[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZ., UTAH, CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 2



ARIZONA:

Jodi Arias Trial: Investigator Going Back to Murder Scene?


Jodi Arias, who is due to be sentenced for the murder of ex-boyfriend Travis 
Alexander, reportedly wants to send an investigator back to the scene of the 
crime.

According to a Maricopa County Superior Court minute order, Arias wants the 
investigator to go back to the crime scene at Alexander's home in Mesa, Az. 
Alexander was murdered in 2008, and Arias was convicted in May 2013.

The retrial in the death penalty phase is slated to start Sept. 29.

HLN-TV, which has been covering the Arias case, wrote on Saturday: "Arias asked 
that her investigator be permitted to observe the Mesa, Arizona, home where 
Alexander was killed."

The court order then stipulates that the prosecutor was to allow Arias' 
investigator to head back to Alexander???s former home no later than this week.

According to The Associated Press and other reports, Judge Sherry Stephens 
granted Arias the right to represent herself in the death penalty phase.

Recently, several experts weighed in on her decision to represent herself.

"It's actually probably a good idea to represent herself," San Francisco-area 
defense attorney Daniel Horowitz told CBS.

"She looks like a vicious psychopath with a ridiculous defense. If she can get 
just 1 juror to bond with her on some level, even if they hate her, they're 
getting to know her, and it's harder to kill someone you know."

He added that the jury might find "her pathetic."

Mel McDonald, a former Maricopa County judge, added: "I think generally that 
anybody that represents themselves has a fool for a client, but it also gives 
her a way, if she's out there making a fool of herself, to maybe invoke some 
sympathy from a juror."

(source: The Epoch Times)






UTAH:

Utah inmate's capital murder trial to be set soon


A trial will be scheduled soon for a Utah prison inmate who faces a possible 
death penalty in the killing of his cellmate.

The Deseret News reported Monday (http://bit.ly/1rJFggE) that 33-year-old 
Steven Crutcher will be in court Sept. 17.

Crutcher's trial on one charge of aggravated murder is expected to be scheduled 
that day.

Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel filed notice in July that he's seeking the 
death penalty.

Prosecutors say Crutcher killed 62-year-old cellmate Rolando Cardona-Gueton at 
the Gunnison prison in 2013.

The older man was found as if he had hanged himself. Authorities initially 
thought it was a suicide.

Crutcher already is serving a sentence of up to life in prison for an 
aggravated kidnapping charge in June 2009.

Crutcher's attorney Edward Brass did not return messages.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Suspect in Mission Valley mall triple-killing in court Tuesday


A preliminary hearing is set to begin Tuesday for a man accused in the shooting 
deaths of 2 brothers and a woman who was engaged to 1 of them - a crime that 
came to light when 2 of the victims were found mortally wounded in a parked car 
at a Mission Valley mall last Christmas Eve.

Carlo Gallopa Mercado, 29, could face the death penalty if convicted of 3 
counts of murder and a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders. A 
decision on what penalty Mercado could face will be made later.

Mercado's arrest in late June came nearly 6 months after Ilona Flint and 
Salvatore Belvedere, both 22, were found fatally shot shortly before 1:30 a.m. 
Dec. 24 at Westfield Mission Valley, which was open late for last-minute 
holiday shopping.

Flint managed to call 911 shortly before she died at the scene. Belvedere died 
at a hospital 2 days later.

Gianni Belvedere, 24, was missing for several weeks following the shootings of 
his fiancee and brother. In mid-January, his body was found in the trunk of a 
car outside a fast-foot restaurant in Riverside. He also had been shot in the 
head.

Investigators found "substantial probable cause" linking Mercado to the 
slayings, homicide Lt. Mike Hastings said, but he declined to elaborate. The 
lieutenant said he wasn't sure there was any relation between the defendant and 
the victims.

A motive was not known.

Mercado was found with two pistols and an assault rifle in his car on Jan. 18 
after target practice and pleaded guilty to possession of silencer, said 
attorney Michael Berg.

After the preliminary hearing, which is expected to last several days, a judge 
will decide whether enough evidence was presented for Mercado to stand trial.

(source: ABC news)






USA:

Marathon bombing suspect: Delay trial until 2015


Lawyers for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev asked Friday to 
delay his trial until at least September 2015.

"We recognize that the government and many members of the public, especially in 
the Boston area, may want the trial to begin quickly," the lawyers said in a 
court filing, but it is critically important that both sides have time "to 
uncover and present all relevant evidence."

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty in the April 2013 attack that killed 3 people 
and wounded more than 260. He could face the death penalty.

Tsarnaev's attorneys said his Nov. 3 trial gives them about 1/2 the median 
preparation time allowed other defendants facing a federal death sentence over 
the past decade.

The lawyers said they need more time to evaluate the "massive amount" of 
evidence, which they say prosecutors have been slow and disorganized in 
producing, and to explore mitigating factors that could lessen his sentence if 
convicted. The attorneys said at a hearing earlier this month they likely could 
not be ready for a November trial.

Authorities say Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, set off the 2 
pressure cooker bombs at the marathon's finish line. Tamerlan was killed during 
a shootout with police days later.

Dzhokhar, 21, is a naturalized U.S. citizen who came to the Boston area from 
Russia with his family more than a decade ago. His lawyers theorize that 
Tamerlan, who allegedly became radicalized during a visit to his native 
Chechnya, was the attacks' instigator.

The lawyers said their investigation faces "barriers of distance, language, and 
culture," and the fears of witnesses aware of arrests, prosecutions and 
deportations of some of the Tsarnaevs' friends. The defense cited an FBI 
agent's killing of a friend of Tamerlan during an interrogation in Florida, 
which authorities have said was self-defense, and the recent convictions of two 
of Dzhokhar's friends on obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges.

Separately, the defense responded to prosecutors' opposition to their change of 
venue request, saying Tsarnaev's trial should be moved, or a hearing at least 
should be held.

(source: Associated Press)