[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., ALA., KAN., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 5



TEXAS:

Texas court overturns man's death sentence due to withheld evidence ---- Alfred 
Dewayne Brown???s conviction for 2003 murder of Houston police officer 
overturned on appeal after record of phonecall made on morning of shooting 
emerges


The murder conviction of a man on death row in Texas has been overturned after 
the state's criminal appeals court found prosecutors withheld evidence that 
could have aided his defense.

Alfred Dewayne Brown was convicted of murdering a Houston police officer in a 
2003 shooting that was allegedly a three-man robbery gone wrong. A jury 
sentenced Brown to death in 2005 on the insistence of Harris County 
prosecutors, who will now decide whether to re-try Brown, according to the 
Houston Chronicle, which has covered the case extensively.

The decision from the Texas court of criminal appeals to send the case back to 
a lower court comes more than one year after the original trial judge Mark Kent 
Ellis requested Brown receive a new trial, even asking the appeal court to 
"Please hurry," according to the Chronicle.

The decision to overturn Brown's conviction hinged on evidence of a phonecall.

The Pittsburgh-based defense firm K&L Gates searched for six years for records 
of a call Brown said he made on the morning of the murder. Prosecutors said he 
and his alleged fellow conspirators were watching news coverage of the robbery 
at about 10am on 3 April 2003. Brown said he was at his girlfriend's apartment 
and had made a phonecall to her employer.

A record of the call was eventually found when a homicide detective was 
cleaning out his garage last year. The find was not only potentially 
exonerating, but also a violation of a guiding principle of prosecutorial 
conduct, called a "Brady" violation. The Brady case precedent requires 
prosecutors to turn over evidence to defense attorneys.

Prosecutors said the failure was a mistake, not malicious. Prosecutors are not 
saying whether they will re-try Brown's case. Harris County district attorney 
Devon Anderson would "carefully review and evaluate the case to determine the 
appropriate proceedings", said her spokesperson, Jeff McShan.

(source: The Guardian)

**********

Republicans remain in control of state's 2 highest courts


Republicans retained their near lock on judgeships on the state's 2 highest 
courts Tuesday, winning all 4 contested races in the Supreme Court and all 
three places on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

In Supreme Court races, all the incumbents were declared victors by the 
Associated Press early in the evening, keeping the state's highest civil court 
completely in Republican hands.

The winners were Nathan Hecht, chief justice; Jeff Brown, justice Place 6; Jeff 
Boyd, justice Place 7; and Phil Johnson, justice Place 8.

For the Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, it 
appeared late Tuesday that Republican incumbents would hold on to all 3 open 
positions, giving the party control of eight of the nine seats on the court.

Winners were Kevin Yeary, Place 4; and David Newell, Place 9.

With 42 % of the vote counted, Bert Richardson was leading the race for judge 
Place 3 with 60 %.

The Appeals Court hears all death penalty appeals in the state and decides 
which other criminal cases to review.

For Texans, the GOP control of the Supreme Court means that rulings favoring 
corporations and big businesses over individuals are likely to continue.

This trend was strengthened under the tenure of conservative Republican Gov. 
Rick Perry, who was able to appoint 10 conservative justices to the court 
during his tenure.

(source: mysanantonio.com)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Trial opens for man accused in Pennsylvania woman's death, dismemberment


A former electrical contractor at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in eastern 
Pennsylvania went on trial Wednesday on charges he beat, strangled and 
dismembered a woman whose body parts were stuffed into garbage bags and strewn 
along 2 interstate highways.

Jurors in the trial of Charles Ray Hicks, 40, were warned by the prosecution 
they would hear gruesome details and see graphic pictures during the trial in 
Monroe County Court in Stroudsburg, which is expected to last about 2 weeks.

Hicks is facing a potential death penalty, if convicted, and is being held 
without bail.

"This case is a journey to the darkest inner recesses of the human soul," lead 
prosecutor Michael Mancuso said in his opening statement.

Mancuso outlined how the investigation started with the discovery of a severed 
head and other body parts in black garbage bags by state highways crews on a 
snowy day in January 2008.

The prosecutor also recounted how state police eventually arrested Hicks on 
first-degree murder charges, among others, after finding the hands of Deanna 
Null, 36, wrapped in socks and newspaper, hidden behind a wall in his home in 
the Pocono Mountains.

Mancuso said the prosecution will present expert witness testimony that Null 
was tortured before she died.

Jason LaBar, the public defender representing Hicks, told the jury Hicks is 
guilty of tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse and disputed the 
prosecution's claim Null was tortured and murdered. He said medical experts 
disagree on the cause of death, which he said is undetermined.

LaBar also referred to toxicology tests that showed Null had a significant 
amount of alcohol and cocaine in her system at the time of her death. He 
suggested Null died from a possible drug overdose and that Hicks panicked and 
"drug dumped" Null because he did not want to get in trouble with the police.

Witnesses interviewed by state police in Scranton said they saw Null entering a 
car driven by a man they later identified as Hicks, according to prosecutors. 
Hicks, originally from Texas, had recently started working at the Tobyhanna 
Army Depot.

Besides the hands, police recovered black plastic garbage bags in the attic of 
Hicks's house they said matched the bags containing the body parts. They also 
found knives, saws and blades in the house.

Police say Hicks admitted he had sex with Null and smoked crack cocaine with 
her.

(source: Reuters)






ALABAMA:

Poll: Should John DeBlase get the death penalty or life without parole after 
capital murder conviction?


It took the jury of 8 women and 4 men about 5 hours to convict 31-year-old John 
DeBlase on 3 counts of capital murder for choking his 3- and 4-year-old 
children to death.

And on Thursday, the jury will be back before Circuit Judge Rick Stout to hear 
what is expected to be emotional testimony from the prosecution and defense as 
each side argues whether or not the judge should impose the death penalty.

Since 1983, Alabama has executed 56 people - all but 1 of them male - and 
DeBlase could be the 57th. If convicted and sentenced to the max, his 
co-defendant Heather Leavell-Keaton would make No. 58.

And so that begs the question: do you think death is the right way to punish 
someone who has committed such shocking crimes?

We invite you to take our poll, and even write in your own response, if our 2 
choices don't quite fit your opinion.

see: 
http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2014/11/poll_should_john_deblase_get_t.html

(source: al.com)

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

Sentencing delayed in Auburn shooting deaths


A judge has delayed the sentencing of a man convicted of capital murder for the 
shooting deaths of 2 former Auburn University football players and a 3rd man.

A Lee County judge has rescheduled the sentencing for Desmonte Leonard until 
Jan. 7. Leonard's attorney requested more time to prepare for the hearing since 
Leonard is facing the death penalty.

A jury last month convicted Leonard in the 2012 shooting deaths that occurred 
when Leonard opened fire outside a party in Auburn. The panel rejected claims 
that Leonard fired in self-defense because he believed his life was in danger.

The jury recommended that Leonard receive life in prison instead of the death 
penalty. Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III will make the final 
decision.

(source: Associated Press)






KANSAS:

Kansas Justices Overcome Criticism over Death-Penalty Ruling


2 Kansas Supreme Court justices who were challenged over their ruling in a 
death-penalty case won new 6-year terms on the high court.

Justices Eric Rosen and Lee Johnson weren't in a contested race. In Kansas, 
after a justice is appointed by the governor and serves a 6-year turn, voters 
get to decide whether to keep the justice, by checking yes or no. Justice Rosen 
and Justice Johnson each garnered 53% in support of their retention, a much 
smaller margin than the other Kansas appeals judges on the ballot.

No Kansas Supreme Court justice has ever lost in a retention election since the 
state adopted its current judicial-selection system in 1958.

Judges typically cruise to victory in retention elections across the country, 
but there have been notable exceptions in recent years. Iowa voters dumped 3 
justices in 2010, after the state's high court struck down a law prohibiting 
same-sex marriage. Since then, court critics have mounted campaigns in other 
states to bounce justices up for retention, including in Florida and Tennessee.

Justices Rosen and Johnson faced criticism for their role in a a 6-1 decision 
by the Kansas Supreme Court over the summer that jettisoned the death sentences 
of 2 brothers convicted of murder. The court ruled that the trial judge erred 
in not holding separate sentencing hearings for each man.

A group called Kansans for Justice composed of relatives and friends of the 
brothers' victims made a late push to oust the two justices up for retention. 
"While our primary goal of removing Justices Rosen and Johnson was not 
achieved, we hope that we educated voting Kansans about their right to remove 
justices who do not follow the law," the group said on its website.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, a Republican, had also advocated for the removal of 
the justices, saying the case was evidence that "liberal judges" have the upper 
hand in Topeka.

Justice Rosen alluded to the opposition in a statement expressing thanks to 
voters.

"Of far greater importance than our personal retention is the retention of the 
court's independence and continued autonomy in performing its sworn duty to 
uphold the rule of law in our great state," he said. "The court has been, and 
must remain, uninfluenced by politicization and intimidation."

(source: Wall Street Journal)






CALIFORNIA:

Man arrested after Elk Grove standoff charged in Oakland road rage killing


A man is facing a murder charge in the slaying of a Northern California mother 
who was killed in what police have described as a road-rage shooting.

Carl Stephen Dubose, 20, of Oakland, was arraigned on Monday in the Oct. 26 
Oakland shooting that claimed the life of 30-year-old Perla Evelyn Avina. The 
Oakland Tribune reports (http://bit.ly/1uqCONk) that the 20-year-old Dubose 
told the judge he is looking to hire a private attorney. He was ordered to 
return to court on Nov. 17.

Police say Dubose shot at Avina, a mother of 4, and her husband, Luis Lopez 
Gallegos, as the 2 drove home from a grocery store. Police have not said what 
preceded the shooting.

Dubose was arrested Oct. 30 after a standoff at a home near Springmont Drive 
and Plume Way in Elk Grove. He is also charged with attempted murder and is 
facing a special circumstance that makes him eligible for the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)