[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., COLO., UTAH, ARIZ., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 4



TEXAS:

Life sentence is cruel too



Leonard Pitts' "What is death penalty" (Opinion, Dec. 21) insists that the 
execution of murderers constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. He calls it 
frontier barbarism and puritanical morality, leaving us all guilty with the 
blood of the damned. Wow.

He reminds us of Scott Panetti, on the brink of execution for the 1992 murder 
of his parents-in-law. With a long history of schizophrenia, Mr. Pitts alludes 
that Panetti???s mental illness should disqualify him from facing a 
state-induced death. He nevertheless insists "there is no question Panetti 
deserves punishment." If Scott Panetti doesn't have the mental wherewithal to 
comprehend the heinousness of his crime, then why would he deserve any 
punishment at all? Restraint and mental health treatment for the rest of his 
life, yes. But not punishment for what doesn't even resonate in his reasoning 
capabilities.

On the other hand, if Panetti understood his violent deed, what, after all, is 
cruel or unusual about exacting retribution?

One could easily make a better argument against life imprisonment. How is 
placing a person in a small cage for the remainder of their life not cruel and 
unusual? Come on. Plus it inflicts additional cruelty to the poor taxpayer who 
must pay for this endless stay in the human "zoo."

Mr. Pitts, you can't have it both ways. Either Panetti doesn't comprehend what 
he did. Or he does. If the former, he needs treatment while being 
compassionately and permanently sequestered from anyone else to whom he might 
ever again do harm. If the latter, his life should be ended swiftly rather than 
torturing him for decades in a cage of squalor.

ALAN FOSTER, ACWORTH

(source: Letter to the Editor, Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Supreme Court upholds death sentences for Pa. man who killed 3 women and child



A unanimous state Supreme Court has upheld 3 death sentences imposed on a 
Montgomery County man who killed 3 women and a little girl.

In doing so, the high court rejected multiple appeal arguments by John Charles 
Eichinger, including claims that his lawyers were ineffective.

"Even if (his lawyers') performance in this case had been flawless, (Eichinger) 
almost certainly would still have received the death penalty," Justice J. 
Michael R. Eakin concluded in the Supreme Court's main opinion issued this 
week.

Eichinger, now 42, was convicted and sentenced in December 2005 for 2 sets of 
murders he committed in 2005 and 1999. In both cases the victims included women 
who rejected his romantic advances.

He killed 3 of the 4 victims on March 25, 2005. Investigators said Eichinger 
stabbed 27-year-old Heather Greaves repeatedly in the stomach at her King of 
Prussia home because she wouldn't break up with her boyfriend, Eakin wrote.

Greaves yelled to her 3-year-old niece, Avery Johnson, who saw the stabbing, 
and told the girl to call 911. Eichinger slashed the little girl in the neck, 
then fatally stabbed her 23-year-old mother, Lisa Greaves, when she stepped out 
of the bathroom. He then went back and thrust the knife through the little 
girl's body, momentarily pinning her to the floor, and finally cut Heather 
Greaves throat, Eakin wrote.

A neighbor spotted Eichinger leaving the murder scene. After the slayings, he 
went to his job as a clerk at a New Jersey grocery store, where police arrested 
him that same day. He received death sentences for all 3 killings.

Eakin noted that while being questioned about the murders, Eichinger confessed 
to killing another woman who had rejected him, Jennifer Still, 20, in her 
Bridgeport apartment in July 1999. Eichinger gave a written statement, claiming 
he killed Still with the same knife used in the other 3 murders and graphically 
described the slaying. He was sentenced to life in prison for killing Still.

(source: pennlive.com)








VIRGINIA:

Virginia joins nationwide trend away from using death penalty



Use of the death penalty in the United States is at a 20-year low - a trend 
evidenced in Virginia, which was once entrenched behind only Texas in its use 
of capital punishment, but where no inmates were executed and no death 
sentences handed down this year.

The restraint in Virginia's use of executions means the state, renowned for the 
speed and efficiency of prosecutions and appeals in capital cases, was 
surpassed by Oklahoma this year in the total number of death sentences carried 
out, according to data compiled by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Virginia has executed 110 convicts since 1976 - the year the Supreme Court 
reaffirmed the legality of the death penalty after having placed an effective 
moratorium on capital punishment in 1972.

The state now ranks 3rd in the country in the number of executions overall 
after Oklahoma, which put three people to death this year, bringing the total 
number of those executed in the state to 111. Texas, with 518 executions - 
including 10 this year - continues to lead the nation.

Fewer executions are taking place, and they are occurring in an increasingly 
smaller number of states, said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death 
Penalty Information Center.

35 people were executed in just 7 states this year, and a total of 72 death 
sentences were handed down by 19 states and the federal government - the lowest 
number in 40 years.

The number of yearly executions peaked nationwide in 1999, with 98 convicts put 
to death. 18 states and the District have abolished the death penalty, while it 
remains legal in 32 states, according to the center.

Oklahoma, Ohio and Arizona put capital punishment cases on hold this year after 
botched executions. Concern over the drugs used in lethal injections and 
skepticism that innocent people could be executed have led to fewer cases in 
which prosecutors seek the ultimate sanction, Mr. Dieter said.

"Everyone is more skittish or cautious about the death penalty," Mr. Dieter 
said. "Juries demand more evidence. They are more hesitant to give the death 
penalty. Prosecutors know that, so they are seeking it less."

The same goes for Virginia, which has executed only 5 people since 2010.

"This was a state that, for many years, was strongly committed and is now much 
less committed [to use of the death penalty]," Mr. Dieter said. "They are not 
going to go through all that trouble and end up with a life sentence anyhow."

The sentiment seemed to be on display this year, when prosecutors charged 
Charles Severance in three Alexandria homicides that span back to 2003, but 
indicated that they would not seek the death penalty. Mr. Severance was charged 
with capital murder in 2 of the 3 slayings. Prosecutors have declined to 
discuss the reasons why they would not opt for capital punishment.

8 people remain on death row in Virginia.

"Virginia shows, at this point, no signs of wanting to escalate the death 
penalty," Mr. Dieter said. "I think there will be more states over time that 
would surpass Virginia."

Just 5 death sentences were carried out under the administration of Gov. Bob 
McDonnell, a Republican and former prosecutor and attorney general. That number 
is the lowest of any Virginia administration since the 1980s and less than 1/2 
the 11 executions performed under Mr. McDonnell's predecessor, Democrat Tim 
Kaine, an opponent of capital punishment who defended death row inmates as a 
pro bono lawyer.

No executions have taken place under Gov. Terry McAuliffe, and the issue did 
not come up during the Democrat's 2013 campaign.

Asked whether Mr. McAuliffe would consider commutation of a death sentence, a 
spokeswoman remained vague.

"Gov. McAuliffe would review each situation carefully and, when determined 
appropriate, would carry out his duties as chief executive of the 
commonwealth," spokeswoman Rachel Thomas said.

Mr. Kaine, whose opposition to the death penalty was well-known, commuted 1 
death sentence, but opponents of capital punishment suspect that, without 
strong opposition to the practice, it will be unlikely that Mr. McAuliffe would 
seek to end it.

"Even Tim Kaine, the last Democratic governor, who was openly opposed to 
capital punishment, said at the same time he would carry out the law, and he 
did," said Stephen Northup, executive director of Virginians for Alternatives 
to the Death Penalty. "I would not expect Terry McAuliffe to be any different 
than that."

The fact that Mr. McAuliffe wasn't forced to speak more decisively on the issue 
during his campaign "speaks to the lessening relevancy that the death penalty 
has in Virginia," Mr. Dieter said. "Crime in general is down, and it is not the 
burning issue."

Trailing behind Virginia in the number of inmates executed is Florida, with 8 
this year and 89 overall, and Missouri, with 10 executions this year and 80 
total.

Missouri was one of the few states that bucked the trend of decreases, 
reporting a record high number of executions in the state. But Mr. Dieter noted 
that no convicts received death sentences this year, a sign that the state may 
eventually slow its rate of executions. 39 people remain on the state's death 
row.

While no death sentences were handed down in Virginia this year, 2 were given 
in Oklahoma - an indication that Virginia's downward trend could continue.

If states that have paused executions amid concerns about their lethal 
injection protocols settle those issues, Mr. Dieter said, there could be a 
national uptick in executions next year as cases put on hold this year move 
forward.

In Maryland, which abolished use of the death penalty last year, 4 men remain 
on death row. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, will be leaving office next 
month as Republican Larry Hogan is sworn in. It remains to be seen whether Mr. 
O'Malley, who signed the state's death penalty ban into law, will commute the 
sentences of the men who remain on death row.

Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler filed a brief in November with the 
Maryland Court of Special Appeals supporting attorneys for one death row 
inmate, Jody Lee Miles, who say his death sentence is illegal because the state 
no longer has a death penalty statute. The court is still weighing the case.

A spokesman for Mr. O'Malley said Tuesday that no decision had been made on 
whether any of the 4 inmates' sentences will be commuted. But early Wednesday, 
officials announced that Mr. O'Malley would commute the sentences of the 
remaining 4 inmates on death row.

(source: Washington Times, Dec. 30, 2014)








COLORADO:

Denver Fugitive Won't Face Death Penalty If Extradited From Argentina



Argentina's Supreme Court has ruled that an American who took refuge and 
started a new life in the South American country can be extradited to face 
charges that he killed his wife over a decade ago, a court spokeswoman 
confirmed Saturday.

Kurt Sonnenfeld moved to Argentina in 2003 and sought asylum after prosecutors 
in Denver charged him with 1st-degree murder. The decision to extradite him 
brings to an end a longstanding dispute between the U.S. Justice Department and 
Argentine courts that centered in part on differences over the death penalty.

In the ruling, which was made Dec. 11, the justices said U.S. prosecutors had 
assured Argentina that "the death penalty will not be imposed, or if it were 
ruled, it will not be exercised in this case." The ruling said the executive 
branch will have final say on an extradition and doesn???t specify when it may 
take place.

Maria Bourdin, a spokeswoman for Argentina's Supreme Court, confirmed the 
ruling but declined to comment beyond what was in it. Calls to the U.S. Embassy 
in Buenos Aires on Saturday seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Denver district attorney spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough referred questions to the 
U.S. Department of Justice, which said it does not comment on matters of 
extradition until a defendant is in the United States.

Sonnenfeld had been a cameraman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency at 
the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and claimed 
he had video footage indicating the government knew the attacks would happen. 
He claimed that his wife, who was found dead in their home on Jan. 1, 2002, had 
killed herself and that prosecutors framed him for her death to silence him, 
allegations that Denver's district attorney's office has denied.

Sonnenfeld, who published a book in Spanish about his case, "El Perseguido," or 
"The Persecuted," had a following of fellow conspiracy theorists. On a Facebook 
page dedicated to him, a long post in Spanish published late Friday lamented 
Argentina's decision and recounted Sonnenfeld's claim that he was framed.

According to the page, Sonnenfeld remarried in Argentina and has twin 
daughters. Several private messages sent to the page Saturday were not 
immediately returned.

(source: Associated Press)








UTAH:

Extradition from NV to UT looms for man in couple's deaths



Extradition from Nevada to Utah looms for a 26-year-old man charged with the 
2011 shooting deaths of a retired Utah couple during a 2-state crime spree.

Sanpete County Attorney Brody Keisel said he hopes to bring Logan McFarland to 
a Utah courtroom within a couple of months to face aggravated murder charges in 
the deaths of 70-year-old Leroy Fullwood and his 69-year-old wife, Dorothy, 
whose bodies were found in their Mount Pleasant home on Dec. 31, 2011.

Sanpete prosecutors charged McFarland with murder last May after he was 
sentenced to up to 56 years in prison in Nevada for a kidnapping, robbery and 
botched carjacking at a West Wendover casino that occurred later the same day 
in 2011.

Prosecutors said McFarland has fought extradition from the start, but he has 
nearly run out of options to avoid it. He currently is being housed at the Ely 
State Prison in eastern Nevada.

"We do expect to hear from the state of Nevada in the next couple of weeks," 
Keisel told KSL.

Once in Utah, it will take additional time for McFarland's defense to prepare.

"We are seeking the death penalty, so it will require a ... qualified lawyer," 
Keisel said. "He can either hire one or one will be provided by the state."

Keisel said he has kept in contact with Fullwood family members on a regular 
basis and explained to them why they have had to wait for a trial.

"They don't want their folks to be forgotten, that is at the forefront of their 
mind," he told KSL. "We have not forgotten the Fullwoods, and it's just a 
matter of letting the process move ahead. They understand that. No one likes 
that, but that's the scenario."

In the Nevada case, McFarland and his girlfriend Angela Hill, 27, tried to 
carjack a woman's car outside a West Wendover casino on the Utah line. The 
driver was shot in the head but survived.

Hill was sentenced to 30 years in prison after testifying against McFarland in 
that case.

They were arrested in the Nevada desert 3 days after the Fullwoods were found 
dead.

Hill and McFarland also were charged with burglary and robbery in the Utah 
case.

McFarland's Nevada attorney has said his client's methamphetamine use clouded 
his judgment and drove him to make more poor choices.

(source: Associated Press)



ARIZONA:

Jodi Arias attorneys file new motion for evidence



Arias was convicted of killing Alexander at his suburban Phoenix home in 2008. 
Her sentencing retrial last month focused on evidence on Alexander's computer 
that the defense says contained pornography.

In a motion filed Dec. 31, attorneys requested that the reports of 3 Mesa 
Police detectives regarding their analysis of the computer's hard drive be 
handed over.

Attorneys allege the state is violating evidence laws by not releasing the 
reports.

The Arias trial has garnered national - even worldwide - attention. A jury May 
8, 2013, convicted her of murdering her ex-lover Travis Alexander, and while 
they found her eligible for the death penalty, they could not unanimously agree 
to hand down the sentence.

Because of that, Judge Sherry Stephens declared a mistrial in the penalty phase 
of the trial.

After months of legal wrangling, a new jury was eventually impaneled, and a 
retrial of the sentencing phase began Oct. 21. Prosecutors are asking the new 
jury to impose the death sentence.

(source: KPHO news)








CALIFORNIA:

The murder trial that changed my life



12 years ago was the 1st and so far only time that I saw a man sentenced to 
death.

His name is David Westerfield, and he currently sits on death row at San 
Quentin State Prison while his automatic appeal slowly makes its way through 
the courts. His crime was every parent's worst nightmare. My daughter is now 
the same age as the little girl he stole in the middle of the night from the 
safety of her 2nd story bedroom across the street from his house before 
ultimately discarding her naked body in a makeshift dump. She was found 4 weeks 
later by a team of search volunteers.

I remember that he showed no emotion as the judge laid down the ultimate 
penalty allowed under our justice system. He stared straight ahead as the 
parents of Danielle van Dam described their agony in the wake of her 
disappearance and death. He didn't turn when Danielle's mother asked him to 
face her. He didn't speak when he was asked to offer an apology.

I know that monsters do exist, and sometimes they take the form of a twice 
divorced, middle-aged father of two who was living a seemingly normal life in a 
cookie-cutter, upper middle class suburb.

For nearly 6 months, I covered every moment of Westerfield's trial. It wasn't 
until after the verdict that the nightmares began. Sometimes Danielle was the 
smiling little girl from her school portrait. Other times, she appeared as she 
did in her autopsy photos. In my dreams, she would beg me for help I couldn't 
offer.

The trial changed how I viewed the world around me. It also changed who I 
became as a mother.

I remember sitting with Danielle's mother, Brenda, on her little girl's bed 
after the trial was over. She and her husband not only had to endure the loss 
of their child to an unthinkable crime, but having the most personal aspects of 
their lives laid bare for all the world to hear. Brenda told me that none of 
that mattered. The only thing that mattered was finding justice for Danielle.

Of all the hours of testimony, one moment still stands out the most.

Brenda had been out with friends on the night that Danielle disappeared. A 
group of them came back to the house, and Brenda said she went upstairs to 
close the children's bedroom doors so they wouldn't wake up.

One of Westerfield's defense attorneys asked Brenda if she was sure Danielle 
was in her bed when she shut the door. Brenda said she was not. She simply 
closed the door. There was no reason to think Danielle wasn't in her room, she 
said.

I can only imagine that Brenda must have replayed that split-second in time 
over and over in her mind, desperately trying to recall if Danielle was there. 
I still think about Danielle, and Brenda and her husband, and their 2 boys, who 
are now men.

After Averie was born, I couldn't let her out of my sight at first. When she 
moved to her own room, I made sure her crib was up against an adjoining wall so 
I could hear her at night. While I always look in on her before I go to bed, I 
still find myself waking up in the middle of the night just to double check.

Some stories never leave you.

(source: Kimberly Wear is the managing editor of the Times-Standard)








USA:

Boston Marathon bombing trial: Jury selection to start Monday



The federal judge presiding over the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect 
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev says he won't delay jury selection.

Judge George O'Toole Jr. said in his decision Friday that jury selection will 
start as scheduled on Monday, because it would be too inconvenient to delay it.

Tsarnaev's lawyers had asked for a postponement while a federal appeals court 
decides whether to postpone the trial and move it out of Massachusetts.

More than 1,200 people have been called for jury selection. O'Toole said in 
Friday's decision that delaying the start "would cause some unknown degree of 
disruption to those people" and to the court.

Tsarnaev's lawyers want a federal appeals court to overturn a judge's decision 
to keep the 21-year-old's trial in Boston. They argue Tsarnaev cannot receive a 
fair trial in the city's federal courthouse, which is just a few miles from 
where the bombing occurred.

Tsarnaev's lawyers filed the appeal Wednesday after a U.S. District Court judge 
denied their change-of-venue request as well as a motion seeking a 9-month 
delay.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty to 30 charges connected to the April 2013 
explosions that killed 3 people and wounded more than 260 others. He could face 
the death penalty if convicted.

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

A look at judge and lawyers in marathon bomb trial



Key players in the trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 
for which jury selection begins Monday:

___

THE JUDGE

George O'Toole Jr.: U.S. District Court, Massachusetts. Nominated by President 
Bill Clinton in 1995. Holds degrees from Boston College (1969) and Harvard Law 
School (1972). Previously served as a state court trial judge in Massachusetts 
from 1982-95, and specialized in litigation during a 10-year stint at the 
Boston firm of Hale and Dorr.

___

THE DEFENSE

Judy Clarke: One of the country's leading death penalty specialists, Clarke's 
clients have included Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric 
Rudolph, and Jared Loughner, the man who wounded former U.S. Rep. Gabrielle 
Giffords in a 2011 shooting rampage in Tucson, Arizona. All received life 
sentences instead of the death penalty.

Miriam Conrad: Chief public defender for Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode 
Island. Considered one of the most tenacious and aggressive defense lawyers in 
Massachusetts, Conrad has spent her entire legal career as a public defender, 
1st for the state, and for the past 22 years as a federal defender. She won an 
acquittal in 2004 for a Saudi biomedical engineer who was charged after 3 
sparklers were found in his luggage at Boston's Logan airport. Before going to 
Harvard Law School, Conrad worker for the Kansas City Times and as a crime 
reporter for The Miami Herald.

David Bruck: Professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, director 
of the school's death penalty defense clinic since 2004.

___

THE PROSECUTION

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Weinreb: Veteran anti-terrorism prosecutor. 
Handled case of man arrested in Massachusetts during the investigation into the 
failed Times Square bombing in May 2011.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadine Pellegrini: Longtime federal prosecutor, former 
head of the major crimes unit in Boston.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Aloke Chakravarty: Lead prosecutor in the case of Tarek 
Mehanna, a Massachusetts man convicted of conspiring to help al-Qaida.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Mellin: Exonerated in September by a federal 
appeals court that ruled he did not deliberately plant evidence before a jury 
hearing the case of a former naval intelligence officer accused of kidnapping 
and killing his wife.

(source for both: Associated Press)