[Deathpenalty] death penalty news:----CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 19


CALIFORNIA:

Motive for fatal knife attack on Pasadena couple still unknown


Jacob Bersson accepted his cousin's offer and moved to California from Florida 
in June.

He told a friend he needed change and it was a good opportunity. He described 
how nice people the Bressler's were and how good a time he was having.

The 29-year-old now stands accused of stabbing to death the Pasadena couple who 
opened their home to him - his 2nd cousin, Chefs Center general manager Larry 
Bressler, and Bressler's wife, Denise.

Wearing a county jail jumpsuit of a yellow top and blue pants, a handcuffed 
Bersson appeared Friday at Pasadena Superior Court to answer to 2 murder 
charges. But his arraignment was continued to Nov. 3 so he could be assigned an 
attorney.

Unlike his profile picture on Facebook, Bersson wasn't wearing glasses, had a 
mustache and the beginnings of a beard. He spoke clearly when asked questions 
by the judge.

In addition to the two counts of murder, the criminal complaint includes an 
allegation that Bersson personally used a knife to commit the killings. Because 
there is a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, he could face 
the death penalty or life in prison without parole. The District Attorney's 
Office will decide later if it will seek the death penalty.

Bersson stayed with the Bresslers in the 200 block of North Madison Avenue in 
Pasadena. For reasons still unknown, authorities allege he forced his way into 
the couple's bedroom and stabbed them with a kitchen knife on Oct. 13.

Larry Bressler summoned help by calling 9-1-1 around 6:20 a.m. He identified 
Bersson as the suspect and told police his cousin left the apartment.

Police found Bersson in bloody clothing and with a cut on his left arm about a 
block away. Pasadena fire officials described his injury as minor.

Laura Simpson, who is Larry Bressler's niece, described him as a good-hearted 
person who loved music, food and cared about others.

"Everyone is shocked," Simpson said.

"He was wonderful, funny, always laughing. He was a good person. Denise was 
this tiny sweet lady. She had a beautiful voice, taught piano a long time. They 
were a nice happy couple."

She only met Bersson once when they were children. He was a distant cousin to 
her.

Larry Bressler's mother Ellin Snow, 75, who lives near Seattle, Washington, 
knew Bersson was living with her son and her daughter-in-law. Her son often 
called her.

Her impression was Bersson was somewhat lost and that he needed some direction.

Snow said she didn't really know him.

"I can tell you Jacob came from one of the loving families I know," Snow said. 
She described Bersson's mother and grandmother as truly loving people.

Snow said she loved her daughter-in-law, Denise, very much.

"She was sweet, loving. She was a dear person to me," Snow said.

Larry Bressler was joyful, loving, gregarious, a wonderful cook, creative and 
artistic, according to his mother.

"I called him my Larry Boy. From the time he was my baby, he was a wonderful 
guy to me and what I'm finding out, to a lot of friends," she said.

Snow said she always knew her son cared about people but she didn't realize how 
he was a big part of people's lives until she saw the emails and comments from 
his friends.

It also didn't surprise her that Larry Bressler extended a helping hand to 
Bersson.

News that Bersson is suspected of 2 murders shocked Chris Phillips, who has 
known the 29-year-old since middle school. He said Bersson isn't a violent 
person, wasn't the type to throw temper tantrums and loves animals.

"My heart goes out to his cousin and his cousin's family. I'm just in shock," 
Phillips said. "Such a tragedy. I'm so sorry. I can't believe this has 
happened."

He said no one could believe it when he told them.

Phillips wondered if drugs were involved.

"But he was someone who would experiment with psychedelic drugs," Phillips 
said. "I know he experimented. Drugs that mess with your mind, He was into 
mind-bending stuff."

The stabbings happened in the morning. He pointed out that waking up at 6 a.m. 
wasn't normal for Bersson.

"The kid would stay up late and go to bed at 2 or 3 am.," Phillips said.

A couple of weeks ago, he said Bersson started posting "really weird stuff" on 
Facebook.

He said Bersson wrote about getting up in the middle of the night, seeing a 
praying mantis and taking a picture of it. Phillips said there was a 
description of how Bersson felt like he was the praying mantis.

Phillips mentioned an Oct. 5 posting by Bersson.

"He says, 'Now I fully understand why as a kid my favorite video games were 
ones where the protagonist descends into dark labyrinth and confronts demonic 
formations,'" Phillips read. "Now that is kind of odd to me. He doesn't speak 
like that."

Bersson has gone through a lot, according to Phillips.

He said Bersson has been battling depression since high school and was obese.

Bersson was happy when he lost a lot of weight, Phillips said. He later gained 
the weight back.

3 to 4 years ago, he said Bersson pretty much spent time in his room playing 
video games. Bersson was into role playing games but Phillips didn't know the 
names of the games.

"He wouldn't go out. Edgy and mean. He was depressed."

Bersson's father died several years ago and his stepfather died of a brain 
aneurysm a year ago, according to Phillips.

He said Bersson's mother lost her business and sold her home.

"I think her accountant messed up. She ended up losing her business over it. 
She had to sell the house," Phillips said.

Bersson got a job at a paper shredding company but didn't last long there. 
Phillips didn't know the reason why.

"That's when his cousin reached out to him, trying to help him," Phillips said.

His cousin told Bersson he could move out to California and stay with him.

"He was really, really excited," Phillips said. "He just wanted to get out of 
his funk. Said, 'I need a change.' He said it was a good opportunity for him."

Bressler is due to return to court next month.

(source: Contra Costa Times)

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

Jurors hear video of suspect bragging about killings of 2 Chinese students in 
California


Jurors in the case of a man charged with the murders of 2 Chinese students at 
the University of Southern California were played a videotape Thursday where he 
bragged about the shootings.

Prosecutors played the video of Javier Bolden boasting to a cellmate after his 
arrest in the killings of Ming Qu and Ying Wu.

The 23-year-old engineering students were shot on April 11, 2012, while sitting 
in a parked car in a neighbourhood near the campus.

The deaths fueled concerns in China about the safety of students abroad and it 
spurred USC to provide more protection around campus.

Bolden's cellmate was a police informant who secretly recorded him discussing 
how he and a friend had planned to steal the couple's BMW.

The 22-year-old Bolden is charged with 2 counts of murder and attempted murder 
and assault with a firearm in a separate shooting that occurred months earlier.

Bolden's attorney Andrew Goldman said his client lied to the informant to 
appear tough and said he would have admitted to the Boston Marathon bombing to 
impress the informant. The informant had told Bolden he was arrested on murder 
charges.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon showed jurors a 90-minute-long police 
interview that he said was Bolden's confession. In it Bolden admitted that he 
and a friend targeted USC to find well-off victims.

Goldman said his client made the confession under duress and that Bolden denied 
involvement in the shootings until a detective mentioned he could face the 
death penalty.

In February, Bolden's friend, Bryan Barnes, pleaded guilty to two counts of 
1st-degree murder in the USC shooting. He was sentenced to life in prison 
without the possibility of parole in a plea deal to avoid the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

Judge rejects Tsarnaev request for dismissal of charges


A federal judge refused Friday to suppress evidence in the case of suspected 
Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev that was uncovered when the FBI 
searched his computer, Dartmouth dorm room, and his family's Cambridge 
apartment in the days and months after the bombings.

US District Court Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. also rejected a defense request 
to dismiss the case, after Tsarnaev's lawyers said the secret grand jury that 
indicted Tsarnaev was improperly empaneled.

O'Toole refused to hold a hearing on the requests, finding that Tsarnaev's 
defense "has failed to prove a violation of the fair cross section 
requirements" of federal law.

The judge's rulings come as lawyers are scheduled to meet Monday for a status 
hearing in federal court in Boston, to go over evidence in the case.

Tsarnaev, now 21, is slated to stand trial in January on charges that he and 
his brother set off the bombs at the Marathon finish line on April 15, 2013, 
that killed 3 people and injured more than 260. The brothers also are accused 
of fatally shooting an MIT police officer.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces the possibility of the death penalty if convicted.

Tsarnaev's older brother, Tamerlan, was killed days after the bombings in a 
confrontation with police.

In his rulings Friday, O'Toole found that Tsarnaev failed to show that his 
rights were violated by a flawed jury selection process. Tsarnaev's lawyers had 
argued that the selection system was flawed because not enough 
African-Americans were represented, because the court allowed people over 70 to 
excuse themselves, and because the court did not follow its own rules to 
replace jurors whose summons were returned as "undeliverable."

O'Toole also refused to suppress evidence gathered by federal investigators. 
Defense lawyers had argued items that were confiscated went beyond what was 
authorized by search warrants.

The judge ruled that investigators properly obtained the warrants for the 
searches, but O'Toole said defense lawyers could contest specific pieces of 
evidence that prosecutors want to introduce to jurors during the trial.

"The defendant has failed to present any specific facts to support a showing 
that general rummaging occurred," the judge said.

(source: Boston Globe)

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

Book review: An honest, compelling look at 'The Mother Court'


"THE MOTHER COURT: Tales of Cases That Mattered in America's Greatest Trial 
Court," by James D. Zirin. American Bar Association. 308 pages. $29.95.

James D. Zirin was a young lawyer when he began his career in the prestigious 
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, known as The Mother 
Court. Through his eyes, we meet the practitioners he most admires, and a few 
he doesn't. This rare and valuable book is an honest assessment of what he 
learned about the law and the people who shape it.

Zirin writes like a novelist glancing back at conflicts that found resolution 
here. Although settled in court, ambivalence can remain when those same issues 
reappear. The Rosenberg espionage case is an illustration.

Fundamental to all prosecution is the breaking of a law. Doing something bad is 
not enough for an arrest. The bad act must defy a law as written. Charging the 
Rosenbergs with treason wouldn't stick because of the Constitution's precise 
wording. Treason requires a person to aid the enemy during war. But in 1944, 
Russia was our ally.

The Espionage Act of 1917 was a better fit, because it prohibited the passing 
of secret information to a foreign government. Then Congress passed The Atomic 
Energy Act of 1946. It criminalized "atomic" spying, and, more significantly, 
gave the death penalty decision to the jury, not the judge. Ultimately, the 
Rosenbergs were "indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced under the Espionage 
Act for a 'conspiracy' lasting from 1944 to 1950."

Legal scholars believe the Atomic Energy Act voided the Espionage Act. Thus, 
they argue, the Rosenbergs were sentenced illegally since Judge Irving Kaufman, 
not the jury, imposed the death sentence.

Since the lifting of the Iron Curtain, we now know for certain that Julius 
Rosenberg was guilty of passing secrets to the Russians. And we also know that 
he did not get a fair trial. Nor did Ethel.

What bedevils this case is not guilt or innocence, but the sentencing. By 
aiming the media spotlight on himself, Kaufman overlooked the intricate issues 
involved. And the swift execution prevented an appeal to correct errors made by 
the prosecution, the defense and the judge.

Now here we are again. What should be done with Edward Snowden if he is 
returned to the United States? There is tension between the government???s need 
to suppress information, and the public's right to know. We want both 
"security" and "transparency."

The Mother Court also grappled with the government's charge of obscenity 
(Joyce's "Ulysses"), the longest criminal trial in American history (The Pizza 
Connection), the Red Scare (the Alger Hiss trial) among many other familiar 
cases.

Why call it "The Mother Court?" Its story goes back to the dawn of the 
Republic. It is the oldest court in the nation, even predating the U.S. Supreme 
Court. Why call this book rare and valuable? It bolsters confidence in our 
court system. Not withstanding the Rosenberg case, Zirin asserts: "It is 
generally acknowledged to be the best in the justice business."

(source: Mandy Twaddell lives in Providence; Providence Journal)