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

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 22




TEXAS:

Capital murder charge filed for woman's death on west side of town


A man already charged with killing his girlfriend could now face the death 
penalty.

Ronald Jackson appeared in court Friday as prosecutors upgraded his charges to 
capital murder in the beating death of 38-year-old Jennifer Herrera.

Prosecutors say Jackson kidnapped Herrera with the intent of killing her and 
that is the reason for the upgrade.

She was found dead last September inside a westside home. Jackson was arrested 
later that night during a traffic stop.

His trial date is scheduled for November 16th but that is likely to be delayed.

(source: KRIS tv news)






CONNECTICUT:

Death penalty, murder case rulings expose rift in high court


2 major rulings this year on the death penalty and a murder case yielded highly 
unusual criticism from Connecticut Supreme Court justices against their 
colleagues, reaching levels of acrimony that some legal experts say hasn't been 
seen since the 1990s.

The recent conflicting opinions shine a rare light on the people whose 
decisions have had wide-ranging effects on residents of the state, whether it 
was approving gay marriage, abolishing the death penalty or ruling Hartford 
schools needed to be desegregated.

"I think it does show a depth of passion," said Todd Fernow, a professor at the 
University of Connecticut School of Law. "You really know where these people 
are coming from. I think we all benefit by that. The last thing you want is a 
decision that is robotic and psychically distant from the issues of the day."

The court ruled 4-3 on Aug. 13 to abolish the death penalty for the 11 men on 
the state's death row, overturning a 2012 state law that eliminated the death 
penalty for future crimes only.

Chief Justice Chase Rogers wrote a dissenting opinion saying there was "no 
legitimate legal basis" for the majority's decision. She also joined Justices 
Peter Zarella and Carmen Espinosa in accusing the majority justices of 
tailoring their ruling based on personal beliefs.

"I can only conclude that the majority has improperly decided that the death 
penalty must be struck down because it offends the majority's subjective sense 
of morality," Rogers wrote.

The majority opinion, written by Justice Richard Palmer, took issue with 
Rogers' comments, accusing her of refusing "either to consider or to recognize 
the import of the words of our elected officials, the actions of our jurors and 
prosecutors, the story of our history, the path trodden by our sister states, 
and the overwhelming evidence that our society no longer considers the death 
penalty to be necessary or appropriate."

Justices Dennis Eveleigh and Andrew McDonald and now-retired Justice Flemming 
Norcott Jr. joined Palmer in the majority.

Espinosa used especially strong language in her dissents in the death penalty 
ruling and in a 4-2 decision in March that granted a new trial for Richard 
Lapointe, a brain-damaged man sentenced to life in prison for the 1987 killing 
of his wife's 88-year-old grandmother.

Espinosa wrote that the Lapointe decision was "unfettered judicial activism" 
and "a gross parody of judicial economy," and she accused the majority of being 
partial toward Lapointe.

"Justice is most certainly not attained by doffing one's judicial robe and 
donning an advocate's suit," Espinosa wrote.

The majority opinion, again written by Palmer, took Espinosa, who arrived on 
the court in 2013, to task.

"Rather than support her opinion with legal analysis and authority ... she 
chooses, for reasons we cannot fathom, to dress her argument in language so 
derisive that it is unbefitting an opinion of this state???s highest court," 
Palmer wrote. "Justice Espinosa dishonors this court."

Fernow said he thought Espinoza???s language has been particularly forceful.

"I think that Justice Espinosa has brought a more intense language in advancing 
her positions here and perhaps has been directly name-calling the people she 
disagrees with in ways that have led Justice Palmer and others to take umbrage 
at it," he said.

Palmer, Espinosa and Zarella declined to comment for this story.

Rogers said in a statement that despite the strong disagreements, the court is 
functioning well, as shown by its 134 decisions issued since last September.

"There is no question that some of the issues that we are called upon to decide 
are extremely challenging and it should not come as a surprise to anyone that 
on occasion we do not agree about the result in a case and strongly express our 
views in our opinions," she said.

Acrimonious and lively language is nothing new in the world of state and 
federal appeals courts. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is known for 
his colorful dissents.

Espinosa's dissents may be the most strongly worded on the Connecticut court 
since those of former Justice Robert Berdon, who retired in 1999 after 8 years 
on the high court. Berdon accused fellow justices of paying lip service to 
racial discrimination in juries and issuing "cockamamie" opinions.

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Death penalty law changes aim to restart NC executions


For Asheville businessman George Lane, any development that might bring about 
the execution of his son's killer is good news.

That's why Lane enthusiastically supported state lawmakers' approval earlier 
this month of the Restoring Proper Justice Act. The new law amends the state's 
capital punishment procedures with the aim of restarting executions in North 
Carolina after a 9-year hiatus.

Lane, the 79-year-old owner of Leicester Pawn & Gun, still tears up when he 
talks about his son, Mark, who was 22 when he was shot and killed during a 
robbery at the store on Aug. 14, 1991. Mark, a state champion wrestler his 
senior year at Erwin High, was Lane's youngest son.

"The horrible thing for my family is that one minute I've got a son, and the 
next minute I don't," Lane said.

Mark Lane's killer, Edward Earl Davis, has been on death row since 1992.

"I hope to be able to hang on until they kill him," said Lane, who turns 80 in 
December.

The Restoring Proper Justice Act passed with easy majorities in the House and 
Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory on Aug. 5. It removes some 
of the impediments to executions, including dropping the requirement that a 
licensed physician be present during an execution.

Doctors had been reluctant to participate because such an action violates their 
medical ethics. The revision allows other medical professionals, not just 
doctors, to oversee an execution.

The new law also allows the state to exempt information about drugs used in 
lethal injections and the companies that manufacture them from public records 
laws. Drug manufacturers and pharmacies have shied away from providing drugs 
for executions because of bad publicity, and some states including Oklahoma 
have procured experimental drugs.

North Carolina is one of 31 states with a death penalty, but because of legal 
challenges no executions have been carried out in the state since 2006.

"Currently, North Carolina has the death penalty, but there has been some 
difficulty carrying out those punishments," said Rep. Brian Turner, a Democrat 
from Biltmore Forest who joined with Republicans in passing the legislation. 
"This change will allow these sentences to be carried out the way the courts 
intended."

But death penalty opponents and proponents alike say the law changes likely 
won't jumpstart executions anytime soon because of ongoing legal challenges.

"I don't think this is going to lead to a rash of executions," Turner said. "I 
don't think this law will turn North Carolina into Texas."

David Weiss, an attorney with the Center for Death Penalty Litigation, an 
anti-capital punishment nonprofit that provides legal services to about a third 
of the state's 148 death row inmates, agreed.

"I think that's what they are trying to do (resume executions), but as a 
practical matter that's not what it's going to accomplish," Weiss said. "There 
are still a lot of thorny problems the courts are trying to figure out."

Legal questions

Courts are still wrangling with the question of whether North Carolina's lethal 
injection procedure constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, which the U.S. 
Constitution prohibits.

Weiss pointed to botched executions in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona in 2014, with 
the condemned man in each case appearing to writhe in pain and the process 
taking much longer than planned. In the Oklahoma execution, experimental drugs 
were used.

"The courts have an obligation to review the execution procedure to make sure 
what's proposed doesn't violate that (cruel and unusual punishment) rule," 
Weiss said.

The 2nd thread of legal challenges surrounds Racial Justice Act cases in which 
defendants are raising questions about whether racial bias played a role in a 
conviction and death sentence. The issue doesn't always depend on the race of 
the defendant or victim but can involve the racial makeup of juries. Death 
penalty opponents say prosecutors have excluded African-American jurors in some 
cases.

Nationally, botched executions and recent exonerations of death row inmates, 
including Henry McCollum last year in North Carolina, have eroded public 
support for executions, and the number of executions has dropped, Weiss said.

Since 1973, 150 people have been exonerated and freed from death row in 26 
states, including nine in North Carolina, according to the Death Penalty 
Information Center.

McCollum, North Carolina's longest serving death row inmate, was freed last 
year after three decades because of new DNA evidence that showed he was 
innocent of the 1983 rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl.

Since 1977, when a 10-year national moratorium on executions ended, 1,413 
people have been put to death in the U.S., according to the Death Penalty 
Information Center. Of that, 528 were in Texas. Nationally, the number of 
executions gradually increased from 1977 to a peak in 1999, when there were 98 
executions, and gradually decreased since then. So far in 2015, 19 people have 
been executed.

Weiss said the Restoring Proper Justice Act "really increases the chance that 
an execution could be botched and for an execution to be cruel and unusual 
punishment. It seems like we should be increasing the safeguards instead of 
taking them away. Just as a matter of basic human decency, we should have 
safeguards to ensure it's done predictably."

Closure for Lane

George Lane has heard the arguments against the death penalty, but he still 
believes with all his heart that Edward Davis should pay the ultimate price for 
killing his son.

Davis had been a menace to society for years before he killed Mark Lane, George 
Lane said. He was convicted of murder in the 1975 stabbing death of a 
60-year-old man in Columbus, Ohio. He was paroled the year before he killed 
Mark Lane.

As part of a crime spree that included the Leicester robbery, Davis and another 
man carried out armed robberies at a McDonald's in Canton, as well as others in 
Georgia and Tennessee. Davis had escaped jail in Tennessee, where he was being 
held on a robbery charge, before the Lane murder.

"They let out a criminal and thought he was rehabilitated, but right away he 
was out robbing and killing," Lane said. "He deserves what he gets."

24 years after his son's murder, he said Davis' execution, if it ever happens, 
"will bring closure. I wouldn't have to think about it anymore."

Buncombe death row inmates

People convicted of murder and sentenced to death from Buncombe County, along 
with the date they were sentenced:

Edward E. Davis, March 12, 1992

Randy L. Atkins, Dec. 8, 1993

Leslie Warren, Oct. 6, 1995

Jamie L. Smith, May 10, 1996

James F. Davis, Oct. 2, 1996

Phillip Davis, Aug. 22, 1997

Lyle May, March 18, 1999

James Morgan, July 8, 1999

Terry A. Hyatt, Feb. 7, 2000

[source: N.C. Department of Public Safety]

History of executions in NC

Public hangings were common in North Carolina until the state took over 
administration of the death penalty in 1910.

Since 1910, the state has executed 404 people. After a moratorium on executions 
from 1962 to 1984, North Carolina put 43 people to death between 1984 and 2006. 
One Buncombe resident was among those inmates - Zane Hill - who was executed on 
Aug. 14, 1998.

Since 1910, there have been 3 methods to carry out executions, all at Central 
Prison in Raleigh. For the first 28 years, the state used the electric chair. 
In 1936, the state first used the gas chamber. In 1983, inmates waiting for 
execution were allowed to choose lethal injection or the gas chamber. In 1998, 
lethal injection became the state's only method of execution.

Currently, 148 people are on death row in North Carolina, including 2 women. Of 
that total, Buncombe has the 3rd highest number from among the state's 100 
counties, with 9, trailing only Forsyth (14) and Wake (10), according to N.C. 
Department of Public Safety records.

Executions by decade:

1910-20 - 50

1921-30 - 58

1931-40 - 130

1941-50 - 108

1951-61 - 15

1962-84 - 0

1985-2006 - 43

2007-present - 0

[source: N.C. Department of Public Safety]

(source: Ashville Citizen-Times)






FLORIDA:

Trial begins for murder of wealthy couple


The trial began Friday for the man accused of killing a wealthy Tampa couple. 
Hector and Debra Rivera were found shot to death in their Avila mansion back in 
2012.

It was a chance for both sides to say their piece before we get into the thick 
of things.

Julian Ospina-Florez faces the death penalty if convicted. Tuesday, the he 
cried when he heard about the death penalty option. And once again Friday, 
Ospina-Florez broke down quietly as he listened to his own frantic words from 
the 911 call made the night of the murders.

"They killed my boss... no, no, the owner of the house," he told the operator.

Hillsborough prosecutors spent an hour retracing the days that lead up to the 
January 9, 2012 killings. Ospina-Florez was Debra Rivera's driver and 
assistant.

Assistant State Attorney Ada Carmona described Mrs. Rivera as a boss prone to 
"temper explosions," saying it was not unusual for her to yell at employees or 
call their intelligence and abilities into question.

Things turned sour when Mrs. Rivera accused him of stealing merchandise from 
her jewelry business. She wanted employees at her Avila mansion to submit to a 
lie detector test.

On the night she was killed, Carmona said, "The scuffle started in the kitchen, 
her boots scuffing not only the floor but the doors of the cabinet, and the 
skirmish forceful enough for her earring to land on the floor. It ended in the 
bathroom where she met her death."

Prosecutors say Ospina-Florez then turned the gun on Hector Rivera when he 
returned home.

"The defendant's gun was in fact the one used to kill Dr. And Mrs. Hector 
Rivera," said Carmona.

When police arrived, Ospina-Florez's socks were found soaked in blood. A trail 
of bloody clothed footprints lead to a drawer where his own gun, also 
identified as the murder weapon, was found.

"Julian Ospina-Florez is an innocent man who did not murder anybody," said 
Public Defendant Charles Traina.

Ospina-Florez's attorney's opening comments were much more brief, asking the 16 
jurors to use "common sense, logic and fairness."

"There are no eyewitnesses to this terrible event, there is no video that 
captures it," Traina said. "Lawyers do not speak evidence. The evidence has to 
come to you from the witness stand."

We heard from several witnesses Friday, including a Hillsborough County deputy 
who was among the first on scene. He said Ospina-Florez was inside the home, on 
the floor when they arrived, and got up to let them in.

Deputy Don Shook said he was a "plastic wire tie" on the defendant's wrist and 
a couple of them on the ground. "I don't remember him crying," Shook said. "I 
remember him being emotional, upset... and agitated, that's a good word."

Witness testimony continues Monday morning. The trial is expected to last 3 
weeks.

(source: myfoxtampabay.com)

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

No need to rush next execution


The Florida Supreme Court did the right thing in halting - for a 2nd time - the 
state's next scheduled execution, pending further review of a new drug blamed 
for botched capital killings nationwide.

1 execution in Oklahoma ended in a bloody mess.

Florida's high court last month sent the case of convicted Orlando killer Jerry 
Correll back to a lower court to determine whether the new drug, midazolam, 
will have particularly harsh effects because of his alleged brain damage and 
prior drug use. The results are due by Aug. 27.

In demanding an evidentiary hearing on the sedative - part of a 3-drug cocktail 
used to execute prisoners in Florida - the Supreme Court is asking the 
questions lawmakers should have answered before rolling out the new 
lethal-injection process 2 years ago.

Already, Florida faces too many flaws in its death penalty machine, which is 
why the Florida Bar's Board of Governors, among others, recommends a top-down 
review. The call makes sense given that Florida ranks 4th for executions; 90 
since 1976 and 16 in the past 3 years. We also hold the record for the most 
death row exonerations - a shocking 25 since 1979.

It's unfortunate the court's stay of execution is only temporary. Still, it's 
good the justices rejected Attorney General Pam Bondi's request to lift the 
stay after the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the drug's use. More 
important than doing things fast, it's better we do things right.

Correll was convicted of killing his ex-wife, their daughter and 2 other 
relatives. After 3 decades on death row, his February execution was postponed 
while the nation's high court reviewed whether the drug violated a 
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. After the court ruled, 
Bondi requested a new execution date be set.

Instead, the court sent Correll's case to the Ninth Circuit Court in Orange 
County to determine whether midazolam could have adverse effects during the 
execution process.

Midazolam is supposed to put inmates to sleep. Florida was the 1st state to 
roll it out after drug companies stopped selling pentobarbital to prisons 
because of growing public sentiment against the death penalty.

When Florida approved its use in 2013, midazolam was untested as a capital 
punishment drug, and some worried its sedative effects would wear off before 
the lethal drugs set in. As it turned out, the state's 1st guinea pig, inmate 
William Happ, remained conscious and his body writhed longer than inmates put 
to death with pentobarbital.

The track record for midazolam has worsened since then.

In Ohio, inmate Dennis McGuire struggled and choked for nearly 25 minutes 
before dying. In Oklahoma, Clayton Lockett bled out and died of a heart attack 
43 minutes after his injection. In Arizona, Joseph Wood gasped and snorted 
before succumbing almost 2 hours later.

It's hard to feel pity for the worst of the worst criminals. But nobody 
deserves to die so tortuously, especially at the hands of government.

Meanwhile, Florida faces another U.S. Supreme Court case next year that 
questions how the death penalty is decided upon. Florida is the only state that 
allows a simple majority of jury members to impose capital punishment. Most 
states require a unanimous jury decision.

The good news is Gov. Rick Scott has taken a break from signing death warrants, 
the longest pause since taking office 4 years ago. That's something, 
considering Scott sent more Floridians to death row in his 1st term than any 
other modern governor.

Better news would be that Scott and the Legislature would get to work on 
reforming our state's death penalty woes.

(source: Editorial, Sun-Sentinel)

**********

Appellate court rejects speedy trial claim of Jacksonville inmate facing death 
penalty


The 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee has ruled that prosecutors and 
police did not violate the speedy trial rights of a man facing death row for a 
Jacksonville murder.

Corey Jamaine Dozier, 35, has been charged with the 1st-degree murder of his 
27-year-old girlfriend, Shelly Desravines. Prosecutors argue that Dozier should 
be executed for the murder, and also charge him with grand theft auto and the 
attempted murder of a man who was shot at the same time that Desravines was 
killed.

"We're very pleased with the decision and look forward to trying Mr. Dozier," 
said Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda.

Dozier was locked up in South Carolina at the time he received notice that he 
would be charged with Desravines' death and it was over a year before he was 
brought back to Jacksonville. Legally, the notice Dozier got was called a 
"detainer" that let prison officials in South Carolina know they shouldn't 
release Dozier because he was facing more charges in Florida.

Under Florida law once someone is charged with a crime they have the right to a 
trial within 180 days.

Dozier claimed his right to a speedy trial began as soon as he was notified 
that he would face charges in June 2012. Prosecutors disagreed and said his 
right didn't begin until he was extradited to Jacksonville and officially 
charged in January 2014.

In a unanimous decision, the appellate court sided with prosecutors, finding 
that a "detainer" was not sufficient to start the right to speedy trial without 
an indictment or official complaint.

The appellate court judges conceded that this issue has never been addressed 
before by any court in Florida. That means if Dozier is convicted the issue may 
end up being appealed again to the Florida Supreme Court.

Attorneys for Dozier could not be reached for comment Friday.

De la Rionda conceded that if the case had gone the other way it would have 
been challenging for prosecutors since it often takes time to extradite someone 
from another state.

Dozier went to South Carolina while police were looking for him in Florida.

According to 2011 news reports, Dozier robbed a gas station along Interstate 95 
in South Carolina, crashed the car he'd taken from Desravines and then lay down 
along the pavement of Interstate 26 as a ruse and hijacked the car of a couple 
who stopped to help.

He drove toward Charleston until he was arrested.

After receiving word that he would face charges in Florida, Dozier asked to be 
sent back to Florida immediately to face the charges.

Dozier wrote to the warden of the prison where he was incarcerated in South 
Carolina, and then wrote the Jacksonville Sheriff???s Office, the Duval County 
Clerk of Court and the chief judge of the 4th Judicial Circuit. He did not 
write to the office of 4th Circuit State Attorney Angela Corey.

In those letters, Dozier invoked his right to speedy trial under the Interstate 
Agreement on Detainers Act, which requires different states to quickly transfer 
inmates when they face criminal charges in both states.

The letters were written between July 2012 and January 2013.

Dozier is not scheduled to get out of prison in South Carolina until 2020, 
according to the South Carolina Department of Corrections. If the appellate 
court had ordered the Florida charges dismissed against him he would have 
returned to South Carolina to finish his sentence.

He was convicted of armed robbery, carjacking and kidnapping in South Carolina 
and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

(source: jacksonville.com)