[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----WYO., ARIZ., CALIF., ORE.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 14




WYOMING:

Murder prelim remains on hold for Daniel Guajardo


8 months after Daniel Guajardo was charged with 1st-degree murder, 1st-degree 
attempted murder and aggravated burglary, he still is waiting for a preliminary 
hearing in Laramie County Circuit Court.

Guajardo's case has been on hold while the court waits for the results of a 
competency evaluation conducted by the Wyoming State Hospital.

Laramie County Circuit Judge Denise Nau first ordered that evaluation on June 
26. After a series of motions and court hearings, the hospital finally admitted 
Guajardo on Oct. 13 and returned him to the Laramie County Detention Center on 
Oct. 20.

The State Hospital had expressed concern that it would not be able to handle 
Guajardo, citing his alleged violence toward jail staff and an inmate.

Shortly after returning him to the jail, the hospital filed a motion asking for 
60 days to complete its report - noting the 60 days would be up this coming 
Monday.

Guajardo appeared in circuit court on Monday, and courtroom dialog indicated 
that the report still hasn't made it into the hands of the defense or the 
prosecution.M

When the State Hospital's report does come in, the court will hold a hearing to 
determine the next steps in the case.

That next step could be a 2nd evaluation, if the defense requests one, which 
would put off the preliminary hearing even longer.

Guajardo was charged April 12 with the 1st-degree murder of Janessa Spencer, 
attempted 1st-degree murder of Samuel Cook and aggravated burglary.

Law enforcement caught up with him later that day in Fort Collins, Colorado, 
and he was transported to Laramie County in early May.

New developments

Guajardo appeared in court Monday because the Laramie County District 
Attorney's Office has not followed a court order to provide his team of public 
defenders with discovery.

Discovery is when both sides share all evidence leading up to trial, so there 
are no surprises during trial. Typically, both sides aren't required to share 
discovery in felony cases until the case reaches district court.

The defense filed a motion Oct. 13 asking the court to compel the prosecution 
to provide discovery.

The DA's Office filed a response Nov. 10, saying the circuit court's role in 
felony cases is to hold preliminary hearings to determine whether there is 
probable cause to support the charges, not to make decisions regarding 
discovery.

Nau signed an order Nov. 13 granting the defense's motion "in order to provide 
Mr. Guajardo with an effective defense and due process of law."

On Dec. 3, the defense filed a motion saying the DA's Office was refusing to 
provide that discovery.

The next day, the DA's Office filed a motion asking the court to reconsider its 
order.

"Discovery (is) being sought prematurely by the defense in order to have an 
earlier start with trial preparation," the prosecution argued in that motion.

According to the motion, a 1994 Wyoming Supreme Court ruling says the purpose 
of a preliminary hearing is to determine whether probable cause exists to 
support that charge or charges, not to provide an opportunity for discovery, 
and a 1999 decision from that court says defendants are not entitled to 
discovery before preliminary hearings.

Nau held a hearing regarding the motions Monday.

"Why would you just not do it?" she asked District Attorney Jeremiah Sandburg, 
suggesting that the sooner the discovery is turned over, the better.

Sandburg said he doesn't want to set a precedent for discovery to be ordered in 
other cases.

"We're just not willing to open the door on that," he said.

Sandburg said the state also is resisting based on fairness, arguing that the 
defense can't be compelled at this point in the case to provide discovery 
either.

One of Guajardo's attorneys, Eang Man of the public defender's office, told Nau 
she wouldn't mind providing the prosecution with what's called reciprocal 
discovery.

Man said "this isn't a typical case" because Guajardo could end up facing the 
death penalty.

Sandburg has said his office is considering seeking the death penalty, but he 
isn't required to announce that decision until after the case makes it to 
district court.

Man said the defense needs to know what the state knows about Guajardo in order 
to properly respond to the State Hospital's competency evaluation, which is 
going to be based, in part, on some of that information the defense hasn't had 
access to.

"We need discovery in order to be effective," she told the judge.

If Guajardo is found to be incompetent, he couldn't face the death penalty.

Sandburg told the judge that Man's death penalty argument is untimely because 
any decision about the death penalty has to be made by the district court.

He also said "the state does not want the preliminary hearing to turn into a 
full-blown trial."

Nau said she appreciates the prosecution's concerns, but she agrees with the 
defense that Guajardo's case is not typical and therefore should not follow the 
normal legal flow of evidence.

"I think this is the exceptional case," she said.

The judge also said the prosecution has to trust that the court will not allow 
the preliminary hearing to become a mini-trial.

In addition to ordering the prosecution to provide the defense with discovery, 
Nau ordered the defense to turn over its evidence to the prosecution as well.

She gave the prosecution 10 days to comply and said the defense has 5 days 
after receiving discovery to do the same.

Sandburg said after the hearing that he has no comment regarding whether he 
will comply with the court's latest order.

To challenge the order, his office would have to file an appeal with the 
district court.

(source: Wyoming Tribune Eagle)






ARIZONA:

Death penalty case grinds toward trial


Judge Lee Jantzen denied another round of requests from attorneys representing 
death penalty defendant Justin James Rector last week as the case slowly 
progresses.

The most common reason for Jantzen's denials is the requests deal with issues 
that won't occur until the eve of trial, or if Rector is ultimately convicted 
of 1st-degree murder when his case is heard in October. Rector, 27, is accused 
of strangling to death 8-year-old Bella Grogan-Cannella, whose body was found 
buried in a shallow grave about a mile from her Bullhead City home in 
September, 2014.

Defense attorney Gerald Gavin at a hearing last week told Judge Lee Jantzen 
that he and co-counsel Ron Gilleo continue to investigate the case, but 
interviews have stalled. Prosecutor Greg McPhillips took the blame for that, 
saying his caseload has prevented him from scheduling interviews with witnesses 
and investigators.

Gavin said much of the investigation involves work performed by a mitigation 
expert - a person who tries to find facts regarding a defendant's past that 
might compel a jury to decline a death penalty verdict once they find him or 
her guilty of the underlying charge.

A more timely issue regards Rector's mental health status. Gavin said Rector's 
mental health "will certainly be an issue," but he is not yet ready to have the 
man submit to psychological testing, including an exam that could explain 
whether he was sane or not at the time of the alleged killing. Gavin said his 
mitigation expert continues to struggle with obtaining Rector's records. "His 
mental health will definitely be an issue," said Gavin. "The difficulty is 
getting his medical records and social history. We're still not close."

Jantzen tried to pin down a firm deadline, but Gavin didn't commit. "I could 
spend 5 years trying to get records, but you won't let me do that," said Gavin.

"That's right," responded Jantzen.

Gavin also mentioned DNA and asked if McPhillips would call an expert, but no 
DNA was recovered from Grogan-Cannella's body or the surrounding crime scene. 
His interest was in possibly having to hire his own DNA expert, but McPhillips 
said the only reason the state would call an expert to testify would be to 
explain the absence of DNA.

Jantzen scheduled Chronis and status hearings for March 4. Chronis hearings 
call for McPhillips to prove that probable cause exists to add a number of 
aggravating factors that justify the death penalty, such as the victim's age or 
the depravity of the crime. The burden of proof is slight, similar to what it 
takes to land a grand jury indictment.

(source: Daily Miner)






CALIFORNIA:

Prosecutors weigh death penalty for alleged toddler killer


Prosecutors will decide by March whether the man accused of murdering and 
molesting his girlfriend's 17-month-old daughter will face the death penalty, 
District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Monday.

Daniel Contreras, 27, is being charged with murder, felony child abuse 
resulting in the death of a child and multiple counts of performing lewd acts 
on a child.

He pleaded not guilty in August.

Contreras allegedly sexually assaulted the toddler who then would not stop 
crying so he allegedly beat her to death Thursday, Aug. 6, according to 
prosecutors.

The victim had multiple head injuries.

Contreras allegedly repeatedly molested the toddler.

The toddler, Evelyn Castillo, was found unconscious and unresponsive in an 
apartment in the 400 block of Madison Avenue.

Contreras claimed the toddler fell from a table but an autopsy determined the 
death was a homicide.

Contreras, who was dating Evelyn's mother, had been caring for the toddler at 
the time of her death, according to prosecutors.

He is being charged with 5 felony counts including murder with special 
circumstance of murder during child molestation, assault on a child resulting 
in death, oral copulation on a child, lewd act with a child and sexual assault 
on a child under 10 years old. He faces a maximum of life without parole or 
death.

He remains in custody on no bail status and is being represented by private 
defender James Thompson.

Contreras is due back in court March 7 for a preliminary hearing.

(source: San Mateo Daily Journal)

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

Preliminary hearing continues for Madera mother accused of murder


Amy Chavoya is accused of torturing and killing her adopted daughter and 
abusing 4 other children. The alleged victim in this case is a 12-year-old 
girl. Monday morning, her brother told the judge he was there when their 
adoptive mother beat his sister until she passed out and then died.

Only still photos and audio are allowed in the courtroom for amy chavoya's 
preliminary hearing. Chavoya sat quietly as her adoptive son described hearing 
his sister, Mariah Flores, screaming in her bedroom on October 10, 2014.

"Could you tell us what Mariah was saying?" District Attorney John Baker asked 
Mariah's brother. "She was just yelling at her to stop."

Chavoya's son said his mother was mad because she thought Mariah ate a donut. 
He said he was also called into the bedroom and forced to lie down next to his 
sister while Chavoya hit her in the head and chest until the little girl 
started to "drift away."

"Mariah laid there," her brother said. "And she was still telling her to stay 
awake."

He said Chavoya then dragged Mariah's limp body down the hall and into the 
bathroom where he heard water running. Moments later, Chavoya screamed for help 
and her husband called 911. The boy said he didn't tell anyone what happened 
initially because he was scared after enduring years of abuse, including being 
shocked with a stun gun. But the defense attorney, Steven Geringer, tried to 
poke holes in his testimony.

"Did any of the children cry?" Geringer asked the brother. "Not that I know 
of."

"Any of them scream?" Geringer asked again. "Any of them attack amy? No. Try to 
pull you away? No."

Geringer has said there's evidence Mariah inflicted some injuries on herself 
and fell down in the shower shortly before she died. The forensic pathologist 
previously testified there were bruises and scars all over the girl's body.

The preliminary hearing is expected to continue Tuesday morning.The district 
attorney has said he is treating this as a possible death penalty case.

(source: KFSN news)

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

Taxpayer coalition launches effort to replace California death penalty 
Signature-gathering begins for initiative to end costly, dysfunctional, 
ineffective system


Taxpayers for Sentencing Reform, a coalition that includes conservatives, 
liberals, law enforcement, religious leaders, and victims' families, announced 
today that it is collecting signatures for a November 2016 ballot initiative to 
end the state's dysfunctional and costly death penalty system.

The Justice That Works Act of 2016 would ensure that perpetrators of heinous 
crimes can be sentenced to life-in-prison-without-the-possibility-of-parole, 
with a provision that requires them to work in prison and forward most of the 
wages to the families of victims. Last month, California's Legislative 
Analyst's Office and the Office of the Attorney General declared that the 
initiative would save the state $150 million a year by replacing the death 
penalty with life without the possibility of parole.

"California is ready to replace the death penalty,'' said Mike Farrell, actor 
and official proponent of the Justice That Works Act of 2016. "Once 
Californians discover that the death penalty achieves nothing while wasting 
billions of dollars, they realize that life in prison is a better choice. It's 
time to quit this charade; it's time to replace the death penalty with justice 
that works.''

Since 1978, California has spent at least $5 billion in sentencing more than 
900 people to death. Just 13 of those 900 have been killed by the state. No one 
has been put to death since January 2006. In fact, execution is only the third 
cause of death on death row, led by natural causes and suicide.

7 states have abolished the death penalty in the past eight years. A 2012 
ballot measure to abolish California's death penalty won 48 % of the popular 
vote; since then, public support for capital punishment has declined by double 
digits, according to a recent statewide Field Poll.

Conservative lawmaker Ron Briggs, who was part of the campaign in favor of the 
Death Penalty Act of 1978, said he now supports replacing capital punishment 
with a sentence of life without parole that requires convicts to work in prison 
and pay restitution to their victims' families.

"When we brought the death penalty back to California, we naturally, but 
mistakenly, assumed it would be cheaper than life in prison,'' said Briggs. 
"But it's proven to be just another dysfunctional big government program that 
wastes billions of dollars without achieving its goals. That's why 
conservatives like me are increasingly rejecting the failed death penalty 
system. The Justice that Works Act not only protects the public by locking up 
killers for the rest of their natural lives, it also provides real help to 
crime victims by making prisoners work and pay most of their wages to their 
victims' families.''

Former California Attorney General John Van de Kamp echoed Briggs' comments. 
"In chairing the Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice [2003-08] we 
made many virtually unanimous proposals to speed up the death penalty,'' Van de 
Kamp said. "There were costs involved. Since that time no credible efforts have 
been made to fix the system and none are on the horizon. As a result we waste 
billions of dollars on a broken death penalty that undermines our entire 
justice system."

Signature gathering, headed by Progressive Campaigns Inc., begins immediately. 
The coalition must collect 365,880 signatures by May to qualify for the 
November ballot.

Taxpayers for Sentencing Reform (TSR) has put together an experienced campaign 
group that includes pollster Ben Tulchin and ballot initiative veteran Bill 
Zimmerman.

The initiative already has financial backing. Reed Hastings, Chairman and CEO 
of Netflix, and Nick McKeown, a Stanford computer sciences professor and 
entrepreneur, have committed $1 million each to help launch the campaign.

Donations are needed and can be made at www.justicethatworks.org

[source: Taxpayers for Sentencing Reform]

(source: prnewswire.com)

********

EXECUTIONS COULD RESUME IF REGULATION ADOPTED


The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has launched a 
public consultation on its proposed new lethal injection protocol. The public 
has until 22 January to submit comments on the regulation, the adoption of 
which would allow for the resumption of executions in the US state with the 
highest death row population.

Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format, including case 
information, addresses and sample messages.

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) began a 
public consultation on 6 November on its new lethal injection protocol. Among 
other changes, the proposed new regulation introduces a single-drug lethal 
injection protocol which means that any one of four barbiturates listed in the 
regulations may be selected as the chemical to be used in the execution. It 
also establishes criteria for the selection, recruitment and training of lethal 
injection team members; and establishes procedures and timeframes for the 
movement and observation of prisoners once the execution warrant has been 
served.

Members of the public have until 22 January 2016 to submit comments on the 
proposed new regulation, after which the CDCR will have the opportunity to 
amend its proposal. Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all 
cases without exception, regardless of the nature or circumstances of the 
crime; guilt, innocence or other characteristics of the individual; or the 
method used by the state to carry out the execution.

California is the US state with the highest number of prisoners under sentence 
of death, 745 as of December 2015. The last execution was carried out in 2006 
and the implementation of the death penalty has been on hold since then, as 
legal challenges on the state's lethal injection procedures resulted in the 
invalidation of lethal injection procedures. In order to be able to resume 
executions, the California authorities need to put in place new operational 
regulations on executions.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

In order to be able to resume executions, the authorities of California, USA, 
need to put in place new operational regulations on executions. To this aim, 
the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) issued the 
notice of public consultation 15-10 on 6 November 2015, providing details of 
proposed changes to Section 3349 and the adoption of Sections 3349.1, 3349.2, 
3349.3, 3349.4, 3349.5, 3349.6, 3349.7, 3349.8, and 3349.9 of the California 
Code of Regulations (CCR), Title 15, Crime Prevention and Corrections 
(hereafter, the proposed new regulation).

Click here to view the full Urgent Action in Word or PDF format.

UA: 287/15 Index: AMR 51/3065/2015 Issue Date: 14 December 2015

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!

EITHER send a short email to uan at aiusa.org with "UA 287/15" in the subject 
line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails 
you sent,

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office 
if taking action after the appeals date. If you receive a response from a 
government official, please forward it to us at uan at aiusa.org or to the Urgent 
Action Office address below.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please write immediately in English or your own language:

* Urging the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to 
immediately halt its plans to adopt the new lethal injection regulation and 
work with other state authorities to abolish the death penalty;

* Urging the California authorities to establish an official moratorium on all 
executions as a first step towards abolition of the death penalty, in line with 
the international and national trend and five UN General Assembly resolutions 
adopted since 2007;

* Reminding them that the USA is among the minority of countries that still 
executes, and that there is no humane way to kill.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 25 JANUARY 2016 TO:

Chief, Regulation and Policy Management Branch

Timothy M. Lockwood

California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation - Regulation and Policy 
Management Branch

P.O. 942883 Sacramento, CA

94283-0001, USA

Fax: +1 916 324 6075

Email: LI.comments at cdcr.ca.gov

Salutation: Dear Mr. Lockwood

Governor of California

Edmund G. Brown Jr.

c/o State Capitol

Suite 1173

Sacramento, CA

95814, USA

Fax: +1 916 5583160

Email: governor at governor.ca.gov

Salutation: Dear Governor

Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/1SX9ea8

We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues! When 
you share with your networks, instead of forwarding the original email, please 
use the "Forward this email to a friend" link found at the very bottom of this 
email. Thank you for your activism!

UA Network Office AIUSA, 600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003

T. 202.509.8193 - F. 202.509.8193 - E. uan at aiusa.org - amnestyusa.org/urgent

***********

Steven Dean Gordon Faces Death Penalty in Murders of 4 Women


The Orange County District Attorney's office says it will seek the death 
penalty for Steven Dean Gordon, the 46-year-old accused of joining with another 
sex offender to kidnap, rape and murder 4 women in Anaheim.

A special circumstances committee composed of District Attorney Tony 
Rackauckas, his senior assistant, the assistant district attorney in charge of 
Homicide and other prosecutors experienced in capital cases met to discuss the 
case and consider "mitigating circumstances presented by the defense attorney" 
before reaching a decision, the OCDA says in a press statement issued Friday.

Gordon, who has a pretrial hearing scheduled Jan. 22, was indicted by the grand 
jury on Oct. 2, 2014, on 4 felony counts of special circumstances murder during 
the commission of rape, kidnapping, lying in wait, and multiple murders. He is 
also charged with 4 felony counts of forcible rape. Co-defendant Franc Cano, 
29, and also of Anaheim, was indicted the same day on the same charges. He has 
a pre-trial hearing scheduled Jan. 29.

Both were registered sex offenders under federal supervision through GPS 
anklets, and they camped together in the back of an east Anaheim paint and body 
shop. They allegedly kidnapped these women and brought them to the shop to rape 
and murder them: 20-year-old Kianna Jackson on Oct. 6, 2013; 34-year-old 
Josephine Vargas on Oct. 24, 2013; and 28-year-old Martha Anaya on Nov. 12, 
2013.

On March 14, 2014, Gordon and Cano are accused of kidnapping 21-year-old Jarrae 
Nykkole Estepp from west Anaheim and taking her to the shop to rape and murder 
her. That same day, the Anaheim Police Department received a call about a body 
found on the conveyer belt at a recycling plant in east Anaheim.

Investigators determined that Estepp had been working the streets in Anaheim, 
and a GPS check determined Cano had allegedly been in the same areas as the 
victim. He and Gordon were later linked to that murder and, through a check of 
GPS monitoring, the 3 women who has disappeared in Santa Ana. Their bodies have 
not been recovered.

(source: Orange County Weekly)






OREGON----death row inmate dies

Oregon's oldest death row inmate dies at 67 of natural causes in prison 
infirmary after his request to spend final days in hospice was denied by 
governor ---- Mark Pinnell died Monday morning at Two Rivers Correctional 
Institution; 67-year-old suffered from severe chronic obstructive pulmonary 
disease


Authorities said Oregon's oldest death row inmate died of natural causes, 2 
months after the governor denied him clemency.

The Oregon Department of Corrections said 67-year-old Mark Allen Pinnell died 
Monday morning at the Two Rivers Correctional Institution infirmary.

Gov Kate Brown denied clemency for Pinnell in October after his lawyers asked 
he be allowed to spend his final days in hospice instead of prison.

executions in 2011.

He had severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Pinnell was one of the first to seek clemency after former Gov John Kitzhaber 
declared a moratorium on executions in 2011.

He was sentenced to death in 1988 after he and co-defendant Donald Cornell 
robbed and killed 65-year-old John Wallace Ruffner, who was tied up and died of 
suffocation, in 1985.

Lawyers from the federal public defender's office said Pinnell has been 
weakened by pulmonary disease and relied on an inmate helper, a wheelchair, an 
oxygen machine and many medications.

The lawyers also said Pinnell's sentence was far harsher than that of his 
co-defendant, who was released in 2011 after 26 years in prison.

'Mark's case is a perfect example of how uneven and arbitrary the death penalty 
can be, and underscores the governor's longstanding concerns about such an 
irreversible penalty,' the lawyers wrote in a notice to the media.

Kitzhaber issued a moratorium on the death penalty in 2011, saying he believed 
the death penalty is immoral and applied inconsistently.

Gov Brown, who was secretary of state, said she wanted to restore trust in 
government and inspire confidence in the state's top job following an ethics 
scandal that prompted Kitzhaber's resignation.

Kitzhaber's fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, was accused of using her relationship with 
the governor to land work for her consulting firm and state and federal 
authorities opened investigations.

The former governor denied wrongdoing on both of their parts.

(source: Daily Mail)