[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, OKLA., MO., COLO., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 7



OHIO:

Jury finds man guilty of killing elderly homeowner


A jury finds a man guilty of killing an elderly homeowner.

Jurors found Daniel Davis guilty of all 6 charges against him, including 
aggravated murder.

The victim, John Lauck, hired Davis to do odd jobs around his East Price Hill 
home in 2012.

Davis reportedly stole from Lauck to support his heroin addiction, and later 
beat and stabbed Lauck to death.

Davis is now facing the death penalty for his actions, and is scheduled to face 
his sentencing on September 11, 2014.

(source: WKRC news)






OKLAHOMA----2, including female, may face death penalty

Ada pair may face death in murder case


If convicted, 2 people charged with the murder of Ada resident Garry Gray could 
face the death penalty.

Bryan Keith Ross, 46, and 32-year-old Kendra Renee LeFors, both of Ada, were 
each charged Friday morning with 1st-degree murder, conspiracy to commit a 
felony, 1st-degree robbery and larceny of an automobile.

Assistant District Attorney Jim Tillison submitted charges to the Pontotoc 
County court clerk, which, in an affidavit, said their alleged crime is 
punishable by "life, life without parole, or death."

Tillison said the district attorney's office has not made a decision whether or 
not to seek the death penalty, but it is an option. The office will consult 
with Gray's family members before making the decision.

Gray, 67, was found in his apartment last Sunday with severe head trauma from 
being beaten and had his throat cut in several places. Gray died at an Oklahoma 
City Hospital Thursday. He had been on life support since he was hospitalized.

Ada Police Detective Kathi Johnston said both Ross and LeFors took part in the 
murder. According to a court affidavit filed by Tillison, the two caused Gray's 
death "by then and there beating and stomping the face and head of ... Gray and 
slashing his throat with a knife, with the deliberate intent to unlawfully take 
(his life)."

(source: The Ada News)

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

Unanswered questions remain following execution investigation; A state report 
fails to address basic concerns, such as when lethal injections will resume.


Responses to the execution report

Here are statements from selected officials following Thursday's report on the 
botched execution:

"The drugs worked at the end of the day despite the circulation issues we had." 
-- Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Thompson, who was appointed 
to oversee the state's investigation

"I continue to believe the death penalty is an appropriate and just punishment 
for those guilty of the most heinous crimes, as Mr. Lockett certainly was. The 
state's responsibility is to ensure a sentence of death is carried out in an 
effective manner. Commissioner Thompson's report and his recommendations for 
improved DOC protocols will help ensure this high standard is met." -- Gov. 
Mary Fallin

"The report does not address accountability. Once the doctor determined that he 
did not have the right needle to proceed, he should have advised the warden and 
once the execution was going wrong it should have been stopped but it wasn't." 
-- Dale Baich, federal public defender representing a group of Oklahoma 
death-row inmates

"Once again, Mary Fallin has succeeded in creating a biased report in her 
continued efforts to keep Oklahomans from knowing the full truth. This report 
was led by Fallin's cabinet secretary of safety and security, Mike Thompson, 
who can be fired by Fallin and witnessed the botched execution. I question his 
ability to conduct an unbiased investigation." -- Joe Dorman, Democratic 
candidate for governor running against Fallin

"Oklahoma's summary report regarding the botched execution of Clayton Lockett 
provides some important information about the Department of Correction's many 
failures that led to Mr. Lockett's prolonged and gruesome death ... But the 
report treats these colossal failures as minor issues that can be fixed, 
providing pat solutions, rather than accepting and addressing the enormity of 
the problems." -- Megan McCracken, Eighth Amendment Resource Counsel, Death 
Penalty Clinic at U.S. Berkeley School of Law "In the Clayton Lockett execution 
the challenges with IV access, hindered visibility, and inadequately trained 
personnel were all foreseeable problems based upon past botches. The need for 
more 'thorough research and review' of these procedures has been urged 
repeatedly over the decades, yet regularly ignored by departments of 
corrections. Our country's confidence in states' abilities to conduct 
executions properly has reached the lowest point." -- Deborah Denno, Fordham 
University Law School professor who has authored studies on the death penalty.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a 4-month state investigation into Clayton Lockett's execution, basic 
questions remain about what went wrong in Oklahoma and how future death 
sentences will be carried out.

Chief among those is whether the state will be ready to resume executions Nov. 
13, when convicted killer Charles Warner is set to be put to death. Warner had 
eaten his last meal and was one hour away from the death chamber when his 
execution was stayed on April 29. Lockett died 43 minutes after his execution 
began that night, as Gov. Mary Fallin was about to issue a stay due to numerous 
failed IV attempts.

Whether the state will continue using midazolam in executions is also an open 
question. The drug has been problematic in executions in at least 3 states, 
including a nearly 2-hour Arizona execution on July 23.

An investigative summary, released Thursday by the Department of Public Safety, 
attributed problems with Lockett's execution mainly to his IV, which was never 
inserted properly after multiple attempts.

Here are several key questions the report failed to answer about the execution:

Did the drugs work?

Lockett's execution marked the first time Oklahoma had used midazolam, a 
sedative, as the 1st drug in its 3-drug lethal cocktail.

Officials in Oklahoma and elsewhere have resorted to midazolam and compounded 
drugs in recent years as pharmaceutical companies disallowed use of their 
products in executions.

DPS Commissioner Michael Thompson said during his press conference Thursday: 
"The drugs worked at the end of the day, despite the circulation issues we 
had."

However, the report he was charged with overseeing states: "This investigation 
could not make a determination as to the effectiveness of the drugs at the 
specified concentration and volume. ... The IV failure complicated the ability 
to determine the effectiveness of the drugs."

Who was at fault?

The report details a haphazard scene inside the execution room before the 
blinds were opened to witnesses. The paramedic was able to establish an IV in 
Lockett's arm but had no tape to secure the line. "Before the tape was 
retrieved, the vein became unviable," the report states.

When multiple attempts at starting an IV failed in other locations, the doctor 
decided to try Lockett's femoral vein in his right leg. The procedure requires 
a longer needle "but none were readily available," the report states.

The doctor also asked for another type of needle "but was told the prison did 
not have those either." There was no ultrasound machine to aid the insertion.

"The physician had never attempted femoral vein access with a 1 1/4 inch 
needle/catheter; however, it was the longest DOC had readily available," the 
report states.

It fails to mention who was responsible for ensuring the prison had the proper 
medical equipment.

Was the execution constitutional?

The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits "cruel and unusual 
punishment." Courts have interpreted this to mean inmates are not entitled to a 
pain-free death but that states may not inflict more pain than is necessary to 
carry out the execution.

In the U.S. Supreme Court's 2008 ruling Baze v. Rees, the justices stated 
plainly that Kentucky and other states had a right to execute inmates by lethal 
injection, but that if the 1st of 3 drugs failed to render an inmate 
unconscious, it was "uncontested" there was a "substantial, constitutionally 
unacceptable risk" of suffocation and pain from the 2 drugs that followed.

The report says the autopsy couldn't determine the effectiveness of the 
midazolam that Lockett received to render him unconscious, or the vecuronium 
bromide used to paralyze him, or the potassium chloride given to stop his 
heart. All the autopsy says is that the drugs killed him.

Will the state be ready Nov. 13?

The governor stayed the execution of Warner, scheduled to be put to death 2 
hours after Lockett, until Nov. 13. In a May 1 letter to Fallin, DOC Director 
Robert Patton asked for an independent investigation and an "indefinite stay" 
of Warner's execution.

DOC would need time to write new death penalty protocols and train staff before 
the next execution, Patton said.

"It will take several days or possibly a few weeks to refine the new protocols. 
Once written, staff will require extensive training and understanding of new 
protocols before an execution can be scheduled," his letter states.

When asked Friday whether DOC would move forward with Warner's execution on 
Nov. 13, DOC spokesman Jerry Massie declined to answer. He said Patton would 
"probably" address the issue during a press conference Monday.

Will Oklahoma continue to use midazolam for executions?

Oklahoma has 5 different drug options it can use for executions under its 
current protocol. Under the current protocol, which was revised about 2 weeks 
before April's execution, midazolam is an option to be used with vecuronium 
bromide and potassium chloride - the combination used to execute Lockett - or 
combined with the painkiller hydromorphone.

Midazolam and hydromorphone was the combination used by Arizona in the July 
execution of killer Joseph Wood III, which took nearly 2 hours. Witnesses 
reported that Wood gasped for air almost 600 times during that period, and his 
attorneys filed a request to halt the execution after Wood appeared still awake 
more than an hour after his execution began. Some state officials disputed 
witnesses' description that Wood's execution was botched, calling it 
"peaceful."

Midazolam was also used in the execution of Ohio inmate Dennis McGuire in 
January. He snorted and gasped for 26 minutes before dying.

Oklahoma has the option to switch back to pentobarbital, which was used in 3 
Texas executions in April without the problems that occurred in Lockett's 
death. But increased costs and finding a supplier could complicate things: The 
Associated Press reported Texas is now paying $1,500 per vial for the drug, 
compared to $350 per dose the state spent the previous year.

Did communication problems further complicate Lockett's execution?

The report recommends several changes, including exploring "modern 
communication methods" between the execution chamber and executioners' room. 
Currently, executioners stick colored pencils through a hole in the wall.

It also recommends establishing a system that will "allow direct, constant 
contact between the personnel in the execution chamber and the Governor's 
Office."

Fallin told reporters on Thursday that members of her staff were on the phone 
with DOC officials throughout the evening, and she kept in touch via cellphone 
when she went downtown to attend an Oklahoma City Thunder game that evening. 
She said she was preparing to issue a stay when she learned Lockett had died.

Patton said he halted the execution about 10 minutes before Lockett was 
declared dead. There were no lifesaving measures administered, and there was no 
equipment to revive him in the execution chamber if a stay was issued. The 
prison would have had to transport him to a hospital, officials said.

The report recommends clearly defining "common terms" for all parties involved 
in executions.

Will a lawsuit by 21 inmates affect upcoming executions?

It could. A federal lawsuit by 21 death row inmates is challenging the state's 
ability to continue executions, saying the state is experimenting on "captive 
and unwilling human subjects." A hearing is scheduled later this month in the 
case. It's possible the judge could order the state to halt executions until it 
makes changes in its protocol, as has happened in other states.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Recommended changes

A 32-page investigative report contains 11 recommendations for improving the 
way Oklahoma executes people, including better training and backup medical 
supplies in case something goes wrong. They are:

-- Monitor IV placement

The IV catheter insertion point(s) should remain visible during all phases of 
the execution and be continuously observed by a person with proper medical 
training in assessing the ongoing viability of an IV.

After an hour of unsuccessful IV attempts, DOC should contact the governor to 
determine whether the execution should be postponed, the report states.

-- Log everything that could potentially affect execution

The report found that logs intended to track all of Lockett's activities in the 
week leading up to the execution were incomplete. It recommends that employees 
be trained to log "all statements or behaviors that could be detrimental to 
completing an execution."

Keep necessary supplies on hand

DOC should maintain and provide the equipment and supplies needed, including an 
extra set of drugs for each execution, "in the event an issue arises with the 
primary set."

Consult with medical personnel to see if they need heart monitoring or venous 
ultrasound equipment, as well as certain types of IV access/catheter needles.

Have a backup plan

DOC should evaluate and establish protocols and training for possible 
contingencies "if an issue arises during the execution procedure," including 
scenarios such as problems with supplies or IVs, an offender not becoming 
unconscious or being combative.

-- Train all personnel

DOC should establish formal and continual training programs for all personnel 
involved in the execution process. They should explore successful training 
procedures used by other correctional institutions.

-- Conduct formal after-action reviews

After each execution, within 5 days, all personnel with assigned execution 
duties should attend an after-action review, discussing in detail each person's 
"responsibilities and observations," as well as any concerns. These reviews 
would be documented for future reference.

Update methods of communications

The report encourages DOC to explore "modern communication methods" between the 
execution chamber and executioners' room. The current process of communicating 
by colored pencils stuck through a hole in the wall could remain as a backup 
plan.

The report recommended implementing a modern communication link that would 
"allow direct, constant contact between the personnel in the execution chamber 
and the Governor's Office."

-- Define execution terminology

Clearly define common terms for all parties, including "stop," "stay" and 
"halt."

-- Schedule at least 7 days between executions

-- Keep offender???s personal property until an autopsy is completed

-- Brief witnesses that they will not be allowed to view all aspects of the 
execution, and requirements for conduct

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Timeline of events leading to Clayton Lockett's execution

Here is a timeline of events leading up to and following the botched execution 
of Clayton Lockett:

Feb. 25: Attorneys for Clayton Lockett and Charles Warner file a civil suit 
against the state in Oklahoma County District Court, challenging the state's 
execution secrecy statute. The law allows the Department of Corrections to 
withhold information about suppliers of drugs and medical equipment for 
executions.

Feb. 28: Oklahoma Pardon and Parole board denies by 4-1 vote Lockett's request 
to commute his death sentence to life in prison.

March 4: Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board denies by 4-1 vote Warner's request 
to commute his death sentence to life in prison. A lawsuit challenging 
Oklahoma's law that shields details of drugs used in executions is moved to 
federal court, after being set for a March 4 hearing. The hearing was canceled 
after the case was transferred to federal court at the request of the state.

March 7: U.S. District Judge David L. Russell rules the lawsuit seeking 
information about the lethal drugs that will be used in their execution should 
be heard in state court instead of federal court.

March 10: Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish denies a stay of 
execution for Lockett and Warner.

March 11: Lawyers representing Lockett and Warner ask the state Supreme Court 
for an emergency stay of execution.

March 13: The Oklahoma Supreme Court forwards a request to stay the execution 
to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals.

March 17: State officials reveal they are having trouble obtaining the approved 
drugs for the 1st 2 stages of Oklahoma\'s 3-part lethal injection procedure.

March 18: Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals voids Lockett and Warner's 
scheduled March execution dates, moving both to April, allowing the Department 
of Corrections additional time to procure 2 of the drugs it needs for lethal 
injections or "adopt a new execution protocol."

March 26: Oklahoma County District Judge Patricia Parrish rules the state's 
execution law unconstitutional because its privacy provision is so strict that 
it that prevents inmates from finding out the source of drugs used in 
executions, even through the courts.

April 1: Lawyers for death row inmates Lockett and Warner say they received an 
email from Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt saying the state Corrections 
Department has acquired lethal doses of midazolam and pancuronium bromide from 
a compounding pharmacy. The state already had a supply of the third drug in the 
execution process, potassium chloride.

April 3: Pruitt announces state will continue with executions, despite court 
order stating it must disclose where it gets the drugs it uses in the lethal 
injection. Pruitt said he was concerned identifying the source of the drugs 
would result in the providers being harassed and threatened.

April 7: Lawyers for Lockett and Warner file a request with the Oklahoma Court 
of Criminal Appeals to delay the executions, saying that although the state has 
revealed what drugs it plans to use to kill the 2 men, it has not revealed 
where it got the drugs.

April 9: An Oklahoma appeals court rules the state can move ahead with the 
executions, and defense attorneys say they will ask the state Supreme Court to 
halt the executions amid questions about the lethal injection procedures.

April 17: The Supreme Court says that the Court of Criminal Appeals must decide 
whether to stay the executions, reminding the appeals court of the "gravity" 
and "time restraints" involved. In its 7-2 ruling, the Supreme Court returned 
the issue of whether to grant a stay to the appeals court.

April 18: The Court of Criminal Appeals refuses for a 2nd time to rule on a 
stay for the inmates, saying the court lacks jurisdiction.

"This court may grant a stay of execution only when (1) there is an action 
pending in this court; (2) the action challenges the death row inmate's 
conviction or death sentence; and (3) the death row inmate makes the requisite 
showings of likely success and irreparable harm," the ruling states.

April 21: Noting it was in an "awkward position," a divided Supreme Court 
issues stays of execution for Lockett and Warner. The Supreme Court decision 
points out that it had twice directed the Court of Criminal Appeals to decide 
on the merits of the stay and it declined.

April 22: Gov. Mary Fallin issues an executive order staying Lockett's 
execution for 7 days, until April 29. Fallin says the state Supreme Court 
overstepped its authority in issuing its own execution stays for Lockett and 
Warner.

April 23: The Supreme Court issues a ruling dissolving its own stay and finding 
the execution secrecy law constitutional. State Rep. Mike Christian, R-Oklahoma 
City, files articles of impeachment against the 5 justices who voted for the 
execution stays, claiming they exceeded their authority.

April 29: The execution of Clayton Lockett is botched at the Oklahoma State 
Penitentiary. Lockett dies a few minutes after the execution is halted and 43 
minutes after the execution began. Warner's execution is postponed.

May 8: The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals sets Warner's execution date for 
Nov. 13.

Aug 28: An autopsy report on Lockett and DOC logs on his execution are 
released. They provide few answers as to why it went awry.

(source: Tulsa World)






MISSOURI:

Cost of death penalty defense: $127,363.58 per case


What it is: The amount the Missouri State Public Defender System spends, on 
average, to represent a criminal defendant facing the death penalty.

The figure, from the agency's Fiscal Year 2013 Annual Report, was calculated by 
dividing the amount the Public Defender System spent defending capital cases 
($2,674,635) by the number of cases that were resolved that year (21).

The state agency, which represents people charged with a crime who are unable 
to pay for a private attorney, spent an average of $319.51 per case defending 
against less serious charges. The cost to defend someone like Craig Michael 
Wood, who faces possible execution if convicted of kidnapping and killing 
10-year-old Hailey Owens in February, is much higher.

What it pays for: The Public Defender System includes a special Capital 
Division that handles 1st-degree murder cases in which the state is seeking the 
death penalty, as well as direct appeals in cases in which a defendant has been 
sentenced to die.

The division has offices in St. Louis, Kansas City and Columbia. Division 
attorneys, who are limited to working on no more than six open capital cases at 
a time, occasionally take on non-capital cases for overloaded divisions as 
their schedules allow.

Michael Barrett, a spokesman for the Public Defender System, said the attorneys 
in the Capital Division typically "come up through the system" and are paid 
"about $12,000 over base pay" compared to other public defenders.

Patrick Berrigan and Thomas Jacquinot, the attorneys representing Wood, made 
$73,536 and $81,888, respectively, in 2013, according to a state salary 
database.

2 attorneys are assigned to each death penalty case, along with an investigator 
and a mitigation specialist.

"They come in at sentencing" to help argue for leniency, he said. "They do the 
digging."

Barrett said the cost calculated per case includes office and travel. "And 
there's also the experts - DNA experts, cellphone analysis ..."

Most cases are handled by staff attorneys, but the Public Defender System will 
sometimes hire outside counsel when there are multiple defendants involved in 
an alleged crime, which could create a conflict of interest if all were 
represented by attorneys from the same office.

Local costs: The total spent on public defenders doesn't include money the 
county spends to host a jury trial, whether or not the death penalty is 
involved.

Not including the costs associated with paying judges and prosecutors and 
staffing the courthouse, Greene County has budgeted to spend about $130,000 on 
jury trials in 2014, according to Assistant Budget Officer Joclynn Brown.

That total includes:

-- $60,000 for paying jurors

-- $49,550 to pay for 1 full-time and 1 part-time staff person

-- $7,000 for postage on jury notices

-- $2,500 for office supplies for juries

Brown said other court expenses in 2013 included about $11,000 for meals and 
coffee in the jury room, but she didn't have an updated number for 2014. And 
while past budgets have included funding for training and computer maintenance 
related to jury operations, no funds were set aside this year.

How much are jurors paid? That depends, said Anthony Rodebush, the county's 
full-time jury supervisor.

In the past, Greene County residents summoned for jury duty received $6 a day, 
plus mileage reimbursement.

The policy was changed about a decade ago, he said. Now, jurors are paid 
nothing for the first 2 days they serve. They receive $50 a day on the 3rd and 
subsequent days.

"At $6 a day, you were not really getting paid anyway ... so it's worked out 
pretty well," Rodebush said. "The jurors that are here longer are happier with 
that."

Rodebush said the new payment policy has also helped the county save money. 
Rather than paying a relatively small amount to a large number of jurors, it 
pays a higher rate to relatively few, at an overall cost that is about half 
what it was before.

Jury payments from August 2013 to August 2014 totaled $33,093, he said, less 
than the $60,000 budgeted.

Other costs: The money the county budgets for jury trials is meant to cover 
typical cases, Brown said - costs associated with sequestering a jury or moving 
a trial elsewhere aren't included.

In a case such as Wood's, the county's general fund could be tapped to cover 
additional expenses.

"To put jurors up in a hotel, it will be a lot more," said Rodebush. Based on 
past experience, room and board for a 2- to 3-week trial is likely to mount 
into the tens of thousands of dollars.

A location for Wood's trial has yet to be determined. His defense attorneys 
have asked for the trial to be moved outside Greene County. Prosecutor Dan 
Patterson wants to keep the case here, but bring a jury in from elsewhere.

Patterson said there's no estimate yet on what either option would cost. 
Another hearing is scheduled Oct. 2

"It's a very serious case and it's gonna take resources to try and prosecute," 
he said.

How we did it

The idea: Soon after Craig Michael Wood was arrested and charged, reader 
Darrell Arnett contacted me. Arnett, from Raymore, wanted to know how much it 
costs to represent defendants in death penalty cases and how their public 
defenders are chosen and paid.

The request: Information was obtained from several sources but none required a 
Sunshine request. Michael Barrett pointed me to the Public Defender System's 
annual report and provided additional detail. Joclynn Brown and Anthony 
Rodebush provided information about county costs.

Complications: The cost of prosecutors, judges and other courthouse staff are 
not included. Because the costs provided are based on money set aside in the 
budget, extraordinary costs are not accounted for in the estimates above.

The cost: $0

(source: The News-Leader)






COLORADO:

Death penalty highlights governor's race debate


Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Beauprez challenged Democratic Gov. John 
Hickenlooper to answer whether he intends to grant clemency to a death-row 
inmate before Hickenlooper leaves office, prompting one of the liveliest 
exchanges during their 1st debate Saturday.

"I have no plan to revisit my decision, so my decision stands," Hickenlooper 
said. He added: "The government shouldn't be in the business of taking people's 
lives."

Republicans have blasted Hickenlooper in ads for his decision to grant an 
indefinite reprieve to Nathan Dunlap, who was convicted of killing 4 people at 
an Aurora Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant.

Hickenlooper has been criticized for his decision because a subsequent governor 
can reverse it, leaving Dunlap's fate unresolved.

Beauprez's question to Hickenlooper during the debate comes after Hickenlooper 
suggested in a yet-to-be-aired CNN interview that he could grant Dunlap 
clemency should he lose his re-election bid

While his opponents slam him on the death penalty, Hickenlooper has pledged to 
avoid negative ads. He focused many of his debate remarks touting Colorado's 
economy as one of the best in the nation.

During his time in office, the state reversed a $1 billion budget shortfall, 
while increasing the state's reserves to nearly $600 million, he said. He noted 
that many sectors are adding jobs, and that state unemployment is at 5.3 
percent. It was just over 9 percent when he took office.

Beauprez said that doesn't paint the whole picture, arguing that the figure 
doesn't account for people who have given up looking for work. He described the 
state's economy as being middle-of-the-pack and says he can improve it.

"We have a long ways to go, and we're better than this," Beauprez said.

For Hickenlooper, the brewmaster-turned-politician who was easily elected 
Denver mayor twice and cruised into the governor's office in 2010, this is 
arguably the biggest challenge of his career. Polling has shown the race to be 
tied.

Beauprez, a former congressman, is getting a 2nd crack at winning the 
governor's office after a crushing defeat in 2006.

The candidates debated Saturday evening in Grand Junction at an event hosted by 
Club 20, an influential western Colorado advocacy group.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Death penalty is the enemy of speedy justice


It has been more than 2 years since James Holmes allegedly committed mass 
murder at an Aurora theater. And it has been nearly 2 years since Dexter Lewis 
allegedly stabbed 5 people to death at Fero's Bar and Grill in Denver.

Neither has been tried, let alone convicted of those crimes. Prosecutors in 
each instance chose to pursue the death penalty, and so the cases have bogged 
down in procedural issues and a flurry of motions on almost every imaginable 
issue.

Meanwhile, a vicious mass murderer you probably never heard of, Jaacob 
Vanwinkle, will be sentenced later this month to life in prison without a 
chance of parole for crimes he committed in Canon City just this March.

Only 3 months later, in June, Vanwinkle pleaded guilty to 36 felony charges 
against him. He will receive 1 more burst of publicity when he is sentenced, 
and then will vanish, as he should, into the utter obscurity of a maximum 
security prison, to face the crushing tedium and hopelessness that is life in a 
cell.

By contrast, Holmes and Lewis will be in the news for years and become 
household names - a status already achieved by the accused in the theater 
shooting.

With the death penalty having become an issue in the governor's race, it's 
worth contrasting these cases and asking ourselves, as Coloradans, which choice 
makes the most sense.

Is it worth pursuing the death penalty in a few select cases knowing it will 
postpone justice literally for years, cost many times the alternative of life 
without parole, and, given the appeals, won't actually resolve the murderer's 
fate for decades even if a jury agrees to the ultimate penalty?

Or should we embrace the opportunity for relatively quick pleas that ensure the 
killer will never walk again as a free man?

There is also the issue of equity to consider. Vanwinkle's crimes of stabbing a 
mother and 2 young children to death were as brutal as murders get. The mind 
shudders to contemplate the terror endured by his victims as he coldly 
proceeded from one to another. Vanwinkle also raped a teenage daughter, whom he 
presumably would also have killed if she hadn't managed to escape.

He is as depraved as a murderer can be. It seems glaringly inconsistent to seek 
the death penalty for Holmes and Lewis but not for Vanwinkle. And yet this is 
not an isolated inconsistency. There have been several savage multiple murders 
in recent memory in which death was not sought for the killer.

The death penalty may be a winner politically, but it's a loser in terms of 
fair and reasonable public policy.

(source: Denver Post Editorial Board)






CALIFORNIA:

Tulare County authorities bring Mano Negra back to face murder charges


Jose Manuel Martinez, known as the Mano Negra - the Black Hand - in small 
Valley towns where he allegedly killed people as a contract killer, is back in 
Tulare County.

Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux announced Friday that Martinez had been 
extradited from Alabama and arrived Wednesday morning at the Tulare County 
Jail.

The U.S. Marshals Service transported him, he said.

Martinez is in good health but is being guarded as a "high risk" inmate, 
Boudreaux said. He's in a cell by himself, and no other prisoners were allowed 
in the courtroom during his arraignment Friday.

Martinez is charged with nine counts of murder, some of them contract killings 
that investigators believe involved a drug cartel.

6 slayings occurred in Tulare County, two in Kern County and one in Santa 
Barbara County, going back to 1980.

Martinez, 54, a resident of Richgrove in southern Tulare County, pleaded guilty 
in Lawrence County, Ala., to killing Jose Arturo Ruiz in March 2013, and was 
sentenced in June to 50 years in state prison.

Unlike the alleged contract killings, the murder in Alabama was for revenge 
after the victim allegedly made the mistake of speaking ill of Martinez's 
daughter.

After his arrest, Martinez confessed to Alabama authorities that he had 
committed multiple murders around the country, according to news reports.

An investigator from the Tulare County Sheriff's Office made the trek to 
Alabama to question him. California investigators spent thousands of hours 
linking him to the nine murders, Boudreaux said.

Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward said murder charges against Martinez 
include special circumstances of multiple murders and murder for financial 
gain.

"It's potentially a death penalty case," Ward said, but no decision will be 
made on seeking the death penalty until a preliminary hearing is held, in 
accordance with standard practice.

Prosecutor David Alavezos said there are 5,000 pages of documents and it's 
possible the preliminary hearing won't be heard until next year.

Friday afternoon, Martinez was arraigned at the Tulare County Pre-Trial 
Facility. Visiting Judge Steven Sillman set Sept. 29 for a preliminary hearing 
date to be set.

The judge appointed the Tulare County Public Defender to represent Martinez. 
Although he speaks English, Martinez asked for a translator when the judge gave 
him the option.

Attorney Sarah Shena told the judge that Martinez would exercise his Miranda 
rights to not speak with law enforcement.

He's being held without bail.

Ward said his office took special care to make sure California would be first 
in line to extradite Martinez from Alabama once the case against him there 
ended.

"We wanted him before others filed on him," he said.

Murder charges in California were filed in April in Tulare County, and the 
arrest warrant was sought right away. he said.

Alabama authorities were "very cooperative" and agreed to release him to 
California, and not Florida where he faces murder charges, because Florida did 
not finish the arrest warrant process ahead of California, Ward said.

However, it's possible that Martinez could go to Florida to face charges after 
the cases against him in California are finished, he said.

Ward said his office has been in touch with the families of victims.

"We will do everything in our power to bring this to justice," Ward said.

Some defense attorneys questioned the wisdom of extradition in the case.

Martinez was not scheduled to get out of prison in Alabama until 2063 at the 
age of 101.

In California, Martinez's death penalty case could cost up to $1 million 
because of the need for investigators, experts, lawyers and researchers and 
then it would likely take decades for appeals to conclude, said lawyer Michael 
Idiart of Fresno.

"More than likely he will die in a prison of old age," Idiart said. "It seems 
to me from an economic, pragmatic point of view it's a waste of time, resources 
and effort."

No California death row inmates have been executed since 2006 because of issues 
over the legalities of lethal injection, said Pete Jones, a Fresno lawyer, who 
has represented death penalty clients. There are 742 inmates on death row , he 
said.

"By the time they reach his number on the list, he'll be 140 years old," Jones 
said.

In another state, such as Texas, the death penalty appeals could run their 
course within 6 years, but California is not carrying out the death penalty, 
Jones said.

"Are the families going to feel better? I doubt it because they are never going 
to get to see it," he said.

13 death row executions have been carried out since 1978, when California 
re-instituted the death penalty, while 20 committed suicide and 57 died of old 
age, Jones said.

(source: Fresno Bee)