[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., GA., ALA., MISS., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 7


TEXAS:

Supreme Court Rejects 4 Death Row Appeals----The U.S. Supreme Court rejects the 
appeals of 3 Texas inmates facing execution.


The U.S. Supreme Court, without comment on Monday, rejected the appeals of 
three Texas men convicted of murder.

Gregory RusseauM

The high court refused to review the case of 44-year-old Gregory Russeau, an 
East Texas man condemned for the slaying of a 75-year-old auto mechanic during 
a robbery in Tyler more than a decade ago.

Russeau was convicted and sent to death row for the fatal beating of James 
Syvertson at his auto repair shop. Syvertson's wallet and car were stolen. 
Russeau was arrested the next day in Longview in the stolen car.

Russeau's initial death sentence was thrown out on appeal and he was sentenced 
a second time. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March rejected an 
appeal that argued his trial legal help was deficient and that trial 
prosecutors used planted evidence against him.

Derrick Dewayne Charles

The court then rejected the appeal of 32-year-old Derrick Dewayne Charles, a 
Houston man on Texas death row for the slayings of 3 people at their home 12 
years ago. Last November, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected 
arguments he had shoddy legal help at his trial.

A Harris County jury in 2003 decided he should die for strangling his 
15-year-old girlfriend, Myiesha Bennett, raping and strangling her 44-year-old 
mother Brenda Bennett, and fatally beating his girlfriend's 77-year-old 
grandfather, Obie Lee Bennett.

Charles, then 20, was arrested a day after the 2002 attack at the Bennetts' 
Houston home. At the time, he was on parole following a burglary conviction. He 
confessed to the slayings.

Robert Ladd

The court also refused rejected the appeal of 57-year-old Robert Ladd's appeal, 
a Texas death row prisoner convicted of the slaying of a Tyler woman at her 
apartment. In April, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had turned down his 
appeal that he's mentally impaired and ineligible for execution.

Ladd was convicted of killing 38-year-old Vicki Ann Garner in 1996. She'd been 
beaten with a hammer and her body, bound at the legs and wrists, was set on 
fire.

At the time, Ladd was on parole after serving 13 years in prison for pleading 
guilty to 3 other slayings in Dallas.

In 2003, he received a reprieve from the 5th Circuit about 9 hours before his 
scheduled execution.

Scott Louis Panetti

The highest court refused to consider an appeal from 56-year-old Scott Louis 
Panetti, convicted of fatally shooting his in-laws at their Fredericksburg home 
more than 20 years ago in front of his estranged wife and young children.

Attorneys contend that Panetti is so delusional he can't understand why he was 
convicted and condemned.

A year ago, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with state lawyers and 
rejected arguments that Panetti is incompetent to be executed. Panetti's 
attorneys then took their case to the Supreme Court.

Panetti has a history of mental problems and his case has made multiple trips 
through the courts. He was convicted of killing in-laws Joe and Amanda 
Alvarado.

(source: nbcdfw.com)

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

Supreme Court rejects appeal


The family of a Mount Pleasant woman who was brutally raped and murdered 18 
years ago can finally look forward to her killer receiving the death penalty.

Vicki Ann Garner, a member of the Mount Pleasant High School class of 1977, was 
killed on Sept. 25, 1996 in Tyler. The convicted killer, Robert Charles Ladd, 
was sentenced to death less than a year later, on Aug. 27, 1997.

On Monday, her family received word that the U.S. Supreme Court has denied 
Ladd's appeal. Members of Garner's family now hope a date can be set for Ladd's 
long-awaited visit to the death chamber in Huntsville.

Her younger sister, Teresa Wooten, said she got a call from a member of the 
state Attorney General's staff Monday morning.

"I cried. It was very emotional. It's been a long time coming, and it was like 
reliving the whole thing," Wooten said.

As a result over the years of being driven by the need to find justice for 
Vicki, today she serves as the sexual assault director at the SAFE-T center 
here in Mount Pleasant.

Wooten said the state AG's office will now contact the district attorney in 
Tyler to set a date for Ladd's execution.

On September 25, 1996, Vicki Ann Garner was found dead in her home. She had 
been raped and strangled to death. In addition, her home was robbed and then 
set on fire.

A police investigation quickly connected Ladd to Garner's murder. Ladd's DNA 
was found on Garner, his hand print was found in Garner's kitchen, and Ladd had 
sold a TV set that had been taken from Garner's residence in exchange for crack 
cocaine.

Soon after, Ladd was indicted for capital murder, because the murder occurred 
during the commission of burglary, robbery, sexual assault, and arson.

On August 23, 1997, a Texas state jury convicted Ladd of capital murder, and, 
on August 27, 1997, the jury imposed the death penalty.

"It took them 20 minutes to reach a verdict," Wooten said. "They said it was 
the fastest verdict in a death penalty case they had ever seen."

Vicki's mother died in 2011 and her father in 2013. In addition to Wooten, she 
is survived by an older sister, Kathy Pirtle, who lives in Upshur County.

Wooten said Monday she hopes a date with the execution chamber can be set 
before the end of the year, but practically speaking, the state does not 
schedule executions between Thanksgiving and New Years.

The law also requires the subject of an execution have at least 30 days to 
prepare, she said.

If the execution is not scheduled before the end of the year, she anticipates 
it will be sometime in January or February.

(source: Daily Tribune)






PENNSYLVANIA----new execution date set

Execution date set for quadruple murderer Michael Ballard


Death row inmate Michael Ballard's execution came one step closer to reality 
Monday afternoon when Gov. Tom Corbett signed the Allentown man's death 
warrant.

But if Ballard has changed his posture and fights his execution as he claimed 
he will in a recent interview, his Dec. 2 execution date carries little 
meaning, Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said.

In a statement Monday afternoon, Corbett announced he signed off on the 
state-sanctioned executions of Ballard and murderers in two unrelated cases, 
Richard Baumhammers and Robert Flor. State law requires the governor to sign 
the death warrants within 120 days of an opinion of the Pennsylvania State 
Supreme Court upholding an execution, Morganelli said.

The warrants have had little meaning over the years as Pennsylvania has not 
executed an inmate who appealed his sentenced since the death penalty was 
re-instated in 1976.

Ballard, of Allentown, appeared set to become just the 4th inmate executed by 
the state since then when he told the U.S. Supreme Court that federal defenders 
were representing him without his permission. The high court authorized a probe 
into his claims to see if disciplinary action was needed.

"They are acting against my own wishes to waive my appeals," he wrote in a June 
2 letter.

However, in a recent interview with The Morning Call, Ballard said he intends 
to join a federal lawsuit over fatal cocktail of drugs the state Department of 
Corrections uses in its lethal injections. The lawsuit does not challenge the 
sentences, only that the current execution method violates the Constitutional 
ban on cruel and unusual punishment, according to court documents.

Should he ask for a stay in the execution as the case works its way through the 
court, Morganelli said, Ballard's execution could be placed on indefinite hold. 
Ballard has not filed any court documents to join the lawsuit.

"Although we have a December date and it has moved the ball forward, I don't 
think we'll be seeing Mr. Ballard's execution in December," the district 
attorney said.

Morganelli speculated that if Ballard follows through and joins the lawsuit, 
it's reasonable to expect that Ballard would change his mind and appeal his 
sentence as well. Martin Appel, who killed three people during a 1986 bank 
robbery in Bath, followed a similar strategy, Morganelli said.

"He will fall in line like all the rest of them," Morganelli said. "It's human 
nature to survive, and he's nothing unique."

Ballard pleaded guilty to murdering 4 people in 2010 in a gruesome knife attack 
in Northampton. A jury sentenced him to death for killing Denise Merhi, his 
ex-girlfriend; Denis Marsh, her father; Alvin Marsh, her legally blind 
grandfather; and Steven Zernhelt, a neighbor who rushed into Merhi's home after 
hearing screaming inside. Ballard had recently been released from state prison 
for an Allentown murder.

(source: Express-Times)

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

Gov. Corbett signs death warrant for Robert Anthony Flor, convicted of the 2005 
murder of Newtown Borough Police Officer Brian Gregg


Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed a warrant of execution for Robert Anthony 
Flor for the Sept. 29, 2005, murder of Newtown Borough Police Officer Brian 
Gregg.

Flor, 47, is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 4.

On Oct. 23, 2006 Flor pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder before the Honorable 
Alan M. Rubenstein in the shooting death of Officer Gregg inside St. Mary 
Medical Center. He also pleaded nolo contendere to attempted murder in the 
shootings of Newtown Borough Police Officer James Warunek and St. Mary 
Emergency Room Technician Joseph Epp, as well as to robbery and all other 
remaining counts.

Officers Gregg and Warunek had brought Flor to the hospital for blood testing 
as part of a DUI arrest. After his handcuffs were removed, Flor seized Officer 
Warunek's gun and fired multiple shots.

The Commonwealth had filed its notice of intent to seek the death penalty as a 
result of the following aggravating circumstances: 1) the victim was a police 
officer killed in the performance of his duties, 2) the defendant committed the 
killing during the perpetration of a felony, 3) the defendant knowingly created 
a grave risk of death to another person in addition to the victim of the 
offense, and 4) the defendant had a significant history of felony convictions 
involving the use or threat of violence to the person.

The penalty hearing began on Nov. 6, 2006, and concluded on Nov. 17, 2006, with 
the jury returning with a sentence of death. On that date, Judge Rubenstein 
imposed the sentence of death for the 1st-degree murder of Officer Gregg.

Judge Rubenstein further sentenced Flor to a consecutive aggregate sentence of 
65 to 130 years for the attempted murders of Warunek and Epp, and for robbery, 
recklessly endangering another person, escape, persons not to possess firearms, 
simple assault, terroristic threats, unlawful restraint and driving under the 
influence.

Flor is awaiting a hearing pursuant to the Post Conviction Relief Act. He is 
among 184 Pennsylvania inmates currently facing the death penalty, 5 of whom 
were convicted in Bucks County. Gov. Corbett has now signed 40 death warrants 
during his administration.

(source: Bucks Local News)

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

York County death penalty case


The death-penalty murder trial of Timothy Matthew Jacoby resumed Tuesday 
morning in York County Court.

He is accused of fatally shooting 55-year-old Monica Schmeyer in the head 
inside her Trone Road home in Manheim Township about 3 p.m. March 31, 2010.

This is the 2nd week of trial for Jacoby, 41, of 1719 W. Princess St. in West 
Manchester Township. If jurors convict him of first-degree murder, they will 
then have to decide whether to sentence him to death.

Prosecutors are arguing Jacoby decided to burglarize the victim's home after 
hearing Jon Schmeyer complain about the cash alimony payments.

(source: York Dispatch)






GEORGIA:

Court Rejects Appeal of Murder Defendant Who Said Lawyers Pressured Him to 
Plead Guilty


The Georgia Supreme Court on Monday unanimously rejected the arguments of a man 
who sought to undo his guilty plea for murder on claims that his lawyers had 
pressured him to plead guilty in order to avoid the death penalty.

(source: dailyreportonline.com)






ALABAMA:

Details of Alabama execution procedure still secret


Lawyers for an inmate on Alabama's death row say the state has kept them in the 
dark about most of the details of its new protocol for execution by lethal 
injection.

"The state's new lethal injection protocol has not been examined by any court," 
attorneys for inmate Thomas Arthur say in a motion filed with the Alabama 
Supreme Court last week.

Arthur, 73, has been on death row since 1983 for the murder of Muscle Shoals 
resident Troy Wicker. He was scheduled to be executed in 2012, but received a 
stay as Alabama wrestled with its problems obtaining execution drugs.

Several states have faced shortages of key lethal injection drugs, largely 
because drug manufacturers in Europe - where there's significant opposition to 
capital punishment - refuse to sell the drugs for use in executions. State 
officials acknowledged earlier this year that they couldn't hold executions 
because they'd simply run out of drugs.

Arthur's case lurched into motion again on Sept. 10, when state officials 
agreed on a new set of drugs for lethal injection. A day later, lawyers for the 
Attorney General's Office filed a motion with the Alabama Supreme Court, 
seeking execution dates for Arthur and 9 other inmates.

That motion lays out the 3 main drugs the state now plans to use in executions: 
midazolam hydrochloride as an anaesthetic; rocuronium bromide to relax the 
muscles; and potassium chloride to stop the heart. The Attorney General's 
Office argued that the combination was "virtually identical to Florida's newly 
revised protocol, which has been ruled constitutional."

Florida has executed 7 inmates since adopting midazolam, without significant 
difficulties. Other states that use midazolam have run into problems. An Ohio 
execution in January took 25 minutes, with the inmate gasping for breath, 
according to accounts in the press. In May, an Oklahoma inmate died 43 minutes 
after first being lethally injected.

Florida's protocol uses a stronger dose of midazolam than the ones prescribed 
in Ohio or Oklahoma. Alabama's new protocol uses the same dosage as Florida.

Still, it's not clear just how closely the new Alabama protocol follows 
Florida's. In Florida, executions conducted according to a 10-page set of 
instructions that outlines how prison staff will verify an inmate's death and 
when an execution process should be halted.

Alabama has declined to release its full protocol.

The details in the protocol can matter, said Richard Dieter, director of the 
Death Penalty Information Center, a nonprofit group that studies capital 
punishment.

Dieter said an execution protocol can outline how much training prison staff 
should receive for executions. It can also explain what prison staff should do 
when things go wrong.

"What if the execution doesn't work?" he said. "It's gruesome, but there are 
times when staff have decided an execution should just be stopped because it 
was done wrong."

Oklahoma released a new protocol last week, in response to its botched 
execution in May. That protocol included new drug combinations, but also 
required more training for prison staff.

When The Anniston Star asked for a full copy of Alabama's protocol last month, 
Department of Corrections officials said a court order in a capital case 
prevented them from releasing it.

"While the department generally considers execution-related documents 
confidential and exempt from public disclosure under Alabama law, because of 
pending litigation, we are abiding by the court order and will not release any 
execution information," Department of Corrections spokeswoman Kristi Gates said 
in an email.

That court order emerged from Arthur's case. In 2012, Arthur challenged the 
legality of an earlier drug protocol, and the state sought and got a gag order 
prohibiting the release of that protocol to the public. It's not the 1st time 
the state has sought to place its execution procedures under a gag order. There 
are similar orders in cases filed in 2006 and 2007.

Arthur's lawyer, Suhana Han, said the state has yet to release the new protocol 
to her.

"We're in the middle of litigation," she said. "There's no basis for the State 
of Alabama to refuse to provide us with a copy."

Gates, the prison spokeswoman referred additional questions to the Attorney 
General's Office. Attempts to reach officials in the office for comment were 
not successful Monday.

(source: Anniston Star)

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

McCalla couple stabbed, beat their roommate to death while robbing him, court 
documents allege


The McCalla man found murdered in his home this weekend was stabbed and beaten 
to death by his 2 roommates, court documents filed Monday allege.

According to depositions filed after the arrests of 23-year-old Amanda Sheree 
Jones and Richard Cheyenne Simmons, 29, the couple stabbed and severely beat 
their victim, 52-year-old Micah Morton, as they robbed him in the home they 
shared on Billy Bob Drive.

Morton succumbed to his injuries and was found dead in his home Saturday.

Sgt. Dale Phillips, the commander of the Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit, 
said Sunday that Jones and Simmons had lived with Morton for several weeks 
before his murder.

According to the deposition, the couple was found driving Morton's missing 
Chevrolet truck and carrying debit and credit cards belonging to him when they 
were tracked down and arrested at the Dollar General in McCalla.

Both were charged Sunday with capital murder during the commission of a robbery 
and 1st-degree theft. There were taken to the Tuscaloosa County Jail, where 
they will be held without bail until their trials. The maximum sentence for a 
capital murder conviction in Alabama is the death penalty.

(source: al.com)






MISSISSIPPI:

Miss. high court hears arguments in death row case


A defense attorney on Monday asked the Mississippi Supreme Court to overturn 
the death penalty of Sherwood Brown, who was sentenced to death in 1995 for the 
slayings of 2 women and a teenage girl in DeSoto County.

"It's clear that he's mildly mentally retarded," Brown's attorney, John R. 
Lane, told justices during oral arguments.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2002 barred states from executing mentally disabled 
inmates.

Lane said Brown scored 75 on an IQ test. A score of 70 is widely accepted as a 
marker of mental disability, but medical professionals say people scoring as 
high as 75 can be considered intellectually disabled because of the test's 
margin of error.

A special assistant state attorney general, Jason L. Davis, argued that 
Mississippi justices should uphold Brown's death sentence. Davis said a DeSoto 
County circuit judge made the proper ruling in 2013 by saying Brown's attorneys 
failed to prove the inmate has a longstanding mental disability.

Brown, now 46, was sentenced to death after being convicted on 2 counts of 
murder and 1 count of capital murder.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO----new death sentence

Jury Recommends Death Penalty for Warren County Teen


The sentencing phase of a convicted killer's trial began Monday and the jury 
has reached their decision.

A jury recommended the death penalty for 19-year-old Austin Myers.

Jurors found Myers guilty of killing 18-year-old Justin Back in January. Back 
was choked, stabbed, and shot inside his Waynesville home.

A 2nd man accused in the murder, Tim Mosley, pleaded guilty and testified 
against Myers. After killing him, Myers and Mosley dumped Back's body in Preble 
County.

The jury's recommendation would make Myers the youngest person on Ohio's death 
row.

(source: WKRC news)

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

Trial date set for multiple murder suspect


Multiple murder suspect Donald Hoffman will stand trial Nov. 17, pending 
completion of psychological evaluations.

Crawford County Common Pleas Judge Russell Wiseman said the court is awaiting 
findings from evaluations being completed on Hoffman.

"It is doubtful they will be back by then," Wiseman said during a mitigation 
hearing for Hoffman on Monday morning. If that is the case, the trial will be 
rescheduled.

Wiseman has set aside time for a 5-day jury trial.

Hoffman, 41, was indicted on 21 charges, including eight counts of aggravated 
murder, in connection with the deaths of Billjack Chatman, Jerald Smith, 
Freelin Hensley and Darrell E. Lewis. The indictment includes two counts of 
aggravated murder per victim.

The bodies were discovered Sept. 1 and 2.

Meanwhile, Sara Lewis, daughter of Darrell Lewis, made claims to Channel 10 TV 
News on Monday that the Bucyrus Police Department dumped some of her father's 
ashes from a necklace when she was arrested on a warrant for failure to appear 
for an arraignment on a theft charge Friday.

Bucyrus police Chief Dave Koepke said the claim is incorrect.

"Officers were called to a disturbance on Friday at Circle K on Lane Street," 
Koepke said.

Koepke said Lewis and another girl were having a dispute over personal 
property.

"The officer realized there was an active warrant for Sara Lewis and brought 
her to the station," Koepke said.

Koepke said Lewis gave permission for the officer to test a fine, brown and 
white substance that was inside a locket on a necklace she was wearing.

"Only a very small amount was tested, was negative for narcotics and the 
necklace was given back to her with the remaining contents intact," Koepke 
said.

Koepke said Lewis was released with a court date issued to her. She is to 
appear in court on Wednesday.

Dressed in an orange jump suit and shackled Monday, Hoffman sat between his 
attorneys, father-and -son legal team Robert and Rolf Whitney.

Wiseman gave his approval for a mitigation specialist to work for the defense. 
According to American Bar Association guidelines, a mitigation specialist is a 
mandatory part of the defense in any capital case to explore sensitive 
information from the defendant that the defendant may not otherwise disclose.

Hoffman could face the death penalty if convicted.

Wiseman also set a deadline date of Oct. 16 for jury questionnaires to be 
turned in to the court by both the defense and prosecution, Oct. 31 as the 
discovery deadline and Nov. 7 as the filing deadline for evidentiary matters.

8 of the victims' family members were in the courtroom for the quick hearing, 
including Mike Lewis, brother of Darrell Lewis.

"I will be in court for all of his (Hoffman) hearings because I want to know 
what's going on. I don't want to hear things on the street, I want to hear it 
myself," Mike Lewis said.

Donna Hardymon, daughter of Hensley, said she does not think Hoffman should 
have any freedom.

"We do not think he should have all the freedoms that he does, such as the 
ability to write letters, have recreation time and use a telephone," said 
Hardymon, who took notes during the hearing as she sat with her husband and 
son.

Brenda Hensley Lauthers and Roxie Messer, Hensley's sisters, along with their 
friend Ellen Fast, also were in the courtroom.

"It upset me at the last hearing that Hoffman was chewing a piece of gum his 
attorneys gave to him. We feel that is disrespectful to the victims' families," 
Lauthers said.

Messer is upset about Hoffman's recent haircut.

"My brother can't get his haircut," Messer said.

(source: Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum)