairness 
and transparency in the case of Toforest Johnson, a man on Alabama’s death row.

In the early morning hours of July 19, 1995, Jefferson County Deputy Sheriff 
William G. Hardy was tragically shot and killed in the parking lot of a 
Birmingham hotel. Mr. Johnson and three other young, African-American men were 
arrested for the crime. There was no physical evidence or eyewitness testimony 
linking Mr. Johnson to the shooting. He and other witnesses have always 
maintained his innocence, explaining that he was across town at the time Deputy 
Hardy was killed.

So how is Mr. Johnson on death row today? The answer: in 1998, at Mr. Johnson’s 
trial, the State put on the testimony of a witness who claimed she could 
connect him to the crime. This woman did not know Mr. Johnson, had never met 
him, and did not know what his voice sounded like. But she claimed that one 
day, while eavesdropping on a three-way telephone call, she heard a man 
identify himself as “Toforest” and admit to shooting Deputy Hardy. That’s it. 
On that testimony alone, the jury convicted Toforest Johnson and sentenced him 
to die.

Sound hard to believe? Don’t take my word for it. Former Assistant District 
Attorney Jeff Wallace was the lead prosecutor on Mr. Johnson’s case, and he 
testified in court that “I don’t think the State’s case was very strong, 
because it depended on the testimony” of that one witness.

Earlier this year, documents were disclosed for the very first time that the 
District Attorney’s Office paid its star witness $5,000 for her testimony. The 
previous District Attorney’s Office never told this information to Mr. 
Johnson’s lawyers or the jury.

That’s not transparency; that is a deliberate effort to conceal facts about the 
critical witness in a death penalty case.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Jefferson County District 
Attorney’s office was involved in a secret reward payment to a witness in a 
death penalty case. In 2015, Montez Spradley was released from death row after 
his lawyers discovered that one of the State’s star witnesses was also paid 
$5,000 for her testimony, which was never disclosed to the defense.

Make no mistake – District Attorney Carr was not the District Attorney in 1998, 
when Mr. Johnson was sentenced to death. This is the legacy of the previous 
office that Carr inherited when he was elected last November, and he knows it. 
He even tweeted about the Spradley case during his campaign. But this does not 
have to be the legacy of District Attorney Carr.

As members of the Birmingham community, it is important that we ask Carr to 
follow through on his promise of fairness and transparency in our criminal 
justice system. I, along with other leaders in the Birmingham community, have 
written to District Attorney Carr. We are asking him to support a new trial for 
Mr. Johnson – a fair trial, one in which the jury hears the whole story. What 
could be more transparent than that?

We at Greater Birmingham Ministries understand that Mr. Johnson was convicted 
and sent to death row in the name of the people of Jefferson County and the 
State. We can’t stand idly by. A new trial would not only be justice for Mr. 
Johnson, it would be justice for us all.

(source: Scott Douglas is the Executive Director of Greater Birmingham 
Ministries----al.com)

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

Man arrested in Phenix City drive-by shooting could face death penalty if 
convicted



Phenix City police have made an arrest in a Memorial Day weekend drive-by 
shooting on Fourth Place South, according to a news release Thursday morning.

Jamarkus Quintez Rowell was arrested late Wednesday and charged with capital 
murder in the death of 22-year-old Tre’yahi Allen. If convicted, he could face 
the death penalty.

If you kill someone while shooting from a vehicle, you are subject to the 
capital murder charge in Alabama.

Rowell is being held in the Russell County Jail without bond.

Sunday about 8:50 p.m., police were called to 1001 4th Place South in reference 
to a person who had been shot. Officers found Allen dead at the scene.

Witnesses stated that an SUV pulled up and stopped in the roadway; a male began 
shooting from the vehicle, striking Mr. Allen, according to police. The suspect 
then fled the scene in the vehicle.

(source: WRBL news)








LOUISIANA----female may face death penalty

State to decide by Aug. 1 on death penalty in Levi Ellerbe homicide case



The state will decide by Aug. 1 whether to seek the death penalty for Hanna 
Nicole Barker, the woman accused in the July 2018 burning death of her 
6-month-old son, Levi Cole Ellerbe.

Barker was in court Thursday for a hearing on 22 motions in the first-degree 
murder case, all but one filed by defense attorney Dru Thompson.

Barker and another woman, Felicia Marie-Nicole Smith, are accused of staging 
Levi's kidnapping on the night of July 17, 2018, from the Natchitoches travel 
trailer where he lived with Barker.

The indictment against Smith, who also faces a 1st-degree murder charge, 
alleges that she set Levi on fire in a ditch after dousing him with gasoline. 
The boy was found less than 2 hours later when a passerby reported the fire.

Levi suffered 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns over 90 % of his body. He died early 
the next day at a Shreveport hospital.

(source: thetowntalk.com)



OHIO:

Prosecutors and lawyers for a Jordanian man who spent two decades on Ohio's 
death row before his conviction was tossed said Thursday that they are trying 
to work out an agreement to avoid his retrial.



Ahmad Fawzi Issa, 49, in jail stripes and handcuffs, pleaded not guilty to 
aggravated murder in Hamilton County court. He will remain jailed without bond. 
While the murder charge may end up being dropped, attorneys said Issa will face 
likely deportation to his homeland after this case is resolved.

Issa was convicted in 1998 and sentenced to die for allegedly arranging the 
1997 slaying of a Cincinnati convenience store owner. The 6th U.S. Circuit 
Court of Appeals last year threw out his conviction, ruling that his 
constitutional right to confront witnesses against him was violated and that 
hearsay testimony was used to convict him.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Ohio's appeal and gave the state 6 
months to retry Issa or release him.

Prosecutor Mark Piepmeier said it would be difficult to take the case to trial 
again after so many years, and that at least 2 of the original police 
investigators have died. He also said of three people charged in the case, 
Issa, the alleged middleman in a contract murder, got the strongest sentence in 
the slaying of store owner Maher Khriss.

"The least morally culpable, in my mind, is the guy that got the death 
penalty," Piepmeier told The Associated Press. "It's kind of unjust."

Judge J. Patrick Foley III scheduled a July 18 hearing for an update on the 
case.

"Right now, he's pretty positive and upbeat," said Issa's defense attorney 
Timothy McKenna, who added that he is still reviewing the original case.

Khriss' wife, Linda, was charged with hiring someone to kill him but was 
acquitted at her trial. Andre Miles was convicted of 2 counts of aggravated 
murder of Maher Khriss and his brother Ziad Khriss in the parking lot of 
Maher's store in the early morning hours of Nov. 22, 1997.

Miles is serving life in prison without parole. Miles refused to testify at 
Issa's trial, in which other witnesses said Miles told them he was hired by 
Issa to kill the store owner.

The appeals court said Miles' statements "are the only direct evidence 
implicating Issa in a murder for hire." The court's ruling also pointed out 
that Miles' friends said he often bragged and lied.

(source: Associated Press)








CALIFORNIA:

Jury Recommends Death in Ambush Killing of Police Officers----A jury has 
recommended death for a man convicted of killing 2 California police officers 
and wounding 6 others in an ambush-style attack in 2016.



A jury on Thursday recommended death for a man convicted of killing 2 Southern 
California police officers and wounding 6 others in an ambush-style attack in 
2016, prosecutors said.

The same jury that convicted 28-year-old John Hernandez Felix of murder and 
attempted murder earlier this month recommended capital punishment, according 
to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

He'll be sentenced by a judge on Aug. 30.

Palm Springs Officers Lesley Zerebny and Jose "Gil" Vega were killed responding 
to a call about domestic violence at the home of Felix's mother on Oct. 8, 
2016. Prosecutors said Felix opened fire with an AR-15 rifle.

6 other officers were injured as police and Felix exchanged gunfire in the 
neighborhood more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) east of Los Angeles. Felix 
was arrested after a lengthy standoff.

"We are gratified with the jury's verdict and this represents a step toward 
justice for these 2 fallen officers," District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a 
statement Thursday.

Defense attorney John Dolan has contended Felix, an admitted gang member, is 
intellectually disabled and should not face capital punishment.

Dolan didn't immediately comment on Thursday's jury recommendation.

Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this year announced a moratorium on enforcing the 
death penalty but the decision does not prevent prosecutors from seeking or 
judges and juries from imposing death sentences.

Vega, a father of 8, was a 35-year veteran months away from retirement when he 
was killed. He wasn't scheduled to work the day he died but had volunteered to 
fill the shift.

Zerebny was a rookie officer just back from maternity leave.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Kim Kardashian visits prisoner on death row----Kim Kardashian travelled to San 
Quentin State Prison to meet a prisoner on death row



The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star visited the prison on Thursday, 30 May 
to meet Kevin Cooper, 61, who was convicted of committing 4 murders in Chino 
Hills.

Cooper has been on death row since 1983 but he has always maintained that he 
was framed.

Kim has been working on Cooper’s case since October, where she requested the 
then-Governor of California Jerry Brown to look into the case, TMZ reports.

The current Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, is against the death penalty 
opponent and he has decided to suspend all executions whilst he is in office.

She wrote in a lengthy Instagram post recently: “Last year I registered with 
the California State Bar to study law. For the next four years, a minimum of 18 
hours a week is required, I will take written and multiple choice tests 
monthly. As my first year is almost coming to an end I am preparing for the 
baby bar, a mini version of the bar, which is required when studying law this 
way. I’ve seen some comments from people who are saying it’s my privilege or my 
money that got me here, but that’s not the case.

“One person actually said I should ‘stay in my lane’. I want people to 
understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams, 
and the accomplishment of new goals. You can create your own lanes, just as I 
am. The state bar doesn’t care who you are. This option is available to anyone 
who’s state allows it. It’s true I did not finish college. You need 60 college 
credits (I had 75) to take part in ‘reading the law’, which is an in office law 
school being apprenticed by lawyers. For anyone assuming this is the easy way 
out, it’s not.”

(source: all4women.co.za)






USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution



With the execution of Christopher Price in Alabama on May 30, the USA has now 
executed 1,499 condemned individuals since the death penalty was re-legalized 
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.

1500------July 31-------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas

1501------Aug. 15-------------Dexter Johnson-----------Texas

1502-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee

1503-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas

1504-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas

1505-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas

1506-------Sept. 12-----------Warren Henness-----------Ohio

1507-------Oct. 2-------------Stephen Barbee-----------Texas

Learn more about efforts to #StopThe1500th Execution and how you can be 
involved at http://deathpenaltyaction.org/1500th [deathpenaltyaction.org]

(source: Rick Halperin)

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

New Hampshire has become the 21st state to abolish or overturn the death 
penalty, joining a growing list of states that have done away with the 
punishment. 29 states still allow capital punishment, but in 4 of them 
governors have issued moratoriums on the death penalty, according to the Death 
Penalty Information Center.



A list of the states that have abandoned the death penalty and year that took 
place:

New Hampshire, 2019

Washington, 2018

Delaware, 2016

Maryland 2013

Connecticut, 2012

Illinois, 2011

New Mexico, 2009

New York, 2007

New Jersey, 2007

Rhode Island, 1984

Massachusetts, 1984

North Dakota, 1973

Iowa, 1965

West Virginia, 1965

Vermont, 1964

Alaska, 1957

Hawaii, 1957

Minnesota, 1911

Maine, 1887

Wisconsin, 1853

Michigan, 1846

(source: startribune.com)