[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, MASS., PENN., FLA., ALA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 23



TEXAS:

Boyfriend burned body of slain pregnant Texas teen: police



Firefighters found the slain pregnant teen's body at the center of this grass 
fire on Valentine's Day. Friends and family released dozens of balloons 
Saturday at the site where Dawanna Thomas' body was found.

A Texas teen learned she was having a baby girl just days before firefighters 
discovered her burned body at the center of an arson fire.

Her boyfriend, Courtney Velasquez, 19, has been arrested in connection to her 
Valentine's Day death. He allegedly confessed hours after drowning Dawanna 
Thomas, 18, in a rural creek near San Antonio, according to KENS-TV.

His pants were still wet when he apparently said "I killed her," relatives told 
police.

"I can't believe I did it," Velasquez allegedly told a family member. "I 
drowned her at the creek."

Bexar County Sheriff's Office investigators have yet to nail down a motive.

The girl's mother, Tear Bedford, said her boyfriend urged her to get an 
abortion and authorities believe allegations of infidelity preluded her death.

Courtney Velasquez, 19, faces capital murder charges after allegedly drowning 
and then burning his girlfriend???s body, killing her unborn child.

"There may have been some jealousy involved," Sheriff's spokesman James Keith 
told KSAT-TV. "She may have been talking to someone else at the time. We're 
still trying to sort all that out right now."

Bedford will advocate for the state's highest criminal sentence against 
Velasquez, the likely father of the victim's unborn child.

"I'm seeking the death penalty for whoever had hands in this because that was 
my grand baby," Bedford told KENS-TV.

In an open statement to her daughter's killer, Bedford said "God is going to 
get ya'll (sic). Every day he's gonna whoop ya'll until ya'll get it right 
(sic)."

Bedford feared for her daughter's safety during the 6-month relationship with 
Velasquez, describing him as violent, KABB-TV added.

(source: New York Daily News)








MASSACHUSETTS:

Death Penalty History and the Present for Massachusetts



Massachusetts has dealt with witches, anarchists, Quakers, pirates and 
gangsters in high profile executions. Massachusetts hanged 26 people for 
practicing witchcraft. The death penalty was abolished in 1984. A Boston Globe 
poll from 2013 showed that 1/3 of Boston's residents would favor the death 
penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The last time the death penalty was used in Boston, Massachusetts was in 1947. 
However, it was one of the first colonies to evoke capital punishment. John 
Billington was hanged for murder in 1630. It was until 1951 that public 
execution was mandatory for 1st degree murder. Tsarnaev's charges include the 
murder of an 8 year old boy.

345 people have received the death penalty in Massachusetts between 1947 and 
1984. Mary Dyer was one of the "Boston martyrs" that was hanged in 1660 because 
Quakers had been banned from the Bay Colony. In 1692, 19 women were hanged 
during the Salem witch trials. Despite the public's belief of their innocence, 
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti received the death penalty by electric 
chair as accused anarchists in 1927. The last people to receive the death 
penalty in Massachusetts were Phillip Bellino and Edward Gerlson, gangsters, 
the bogeymen of the 40's and 50's. They got the death penalty for the 
kidnapping and murder of an ex-Marine.

A reporter who witnessed the Boston executions of Bellino and Gerlson was 
mortified and changed his view of capital punishment. 50 years later, in 1997, 
Russ Dallaire reported the account to the Boston Herald. He said, "The body 
stiffened so hard he almost came out of the chair. And with each succeeding 
charge, the body jerked with lessening effect until there was none at all." 
Dallaire also remembers the scent of burnt flesh.

Potential jurors have filled out a questionnaire, most against the death 
penalty. Those that made the cut then are questioned by Judge George O'Toole 
and if he approves the juror, the juror is then passed down to the attorneys 
for more questioning. The question about the death penalty makes potential 
jurors squirm and some cry. It has taken 19 days so far, to go through juror 
prospects. However, Judge O'Toole is confident that a full jury with alternates 
will be impaneled at the beginning of next week. Opening statements and the 
first set of witnesses will be heard the week of March 2nd.

Some potential jurors have stated that until actually presented with a person's 
life coming to a vote, concerning the death penalty they have no idea which way 
they would vote. Other jurors quote the 5th Commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." 
Still others quote the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have done unto 
you." One juror prospect said she would not sentence someone to life in prison 
because she would not be able to tolerate it herself.

A former lawyer suggested that the trial would take 3 to 4 months and he 
wondered if the death penalty would be carried out. He referred to the governor 
in Illinois sparing those on death row and abolishing the death penalty back in 
2011, and he hoped years from now the action would be seen as the right thing 
to do. No one wants to discover the innocent have been executed.

Tsarnaev is not the only one in Boston that could face the death penalty. The 
other case involves a man given a death sentence, after capital punishment was 
abolished in Massachusetts. Gary Lee Sampson was given a death sentence in 2003 
that has since been overturned. Sampson's death penalty was revoked because it 
was determined that one of the jurors lied about being a victim of domestic 
violence, as well as her daughter's drug use and criminal record.

Sampson was a bank robber in North Carolina and then went on a murder spree, 
July 2001 in Abington. Sampson pleaded guilty to the stabbing murders of a 
19-year-old college student and a 69-year-old man, claiming he wanted their 
cars. His resentencing trial begins September 15th. It will take time to 
determine jurors so there will not be any cause for retrial in this case, as 
well as the Tsarnaev case.

(source: Guardianlv)








PENNSYLVANIA:

And the envelope, please



So, you thought last night's Oscars was the last of the awards program.

Almost.

There is 1 awards program that does not involve a red carpet, gowns or tuxes.

It is the Montgomery County District Attorney's awards program acknowledging 
staff members for their outstanding performances.

Deputy District Attorney Robert Falin, who heads the appeals division, received 
the coveted District Attorney Medal for taking on a well-funded and skilled 
team of anti-death penalty lawyers who wanted to overturn convictions and 3 
death sentences handed down to a killer. The state Supreme Court sided with 
Falin.

The successful work by other prosecutors in the DA's office was acknowledged 
with commendations for their outstanding performances. Those receiving 
commendations included Assistant District Attorneys Douglas Lavenberg, Gabriel 
Magee, Kathleen McLaughlin, the team of ADA Christopher Daniels and county 
Detective Dirk Boughter, ADA Sophia Polites and county Detective Michael 
Begley.

County Detective Paul Bradbury also received a commendation for the 
"outstanding investigations" that he performed and that led to the convictions 
of 3 accused killers.

All these commendations are well deserved but what I like best about this 
program is that it also acknowledges not just the courtroom stars but those who 
play a major role, albeit behind the scenes, in the delivery of justice.

Staff secretaries Rachel Weaver and Amanda Stong, investigative analyst Charles 
Craig, extradition clerk Jason Edwards, domestic violence investigator Kiersten 
McDonald and, of course, technology guru extraordinaire Jonathan Perrone.

Also singled out for special attention was First Assistant District Attorney 
Kevin R. Steele, who previously earned the District Attorney Medal. This time 
Steele was recognized with a special commendation for his "leadership, 
investigative skill and prosecutorial excellence" in giving up his vacation 
time to help the Adams County DA's office win a murder conviction and death 
penalty against a man who killed a wildlife conservation officer and 
convictions and 2 death sentences for a Montgomery County murderer charged with 
killing a grandmother and infant granddaughter in a botched 
kidnapping-for-ransom case.

Congratulations one and all.

(source: Commentary, Margaret Gibbons, The Intelligencer)

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

Only way to 'reform' the death penalty is to eliminate it



The Express-Times' Feb. 22 editorial, "Death Penalty system in Pa. needs 
reform," is a clear example of how ambivalence created by the conflict between 
emotional reactions to violent crimes and a thoughtful process to improve 
justice can lead to incoherent analyses and absurd solutions.

The editorial argues that now that we know some on death row were innocent, we 
now have a higher degree of certainty that those remaining are really and truly 
guilty. You failed to note that while DNA testing has resulted in the finding 
of innocence for some on death row, DNA evidence is only available to determine 
guilt or innocence in a small minority of capital cases.

The editorial spoke of the death penalty being appropriate for, and limited to, 
"truly heinous killings." What separates a "truly heinous killing" from any 
other killing? I cannot see how we can say that Eric Frein's killing of a state 
trooper is any more heinous than the cold blooded killing of an innocent child. 
>From the perspective of the family of the victim, all murders are "truly 
heinous."

You recommend we limit the death penalty to cases "in which there is no 
question of guilt." What do you think the criteria has been for a jury to 
sentence someone to death? I am sure the juries that sentenced innocent people 
to death thought that "there is no question of guilt."

Do you not see that if we make the difference between sentencing someone to 
death or not is whether or not they left a hair containing DNA at the scene of 
the crime does more to diminish the value of human life than anything else our 
government does in our name?

There is no way to fix one problem with the death penalty without creating more 
problems, be they increasing the arbitrariness of selection for death or 
increasing the already exorbitant expenses of this useless and immoral system. 
The only way to solve the Gordian Knot created by the death penalty is to 
eliminate it instead of wasting our time trying to "reform" it.

David Rose

Easton

(source: Letter to the Editor, Express-Times)

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

Chesco death case overturned



Only 2 men have been sentenced to death by Chester County Common Pleas juries 
since the capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. Now, 1 of them has been 
granted a reprieve - at least temporarily - because of his attorney's alleged 
ineffectiveness.

Last fall, U.S. District Judge James Gardner vacated the death sentence that 
was handed down more than 20 years ago against Darrick Hall, convicted of 
shooting and killing a Coatesville coin laundry manager, Donald R. Johnson, 
during an armed robbery 1 week before Christmas 1993. The decision came in the 
wake of Hall's habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf by the Federal 
Defender's Association.

The judge, in an exhaustive opinion, wrote that Hall's attorney, Robert Miller 
of Philadelphia, had failed to meet the legal standard for effectiveness of 
counsel in capital trials during the penalty phase, after which the jury 
returned its verdict of a death sentence. At the time, it was the only jury to 
impose that sentence on a defendant in the county in 18 years.

Gardner wrote in his Oct. 21, 2014 opinion that Miller failed "to investigate 
and present significant mitigating evidence in the penalty phase of (Hall's) 
trial regarding (his) abusive childhood, illnesses and injuries normally 
associated with developmental and cognitive delays, and his inability to adjust 
to a strutted environment during the years he attended a disciplinary school."

More specifically, Gardner stated, Miller, "failed to seek out, interview and 
present testimony from some of (Hall???s) family, friends and employers, and 
failed to request readily available medical, educational and court records and 
failed to obtain evaluations by a mental health expert."

"This fell below an objective standard of reasonableness, and (Hall) suffered 
prejudice as a result of (Miller's) deficient performance," Gardner wrote.

Gardner, however, did not overturn Hall's conviction for 1st-degree murder. The 
case is now on appeal to the Third Circuit Court in Philadelphia.

Hall, now 44, of Philadelphia, is currently housed in Graterford state prison, 
where he is still technically awaiting execution as his case makes its way 
through the appellate process. His appeal had been denied by the state Supreme 
Court, which had also ruled on the question of Miller's effectiveness and 
denied the claim.

Miller, who was hired by Hall's family to replace attorneys from the county 
Public Defender's Office who had represented Hall since his arrest, could not 
be reached for comment. A secretary at the office of another attorney with the 
same name - Robert S. Miller - said they had received inquiries about him in 
the past but could not offer forwarding contact information.

Miller's presentation at Hall's sentencing hearing was a stark contrast to 
other penalty hearings in county capital cases. He presented only 2 witnesses - 
a former girlfriend and Hall's mother - but they offered little in the way of 
testimony. Hall did not take the stand in his own defense, and Miller later 
told the judge overseeing the case - then Common Pleas Judge Paula Francisco 
Ott, now a member of the state Superior Court - that his client had told him 
not to offer any more in the way of evidence mitigating his case.

On the other hand, in 2 recent death penalty cases - those involving 
Coatesville crime figure Duron "Gotti" People and chainsaw killer LaQuanta 
Chapman - attorneys presented detailed testimony about their clients' troubled 
upbringings. Chapman's attorney included a videotape about the community where 
the defendant was raised in New Jersey, and Peoples took the stand to tell 
jurors about his childhood troubles himself.

Peoples was spared the death penalty last fall and sentenced to life for the 
contract murder case of a Coatesville barbershop owner he was engaged in a 
running feud with. Chapman was sentenced to death in November 2012 for the 
murder of a Coatesville teenager, whose body he dismembered with a chainsaw.

On Dec. 18, 1993, Hall and 2 other men engaged in a plan to rob the Coatesville 
laundromat located in the center of the city off East Lincoln Highway. One man, 
Troy Davis, acted as the getaway driver, while the other, Tyrone Green, stood 
inside the laundromat to act as bodyguard for Hall.

The 3 men had come to Coatesville earlier that month to sell a quantity of 
crack cocaine they had between themselves to raise money for Christmas 
presents, according to testimony at 1 of the 3 trials. But Davis used all of 
the drug himself, so the men decided they needed a quick robbery to recoup 
their funds. They chose the busy laundromat, on a Saturday morning, as their 
target.

Hall, brandishing a handgun, marched up to the manager's desk at the rear of 
the building, where Johnson, a well-liked 59-year-old man was seated. "What's 
up, Pops?" he said, according to witnesses, and pulled his handgun. When the 
manager made a move to disarm him, Hall fired 2 shots, hitting Johnson in his 
chest and in the back of his head. He died instantly.

In his closing argument at the end of the November 1994 trial, then District 
Attorney Anthony Sarcione, now a Common Pleas judge, pointed angrily at Hall, 
seated at the defense table, and said, "The only thing colder than the grave of 
Mr. Johnson is this guy's heart, because he put him there."

Writing in his October 2014 decision, Gardner agreed with Hall's appellate 
attorneys that a investigation into Hall's background would have found evidence 
of extreme childhood abuse cursory and a history of significant head traumas 
and seizures, according to the 180-page ruling. Indeed, Hall's previous 
attorney from the Public Defender's office testified he had begun that 
investigation when Hall's family decided to hire Miller, a private attorney, 
instead.

There was evidence that Hall's father regularly raped and beat his mother, 
pulled knives on her and threatened to kill her, Gardner found. Hall submitted 
an affidavit from his mother that Hall's father once kept her "in the house and 
repeatedly raped and beat her until friends were able to free her." 4 
affidavits also show that Hall witnessed his father breaking his mother's arm.

Hall's father took money allotted for food and household expenses and used them 
for drugs, the affidavits showed. When Hall was 5, his father was arrested and 
his mother began a relationship with another man who beat Hall. Around this 
time, his mother "began drinking as a way to cope with the abuse," the court 
found, citing the affidavits.

Hall's medical history meanwhile includes seizures and a bicycle accident when 
he was 8 years old that resulted in the loss of consciousness, according to 
Gardner's ruling. A psychological evaluation showed he had an IQ score of 73, 
below average, according to the opinion.

The habeas petition was opposed by the state Attorney General's Office, which 
argued that Miller had been abiding by Hall's decision not to present 
mitigating witnesses or take the stand, even though Miller had explained to him 
what could happen. It said that Miller had "strategic reasons for presenting 
only 2 witnesses ... and for not presenting (Hall's) school records or 
employment history."

Green and Davis were also convicted of Johnson's murder. Green is serving a 
life sentence.

(source: The Daily Local)








FLORIDA:

Clearwater man who wants the death penalty represents himself in court



Craig Wall, a Clearwater man who pleaded guilty to murdering his wife and no 
contest to murdering his infant child, has appeared in court for a hearing 
today to help determine whether he should be executed.

Wall, 39, is acting as his own attorney during this week's proceedings, and he 
has said he wants to receive the death penalty.

Prosecutors will argue to Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Philip Federico that 
certain "aggravating circumstances" exist that make the death penalty a legally 
appropriate sentence.

Normally, defense attorneys argue "mitigating circumstances" - such as a 
defendant's mental health problems, for example - mean he should not get the 
death penalty. But in this case, Wall is the person in charge of his own 
defense, and he has said he wants the death penalty, so it's not clear how that 
side of the argument will go.

A representative of the Florida Capital Resource center appeared in court and 
argued that an independent attorney should be appointed for Wall. But Wall 
objected to any such motion by "scumbag liberals" who don't think he can make 
his own decisions.

"This is my case. This is my life," he said, saying he should be allowed to 
make "literally a life or death decision."

However, Wall does have previously appointed attorneys who are considered 
"standby counsel," available to help him as needed.

In another twist Monday morning, Wall said he needed more time to present his 
side of the case.

This is a highly unusual case, but these legal machinations reflect the highly 
complex nature of death penalty cases, which always involve years of appeals, 
sometimes in spite of the defendants' own wishes. Wall is known for courtroom 
antics, and has already been argumentative in these proceedings, tossing off 
4-letter words and phrases such as "rabid-dog liberals."

After the testimony on aggravating and mitigating circumstances concludes, it 
probably would be several weeks before Federico issues his ruling on whether to 
impose the death penalty.

Because of his pleas, Wall is now legally guilty of killing his girlfriend 
Laura Taft and their child, Craig Wall Jr.

Wall, who spent 14 years in prison for robbery with a deadly weapon and armed 
burglary, met Taft shortly his release. Their child was born shortly after 
Christmas 2009.

5 weeks later, the boy had been killed, suffering broken ribs and brain trauma. 
Wall was considered a suspect almost immediately, but he was not arrested right 
away.

He was arrested a few days later on a separate charge, but the fact that he was 
a suspect in his baby's death was never mentioned in court. He was released on 
bail. 3 days after getting out of jail, police said, Wall crashed through a 
sliding glass door of Taft's apartment and stabbed her to death.

Taft's mother, Rhonda Lyon-Buttitia, was in the courtroom Monday.

(source: Tampa Bay Times)








ALABAMA----female faces death penalty

Woman heads to trial in granddaughter's running death



An Alabama woman is going on trial on charges of making her granddaughter run 
until she collapsed and died.

Prosecutors describe 59-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard as the "drill sergeant 
from hell." They say she made 9-year-old Savannah Hardin run for hours as 
punishment for a lie about eating candy.

The defense says the girl's medical conditions and treatment decisions led to 
her death in February 2012. They deny that Garrard had any intention of harming 
the girl.

Final jury selection is set to begin in the case this week in Gadsden, Alabama, 
located about 60 miles northeast of Birmingham. Opening statements will follow.

Garrard is charged with capital murder. She faces a potential death penalty and 
could join only a handful of women on Alabama's death row if convicted.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Murder trial for Lisa Graham resumes after recess in jury selection



Lisa Graham's capital murder trial resumes today in a Russell County court 
after a recess in the process of selecting a "death qualified" jury.

"Death qualified" means jurors must not be so morally opposed to the death 
penalty that they could never impose it, nor so in favor of capital punishment 
that they would never consider life in prison.

Another complicating factor is that no potential juror may be closely connected 
to any of the dozens of witnesses expected to testify in the trial, which 
likely will last more than a week.

Attorneys hope to strike a jury on Tuesday, after which a hearing is expected 
on whether to admit evidence Graham, through jailhouse notes, tried to bribe 
the man who admitted killing her 20-year-old daughter on July 5, 2007. Kenneth 
Walton, who got a life sentence after pleading guilty to gunning down Stephanie 
Shea Graham, told investigators he did so at the mother's behest, and he's to 
testify against her. District Attorney Ken Davis has filed evidence Graham 
allegedly offered Walton $10,000 to take her "out of the equation." Defense 
attorneys object that Judge George Greene, who presided at Graham's 1st trial 
before declaring a mistrial in 2012, ruled the evidence was not admissible.

Greene's failing health forced him to retire before he died Jan. 1, 2014. After 
other Russell County judges recused themselves, the case went to Lee County 
Circuit Judge Jacob Walker III.

Davis has argued that because the 1st trial had no verdict and a new judge now 
has the case, such issues may be litigated again.

"The state would argue that there is a compelling circumstance to re-examine 
this point of law as there is a new judge hearing this case and this is a new 
trial," Davis wrote last week. "Additionally there was never a final judgment 
entered in the first trial of this case."

Defense attorney Margaret Young Brown contends the prosecution gave notice of 
its intent too late to pursue charges of witness tampering and bribery, and she 
says the evidence is more prejudicial than indicative of Graham's guilt.

Also, the evidence includes a note that Graham allegedly wrote by hand, which 
the defense needs more time to examine, she said, in part writing, "the defense 
would desire to have a continuance so that hand writing exemplars could be 
obtained."

A newspaper carrier found Shea Graham's body on Bowden Road, between U.S. 431 
and Ala. 165 near Pittsview. She had5 bullet wounds in the head and torso, 
authorities said.

Earlier reports said she was shot six times, but during jury selection last 
week Brown's co-counsel, Robert Poole, specified that there were gunshot wounds 
to the chest and abdomen, one to the head and one to the right eye.

Investigators said Walton, the last person seen with her, not only confessed to 
the homicide, but also acted it out, telling them he stopped to let Shea Graham 
out to relieve herself, then gunned her down as she squatted beside the road. 
Walton pleaded guilty June 14, 2012.

Authorities allege Lisa Graham wanted her daughter dead because she was 
frustrated by Shea Graham's drug use and feared the daughter would jump bail on 
charges she faced in a drive-by shooting in Columbus. Shea Graham was due in 
court the morning her body was found.

Poole last week told prospective jurors the daughter faced four counts of 
aggravated assault in Columbus and had been released on a $100,000 bond.

(source: Ledger-Enquirer)








OHIO:

Execution delayed for man convicted in officer shooting death



The Ohio Supreme Court agreed Monday to postpone an initial execution date for 
the man convicted in the 2008 shooting death of a Twinsburg police officer.

The routine stay notice gives Ashford Thompson time to work through the appeals 
process, as is standard in such death penalty cases.

Thompson was found guilty in 2010 of 2 counts of aggravated murder after 
shooting 33-year-old Joshua Miktarian multiple times in the head during a 
late-night traffic stop.

During oral arguments before the state's high court last year, legal counsel 
for Thompson said his death sentence should be overturned due legal and 
procedural errors made during his trial, among other issues.

His legal counsel also argued that Thompson was a home health-care nurse and 
religious man who had no other convictions for violent crimes and who did not 
set out to commit murder.

Prosecutors, however, cited threatening comments made by Thompson at a bar 
before the shooting and other evidence in seeking affirmation of his death 
sentence.

The Ohio Supreme Court upheld Thompson's death sentence in a 4-3 decision in 
October, with a majority of justices agreeing that the legal process 
instituting a death sentence was conducted in proper order, and the penalty was 
appropriate for the crime.

The state's high court set an April 2017 execution in the case, though that 
date was expected to be postponed, as Thompson worked through the appeals 
process.

Justices agreed Monday to stay the execution date "until exhaustion of all 
state post-conviction proceedings, including an appeals," according to 
documents.

(source: The Daily Record)