[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----IND., MO., COLO., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 9



INDIANA:

Prosecutor to seek death penalty for cannibal


Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart has filed his intent to seek the death 
penalty against confessed cannibal Joseph Oberhansley.

Oberhansley, 33, is accused of killing his 46-year-old girlfriend Tammy Jo 
Blanton before he ate parts of her brain, heart and a lung.

A hearing is scheduled next week for Oberhansley on the amended case 
information that also lists burglary and dismemberment, which are among the 
required "aggravating circumstances" under Indiana law for seeking capital 
punishment.

A jury trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 16.

On Sept. 11, Jeffersonville Police responded twice to Blanton's home in the 300 
block of Locust Street near downtown.

Blanton initially called 911 about 3 a.m., saying her ex-boyfriend was outside 
and refused to leave. She told police when they arrived that she had broken up 
with Oberhansley and the locks had been changed, according to the probable 
cause affidavit from Jeffersonville Detective Todd Hollis.

Police told Oberhansley to leave and officers made sure he did after Blanton 
talked with him outside. Then about seven hours later, police received a call 
from Sabrina Hall, one of Blanton's co-workers, who was concerned that she 
didn't show up at work since another friend told her Blanton had been having 
trouble with her boyfriend.

Police found the rear door of her home had been forced open. Blanton's 
dismembered body was found in the bathtub covered by a tent, surrounded by 
pools of blood in the tub and on the floor.

"The front of the victim's skull appeared to have been crushed and brain tissue 
appeared scattered around the bathtub," the affidavit states.

Oberhansley admitted to police that he had broken into the house and the 
bathroom, where Blanton had locked herself inside. He killed her using a knife 
then used an electric jigsaw to cut open her skull, according to the affidavit.

Police found a bloody knife in Oberhansley's pocket. And the next day, while 
the crime scene was being cleaned, a worker told police he noticed a saw blade 
under the bathroom garbage can.

In 1998, Oberhansley was convicted of killing his former girlfriend in Utah. He 
served 14 years before being released in 2012.

Utah discharged him from parole on July 23, and on July 31, Oberhansley's 
then-girlfriend Blanton posted $500 bond for him on charges of criminal 
recklessness and resisting law enforcement stemming from a slow-speed car chase 
that crossed the Kentucky state line, The Courier-Journal previously reported.

Prosecutor-elect Jeremy Mull said in September that Oberhansley "should have 
still been in jail," though another deputy prosecutor agreed to have the 
$25,000 cash bond for the car chase reduced to $5,000 without Mull's knowledge.

Blanton posted the required 10 %, or $500, for him on July 31.

The deputy prosecutor who agreed to the reduced bond, Benjamin Read, left the 
office before Blanton was murdered to work in private practice, said Stewart, 
who doesn't believe it would have made a difference when Oberhansley was set 
free.

(source: The Courier-Journal)






MISSOURI----impending execution

Attorney tries to save Mo. death row inmate


Convicted murderer Paul Goodwin will be executed December 10 at 12:01 a.m. 
unless his legal team can convince Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to halt the 
execution.

"I believe that Paul is mentally retarded," said attorney Jennifer Herndon. "On 
top of that, even more, I believe he is incompetent to be executed. I think the 
reason we're optimistic is because we believe that's the just outcome."

Goodwin's attorney met Monday morning with the governor's staff, asking for a 
stay of execution because of Goodwin's intellectual disability, what used to be 
referred to as "mental retardation."

"We as a society have decided it's not okay to execute someone who is either 
mentally retarded or incompetent to be executed," Herndon said.

No one is disputing that 6'7", 300-pound Paul Goodwin committed the crime. Joan 
Crotts was beaten to death with a hammer inside her home in 1998. Goodwin 
confessed to the crime, Crott's blood was found on Goodwin's clothes, and his 
fingerprints were found at the scene. The 48-year- old Goodwin has been on 
death row at Potosi Correctional Institution for 17 years.

What has been disputed in multiple appeals and a 2006 Missouri Supreme Court 
decision is Goodwin's intellectual disability. Herndon, Goodwin's attorney 
since 2007, said no court fully examined it.

"The Missouri Supreme Court gives a lot of weight to what the lower court did 
and the lower courts just messed it up," Herndon said. "It was kind of a double 
whammy. The lawyer didn't do a good job of presenting it and the court didn't 
do a good job of considering it."

South Carolina psychologist Dr. Denis Keyes is an expert on mental retardation 
and capital punishment who has met with Paul Goodwin several times since 2001.

"For him to really understand what is involved in the death penalty would 
require him to function on a much higher level than he does. He functions 
verbally somewhere around 10 or 11 years old," said Keyes.

In the clemency appeals report that went to the governor, Keyes wrote that a 
diagnosis of mental retardation is appropriate for Goodwin.

"His mental retardation is to the extent that it serves no purpose of justice 
to execute him," said Keyes. "Atkins vs. Virginia was the Supreme Court case in 
2002 that supposedly did away with the death penalty for people who are 
intellectually impaired to this extent."

Forensic social worker Caryn Tattani interviewed prison employees and inmates 
to determine Goodwin's intellectual impairment. One of Goodwin's former 
cellmates related a story to Tattani.

"When it was time to clean the cell, Paul would get the cleaning detergent and 
a rag, and squirt the detergent into the toilet bowl and he would swish the rag 
around in the toilet bowl to create suds and then he would wipe the cell down 
using this rag that he was dipping in and out of the toilet bowl," Tattani said

Goodwin became defensive and angry when he was criticized for using toilet bowl 
water to clean his cell, until his mother explained why he needed to stop.

In 2006, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled Goodwin was intelligent enough to die 
for his crime.

"Even though the Missouri Supreme Court found against Paul and said even though 
he didn't meet the statutory definition of mentally retarded, they also said in 
their opinion he can come back and challenge competency to be executed and 
that's exactly what he's doing," Herndon said.

(source: KSDK news)

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

Family Seeks Clemency for Condemned Missouri Man


The sister of Missouri death row inmate Paul Goodwin is asking Gov. Jay Nixon 
to commute the sentence to life in prison, calling execution an unjust penalty 
for a man with the mental capabilities of a child.

Paul Goodwin, 48, is scheduled to die by injection at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday at 
the state prison in Bonne Terre. He used a hammer to kill Joan Crotts, a 
63-year-old widow, in St. Louis County in 1998.

An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and a clemency petition both claim that 
Goodwin has an IQ of 73. His sister, Mary Mifflin, wrote in a statement that 
her brother remains child-like, even in prison. She said the death penalty "is 
not a just punishment for his crime ? an act that occurred out of passion, not 
premeditation, by a man with the mental capabilities of a child, not an adult."

The Missouri Attorney General's office respond to the Supreme Court petition by 
citing testimony at Goodwin's trial, where a psychologist testified that 
Goodwin's IQ is low, but not low enough to be considered mentally disabled.

The 6-foot-7, 300-pound Goodman received special education as a child but still 
failed several grades, Mifflin wrote. He relied on relatives and his girlfriend 
to help with such tasks as buying groceries or paying bills, she said.

When the girlfriend died, Goodwin wasn't capable of handling the grief and 
turned to alcohol, which was a factor in his attack on Crotts, Mifflin wrote.

Goodwin is sorry for the crime, attorney Jennifer Herndon said.

"From the beginning he's said, 'This is horrible.' But he's so impaired he 
doesn't really have the ability to show remorse like a normal adult would 
show," she said.

But Crotts' daughter, Debbie Decker, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that 
Goodwin deserves no mercy.

"I've been sitting back waiting for this to happen," Decker said. "I'm hoping 
all these bad memories will go away."

In the mid-1990s, Goodwin lived in a St. Louis County boarding house that was 
next door to Crotts' home. The 2 had been involved in several verbal 
confrontations.

Goodwin was evicted in 1996 after he and friends harassed Crotts, including 
throwing beer cans into her yard. Court records show that Goodwin blamed Crotts 
for his eviction, telling her, "I'm going to get you for this," according to 
trial testimony.

On March 1, 1998, Goodwin entered Crotts' home and confronted her. After a 
sexual assault, he pushed her down the basement stairs before striking her head 
several times with a hammer. She died at a hospital.

Police found a handwritten note on Crotts' kitchen table that read, "You are 
next." Fingerprints from the note and a Pepsi can matched Goodwin's, and his 
hearing aid was also found inside the home. He admitted the crime after his 
arrest.

A separate appeal to the Supreme Court raises concerns about Missouri's use of 
an execution drug purchased from an undisclosed compounding pharmacy. The 
state's response notes that the high court has already denied similar petitions 
in previous executions.

The execution would be the 10th in Missouri this year - the most ever. It would 
also tie Texas for the most executions in any state in 2014. Texas, Missouri 
and Florida have combined for 27 of the 33 executions in the U.S. this year.

(source: Associated Press)






COLORADO:

James Holmes defense team asks for trial delay


Defense lawyers in the Aurora theater shooting case requested a delay in the 
start of the trial.

The judge is considering their request.

The case has been delayed 5 times.

Attorneys for shooter James Holmes say they need more time to go over a 
doctor's report that evaluates their client's sanity.

Legal expert Craig Silverman says this request doesn't come as a surprise. 
"Delay is always the ally of a death penalty defendant. The longer the trial 
takes the more certainty your client will remain alive."

The defense team also told the judge that unspecified medical emergencies 
involving one of their lawyers and an investigator have slowed their 
preparation.

A decision on the delay request is expected in the next few days.

(source: KDVR news)






CALIFORNIA:

Death penalty sought in NorCal deputy killings----Sacramento, Placer 
independently decide on seeking punishment


Prosecutors in Placer and Sacramento counties have decided to seek the death 
penalty for a man suspected of killing 2 Northern California sheriff's 
deputies.

A man armed with a rifle who shot 3 Northern California sheriff's deputies, 
killing 2, was apprehended after a manhunt Friday that spanned 2 counties, 
authorities say.

12 days ago, Anthony Holmes was listed in critical condition at the UC Davis 
Medical Center after he was shot 4 times at close range during a deadly crime 
rampage.

The Sacramento District Attorney said the 2 counties independently came to the 
same conclusion after interviewing witnesses and the victims' families.

Luis Enrique Monroy Bracamontes, as he was named in a court filing on Tuesday, 
is accused of killing a Sacramento County deputy and Placer County deputy 
during an October crime spree. He was previously identified as Marcelo Marquez.

Bracamontes' wife, Janelle Marquez Monroy, is also a suspect in the October 
crime spree, which started when two officers attempted to conduct a routine 
check-up on a suspicious vehicle parked outside a Sacramento motel.

The deadly chain of event escalated from there when Sacramento County Sheriff's 
Deputy Danny Oliver was shot in Sacramento. He later died from his wounds.

A wild 6-hour chase ensued and led to the shooting death of Placer County 
Sheriff's Det. Michael David Davis Jr.

(source: KCRA news)






USA:

Can the death penalty be abolished?


Just hours before a scheduled execution in Georgia, a coalition of civil rights 
groups announced a new push to end the death penalty in the United States.

The groups, including NAACP and Amnesty International, said there was new 
momentum for the cause as support for capital punishment erodes, more states 
abolish the death penalty and a series of botched executions has opened 
Americans' eyes to what they view as the brutality of the practice. They 
condemned it as an outdated, immoral and racist institution and pledged to 
redouble their efforts to reach out to the 90 million Americans, who they said 
oppose the practice.

"The practice of government-sponsored execution simply has no place in a modern 
criminal justice system," said Norman L. Reimer, executive director of the 
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, 1 of the groups in the "90 
Million Strong" coalition.

The announcement came as another controversial execution loomed - that of 
Robert Wayne Holsey, a convicted cop-killer in Georgia who is scheduled to die 
by lethal injection at 7 p.m. Tuesday. A parole board refused to grant clemency 
to Holsey on Monday, "apparently unpersuaded by evidence that he was ineptly 
represented at trial by a drunken lawyer, had an exceptionally harsh childhood 
and has a severe intellectual deficit," according to The New York Times.

The trial lawyer admitted he was drinking as much as a quart of vodka a day and 
at the time of Holsey's conviction was facing theft charges of his own, the 
Times said.

It's not exactly an unfamiliar story. By this point, many Americans are no 
doubt familiar with the fact that African Americans are disproportionately 
convicted of capital crimes, that indigent criminals often receive subpar 
representation and that those who commit capital crimes sometimes suffer from 
mental and intellectual disabilities. But would they go so far as to abolish 
the death penalty?

The answer is, probably not. 60 % of Americans favor the death penalty, 
according to a June Washington Post-ABC News poll, while 37 % are opposed.

Still, this coalition may have some hope. Support for the death penalty is down 
substantially from 1994, when 80 % of Americans supported the death penalty, 
the poll showed. And for the 1st time, the poll showed that more than half of 
Americans say they prefer a life sentence for convicted murderers rather than 
execution, with the shift primarily resulting from changing opinions among 
nonwhites.

(source: Washington Post)

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

Woman seeking change of venue in murder case retrial----Death sentence sought 
again for woman who aided boyfriend's murders


A former Klemme woman accused in 5 1993 drug-related North Iowa slayings wants 
her death penalty retrial moved out of the state.

Attorneys for Angela Johnson have filed motions asking that the case be moved 
to Minnesota or alternatively to hold the trial outside of the western and 
central parts of Iowa. The retrial is scheduled for March 2015.

Her death sentences were overturned in 2012 after a judge determined Johnson's 
defense was inadequate and failed to present evidence about her mental state 
that could have convinced jurors to spare her life.

The convictions stood. Only the penalties will be at issue in the retrial.

According to court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern 
District of Iowa, the motion for change of venue is based on "extensive, recent 
and prejudicial pretrial publicity in the Northern and Southern Districts of 
Iowa about the specific fact that she has previously been convicted and 
sentenced to death."

The prosecution alleges Johnson helped her boyfriend, Dustin Honken, carry out 
the killings to thwart a federal investigation into their drug enterprise. 
Honken was convicted separately and is on death row.

Johnson became the 1st woman sent to federal death row in decades after a jury 
gave her 4 death sentences following a 2005 trial for her role in the 
execution-style killings of 3 adults and 1 children in North Iowa.

Court documents have also been filed asking the court to rule the death penalty 
is unconstitutional as applied to Johnson.

If she is again sentenced to death, court documents estimate by the time she 
exhausts all her appeals she would not be executed before approximately 2025, 
or about 32 years after the crimes occurred.

"Society's interest in retribution will have been served by her lifelong 
incarceration. Any deterrent effect will have long gone by the wayside," court 
documents state.

Johnson has been incarcerated for more than 14 years and on death row for 
almost 10.

(source: WCF Courier)

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

Prosecutors, defense lawyers spar over jury selection in Tsarnaev trial


Federal prosecutors and lawyers for accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar 
Tsarnaev sparred in legal filings on Monday over jury selection in the highly 
anticipated trial, which could bring the death penalty.

In 1 filing in federal court in Boston, prosecutors opposed a defense request 
to be allotted 30 peremptory challenges in the case. Peremptory challenges are 
objections that typically bar potential jurors from serving, without any 
explanation needed from the lawyers.

The jury in Tsarnaev's trial will decide whether he receives the death penalty 
if convicted of playing a role in the April 15, 2013, bombings, which killed 3 
people and wounded more than 260.

The defense and prosecution are each entitled to 20 peremptory challenges in a 
typical federal capital trial, the government said Monday. Tsarnaev's request 
for 10 additional challenges to offset adverse pretrial publicity should be 
denied, prosecutors argued in the filing.

"In perfectly plain language that leaves no room for interpretation, Congress 
specified that a defendant in a capital case is entitled to exactly 20 
peremptory challenges," the court document stated.

In a separate filing on Monday, defense lawyers asked that every potential 
juror in the pool of more than 1,000 who makes it past initial screening be 
questioned individually to check for bias.

Prosecutors instead want those candidates to be questioned in groups of 50, 
with additional individual interviews as needed.

Group questioning is "especially unlikely to ferret out biased jurors who are 
eager to serve in order to implement their own agendas - whether to convict, to 
impose a death sentence, or simply to be a part of a famous criminal case," 
defense attorneys wrote, noting that Governor-elect Charlie Baker identified 
Tsarnaev in a Boston Globe column in October as the living person he most 
despises.

"In a state that just elected as governor a candidate who publicly designated 
the defendant as the 'living person [he] most despise[s],' . . . such concerns 
[about bias] are not unfounded," defense lawyers said.

Tsarnaev's trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 5.

(source: Boston Globe)

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

Prosecutors say death penalty decision expected in January in case against Paul 
Ciancia


A federal prosecutor said Monday that he expects a decision by early January on 
whether the death penalty will be sought against a 24-year-old accused of the 
deadly shooting spree at Los Angeles International Airport.

The ultimate decision on whether death is an appropriate penalty in the case 
against Paul Anthony Ciancia is up to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald told U.S. District Judge Philip S. 
Gutierrez during a brief hearing that his office had provided its 
recommendation to Holder as to the penalty, but did not indicate what that was.

"At this time we do not have a decision from the attorney general," Fitzgerald 
told the court, adding that he hoped to have an answer in time for the next 
status conference case on Jan. 5.

The prosecutor indicated that a meeting had taken place in September with 
members of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles and Ciancia's lawyers, and 
the results of those discussions were passed on to Holder's office last month.

Ciancia, who stands a little over 5 feet, was brought to court in green and 
white jail clothing, shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles.

3 of the 11 counts against Ciancia carry the potential for a death sentence: 
murder of a federal officer, use of a firearm that led to the murder and an act 
of violence in an international airport.

Ciancia, a Sun Valley resident, allegedly stormed into Terminal 3 on Nov. 1, 
2013, with an assault rifle, killing Transportation Security Administration 
agent Gerardo Hernandez and wounding 3 others.

In addition to 1st-degree murder, the indictment charges Ciancia with 2 counts 
of attempted murder for the shootings of TSA Officers Tony Grigsby and James 
Speer. Brian Ludmer, a Calabasas teacher, also was wounded.

Ciancia also is charged with 1 count of using a firearm to commit murder and 3 
counts of brandishing and discharging a firearm.

During the shooting spree, Ciancia allegedly was carrying a handwritten, signed 
note saying he wanted to kill TSA agents and "instill fear in their traitorous 
minds," along with dozens of rounds of ammunition.

Ciancia was shot in the head and leg during a gun battle with Airport police 
and remains held without bail at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center.

Gutierrez was adamant that the case would be tried next year, although defense 
attorney Hilary L. Potashner said in August that she may ask for more time if 
death is sought.

(source: Daily Breeze)