[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., OHIO, KAN., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 24



FLORIDA:

1 convicted, 1 gets hung jury in trial over double murder at Jacksonville 
Golden Corral



A Jacksonville man was convicted Monday of murdering 2 brothers in a drug deal 
in a case which a 2nd suspect's trial ended in a hung jury.

George Paul Carter Jr., 22, faces life in prison following his 1st-degree 
murder convictions in the deaths of Andrew Bohannon, 24, and Matthew Bohannon, 
19, in July 2013 in the parking lot of a Golden Corral on Normandy Boulevard 
near Interstate 295. He was also convicted of firearm possession by a felon.

The trial of co-defendant Avery Damon Wood, 21, was in the same courtroom but 
before a different jury. Wood's trial ended in a hung jury. No new trial date 
has been set.

The brothers were shot in the face when they went to sell marijuana to Carter, 
Wood and 2 others. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Jallil Dequan 
Graves, 21, who they say pulled the trigger. He is awaiting trial.

The 4th man charged, Steven Bennett, 20, pleaded guilty to 2 counts of 
2nd-degree murder and is awaiting sentencing.

(source: jacksonville.com)

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

Pinellas man accused murder describes how he did it



Craig Wall has already admitted killing his girlfriend, Laura Tate and their 
son Craig Wall Jr. in February 2010. Monday, he described in detail how he did 
it.

Wall waived his rights to a jury trial and has dismissed his attorneys. He is 
now representing himself in the sentencing phase of the trial. Wall has 
previously told the court and even detectives working the case that he wants 
the death penalty for his crimes.

Terry Lenamon, an attorney who works for the Florida Capital Resource Center 
asked the court for standing in the case to represent Wall's interests.

Wall reacted angrily.

"This is my case. This is my life. All choices are mine alone," said Wall.

During the testimony of the medical examiner, Wall challenged her findings, 
even arguing over the angle of the knife blade as it entered the victim's body.

Wall then proceeded to demonstrate his version of how the murder happened.

The victim's neighbors testified how they saw him on the night of the murder 
and heard the victim scream for help.

Grace Thompson told the court how frightened she was, and then how she heard 
the victim's last breaths as they waited for an ambulance.

"I just heard some gurgling noises from her throat. She didn't really move at 
all," said Thompson.

Wall faces the death penalty.

Without a jury, the decision will be left to Pinellas Judge Phillip Federico.

(source: WFLA news)






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

Man accused in death of wife, son insists on death penalty



Craig Wall is insisting on his own execution but he isn't making the penalty 
phase easy on the court.

Wall, 39, entered a no contest plea earlier this month in the 2010 deaths of 
his then-girlfriend Laura Taft and their infant son, Craig Wall, Jr. Wall has 
primarily been representing himself and is seeking the death penalty.

In court Monday, Wall said he wants to "captain his own ship" by putting on his 
own defense because he will be sitting in "Old Sparky" by himself, referring to 
the electric chair. Florida once used that method of execution but switched to 
lethal injection.

A representative from the Florida Capital Resource Center, a group that aims to 
provide aid to defendants facing the death penalty, filed a motion to delay 
proceedings so special counsel can be appointed to prepare mitigating factors 
in Wall's case.

Wall dismissed the offer of help. He accused the representative and others who 
involve themselves in his case as being "foaming at the mouth, rabid-dog 
liberals" who have attempted to hijack the court and don't think he can make 
his own decisions.

"This is my case. This is my life," Wall said. "All choices are mine alone to 
make."

Wall was arrested Feb. 14, 2010, for violating a domestic violence injunction 
filed by Taft. The arrest affidavit requested Wall be held without bail because 
he was a suspect in the death of the couple's son. Instead, Wall was granted 
$1,000 bond and released. 3 days later, authorities say, he stabbed Taft to 
death.

The infant had died as a result of aggravated child abuse while in Wall's care, 
Assistant State Attorney Kendall Davidson said.

Taft's death was cold, calculated and premeditated, and a stab wound through 
her heart means she would have been fully aware of her impending death at the 
time, Davidson said in court Monday.

Wall chose to use a knife in Taft's killing because it was personal, Davidson 
said.

Members of Taft's family were in the audience Monday, buttons pinned to their 
chests displaying a photo of Laura Taft and her son.

While Wall said repeatedly that he wants and deserves the death penalty, he 
questioned the truthfulness of several witnesses.

Circuit Judge Phillip Federico forced Wall to drop his line of questioning with 
a state witness who spent some time with Wall after his arrest. Wall asked the 
man if he liked to tell lies, called him a criminal and said the man's son was 
a heavy drug user.

"I'm not going to have that, I'm not doing it," Federico said before dismissing 
the witness.

Federico told Wall he had been getting away with behavior that would not be 
tolerated by a lawyer, such as offering testimony while questioning witnesses, 
telling them their version of events were untrue, and interrupting prosecutors 
and witnesses out of turn.

The pentlay phase of the proceedings is scheduled to resume Tuesday morning.

(source: The Tampa Tribune)








ALABAMA:

Capital murder indictment issued in killing of popular Huntsville artist Wade 
Wharton



A Huntsville man has been indicted on charges of capital murder in the beating 
death of a well-regarded local artist.

Ervin Akeem Tolbert, 20, is charged in the January 2014 death of Wade Wharton, 
a popular Huntsville sculptor.

Wharton was killed outside his home on Nassau Drive near Triana Boulevard. 
Tolbert lived with his mother across the street from Wharton.

Madison County Assistant District Attorney Jay Town said the state is still 
deciding whether to pursue the death penalty for Tolbert.

"This was a brutal and senseless murder," Town said. "At this time the state is 
strongly considering pursuing a penalty of death against Mr. Tolbert due to the 
cruel and heinous nature of this homicide."

During Tolbert's preliminary hearing last March, a Huntsville Police Department 
investigator testified that Tolbert's mother said her son woke her up shortly 
before dawn on January 15 and told her he'd killed Wharton.

Investigator David Owens said Tolbert's mother, Anna Hainz, told her son to go 
to bed and he fell asleep on the couch. When it was quiet, she went across the 
street, found Wharton's body and called 911 around 6 a.m., Owens testified.

Town said Tolbert was indicted on 2 different charges, murder committed during 
a robbery and murder committed during a burglary.

Owens said the 76-year-old Wharton was found at bloody crime scene. Tolbert 
initially denied to police that he told his mother about killing Wharton, Owens 
testified.

"He told us he went over to Wharton's house to tell him to turn his country 
music down," Owens testified. "And they argued."

Owens said Tolbert said he recalled Wharton "grabbing at him" but he didn't 
recall pushing him down or what was used to hit Wharton.

Owens said Wharton was found on his back in his carport.

A bin or 2 of power tools, that Tolbert's mother said weren't there the night 
before, were found in the living room of the family's house and a box of 
shaving accessories was also found, Owens said. What appeared to be the lid for 
that box was found at Wharton's house, Owens testified.

Tolbert is represented by court-appointed attorneys Robert Tuten and Barry 
Abston.

Tuten today called the case a "sad situation for all involved."

With the indictments Tolbert's case now moves to Madison County Circuit Court. 
It is not clear when a trial date might be set.

(source: al.com)








OHIO:

Ohio Supreme Court delays execution of man who killed Twinsburg police officer 
in 2008



The Ohio Supreme Court has delayed the execution date of a Twinsburg man 
convicted of aggravated murder in the 2008 shooting death of police officer 
Joshua Miktarian.

In a decision released Monday morning, the high court issued a stay of Ashford 
Thompson's date of execution, which had been scheduled to be carried out April 
5, 2017, until all of his state and post-conviction appeals are exhausted.

Thompson, 30, has an appeal for post-conviction relief pending in Summit County 
Common Pleas Court.

The appeal was filed early this month. It claims that Thompson had a serious 
personality disorder at the time of the crime and should have been given a 
psychological evaluation to determine his competency to stand trial before the 
capital proceedings began.

Thompson also raised several issues claiming ineffective assistance of counsel 
in his trial and the penalty phase of the proceedings in which he was sentenced 
to death.

Trial evidence and testimony showed that Thompson shot Miktarian 4 times in the 
head, at close range, after Thompson had been stopped for playing loud music in 
his car in the early hours of July 13, 2008.

(source: Ohio.com)

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

Catholic nun to speak out death penalty at Ohio college



A Roman Catholic nun who's been a prominent death penalty opponent will speak 
at a southwest Ohio college this month.

The Feb. 26 lecture by Sister Helen Prejean at University of Dayton is among a 
series of events about the death penalty. The author of "Dead Man Walking" will 
have a book signing afterward. Her book was made into an Oscar-winning 1995 
movie of the same name.

She also plans an open forum with university students and to have lunch with 
local religious leaders and select students.

Dayton Opera is putting on the opera version of the story, with Prejean to 
attend the Feb. 27 performance.

Ohio executions are on hold until 2016 while the state tries to find supplies 
of lethal injection drugs.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Prosecutor asks jury for death penalty verdict



Using Hager Church's own words during a police interrogation, a prosecutor told 
a jury this morning Hager Church deserves the death penalty for setting a fire 
that killed 2 people.

"I ain't killed her for no reasons except for it was something that I always 
wanted to do," Prosecutor Juergen Waldick quoted Church as saying during a 
police interrogation.

Church's lead attorney, Greg Meyers, asked the jury to spare Church's life. He 
reminded jurors of Church's childhood, which included alcohol use at a young 
age and reports of sexual abuse.

"Is that an excuse, is that a defense? Am I sitting here saying, 'Oh, it's OK 
to murder?' No, it's not OK. He has to be punished," Meyers said.

The same jury deciding Church's fate convicted Church earlier this month of 2 
counts of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications and aggravated 
arson. All jurors must unanimously vote for the death penalty, or the panel 
must choose a life sentence.

Church already is serving a life sentence with no chance for release for a 2010 
murder. The crime that is the subject of this trial is the killings of Massie 
"Tina" Flint, 45, and Rex Hall, 54, at a house on Pine Street on June 14, 2009. 
Church initially beat Flint in the head with a pipe wrench to try to kill her 
before setting the fire to try to cover the crime.

The fire originally was labeled accidental, until Church started telling other 
inmates in prison and eventually sent a letter and map of the crime scene to 
authorities.

(source: limaohio.com)








KANSAS:

Hardships claim more than 1/2 of 1st group of prospective jurors in King 
Phillip Amman Reu-El murder retrial----Trial tied to deaths of 2 women slain in 
2003

More than 1/2 the 64 Shawnee County residents called to perhaps serve on the 
jury of a man charged in a capital slaying trial were excused or released on 
Monday.

All of the 34 who were excused or released were based on hardships, many of 
them tied to their jobs.

King Phillip Amman Reu-El, 42, of Topeka, is charged with capital murder in the 
Dec. 13, 2003, shooting deaths of Annette Roberson, 38, and Gloria A. Jones, 
42. If convicted, he could face the death penalty. Amman Reu-El formerly was 
known as Phillip Delbert Cheatham Jr.

On Monday morning, the 1st group of prospective jurors were questioned only 
about hardships they said they would suffer if they served on a jury trial 
lasting several weeks.

Several who were excused were part-time employees who aren't paid by their 
employers while serving on a jury.

One was a woman who said she and her husband, who is employed, would lose their 
home because they wouldn't be able to make their house payments.

Others were self-employed workers - a hair stylist, a dog groomer, and a house 
cleaner - who would be unable to work and wouldn't be paid while serving on a 
jury.

1 prospective juror, who was the fill-in worker for coworkers absent from work, 
was excused from jury duty.

Others were full-time employees whose employers don't pay them while serving on 
a jury, including a Topeka public school police officer.

Another was a retirement-age man suffering a number of health issues.

1 man with 2 children wouldn't be paid if he was serving on a jury. Yet another 
was a mother who must pick up her children at school each day in the afternoon. 
The pickup time would be before court is recessed each day.

Another was a woman who is caring for her ill father and working as a human 
resources employee for a company with numerous branches.

On Monday afternoon, the remaining 30 prospective jurors were to be questioned 
about their general suitability to serve.

Then each was to be questioned individually about his or her attitudes about 
the death penalty, exposure to news coverage of the case and if that could be 
set aside, the cost effectiveness of the death penalty, any religious bias tied 
to the death penalty, and any racial bias a prospective juror might have. Amman 
Reu-El is African-American.

3 more groups of prospective jurors remain to be examined. It appears jury 
selection will continue the rest of the week.

Amman Reu-El also is charged with 2 alternative counts of premeditated 
1st-degree murder of Roberson and Jones; attempted 1st-degree murder of Annetta 
D. Thomas, who was shot multiple times; aggravated battery of Thomas and 
criminal possession of a firearm.

Amman Reu-El has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A new trial was ordered for Amman Reu-El in 2013 after the Kansas Supreme Court 
overturned his 2005 capital murder conviction and death penalty sentence for 
the killings in a home at 2718 S.E. Colorado.

(source: Topeka Capital Journal)








OKLAHOMA:

Experimental Executions: State Lawmakers Consider Untested Gas Asphyxiation



After Oklahoma's troubled execution last year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided 
to review the state's lethal injection procedures and postpone all scheduled 
executions.

Amid the legal scrutiny and difficulty in obtaining drugs for future lethal 
injections, some state lawmakers are discussing a new, completely experimental 
method of execution.

Experimental Executions

Right now Oklahoma has 3 ways to execute someone. If lethal injections don't 
work, the electric chair and a firing squad are backups. But those have proven 
to be unreliable and gruesome.

Back in September during an interim study, Republican Representative Mike 
Christian said he found a logical answer to the death penalty question.

"The solution that we've come up with is nitrogen hypoxia. One, it's practical. 
Two, it's efficient. Three, it's humane. And it's innovative," Christian says.

But this method, which replaces a person's available oxygen with nitrogen 
through a mask or gas chamber, is new, and that concerns Richard Dieter from 
the Death Penalty Information Center.

"The problem is it's never been tried," Dieter says. "We've never put anybody 
in a chamber with just nitrogen gas, with a glass view, and watched what 
happens."

What little we do know about nitrogen hypoxia comes from suicide research. The 
method is even recommended as a more pleasant form of suicide for those 
suffering from terminal illness.

"These are referred to medically as deaths by asphyxiation, but essentially 
it's suffocation," says Matthew Howard, a professor from the University of 
North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has studied inert gas asphyxiation.

While there's no way to know for sure what this feels like, Howard says there's 
no evidence of suffering.

"Although it can be disconcerting for people to watch because there can be some 
moaning. There can be some gasping, and other kinds of involuntary movements of 
limbs and things, which can be distressing to the people that are watching," he 
says.

But Howard says there could be a big difference between suicide and death row, 
where many inmates may be less eager to die.

"It probably would be effective, but I think it would be a hands-on, unpleasant 
way to put someone to death," Howard says. "You'd probably have to sedate them. 
You'd have to restrain them. You might have to hold them down while the gas was 
taking effect."

A 'Mask' or 'Bag'

Earlier this month, Representative Christian's introduced a bill to the House 
Judiciary Committee. It passed without debate, and a similar version authored 
by Republican Senator Anthony Sykes passed in the Senate. Neither Christian nor 
Sykes responded to multiple requests for interviews.

But in a recent committee hearing, there were a handful of questions the 
Oklahoma City lawmaker had to answer, like when Democrat Representative Richard 
Morrissette asked about the $350,000 cost for building a gas chamber.

"I think there was some misinformation when I said we'd have to construct some 
kind of death chamber," Christian says.

"But no, they can actually use the same room that's currently in existence. 
Some of the folks we're talking to that are actually working on a delivery 
system said it'd be some kind of mask or some kind of bag that would be placed 
around the subject's face or around the head."

1st Time for Everything

During the committee hearing, Christian argued the procedure's experimental 
nature wasn't a reason to avoid its adoption.

"We would be the 1st state if we did execute someone, but there was a point 
where somebody was executed by lethal injection for the 1st time too."

Richard Dieter from the Death Penalty Information Center urges caution. He says 
using an untried gas is eerily similar to using an untried drug like the state 
did last year during Clayton Lockett's execution.

"It's an experiment, and maybe it won't go well. That's part of the problem 
Oklahoma got into with introducing a new drug. They didn't really know the 
potency that was needed, how long it would take, and that's why the Supreme 
Court is looking into what Oklahoma has done," Dieter says.

It's early in the 2015 legislative session, and the bill could be tweaked 
before reaching the floor. The current language proposes nitrogen hypoxia as a 
backup, but last fall, Representative Christian suggested it could become the 
primary method this year.

Richard Dieter says it's not that easy though. When the Supreme Court decided 
to review the state's execution methods, justices said the state's last 
experiment could've resulted in cruel and unusual punishment, and it's unclear 
whether using nitrogen gas could fall into that same category.

(source: KGOU news)