[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 17




TEXAS----execution

Texas carries out a rare occurrence: An execution of a woman


Texas executed Lisa Coleman on Wednesday evening. Coleman was the 9th person 
executed by Texas this year - more than any other state ???-and the 30th inmate 
executed in the United States over the same span.

This particular execution was also unusual for this country, because executions 
of female inmates have almost never happened throughout the modern era of the 
death penalty.

Executions of women in the United States are incredibly rare. Coleman is just 
the 15th woman put to death since the Supreme Court reinstated the death 
penalty in 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That 
accounts for about 1 % of the 1,389 executions over that time.

Coleman, 38, was sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering 
Davontae Williams, her partner's 9-year-old son, a decade ago. Davontae was 
emaciated, weighing 35 pounds at the time of his death in 2004, and had 
multiple injuries on his body. Coleman and Marcella Williams, her longtime 
girlfriend, had restrained him and deprived him of food, according to the Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice.

She was killed by lethal injection in Huntsville, Tex. The execution took about 
12 minutes, lasting from 6:12 p.m. to 6:24 p.m., and nothing unusual happened, 
the Department of Criminal Justice reported. In her final remarks, she told her 
family and "the girls on the row" she loved them. Her last words were, "I'm 
done."

In Texas, a murder committed during a kidnapping is considered capital murder. 
(Since 2011, killing a child younger than 10 has also been considered a capital 
murder.) However, in a petition filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, Coleman's 
attorney argued that while she abused Williams, she did not kidnap him, which 
would mean she did not commit capital murder.

"There is clear and convincing evidence that both Lisa Coleman and Marcella 
Williams abused Davontae Williams," the petition stated. "Lisa Coleman does not 
deny that she did things to Davontae Williams that she should not have done."

Her attorney asked for a stay writing that she was only being put to death 
because Texas wants "to make sure someone pays" for what happened to Davontae. 
(Marcella Williams pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence.)

In a response filed with the Supreme Court, Texas officials said she should not 
be granted a stay, writing that Coleman does not have "clear and convincing 
evidence" showing she was not guilty of capital murder.

The Supreme Court declined to stay the execution, announcing about an hour 
before the execution that the full court had denied the stay. The court did not 
offer an explanation.

Before Coleman, the last woman put to death was Suzanne Basso, who was executed 
by Texas in February for torturing and killing a man. Going into Wednesday, 
there were eight women on death row in Texas (including Coleman), which made up 
about 3 % of the people on death row.

Coleman's execution came a week after the country's last execution, which also 
occurred in Texas. Willie Trottie was put to death for shooting and killing his 
ex-girlfriend and her brother. Trottie similarly asked the Supreme Court for a 
stay of execution, but the Supreme Court denied the request.

Texas is far and away the most active state when it comes to capital 
punishment, having put 516 inmates to death since 1976. That is nearly 5 times 
as many executions as any other state (Oklahoma has put 111 people to death, 
while Virginia has executed 110 inmates). Of the 14 women executed ince 1976, 5 
of them were put to death in Texas.

Coleman becomes the 277th condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since 
Rick Perry became Governor in 2001, the 30th condemned inmate to be put to 
death this year in the USA and the 1389th overall since the nation resumed 
executions on January 17, 1977.

(sources: KSAT news & Rick Halperin)

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

Executions under Rick Perry, 2001-present-----278

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982-present----517

Perry #--------scheduled execution date-----name---------Tx. #

279------------Oct. 15------------------Larry Hatten----------518

280------------Oct. 28------------------Miguel Paredes--------519

281------------Jan. 14------------------Rodney Reed-----------520

282------------Jan. 21-------------------Arnold Prieto--------521

283------------Jan. 28-------------------Garcia White---------522

284------------Feb. 4--------------------Donald Newbury-------523

285------------Feb. 10-------------------Les Bower, Jr.-------524

286------------Mar. 18-------------------Randall Mays---------525

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






NORTH CAROLINA:

DA weighs death penalty in slaying of UNC prof


District Attorney Jim Woodall expects to decide by November if he'll seek the 
death penalty against 2 men accused of murdering a UNC professor.

Attorneys for the defendants, Troy Arrington Jr. and Derick Davis II, appeared 
this week in Orange County Superior Court on administrative matters in the 
case. The defendants' next court date is Nov. 12.

In an interview Wednesday, Woodall said he expects to know by then if he'll ask 
for the death penalty.

"I just don't have enough information at this time (to decide now)," he said. 
"The police and investigators are providing us with reports, but there's still 
a lot of investigation they're going to do."

Arrington, 27, of Chapel Hill, and Davis, 23, of Durham, are charged with 
1st-degree murder in the July 23 fatal beating and robbery of Feng Liu, a 
59-year-old research professor at UNC's Eshelman School of Pharmacy.

Investigators said Liu, who lived in Durham, was beaten with a landscape stone 
about 1 p.m. near the intersection of West University Drive and Ransom Street 
near the UNC campus. He died the next day.

Chapel Hill police detectives said Liu's brown wallet and 4 credit cards were 
stolen.

Durham attorney Mark Edwards is representing Davis, and Arrington is 
represented by public defender James Williams.

Davis and Arrington are in the Orange County Jail without bond.

Both men had recently been released from jail when Liu was killed. Davis had 
been released from the Wake County Jail the same week after serving 3 weeks on 
a shoplifting charge.

Arrington was released July 2 from the Durham County Jail after posting a 
$5,000 secured bond, a $5,000 unsecured bond and receiving an electronic 
monitoring device as part of his pretrial supervision. He was awaiting trial on 
charges of stealing a dog, breaking and entering and felony conspiracy. He was 
wearing the electronic monitoring unit when he was arrested.

(source: Herald-Sun)