[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., GA., FLA., ALA., IND.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 8



VIRGINIA:

Court Appoints Mental Health Expert in Matthew Capital Murder Case


The man accused of killing a University of Virginia student may use mental 
health as a defense in his capital murder case.

Jesse Matthew is accused of abducting 18-year-old Hannah Graham from 
Charlottesville's Downtown Mall in September 2014 and killing her. Matthew is 
facing a capital murder charge, and could receive the death penalty if he is 
convicted on that charge.

Monday, Judge Cheryl Higgins approved an order by the defense to appoint a 
mental health expert at a cost of $350 per hour to evaluate Matthew. Doctor 
William J. Stejskal is a clinical and forensic psychologist.

Legal analyst Lloyd Snook says this move is typical in death penalty cases. 
Snook explains that the doctor would look for any clues about Matthew that 
could factor into any potential sentencing, especially when the death penalty 
is on the table.

A pretrial hearing on a motion to suppress evidence is now scheduled to be held 
on January 11. The sealed motion - dealing with search warrants executed in the 
Graham case - was filed in October and was supposed to be heard in November.

The court has to work around the schedule of an Albemarle County police officer 
who needs chemotherapy. The officer handled evidence in the case and is needed 
to testify.

The same police officer is involved in the Morgan Harrington murder 
investigation, which Matthew is charged with 1st degree murder and abduction 
with the intent to defile.

Harrington, 20, disappeared after attending an October 17, 2009, Metallica 
concert in Charlottesville. Her remains were found on an Albemarle County farm 
in January 2010.

Morgan's mother, Gil Harrington, says they support the officer who has been 
there for her family. "We admire him and rely on him as a support system. And 
now we're being asked to support him, and we will do so as much as possible," 
she said.

Both the prosecution and defense declined to comment on the case, saying they 
couldn't because the motions discussed Monday in court are still under a seal.

Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney-elect Robert Tracci listened in on the 
hearing. Tracci takes over this case, and thousands of others in the county, 
come January.

(source: WVIR news)






GEORGIA----impending execution

State lawyers say courts have already heard and rejected arguments raised by 
death row inmate


Lawyers for Georgia filed court papers Monday rejecting arguments by an inmate 
set to be executed this week that prosecutors had used false and misleading 
testimony to convict him.

Brian Keith Terrell, 47, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. 
Tuesday at the state prison in Jackson. He was convicted of the June 1992 
killing of John Watson, a friend of his mother.

Terrell's lawyers argued in a court filing Friday that no physical evidence 
links Terrell to the slaying of the man from Covington, east of Atlanta. They 
also said Terrell's cousin, whose testimony prosecutors relied on, has since 
said he lied to save himself.

Lawyers for the state countered Monday that the courts have already heard and 
rejected the issues raised by Terrell's lawyers.

Terrell was on parole when he stole and forged checks belonging to Watson, who 
reported the theft but asked police not to pursue charges if Terrell returned 
most of the money. On the day Terrell was to return the money, he had his 
cousin drive him to Watson's house, where he shot the 70-year-old man several 
times and severely beat him, lawyers for the state have said.

Terrell's cousin, Jermaine Johnson, was his co-defendant and had been in jail 
for more than a year with the threat of the death penalty hanging over him when 
he agreed to a deal with prosecutors to testify against Terrell. Johnson was 
allowed to plead guilty to a robbery charge, receiving a 5-year prison 
sentence.

In a sworn statement submitted Friday by Terrell's lawyers, defense 
investigator Melanie Goodwill wrote that Johnson has told her and defense 
attorney Gerald King that he was 18 and facing the death penalty and was 
pressured by police and the prosecutor to testify against his cousin. He told 
Goodwill and King he would like to give a sworn statement telling the truth but 
is afraid he might be arrested and put in prison for perjury if he does, 
Goodwill wrote.

Johnson has consistently testified under oath that Terrell admitted to killing 
Watson, state lawyers wrote. The hearsay statement given by the defense 
investigator does not meet the legal bar for new consideration, they wrote.

Prosecutors also misleadingly presented the testimony of a neighbor of Watson's 
as having said she saw Terrell at the scene, but the woman said Terrell is not 
the one she saw and prosecutors never asked her to identify him in court, 
Terrell's lawyers wrote.

State lawyers argued in their filing Monday that Terrell's attorneys already 
argued in previous court proceedings that prosecutors knowingly presented false 
testimony by Johnson and misleadingly presented the neighbor's testimony. Those 
arguments have already been reviewed and rejected by courts, state lawyers 
argued.

In a separate state court filing, Terrell's lawyers have challenged the safety 
and effectiveness of the drug the state plans to use to execute Terrell. They 
withdrew that challenge Monday but filed a similar complaint in federal court 
and asked a judge to halt his execution.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only state entity authorized to 
commute a death sentence, denied clemency after a hearing for Terrell on 
Monday. As is its custom, the parole board gave no reason for its decision.

(source: Associated Press)

***********

Clemency denied for Brian Keith Terrel


The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has voted to deny clemency for Brian 
Keith Terrell.

Terrell was found guilty for the 2001 murder if John Watson in Newton County. 
Watson died after being shot and beaten. Terrell was sentenced in Walton 
County, where the jury recommended the death penalty.

Prior to reaching the decision, the State Board of Pardons and Paroles 
thoroughly reviewed Terrell's parole file, which contained circumstances of the 
case, his criminal history, and a history of his life.

Terrell is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Tuesday, December 8 at 7:00 
p.m.

(source: NBC news)






FLORIDA:

Family of local murder victim featured in death penalty documentary


Darlene Farah's front porch was transformed into a film set Monday afternoon. 
Her daughter Shelby Farah was shot to death during what police called a robbery 
at a Metro PCS store more than 2 years ago.

Documentary filmmaker Will Francome set up his equipment to feature her and her 
kids in a documentary titled "The Penalty."

"(The film is) looking at what the state of the death penalty is at the moment 
in America," Francome said.

When Francome learned Farah publicly opposed the death penalty as punishment 
for the man accused of killing her daughter, he contacted her for the film.

"Other victims, their trials, the homicide happened after Shelby's and they've 
already went to trial and the defendant is already convicted," Darlene Farah 
said.

For Farah, it's been a more than two-year process of reliving her daughter's 
gruesome murder.

Last Tuesday, we showed you how a judge went over more than 50 motions related 
to the death penalty.

Farah says she's worried that even if defendant James Rhodes gets sentenced to 
death, the legal process won't be over.

"Year after year after going through appeals, possibility of convictions being 
overturned," Farah said.

Farah said the process has shined a light on something many people don't see.

"What a lot of us really think or felt the death penalty was for is for 
closure. And I think really it actually doesn't bring a lot of closure," Farah 
said.

The film crew has been recording the Farah family for the last 7 months, and 
they're almost finished. The film is expected to be released next year.

(source: actionnewsjax.com)






ALABAMA:

The Death Penalty Doesn't Reflect Alabama's Values


Executions have been on hold in Alabama since 2013 amid litigation about lethal 
injection and the chemicals used to kill. Next year, a federal judge will hear 
2 challenges to Alabama's lethal injection protocol. No matter what the judge 
decides, the question is not whether Alabama will start executing people again, 
but how and when.

Plaintiffs in both cases were required to propose feasible alternatives that 
could be used if the lethal injection protocol is ruled unconstitutional. While 
we wait for the court's decision, we ought to reconsider the legal process 
sending capital offenders to death row, and whether that journey reflects the 
values of Alabamians - including those who support capital punishment.

Among death penalty states, Alabama is one of only three allowing trial judges 
to disregard a jury's recommended sentence of life without parole. We're also 
the only state with no guidelines on how judges make decisions to "override" a 
jury recommendation.

It's rare for judges to use this power to spare a life. Instead, the 
overwhelming majority of overrides are used to sentence someone to death after 
a jury recommends life imprisonment. It takes at least 3 jurors to block a 
death sentence recommendation in Alabama - but only 1 judge to cancel their 
vote.

Of the states allowing this practice, Alabama is the only one where judges are 
selected in partisan elections. Nearly 1/3 of death sentences handed down in 
2008, an election year, were the result of judicial overrides, according to the 
Equal Justice Initiative.

Judicial overrides land disproportionately heavily on Black defendants. 6 % of 
Alabama murders are committed by Black offenders against White victims, but 31 
% of override cases involve Black defendants and White victims.

Defendants facing execution can lack qualified counsel at all stages of the 
process, starting at trial. To qualify for appointment on an Alabama death 
penalty case, an attorney needs only 5 years of experience in any type of 
criminal case. The state provides no additional training.

Alabama's policies surrounding capital defense can have devastating 
consequences. In one case, the client's lawyer never told the judge that an 
expert had opined, before trial, that the victim died of natural causes. As the 
lawyer later testified, he kept this potentially life-saving development to 
himself because he was not authorized to hire the expert and was "concerned 
with receiving the trial judge's anger by asking for more money and/or a 
continuance."

Even when legal representation is demonstrably shoddy, death row inmates often 
are denied opportunities to have their cases meaningfully reviewed. Numerous 
examples exist of lawyers missing key deadlines to file paperwork or failing to 
pay critical filing fees.

In 1 case, the lawyer for a client with an intellectual disability abandoned 
him during an appeal without filing a formal notice or even telling the client. 
More than a year after the filing deadline had passed, the state notified the 
inmate that it would pursue an execution date. The inmate, whose death sentence 
was imposed via judicial override, could not even read the notification letter.

As we await a federal decision about the constitutionality of Alabama's 
execution protocol, we also must examine the process by which inmates land in 
the death chamber. Our state fails to guarantee that people accused of capital 
crimes have well-qualified counsel at capital murder trials, or any counsel for 
state post-conviction appeals. We allow elected judges to ignore recommended 
jury sentences in capital cases for any reason. And our system is plagued by 
unconscionable racial disparities.

These are not Alabama values. Those who truly value all life should demand 
sensible reforms of our state's capital punishment system. Ending Alabama's 
judicial override policy would be a good start.

Stephen Stetson is a policy analyst for Arise Citizens' Policy Project, a 
nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of 150 congregations and organizations 
promoting public policies to improve the lives of low-income Alabamians.

(source: equalvoiceforfamilies.org)






INDIANA:

New judge named in suspected Indiana serial killings


A new judge has been named in the case of a man charged with strangling 2 women 
and suspected in the deaths of 5 other women whose bodies were found in 
abandoned homes in Gary.

The (Munster) Times reports Lake Criminal Judge Samuel Cappas will preside over 
the case, which was moved from Lake Criminal Judge Diane Boswell's courtroom.

Boswell had recused herself from the case. Court records didn't indicate why.

Darren Vann faces murder charges in the deaths of 19-year-old Afrikka Hardy and 
35-year-old Anith Jones of Merrillville

The Lake County prosecutor's office is seeking the death penalty.

The case had been scheduled to go trial on Jan. 25.

(source: WNDU news)