[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., PENN., N.C., FLA., ALA., TENN.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 14



CONNECTICUT:

Death Row Inmates' Expert Witness Bills State For $3.5 Million; Is Paid Half


Many legal twists arose in the long-running lawsuit by death row inmates who 
claimed Connecticut's death penalty is racially biased, but maybe the biggest 
twist was financial: After the 5 inmates lost the case, their expert witness 
billed the state for $3.5 million, for 6 years of services.

The 6 years' worth of invoices from Stanford law school professor John J. 
Donohue III gave the state's Public Defender Services Commission a bad case of 
sticker-shock.

Public records show that the commission balked early this year before finally 
agreeing to pay half the sum, $1.75 million - and only after getting the state 
legislature and governor to approve emergency funding for the payment. It was 
quietly included in the new state budget approved in May, and Donohue was paid 
June 21.

For many taxpayers, it's an unwelcome fact of life that they bear the cost of 
preserving the legal rights of convicted killers. The counter to that is that 
it's the price of being civilized. And if an exclamation point is needed to 
punctuate either statement, it could be the story of the recent payment to 
Donohue.

Added to other expenses, Donohue's fee raised the cost to taxpayers above $5.6 
million in the case. That bill will undoubtedly rise even more, as the inmates 
have appealed to the state Supreme Court to try to overturn Superior Court 
Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza's October 2013 ruling against them. Their private 
lawyers are paid by the state public defenders agency.

Donohue's request for $3.5 million "caught [us] completely by surprise," public 
defender commission Chairman Thomas J. Rechen told Government Watch in an 
interview this past week. "That number was extraordinary ... And it was not 
submitted to us in accordance with the clear policies and guidelines." Those 
guidelines include pre-approval by the commission of anticipated expenses even 
when they are not "expenses of this magnitude," as well as timely submittal of 
the bills, he said.

"It wasn't in our budget," Rechen said. "We needed emergency funding," and 
that's why they turned to the legislature and governor.

But first, he said, they went over Donohue's itemized invoices in detail. 
Rechen said that he believed that "we had a legal basis" to reject the invoices 
because of the manner in which they were submitted, but panel members also 
recognized that Donohue had done "substantial work and was deserving of 
reasonable compensation."

"We interviewed several of those involved" in the case, including Donohue 
himself, "in order to come up with a fair fee," Rechen said.

Then came a special meeting of the commission, held in Rechen's office at the 
law firm McCarter & English in the CityPlace building in Hartford. Donohue 
"attended" via a live Skype video link from Milan, Italy, where he had been 
invited to teach. The commission voted to approve payment of $1.75 million, on 
3 conditions:

--Donohue "executing a release for any further claims" in connection with the 
case that's been named "In Re: Racial Disparity"

--The lead attorney for the inmates' legal team, David S. Golub, of Silver 
Golub & Teitell LLP, signing an agreement "indemnifying the state, the Public 
Defender Services Commission and the Division of Public Defender Services for 
any claim from Dr. John J. Donohue III, beyond the $1,750,000";

--And "funding for this payment to be approved by the General Assembly and 
signed by the Governor."

The required documents were signed by Donohue, Golub and other private lawyers 
who represented the 5 inmates listed as plaintiffs in the case. The legislature 
included $1.8 million in the public defender commission's new budget to cover 
Donohue's bill and some other expenses. The legislature passed the state budget 
May 4, and the governor signed it May 29.

Donohue could not be reached for comment, but Golub - who had retained the 
statistical expert for the lengthy litigation that began in 2005 - said that 
Donohue had extended himself beyond what could reasonably be expected of an 
expert witness, especially one who is one of the world's experts in his field.

'Gouging' Denied

"It was a big bill, but at the same time it was documented," Golub said. "Yes, 
it could have been handled better procedurally," Golub said of the $3.5 million 
in invoices that were dumped all at once into the commission's lap, but he 
added that there was "no question" about the legitimacy of the amount and 
quality of the work Donohue did.

"Nobody should think that John Donohue was gouging the state," Golub said. "He 
put in twice the time that he was paid for." He said Donohue dropped any fees 
that the state questioned. "They made a proposal, and it was fine with John."

In addition to testifying at the lengthy trial in the case in 2013, Donohue did 
"thousands of hours" of statistical study.

Donohue, on the inmates' behalf, studied 205 death-penalty-eligible cases from 
1973 to 2007 and found - as worded by Golub - "a statistically significant 
disparity in capital charging based upon the difference [in] the rate of 
charging for black defendants who killed white victims and white defendants. 
... If a black kills a white, there [is] a statistically significant disparity 
in Connecticut about whether he'll get charged with capital felony as opposed 
to a white defendant."

However, the office of Chief State's Attorney Kevin Kane had an expert witness 
of its own who disputed Donohue's conclusions. That expert, Stephan Michelson 
of Longbranch Research Associates in North Carolina, was paid more than $1.1 
million in taxpayer funds by Kane's office.

Golub said Donohue had to do more work than Michelson, because the former 
compiled the statistics that formed the basis of the case and Michelson took 
what Golub characterized as an ever-changing series of shots at it - 11 in all. 
Golub said that Donohue had to prepare painstaking, time-consuming responses 
"over and over and over again." Michelson has disputed such comments in the 
past by Golub and has said his findings were valid.

Ultimately, Sferrazza ruled that the limited sample of death penalty cases in 
Connecticut makes it impossible to render an over-arching judgment on racial 
bias, adding that there was insufficient proof under state statutes to find in 
favor of the inmates.

The 5 petitioners in the habeas corpus action - Sedrick Cobb, Daniel Webb, Todd 
Rizzo, Richard Reynolds and Robert Breton - wanted their death sentences 
converted to life in prison without parole.

They are among 11 inmates still facing execution even though the legislature 
abolished the death penalty in 2012. That abolition doesn't apply to killers 
already on death row, whose crimes predated the legislation.

Cobb was convicted of capital felony, kidnapping, murder, sexual assault and 
robbery in a 1989 attack on 23-year-old Julia Ashe of Watertown.

Breton was sentenced to death in 1989 for murder and capital felony in the 1987 
beating and stabbing deaths of his ex-wife and their 16-year-old son in 
Waterbury.

Reynolds received the death sentence in 1995 for the murder of Waterbury police 
Officer Walter T. Williams in 1992.

Rizzo's death sentence was handed down in 2005 for the 1997 sledgehammer murder 
of 13-year-old Stanley Edwards of Waterbury.

Webb was convicted in 1991 of the 1989 murder of bank executive Diane 
Gellenbeck in Hartford. He abducted her from a parking garage, drove her to 
Keney Park, tried to sexually assault her and shot her repeatedly after she 
broke free and ran.

Kane's agency paid a total of $1,142,056 to Michelson from 2007 to 2013, and 
the public defender agency says that it has paid the following totals for the 
racial disparity litigation over the years:

--$1.85 million to Donohue, including the recent payment

--$2.16 million to other attorneys working in behalf of the inmates.

--$494,547 for other expenses.

The case is now pending before the Supreme Court, which has set an extended 
schedule as follows: The petitioners' (inmates') legal brief is due May 1, 
2015; the brief in behalf of the state's corrections commissioner (named as the 
defendant) is due March 1, 2016, and the inmates' reply brief, if any, is due 
Jan. 9, 2017.

(source: Hartford Courant)

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

Roraback Testifies That WTIC Listeners Said Rowland Told Them To Call


When Andrew Roraback's brother called to tell him former Gov. John G. Rowland 
had given his cellphone number out over the radio, "he seemed alarmed," 
Roraback testified Friday.

Roraback, a former state Senator who is now a sitting state judge in Waterbury, 
recounted his telephone conversation with his brother, Chip Roraback, who 
testified before him Friday.

"He asked me what I ever did to John Rowland," Roraback said.

Roraback was the last candidate to enter the 5th Congressional District race in 
2012. He was viewed as a threat by the other 3 candidates already in the race 
that year because of his popularity and name recognition in the district.

Roraback testified that when he started receiving calls from WTIC AM 1080's 
listeners, he was told to vote against repealing the death penalty. They also 
told him "John Rowland had said to call me," Roraback said.

Rowland is facing federal charges that he conspired with Brian Foley and Lisa 
Wilson-Foley to hide his work on Wilson-Foley's campaign from election 
regulators.

Roraback testified that he was unaware of Rowland's contract with Chris 
Shelton, the compliance attorney for Brian Foley's nursing home chain. He also 
said he was unaware of the involvement Rowland had with Wilson-Foley's 
campaign, including Rowland's role in the production of a radio advertisement 
calling on him to oppose legislation to repeal the death penalty.

The radio ad was played for the jury on Friday.

"What was remarkable to me was it was coming awfully early, coming almost a 
year before the election," Roraback said.

The ad painted Roraback as a liberal and asked people to call his legislative 
office to get him to vote against legislation to repeal the death penalty.

Asked for his position on the death penalty in court, Roraback said, 
"philosophically I have difficulty with the death penalty."

But that year his goal was to help victims by repealing a 2011 law that allowed 
inmates to shave up to 5 days a month off their prison sentences by 
participating in programs. He said the amendment he proposed was defeated, so 
he voted against the legislation.

Roraback ended up winning the Republican primary for the Congressional seat in 
2012, but he went on to lose the election to U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty.

Roraback said he never complained to WTIC, the radio station where Rowland was 
working as an afternoon host.

On Thursday, Chris Syrek, one of Wilson-Foley's campaign managers, testified 
that on Feb. 23, 2012, Rowland emailed him during the show. He was talking 
about the death penalty on the air and wanted Roraback's personal phone number.

"Rohrback [sic] home phone number - giving [sic] out his and [Democratic Sen. 
Edith] Prague contact info," Rowland emailed Syrek.

"Ha that's awesome," Syrek responded. "Want his cell?"

Rowland read the number on the air and asked listeners to call Roraback.

Roraback told the court he was not a regular listener of the WTIC radio show 
and didn't know if Rowland gave out the cellphone numbers of any of the other 
state Senators who were on the fence about the death penalty that year.

The trial will continue on Monday.

Prosecutors don't plan on calling Wilson-Foley to testify, but Rowland's 
defense attorneys have not ruled out putting the former Congressional candidate 
on the stand.

(source: ctnewsjunkie.com)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Lawsuits, drug scarcity preventing Pa. executions


Gov. Tom Corbett's decision this week to indefinitely delay the execution of a 
convicted murderer illustrated some of the practical and legal challenges the 
state faces these days in carrying out the death penalty.

Corbett issued a temporary, indefinite reprieve, meaning Hubert Lester Michael 
Jr.'s death by lethal injection for the murder of a teen girl more than 20 
years ago won't go forward as scheduled Sept. 22.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had already issued a stay of its own to 
give it time to consider whether the full court should reconsider a ruling by 
three of its members that would have cleared the way for Michael to be put to 
death.

In the flurry of legal activity surrounding the case this week, Michael's 
lawyers asked for an injunction against his execution, the latest move in a 
long-running challenge to the state's execution protocol. The Corrections 
Department revised the procedure 2 years ago, and a group of inmates has sued, 
saying the new policy conflicts with the 1990 state law that determined how 
executions should be performed.

Pennsylvania law calls for a 3-drug mixture, but manufacturers under pressure 
from death penalty opponents have put the first drug - a sedative which could 
be pentobarbital or sodium thiopental - off limits completely.

Texas and Missouri use a specialty dose of non-FDA regulated pentobarbital, but 
won't say where they've obtained it, and other states like Ohio have been 
unable to find similar supplies.

Supplies of the other drugs Pennsylvania policy calls for - pancuronium 
bromide, a paralyzing drug, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart - are 
also increasingly scarce.

Michael and 3 other death row inmates recently filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth 
Court that challenges the legality of the execution protocol, saying among 
other things that neither the sedatives nor potassium chloride are authorized 
under state law.

The Corrections Department won't say where it gets its drugs, and Corbett 
halted plans for Michael's execution, he said, because the state needs to 
obtain them. Four media organizations asked a federal judge this week to order 
that the source of the drugs be disclosed.

Finding completely new drugs isn't easy. The 2-drug method used by Ohio and 
Arizona has led to prolonged executions in which inmates repeatedly gasped and 
snorted. In Ohio, the 26-minute spectacle last January led to a yearlong 
moratorium on executions.

There are currently 184 people on Pennsylvania's death row, including 3 women, 
and the only 3 people Pennsylvania has executed since the death penalty was 
reinstated in the 1970s - the most recent in 1999 - had given up on their own 
appeals.

Earlier this month, Pennsylvania Chief Justice Ronald Castille issued a lengthy 
opinion that was highly critical of the Philadelphia-based Federal Community 
Defender Office, which represents many of the state's condemned inmates.

He blamed them for endless appeals and delays, saying they were attempting to 
do through the courts what they could not achieve in the political arena.

But others say Pennsylvania's lack of executions should be attributed to 
shortcomings in the state's court system, particularly when it comes to 
providing defendants with adequate representation at trial.

"Appeals attorneys have many issues to work with," said ACLU lobbyist Andy 
Hoover, an anti-death penalty activist. "And the reason is that Pennsylvania's 
system of public defense is really lacking and has been for a long time."

Corbett, a former prosecutor, has signed 35 execution warrants, but he's 
trailing badly in the polls as he seeks re-election. The Democratic candidate, 
Tom Wolf, says he won't sign the warrants and will issue temporary reprieves 
while the state studies the issue of wrongful convictions.

(source: Associated Press)


NORTH CAROLINA:

In Columbus County, another death row conviction faces a challenge


Joseph Sledge, who has been locked up for 38 years, is trying to prove his 
innocence in court and before the N.C. Innocence Inquiry Commission. Convicted 
of killing a mother and daughter in Columbus County, Sledge has powerful 
evidence that he was not the murderer: DNA from 9 hairs found on the victims' 
bodies does not belong to Sledge, the victims or anyone in their family. A palm 
print on a linoleum floor next to the head of a victim did not belong to 
Sledge. A medical examiner found evidence that the woman had been sexually 
assaulted.

It's the law

Law enforcement agencies must preserve DNA evidence and must protect it from 
degradation or contamination. That has been North Carolina law since 2001. 
Since then, lawmakers have amended the law to specify how long to preserve 
evidence; until death in cases involving a death penalty or life without parole 
- and to require training for police on the proper preservation of evidence. 
And they put penalties into the law: Anyone who alters, destroys or conceals 
evidence is guilty of a felony.

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

When Mike Unti and Sharon Smith took the case of a man sentenced to death for a 
notorious Columbus County murder, they were surprised at the prosecutor's scant 
file: 240 pages of documents, a small file for a such big case.

Then the lawyers started pushing for what they knew must exist ??? police 
files, interview notes, State Bureau of Investigation reports and physical 
evidence. Slowly, the Whiteville Police Department produced files and evidence 
that had never been given to the lawyers defending Norfolk "Fuzzy" Best at his 
1993 trial.

6 boxes of physical evidence were hidden in a tiny unlit room in the rafters of 
the Whiteville City Hall. Fingernail clippings, bloody clothes, swabs, slides 
and other biological evidence had spent years baking in an uninsulated garret 
in the North Carolina summers.

The lawyers dug up several folders of notes and reports from the Whiteville 
Police Department, including a tip about a suspicious car near the murder scene 
12 hours before the bodies were found. The car turned out to be stolen. The 
thief, a habitual felon with a lengthy criminal record in several states, 
reportedly told friends that he had killed an elderly couple in Whiteville.

"I am stunned by these notes," said Rex Gore, the district attorney who 
prosecuted Best. "I wish they had been given to us. I am sure they would have 
generated discussion about this situation that I could now recollect."

Gore said he never saw the police files. He still believes that Best is guilty 
of killing Leslie and Gertrude Baldwin.

But Best, through his lawyers, says the withheld evidence not only entitles him 
to a new trial, but proves his innocence. His lawyers argue that the crime 
scene evidence shows the Baldwins were killed a day or less before their bodies 
were found, a time that would, under the prosecution's theory, eliminate Best 
as the killer.

Gore had argued that Best committed the murders 2 1/2 days before the bodies 
were found.

The lawyers' motion to free Best, filed in Bladen County Superior Court, comes 
as North Carolina has emerged as a sort of incubator of innocence efforts, with 
the nation's 1st and only independent body dedicated to investigating such 
claims.

Earlier this month, the Innocence Inquiry Commission brought about the 
exonerations of death row's longest serving inmate, Henry McCollum, and his 
brother, Leon Brown, freed after 31 years behind bars. Another Columbus County 
case is working its way through the courts and the commission; Joseph Sledge 
says DNA evidence proves his innocence of two murders for which he has been 
incarcerated 38 years.

Best has always professed his innocence, during police interrogation, on the 
witness stand, and during his 21 years on death row.

"I knew I was railroaded," Best said in an interview at Central Prison in 
Raleigh, recalling the moment the jury found him guilty. "I knew I was 
railroaded."

Now, nearly 23 years after the killings, the newly discovered evidence is 
stirring up strong feelings about a case that has languished in obscurity.

"I know Fuzzy did some stupid stuff growing up, being hardheaded," said Vicky 
Best, a sister. "But I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe he killed that 
couple."

The Baldwins' 2 daughters still have a difficult time talking about the case.

"Fuzzy Best was the one who did it," said Betsy Baldwin Marlowe. "It boggles my 
mind to think about this. I hope to see justice done."

Fear and rage

For 37 years, Leslie and Gertrude Baldwin met the people of Columbus County on 
opposite sides of a camera.

>From 1939 to 1976 in their studio over Guiton's Drug Store on Madison Street, 
the Baldwins photographed babies and brides, graduates and grandparents, 
farmers and bankers.

The people of Whiteville were shocked by the murder of the popular couple, who 
were frail and in failing health. The News-Reporter led with an editorial 
"Senseless Loss: Fear, Rage in Our Community." The Columbus County Sheriff's 
Office reported that handgun permits jumped dramatically, issuing as many in 
the week after the crime as it did in a typical month.

On Dec. 13, 1991, the headlines carried welcome news: Police had arrested Best, 
a 37-year-old man with a long history of arrests for drugs, robbery, assault 
and DUI. Best had been released from jail 2 weeks before the Baldwins were 
killed.

Best came from a very different part of Whiteville. The oldest of 8 children, 
he was raised by a single mother in a clapboard shack with an outhouse in the 
back yard.

Best was a slow learner and didn't finish high school. As an adult, he drove 
long-distance truck routes and worked as a mechanic at auto shops in 
Whiteville.

Newspapers and a knife

A judge moved Best's trial to neighboring Bladen County because of extensive 
pretrial publicity.

When the trial opened 18 months after the killings, District Attorney Gore 
painted a straightforward theory for the jury. Best worked in the Baldwins' 
yard Saturday, Nov. 30, and returned that evening to kill and rob them. Best 
took a wad of $100 bills and spent the next 48 hours holed up in motel rooms, 
drinking and smoking crack cocaine with 3 women.

A policeman found the slain couple at 3:40 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3. A window in 
the back door was broken, with glass scattered on the kitchen floor, a sign of 
a break-in. Leslie Baldwin, 82, was lying in the hallway, bludgeoned in the 
head and his neck slit.

Gertrude Baldwin, 77, was on her side in her bed, also beaten in the head and 
stabbed in the throat. A butcher knife was found on her bed.

As evidence the slayings took place Saturday night, a Whiteville police officer 
testified that he found the newspapers for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday on the 
Baldwins' porch. Mr. Baldwin had a daily habit of retrieving the paper early 
every morning, reading it and returning to bed for a nap.

One of the Baldwins' daughters testified that her mother filled her pill 
organizer every Thursday; the boxes in the pill organizer were empty for 
Thursday, Friday and Saturday but contained pills for Sunday through Wednesday.

And SBI Special Agent Michael Budzynski testified, using a science new to North 
Carolina courtrooms: DNA. Budzynski said he tested a vaginal swab taken from 
Gertrude Baldwin and found a match for Best's DNA at 1 of 6 locations he 
analyzed.

Perhaps the most important evidence was a bloody fingerprint on a paring knife 
found on the floor by Leslie Baldwin's body. An SBI agent testified it belonged 
to Best. Gore argued that Best had worn socks on his hand to avoid leaving 
fingerprints; a bloody sock left at the crime scene had a hole in it, allowing 
Best to leave his print.

Best testified and denied any involvement in the murder. He admitted smoking 
crack and holing up in the motels with the women. He testified that Mr. Baldwin 
gave him a small knife to use in scraping out the gutters, and that he had cut 
his hand doing so.

His testimony did not convince the jury, which deliberated 52 minutes before 
finding him guilty.

Files reveal suspect

Best has spent his 21 years on death row reading his Bible and staying fit, 
walking, doing situps, pushups and dips. Several close friends have been 
executed; while he tries to get along with all, he says he keeps to himself. He 
stays away from television - "It starts fights" - and prefers chess.

His case has moved little since a state judge turned down his request for a new 
trial in 1998. The judge also denied a request for access to the state's files.

In 1996, the legislature passed a law requiring the state to produce all files 
to death row inmates and their lawyers, a law upheld by the state Supreme Court 
in 1998.

When Unti and Smith took over the case in 2011, they used the 1996 law to find 
tips given to the police and the SBI in the days after the Baldwins were 
killed.

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the night after the Baldwins were found, an unknown woman 
called Whiteville police with a specific tip: A small Ford was driven through 
the neighborhood early Tuesday morning with the lights off. A friend of the 
caller went outside and asked the driver what he was doing; the driver, a white 
male with dark hair and mustache, identified himself as "Rick," and said he was 
looking for a friend.

The caller gave the license plate number, and police tracked the car to Gary 
Derrick of Winnsboro, S.C. 2 days earlier, on Monday, Derrick had reported to 
police that a roommate, Ricky Winford, had stolen the car.

In an interview with the SBI, Derrick said he received a call from a woman 
named Janet in Myrtle Beach. Janet said Winford had come by her apartment and 
told her he had "robbed, beaten and killed 2 people in Whiteville, North 
Carolina." Derrick told the SBI that Winford had bragged about killing people 
in Texas, but Derrick didn't believe him.

Winford was arrested in Derrick's car on Wednesday, Dec. 4, in Louisiana after 
stealing gas from a station.

Best's lawyers at trial, Craig Wright and Harold "Butch" Pope, filed affidavits 
stating that they don't recall seeing any documents about Ricky Winford. They 
said that Gore, the district attorney, said he had an "open file" discovery 
policy, but in practice only gave defense lawyers limited access to his files. 
The SBI reports indicate that Gore was provided copies.

Gore left office in 2010 after losing a primary. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to 
a misdemeanor related to conduct in office and surrendered his law license for 
six months.

Gore said he opened his files to defense attorneys, but after reviewing court 
documents provided by The News & Observer, Gore said of his discovery 
practices: "I gave out more than what the statute required, but it does not 
mean open file discovery like it does now," he said. "If I was using it in 
court, you got it."

Under U.S. Supreme Court rulings, prosecutors must share all evidence favorable 
to a defendant, including evidence that can lead to proof of innocence.

Time of death

Police photographs and video of the crime scene are gruesome. A medical 
pathologist and a retired FBI agent working for Best looked at them and found 
evidence that undercuts the prosecution theory that the Baldwins were killed 
late Saturday night, 64 hours before their bodies were found.

As time passes, blood dries and turns brown, but the blood discovered at the 
crime scene was bright red and wet. There was a pool of liquid blood on 
Gertrude Baldwin's bed. The officer noted a smell of blood and sweat in the 
house, but no strong odor of decomposition. The bodies had no discoloration or 
bloating, which generally begin 24 to 36 hours after death.

The 1st police officer to the scene noted that both victims were stiff from 
rigor mortis, a condition that typically disappears between 24 and 48 hours 
after death.

Another indication of time of death is livor mortis: blood settling by gravity 
in the body after death. Livor mortis shows up as red or purple discoloration. 
During the 6 to 18 hours after death, livor mortis is unfixed, as the blood can 
shift if a body is moved. After that, the livor is "fixed" and the blood no 
longer moves if the body is moved.

Police found Gertrude Baldwin lying in her bed on her left side. During the 
investigation, an SBI agent rolled Mrs. Baldwin's body on her back as he 
examined her wounds.

At the autopsy, medical examiner Dr. Deborah Radisch noted "purple-posterior" 
livor mortis, meaning the blood settled on the backside of the body. Experts 
for Best say this indicates that livor mortis had not fixed when the agent 
moved the body Tuesday night, evidence that Mrs. Baldwin had not been dead 18 
hours.

All those factors led the experts, retired FBI special agent Gregg McCrary and 
Dr. Christena Roberts, to conclude that the murders occurred sometime Monday or 
the early hours of Tuesday morning. That would be good news for Best; 
prosecutors said he was in motels from Sunday to Tuesday with women and drugs.

A faint match

The Best case was one of the 1st in North Carolina to feature DNA evidence.

Budzynski, the SBI agent, had to separate the DNA from the rape kit into 2 
samples: a female fraction, containing Gertrude Baldwin's DNA, and a male 
fraction, containing the DNA from a man, presumably the rapist. Budzynski ran 
tests on 6 DNA locations: 5 were inconclusive, but he testified one matched 
Best.

This weak match did not produce the powerful, 1-person-in-a-billion statistic 
that DNA can generate. Budzynski testified that the DNA in the male fraction 
could belong to 6 % of black men in North Carolina, or about 360 in Columbus 
County alone. But his testimony was convincing enough that the North Carolina 
Supreme Court's decision in the Best case noted: "The defendant's DNA matched 1 
of the semen samples taken from Mrs. Baldwin."

Budzynski's testimony about the match was "completely baseless," according to a 
DNA expert retained by Best's lawyers.

The only DNA in the male fraction belonged to Gertrude Baldwin, according to 
Maher Noureddine, who received his doctorate in molecular genetics from 
UNC-Chapel Hill.

If Budzynski had properly separated the DNA into female and male fractions, and 
there was actually male DNA in the sample, the male DNA would appear at more 
than 1 marker, Noureddine said.

In a sworn affidavit, Noureddine said he could find no evidence of male DNA at 
the 6 locations. And the only location allegedly showing Best's DNA was at a 
DNA marker deemed unreliable at the time by the FBI. The results were faint and 
barely visible: in a manual published in 1994, the SBI cautioned that such 
faint results at that DNA marker were not reliable.

Budzynski admitted in court that he had difficulty processing the DNA in the 
SBI lab. Noureddine said Budzynski made no attempt to replicate or validate his 
test results.

"I find no scientific evidence to support the conclusion that the vaginal swabs 
contain any DNA other than that of the female victim," Noureddine concluded.

Budzynski went on to head the SBI lab's Forensic Biology Section and is now 
retired. He did not respond to phone calls or a letter for comment.

Watching, waiting

Whiteville Police Lt. Bobby Fowler said he spent weeks looking for evidence 
until he finally found the six boxes in the City Hall attic.

"It was hid in a corner in boxes," Fowler said. "It was taped up, and you could 
see it hadn't been opened in 20 years."

The boxes contain biological evidence that has never been used in DNA tests. 
According to SBI lab notes, Caucasian hairs were found underneath Leslie 
Baldwin's fingernails. Caucasian pubic hairs were found on Gertrude Baldwin. 
The medical examiner found sperm on her and preserved it on swabs and slides.

Given how the evidence was stored in plastic bags in an uninsulated attic for 
years, Best's lawyers worry about the condition of the evidence and which items 
would still be intact. Unti, an appointed attorney, said he will request 
funding for DNA tests from N.C. Indigent Defense Services. He said if he had 
the money, he would test everything.

District Attorney Jon David declined to discuss the case.

As his case moves ahead, Best spends a lot of time standing on his bunk, 
peering out the thin strip of a window across the top of his cell. He likes to 
watch for wildlife: hawks, a groundhog, 2 bushy tailed foxes running along the 
wall, a rare white pigeon, a pair of geese feeding, one eating while the other 
watches.

Sometimes he just looks up into the sky.

"You get a certain sense of freedom, just a feeling that comes over you."

(source: News & Observer)






FLORIDA:

Convicted Dunkin' Donuts killer: I'm innocent; James Herard faces death penalty 
for murder of Eric Jean-Pierre

James Herard refused to plead for his life in front of a Broward judge Friday.

Herard, 24, took the stand to say he shouldn't be condemned to death for the 
2008 murder of Eric Jean-Pierre in Lauderhill - he had nothing to do with the 
crime.

"I'm not begging for my life," Herard said. "This is not asking you to spare 
me."

Herard was convicted of felony murder in May in connection with Jean-Pierre's 
death. Though he was not the triggerman, prosecutors argued that he coaxed the 
alleged killer, Tharod Bell, as part of a "body count" contest.

Jean-Pierre, 39, was chosen at random while walking home from work in 
Lauderhill, prosecutors said.

The jury heard Herard confess his role in the crime in an interrogation 
recorded on video. The same jury voted 8-4 in June that Herard should pay the 
highest price, death, for the murder.

Herard is already serving multiple life sentences for participating in the 
robbery of a Dunkin' Donuts in Delray Beach in 2008. The store was one of 
several targeted by Herard and four co-defendants in a string of violent 
robberies that year. Along with Jean-Pierre's murder, Herard was convicted of 
murdering Kiem Huynh during a Thanksgiving Day robbery in Tamarac. The jury 
recommended a life sentence.

Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman listened Friday to a parade of witnesses, 
mostly Broward jail and Florida State Prison inmates who served time with 
Herard after his December 2008 arrest. The witnesses all described him as an 
intelligent, helpful and inspirational presence.

"The little bit of English that I speak right now, I learned it from him," said 
Anthony Cruz, 33, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for manslaughter in 
the 2009 death of his roommate, Carlos Gonzalez.

The purpose of Friday's hearing was for Herard's defense lawyers, Mitch Polay 
and Kevin Kulik, to convince Backman to disregard the jury's recommendation and 
sentence Herard to life in prison instead.

"James Herard was very helpful and encouraging to the other inmates," Kulik 
said in an interview after the hearing. "He helped illiterate people write 
letters to their families. He encouraged people to study the Bible. He is a 
highly intelligent person."

But Herard said his innocence, not his character, should be what keeps him from 
being executed. He said his confession was coerced.

Herard is expected back on the stand for another hearing Sept. 22.

Bell, the last defendant in the Dunkin' Donuts robberies, is scheduled to go on 
trial next week. He is also charged in the murders of both Jean-Pierre and 
Huynh.

(source: Sun-Sentinel)

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

Mother of Shelby Farah asks state to file charges against 2----Darlene Farah 
writes letter to State Attorney's Office


As the case against the man accused of gunning down her daughter moves forward, 
one grieving mother is asking the state to file charges against 2 others.

Darlene Farah's daughter, Shelby, was robbed, shot and killed at a Metro PCS 
store last year. James Rhodes is charged with murder in the case and could face 
the death penalty if convicted.

"It's like there's a piece of the puzzle missing and it's not going to be 
complete until - I'll never have closure," said Farah.

In a letter to the State Attorney's Office, Farah outlined why she believes 
Rhodes' girlfriend, Crystal Lewis, and Justin Curry should also be charged in 
connection to the case.

The letter is short and sweet, and gets right to the point. It addresses State 
Attorney Angela Corey by name and formally asks that Lewis and Curry be 
charged. According to the letter, both had knowledge of the crime, either 
before or after.

"My hope is to get justice for Shelby and not just Shelby, all the other 
victims," said Farah.

Since the day her 20-year-old daughter was shot and killed, Farah has fought 
hard to have Rhodes brought to justice.

In the letter, Farah has asked that more people be held accountable, including 
Lewis and Curry, the man seen standing behind Rhodes in surveillance video.

"I'm not here to bad-mouth anyone," said Farah. "I appreciate what everyone has 
done so far, but what's right is right and what's wrong is wrong. You have 
evidence to charge somebody else."

Shortly after her boyfriend was arrested, Lewis sat down with investigators and 
described what she did with the shoes he was wearing the night of Shelby's 
death.

"Where did you hide them at?" Lewis was asked.

"Up and around the house, between 4 and 5 houses down from his mom's house," 
said Lewis.

"Are you going to take detectives to where those shoes are?" Lewis was asked.

"When you heard that exchange between the police and Lewis, what went through 
your mind?" News4Jax's Ashley Harding asked Farah.

"She's just as guilty, if you ask me," said Farah.

Also in her letter, Farah said the surveillance video shows Curry's actions 
before and after the shooting.

"It shows him and Rhodes - on Subway's video -- Rhodes (was) passing something 
onto him and then they both go their separate ways," said Farah.

(source: News4jax.com)






ALABAMA:

Lawyer handles 2 capital murder cases in 2 weeks


It's a busy September for Susan James.

The prominent Montgomery lawyer just wrapped up a weeklong capital murder trial 
in Wetumpka. On Sept. 22, she is set to represent Auburn mass shooting suspect 
Desmonte Leonard in his capital murder trial.

High-profile cases are nothing new for James, a former federal prison guard. 
She has been involved in dozens of capital murder cases. Former Gov. Don 
Siegelman hired her when he was facing federal public corruption charges.

Last week, she had to balance defending one client with a death penalty case 
looming in 2 weeks.

James was lead attorney in Stalandus Slaughter's capital murder trial in Elmore 
County. On Friday, the jury convicted the 29-year-old Eclectic man on two 
counts of capital murder and one count of assault.

"It's obviously not the best of situations, but you deal with it," she said 
after court recessed one day in Wetumpka. "Both of these cases have been set 
and then continued several times. It just worked out to where they both were on 
the docket to go this month.

"Stalandus has obviously been the priority. We have other attorneys on 
Desmonte's case, so they have been working on that case, getting ready. After 
Stalandus' case is over, I'll begin getting ready for Desmonte's trial."

On June 9, 2012, Leonard allegedly shot and killed three people, including two 
former Auburn University football players, and injured three others at a party 
at an apartment complex in Auburn. Killed were Ladarious Phillips and Ed 
Christian, the former players, and DeMario Pitts.

James became a little more involved with the Leonard case than is typical. 
Leonard was the subject of an intense regional manhunt, and a $50,000 reward 
had been offered for his capture. His mother came to James' law office and said 
her son wanted to turn himself in to her.

"I thought he was going to come to my office, but we found out he was two hours 
away, and we had to go get him," James said.

She wouldn't disclose the location where she and her son, Garrett Saucer, also 
an attorney, picked up Leonard. But she did admit the trip in her car back to 
Montgomery to turn him over to U.S. Marshals went through Lee County.

"I mean there were billboards up all over the state with Desmonte's picture on 
them, and he looked just like that picture," she said.

As they neared the federal courthouse in Montgomery, she called the marshals on 
her cell phone to ask how they wanted to handle things. She was shocked to see 
snipers on the roof of the federal courthouse as they drove up.

"We walked inside and 2 marshals met us in full military gear, complete with 
assault rifles," she said. "It went well; no trouble. I told them that 
Desmonte's mother wanted to see him before he was taken into custody, and they 
granted that request."

When the Lee County Circuit Court asked her to represent Leonard, she took the 
case on 1 condition - that she could have Jeff Duffey as co-counsel. The 2 have 
teamed up on cases before.

"So Jeff has been doing all the heavy lifting this week," she said in the 
Wetumpka courtroom. "But in the past, it has fallen to me some weeks. We're 
used to it. Really, cases like Stalandus and Desmonte, we've been working on 
them for months and months.

"Most of the effort is scheduling experts and witnesses, and reviewing things 
over and over again."

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)

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

Jury Recommends Death in Jerry Jerome Smith Case


It took 4 days, but a jury has recommended the death penalty for Jerry Jerome 
Smith for a fourth time.

Jurors spend a little more than an hour deliberating whether Smith could be 
held accountable for shooting 3 people to death outside a Dothan home in 1996 
and whether he should be sentenced to death or given life without parole. The 
jury panel's vote was 10 to 2 in favor of the death penalty.

The defense had argued that Smith is mentally handicapped and is not 
accountable for his actions. District Attorney Doug Valeska says that the 
defense was just making up excuses.

"We were here for those 3 victims they got justice today and I want to thank 
the jury because they spoke loudly today," said Valeska. "You slaughter and 
murder 3 people in Houston county and try to kill a 4th then you will face a 
death sentence."

The final decision on Smith's fate will be up to Judge Michael Conaway.

A sentencing date has not been set.

(source: WTVYT news)






TENNESSEE:

'Teach-in' takes on death penalty, judicial system


Religious leaders, civil liberties advocates, philosophy students and other 
opponents of the death penalty and mass incarceration gathered Saturday for a 
"teach-in" to learn more about the issues and what they can do.

The gathering at the Nashville Public Library offered a preview of Monday 
afternoon, when many of the same people plan to gather at the Capitol at noon 
for a rally against the state's execution plans. Carmela Hill-Burke, a graduate 
student in philosophy at Vanderbilt University, said the group would give Gov. 
Bill Haslam's office a letter asking him to halt all executions.

Hill-Burke said activists plan to ask the Republican governor to "do a thorough 
investigation" of execution drug protocols and the possibility that some of the 
condemned are actually innocent.

The "teach-in" was organized by Tennessee Students and Educators for Social 
Justice. One panel discussion featured Baptist and United Methodist ministers, 
a Muslim and a Jew talking about their opposition to the death penalty and mass 
incarceration.

The Rev. Eugene Se'Bree of Jefferson Street Missionary Baptist Church said his 
younger brother was wrongly convicted of a murder after he was coerced into a 
confession in Columbia, Tenn., in 1991. Even though the actual killer was later 
found, Se'Bree said his brother remains in prison and ineligible for parole for 
5 more years.

"That is the problem with the judicial system, with the system of mass 
incarceration, with the death penalty - that we cannot, as mortals, as human 
beings, we cannot with all certainty get this right," he said.

Daniel Horwitz, an attorney and a member of Congregation Ohabai Sholom, The 
Temple, cited a recent study published by the National Academy of Sciences that 
said a conservative estimate of erroneous convictions in death penalty cases is 
4.1 %.

"That's a pretty staggering error rate, as far as I'm concerned," Horwitz said.

(source: The Tennessean)