[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., KAN., OKLA., NEB., COLO., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 10



FLORIDA:

Jury selection begins for 2nd man accused in Alex Zaldivar's death----Bessman 
Okafor already sentenced to life in prison in separate case


Jury selection begins Monday for an Orange County man accused in the 2012 
shooting death of a teenage witness who was set to testify against him.

Prosecutors said the victim, 19-year-old Alex Zaldivar, was killed the night 
before he was supposed to take the stand against Bessman Okafor in an armed 
home invasion trial. Zaldivar's 2 roommates were wounded in the shooting.

Okafor has already been sentenced to life in prison in connection to the 
original home invasion, in which he and another man, Nolan Bernard, tied up 4 
people and robbed them at gunpoint at an Ocoee home in May 2012. Prosecutors 
said Okafor was the ringleader in the crime.

"Almost 3 years we've been waiting for this guy to go to trial," said Rafael 
Zaldivar, the victim's father. "I'm hoping for a guilty verdict and hopefully 
he gets the death sentence."

In March, another man, Emmaneul Wallace, was convicted in Zalidvar's death. 
Prosecutors said Wallace was helping his co-defendant, Okafor, in trying to 
eliminate witnesses. Wallace was sentenced to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

The state said it will go for the death penalty in Okafor's trial.

(source: WESH news)






ALABAMA:

Death penalty trial date set in Huntsville church food pantry murders


The Huntsville man charged with killing 2 brothers doing volunteer work at a 
church food bank now has a trial date set for April 18, 2016.

Richard Burgin, 52, is charged with capital murder and Madison County District 
Attorney Rob Broussard said the state is seeking the death penalty for the 
killings.

The trial date was set Friday by presiding Madison County Circuit Judge Karen 
Hall, according to Burgin's attorneys.

He is accused in the May 21, 2013 stabbing deaths of Anthony Jackson, 76, and 
Terry Jackson, 69, at the food pantry at West Huntsville United Methodist 
Church, where the brothers volunteered to clean up and help distribute food. 
Both men had been stabbed several times, investigators said.

The Huntsville Police Department tied Burgin to the killings after the state 
crime lab found his DNA on a cup picked up near the murder scene.

Investigator Charlie Gray described the case against Burgin a year ago at his 
preliminary hearing:

A witness who lived across the street from the church told police that on the 
day of the stabbings he saw a black male come to a door of the church, speak to 
a white male then enter the building. A few minutes later the black man emerged 
carrying a number of items, including a red cup.

The witness said the man moved at a steady pace on foot down 6th Street then 
turned onto 8th Avenue.

Other witnesses told police they saw a black male running down 8th Avenue, 
looking back while he ran.

A K-9 unit was called and it found a church bulletin, the cup, a bloody knife 
and bloody rag in some bushes.

Gray said police took DNA samples from several transients in the area around 
the church following the slayings but none matched the DNA found on the cup.

In December 2013 the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences informed police 
they had found a match with Burgin, who was in prison at the Draper 
Correctional Facility.

Gray said investigators went to Draper, took a DNA sample from Burgin and tried 
to interview him. Gray said he described the church killings and showed Burgin 
some photos. Burgin said he thought he needed a lawyer, Gray said, and the 
interview ended.

The new DNA sample matched the cup and the DNA on file, Gray said.

Burgin was in Draper because of a parole violation, but he'd already escaped a 
life sentence.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled that the life sentence he received 
in 1997 on a robbery charge in Tuscaloosa County was in error, after 
determining prosecutors didn't give proper notice they intended to introduce 
his criminal history at his sentencing hearing.

Burgin is represented by court-appointed attorneys Larry Marsili and Chad 
Morgan.

Madison County Assistant District Attorney Randy Dill is prosecuting the case.

(source: al.com)






KANSAS:

Johnson County D.A. files notice of intent to seek death penalty if Cross found 
guilty of capital murder


Stephen Howe, District Attorney of Johnson County, filed a notice to the Tenth 
Judicial District Court and to murder defendant Frazier Cross Jr., that 
prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty against Cross if he is found guilty 
of capital murder for the deaths of Reat Underwood, 14, his grandfather, 
William Corporan, 69, and Terri Lamanno, 53, on April 13, 2014 outside 2 Jewish 
centers in Johnson County.

In the document, which can be read in its entirety by clicking this link, Howe 
explains the circumstances that he says justify the death penalty sentence.

Among the reasons, Howe says Cross committed the crimes in an "especially 
heinous, atrocious or cruel manner."

Howe also presented to the court the state's proposed guilt phase verdicts to 
be presented to the jury. They include the following choices before the jury:

--We the jury find the defendant not guilty in the death of William Lewis 
Corporon.

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

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of the intentional 2nd degree murder of 
William Lewis Corporon.

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of the premeditated 1st-degree murder 
of William Lewis Corporan.

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of capital murder as charged in Count I

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

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of the premeditated 1st-degree murder 
of Reat Griffin Underwood.

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of the intentional 2nd degree murder of 
Reat Griffin Underwood.

--We the jury find the defendant not guilty in the death of Reat Griffin 
Underwood.

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

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of the premeditated 1st-degree murder 
of Teresa Rose Lamanno.

--We the jury find the defendant guilty of the intentional 2nd degree murder of 
Teresa Rose Lamanno.

--We the jury find the defendant not guilty in the death of Teresa Rose 
Lamanno.

Cross also faces an attempted premeditated murder charge against Paul Temme, 
Mark Brodkey, James Coombes, and an aggravated assault charge against Margaret 
Hunker.

Finally, Howe also presented to the court the State's recommended jury 
instructions. In part, Howe explains how death penalties are carried out in the 
state, in the event the jury finds Cross guilty of capital murder.

If the jury unanimously concludes that the defendant is guilty of capital 
murder, then the second phase begins in which the same jury decides whether the 
defendant should be sentenced to death. The jury will be separately instructed 
concerning the claims that must be proved in order for the death penalty to be 
imposed. The jury will also be instructed at that time that the defendant will 
be sentenced to imprisonment for life with no possibility of parole if a 
sentence of death is not imposed. A defendant found guilty of capital murder 
may not be sentence to death unless the jury unanimously finds beyond a 
reasonable doubt that there are 1 or more aggravating circumstances present and 
that they are not outweighed by any mitigating circumstances found to exist.

The instructions amount to 39 pages.

(source: fox4kc.com)






OKLAHOMA:

Actress, Anti-Death Penalty Advocate Respond To Gov. Fallin's Office On Twitter


Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon and anti-death penalty advocate Sister 
Helen Prejean team up to combat Gov. Fallin's office.

After Sarandon called Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin a "horrible person" in a 
Sky News interview for allowing next month's execution of convicted murderer 
Richard Glossip, the 3 went more in-depth on Twitter.

Glossip is convicted of the 1997 murder of motel owner and father of 5 Barry 
Van Treese.

For years, Glossip has proclaimed his innocence and has even gained 
international attention. In response to Sarandon's comments about the Governor, 
Alex Weintz, the Governor's Communication Director, took to Twitter to address 
some of the questions the Governor's office is facing.

On Monday, Sister Prejean and Sarandon decided to reply to Weintz in what 
Sister Prejean called, "correct some errors and add missing info."

If you remember Sarandon won an Oscar for her portrayal of Sister Prejean in 
the movie "Dead Man Walking."

We have attached a slideshow of their full exchange to this story.

Previously our Justin Dougherty sat down with Barry Van Treese's wife and 
brother, and both said they just want this whole ordeal to be over and for 
justice to be served.

(source: news9.com)






NEBRASKA:

Neb. death penalty battle continues


The battle over the death penalty wages on in Nebraska. In the end of May, 
Nebraska became the 19th state to abolish the death penalty.

The bill passed May 20 with a 32-15 vote. On May 26, Gov. Pete Ricketts vetoed 
it, but on May 27, after debating 2 1/2 hours, legislators overrode the veto 
with a 30-19 vote.

10 people were on Nebraska's death row at the time of the repeal, though the 
state hadn't executed a person since 1997.

Since the repeal, Ricketts has donated thousands of dollars to Nebraskans for 
the Death Penalty, an organization that is working to override LB268, the bill 
that repealed the death penalty. Ricketts gave $100,000 to the organization in 
early July, doubling his previous contribution, according to the Omaha 
World-Herald. Nebraskans for the Death Penalty is co-chaired by Don Stenberg, 
current state treasurer and former attorney general, and State Sen. Beau McCoy.

Ricketts and his father, Joe Ricketts, have donated 1/3 of the money raised by 
Nebraskans for the Death Penalty, for a total of $244,000, according to the 
Lincoln Journal Star.

The Nebraskans for the Death Penalty are collecting signatures from registered 
voters in Nebraska in hopes of repealing the law. They need 5 % of voters to 
sign by Aug. 27 to place the referendum on the November 2016 general election 
ballot. This 5 % equals nearly 57,000 signatures, including at least 5 % of 
registered voters in 38 of Nebraska's 93 counties.

10 % of voters, nearly 114,000 registered voters, are needed to suspend LB268 
from becoming law until voters have a say. According to the organization's 
website, a 14-month repeal period will take the death penalty away from 
prosecutors for more than a year. According to the Lincoln Journal Star, 
Nebraskans for the Death Penalty are halfway to the deadline, but the 
organization is not releasing any information on the number of signatures 
received so far.

(source: National Catholic Reporter Online)






COLORADO:

Let Colorado's death penalty conversation begin----James Holmes' sentence of 
life in prison without parole should bring new energy into Colorado's capital 
punishment debate


What should have been obvious to everyone from the start of the Aurora theater 
trial was that no good ending was possible.

Which is why the trial should never have taken place.

The decision to go for the death penalty for James Holmes risked two things: 
failure and success. Failure meant the horrors of that night would be 
continuously relived, hearts broken and re-broken and broken yet again in 
testimony that broke all our hearts, and all for a result - a life sentence 
without possibility of parole - that was offered before the trial had begun.

And success? What is success in a death-penalty case in Colorado?

A death-penalty verdict means years upon years, maybe decades upon decades, of 
appeals from death row and, with those appeals, the horrors relived and hearts 
broken over and over again. And since 1967, death-penalty verdicts have meant a 
total of one execution in Colorado. That's 1 over the last 48 years.

I don't know what George Brauchler, the prosecuting DA, was thinking.

Because success, in this case, also meant executing a person who was clearly 
mentally ill. All the psychiatrists who testified at the trial - those who 
thought he was legally sane and those who didn't - put Holmes somewhere on the 
schizophrenia spectrum. I doubt anyone believed an insanity plea would save 
Holmes from conviction. But the long and expensive trial was basically a 
prelude to the penalty phase: Would the jurors sentence a mentally ill person - 
no matter how heinous his crime - to death?

We now know they wouldn't. And so the question now is what the verdict says 
about Colorado's death penalty. After all, if Holmes, a mass murderer, gets 
life without parole, who deserves death?

That's a tough question, and not just one for a philosophy test. It seems like 
a tougher question than the next capital punishment jury should have to answer.

Juror #17, the 1 juror who has talked to the press, has given us the only 
insight into this jury's thinking. The jury was death-qualified, meaning all 
the jurors had sworn their willingness to vote for the death penalty. 
Death-qualified juries are obviously stacked in favor of the death penalty, but 
it doesn't necessarily work out that way. According to Juror #17, 1 juror was 
firmly opposed to the death penalty for Holmes and 2 others were wavering.

If the decision stunned most people, it shouldn't have. It was never going to 
be easy to get a unanimous vote for death, and it had to be even harder when 
the person on trial was mentally ill. Juror #17 remarked on how civil the 
deliberations were. No one in that jury room was apparently ready to dispute 
the considered opinion of anyone who had had to sit through that trial in 
judgment.

Brauchler had said death was the only justice in this case. One poll said 2 of 
3 Coloradans agreed with Brauchler. It's easy to see why. Holmes brought terror 
that night to those he killed and wounded, to their families and to the rest of 
the community.

But our take on the death penalty has changed in recent years. It's not just 
the polls that have moved. You know nothing is the same when Nebraska, of all 
places, has outlawed the death penalty. Several death-penalty states have 
declared a moratorium. Gov. John Hickenlooper risked re-election to put Nathan 
Dunlap's execution on hold.

The ambivalence makes sense, and not only because America is the lone Western 
democracy with the death penalty. It's a whole list of things, beyond the moral 
issue. We've seen DNA evidence, sometimes brought decades after the cases have 
been decided, set innocent people free. We've seen botched executions and 
states going to absurd lengths to find someone still willing to make the deadly 
cocktail used for lethal injections.

As Holmes went to trial, there was every chance there would be no death penalty 
in Colorado - and maybe in the country - by the time he might have been 
executed. The random application of the penalty - only 7 states executed anyone 
last year - has caused Supreme Court Justice Steve Breyer to call it "the 
antithesis of justice."

When Hickenlooper granted Dunlap a "temporary reprieve," he said it was time 
for a statewide conversation on the death penalty. The conversation that 
Hickenlooper has rigorously avoided ever since now must begin. And with the 
Holmes decision as a clear conversation starter, there is no shortage of 
talking points.

You can't have one execution in 48 years and three men now on death row - all 
of them, it turns out, African-American - and think the law is working. We can 
agree it's not a deterrent. We can agree that it's rarely pursued. And now we 
can agree that a death-qualified jury didn't apply it to a mass murderer.

(source: Mike Littwin----The Colorado Independent)






CALIFORNIA:

Deliberations Begin in Hemet Death Penalty Case----Francisco Roy Zavala, 23, 
was convicted last month of 1st degree-murder for the slay of a 16-year-old 
during a cell phone robbery in 2013.


Jury deliberations got underway Monday in the penalty trial of a convicted 
felon who fatally stabbed a Hemet teenager to take possession of the youth's 
mobile phone.

Francisco Roy Zavala, 23, was convicted last month of 1st-degree murder for the 
Jan. 14, 2013, slaying of 16-year-old Eric Ronald Sargeant Jr. Jurors also 
found true a special circumstance allegation that the crime occurred during the 
commission of a robbery.

The defense and prosecution concluded closing statements in the penalty phase 
of trial Thursday, and Riverside County Superior Court Judge Stephen Gallon 
directed jurors to return this morning to decide what punishment to recommend 
-- death or life in prison without parole.

The government is seeking capital punishment for Zavala, whose co-defendant, 
19-year-old Francisco Siordia of San Jacinto, was tried separately and 
convicted of 1st-degree murder on July 24. He's slated to be sentenced to life 
in prison on Sept. 18.

A 3rd defendant, 17-year-old Joseph Venegas of Hemet, pleaded guilty to 
voluntary manslaughter and robbery earlier this year. He testified for the 
prosecution, and under the terms of his plea agreement, will receive a 12-year 
prison term when he's sentenced next month.

The victim was stabbed multiple times near the intersection of Acacia Avenue 
and Cherrywood Drive, only a couple of blocks from his home. Sheriff's 
investigators said the defendants were walking to a liquor store when they 
spotted him alone, using his mobile phone.

The threesome confronted the teen, demanding he hand over the device, but he 
refused, at which point Zavala pulled a 7-inch kitchen knife, slashing and 
stabbing the victim twice in the upper chest.

The boy, who also had a number of defensive wounds, collapsed into a gutter, 
where passers-by came to his aid. The defendants were identified and tracked 
down within a couple of days.

The teen died in surgery.

Zavala is being held at the Southwest Detention Center in Murrieta. Siordia and 
Venegas are being held at Murrieta Juvenile Hall.

During interviews with detectives, Siordia and Venegas, who are related, both 
pointed to Zavala as the aggressor in the attack and claimed they were not 
aware of what he planned to do, according to the prosecution.

Court records show Zavala has a 2011 conviction for burglary and a 2010 
conviction for vandalism.

(source: patch.com)