[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., GA., PENN., OHIO., MO., WYO., CALIF., ORE., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 14



VIRGINIA:

January 2016 date set for capital murder trial of Joaquin Rams in death of son



The lawyers and judge in Prince William County have agreed at last on a trial 
date for Joaquin Rams, facing a capital murder charge for the death of his 
toddler son in 2012: Jan. 11, 2016, according to court records and lawyers on 
both sides. This means that the family of 15-month-old Prince McLeod Rams, the 
victim, will have waited more than 3 years for a trial, and that Joaquin Rams 
will have been in jail without bond for 3 years awaiting his day in court.

Prince Rams collapsed in October 2012 while on a visit with his father, Joaquin 
Rams, in Manassas City, and died the next day at Inova Fairfax Hospital. Police 
suspected foul play, and after an autopsy by assistant chief medical examiner 
Constance DiAngelo ruled in January 2013 that Prince had been drowned, the 
police arrested Rams and charged him with murder. Later in 2013, the Prince 
William prosecutors empaneled a special grand jury for the 1st time ever, heard 
witness testimony, and then indicted Rams for capital murder.

A series of articles outlining the complicated circumstances of the case begins 
here. Prosecutors and Manassas City police believe Joaquin Rams, 42, killed his 
son to receive more than $500,000 in benefits from 3 life insurance policies he 
had obtained on the toddler. Rams' lawyers said he bought the insurance 
policies to demonstrate his financial wherewithal while fighting with the boy's 
mother for custody in a Maryland court.

The death penalty case took an unusual turn in October when the chief medical 
examiner of Virginia overruled his assistant, DiAngelo, and said that drowning 
was not the cause of death. In fact, the cause of death could not be 
determined, chief medical examiner William T. Gormley wrote. Gormley declined 
to explain why he revisited the case and revised the ruling. But after The 
Post's 1st series of articles raised questions about whether the autopsy really 
showed that Prince had drowned, court records show that Prince William 
prosecutors consulted 3 outside experts about the case. 2 of those experts 
largely agreed with DiAngelo. But the 3rd expert was the only one who was a 
forensic pathologist. That was Tracey Corey, the chief medical examiner of 
Kentucky, and she said that the case did not appear to be a drowning. Gormley's 
revised opinion then followed.

But Prince William prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty for Joaquin 
Rams, even without a cause of death for their victim, and even though 3 other 
people in the house - the couple that owns it and Rams's teenaged son - all say 
that Rams did not kill his son. Rams also has declared his innocence.

The case is being handled by Prince William Circuit Judge Craig D. Johnston, 
who appointed veteran defense lawyers Daniel Morissette and Tracey Lenox to 
represent Rams in August 2013. While pre-trial motions have been flowing since 
then, no trial date had been set. Johnston gathered both sides last month and 
they finally agreed on Jan. 11, 2016, with the trial expected to last through 
the end of March 2016. Trial will only be held the 1st 3 days of each week, the 
lawyers said, since Thursdays and Fridays are usually reserved for motions and 
sentencings in other cases, but Johnston told the lawyers he may go 4 days in 
some weeks.

Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert acknowledged that 
the trial would be 3 years after Rams's arrest, not exactly speedy, but he said 
the defense lawyers had not been interested in nailing down a date. Ebert also 
would not say whether he will still be the prosecutor in 2016 - he faces 
reelection this year, and has not formally declared whether he will run. 
Several of his top assistants, including James Willett, Teresa Polinske and 
Sandra Sylvester, have been running the case on a daily basis.

On the defense side, Morissette said that "we are comfortable with the trial 
date," even though his client will have spent 3 years in jail while claiming 
actual innocence in what Lenox has called "an incredibly weak case." Morissette 
said, "There's still a lot of preparation that we need to do. We also need to 
obtain further information from the prosecutors that's necessary to prepare our 
defense."

The prosecution has not made clear yet how they will prove a murder case 
without a formal cause of death. But prosecutors have obtained murder 
convictions in cases where the body was never found. Here, there is a victim's 
body. But there is great disagreement over how Prince McLeod Rams died - 
defense lawyers have previously raised the issue of the boy's multiple seizures 
in the weeks before his death - and Prince William prosecutors have not yet 
disclosed who will explain their side of the case to the jury since their 
standard witness in murder cases, the Virginia medical examiner, does not have 
an answer.

(source: Washington Post)








GEORGIA----execution

A Vietnam Veteran with PTSD is the 1st US Execution of 2015

In the 1st execution carried out in the US in 2015, last night Georgia put to 
death a decorated Vietnam War veteran who had been diagnosed with severe mental 
illness before he killed a deputy sheriff after a traffic stop in 1998.

On Tuesday, at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison, 66-year-old 
Andrew Brannan received visits from 5 family members, 1 friend and a pastor. He 
told reporters that he had been "in a status of slow torture" in the decade and 
a half since the crime, and said he was not sad to be leaving the prison.

Outside the facility, guards cordoned off one area of the wet, cold grass for 
anti-death penalty activists. A different section was designated for members of 
law enforcement who came to honor the memory of slain Deputy Sheriff Kyle 
Dinkheller. But the feelings on the execution between the 2 groups were not so 
clearly separated. Some in law enforcement seemed genuinely concerned about 
Brannan's history as a veteran.

"There were a lot of troubling things that happened back then," said Tom 
McCain, a close colleague of Dinkheller's. "Not only did [soldiers] have to 
deal with the horrors of war but they came back to a country that didn't 
appreciate them." McCain added that he had "no problem" with Brannan's 
execution, but he also questioned the death penalty in general. He praised 
Dinkheller as an officer deeply concerned about ethics in law enforcement. "I 
miss the hell out of him."

That Brannan killed deputy Dinkheller 17 years ago is not disputed. A camera in 
the deputy's police vehicle caught the confrontation between the 2 men after 
Dinkheller pulled Brannan over for going 98 miles an hour in his white pickup 
truck. The 2 pulled off Interstate 16 and onto a rural, tree-lined stretch of 
road.

In the video, the 2 men get out of their vehicles and initially exchange 
pleasantries. Dinkheller instructs Brannan to take his hands out of his 
pockets.

"Fuck you, goddamnit! Here I am, shoot my fucking ass!" Brannan yells, dancing 
and flailing his arms in the street. "Here I am, shoot me!" he sings as he 
dances. Brannan rushes toward Dinkheller, and the officer orders him to step 
back. "I am a goddamn Vietnam veteran!" says Brannan.

The veteran then returns to his car and rummages inside of it. Dinkheller 
yells, "I am in fear for my life!"

Brannan emerges with a .30 caliber M1 carbine. In the ensuing shootout, Deputy 
Dinkheller was hit at least 9 times. He left behind a young child and an 
expectant wife.

Brannan was found hiding in the woods the next morning, with a gunshot wound to 
his abdomen.

In 2000, a jury in Laurens County, a quiet region in southeast Georgia known 
for historical architecture and deer hunting, found Brannan guilty of malice 
murder and recommended the death penalty. The video was a key piece of 
evidence. Since then, it has been been widely shown in police academies to 
train cops on how routine traffic stops can spiral out of control.

But lawyers for Brannan have argued that the jury did not understand well the 
journey that led him to that January confrontation. It was one marked by 
survivor's guilt, personal loss, isolation and increasingly severe diagnoses 
for mental illness following a short but intense time serving in the Vietnam 
War. Though several medical professionals testified at trial, Brannan's VA 
psychiatrist did not. Atlanta defense attorney Joe Loveland, who did not 
represent Brannan at trial, said he believes the psychiatrist's testimony, and 
the fact that Brannan had not taken his prescribed medications in the period 
leading up to the murder, should have been presented to the jury.

Loveland said that when Brannan was sentenced, he did not benefit from the 
compassion and understanding that Americans increasingly have about PTSD after 
2 foreign wars in the post-9/11 period. "We as a country know so much more 
about PTSD and the effects of war after 14 years," he said, referring to the 
length of the war in Afghanistan - America???s longest.

Brannan volunteered for the army in 1968 and was trained as a parachutist. He 
served in Vietnam from 1970 to 71, and saw extensive combat. Twice he took 
charge of his unit after his commanding officers were killed. He would later 
recount to his psychiatrist several situations of how he narrowly escaped death 
during the war.

Brannan was honorably discharged in 1971. He received the Bronze Star and 2 
Army Commendation medals for his service.

But as he returned to civilian life, deep psychological and personal problems 
emerged in Brannan's life. His lawyer said he could not hold down a job and his 
marriage fell apart. One of Brannan's brothers was killed in active duty and 
another committed suicide. In 1984, he was granted partial disability for 
service- connected Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). By 1991, the 
Department of Veterans Affairs determined Brannan to be 100 % disabled due to 
PTSD, a severe diagnosis that means one's symptoms show "total occupation and 
social impairment." In 1996, his VA psychiatrist would further diagnosis him as 
bipolar. Brannan was hospitalized at least twice for mental illness.

By the time he was pulled over by Deputy Dinkheller, Brannan was living in a 
structure he had built in the woods near Dublin, Georgia. It had no running 
water or electricity. A doctor who examined Brannan would later write that the 
veteran "was living a marginal, fearful life, living in a primitive homemade 
shack reminiscent of a bunker in Vietnam."

An officer in Laurens County who helped search for Brannan after the shooting 
described it as having a "watch tower" and tunnels dug beneath it.

Numerous veterans spoke out in an attempt to stay his execution.

"What does putting a man like Andrew Brannan to death say to my generation of 
veterans? To me, it says that this country can exploit our youth to its gain 
and then, when it comes time, this country, and the State of Georgia, will 
discard you like yesterday's forgotten garbage," Sion New, a veteran of the 
Iraq and the Afghanistan wars and law student at Emory University, wrote to the 
state's Board of Pardons and Paroles. In Georgia, the decision to grant 
clemency is not made by the governor but by the Board, whose members are 
appointed by the governor.

Brannan's execution is not the first of its kind. Manuel Babbitt became a 
rallying point for many activists before he was executed in 1999 in California. 
During the Vietnam war he suffered a head injury and once woke up amongst dead 
bodies being carried on a truck after falling unconscious. His severe beating 
of an elderly woman led to her death. Before his execution, he was awarded the 
Purple Heart in prison.

4 other Vietnam veterans - Leonel Herrera, Wayne Robert Felde, Herbert Lee 
Richardson, and Larry Joe Johnson - were all executed in the 1980s and 90s.

There are many more examples of prisoners with documented mental illness on 
death row - and several who have been executed. The Death Penalty Information 
Center lists 6 in the past 5 years alone. Last month, the execution of Scott 
Panetti, a severe paranoid schizophrenic, was halted at the last minute in 
Texas.

Veterans, however, have been able to avoid death sentences in more recent years 
with successful defenses emphasizing their PTSD diagnoses. In 2011, Iraq War 
veteran Joshua Stepp was found guilty of sexually assaulting and killing of his 
10-month-old stepdaughter in North Carolina. Stepp, however, was spared a death 
sentence after his lawyers presented a strong defense based around his PTSD 
diagnosis.

A Korean War veteran faced the death penalty for killing his ex-girlfriend and 
her new boyfriend in 1986. The US Supreme Court threw out the veteran's death 
sentence in 2009, saying that the "intense stress and mental and emotional 
toll" of combat experience needed to be considered by a jury. "Our nation has a 
long tradition of according leniency to veterans in recognition of their 
service, especially for those who fought on the front lines," the court wrote.

According to 11Alive News of Atlanta, Brannan's lawyer called him hours before 
his execution and told him that his case had raised public awareness about the 
impact of PTSD on veterans. Brannan responded, "I am proud to have been able to 
walk point for my comrades, and pray that the same thing does not happen to any 
of them."

In his final words, he expressed condolences to the Dinkheller family and asked 
for a prayer.

Brannan became the 55th prisoner executed in Georgia since the state resumed 
capital punishment in 1983, the the 1395th condemned inmate overall since the 
nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977. The death penalty was 
re-legalized in the US on July 2, 1976.

(sources: Taylor Barnes is a freelance journalist who works in Rio de Janeiro 
and Atlanta. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Christian Science 
Monitor and The Islamic Monthly----firstlook.org, & Rick Halperin)








PENNSYLVANIA----4 new execution dates

Corbett signs 11th-hour death warrants for prisoners including man convicted of 
York City shooting



A man convicted of a 2008 shooting death in York City could be the last 
prisoner executed by the state, at least until Gov.-elect Tom Wolf has served 
his term or terms in office.

Wolf has said he supports a moratorium on the death penalty and he won't sign 
execution warrants but, with days to go before Wolf takes the helm, Gov. Tom 
Corbett on Tuesday signed warrants for 5 convicted murderers.

York convict Kevin "Yummy" Mattison is among those scheduled to die of lethal 
injection between March 4 and March 12, barring stays of execution.

Mattison is last on Corbett's list, having been scheduled for execution on 
March 12.

His execution is, as of Wednesday, the last death authorized by an outgoing 
governor who has signed 48 death warrants.

State issue: Whether there's anything Wolf can legally do to try to stop the 
executions for those whose warrants were already signed is a topic for lawyers, 
said Corbett press secretary Jay Pagni.

Pennsylvania currently does have the death penalty, and the warrants are 
legally in effect, he said. A change to the law would be needed to change that, 
he said.

Calls to Wolf's spokesman were not immediately returned.

The local case: Mattison was sentenced to death for bursting into the 610 W. 
Philadelphia St. home of Christian Agosto on Dec. 9, 2008, robbing Agosto of a 
pound of marijuana and fatally shooting him in the head.

In 2010, a York County jury found that Mattison, now 39, should be put to death 
for his crimes of 1st-degree murder, robbery and burglary.

The Baltimore man, who's incarcerated at the Pennsylvania State Correctional 
Institution at Greene, had also been convicted of a murder in Maryland.

He pleaded guilty in Baltimore to the equivalent of Pennsylvania's 3rd-degree 
murder in the mid-1990s, when he was 17.

Others: A March 4 execution is scheduled for Terrance Williams, who was 
convicted of 1st-degree murder for the Philadelphia beating death of Amos 
Norwood during a robbery in 1984.

Scheduled for the next day is Kenneth Hairston, convicted in Allegheny County 
Court of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder for using a sledgehammer to beat to 
death his wife and their teenage autistic son in 2001.

(source: York Dispatch)








OHIO:

Ohio Drops 2-Drug Death Penalty Method, Delays Execution



The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced Jan. 8 that the 
state will stop using an execution method that utilizes a combination of the 
sedative midazolam and the painkiller hydromorphone. The decision puts at least 
1 execution scheduled for next month on hold.

Ohio pioneered use of the 2 drugs in executions when it began using them last 
year. The 2-drug mixture soon came under fire when it took 26 minutes to put 
convicted killer Dennis McGuire to death.

Witnesses said McGuire was gasping for breath during his execution. His family 
is suing the state, claiming the execution caused needless pain and suffering.

Another execution in Arizona last year using the same method took more than 2 
hours.

The state has said it will again use thiopental sodium or pentobarbital, both 
powerful sedatives, for executions.

Ohio used the former drug to put inmates to death from 1999 to 2011 but stopped 
when manufacturers ceased producing it in the United States.

It is unclear how Ohio plans to obtain the drug, though compounding pharmacies, 
or labs that produce such drugs, could make and supply them if current 
manufacturers will not.

"Presumably, Ohio is acquiring thiopental from a compounding pharmacy since the 
drug can no longer be purchased from international sources," Deborah Denno, a 
law professor from Fordham University told ABC News last week.

In December, Gov. John Kasich signed into law a measure aimed at making it 
easier for the state to obtain execution drugs by stipulating that the 
identities of labs creating the drugs are not public information for a period 
of 20 years.

Currently, it's illegal for the state to execute someone with drugs from an 
undisclosed source.

There are 61 compounding labs in Ohio; many are small businesses that fear 
backlash from consumers and activists if it is revealed that they supply drugs 
for executions.

Other states, including Texas and Missouri, have successfully used drugs like 
pentobarbital created in compounding labs.

Ohio's announcement delays the execution of Ronald Phillips, who was convicted 
in the 1993 rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl. Phillips' execution was 
scheduled for Feb. 11. Officials say other executions might be delayed as well 
as the state sources the 3rd drug or an alternative.

The state has executions slated for March, May, July, September and November 
this year.

(source: citybeat.org)








MISSOURI----new execution date set

Execution date set for man who murdered Highland woman



After 3 trials and a quarter-century of delays, the man convicted of murdering 
a former Highland woman has been scheduled to die for his crime.

The Missouri Supreme Court has set the execution date for Walter Timothy Storey 
for Feb. 11 at the state department of corrections facility in Bonne Terre.

Feb. 5 will mark 25 years since Jill Frey, a 36-year-old pre-school teacher for 
disabled children, was found stabbed to death in her St. Charles, Mo., 
apartment.

A 22-year-old unemployed boat builder from Georgia, Storey had a history of 
abusive behavior. He had been living with his mother in the apartment across 
the hall.

According to testimony presented at the 1st trial, Storey was upset after 
receiving divorce papers the previous day from his wife in Georgia. He then got 
the idea to steal a car and drive back to Georgia. Storey then took a kitchen 
knife and climbed up to the balcony to Frey's apartment and entered through a 
sliding glass door. He raped her and struck her some 20 times before cutting 
her throat.

Afterward, Storey stole Frey's car, which he attempted to drive to Georgia. But 
outside of St. Charles, he had a flat tire and decided to return to his 
mother's apartment. He was arrested the next day after police found physical 
evidence at the scene, including a bloody hand print.

"It's a tough thing to think about and talk about," said Jeff Frey, Jill's 
brother.

Storey eventually confessed to the murder. He was convicted in 1991 and 
received the death penalty, but a series of errors by the prosecutors and a 
controversy surrounding the drugs used by the state for lethal injection 
allowed him avoid execution. He even got married while on death row

The Missouri Supreme Court reversed and remanded his death sentence in 1995 
after ruling that Storey's defense counsel had not competently defended her 
client during the penalty phase. 2 years later, during a 2nd penalty phase, the 
jury again recommended the death penalty, and again the Supreme Court 
overturned the death sentence because of "egregious errors" by the attorneys. 
After a 3rd trial, the Supreme Court finally upheld the death sentence.

"It's kind of astonishing how the justice system works in some ways," Jeff Frey 
said.

Neither of Frey's parents lived long enough to see the sentence carried out. 
Donald "Pete" Frey, died in 2000. Gladys Frey passed away in 2011.

"Mom and dad are both gone, so it's one of those bitter-sweet things. They 
always wanted that closure. They wanted to see it through," Jeff Frey said.

In 2010, Gladys Frey told the News Leader the court delays attributed to her 
husband's death.

"The trials really took a toll on my husband," she said. "He would take a turn 
for the worse before every trial."

Jill Frey was a graduate of Highland High School, and taught in the Highland 
School District from 1977 to 1988. She also started the early childhood classes 
in Highland. She received many honors for her work as an educator, in 
particular for fostering greater understanding and acceptance toward the 
disabled.

Storey's is the 2nd execution scheduled for 2015 in Missouri. The state 
executed a record 10 prisoners in 2014.

Jeff Frey is glad justice will finally be done.

"(Storey) had a choice, and he chose the wrong choice, and now the law says he 
should suffer the consequences accordingly," he said. "But it obviously doesn't 
bring Jill back."

(source: Belleville News-Democrat)

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

Sen. Keaveny Files Legislation Examining Costs of Administering Death Penalty 
in Missouri



Senator Joseph Keaveny, D-St. Louis, again sponsored legislation, Senate Bill 
240, this year that would require the State Auditor to issue a 1-time report on 
the costs of administering the death penalty in Missouri.

This is the 5th time Sen. Keaveny has filed similar legislation examining the 
funds used in carrying out capital punishment.

He believes the people of Missouri have a right to know how much taxpayer 
dollars are expended carrying out the death penalty.

"This is the harshest punishment that we as a society can administer to a 
criminal. It is an irrevocable act that, whether you agree with it or not, 
carries high ethical obligations on the part of the criminal justice system and 
the government," said Sen. Keaveny. "We need to know all the facts about the 
death penalty, including the costs associated with it. There has never been a 
study of that kind in this state. Ever. Taxpayers should know exactly what it 
costs them to sentence someone to death in Missouri, especially when we're 
dealing with a budget based on a very limited amount of funds."

The Death Penalty Information Center conducted a report regarding the death 
penalty in Colorado. The study found death penalty proceedings took 6 times as 
long as life without parole cases. Furthermore, the report noted that if the 
governor of Colorado had commuted the sentences of those on death row, the 
state would have generated an immediate savings of around $170 million 
annually, even with the punishment changed to life without parole.

There are currently more than 30 inmates on death row in Missouri. To view the 
list, click here or visit http://missourideathrow.com/current-inmates/.

In 2014, Missouri tied with Texas for executing the most inmates - 10 in total 
for each state.

For more information on Sen. Keaveny's sponsored legislation for the 2015 
session, visit his official Missouri Senate website at 
www.senate.mo.gov/keaveny.

(source: The Missouri Times)



WYOMING:

Wyoming Attorney General opposes inmate Eaton's request to remove death penalty 
option



The Wyoming Attorney General's Office is fighting an attempt to block the state 
from again seeking the death penalty against a convicted murderer.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne in November overturned the 
death penalty sentence of Dale Wayne Eaton, 69. Eaton was convicted in 2004 of 
murdering 18-year-old Lisa Marie Kimmell of Billings, Montana. Eaton's lawyers 
don't dispute he killed her.

Johnson agreed with Eaton's appellate legal team that his trial lawyers had 
failed to provide him an adequate defense and failed to present details of his 
background and personal history that might have convinced jurors to spare his 
life. The judge gave state prosecutors a choice of either empaneling a new jury 
to consider whether Eaton deserves the death penalty or keeping him in prison 
for life without parole.

Casper District Attorney Mike Blonigen, who originally prosecuted Eaton, filed 
papers in Natrona County District Court last week stating that he intends once 
again to seek death for Eaton.

Before Johnson's order, Eaton had been the only person on death row in Wyoming.

Kimmell vanished in 1988 while driving solo across Wyoming. Fishermen later 
found her body in the North Platte River.

Investigators got a break in 2002, when DNA evidence taken from Kimmell's body 
linked Eaton to the case while he was in prison on unrelated charges. 
Investigators then unearthed her missing car on his property. Authorities say 
Eaton kept Kimmell captive in a rundown compound in Moneta, west of Casper and 
raped her before the killing.

Eaton's legal team put on an evidentiary hearing in 2013 before Johnson in 
which they called many witnesses, including relatives and mental health 
professionals, who gave details about his tortured family history, childhood 
and long-term mental and emotional problems. They argued that the jury might 
have spared his life if they knew more about him.

Following Johnson's ruling, Eaton's lawyers asked him to reconsider giving the 
state the option of seeking the death penalty again. They argued that too much 
time had passed since his original trial and that many people who knew him are 
no longer alive or otherwise unavailable to testify.

Eaton's lawyers also asked Johnson to seal the transcripts of the 2013 
evidentiary hearing and forbid the state from using the materials it gathered 
during his federal appeal during any resentencing hearing.

The Attorney General's Office filed a response on Monday urging Johnson to 
reject taking the death penalty off the table and allow the state to use 
material developed in the federal appeal. It argued that witnesses' earlier 
statements could be presented to a new jury.

Senior Assistant Attorney General J. Michael Causey declined comment Tuesday, 
as did Terry Harris of Cheyenne, an attorney for Eaton.

(source: Associated Press)








CALIFORNIA:

Videos at Murder Hearing Show Attack on Chinese USC Student



The last night of Xinran Ji's life can be told in the videos that tracked the 
Chinese graduate student from the time he left his apartment to study with 
other students at the University of Southern California until he returned home 
hours later covered in blood.

In between those still frames taken outside his apartment, police found 2 
cameras that captured footage of a group of teens attacking him as he walked 
home from school early the morning of July 24.

The footage was shown Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court as a prosecutor 
made his case for trying 3 teens for murder in the incident that raised 
concerns in China about the safety of students abroad and refocused criticisms 
about security at USC.

Details were murky in the black and white surveillance videos, but they showed 
Ji being surrounded by a group of people on a dark street and then, in a 
subsequent video, being chased as he ran for his life.

"You can just see a scrum, it looks like," Deputy District Attorney John 
McKinney said during a break in court, describing one of the videos.

Authorities say Jonathan Del Carmen, 19; Alberto Ochoa, 17; and Alejandra 
Guerrero, 16, were trying to rob Ji, 24, when he was beaten with a bat and 
wrench and left for dead.

A 4th defendant, Andrew Garcia, 19, is charged, but his hearing was postponed 
because his lawyer was ill and another defense attorney raised questions about 
his mental competency. Garcia blurted out obscenities in court Monday.

All 4 have pleaded not guilty and are being held without bail. Del Carmen and 
Garcia could face the death penalty if convicted. Ochoa and Guerrero are 
charged as adults, but they can only face up to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole if convicted because of their ages.

The preliminary hearing that continues Wednesday included a witness who 
testified about being robbed by 3 of the defendants about an hour after Ji's 
killing.

But the brunt of testimony focused on videos and a trail of blood that led from 
Ji's apartment to 2 street locations where the confrontation footage was shot.

Ji managed to make it home, where he was found dead in bed later that morning.

Ji's roommate said she awoke around 3 a.m. and heard sniffling, but thought Ji 
had a cold, so she went back to sleep, Detective Matthew Courtney testified. 
When she emerged from her room 4 hours later, she found blood stains and Ji 
unresponsive and covered in bloody clothing.

Courtney and his partner tracked the bloody trail down the street and around 
the corner, where they eventually found a pair of broken glasses.

The detective and other officers went to USC and several other private building 
owners to gather at least 7 videos that showed the attack on Ji or his alleged 
assailants driving through the neighborhood before or after the crime.

Cameras have become a ubiquitous witness to life around the campus that sits on 
the edge of downtown Los Angeles and borders neighborhoods with historically 
high crime. The school and Los Angeles police beefed up security measures, 
including more patrols on and around campus, after 2 Chinese graduate students 
were murdered outside an off-campus apartment in 2012.

Video from the location where Ji was first attacked showed a car pull to the 
side of the road and a group of people surround him in the street. McKinney 
said one of the men can be seen hitting Ji with a bat.

The student is able to get away, and a 2nd camera caught him as he turned a 
corner with 2 others running after him, followed by a car.

The 2nd video lasts longer, but most of the action is obscured until Ji 
stumbles to his feet and leans on a car for a few seconds. McKinney said Ji 
bled the most at that location.

He bled the whole way home, arriving at his front door at 12:48 a.m., where the 
white T-shirt he was seen leaving in appeared covered in blood.

(source: Associated Press)








OREGON:

Cannon Beach killing: Defense lawyers cite seriousness of case, potential death 
penalty to set trial for summer 2016



Defense lawyers for Jessica Smith, the mother accused of killing her 2-year 
daughter and trying to kill her 13-year-old daughter in a Cannon Beach resort 
hotel last summer, are urging a Clatsop County judge to set Smith's trial no 
earlier than the summer of 2016.

In a written response filed late Tuesday afternoon to the state's push to set a 
firm trial date, defense lawyers William Falls and Lynne B. Morgan said 
defending Smith in a case that could bring the death penalty requires extensive 
preparation.

"Defending a capital case is a time-consuming and intensive undertaking," 
Smith's lawyers wrote. "In addition to a thorough investigation of the fact 
issues prevented by the charged offenses, effective capital defense counsel 
must conduct a thorough and complete investigation of a client's background, 
character, life experiences and mental health to prepare for what are, in 
essence, 2 separate trials - 1 to determine guilt, and 1 to determine the 
appropriate penalty."

Smith, 41, has pleaded not guilty to the allegations of aggravated murder 
stemming from the July 31 death of 2-year-old daughter Isabella and attempted 
aggravated murder in the slashing of her 13-year-old daughter Alana Smith.

Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis, who is pushing for an earlier 
trial date, and Smith's defense lawyers are due back in court on Jan. 22 to 
make their arguments before Clatsop County Circuit Judge Cindee Matyas.

Falls and Morgan, in their written brief, also note that they each are 
scheduled to defend clients in other aggravated murder cases set to go to trial 
this fall.

Morgan is scheduled to begin jury selection on Sept. 15 in the 4th 
re-sentencing trial of serial killer Dayton Leroy Rogers in Clackamas County. 
On Oct. 26, Falls is scheduled to begin jury selection in the trial of Hussein 
Ali Haidar in Multnomah County, 1 of 6 defendants accused in the 2013 fatal 
machete hacking of 25-year-old Charles Weber, in his Southwest Portland 
apartment.

Last month, Falls presented the Clatsop County judge with a 429-page black 
binder, which he said contained the American Bar Association's guidelines on 
defending clients in capital murder cases.

"We do not request a trial date in the summer of 2016 as a 'luxury' or the 
'convenience of the lawyers,' but rather for the time necessary to provide Ms. 
Smith with the effective assistance of counsel and a constitutionally adequate 
defense,'' Morgan and Falls wrote in Tuesday's document.

The defense lawyers said they do not know what witnesses or experts they would 
call at Smith's trial because they're in the "very beginning'' phase of 
preparing for a trial.

Marquis had argued in writing and in court that the judge should give special 
consideration to Smith's surviving daughter, Alana Smith, and set a trial date 
as soon as possible. He said the girl and her father prefer this summer during 
school break to minimize disruption, but if that's impossible, at least the 
following fall or winter.

Marquis said prosecutors have not decided yet whether to seek the death penalty 
in the aggravated murder case.

Cannon Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn discovered the girls on a 
king-sized bed in Room 3302 of the Surfsand Resort on the morning of Aug. 1 
after housekeepers had knocked on the door and noticed blood inside.

Isabella Smith was found dead and Alana Smith was on the bed nude under a white 
sheet, severely bleeding from cuts to her neck and wrists. Isabella Smith died 
of asphyxiation by drowning after she was heavily sedated with an 
over-the-counter antihistamine, according to the state medical examiner.

Alana Smith told medics as she was being flown to Portland's Doernbecher 
Children's Hospital that her mother had drowned her sister and slit her throat 
and wrists with a razor blade, according to police affidavits. She said her 
mother used a numbing agent on her neck, a detective wrote.

Alana Smith told authorities that her parents had separated in April. She said 
she and her sister didn't want to return to their father's custody and the 
violence was done to "get out of it,'' according to a court affidavit.

(source: oregonlive.com)








USA:

Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Unlikely to Get Death



The jury selection for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is in 
process, and while he faces 30 federal counts, including using a weapon of mass 
destruction resulting in death, he probably won't face the death penalty.

Dr. Carole Lieberman, a bestselling author who wrote "Coping With Terrorism: 
Dreams Interrupted," told Epoch Times that "it is unlikely" Tsarnaev will be 
sentenced to death because his lawyers could "successfully portray him as 
basically a good guy who was simply under the influence of a domineering 
brother."

264 Injured

Tsarnaev, 21, could face the death penalty for detonating bombs at the finish 
line of the Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013. The bombing killed 3 people and 
injured scores more. Many lost limbs. One of the dead was an 8-year-old boy, 
Martin William Richard. According to public health officials, 264 victims 
sought treatment at area hospitals.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan, who died after the bombing, 
also allegedly shot and killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology police 
officer Sean Collier before trying to flee the Boston area.

"If they can persuasively demonstrate how the bombing was only his brother's 
plan, and why Dzhokhar couldn't free himself from being under his brother's 
control, then the jury will come to blame the brother and feel sorry for 
Dzhokhar," Lieberman said.

Tsarnaev is being defended by several high-profile lawyers, including Judy 
Clarke, who worked to defend "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski, mass killer Jared Lee 
Loughner, abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph, and others. David Bruck, Miriam 
Conrad, Timothy Watkins, and William Fick will also defend him.

Lieberman noted that his attorneys "will want to choose jurors who can identify 
with him, such as young males, and people who have emigrated to the U.S., as 
well as jurors who attorneys believe would be against the death penalty."

No Executions for 60 Years

It's also worth noting that Massachusetts hasn't executed any prisoners for 
more than 60 years. If a jury imposes the death penalty, the appeals process 
could go on for years - even decades.

Tsarnaev's trial will have 2 phases with the same jury if there is no plea 
agreement. The 1st part will attempt to see if he's guilty or innocent. The 2nd 
phase will determine if he's sentenced to life in prison or to death.

In January 2014, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that federal 
prosecutors would try to seek the death penalty in the case.

However, as the Christian Science Monitor reported, Bostonians tend to view the 
death penalty with disdain. A Boston Globe poll in 2013 found that only 1/3 of 
the city's residents support the punishment.

"Massachusetts as a commonwealth has a basic commitment to civic virtues, to 
decency. These are deep, deep, deep in our soil," the Rev. Nancy Taylor, who is 
a minister at Boston's historic Old South Church - located near the Boston 
Marathon finish line - told CSM. "The death penalty kind of defiles the best of 
what it is to be virtuous in a civic sense. It kind of starts to wreck the 
equation."

(source: Epoch Times)