[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., FLA., MISS.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 12



TEXAS:

Reflections from America's Death Penalty Capital


THE CRIME

Around 6:35 p.m. on September 10, 2014, the loud group of 30 or so protesters 
fell silent. They represented the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, 
and they had gathered near the northwest corner of the Huntsville Unit - home 
to Texas' execution facility. One protester rang a hand bell 20 times, in time 
with what felt like collective exhales of the group. Each note symbolized a 
year that Willie Tyrone Trottie had spent on death row. In those 20 long 
breaths my picture of the death penalty in the United States crystallized. The 
slipshod implementation of the death penalty - as evidenced especially this 
year by botched executions and death row exonerations via DNA testing - has 
begun to make clear the dire disconnect between its supposed and actual intent.

Trottie was convicted in May 1993 for the murder of his former common-law wife, 
Barbara Canada, and her brother, Titus Canada. Trottie had threatened to kill 
Canada if she did not come back to him. He arrived at the Canadas' house that 
day and, after being shot by Titus upon entering the house, shot Barbara and 
Titus multiple times and wounded other members of the Canada family. His and 
Barbara's son was also present. After the bloodbath, Trottie drove himself to 
the hospital to seek treatment for his wounds and was promptly arrested upon 
release.

The crime was brutal, and Trottie's role in it was never in question. In other 
words, the guilt-innocence portion of the trial was fairly straightforward. But 
far less straightforward was the punishment phase. In this phase, the Texas 
courts - as in most states-considered possible mitigating circumstances and 
decided whether Trottie posed a future threat to society. Resolving that he 
did, the courts accordingly decided he must be put to death by the state of 
Texas. Yet the statute underlying this punishment is far less straightforward 
than it might appear. When the Texas death penalty statute was written, there 
was no sentence to life without parole. Today, with this alternative available, 
the only consequentialist justification for the death penalty is that the 
condemned poses a threat to other prisoners. Therefore, in sentencing Trottie 
to death, the courts found that he was likely to engage in another act of 
violence within the walls of the prison.

In the final week before Trottie's execution - 20 years after the sentence was 
handed down - his attorneys filed 2 separate last-minute appeals for a stay of 
execution. One appeal argued that Trottie had not received adequate legal 
counsel at his 1993 trial. Trottie maintained that the lawyers assigned to him 
did not investigate the possible mitigating circumstances surrounding his 
abusive and painful childhood. In the second appeal, Trottie's attorneys filed 
a motion with the Supreme Court claiming that the pentobarbital that Texas had 
secured for his lethal injection was past its expiration date and might cause 
Trottie excruciating pain, in violation of the Eighth Amendment. This appeal 
was no doubt influenced by the 3 botched executions that occurred earlier this 
year. The strongest arguments against the death penalty can be extracted from 
these desperate last minute appeals, which point to today's haphazard 
implementation of the death penalty and the confused principles upon which it 
is built.

Officially, Trottie was not executed in the name of retribution, so often 
invoked by deontologist death penalty supporters. Furthermore, the 
consequentialist reasons for his execution were muddled at best. And while 
Huntsville locals talked about just deserts, retribution, and justice, few 
talked about his threat to society at large. Not one alluded to the threat 
Trottie posed within the Harris County Prison, where the courts might have sent 
him for a life sentence without parole.

THE PLACE

Executions in Texas take place at 6:00 p.m. at the Huntsville Unit, which lies 
70 miles north of Houston in an otherwise quiet town. Since the reinstatement 
of the death penalty in 1982, Huntsville has seen nearly 5 times more 
executions than any other American city.

The afternoon that I arrived, I visited the Texas Prison Museum, a highly 
fascinating and tonally confused museum run by the Texas Department of Criminal 
Justice. The museum holds the electric chair formerly used for executions, 
commonly referred to as "Old Sparky," as well as one of Bonnie and Clyde's 
handguns. Near the end of the exhibit, you can pay $3 to put on official TDCJ 
prison garb and have your photo taken in a mock prison cell. On the wall near 
Old Sparky was a quotation that neatly summarized the clash of tones. Warden 
R.F. Coleman, on the day of the first execution by electric chair in 1924, 
stated, "A warden can't be a warden and a killer too. The penitentiary is a 
place to reform a man, not to kill him."

Before leaving the museum, I asked the desk attendant what he thought about the 
upcoming execution. He said, without missing a beat, "That man deserves to 
die."

THE MOOD

About a mile south of the prison museum sits the Captain Joe Byrd Cemetery, 
where bodies unclaimed from the Texas prison system are laid to rest. The 
cemetery was very quiet and unwatched. The 3,000 tombstones-some concrete 
crosses and others plain rectangular headstones-are neatly kept and organized 
into clean lines. Each headstone bears the inmate's name, the date of his 
death, and his TDCJ identification number. If the deceased was executed, an "X" 
is placed in front of the TCDJ number.

After the cemetery, I stopped in a cafe??? on 11th street for a coffee. A chime 
on the door signaled the entry of a round middle - aged man wearing suspenders, 
round glasses, and a bowler hat. After he had ordered, I asked to join him at 
his table. All I had to say was, "Do you know that there's an execution 
happening a few blocks from here, in just a few hours?" He unleashed, in a 
Texan drawl, his inner conflict about the death penalty. He felt that some 
people deserved to die, but he then admitted that he didn't see how a life 
sentence without possibility of parole was any different from a legal 
standpoint. As we were the only 2 patrons that late afternoon, the waitress 
joined our conversation and echoed the gentleman's view. She remarked, "The 
crimes are in the past; does that mean the criminal doesn't deserve any future 
at all?" She handed me a bag of potato chips on my way out. The man and the 
waitress asked not to be identified by name.

I walked about a half-block to the First United Methodist Church on 11th street 
to meet with the senior pastor, Reverend Scott Dornbush. The reverend welcomed 
me into his spacious office. The walls were the same color as the carpet, very 
beige, and were punctuated by framed accolades and icons. Sitting down across 
from the reverend - a hardy, smiling, bald man in glasses and a suit - I asked 
him what we are to make of the death penalty as it is practiced today. He 
smiled sympathetically and asked, "Can I show you something?" Walking around 
his desk to the wall behind me, he wrestled a big frame off the wall and handed 
it to me. It was a letter the reverend had written to George W. Bush, then 
governor of Texas, and the governor's semi-automated response to it, both in a 
frame three times their collective size. In the letter, the reverend implored 
the governor to abolish the death penalty. His argument was this: Perhaps some 
people deserve to die, but the state of Texas lacks the power to discern and 
the uniform metric of justice to approximate who those people are.

Leaving Dornbush and the church around 4:00, I made my way to the nearby 
Huntsville Unit. There, I was to meet Michael Graczyk, a reporter for the 
Associated Press who has witnessed over 300 executions. Graczyk was a big man 
with a gentle demeanor. I asked him for all the detail he could afford me of 
the execution chamber. It all sounded very medical: a gurney, straps, 
aquamarine walls. The executioner administering the drugs stands behind a 2-way 
mirror, unseen by the witnesses or the condemned inmate. The medicalization of 
executions is arguably part of a broader trend of confusing punishment and 
treatment. The incarceration rate in the United States is five to ten times 
that of other democracies-our nation's harsh sentences are dealt largely 
without first considering more rehabilitative modes of punishment. In fact, a 
report by Human Rights Watch noted that, where prison was once seen as the 
final recourse, it has come to be "treated as the medicine that cures all 
ills."

After Graczyk retreated into the administration building, I joined the media 
section, a growing group gathering in a shady area with a ten-meter radius 
between the TDCJ administrative building and the 30-or-so protesters rallying 
further down 12th street. I noted such a difference in attitudes that it was 
difficult to imagine that everyone there was gathered around the same event. 
While protesters shouted over a loudspeaker (You say death row, we say hell 
no!), members of the media seemed to speak without moving their jaws, as if to 
avoid any facial movement that might resemble expression. The result was an 
uncertain hush, which served as a neutral barrier between the shouts of the 
protesters to my right and the pin-drop silence of the TDCJ officials to my 
left. I spoke softly with a group of reporters from the BBC and with the 
cameraman for a Norwegian documentary film on the death penalty.

THE EXECUTION

At around 5:15, 1 man's voice-expressive and unmuffled - emerged from the 
media's silence. The voice belonged to New York University Law Professor Robert 
Blecker, a notorious retributivist defender of the death penalty, who was 
answering interview questions on camera for the Norwegian documentary. 
Blecker's defense of the death penalty rests on his belief that retribution is 
the only way to restore a moral balance in the aftermath of a crime. For the 
"worst of the worst" criminals, the death penalty is the only form of 
retribution commensurate with the crime. When asked about Trottie's imminent 
execution, however, Blecker admitted that he was "slightly conflicted." His 
uncertainty about the case at hand arose from 2 distinct concerns: one more 
philosophical and the other primarily legal. Philosophically, Blecker was 
unsure whether Trottie could be classified as "the worst of the worst." 
Legally, Blecker asked, "What is the evidence that Trottie would kill again 
within the walls of the prison?"

Shocked by the fact that Blecker, one of the most famous legal supporters of 
the death penalty, does not support the death penalty statute in Texas, I 
walked down 12th street to join the protesters. Trottie's aunt Cynthia, 
standing with the TCADP, read into the loudspeaker a poem written by Eugene 
Broxton, one of Trottie's fellow death row inmates. The poem was called "Judge 
Ye Not" and began, "Have you walked in the shoes / Of the person you judge / 
Have you shared their most / Intimate thoughts." Another protester took over 
after Cynthia, who rang the bell 20 times. As the demonstration concluded, 
Cynthia read another poem, written by death row inmate Ker'Sean Ramey and 
entitled, "Stand Up to Injustice."

Willie Tyrone Trottie was pronounced dead at 6:35 p.m. On my drive back to 
Houston, I listened to KPFT's radio show Execution Watch, which airs every time 
an inmate is executed in Texas. This was the eighth time the show had aired in 
2014. One of the hosts noted that Trottie's trial was never about guilt or 
innocence-it was clear that he had committed the crime of which he was 
convicted-but rather about punishment. He added that Trottie's lawyers were 
tasked with "build[ing] up a predicate for punishment that might have saved his 
life." This particular phrasing resonated with me. The idea that a definition 
of punishment is rebuilt at every capital trial perfectly captures the grave 
extent to which governments' chaotic implementation of the death penalty 
reflects its obfuscated intent. Without a clear conception of punishment 
understood by the people and the courts, defense lawyers are forced to build 
their own each time. If it doesn't match up with the jury's, a life is on the 
line.

What became clear to me from my time in Huntsville is that America is far from 
a coherent understanding of justice, without which it is impossible to have a 
coherent notion of punishment. I hope that we can see recent events as visceral 
illustrations that capital punishment, as it is currently practiced, is 
incoherent under any ethical orientation. The government is supposedly 
executing in the name of its people, but its people do not know the real reason 
for the executions. The obfuscation of both intent and implementation makes the 
death penalty a systemic failure: a flouting of the government's most basic 
duty to represent the will of its people.

(source: Zoe Hitzig, harvardpolitics.com)

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

Prosecution Admits Mistake As Williams' Punishment Phase Continues


The lead prosecutor in the capital murder trial for Eric Williams admitted 
today that "we messed up" by claiming 13 guns belonged to Williams, when they 
do not.

One of the guns actually belonged to a man Williams is accused of killing, 
Kaufman County prosecutor Mark Hasse, while another 4 belonged to Williams' 
in-laws.

"That's our mistake," prosecutor Bill Wirskye acknowledged, triggering a 
request for a mistrial by the lead defense attorney, Matthew Seymour.

Judge Mike Snipes denied the request, but removed from evidence the 13 guns, 
leaving 52 high-powered weapons that the state says were recovered from 
Williams' home and storage shed.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty after Williams was convicted last 
week in the shooting deaths of Kaufman County District Attorney Mike McLelland 
and his wife Cynthia on the eve of Easter 2013.

Those killings, and the execution-style attack on Hasse on Jan. 31, 2013, were 
acts of revenge by Williams for McLelland and Hasse prosecuting him a year 
earlier for theft and burglary, according to prosecutors.

Those convictions cost Williams his job as a justice of the peace Kaufman and 
his state license as a lawyer.

Williams' estranged wife, Kim, is charged with capital murder as an accomplice 
in all 3 killings.

After dealing with the misplaced guns, the defense continued to call Williams' 
friends and high school classmates, who portrayed Williams as a nice person and 
capable lawyer.

One of those friends, Tammy Moss, said she had visited Williams in jail several 
times, including recently, and does not believe he is guilty.

"He said he didn't do it, and I trust him," Moss told the jury.

Kaufman County resident Ronnie Fudge said he won custody of his infant son in a 
contentious divorce because of Williams, who was his lawyer in the case.

And when his legal bills began to mount, and he couldn't pay anymore, "Eric 
quit charging me," Fudge said.

When the prosecutor, Wirskye, asked why Fudge would remain friends with a 
"triple murderer," the witness didn't hesitate, saying: "He still needs 
somebody to talk to."

(source: CBS news)

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

Victoria County declines to hire public defender group


Victoria County officials declined to hire a group of attorneys to defend the 
indigent facing the death penalty.

The Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases, a Lubbock-based 
organization, made a pitch to commissioners in May after the remaining 2 
Crossroads attorneys certified to handle those cases - Jim Beeler and Elliot 
Costas - ended that part of their practice.

"The bottom line is we felt it wasn't worth the investment based on historical 
prospective," County Judge Don Pozzi said.

Kevin Janak, Precinct 2 Commissioner, agreed, adding officials could revisit 
the issue and ask for more quotes from similar groups if necessary.

"We're always open to saving taxpayer funds," he said.

This means the county must hire 1 of 20 out-of-town attorneys on a first chair 
list compiled by the Fourth Administrative Judicial Region to handle indigent 
capital murder cases.

The attorneys are from Corpus Christi, Houston and San Antonio, among other 
cities. The county would pay them 56 cents per mile driven for business and 
their accommodations and meals would be approved by a judge later.

Non-indigent defendants charged with capital murder may hire attorneys that are 
not certified by the state.

30 capital murder cases have been filed since 2003, but only 3 were death 
penalty cases, according to the Victoria County District Clerk's Office.

There is 1 pending capital murder case, but the state is not seeking the death 
penalty. The defendant is Shawn Chapel.

The county would have paid the Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases 
$123,059 to join what they call a "risk pool" in October and $118,872 the 
following year, according to an earlier report.

Pozzi said the commissioners solicited opinions from the district judges and 
the Criminal District Attorney, Stephen Tyler, before reaching their decision.

Some had reservations about how the group conducted business, said Tyler, who 
agreed with the commissioners' decision.

"I was a special prosecutor in a case where they (the Texas Regional Public 
Defender for Capital Cases) had perjured themselves in court documents in 
Jackson County," Tyler said. "The gist of it is if an attorney will perjure 
themselves before the court in a written document when is it that you can trust 
them?"

Perjury means telling a lie in court after promising to tell the truth.

Tyler was talking about the case of Anna Jimenez, who was appointed to 
represent Christian Blair Robinson, an Edna man charged with capital murder in 
the 2010 death of an infant son.

Jimenez was indicted in April 2013 for aggravated perjury. The case against her 
was dismissed a month later.

Jackson County District Attorney Bobby Bell declined to comment.

Jimenez is still a "valued employee" of the Texas Regional Public Defender for 
Capital Cases, said the group's chief public defender Jack Stoffregen.

He said the statute of limitations has expired, so Bell cannot re-file the 
case.

"If nothing else, there is a presumption of innocence in this country, and she 
is absolutely innocent of this charge. The fact that the indictment was 
dismissed speaks for itself," Stoffregen said.

Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases was started with a grant from 
the Texas Indigent Defense Commission in 2008.

It has the business of 163 counties, including DeWitt and Refugio, he said.

In June 2013, the Texas Indigent Defense Commission studied 60 capital death 
cases represented by either a Texas Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases 
attorney or a private attorney. It found that 93 % of the cases ended in a plea 
deal, which the organization says is one of its top priorities.

Stoffregen knows that sometimes what his group is offering can be a hard sell, 
especially when the need doesn't seem immediate.

"My job is just to make sure the counties know the program is available. It's 
not for me to say, 'Do it or don't do it,'" he said. "Obviously, if the 
decision was made on an unfounded claim ... then I'm sad."

Experts, investigation fees, transcripts and other expenses for the most 
recently resolved capital murder case of Tyrel Richards cost $75,883.25.

Attorney fees cost $58,043.75, according to court records.

Tyler suggested the local defense bar and judges meet to discuss a more 
reasonable payment for capital defense.

The current fee schedule, created in January 2012, shows attorneys appointed to 
capital cases can earn between $40 and $95 per hour in and out of court.

Both Costas and Beeler say money is not why they stopped defending capital 
cases, although that can be a struggle. One often has to forgo other clients to 
concentrate on a capital case.

Beeler, who is 69, said he's learned his limits and is enjoying slowing down.

"The ideal situation is that they would be able to get some younger people to 
do it," Beeler said. "I'm willing to assist and help get some other people 
trained. Anything I can do to help the system because that's the foremost 
importance - to make sure the system works."

(source: Victoria Advocate)

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

Exonerated inmate documents life on death row


It wasn't bad luck, crummy karma or fickle fate that landed Anthony Graves on 
death row.

It was God's will.

"It's the only thing that makes sense to my life," Anthony Graves said. 
"Otherwise nothing else makes sense. Why did I have to lose 18 years of my life 
to a senseless murder I knew nothing about."

We've all heard the story about how prosecutorial misconduct left an innocent 
Graves holding the bag for the horrific murders of 6 people, 4 of them 
children.

The story Graves says God wants him to tell now is about a place no one is 
expected to leave.

"Give the viewers an inside look to death row what a person really goes 
through," says Graves.

Graves is currently working on a documentary called Graves Injustice.

In his 6, 640 days in prison Graves shared final moments on Earth with many men 
he befriended.

"It was surreal," Graves said. "you're sitting there and you're witnessing a 
perfectly healthy man within a matter of hours they're going to be executed by 
our state."

While Graves hopes the documentary will prove uplifting he says he won't shy 
away from the horrors of death row like watching an inmate hang himself after 
losing an appeal.

"This has a ripple effect on not just the person you execute but the family on 
both sides," Graves said.

Graves says not everyone on death row claims to be innocent but he says he 
knows he's far from being the only one.

Graves is the 138th death row inmate to be exonerated in the United States.

That tells Graves and others it's virtually impossible to have the death 
penalty and not end up executing the innocent.

"If we released those that are innocent probably 1/4 to 1/2 of death row 
inmates are going to come home," Graves said. "It's that bad."

(source: myfoxhouston.com)

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

Court Tells TDCJ to Name Death Drug Suppliers


The name of the compounding pharmacy supplying lethal injection drugs for Texas 
executions must be released because it is public information, a judge ruled 
late Thursday.

State District Judge Darlene Byrne granted summary judgment in favor of three 
lawyers who often work for death row inmates in Texas - Maurie Levin, Naomi 
Terr and Hilary Sheard - in a little-watched lawsuit filed in Austin earlier 
this year.

"It's a big deal," plaintiffs attorney Philip Durst said of Byrne's decision. 
"It goes to the topic of how we provide [public] information."

Since the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is expected to appeal the 
ruling, however, it may be a while before the name is revealed.

"If they appeal, then we don't get the names until it's over," Durst conceded.

Jason Clark, a spokesman for TDCJ, confirmed to The Texas Tribune late Thursday 
that the agency would appeal, and declined further comment until staff lawyers 
review Byrne's ruling.

The 3 lawyer-plaintiffs sued TDCJ after the prison agency refused to release 
the name of the compounding pharmacy used to supply the prison system with the 
lethal injection drugs. The lawyers had filed a request for the information 
under the Texas Public Information Act and the agency refused to release it.

The lawyers' suit originally included 2 more plaintiffs, both Texas death row 
inmates. Both, Tommy Lynn Sells and Ramiro Hernandez-Llanas, were executed last 
April.

In September 2013, TDCJ turned to compounding pharmacies, which are allowed to 
mix or "compound" drugs on site, for its lethal injection drugs after 
manufacturers stopped providing pentobarbital to U.S. prison systems. But since 
the identity of one of the compounding pharmacies was released to the public in 
2013, the Texas prison system has worked to keep the names of the current 
provider or providers secret.

The names of the pharmaceutical companies providing lethal injection drugs were 
long made public in Texas, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has issued 
rulings confirming that drug supplier names are public information. That 
changed, however, when TDCJ was forced to turn to compounding pharmacies.

Last May, Abbott, in the midst of his own campaign for governor, sided with 
TDCJ after the agency secured a "threat assessment" from the Texas Department 
of Public Safety stating that the pharmacies "by design are easily accessible 
to the public and present a soft target to violent attacks." If the agency 
names the pharmacy-supplier, DPS reasoned, it would present a "substantial" 
threat of physical harm to the pharmacy.

Levin and other attorneys for death row inmates have argued that compounded 
drugs subject condemned inmates to cruel and unusual punishment which is barred 
by the Eighth Amendment.

The drugs that compounding pharmacies mix are not approved by the federal Food 
and Drug Administration. Compounding pharmacies themselves are licensed not by 
the FDA, but by individual state boards of pharmacies.

In the past 2 years, executions have taken longer, raising questions about the 
purity of these "compounded" drugs. Last April in Oklahoma, death row inmate 
Clayton Lockett had a heart attack 43 minutes after the sedative midazolam was 
used for the first time in that state's execution protocol. Compounding 
pharmacies provided the drugs. An official autopsy ruled he died from the 
lethal drugs, not the heart attack.

In the past two years, executions have taken longer, as states begin using 
never before used "execution" drugs like midazolam to replace older lethal 
cocktails now unavailable to them. Some are using compounded drugs and 
questions are being raised about the purity and efficacy of these drugs.

In the past 2 years, executions have taken longer, as states begin using never 
before used "execution" drugs like midazolam to replace older lethal cocktails 
now unavailable to them. Some are using compounded drug and questions are being 
raised about the purity and efficacy of these drugs.

Last April in Oklahoma, death row inmate Clayton Lockett had a heart attack 43 
minutes after the sedative midazolam was used for the 1st time in that state's 
execution protocol. Before the execution, Oklahoma had said it was moving to 
compounded drugs, however, the drugs used in Lockett execution were 
manufactured. An official autopsy ruled he died from the lethal drugs, not the 
heart attack.

In an earlier version of this story it was reported that Oklahoma used 
compounded drugs to execute Clayton Lockett. While Oklahoma officials had said 
they were going to purchase compounded lethal execution drugs, they used 
manufactured drugs in Lockett's execution.

(source: Texas Tribune)

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

Kountze woman charged in toddler's death freed on bond


A Kountze woman accused of killing her 4-year-old child in 2011 was released 
from the Hardin County jail Tuesday after her attorney filed a motion to set 
bond, according to District Attorney David Sheffield.

Amanda Nicole Guidry, 33, and her boyfriend, 37-year-old Jason Wade Delacerda, 
were arrested Aug. 17, 2011, after Guidry's daughter, Breonna Nichole Loftin, 
was hospitalized and later died from blunt force trauma to her head.

The pair was indicted by a Hardin County grand jury later that month on an 
elevated charge of capital murder of a child younger than 6. A judge ordered 
the couple held on no bond.

Guidry's attorney, Jimmy Hamm, recently filed a motion to set bond. Judge Earl 
Stover', of the 88th District Court, ruled in favor of the motion last Friday 
and set Guidry's bond at $250,000.

Sheffield said his office is seeking the death penalty for Delacerda, who 
remains in jail on no bond.

The district attorney will ask a jury to sentence Guidry to life in prison 
without parole.

A Christus St. Elizabeth emergency room physician told the responding officer 
Loftin had numerous injuries, including a bruise on her forehead and an 
abrasion to her temple, and it appeared she had been seriously abused, 
according to a probable cause affidavit.

(source: Beaumont Enterprise)

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

Court turns down Wardrip appeal


The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has dismissed the latest effort by 
convicted serial killer Faryion Edward Wardrip to avoid the death penalty for 
murdering a Wichita Falls woman as part of a killing spree from late 1984 to 
early 1986. In all, Wardrip has been convicted of killing 5 young women.

(source: Times Record News)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Suspect in 2 Carolina Beach fire deaths linked to Winston-Salem man's death


A Kure Beach man out on bond on charges stemming from a hit-and-run that killed 
a Winston-Salem man now faces 1st-degree murder charges in connection with the 
deaths of 2 women in fires in Carolina Beach condominiums.

Media outlets report Marshall Hudson Doran, 22, was charged Thursday in the 
deaths of Mary Angeline Cochran, 72, and Darlene Ann Maslar, 43, in fires set 
Saturday morning.

Doran was out on bond on charges stemming from the February hit-and-run deaths 
of 2 men on Interstate 40 in Garner: Larry Kepley, 39, of Winston-Salem, and 
Nathaniel Williams, 34, of Hope Mills.

A judge Thursday refused bond for Doran, who could face the death penalty. 
Doran's attorney, Roger Smith, said the Doran family is heartbroken and is 
praying for everyone affected by the tragedy.

Doran was previously charged in the Feb. 13 hit-and-run deaths of Kepley and 
Williams on I-40 in Garner.

A bobtail tractor cab had spun out on I-40 west near Garner, according to the 
Highway Patrol. The driver was trying to move his cab out of the highway when 
Kepley, who was driving a tractor-trailer, stopped to help him.

After swerving to avoid the wreck, Williams also tried to help the truck 
driver, the Highway Patrol said.

Williams and Kepley were standing behind the tractor cab when they were struck 
and killed by a man driving a Volvo, who fled.

The driver, whom authorities said was Doran, was found hiding in a wooded area 
but gave himself up and was arrested. At the time, he was charged with 2 counts 
of 2nd-degree murder, 2 counts of driving while intoxicated, felony 
hit-and-run, careless and reckless driving and drug possession.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Man Charged with Double Murder In Fatal Carolina Beach Fires


The man considered a person of interest in the fatal Carolina Beach fires over 
the weekend is now charged with murder.

Marshall Doran, 22, is charged with 1st degree murder in the deaths of Mary 
Angeline Chochran and Darlene Ann Masler.

Doran went before a judge for the 2nd time this week on Thursday.

This time he was charged with 2 counts of 1st degree murder.

These charges stem from the double fatal fires in Carolina Beach over the 
weekend.

He was already being held at the New Hanover County Detention Center on charges 
of attempted burglary on a $2.5 million bond.

The judge issued no bond at the request of the DA.

The charges do come with the punishment of the death penalty.

Doran was issued a capital defender.

All this brought tears to the eyes of his mother who was in the courtroom with 
his sister.

His current attorney made a statement to the media on behalf of the family.

"They've lived in this community for more than 20 years and it's been their 
home for more than 20 years. They're absolutely heart broken and grief stricken 
over what happened this past weekend, the tragedy that happened that came upon 
this community. Their hearts, their thoughts and their prayers go out to the 
families that were involved here and everybody else that is affected that is 
affected by this tragedy," says Defense Attorney Roger Smith Jr.

During the time of the fires Doran was out on bond with charges stemming from a 
deadly hit and run in Wake County.

So he has those charges pending and the DA says more charges could come down 
from the grand jury related to the Carolina Beach fires.

(source: twcnews.com)






FLORIDA:

Prosecutors don't want jurors to know Rayne Perrywinkle said she foresaw 
daughter's death


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TIMELINE OF A TRAGEDY

A look at the events surrounding the abduction and death of Cherish Perrywinkle 
(Times are approximate).

Friday morning: Police make contact with Donald James Smith at the San Jose 
neighborhood home where he is a registered sexual offender.

7 p.m. Friday (Dollar General): Jacksonville police say Cherish Perriwinkle's 
mother met Donald James Smith, 56, at Dollar General.

11 p.m. Friday (Walmart Supercenter): Cherish's mother reports the 8-year-old 
girl missing to police. Authorities say the mother and Donald James Smith went 
to Walmart after Smith offered to buy the family some clothes.

9 a.m. Saturday (I-95/I-10): Police pull over and surround Donald James Smith's 
white 1998 Dodge van on I-95 South near the I-10 split.

10 a.m. Saturday (Highlands Baptist Church): The body of 8-year-old Cherish 
Perrywinkle is found near the church.

[source: Jacksonville Sheriff's Office]

---------------------------

Jacksonville prosecutors are asking a judge to prohibit personal information 
about the mother of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle from being heard by a jury, 
including that Rayne Perrywinkle has said she's clairvoyant and foresaw her 
daughters death.

Donald James Smith, 58, is charged with the rape and murder of Cherish and 
prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Rayne Perrywinkle is expected to be 
a key prosecution witness because she allowed her daughter to be around Smith 
when he offered to get them some McDonald's and never saw her child again.

Defense lawyers want to introduce her history into the trial, including her 
time with Cherish's father, being committed to mental institutions, legally 
changing her name and a sexual assault she said happened 11 years ago.

Perrywinkle, 46, lost custody of her other children soon after Cherish was 
killed.

At a Thursday hearing Assistant Public Defender Fred Gazaleh argued he wanted 
jurors to know that Perrywinkle has said she's clairvoyant and always thought 
her daughter would be dead by the time she was 8. Perrywinkle volunteered that 
information during a deposition taken in the case.

A jury has a right to decide whether Perrywinkle may have taken steps to make 
that prophecy come true, Gazaleh said.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Caliel said none of this is relevant to Smith's 
criminal trial and shouldn't be allowed.

"It doesn't mitigate what this defendant did," Caliel said.

Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper did not make any rulings Thursday and said she 
might have Perrywinkle called to the stand during trial without the jury 
present to determine what she'll allow in and what she will exclude. Then she 
could testify again in front of the jury.

Perrywinkle has vowed to get her children back, but other's have argued they 
should be adopted.

She had a contentious relationship with Cherish's father, Billy Jarreau, and 
has acknowledged she didn't want her daughter to spend the summer with him in 
California, as Cherish was scheduled to do the day after she was killed.

Perrywinkle was not in court Thursday. Lysa Telzer, a victims advocate with the 
Justice Coalition, said Perrywinkle would have no comment.

Defense attorneys did not object to a 2nd motion from prosecutors prohibiting 
any discussion of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office internal affairs 
investigation that occurred after Smith was arrested.

The leader of the Sheriff's Office homicide unit was suspended and moved out of 
the unit after an internal investigation found officers at the scene didn't 
notify the public quickly enough that Cherish had been kidnapped.

Police at the scene originally doubted Perrywinkle's story and questioned 
whether it was a genuine abduction.

Defense attorneys also are asking to be kicked off the case, arguing that they 
have a conflict with another unnamed client.

Cooper has refused to release them from the case, but that ruling has been sent 
to the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.

If the appellate court overrules Cooper, the trial would be delayed 
indefinitely while new lawyers get up to speed on the case.

(source: jacksonville.com)






MISSISSIPPI:

Hurley man charged with capital murder in death of Fairley


A Jackson County man has been charged in the stabbing death of a Hurley woman 
who went missing Tuesday afternoon.

Scotty Lakeith Street, 36, was charged with capital murder in the death of 
Frankie Taylor Fairley, 55, late Wednesday night, said Jackson County Sheriff 
Mike Ezell.

Fairley was found about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday in a field near her home on 
Polktown Road and Davis Sawmill Road northwest of Hurley.

She was last seen by her husband when she asked him to watch a pot of food on 
the stove until she returned, Ezell said.

Fairley, driving a gold 2004 Honda Odyssey minivan, was headed to East Central 
High School.

The van was used in a strong-arm robbery Tuesday night at a D'Iberville 
convenience store after Fairley was reported missing. Street also has been 
charged with robbery.

A 2nd suspect taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the case has not 
been charged as of Wednesday morning.

Street could face the death penalty in this case.

(source: Biloxi Sun Herald)