[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., TENN., OHIO, OKLA., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 7



TEXAS:

Prosecutors consider death penalty


The Cameron County District Attorney's Office has 2 weeks to decide whether it 
will seek the death penalty for 1 of 3 men accused in the 2004 shooting death 
of Tomas Hernandez Zapata.

1 of the suspects, Jose Nicolas Acosta, 29, pleaded not guilty in the 103rd 
state district court Thursday morning.

Hernandez Zapata's body was found Sept. 9, 2004 on Houston Road , between North 
Dakota and Vermillion roads. Authorities said he suffered severe head trauma 
and received 5 gunshot wounds to the front of his body and 1 shot to the back.

Acosta, Alejandro Gutierrez Hernandez ( aka Alejandro Teran Teran ) and Jose 
Luis Garcia were named in a 2009 indictment, which alleges the 3 kidnapped and 
fatally shot Hernandez Zapata.

In 2010, Garcia pleaded guilty to capital murder and was sentenced to 35 years 
in an Texas Department of Criminal Justice institution. In 2010, The 
Brownsville Herald reported Teran was arrested in Mexico City in connection to 
an unrelated murder.

A status hearing is set for Aug. 20 at which time the DA's office will 
determine whether or not Acosta will face the death penalty if convicted.

Acosta is set to go to trial for Hernandez Zapata's killing in November.

(source: The Brownsville Herald)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Jury selection in capital murder trial concludes


20 weeks of jury selection concluded Thursday when attorneys selected the 3rd 
and final alternate in the triple murder capital case for 45-year-old Carl 
Kennedy, according to court officials.

Kennedy and 2 others - David Earl Manning and Leigh Williams, both 44 - have 
been charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder in the November 2011 deaths of 
Sharon F. Rushing, 61, Angela Dawn Soles, 43, and Gary Lynn Seward, 52, all of 
101 Rotary Lane, Thomasville. The state is seeking the death penalty against 
all 3 people, but Kennedy's case is being tried 1st.

The lengthy time to select jurors was due to an individual voir dire process. 
The process meant each juror was questioned individually. Christopher Bragg, 
the presiding judge, has maintained it was his decision to question jurors this 
way.

Some jurors have been questioned for over 3 hours before they were seated as a 
juror. Hundreds of Davidson County residents were called for jury duty.

Robert Campbell, 1 of Kennedy's attorneys, has said he believes the jury 
selection is the longest ever for a capital case in North Carolina. The actual 
trial is expected to begin early next week, and procedural hearings for the 
case will be heard Friday morning.

(source: the-dispatch.com)

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

McCrory signs executions, gun bills


Gov. Pat McCrory on Thursday signed into law a bill keeping secret the drugs 
used in lethal injections of death-row prisoners.

House Bill 774 also removes the requirement that physicians be present during 
executions. That provision is meant to eliminate one of the legal hurdles that 
currently block the death penalty in North Carolina.

The ACLU and a national organization of conservatives who question the death 
penalty had asked the governor this week to veto the bill.

McCrory also signed HB562, a once controversial gun bill that had all its 
controversial parts stripped out as it made its way through the legislature. 
Gone is a provision that would have repealed the state's pistol permit system, 
and allowed lawmakers and their staffs to carry concealed weapons in the 
legislature.

SB233 allows for the automatic expunction of criminal records in cases of 
mistaken identity. The law in this state already allows for expunction in cases 
of identity theft. This new law includes mistaken identity in the 
identification of the person who committed a crime, or when a witness or law 
enforcement officer has been given the wrong information about a suspect.

The bill came about because of the false arrest of a Durham native mistakenly 
identified as a bank robbery suspect in California. He had to go through a 
lengthy process to have the arrest record sealed and destroyed.

The bills were among 27 he signed on Thursday. He issued a statement on the 
record expunction bill, but not on any of the others.

(source: The News & Observer)






TENNESSEE:

Judge to Rule on Use of Pentobarbital for Death Penalty


A trial challenging Tennessee's method for executing prisoners concluded 
Wednesday with attorneys for 33 death row inmates asking a judge to declare the 
lethal injection protocol unconstitutional. Throughout the trial that began 
July 7, attorneys discussed technical aspects of the procedure, including the 
role of compounding pharmacists in producing the lethal injection drug 
pentobarbital. Those discussions were rehashed during closing arguments 
Wednesday in Davidson County Chancery Court. The judge has 30 days to rule in 
the case.

About 2 years ago, the state moved from a 3-drug lethal injection method to a 
one-drug method using pentobarbital. However, plaintiffs' attorneys say the 
compounded form of the drug is likely to cause a condemned inmate to suffer 
extreme pain and can cause a lingering death. Tennessee's protocol calls for 
the use of pentobarbital mixed to order by a pharmacist. That's because the 
only commercial producer of the drug has placed restrictions on its 
distribution to prevent it from being used in executions.

Plaintiffs' attorney Kelley Henry said Wednesday that a manufactured drug is 
safer than the compounded version because it contains "additional stabilizers 
that help make sure that the drug acts as intended. Those stabilizers are not 
going to be present in the compounded pentobarbital," she said. "The risk of 
using this drug is extremely high."

The trial began weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Oklahoma's lethal 
injection procedure, which uses different drugs than Tennessee, but the case 
considered some of the same broad issues. Lawyers for the Tennessee inmates say 
the claim of lingering death is a novel one. It is based on the theory that an 
overdose of sedatives can put inmates into a death-like coma without truly 
killing them for hours.

Earlier in the trial, one witness who is an expert in resuscitation testified 
that it might be possible to revive an inmate who had been declared dead half 
an hour later or more. Another witness who is an expert in anesthesiology 
suggested that an inmate could recover spontaneously. Attorneys for the state 
say the idea of spontaneous recovery is pure speculation and there is no chance 
an inmate will be resuscitated once an execution has started. They also say the 
U.S. Supreme Court has ruled inmates are not entitled to a pain-free death.

Although Tennessee has yet to carry out an execution using compounded 
pentobarbital, state attorney Scott Sutherland said Texas, Ohio and Georgia 
have had more than 30 successful and painless executions with the drug. 
"There's not one single execution ... where there was a problem," Sutherland 
said Wednesday. "I think it's fair to assume, that if there had been, this 
court would have heard about it."

Tennessee last executed a prisoner in 2009. Since then, legal challenges and 
problems obtaining lethal injection drugs have stalled new executions. In 2013 
and 2014, state lawmakers tried to jump-start the process by moving from the 
3-drug lethal injection method to the 1-drug method and reinstating the 
electric chair as a backup. But both of those changes brought new legal 
challenges, and all scheduled executions have been put on hold while those 
issues are sorted out.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO:

Man faces death penalty in slaying of wife and her brother


A Columbus man accused of killing his estranged wife and her brother could face 
the death penalty.

Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien says 25-year-old Roy Harvison was 
indicted Thursday on 2 counts of aggravated murder with death-penalty 
specifications.

Police say Roy Harvison shot and killed 29-year-old Jenea Harvison and 
23-year-old Donell McDonald in a parking lot on April 1.

Authorities say Roy Harvison shot McDonald in a parked car, then turned the gun 
on Jenea Harvison, who was walking toward the car. They say she tried to run 
but collapsed on a street. Police say he then fired more shots as she lay on 
the street before walking back to the car and firing more shots at McDonald.

Court records show Jenea Harvison had filed for divorce in September.

(source: Associcated Press)



OKLAHOMA:

Death Row Inmate Thanks Sarandon For Her Help ---- Richard Glossip calls Sky 
News to express his gratitude to Susan Sarandon, who is doing everything she 
can to save his life.


A death row prisoner who is facing execution in 6 weeks has spoken live on Sky 
News to thank the Hollywood actress who is supporting his campaign.

Richard Glossip phoned from Oklahoma State Penitentiary after hearing Susan 
Sarandon had been interviewed on Sky and said he was "clearly innocent".

The actress won an Oscar for her role in Dead Man Walking, in which she played 
a nun who accompanies prisoners to the death chamber.

Glossip, who was convicted of hiring a colleague to kill their boss, has always 
maintained his innocence.

Susan Sarandon: 'Richard's case is so typical'

He was convicted largely on the testimony of the man who carried out the 
killing, Justin Sneed, who received a prison sentence rather than the death 
penalty.

Glossip told Sky News: "I'm truly happy that Susan Sarandon is speaking out for 
me.

"It's really crazy that it's gotten to this point. She can see for herself that 
this is truly a case of an innocent man who is going to be executed.

"And I couldn't ask for a better person to stand up and speak out for me, and 
I'm glad that she has and I hope that she'll continue to do so.

"For some reason Governor (Mary) Fallin is not looking at it the way that she 
should be looking at it.

"She should be looking at the fact that an innocent man is about to be executed 
and she should be doing everything in her power to stop that from happening."

In an exclusive interview with Sky News, Sarandon said Glossip's scheduled 
execution shows everything that is wrong with the death penalty in America.

She also described the Oklahoma governor as a "horrible person" for refusing to 
intervene.

Glossip has been on death row for 17 years and has exhausted all appeals, 
including to the US Supreme Court.

Sarandon told Sky News: "Richard's case is so typical. Bad representation; 2 
trials that were ridiculous, no physical evidence.

"He's put there by a snitch who actually did kill the person, and then the 
snitch has life and this guy is being put to death on the 16th (September).

"Once a mistake has been made within a judicial system, people just do not want 
to admit that mistake has been made and it becomes impossible to readdress 
them.

"And the only thing now that is going to give him a chance to survive is public 
opinion - is public embarrassment."

The actress is urging people to write to Mary Fallin, asking her to intervene 
and grant a stay of execution.

So far she has refused to do so and rejected Sky News' requests for an 
interview about the case.

"The governor of Oklahoma is just a horrible person, and a woman, so it's even 
more discouraging," Sarandon said.

The Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has also declined to be interviewed, 
but his office issued a statement.

"A jury has twice convicted and sentenced Richard Glossip in the murder of 
Barry Van Treese.

"Glossip has challenged his conviction all the way to the US Supreme Court, 
exhausting all appeals, and has been unsuccessful at each challenge.

"The attorney general's office will continue its work to protect the state's 
ability to ensure the sentence handed down by a jury can be carried out so that 
after nearly 20 years, justice can be served for the family of Barry Van 
Treese."

(source: Sky News)






NEBRASKA:

Gov. Pete Ricketts talks death penalty on 'The Bottom Line'


Nebraska lawmakers repealed the state's capital punishment law over Gov. Pete 
Ricketts' veto. Here's how it happened and what's next.

If Nebraska succeeds in importing the $54,400 in lethal injection drugs it 
ordered from India, Gov. Pete Ricketts said Thursday he's confident he won't 
need to seek a refund.

During an interview Thursday on "The Bottom Line," The World-Herald's Internet 
radio broadcast, the governor was asked what happens to the state funds if the 
death penalty repeal ultimately remains in effect. Death penalty supporters are 
collecting signatures in an effort to let voters decide the fate of capital 
punishment in 2016.

"Would we then be able to sell it back to the people who sold it to us?" host 
Mike'l Severe asked. "Would we get our money back?"

The governor, a major contributor to the petition drive, said the state will 
need the drugs for the 10 men on death row, regardless of the drive's outcome.

"The Legislature actually doesn't have the authority to go back and change 
sentences that have already occurred," he said. "We're still working under the 
premise that we're going to continue to carry out the sentences for the inmates 
we have."

State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the chief sponsor of the law, has said that 
while the Legislature cannot change the death sentences of those already on 
death row, the repeal removed the statutory means for conducting an execution. 
That, he has said, leaves the death row inmates with a sentence that can't be 
carried out.

The state has not yet imported the drugs it bought in May from a broker in 
India. An official with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said one of 
the 2 drugs Nebraska purchased can't legally be imported.

Ricketts said Thursday that state officials remain in discussions with the Drug 
Enforcement Administration to get the drugs shipped. He offered no timeline, 
however, on when the drugs could arrive.

A DEA official has said the agency is working in tandem with the FDA on the 
issue, suggesting Nebraska would not be able to use one federal agency to go 
around another.

The governor repeated his stance that the death penalty is a necessary policy 
for public safety. In particular, he said he believes it's important to protect 
law enforcement and correctional officers who work with inmates serving life 
terms.

"That's why I feel so strongly the folks in Nebraska should have a chance to 
vote on it," he said.

(source: omaha.com)