[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., FLA., OHIO, COLO., ARIZ.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 21




GEORGIA:

Sentenced to death, inmate now faces new penalties


The Georgia Supreme Court says that the death penalty is not enough punishment 
for a Walker County killer.

In an opinion released Monday morning, the justices unanimously ruled that the 
sentence was "favorable to the defendant" in the case of Donnie Allen Hulett. 
In April 2004, a jury convicted Hulett of murdering 2 brothers, and Superior 
Court Judge Jon "Bo" Wood sentenced him to death.

The top court's decision could delay Hulett's execution in a case that has 
dragged on for 10 years. A month after his conviction in 2004, attorneys for 
Hulett asked for a new trial, as often happens after a guilty verdict in a 
criminal case.

But the appeal lingered for 9 years. Wood did not deny Hulett's request for a 
new trial until 2013. And because Wood did not deny the motion until last year, 
Hulett's attorney did not appeal it further up the judicial chain until this 
year.

Now, because of an error 10 years ago, Hulett is due to return to Walker County 
Superior Court for a new sentencing hearing. The Supreme Court said Wood was 
too soft.

In all, the jury convicted Hulett in 2004 of 17 different crimes. Those crimes 
included 2 counts of malice murder.

When Wood sentenced Hulett, he gave him the death penalty for malice murder and 
"merged" all the other charges. But the Supreme Court justices say Wood should 
not have done that. They ruled that Wood should have punished Hulett separately 
for a couple of his crimes: robbery and possession of a firearm by a convicted 
felon.

The Supreme Court says that those crimes were committed separately from the 
murder.

The court's reasoning? If Hulett had not been found guilty of murder, he would 
have still been guilty of robbery. And if Hulett had not been found guilty of 
robbery or murder, he would have still been found guilty of carrying a firearm 
when he was not allowed to have one.

The Supreme Court found that Wood was unfair to prosecutors, though prosecutors 
asked Wood to "merge" the charges when he sentenced Hulett. No prosecutor has 
objected to that since the sentencing.

Supreme Court Justice Carol Hunstein wrote, "if we notice a merger issue in a 
direct appeal, as we have here, we regularly resolve that issue, even where 
(it) was not raised in the trial court and is not enumerated as error on the 
appeal."

Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Herbert "Buzz" Franklin 
said the Supreme Court's ruling surprised him. 10 years ago, he asked Wood to 
"merge" the charges because he thought that would reduce Hulett's chances of 
winning an appeal down the line.

"We try to err on the side of caution," he said.

(source: TimesFreePress)






FLORIDA:

Parents face death penalty in toddler's death


2 Pensacola parents who failed to seek treatment for their severely burned 
toddler have been charged with murder and are facing the death penalty, 
according to the State Attorney's Office.

Christopher Redd, 39 and Jennifer Gail Perry, 29, were both charged with 
1st-degree felony murder in the death of their 2-year-old son Bryson.

According to the couple's July arrest report, Perry told the Pensacola police 
that boiling water from the stove fell onto the child. According to the PPD, he 
had second and third degree burns over 35 % of his body.

The report said the family waited approximately 2 weeks before calling 911 
because they had been previously investigated by the Department of Children and 
Families and didn't know how what to say about Bryson's injuries.

Both are being held in Escambia County Jail without bond, and their next 
scheduled court date is Dec. 16.

(source: Pensacola News Journal)

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

Florida quadruple-murder suspect faces death penalty after leaving bodies to 
rot on hill ---- Adam Matos, 28, allegedly lived with the bodies for a week as 
the decomposed in a field a short distance from the Hudson, Fla., home. He's 
accused of killing his ex-girlfriend, Megan Brown, her new boyfriend and her 
parents, then fleeing the scene with his 4-year-old autistic son.


A callous Florida killer who cops say lived beside the rotting bodies of his 
ex-girlfriend and her 3 family members for a week after killing them now faces 
the death penalty in the heinous quadruple murder.

Adam Matos, 28, was busted the day after authorities found the four bodies 
stacked up on a hill Sept. 4 in Hudson, a waterfront town 45 miles north of 
Tampa.

Matos shot dead ex Megan Brown, 27, bludgeoned her new boyfriend, 37-year-old 
Nicholas Leonard, to death, before shooting and beating the woman's parents, 
Gregory and Margaret Brown, both 52, to death.

Margaret Brown had a plastic bag pulled over her head, while Gregory Brown had 
been shot in the chest.

Between the killings and his arrest, Matos cared for his autistic son, Ismael 
"Tristan" Santisteban while covering up his crimes, police said. According to 
court documents, he told neighbors the family was on vacation and used Margaret 
Brown's debit card to buy pizza for the 4-year-old and a shovel for the 
burials.

Matos, 28, has been in police custody since Sept. 5, when a SWAT team cornered 
him in a downtown Tampa hotel. Ismael was with him, unharmed.

The arrest ended a frantic 12-hour Amber Alert search for the boy. Police began 
hunting for the father-son duo on Sept. 4 when they found the 4 bodies and no 
trace of Matos and Tristan.

Police believe Matos killed the 4 on Aug. 28 and then lived at the home with 
the bodies nearby for a week, the Tampa Tribune reported.

That was the last day anyone saw the family alive, and was the same day Megan 
Brown called police to report Matos had held a knife to her throat and 
threatened to kill her, the Tribune reported.

He fled before cops arrived, but neighbors spotted Matos at the house later 
that afternoon, sweaty and out of breath, according to police records.

Matos had lived in the home with the Browns since July, when he moved with them 
from Pennsylvania to Florida - and stayed even after Megan Brown broke up with 
him. Days later, when the Browns' next-door neighbors, Ryan McCann, asked where 
Megan and her parents were, Matos told him the three had taken a trip to West 
Virginia.

Meanwhile, Matos sold 6 of the family's dogs through Craigslist.com listings, 
earning $50 for each pup the family had bred. He used Margaret Brown's debit 
card to buy a shovel from Walmart - which he likely used to bury his victim's 
bodies near the house, police said. He also used the card to order Papa John's.

Police visited the house on Sept. 4 after a worried friend couldn't get in 
touch with any of the Browns. When officers saw birds circling the air, they 
discovered the maggot-covered, decomposing bodies.

Inside the home, cops found weapons, as well as blood-soaked sheets and rugs 
and blood and maggots inside a minivan in the home's garage, the Tampa Bay 
Times reported.

Matos faces 4 1st-degree murder charges and pleaded not guilty. He is next due 
in court Dec. 9. During a jailhouse interview last month, the accused killer 
proclaimed his innocence - though he admitted the evidence pointed at him.

(source: New York Daily News)






OHIO:

Alleged Ohio highway shooter faces death penalty


A man accused of kidnapping his estranged girlfriend from her Kentucky home and 
fatally shooting her on Interstate 75 in Ohio faces 5 charges and the death 
penalty.

A Warren County, Ohio, grand jury indicted Terry Froman on Monday on 2 counts 
of aggravated murder, 2 counts of kidnapping and 1 charge of discharging a 
firearm on I-75 in the Sept. 12 death of Kim Thomas, of Mayfield, Ky.

Froman, 41, of Illinois, is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges Wednesday 
in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

He also faces capital charges in Kentucky in the shooting death of Thomas' 
17-year-old son, Michael "Eli" Mohney. Authorities say Froman executed Mohney 
as he tried to defend his mother from the kidnapping at their home.

Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said Warren County will prosecute 
Froman first before he is transferred to Kentucky.

Thomas was found dead, shot multiple times, across the back seat of Froman's 
white 2004 GMC Yukon after Froman, with police on his tail, stopped the SUV on 
the berm of I-75 in Turtlecreek Township. He allegedly shot Thomas, then shot 
himself in the chest. A spokesman for the Ohio State Highway Patrol had said 
Froman tried to commit suicide, but his injuries were not life-threatening.

The incident shut down I-75 for about6 hours.

"There is evil in the world and I think what we believe happened in this 
particular case is evidence of that."

A multistate search for Froman began early Sept. 12 after Thomas' co-workers at 
a Mayfield, Ky., nursing home went to her nearby residence to check on her when 
Thomas did not show up for work.

Authorities in Graves County, Ky., said Froman is accused of fatally shooting 
Mohney, in the residence before abducting Thomas. A bloodied Thomas tried to 
flee at a Food Mart in Paducah, Ky., on the morning of Sept. 12, but Froman 
caught her, put her in the vehicle and took off.

Froman then stopped at his mother's home in Paducah covered in blood. His 
mother called police after he left, Graves County Commonwealth Attorney David 
Hargrove said earlier.

"This is a case that has rocked that community of Graves County, Ky.," 
Fornshell said.

Froman and Thomas had lived together but broke up in late August or early 
September, Fornshell said.

Fornshell said he called Thomas' family and spoke with her father Monday 
morning before holding a news conference to announce the indictment.

"I could tell he was choked up about the fact that at least the 1st step of 
justice had started," Fornshell said. "There is evil in the world and I think 
what we believe happened in this particular case is evidence of that."

(source: USA Today)






COLORADO:

Dunlap death row decision by Gov. John Hickenlooper haunts victim's father but 
not other family members


The father of slain 17-year-old talks about Gov. John Hickenlooper's decision 
to grant the killer an indefinite reprieve.

A heartbroken father whose daughter was killed during a rampage at a suburban 
Chuck E. Cheese blistered Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper for granting an 
indefinite reprieve to death row inmate Nathan Dunlap.

Dennis O'Connor called Hickenlooper a "coward" in a tough-to-watch 13-minute 
video released Monday by A Better Colorado Future, a political 527 overseen by 
Republican political operatives Andy George and Kelly Maher. His daughter, 
Colleen, was 17.

"He took the coward's way out at the expense of my daughter," O'Connor said. 
"He's a coward who doesn't deserve to be in office. If you can do anything, 
Coloradans, get this guy out of here before he screws everything up."

Hickenlooper, a Democrat, faces a challenge from former Congressman Bob 
Beauprez, a Republican.

O'Connor's former wife, Jodie McNally-Damore, has a different opinion of 
Hickenlooper's decision. Dunlap, she told CNN, "deserves to stay exactly in the 
hole that he's in -- let him rot."

And Colleen's cousin, Gillian McNally, told Colorado Public Radio that she 
"fully supports" Gov. Hickenlooper's decision. "I actually thought it was very 
brave," McNally said.

Maher said her organization has cut a 30-second and a one-minute campaign ad 
from the video, but still is making a decision on how to proceed.

Colleen was shot at the Aurora pizzeria where Dunlap he used to work at before 
being fired. He killed four people and severely injured a 5th. Dunlap was 
scheduled to be executed last year and some thought the Democratic governor 
might commute the killer's sentence to life in prison, instead, but the 
governor chose an indefinite reprieve. Hickenlooper said 3 jurors have said if 
they knew Dunlap was bi-polar they wouldn't have voted to give him the death 
penalty.

"This is an awful tragedy and Nathan Dunlap will die in prison," the governor's 
campaign manager, Brad Komar, said when asked about the video. "The governor's 
decision was based in his opposition to the death penalty while respecting that 
others disagree. It is a legitimate question whether the state should take a 
life."

(source: Denver Post)






ARIZONA:

Arizona jury to consider death penalty for murderer Jodi Arias


An Arizona jury will be sworn in on Tuesday to decide whether 34-year-old 
convicted murderer Jodi Arias will be executed for the 2008 slaying of Travis 
Alexander, court officials said.

After months of delays, a 12-member jury is set to be impaneled in Maricopa 
County Superior Court in downtown Phoenix in the penalty phase retrial of the 
former California waitress.

Arias was found guilty of 1st-degree murder in May 2013 for killing Alexander, 
30, in his Mesa, Arizona, home. Alexander was found slumped in his shower after 
being stabbed 27 times, having his throat slashed and being shot in the face.

Arias testified for 18 days, claiming she acted in self-defense, while 
prosecutors said she murdered Alexander in a jealous rage.

The jury found her guilty and quickly decided that she was eligible for the 
death penalty. But they deadlocked on what her punishment should be, prompting 
Judge Sherry Stephens to declare a mistrial.

The 5-month trial featured lurid testimony and grim crime-scene photographs, 
drawing many U.S. television and Internet viewers with the aid of live-streamed 
broadcasts. The penalty phase retrial, however, will not be broadcast live.

It took roughly 3 weeks to seat the new jury, from a pool of roughly 400 
people. If that jury deadlocks, the death penalty will be off the table, and 
Stephens will decide if Arias gets life in prison, or life without the 
possibility of parole for 25 years.

(source: Reuters)