[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., S.C., FLA., OHIO, KY.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 15



TEXAS:

Defense expected to call 17 more witnesses in punishment phase of Kaufman DA 
murder trial



The defense team is expected to wrap up its case today in the sentencing phase 
of Eric Williams' capital murder trial.

Williams was convicted Dec. 4 of killing Cynthia McLelland, the wife of Kaufman 
County District Attorney Mike McLelland. The couple was shot to death in their 
home near Forney over Easter weekend 2013.

Prosecutors say the killings, and that of McLelland's top deputy Mark Hasse, 
was revenge for their prosecution of Williams for stealing county computer 
monitors. He ultimately lost his post as a justice of the peace and was 
disbarred as a result.

Last week, Williams' attorneys called 29 character witnesses, many of them 
friends he knew decades ago. They will call 17 more witnesses today.

Among the witnesses called Monday was Mark Calabria, who runs a Kaufman law 
firm with his wife. He said they hired Williams to work there after he 
graduated from law school.

Williams stayed there a few years before he was fired. He was taking court 
appointments and not giving the law firm its share, Calabria said.

Calabria seemed reluctant to tell the jury about how Williams left the firm.

He testified that Williams got along well with people as an attorney and before 
as a court coordinator. Many people have describes Williams as withdrawn, but 
Callabria said Williams was more of "a nerd, a geek."

Calabria said that he wishes he had reached out to Williams after he was 
convicted of stealing the computer monitors in 2012.

Regina Forgarty, another witness who testified Monday, worked for Eric for the 
five months he was justice of the peace. She testified that Williams tried to 
improve technology in the courts and wanted to set up Wi-Fi and video 
conferencing.

She said he was diligent and a hard worker.

2 sisters, Heather and Andrea Jones, testified that they separately lived with 
Williams and his now-estranged wife, Kim Williams, because their mother was 
married to an abusive man. They said they spent time with Kim Williams, who is 
also charged with capital murder, and rarely saw Eric Williams.

"He kept to himself the whole time we were there," Andrea Jones testified. Eric 
Williams spent a lot of time in an office inside the house. "He would just sit 
in there and work."

Williams has spent most of the morning's testimony looking down at the defense 
table. He doesn't appear to watch the witnesses as they testify.

He faces either the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Jurors must 
be unanimous to deliver a death sentence.

The defense again asked for a continuance today, but that request was denied by 
Judge Mike Snipes.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

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

Punishment phase resumes for convicted ex-official



The punishment phase is set to continue in the trial of a former North Texas 
public official convicted of capital murder in a revenge plot against 
prosecutors.

Proceedings are set to resume Monday. Eric Williams was convicted of fatally 
shooting Cynthia McLelland, found dead last year with her husband, Kaufman 
County District Attorney Mike McLelland, in their home near Dallas. Williams, 
accused of killing Mike McLelland, is also accused in the slaying 2 months 
prior to the couple's deaths of an assistant prosecutor.

Defense attorneys Friday portrayed 47-year-old Williams in a sympathetic light 
in an effort to spare him the death penalty, calling on childhood friends who 
described the former justice of the peace as considerate.

Prosecutors say Williams plotted revenge after being convicted of stealing 
county equipment.

(source: Associated Press)

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

A Legal Victory for Anti-Death Penalty Activists



Last week a Texas judge ruled the state has to reveal the names of the compound 
pharmacies that manufacture the drugs used in lethal injections. Death Penalty 
opponents say it's only about transparency, but legal experts say it's about 
harassing those companies with a social media campaign.

Attorney Maurie Levin, one of 3 lawyers who the judge agreed with, says it just 
about transparency.

"It is whether or not the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is entitled to 
hold secret information about how they carry out executions."

Levin says she's also concerned about the safety of the drugs because she says 
those pharmacies are not properly regulated.

But KTRH legal expert Chris Tritico says there's more to it.

"The anti-Death Penalty activists want to write letters and have a social media 
campaign against these drug manufacturers for selling drugs to states."

Tritico says it's easy for a social media campaign to go international.

The state is expected to appeal.

(source: KTRH news)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Producer Developing '7 Days to Live' Death Row Exoneration Saga



The story of a Pennsylvania man who spent 22 years on death row before being 
exonerated by DNA evidence is in the works as a feature from producer Lucy 
Rice.

"7 Days to Live" is based on the autobiography of Nick Yarris. Rice, of Amala 
Films, Yarris and executive producer Corky Kessler have started work on casting 
in Los Angeles.

Yarris was sentenced to death in 1982 in Pennsylvania for a rape and murder he 
did not commit. He sat in solitary confinement on death row for nearly 22 years 
until DNA testing proved his innocence in 2003. He was released from prison in 
January 2004.

In 1985 Yarris became one of the FBIs 10 Most Wanted for escape from death row 
after being shot at by prison guards in transit to an appeal in Pennsylvania. 
Yarris turned himself in in Florida after 25 days on the run.

Yarris taught himself to read in prison, where he discovered DNA testing and 
read over 10,000 books. In 1988, Yarris became the 1st inmate to seek DNA 
testing of evidence - which eventually proved that genetic material found under 
the victim's fingernails, on her undergarments and in a pair of gloves possibly 
worn by the killer was not his.

Yarris now lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jessica and is a spokesman for 
Death Penalty Focus Group. "7 Days to Live" was published in 2008; he also 
commissioned Calix Lewis Reneau to adapt the book as a screenplay.

"I don't have time to be bitter," he told Variety. "I learned to love myself in 
prison."

Yarris was featured in the 2005 American documentary film "After Innocence" 
about men who were exonerated from death row by DNA evidence. Directed by 
Jessica Sanders, the film took the Special Jury Prize at the 2005 Sundance film 
Festival.

Rice, an Australian native based in L.A., is also producing "The Divine 
Mistake" which chronicles the life of Sydney-born artist Theresa Byrnes. Rice 
is the great-granddaughter of Australian painter Roland Wakelin.

Rice and Kessler have hired John Corser as line producer and production manager 
and Ronnie Yeskel and Nancy Green-Keyes as casting directors for "7 Days to 
Live."

Kessler is a partner at the Chicago law firm Deutsch, Levy and Engel.

(source: variety.com)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

Man accused in police informant death set for arraignment



A Charleston man accused in the death of a police informant made his 1st 
appearance in federal court Monday. Marlon Dewayne Dixon, 38, of Park Avenue, 
appeared Monday with his court-appointed attorney David Schles before U.S. 
Magistrate Judge Dwane Tinsley, who remanded Dixon to the custody of the U.S. 
Marshal and set his arraignment hearing for 10 a.m. Dec. 18.

Dixon was indicted in October on 7 charges, including heroin 
distribution,witness tampering, witness retaliation by killing, murder with a 
firearm during a crime of violence and being a felon in possession of a 
firearm.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison and also could be 
eligible for the death penalty.

However, the Department of Justice's Capital Case Review Team would make a 
decision whether to seek the death penalty in this case.

Police arrested Dixon in July in connection to the murder of Branda "Mimi" 
Basham, who was found shot twice in the torso and once in the head. Police 
found her body along the railroad tracks near Breece Street on Charleston's 
West Side.

Basham, 21, was a known prostitute but she also worked with police as an 
informant. Police said Dixon shot and killed Basham in retaliation for her 
giving information to police. Dixon was prohibited from having a firearm and 
had multiple felony convictions when he was arrested, including federal cocaine 
charges and a malicious wounding charge in Kanawha County Circuit Court.

(source: Charleston Daily Mail)








FLORIDA:

North Naples man accused of murdering family may change plea



Lawyers for Mesac Damas, who has admitted to killing his wife and 5 children in 
2009, have filed a request to change his plea, a possible early step t 
resolving one of Collier County's most horrific criminal cases.

In a motion filed Friday, Damas' lawyers only say the 38-year-old North Naples 
man wants to change his plea from not guilty on 6 1st-degree charges. The 
motion doesn't state how Damas would plead, what punishment Damas would 
receive, or whether it's a negotiated plea with prosecutors.

The motion is consistent with emails Damas sent to the Daily News in recent 
months, in which he says he wants to plead guilty. Damas' competency has been 
an issue since his arrest - he's been disruptive in court, uncooperative with 
his lawyers and a troublemaker in jail - but he recently said "I'm in my right 
state of mind," in emails to the Daily News.

"I do accept responsibility from the actions taken on my behalf," Damas wrote 
in one email.

Damas has admitted to killing his wife, Guerline, and 5 children between the 
ages of 1 and 9 in their North Naples home. Damas has stated he was possessed 
by demons at the time of the killings.

If he changes his plea, Damas could go one of two routes: he could plead guilty 
as charged, or he could have a negotiated plea with prosecutors. Even if he 
pleads guilty without a negotiated plea, a judge will likely impanel a jury to 
consider whether Damas should receive the death penalty.

The most likely scenario, based on court filings, is that Damas insists on 
pleading guilty as charged. Negotiated pleas are typically set for plea 
hearings, rather than through motions to change a plea. The plea motion also 
asks for Damas "to be heard in open court," a request that he's made in emails 
to the Daily News.

Prosecutors also have given no indication that they want to reach a plea 
agreement, and a State Attorney's Office spokeswoman said "it might be a 
mistake" to read anything into Damas' motion. Prosecutors certainly would 
accept nothing less than life in prison, and possibly nothing less than the 
death penalty.

There are a few upsides for prosecutors reaching a life-in-prison plea 
agreement with Damas, namely that it would pre-empt a weekslong trial and an 
appellate and execution process that could last decades and cost millions of 
dollars.

But David Brener, a Fort Myers defense lawyer qualified to handle death penalty 
cases, said Damas??? alleged crimes are so heinous that prosecutors might not 
want to pursue any plea agreement.

"The state has 6 dead bodies on their hands, and they may not want to look like 
they're negotiating with somebody who - while he might be mentally ill - killed 
more people than anyone in Collier County history," Brener said.

Since his arrest, Damas' mental state has been in question, resulting in a stay 
at a Florida mental health hospital this year. Damas has acted out in court, 
spent time in the Naples Jail Center's medical unit and proved uncooperative 
with his lawyers.

He was, however, deemed competent to proceed to trial in October. In an order 
following Damas' October competency finding, a Collier judge wrote that 
doctors' evaluations of Damas show he can be "aggressive, manipulative and 
deceitful, and would engage in cooperative behavior when necessary to get 
something he wanted."

No date has been set for Damas' motion. His lawyers have asked for Collier 
Circuit Judge Ramiro Manalich, who has presided over the case since January 
2013, to remain on the case even after his move to the bench in Lee County at 
year's end.

(source: Naples News)

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

Florida withholds millions in compensation payments to boy who was tortured by 
his adoptive parents and found dying alongside his twins sister's decomposing 
body because it would violate the father's rights



Officials in Florida are withholding millions worth of compensation it was 
ordered to pay a young boy who was tortured by his adopted parents and found 
close to death next to the decomposing body of his twin sister.

The state settled a lawsuit following the gruesome deaths of Victor and Nubia 
Barahona in Palm Beach County in 2011, admitting they were at fault.

But the Florida Department of Children and Families and lawyers for the state 
Legislature want to put the deal on hold and delay final payments indefinitely, 
according to the Miami Herald.

The state senate has stopped the payments, claiming that if a decision is 
passed it may imply that the father was liable in the abuse, even though he is 
on trial for his daughter's murder and is facing the death penalty.

The youngsters were sexually abused, starved and forced to sleep in a bathtub 
for years by Jorge and Carmen Barahona.

It was also revealed that they were forced to eat cockroaches consume food that 
contained feces.

In a report published in 2011, the state said that there had been a 'systematic 
failure' in their safety net, after Nubia and Victor entered the welfare system 
as youngsters.

The document stated that the tragic case showed a 'failure in common sense, 
critical thinking, ownership, follow-through and timely and accurate 
information sharing.'

Nubia's naked body was found in the back of Jorge's trunk in February 2011, 
with a badly injured Victor in the front seat. The boy was also covered in 
pesticides.

The young boy was put into the care of another foster family after spending 
several weeks in the hospital.

His new foster mother told investigators that the sight of her putting on false 
eyelashes makes Victor remember how he lost his own lashes when his adoptive 
father glued his eyes shut.

He has a similar reaction when his new foster father filled up a pitcher of ice 
water: it brought Victor back to the days when his adoptive father Jorge 
Barahona would bind him and his twin sister Nubia up, put them in the tub, and 
douse them with ice.

The state initially approved a check for $1.25 million and sent it to help 
Victor and his new adoptive parents deal with the psychological trauma.

According to the Herald they did not accept liability in the claim, but did 
agree not to oppose having the remaining $3.75 million in settlement funds come 
from the Legislature, in the form of a claim bill.

However the DCF has stopped the payments to the family following a change of 
heart.

State senate spokesman Katie Betta: 'At this point in time, as a matter of law, 
the father's rights have not been terminated. That is a valid concern the 
Senate has to consider.'

Under state sovereign immunity laws, the state is shielded from having to pay 
more than $200,000 when it injures someone, unless the Legislature agrees to 
lift the cap.

General counsel of Senate President Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, George Levesque, 
was appointed to conduct a 'mini-trial' to assess the state's liability.

He decided that legislators would not vote on the claim bill this year as it 
may damage other cases related to child abuse at the hands of the Barahonas.

'The adverse finding of fact or conclusion contained in a claim bill could be 
used against [DCF] in the pending litigation,' Levesque said in an email to the 
lawyers for the family which was seen by the Herald.

He added that Jorge and Carmen Barahona were Nubia's legal parents at the time 
of her death. While Carmen's rights have been taken away, Jorge could inherit 
any money in the child's estate.

Neal Roth, the lawyer who negotiated the settlement claimed the decision was 
utter nonsense and said: 'The claim bill will be referred to at least 1 
committee and that can easily be addressed by amending the bill to specifically 
exclude Mr. Barahona from ever receiving any money from the settlement of this 
case.'

'This is, in my experience, one of the saddest commentaries on the human 
condition that I've ever seen,' James Loftus, director of the Miami-Dade 
police, said previously about the family.

'It's depressing, it's sickening to think about the circumstances that led two 
people, working in concert, to perpetrate this kind of horror on their own 
children, adopted or not.'

He described the case as 'depressing [and] sickening.'

After Victor was hospitalized for several weeks after the incident, he was 
moved into the care of foster mother Katia Garcia.

Mrs Garcia met with police in June to discuss what she had learned from Victor 
about the extent of his abuse, and the horror of his experiences appears 
never-ending.

'He really didn't want to remember, perhaps, but he did,' she told 
investigators in a taped interview.

Victor is the most upset when talking about his sister Nubia, who was found 
wrapped in a garbage bag in the back of Jorge Barahona's pick-up truck after 
being doused with chemicals.

'He stutters when he talks. He can't finish his sentences,' Mrs Garcia said.

'He has nervous twitches with his eyes. He had one with his mouth. He doesn't 
want to talk about what his sister went through.'

Both of the twins were both starved while living in the Barahona house. They 
were only given a piece of bread and a glass of milk once a week while their 
parents and their 2 other adopted children dined on shredded beef and rice.

(source: Daily Mail)








OHIO:

Ohio to protect identity of those that provide lethal injection drugs



The Ohio Senate moved amended legislation Thursday to shield from public view 
the names of compounding pharmacies that provide lethal injection drugs to the 
state.

HB 663 passed on a vote of 20-10 and heads back to the Ohio House for 
consideration of changes made by senators.

Sen. John Eklund, R-Chardon, who serves as chairman of the Criminal Justice 
Committee that considered the legislation, said the bill is aimed a protecting 
"the confidentiality and the identities of these individuals (involved in the 
administration of the death penalty), many of whom are employed by the state of 
Ohio, doing a job -- a very difficult job -- to feed their families. The idea 
is to protect their identity. That's what we're trying to do."

Under execution protocols adopted last year, state prison officials could 
purchase lethal injection mixtures from compounding pharmacies -- a change that 
was made after the overseas manufacturers of such drugs refused to sell them 
for use in executions.

The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has had difficulties finding 
pharmacies willing to provide the lethal injection drugs because they don't 
want to be identified publicly.

"Compounding pharmacies who are in a position to compound the substances that 
can be used to administer the death sentence in a humane and painless fashion 
have become ... subjected to not just criticism but downright attacks and 
boycotts and picketing at their homes," Eklund said. "They and their families 
have become subjected to the kinds of things that none of us would want to be 
subjected to."

HB 663 seeks to address the issue by blocking the public disclosure of pharmacy 
names and others involved in the execution process.

Covered records would be kept confidential and not subject to the state's open 
records laws, with limited access by judges reviewing death penalty cases.

Individuals involved would be covered by the confidentiality law automatically; 
businesses would have to request anonymity, via an application to state prison 
officials, and their names would be released after 20 years.

Senators made a number of changes to the bill, including adding language to 
require the state ethics commission to review contracts for lethal injection 
drugs to ensure compounding pharmacies have all applicable licenses and meet 
ethics and other law requirements.

The Senate version also calls for the creation of a committee to study ways to 
ensure families of murder victims have access to social services and other 
assistance and potentially to consider other means of administering the death 
penalty.

The final vote on the bill included Republicans in opposition.

"I have no sympathy for those who commit violent crimes, especially when those 
crimes involve the taking of a life," said Sen. Peggy Lehner, R-Kettering. 
"However, my personal belief is the taking of a life must be reserved for only 
those times when we have no other available means to protect society from a 
grave threat. Because other ways of punishing convicted criminals are available 
to us, I cannot and will not participate in carrying out Ohio's death penalty."

The Ohio Newspaper Association was among the groups that remain opposed to the 
bill.

"We remain concerned about excessive secrecy in this legislation and have yet 
to see any documentation beyond vague claims that new exemptions to our open 
records law are needed to protect the identities of drug suppliers," Executive 
Director Dennis Hetzel said in a released statement.

(source: Marc Kovac is the Dix Capital Bureau chief--The Review)

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

Prosecutor to seek death penalty against suspect in off-duty officer's death



Summit County Prosecuting Attorney Sherri Bevan Walsh announced Monday that her 
office will seek the death penalty against a man accused of killing an off-duty 
police officer and shooting 4 others last month.

Kenan Ivery, 35, is accused of killing Justin Winebrenner, 32, and injuring 4 
others at Papa Don's Pub on November 16.

Ivery was told to leave, but returned with a gun.

Police Chief James Nice told FOX 8 that Winebrenner and 2 other men, David 
Wokaty and Michael Capes, tried to get Ivery out of the bar and that's when he 
opened fire.

Ivery was indicted by the Summit County Grand Jury Monday on a number of 
charges, including Aggravated Murder, 2 counts of Murder, 5 counts of Attempted 
Murder and 6 counts of Felonious Assault.

Ivery will be arraigned on Wednesday.

(source: Fox News)








KENTUCKY:

Prosecutor seeking death penalty in Kentucky murder of Sunset veterinarian



A western Kentucky man accused in the slayings of his parents, sister and an 
acquaintance has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, complicity to murder 
and complicity to kidnapping.

Prosecutors say they believe 36-year-old Ryan Champion enlisted help from 
22-year-old Vito Riservato in killing his family, and then killed Riservato. 
All 4 died of gunshot wounds at the Champion family's home in Cadiz.

Champion' sister, Emily Champion, his sister, practiced as a veterinarian for 
five years in Sunset.

Trigg prosecutor G.L. Ovey has said it started out as a murder-for-hire scheme, 
but "it didn't end up that way."

Along with the arraignment on Wednesday, Ovey filed notice that he intends to 
seek the death penalty in the case if Ryan Champion is convicted.

Media report Champion's new attorney, Tom Osborne, maintained his client's 
innocence and asked that a trial date be set as soon as possible.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Man accused of slashing woman's throat due in court



Police arrest man in death of Louisville mother

A Louisville man police say admitted to the murder of a young woman is set to 
appear in court Monday morning.

There is new information in the brutal stabbing death of a young mother.

Michael Vernon Hayes is accused of slashing the throat of 23-year-old Jovon 
Dawson in her apartment on Lindell Avenue last November.

Investigators say her 6-year-old child discovered her body.

Hayes told investigators he and the victim had argued over drugs and money.

Prosecutors say the commonwealth has filed evidence of aggravating 
circumstances in a possible bid to seek the death penalty if Hayes is found 
guilty.

(source: WLKY news)

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

Kentucky lawmakers plan to try heroin bill again



No Kentucky lawmaker opposes better methods to combat a rising tide of heroin 
addiction but the specifics of how to do it - and politics - get complicated.

Nevertheless, key lawmakers - including new Senate budget chairman and 
candidate for lieutenant governor Chris McDaniel and House Judiciary Chair John 
Tilley - think a bill can pass the 2015 General Assembly.

McDaniel has pre-filed a bill to strengthen penalties for heroin offenses; 
offer a "good Samaritan" provision allowing people to report overdoses or warn 
law enforcement about the presence of needles without penalty; and fund 
treatment.

He's optimistic it will pass because it deletes provisions which previously 
proved "poison pills" for 1 or other chamber, including a provision in an 
earlier bill to create a presumption of responsibility for an overdose death by 
the seller of the drug. That might have allowed the seller to be sentenced to 
death.

That was part of the problem for a bill sponsored in 2014 by then Senate Pro 
Tem Katie Kratz Stine, R-Southgate. Republicans charged House Democrats didn't 
want to pass the bill simply because it was authored by Stine - and authorship 
does sometimes entangle a bill in political rivalries.

But some House Democrats had genuine constitutional concerns about the death 
presumption, said Tilley, who also wants to pass a heroin bill in 2015.

Some Democrats last year also wanted a clean needle exchange provision, 
something the Senate Republicans found equally as objectionable as House 
Democrats did the death penalty presumption. There were probably other 
political factors at play in the demise of Stine's bill which Tilley and 
McDaniel hope to avoid this time.

Leaders in one chamber frequently hold up votes on bills dear to the majority 
in the other, hoping to trade a vote on it in their chamber for one on a bill 
they want which is stalled in the other. House Democrats wanted the Senate last 
year pass a bill by retiring Democratic legislator Jesse Crenshaw which would 
automatically restore voting rights for felons convicted of non-violent and 
non-sexual crimes.

Neither bill passed the opposing chamber although there were negotiations on 
both down to the final minutes of the session. Tilley wants an early vote on a 
heroin measure in 2015 to avoid repeating that scenario. He and McDaniel are 
hopeful this time will be different.

(source: The Independent)