[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., KY., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 26



TEXAS:

Is Scott Panetti sane enough to be executed? The devil is in the details


There is no doubt that Scott Panetti murdered his mother-in-law and 
father-in-law in 1992, then took his estranged wife and daughter hostage before 
police talked him into surrendering. There's also no doubt that Panetti is 
mentally ill (among other delusions, he thinks he's in the center of a battle 
between God and Satan).

But is Panetti too mentally ill to understand why the state of Texas wants to 
execute him? Texas says no, his lawyers and a raft of psychiatrists say yes, 
and the arbiter could well be the Supreme Court, which sometime in the next few 
days will announce whether it has granted certiorari for the second time in an 
appeal in the case.

As The Times' editorial board has written, and I've argued here on the blog, 
the death penalty should be abolished. Beyond its inherent immorality, the 
death penalty is inconsistently applied, atrociously prone to error and 
manipulation, and inhumane even when the executioners manage to get it right. 
Yes, murderers act inhumanely, too, but that is not cause for a state to 
execute its own citizens. Especially those who are unable to understand what is 
happening, be it from developmental disabilities or mental illness.

That's a broad principle. Now we have an added layer of absurdity. In Panetti's 
case, according to the petition for certiorari (it's been a long meandering 
legal trail), there is no dispute that he killed Joe and Amanda Alvarado, and 
there is no dispute that he had suffered from severe mental illness for years 
beforehand. In 1986, while married to his 1st wife, Panetti became convinced 
that someone was watching him from a creek behind their house, so he sat on the 
porch for hours keeping guard. Separately, he buried valuables and stacked 
furniture in the yard, then hosed it down. He held a "devil's birthday" 
ceremony to rid the house of evil.

"Understanding the cause and effect between the murder and the execution does 
not mean [Panetti] is sane, especially when he sees the crime through a 
delusional prism."

The incidents form a long list of bizarre and occasionally dangerous behavior: 
Panetti was institutionalized 2 years before the murders after he waved a sword 
and threatened to kill his wife, baby and father-in-law. Then in 1992, he 
committed murder.

Despite his mental illness - schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder - 
Panetti was found competent to stand trial after court proceedings for which he 
had been medicated. And since he was competent to stand trial, a judge ruled he 
was competent to represent himself in a case in which Panetti - who had stopped 
taking his medications - pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He dressed 
up in an old Tom Mix-style cowboy suit for his court appearances, asked bizarre 
questions and made rambling statements. He sought to subpoena Jesus Christ, the 
pope and some 200 others. When he took the stand in his own defense, he began 
talking as another person named Sarge and mimicked firing a rifle at the jury. 
The results, observers said, was a disastrous trial at the end of which Panetti 
was convicted and sentenced to death.

So does Panetti know why he will be executed? In interviews with the state's 
psychiatrists, Panetti says yes, he killed his in-laws and that the state of 
Texas wants to execute him for that. But he also said God had forgiven him so 
there was no need to talk about that any more, that God assured him he will 
live to be an old preacher, and that the state of Texas is actually being used 
as a pawn by Satan (the plot also involves major corporations and the Bush 
family) to prevent him from preaching the Gospel on death row, as God wants him 
to do.

Texas argues that the 1st part of that answer is sufficient to determine that 
Panetti knows the execution stems from the murder convictions. The other 
details - such as his belief that Texas is just a tool in a Satanic battle - 
don't come into play. Panetti's lawyers - and the psychiatrists who testified 
on his behalf - argue that mental incompetence does not mean a lack of 
cognitive ability.

Understanding the cause and effect between the murder and the execution does 
not mean he is sane, especially when he sees the crime through a delusional 
prism.

Which leaves us at this bizarre juncture: Is Panetti just sane enough to be 
executed?

The Supreme Court has ruled in the past that someone who does not understand 
the connection between the crime and the punishment cannot be executed under 
the 8th Amendment, but it hasn???t defined where the line is drawn, preferring 
to let the lower courts work that out through expert testimony and a 
recognition of the best standards in mental health.

In Panetti, the Supreme Court already ruled once that the lower courts had used 
a too-restrictive test to determine Panetti's competency for execution, and 
sent the case back for reconsideration. The district court held more hearings 
and again concluded Panetti was sane, based in part on transcripts of 
surreptitiously taped conversations between Panetti and his parents in which 
the state argued he didn't seem mentally ill (an odd conclusion to draw; he 
talked of God saving him from Satan-controlled inmates who tried to poison him, 
among other delusions).

Now the Supreme Court is being asked once more to overrule the lower courts' 
decisions because they still used too narrow a definition and ignored clear 
evidence of severe mental illness. The condemned man believes that his 
executioner will not be the state of Texas under the banner of law, but agents 
of Satan. It's hard to see how that passes an objective review of whether 
Panetti has a proper understanding that his crime leads to his punishment.

In taking the case, the Supreme Court will get to provide lower courts a better 
focused - and more sane - guideline, and keep this already reprehensible 
practice of state executions from wobbling further off into absurdity.

(source: Scott Martelle, Los Angeles Times)






FLORIDA----new death sentence

Jacksonville man gets death penalty for 2009 murder


Arthur James Martin, 49, was convicted and sentenced to death by the Florida 
Supreme Court for the 2012 murder of Javon Daniels, 19.

Martin shot Daniels 12 times in broad daylight while the teen was sitting in 
his car at a Jacksonville apartment complex in 2009, according to the State 
Attorney's Office.

Authorities say children playing nearby witnessed the murder.

Martin was released from state prison for a prior murder conviction less than 6 
months before he murdered Daniels.

In 2012, a jury convicted Martin of murder in the 1st degree and recommended 
that he be sentenced to death by a 9-to-3 vote.

Judge Linda McCallum ultimately sentenced Martin to death row.

Martin appealed his case and after review, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed 
the his conviction and death sentence.

(source: First Coast News)

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

Jeffries receives death penalty


Circuit Judge Brantley Clark on Friday upheld the jury's recommendation of the 
death penalty for Kevin Gene Jeffries, who was convicted of killing a 
90-year-old Lynn Haven veteran.

Wallace Scott was bound and tortured in an effort to obtain his ATM PIN, but he 
refused to give up the information before being murdered and then robbed April 
4 at his Lynn Haven home. David Ian Challender pleaded guilty earlier this 
month for his role in the murder and was sentenced to three consecutive life 
sentences.

Jeffries' girlfriend and conspirator, Ashley Griffin was sentenced to 60 years 
on Friday. Griffin pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder during the trial phase 
and was eligible for a sentence as long as life in prison.

(source: News Herald)






ALABAMA:

Death penalty trial delayed for man charged with killing 91-year-old neighbor


The capital murder trial of a man charged with strangling his 91-year-old 
neighbor on Bide-A-Wee Drive near Five Points in Huntsville will not be held in 
November as scheduled and is now set for May 18, 2015.

Madison County Circuit Judge Billy Bell granted the defense's motion Tuesday 
for a continuance in the case of John Clayton Owens. Prosecutors are seeking 
the death penalty for Owens, 30.

He is charged with killing Doris Richardson and burglarizing her home. 
Richardson's body was found on Aug. 26, 2011. A Huntsville Police Department 
investigator has said Owens admitted burglarizing Richardson's home, but denied 
killing her.

Owens, who lived with his uncle next door to Richardson, sometimes mowed her 
lawn.

Bell's decision to continue the case followed a defense claim that it was not 
given Alabama Department of Forensic Services records - related to DNA testing 
procedures - until early September. The records were available from the DFS lab 
in early August, but were never picked up. Given less time to prepare, the 
defense said its DNA expert would not have time to review the records and other 
material in time for the November trial date.

In his order granting the continuance, Bell said to leave the planned date in 
place would deprive Owens of his right to a fair trial.

"Even as hard as everyone has worked to get this case prepared for trial for 
the November 3, 2014, trial date," Bell wrote, "the undisputed one month delay 
in the production of discovery documents as ordered by this court, which this 
court finds to have been inadvertent and the result of miscommunication between 
the Assistant District Attorney representing the State of Alabama and the 
Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, has caused a logistical impediment to 
the retained expert for the Defendant's ability to be adequately prepared for 
that trial date."

Bell had pressed the prosecution and defense to be ready for November. He had 
granted 1 continuance already, from a June trial date and had ordered timely 
sharing of files as they became available from the state crime lab. The defense 
had previously complained about delays in getting DNA testing results and other 
records from the prosecution.

Bell is retiring in January and has told the attorneys in the case he wanted to 
try it, if possible, before he retired to reduce some of the immediate workload 
on incoming Judge Alison Austin.

Owens is represented by court-appointed attorneys Brian Clark and Ron Smith.

The case is being prosecuted by Madison County Assistant District Attorney Bill 
Starnes and Assistant DA Thomas Glover.

(source: al.com)






KENTUCKY----new death sentence

Convicted killer sentenced to death in '83 rape, murder of mother of 5


On Friday a judge sentenced a convicted serial killer to death.

The judge upheld a jury's recommendation for Larry Lamont White, bringing a 
30-year-old cold case to a close.

Family members of Pamela Denise Armstrong held each other close as Judge Jim 
Shake made his final decision, but before he did, the family and Larry Lamont 
White had a chance to address the court.

"To the family, I don't know what you all heard here to say that I've committed 
a crime, but I never committed it. I don't care how you look at it. This was a 
set up by the commonwealth," said Larry Lamont White.

Police say in 1983, Larry Lamont White raped and killed 22-year-old Pamela 
Denise Armstrong by shooting her twice in the head and leaving her body in an 
alley. Nearby her body, food stamps for her 5 young children were found. Her 
children, now adults, sat in the courtroom.

Despite years of investigating, the case went cold, until Lavonne White, 
Armstrong's daughter and no relation to Lamont White, urged LMPD to reopen the 
case. It lead to a new trial and a conviction this past July for the rape and 
murder of her mother.

Larry Lamont White received 20 years for the rape and death for the murder. 
Before the judge upheld the penalty, the children spoke.

"I could discuss how I have lived trapped in fear for pretty much my whole 
life, but I won't. I could discuss how I have been unable to sleep peacefully 
for the past 30 years, but I won't. I could discuss growing up feeling like I 
was a total outlier, and not belonging to anyone because my mother was taken, 
ripped away from me, but I won't," said Lavonne White.

"You snatched away a woman that embraced us with all she had. You left me 
hopeless, unwanted, afraid to live, so really, you left me dead," said 
Armstrong's son, Rodshina Armstrong.

Larry Lamont White's defense says they have grounds for appeal.

Larry Lamont White is convicted of killing two other women in the 1980s and 
that was introduced to the jury.

His defense says that prejudiced them and prevented a fair trial.

A DNA match found on Pamela Armstrong's underwear broke the case.

During Friday's sentencing, one of the children testified their sister 
committed suicide from the grief of not having her mother with her.

Larry Lamont White was taken immediately from the courtroom to begin his 
sentence for the rape and to serve on death row.

(source: WLKY news)






USA----new federal death sentence

Las Vegas man sentenced to death for kidnap and murder of 12-year-old


An Alexandria federal jury on Thursday imposed the death penalty on a Las Vegas 
man convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 12-year-old girl in Catahoula 
Parish.

The jury ruled after 7 hours of deliberating that Thomas Sanders, 57, should be 
put to death for the brutal kidnapping and murder of Lexis Roberts in the fall 
of 2010.

This case represents the 1st time that the death penalty has been imposed in 
federal court in the Western District of Louisiana.

The same jury found Sanders guilty of one count of kidnapping resulting in 
death and 1 count of using a firearm during a crime of violence resulting in 
death. The jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for about an hour.

Evidence admitted during trial established that Sanders met Suellen Roberts, 
31, in the summer of 2010 when Roberts rented a storage unit at a warehouse in 
Las Vegas where Sanders worked.

Roberts and Sanders began dating, and approximately 2 months later Roberts 
agreed that she and her 12-year-old daughter, Lexis, would go on a trip with 
Sanders over the Labor Day weekend to a wildlife park near the Grand Canyon.

As they were returning to Nevada after 3 days of traveling, Sanders pulled off 
Interstate 40 in a remote location in the Arizona desert and fatally shot 
Suellen Roberts in the head and forced Lexis Roberts into the car, keeping her 
captive.

Sanders drove several days across the country before he murdered Lexis Roberts 
in a wooded area in Catahoula Parish, Louisiana. Evidence at trial established 
that Sanders shot Lexis Roberts 4 times, cut her throat, and left her in the 
woods where a hunter found her body on October 8, 2010.

A nation-wide manhunt ensued and Sanders was arrested on November 14, 2010, at 
a truck stop in Gulfport, Miss.

(source: KATC news)