[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----KAN., MO., S.DAK.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 4



KANSAS:

In Cheatham case, judge denies finding death penalty 
unconstitutional----Courthouse closing cuts short motion hearing


A district court judge denied 3 defense motions to find the death penalty 
unconstitutional during an abbreviated hearing on Wednesday in the retrial of 
Phillip D. Cheatham Jr.

Cheatham's motion hearing had been scheduled for Shawnee County District Court 
Judge Richard Anderson to hear 16 motions on Wednesday.

But the hearing abruptly ended at 9:50 a.m. Wednesday when the courthouse was 
closed for the day after water leaked into the building's transformer, 
initially shutting down the elevators and some offices.

All offices were shut down, and court and county employees were sent home for 
the day.

The Cheatham hearing started at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

Motions denied by the judge were that the Kansas death penalty was 
unconstitutional because the statute doesn't require the jury to find 
mitigating circumstances; the death penalty creates a chilling effect on a 
defendant's right to a jury trial; and juries apply the death penalty in an 
arbitrary and capricious manner constituting cruel and unusual punishment.

Anderson and the lawyers were considering a fourth motion when the courthouse 
was closed for the day.

The Wednesday hearing will resume on Sept. 17 when the remaining 13 motions 
will be heard.

A new trial was ordered for Cheatham, 41, in 2013 after the Kansas Supreme 
Court overturned his capital murder conviction and death penalty sentence for 
the Dec. 13, 2003, killings of Annette Roberson and Gloria Jones, who were shot 
to death in a home at 2718 S.E. Colorado.

Cheatham is charged with capital murder in the killings of Roberson and Jones.

Cheatham also faces charges in connection with the attempted 1st-degree murder 
of Annetta D. Thomas, who survived after she was shot 19 times in the attack.

Cheatham also faces two alternative premeditated 1st-degree murder counts in 
their killings, as well as attempted 1st-degree murder and aggravated battery 
in the shooting of Thomas. Cheatham also is charged with criminal possession of 
a firearm.

After his conviction in his 1st trial, Cheatham was sentenced on Oct. 28, 2005, 
to the "Hard 50" prison term for the killing of Jones, and the death penalty 
for the slaying of Roberson.

Those convictions and sentences were overturned when the Supreme Court ruled 
Cheatham received ineffective assistance of counsel by Dennis Hawver. Attorneys 
John Val Wachtel, of Wichita, and Paul Oller, of Hays, are defending Cheatham.

Chief deputy district attorney Jacqie Spradling is prosecuting the Cheatham 
case.

(source: Capital Journal)






MISSOURI----impending execution

Federal judge denies stay of execution for man convicted in 1998 Columbia 
murders


A federal judge Tuesday denied motions to stay the execution and reopen the 
case of a man convicted in 1999 of killing 2 people in Columbia.

Earl Ringo's attorneys argued in federal court proceedings that because Ringo's 
1st appointed counsel in 2004 did nothing on his case for 10 1/2 months before 
he finally got new representation, Ringo's new lawyers did not have enough time 
to adequately prepare his grounds for relief.

Ringo's case was moved to Cape Girardeau County, and he was convicted of 2 
counts of 1st-degree murder for the shooting deaths of 2 people at Ruby Tuesday 
in 1998. At about 6 a.m. July 4, 1998, Ringo, a former Ruby Tuesday employee, 
and a friend, Quentin Jones Jr., went to rob the restaurant by waiting behind 
trash bins and attacking delivery driver Dennis Poyser when he arrived. During 
the robbery, both victims, JoAnna Baysinger, 22, of Jefferson City and Poyser, 
45, of Fort Wayne, Ind., were shot in the head. Ringo's execution is set for 
12:01 a.m. Sept. 10.

Jones testified against Ringo at trial and received 3 life sentences in 
exchange.

U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes didn't agree with the arguments made by 
Kathryn Parish and John William Simon, Ringo's St. Louis-area attorneys. Wimes 
ruled that extraordinary circumstances did not exist because, even though 
Ringo's counsel in 2004 had only 49 days to file his habeas relief, they still 
filed it 2 days before it was due. Wimes today also denied Ringo's motion for 
relief from judgment for the same reasons he denied the other motions.

Ringo's new lawyers had argued that the attorneys would have found more grounds 
for relief if they had more time.

"But the record is devoid of evidence indicating what counsel would have done 
if they had had more time," Wimes wrote.

For most of the 12 months Ringo had to file his habeas petition, Parish argued, 
Ringo was effectively without representation.

"The lack of counsel in and of itself is a denial of the constitutional right 
of habeas corpus," Parish said.

The decision isn't the end of efforts to stop the state from killing Ringo, 
Parish said. She and Simon have requested Gov. Jay Nixon appoint an independent 
panel to investigate the issue of race in Ringo's death sentence. Ringo, a 
black man, was convicted and sentenced by an all-white jury in a majority white 
county. Parish said they also likely will appeal Wimes' decision or seek a stay 
in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Ringo also is a plaintiff in an Eighth Circuit case seeking a review of 
Missouri's execution procedures, but Parish said he could be executed before 
that case is disposed. Missouri's source of its lethal injection drug continues 
to be kept secret despite several lawsuits and calls from advocacy groups to 
name the compounding pharmacy that makes it.

While the Eighth Circuit case continues, it seems the "goal of the state is to 
kill everyone on death row without a substantive review of those protocols," 
Parish said.

Assistant Missouri Attorney General Michael Spillane represented the state in 
Ringo's latest federal habeas proceedings. A spokesman for Attorney General 
Chris Koster declined to comment on ongoing litigation.

(source: Columbia Daily Tribune)

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

Report: Condemned Missouri inmates got midazolam


As Missouri prepares for another execution next week, a new report suggests 
that the Department of Corrections quietly and repeatedly used a drug that has 
raised concerns in botched executions in other states.

Missouri's written 1-drug execution protocol allows only for use of 
pentobarbital. The state said pentobarbital was the sole drug used in the 
deaths of 9 condemned men since November.

St. Louis Public Radio reported Wednesday that the sedative midazolam also was 
part of the process in all 9 executions, despite Department of Corrections 
director George Lombardi's comments under oath in January that the state "will 
not use" midazolam.

The report cites chemical log forms obtained through a Sunshine Law request 
showing that "Versed" was administered to each inmate. Versed is another name 
for midazolam.

Corrections department spokesman David Owen said Missouri's protocol allows for 
use of sedatives in advance of the execution, and they are not part of the 
actual execution. He declined to name the sedative used but confirmed that only 
pentobarbital is used for lethal injection.

Gov. Jay Nixon, during a news conference in Columbia, said courts have 
repeatedly allowed Missouri's protocol.

"This is the way the protocol has been and, quite frankly, there's been a 
significant amount of litigation about it and the courts have continued to say 
that it's a proper and just way to complete the ultimate punishment," Nixon 
said.

Still, an attorney for condemned inmate Earl Ringo Jr. called the report 
alarming. Ringo is scheduled to die Sept. 10 for killing 2 people in Columbia 
in 1998.

Attorney Kay Parish said she will ask the courts to halt the execution based on 
concerns raised by the St. Louis Public Radio report. She said corrections 
officials "have insisted time and time again that the botched executions in 
Oklahoma, Arizona and Ohio have no relevance to what's going on in Missouri 
because they're not using the same drugs. That is an outright lie in light of 
the report that came out today."

Midazolam was used in the execution of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire in January. 
He snorted and gasped for 26 minutes before dying. Clayton Lockett died of an 
apparent heart attack 43 minutes after his execution with midazolam began in 
April. Arizona inmate Joseph Rudolph Wood gasped more than 600 times and took 
nearly two hours to die in July.

At a deposition in January, soon after McGuire???s death, Missouri Department 
of Corrections director George Lombardi was asked if backup execution drugs 
hydromorphone and midazolam would be used if Missouri ever ran short of 
pentobarbital.

"And I'm testifying right now to tell you that will not be the case. We will 
not use those drugs," Lombardi said, according to documents from the 
deposition.

Death penalty opponents have criticized Missouri's procedure. The state refuses 
to name the compounding pharmacy where it obtains execution drugs or say if or 
how those drugs are tested.

Lombardi said in the deposition that Versed can be given as a sedative at the 
request of the inmate, the state or the execution team, often hours before the 
actual execution - long before media and other witnesses observe the execution 
process. Spokesman Mike O'Connell has said after several executions that 
inmates were given a sedative prior to the actual executions, without naming 
the sedative.

Jonathan Groner, a professor of surgery at the Ohio State University College of 
Medicine who has written extensively on the death penalty, said midazolam given 
prior to an execution could relax an inmate so much that he couldn't articulate 
if he is in pain during the process.

"If you have midazolam he may not respond if he's uncomfortable," Groner said.

(source: KMOV news)

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

South KC murder spree could bring death penalty


"Help at address, shotgun."

That furtive telephoned plea for help on Tuesday afternoon summoned Kansas City 
police to a scene of carnage where they found 3 people shot dead and 2 others 
severely beaten.

But on Wednesday, barely 24 hours and an "all-hands-on-deck" police 
investigation later, authorities announced that they had charged a 34-year-old 
former convict in the crime.

Brandon B. Howell, acquitted 5 years ago in the killings of 2 teenagers, now 
faces a potential death sentence for Tuesday's spasm of violence against 3 
separate families in a quiet south Kansas City cul-de-sac.

"All punishments are on the table," Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker 
said in announcing charges at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. She vowed 
to seek justice for the families of the slaying victims: Susan Choucroun, 69; 
Lorene Hurst, 88; and her son, Darrel Hurst, 63.

Another couple living on the same block, George and Anna Taylor, were found 
beaten inside their home, and on Wednesday authorities said they were in the 
hospital "fighting for their lives."

Howell was charged in Jackson County Circuit Court with 3 counts of 1st-degree 
murder, 4 counts of armed criminal action, 2 counts of 1st-degree assault, 
burglary, motor vehicle theft and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Baker said Howell was being held without bond.

He was arrested late Tuesday night while walking along Interstate 29 near 
Northwest 72nd Street, about one mile from where a vehicle stolen from the 
scene of the killings was found abandoned Tuesday afternoon. According to court 
documents, Howell had a 12-gauge shotgun concealed in a pants leg when he was 
arrested.

Kansas City Deputy Police Chief Randy Hopkins said Wednesday that a tip from 
the public led officers to Howell.

Despite the charges, officials said there was much more investigation to be 
done. It was still unclear how Howell got to the cul-de-sac area and exactly 
how the crime unfolded, they said. Also, testing was underway to determine if 
the shotgun Howell was carrying was the same one used in the killings.

Court documents allege that Howell burglarized the Taylor home at 1 E. 
Woodbridge Lane. That's the address from where a woman made the 911 call about 
12:50 p.m. Tuesday.

When officers arrived, they found Choucroun dead in the driveway of her home, 3 
E. Woodbridge, next door to the Taylor residence. They went into the Taylor 
home and found both critically injured in the basement.

Officers then began a house-to-house search and found the bodies of the Hursts 
in the front yard of Lorene Hurst's home at 7 E. Woodbridge. She and her son 
may have just returned from the grocery store when they were shot.

Witnesses at the scene told police that after hearing several gunshots, they 
saw the Taylors' Toyota Highlander driving down the street. One witness said 
the driver stopped in front of Choucroun's house, got out and shot her before 
getting back in the vehicle and driving away.

A few hours later, police were called to a Motel 6 at 8230 N.W. Prairie View 
Road, where they found 3 victims, 1 with several cuts on his head. The victims 
told police that a man had followed them to their room and asked for a 
cigarette. After assaulting 2 of the victims, the man fled on foot.

Police searching for the motel assault suspect soon found the Highlander 
abandoned in a restaurant parking lot a few blocks from the Motel 6.

Shortly before midnight, officers acting on the tip stopped Howell. Besides the 
shotgun, the keys to the Highlander were found in his pants pocket, according 
to the court documents.

On Wednesday, Platte County prosecutors charged him with multiple crimes 
related to the motel incident.

Wednesday was not the 1st time Howell has been accused of murder. A Jackson 
County jury in 2009 acquitted him in the killings of Johnson County teenagers 
Tabitha Brewer and Nick Travis.

Howell also spent time in prison for a 1999 home invasion robbery in Gardner in 
which a pet cat was beheaded. He was paroled in 2011.

Brewer, 16, and Travis, 18, were last seen by their families in April 1998.

Several days later, Brewer's partially burned purse was found near 55th Street 
and the Paseo. Four months after they disappeared, Travis' body was discovered 
buried in the yard of a duplex in the 5400 block of the Paseo. The duplex was 
being renovated at the time by Howell's father, according to later testimony at 
his trial.

Brewer's body has never been found.

While Kansas City police continued to investigate that case, Howell was 
arrested by Johnson County authorities in connection with an October 1999 home 
invasion robbery. In that case, three men forced their way into a Gardner 
apartment, threatened the residents and demanded drugs and money.

One of the victims suffered a cut on the hand. The assailants killed the cat, a 
tabby named Tony.

Just before he was scheduled to go to trial, Howell pleaded guilty to charges 
of aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, aggravated assault, attempted aggravated 
robbery and animal cruelty.

A Johnson County judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

In 2006, Jackson County prosecutors charged Howell with 2 counts of 1st-degree 
murder in the deaths of Travis and Brewer.

A high school acquaintance of the teens, he was the last person seen with them 
before they were reported missing.

Several witnesses who testified at trial said Howell implicated himself in the 
killings. But after hearing the evidence, the Jackson County jury found Howell 
not guilty of the charges.

Tom Brewer, Tabitha's father, pursued his own investigation in the decade after 
his daughter's disappearance. Brewer said that he saw pictures of Howell on 
television Wednesday and knew it was the same man acquitted of killing his 
daughter.

Jurors from his daughter's case, he said, likely are 2nd-guessing their 
verdicts.

"I feel sorry for the jurors who acquitted him the last time because that is 
going to be hard for them to live with," Brewer said. "Justice is always served 
one way or another. I hate to see more lives shattered by this man. He's a bad 
person and he shouldn't be out."

He said the events Tuesday and Wednesday have reminded him of how bitter 
Howell's acquittal was 5 years ago.

"It was hard," Brewer said. "You want to find some kind of justice for what has 
been done. I believe the old saying from the Bible that you reap what you sow. 
This man has repeatedly sown violence."

(source: Kansas City Star)






SOUTH DAKOTA----death row inmate dies

Death row inmate James McVay found dead in cell


A man given the death penalty by a Minnehaha County jury earlier this year has 
died as a result of an apparent suicide.

Death row inmate James McVay, 44, was found hanging in his cell Wednesday night 
in the James Annex to the South Dakota State Penitentiary, according to the 
department of corrections.

Penitentiary staff attempted CPR and an ambulance was summoned. McVay was 
pronounced dead before he could be transported to a local hospital.

McVay pled guilty but mentally ill in the July 2011 murder of Maybelle Schein 
of Sioux Falls.

The Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the death. The 
Department of Corrections will conduct a full review of circumstances 
surrounding his death.

(source: Argus Leader)