[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----UTAH, NEV., ARIZ., ORE., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 1


UTAH:

Judge considers motion that would remove death penalty option in double-murder 
case



Opposing sides in a 2010 double-murder case met in 5th District Court in St. 
George Friday to argue for and against a motion to quash an order issued by a 
previous judge that paved the way for the death penalty if the defendant, 
Brandon Perry Smith, is ultimately found guilty of aggravated murder.

After hearing the arguments, Judge G. Michael Westfall, who presides over the 
case, said he would take the matter under advisement and issue a written 
judgment.

Under Utah law, the state can seek the death penalty in relation to aggravated 
murders. Such incidents are considered aggravated by the state if circumstances 
surrounding the murder are considered "heinous" or "depraved" in nature.

Smith is accused of killing 20-year-old Jerrica Christensen Dec. 11, 2010. She 
was the 3rd victim in an incident that also led to the murder of 27-year-old 
Brandie Jerden and attempted murder of James Fiske. In September 2013, Smith's 
codefendant, Paul Ashton, pleaded guilty to murdering Jerden and attempting to 
kill Fiske.

Just over 4 years later, Smith now faces the possibility of a death penalty if 
convicted on a charge of 1st-degree aggravated murder.

Gary Pendleton, Smith's lawyer, filed a motion to quash the order issued by 
retired Judge James Shumate that bound Smith over for trial on the aggravated 
charges following a multiday preliminary hearing held in late 2013.

Pendleton argued before Westfall that the state had not met the burden of proof 
needed to justify the current charges his client faces. He also said the state 
had consciously chosen not to further examine potentially exculpatory evidence 
related to text messages between Ashton and Smith prior to the murders.

The conversation between Ashton and Smith showed that Smith was manipulated

The conversation between Ashton and Smith showed that Smith was manipulated 
into going to Ashton's condo the day of the murders, Pendleton said.

Over the text messages, Pendleton said, Ashton told Smith he was scared that he 
had been exposed as an informant for the Washington County Drug Task Force and 
was going to be killed. In response to this, Smith went to Ashton's condo to 
give him a handgun for self-defense. He also packed a handgun for himself.

The text messages did not show manipulation taking place

Deputy Washington County Attorney Ryan Shaum said the text messages did not 
show manipulation taking place.

According to court documents, Jerden and her boyfriend were living with Ashton 
at the time and were moving out. Fiske and Christensen were there lending a 
hand. Ashton allegedly viewed the three as a threat and concocted a plan to 
knock them out and take them into the desert where they could be disposed of.

The state argued Smith was a willing participant

The state argued Smith was a willing participant in the plan which would have 
ultimately resulted in the deaths of all three people if events hadn't taken a 
different course.

Before the alleged plan could take place, Jerden and Ashton got into an 
argument that resulted in Jerden allegedly hitting Ashton with a tool box. In 
response, Ashton shot and killed Jerden, and then shot Fiske who was able to 
escape. He shot the 2 in front of Smith and, according to court documents, told 
him to go after Christensen who had locked himself in the bathroom of the 
master bedroom.

Pendleton wrote in his motion to quash that Smith told police he just wanted to 
knock Christensen out, but it didn't work out that way. All the while, he said, 
Ashton kept yelling at Smith to "Get her" and "Do it." Sometime during the 
exchange, Smith handed his own handgun to Ashton.

According to medical testimony given during the preliminary hearing, 
Christensen suffered blunt-force trauma to her head, strangulation, and had her 
throat cut.

Pendleton argued that, based on a time line of events, as well as testimony 
given by a medical examiner, Christensen likely died within a few minutes of 
the initial injuries inflicted. None of the injuries suggested Smith inflicted 
them to cause Christensen pain, he said. The state claims otherwise.

He had no other reason to kill her

"The state advances their theory that Mr. Smith killed Christensen to silence a 
witness," Pendleton said "He had no other reason to kill her."

Pendleton has maintained throughout the case that his client's actions were 
manipulated and coerced by Ashton, which ultimately contributed to 
Christensen's death.

"What was the purpose here?" Shaum said. "The purpose could be to silence a 
witness. That's exactly what happened in this case."

Smith knew Ashton already had murder on his mind due to the alleged plan to 
take the three victims into the desert, Shaum said. The prosecution has argued 
that Smith accepted Ashton's plan and was willing to carry it out.

Because of the way Christensen was killed, the prosecution pinned Smith with 
aggravated murder and called Christensen's death a heinous act.

If Smith had wanted to kill Christensen quickly, Shaum said, without causing 
her any pain, he could have just shot her. Instead, he gave Ashton the gun and 
kept beating Christensen, he said.

Westfall told Shaum that the focus of the state seemed to be more on the way 
Christensen was killed and not necessarily Smith???s intent or state of mind. 
He said earlier in the hearing that someone could reasonably infer that "he 
basically botched" the 1st few attempts to kill Christensen until he found 
something that worked.

The manner of death shows a depraved mind

"He was either enjoying himself or being extremely callous in the act of 
killing," Shaum said. "The manner of death shows a depraved mind."

Shaum also pointed to a "flippant statement" allegedly made by the defendant 
while dealing with Christensen, saying that "movies lie" about how easy it 
supposedly is to kill someone.

"There is no evidence that shows these attempts were done out of enjoyment," 
Pendleton said during a rebuttal to Shaum's argument.

(source: KCSG TV news)

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

Utah should avoid secular thinking that comes with firing-squad bill



It is time for Utah to renounce its secular doctrine of blood atonement - first 
by rejecting the firing squad bill, then by joining the 18 other states that 
have already abolished the death penalty.

For Christians, nothing is more central to their theology than the notion of 
atonement, or the means by which Jesus Christ reconciles human beings to God. 
Over the course of nearly 2 millennia, Christian theologians have developed a 
variety of theories to help understand and describe how and why atonement 
works.

One theory popular among Reformation theologians and many evangelicals and 
Mormons today is called the penal substitution theory. In it, sin is the 
breaking of God's eternal moral law of justice. Humans deserve death and hell 
for their sin, according to this theory, but Jesus substitutes himself in the 
sinner's place, taking the punishment upon himself so that justice is satisfied 
and sinners can be saved through his mercy.

Many other theories of the atonement have come and gone over the centuries. For 
instance, certain nineteenth-century Mormon leaders, while generally 
subscribing to something like a penal substitution theory, also taught that 
some sins, such as murder, were so grievous that only the voluntary shedding of 
the sinner's own blood could satisfy the demands of justice and thus secure the 
possibility of salvation. Critics of Mormonism, then and now, have made much of 
this teaching, which was in fact never the consensus view of the church and, 
contrary to many colorful assertions, did not inspire a theocratic bloodbath in 
pioneer Utah.

The LDS Church has made repeated and consistent disavowals of the doctrine of 
blood atonement, beginning in 1889 and as recently as last year. In June 2010, 
the church issued a formal statement acknowledging the erstwhile teaching, then 
unequivocally rejecting it. According to the statement, Mormons "believe in and 
teach the infinite and all-encompassing atonement of Jesus Christ, which makes 
forgiveness of sin and salvation possible for all people."

One does not need to be a Mormon or a Christian to consider blood atonement to 
be bad theology - and a generally bad idea. Nevertheless, in our American civil 
religion, which requires no explicit theological commitment but relies instead 
on a broadly shared set of national values, rituals and symbols, we have 
promulgated our own secular corollary to blood atonement. We call it capital 
punishment.

The death penalty is infrequently imposed in modern Utah. And currently there 
is a bill pending to reinstate the option to carry out executions by means of 
firing squads. 8 people currently sit on death row; all but 2 have been there 
for over 20 years. Because the state rightly takes extra precautions in capital 
cases, simply charging a crime as capital triggers enormous investments of time 
and money, including a decades-long and hugely expensive appeals process. In 
the meantime, those criminals convicted in capital cases are imprisoned just as 
they would be if they had been given a life sentence. That is, except they are 
costing taxpayers orders of magnitude more than those simply convicted for 
life, as the state justly provides every possible means for them to defend 
themselves from its own insistence that they shed their blood to atone for 
their sins.

It is time for Utah to renounce its secular doctrine of blood atonement - first 
by rejecting the firing squad bill, then by joining the 18 other states that 
have already abolished the death penalty. A diverse coalition of abolitionists 
motivated by theology, ethics, criminal justice and fiscal responsibility shows 
that this is not a partisan issue. Taking the life of the sinner, whether 
through the shedding of blood by firing squad or by some other means, does not 
bring reconciliation. To suggest otherwise is simply bad atonement theology, 
whether in the religious or civil sphere.

(source: Patrick Q. Mason is an associate professor of religion at Claremont 
Graduate University, where he is also the Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon 
Studies----Deseret News)








NEVADA:

Man accused of 5 Nevada murders to get death penalty review



A judge has ordered another hearing on the mental state of a convicted felon 
accused of a string of 5 murders east of Reno in 2013 to determine if 
prosecutors can pursue the death penalty if he's convicted.

A Lyon County judge earlier found Jeremiah Bean to be mentally competent to 
stand trial, currently scheduled to begin July 13 in Third District Court in 
Yerington.

But last week, newly appointed Judge John Schlegelmich set a 2-day hearing 
April 30 and May 1 to decide if Bean has the required mental capacity to 
qualify for capital prosecution under Nevada law.

"That hearing on the motion to determine whether Mr. Bean is intellectually 
disabled is very important to us," Lyon County District Attorney Steve Rye said 
Thursday after the judge ordered the additional evaluation.

"It affects whether or not the state can seek the death penalty," he told 
KRNV-TV.

Bean initially agreed to a plea bargain that would have spared him from the 
possibility of execution. But he later changed his mind and pleaded not guilty 
in November 2013 to a total of 19 charges in connection with the killing 
rampage the previous Mother's Day weekend.

Bean, 26, is accused of the slayings of 2 couples in 2 homes in rural Fernley 
and a newspaper deliveryman at an Interstate 80 exit east of Reno near the 
Mustang Ranch brothel.

Prosecutors say he killed Robert Pape and Dorothy Pape, both 84, in 1 Fernley 
home on May 10, and Angie Duff, 67, and Lester Leiber, 69, at a house around 
the corner. He also is accused of fatally shooting Eliazar Graham, 52, of 
Sparks.

Bean, who had been staying 2 houses away from the Duff-Leiber home, faces the 
arson charge for allegedly burning the Pape house. Prosecutors say he was 
trying to destroy evidence of the murder.

Rye said the families of the victims "want to get this case done and closed."

"We'll be ready to go to trial in July," he said.

Friends of Duff attended Thursday's hearing in support of prosecutors' push for 
the death penalty.

"I hope they throw the book at him," Charlene Arnold told KTVN-TV. "I hope he 
gets what he deserves."

Bean's public defender, Richard Davies, appealed to the public and the media 
"to keep an open mind" about the case and many details of the events that led 
up to the killings that he says have not yet been disclosed.

"There is another side to the story," he told KRNV-TV. "At the trial, there 
will be an opportunity for everyone to hear both sides of the story."

Bean was convicted of an unrelated burglary in January 2011 in Lyon County and 
granted probation, which records show was revoked in July 2011. He was jailed 
for about a year and his parole expired in December 2012.

(source: Associated Press)








ARIZONA:

Defense Rests Its Case As Travis Alexander's Ex Takes The Stand in Death 
Penalty Trial



Lawyers in the Jodi Arias sentencing retrial wrapped up another intense week 
after the defense rested its case, and the ex-girlfriend of murder victim 
Travis Alexander took the stand.

Arias's defense team rested its case on Tuesday, giving way for the prosecution 
to begin presenting the state's case as to why the convicted killer deserves to 
be put to death for the murder of her ex-lover.

On Wednesday, Alexander's ex-girlfriend, Deanna Reid, denied claims made by the 
defense team that she was once physically assaulted by Alexander.

"It's important because it's showing Travis Alexander isn't an abusive man that 
the defense is suggesting is," legal analyst Jen Wood told KPHO. "Deanna Reid 
is actually getting out that he was a very loving person, he was a good person, 
he would never do that to her -- never touch or harm her -- and that's exactly 
what the state wants this jury to hear."

In turn, defense attorney Jennifer Willmott tried to chip away at Reid's 
credibility by charging that Reid wasn't being truthful in early depositions 
when she stated that she unaware if Alexander was having sex with other women.

At one point, Reid showed hostility toward Willmott, who she claimed was 
misleading the jury.

"There is quite a bit of sparring going on between Jennifer and Deanna because 
what Jennifer Willmott is trying to do is show that Deanna Reid wasn't exactly 
honest that she's had sex with Travis Alexander," Wood said. "But in the 
reality of it Jennifer Willmott and the defense didn't come out and ask Deanna 
Reid if she had sex with Travis Alexander, so it's a matter of wording that 
they are fighting over."

After giving secret testimony back in October 2014, Arias declared she will not 
be going back on the witness stand, which means prosecutors will not have the 
opportunity to cross-examine her, reports AZ Family.

Although Arias was found guilty of first-degree murder last May in the death of 
her ex-boyfriend, in her 1st trial, jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision 
on her sentencing. As a result, the retrial will determine whether she should 
be sentenced to death, life in prison or life with a chance of release after 
serving 25 years.

According to medical examiners, Arias stabbed Alexander 27 times, primarily in 
the back, torso and heart in his Phoenix home. She also slit Alexander's throat 
from ear to ear, nearly decapitating him, and she shot him in the face before 
she dragged his bloodied corpse to the shower and took pictures of him.

(source: Latin Post)








OREGON:

Death sentences on decline ---- Groups say funds better spent elsewhere



Death sentences in Oregon declined in 2014, with only 1 new death sentence this 
year. The lone case represents a 42 % decline over the last decade.

According to a 2014 national report on capital punishment, issued in December 
by the Death Penalty Information Center, there were 72 new death sentences 
nationwide last year, a 40-year low. U.S. states carried out 35 executions in 
2014, the fewest in any year for 2 decades.

Only 7 states had any executions, with Texas, Missouri, and Florida responsible 
for 83 % of the total.

Because Gov. John Kitzhaber in 2011 announced he would not carry out 
executions, Oregon is 1 of 26 states that have stopped using the death penalty, 
in law or in practice.

"Oregon prosecutors have been increasingly wary of seeking a death sentence and 
when they do, Oregon juries have been less willing to impose a death sentence 
amid concerns about mental illness and disability, insufficient safeguards 
against executing an innocent person, and the high cost of seeking the death 
penalty," says Jeff Ellis, a Portland attorney who works to make sure death row 
cases are tried fairly.

Between 1995 and 2004, Oregon saw 19 new death sentences. But in the most 
recent decade from 2005-2014, there were 11, and only 1 in the past 3 years.

Frank Thompson, former superintendent of the Oregon State Penitentiary, says 
the national report makes it clear what Oregon should do.

"It has been over 17 years since Oregon executed an inmate, yet we continue to 
support having a death penalty that wastes millions of taxpayer dollars 
annually," Thompson says. "We now have a moratorium on executions in Oregon and 
we should make that permanent by replacing the death penalty with a better 
public policy and work on the root causes of violence and murder in our culture 
with the savings that will be derived from that change."

The Death Penalty Information Center report points out that 7 U.S. death row 
prisoners were exonerated in 2014. That brings the total to 150 since 1973.

"We have alternatives that work to keep the public safe and programs that truly 
address the causes of violent crime and murder," says Ron Steiner, board chair 
of Oregonians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. "We need to get rid of the 
very expensive death penalty and redirect those dollars to support law 
enforcement, address mental illness and provide services for murder victim 
family members."

(source: Catholic Sentinel)








WASHINGTON:

Leave death penalty in place in Washington state



I read that Rep. Maureen Walsh wants to do away with the death penalty.

The victims have no say, they are dead. A jury found the person guilty of a 
capital crime, the judge passed the penalty. It's up to the state to carry out 
the execution.

3 hots and a cot for life? We have homeless who have done nothing and don't get 
that consideration. I vote to leave the law in place.

Neil Jacobson

College Place

(source: Letter to the Editor, Union-Bulletin)








USA:

9 Indicted for killing U.S. federal agent in Puerto Rico



9 individuals have been indicted and could face the death penalty for the 
February 2013 murder in Puerto Rico of a correctional officer of the U.S. 
Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Lt. Osvaldo Albarati was killed on Feb. 26, 2013, after he had confiscated 
cellular phones and other contraband from the accused, who were inmates at the 
Metropolitan Detention Center, Guaynabo, a U.S. federal prison outside San 
Juan, the FBI said earlier this week in a press release.

United States Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodriguez 
said Friday at a press conference that the murder was the first of a U.S. 
federal agent on the Caribbean island.

The defendants planned the murder after the Puerto Rican correctional officer 
had ordered the items confiscated, the FBI said, citing the indictment.

The leader of the group was identified as Oscar Martinez Hernandez, aka "Cali," 
who had been arrested in Venezuela in 2001 for drug smuggling.

The defendants could face the death penalty, Rodriguez said, although she did 
not indicate if she would recommend capital punishment and said the decision 
would be left up to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Puerto Rico abolished the death penalty in 1929 but federal authorities could 
impose that punishment since the island is a U.S. commonwealth. The executions, 
however, would have to be carried out off the island.

(source: Fox News)

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

Marathon Bombing Defense Likely to Focus on Dead Brother



The best chance to save the life of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar 
Tsarnaev might be to put his dead brother on trial.

When Tsarnaev's case begins, his lawyers are likely to pin their hopes - and 
the bombings themselves - on his older brother, Tamerlan: a Golden Gloves 
boxer, college student, husband and father who also followed radical Islam was 
named by a friend as a participant in a grisly 2011 triple slaying.

"He was the eldest one and he, in many ways, was the role model for his sisters 
and his brother," said Elmirza Khozhugov, the former husband of Tamerlan's 
sister, Ailina.

"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said 
this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever 
Tamerlan would say," Khozhugov told The Associated Press in the weeks after the 
bombings.

3 people were killed and more than 260 were injured when 2 homemade 
pressure-cooker bombs exploded near the finish line of the iconic race on April 
15, 2013.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died days after the bombings following a gun battle with 
police. Dzhokhar, then 19, was later found hiding in a boat parked in a 
backyard. Jury selection in his federal death penalty trial is entering its 2nd 
month.

Dzhokhar's lawyers have made it clear they will try to show that he was heavily 
influenced, maybe even intimidated, by his older brother, into participating in 
the bombings.

If a jury convicts Dzhokhar, its decision on whether to give him life in prison 
or sentence him to death could depend "on the extent to which it views Tamerlan 
Tsarnaev as having induced or coerced his young brother" to help commit the 
crimes, the defense argued in a court filing.

About a decade before the attack, their parents, ethnic Chechens, had moved the 
family to the U.S. from the volatile Dagestan region of Russia after living in 
the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan. Their father, Anzor Tsarnaev, told 
The Associated Press the emigrated in part to escape discrimination.

The relationship between the two brothers would likely be a key part of the 
evidence Dzhokhar's lawyers present even if he's convicted, said David Hoose, 
who represented a Massachusetts nurse who was spared the federal death penalty 
in the killings of four patients.

Under the federal death penalty law, juries deciding on a sentence can consider 
whether a defendant "was under unusual and substantial duress," regardless of 
whether duress is used as a defense to the charges. If the defense is allowed 
to use evidence of Tamerlan's possible involvement in the triple murder, they 
could argue that Dzhokhar was under duress to participate in the marathon 
bombings, Hoose said.

Prosecutors have said that a friend of Tamerlan, Ibragim Todashev, implicated 
him in the killings of three men in Waltham whose bodies were found sprinkled 
with marijuana, their throats cut. Todashev was shot to death by an FBI agent 
after authorities said he charged another investigator with a pole while being 
questioned about the Tsarnaevs.

"If they can show that the older brother is gruesomely involved in the murders, 
all the more reason that Dzhokhar felt that not only is he my brother - he is 
someone not to fool around with. I have to do what he says,'" Hoose said.

Tamerlan's high school friends say he appeared to adjust well to his life in 
America.

"As a student, he was like the rest of us," said Luis Vasquez, who became 
friends with Tamerlan soon after he moved to Cambridge. "You could catch him in 
the library doing work, socializing in the hallways with people he knew, or at 
a local pizza shop we could go to during lunch."

About the same time, Tamerlan took up boxing. He was a success, becoming the 
Golden Gloves heavyweight champion of New England in 2009 and 2010.

"He was a determined guy, in good shape, a strong guy," said Bob Russo, 
then-coach for the New England team. "There was nothing unusual about him."

After he was barred from competing in a national tournament because he was not 
a U.S. citizen, Tamerlan drifted away from boxing.

He took classes at Boston's Bunker Hill Community College for a short time, but 
dropped out. In 2010, he married Katherine Russell, a Rhode Island woman he met 
at a nightclub, and the couple had a daughter together.

Authorities believe Tamerlan's beliefs became radical during the last few years 
of his life.

In March 2011, Russian officials told the FBI that Tamerlan was a follower of 
radical Islam. The FBI interviewed Tamerlan, but closed its investigation 
several months later after finding nothing linking him to terrorism.

In 2012, Tamerlan spent 6 months in the southwest Russian regions of Chechnya 
and Dagestan, where authorities have said they suspect he tried to join 
insurgents, but was unsuccessful.

After returning to the U.S., Tamerlan was twice asked to leave a mosque over 
outbursts. The 1st time, he stood up at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural 
Center and argued with a preacher who said it was appropriate for Muslims to 
celebrate U.S. holidays. 2 months later, he called a preacher who praised civil 
rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. a "non-believer" who was "contaminating 
people's minds." Mosque leaders said they told him he would not be welcome if 
he interrupted again and he did not cause any more problems.

In their court filings, Dzhokhar's lawyers have asked prosecutors for any 
evidence "showing that Tamerlan's pursuit of jihad predated Dzhokhar's" because 
that "would tend to support the theory that Tamerlan was the main instigator of 
the tragic events that followed."

But prosecutors are prepared to argue that Dzhokhar was a full and willing 
participant in the bombings. They cite a message scrawled inside the boat he 
was found hiding in, indicating that the bombings were meant to retaliate 
against the U.S. for the deaths of civilians during the wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan.

"I can't stand to see such evil go unpunished," he wrote, according to excerpts 
filed in court.

"Stop killing our innocent people and we will stop."

(source: Associated Press)

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

Alleged East Chicago gang member's murder trial set to begin



The trial of an alleged gang member charged with killing 6 people in East 
Chicago man is about to begin after a prolonged jury selection process 
necessary because federal prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty.

The Post-Tribune reports (http://trib.in/1CLXPDZ ) that jury selection for the 
trial of Juan "Tito" Briseno is scheduled to wrap up Monday in U.S. District 
Court. The process began with 250 potential jurors 2 weeks ago and 66 people 
remain in the pool. Attorneys will use their peremptory challenges Monday until 
they have 12 jurors and 6 alternates.

The process took longer than normal because each potential juror was questioned 
about their views on the death penalty. Federal prosecutors have said they plan 
to seek the death penalty if Briseno is convicted of murder.

Briseno is one of 24 reputed members of the Almighty Imperial Gangster Nation 
named in a federal indictment blaming them for 13 murders and 19 attempted 
murders. Briseno is charged with 6 murders and 7 attempted murders. Prosecutors 
say he also participated in an 11-year racketeering scheme involving drug 
dealing, robberies, carjackings, burglaries and other crimes.

U.S. District Judge Philip Simon said Thursday that once the jury is selected, 
he would give both sides about an hour to present opening statements.

Simon also ruled against a request by the defense to ban federal prosecutors 
from including photos of the victims during opening statements. Briseno's 
attorneys, Arlington Foley, said showing photos of the victims looking their 
best next to autopsy photos could prejudice the jury.

"It just seems what the government is trying to do is inflame the jury right 
off the bat," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Nozick said the photos helped establish that the 
victims are who the government says they are and helps to identify them as 
members of rival gangs by showing their tattoos.

(source: WHIO news)

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

I'm the reason death penalty should be outlawed----I was the 100th person to be 
exonerated and released after being sentenced to death. Can we doubt there are 
more of us?



A Maricopa County judge sentenced me to death in 1992.

At the time of the murder for which I was convicted, the actual perpetrator, 
Ken Phillips, was on probation for a violent sexual offense. Three weeks after 
the crime for which I was sentenced to die, he sexually assaulted and choked a 
7-year-old girl. He matched the description of a man seen near the location of 
the murder; it was later determined that shoe prints, palm prints and blood 
found at the scene matched him as well.

After more than 10 years in prison, I was finally exonerated. I walked out of 
prison with a gate check for $50. I lost my home, U.S. Postal Service job, my 
personal possessions and 10 years of my life. Arizona has no compensation for 
wrongful convictions.

Henry McCollum spent 30 years on death row before being exonerated. The real 
killer, a known violent sexual predator who lived near the scene of the crime, 
was never a suspect. This same man raped and killed a teenage girl 4 weeks 
after the murder in McCollum's case.

Until the governor of North Carolina grants McCollum a pardon, he won't receive 
any compensation. He depends on donations for food, shelter and clothing.

Ricky Jackson spent 39 years on death row because police threatened to jail the 
parents of a 12-year-old boy if he didn't testify against Jackson after he told 
them he had lied about seeing Jackson kill a man. Until a county judge affirms 
that he was wrongfully imprisoned, he won't receive any compensation.

Debra Jean Milke spent 23 years on death row. The main evidence against her was 
a police officer who testified under oath that she had confessed to him. There 
was no physical evidence, no money trail, no signed confession, no voice or 
video tape, and no witnesses to this confession. Jurors weren't told that this 
man had a history that included lying under oath (that's perjury when you do 
it).

Milke and I had the same prosecutor.

The media devotes hundreds of hours of television coverage and equivalent print 
exposure to capital murder trials. Every detail of the crime, the victim and 
the accused are discussed.

Exonerations are relegated to 60-second "feel good" stories, without interest 
or outrage about how an innocent person ended up on death row, or how they'll 
survive after release.

I left prison wearing the clothes in which I was arrested. I still had a 
family, so I had a place to go. Others may find themselves alone and homeless 
after being exonerated. Compensation isn't automatic or immediate. Physical and 
mental health issues after years of isolation in a death row cell make it 
difficult to assimilate.

The idea that the death of one person negates the loss of another is what keeps 
many people supporting capital punishment. That's just not true.

The death penalty has no place in our society. It is a tool used by prosecutors 
to justify bigger budgets, win votes and ensure their continued employment. 
Family members opposed to capital punishment are not allowed to say so during 
victim impact statements. Only jurors who support the death penalty sit on 
capital murder trials.

Prosecutors have immunity when they withhold evidence and knowingly present 
perjured testimony. Innocent people have to fight for compensation.

Prosecutors like to say that an exoneration is proof the system works. I 
disagree, and I believe that the more than 150 innocent people who have been 
sentenced to death would disagree as well.

(source: Ray Krone of Phoenix was the 100th death row inmate to win exoneration 
after DNA proved his innocence and is now an anti-death penalty 
activist----Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald)