[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., GA., OHIO, KAN., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 22



TEXAS----impending execution

Death Watch: Homicide, Drugs, Mental Incapacity----Glen Garcia White's time is 
running out



Although Garcia Glen White had a clean criminal record throughout much of his 
20s, between 1989 and 1995 the Houston native killed a total of 5 people during 
3 separate incidents.

It's the 2nd of those 3 that sent the now-51-year-old to death row. In 1989, 
White was at the home of Bonita Edwards smoking crack cocaine when the 2 got 
into an argument. White pulled a knife on Edwards and stabbed her repeatedly in 
the neck and chest. When Annette and Bernette, Edwards' twin 16-year-old 
daughters, hearing her cries, came out of their room to investigate, White 
stabbed them both to death. Found days later, Bernette had a towel wrapped 
around her neck and shoved into her mouth. Annette's body was lying facedown, 
semi-nude, with her head on a pillow and a blanket partially covering her.

It took 6 years for Houston police to tie the murders back to White. In 1995, 
during questioning for a convenience store robbery that resulted in the death 
of shop owner Hai Pham, White's friend and accomplice Tecumseh Manuel told 
authorities that White was responsible for the Edwards' deaths (and had killed 
another woman, Greta Williams, in the weeks before that). White was brought in, 
and eventually confessed to all 5 killings. He was charged with and convicted 
of capital murder. During his punishment phase, the state used the Williams and 
Pham murders as evidence of White's continuing danger to society. He was 
sentenced to death in September 1996.

Appeals of White's sentence have painted him as a "kind, gentle soul" and 
"caring parent, devoted son and sibling" who fell into drug addiction after a 
knee injury derailed his college football prospects (and led to his departure 
from Lubbock Christian University). They note the brain damage White suffered 
after being hit by a baseball bat, and his below-average IQ, as well as the 
ways in which a detective used White's intellectual deficiency to circumvent 
his requests for legal representation during the interrogation in which he 
confessed to the killings. White's attorney Patrick McCann said during a 2002 
application for writ of habeas corpus, that the confession should never have 
been entered into evidence. He added that 6 years of good behavior (and a clean 
record before his introduction to crack) suggested that White was no longer a 
threat to society. McCann has accused the Court of Criminal Appeals of being 
apathetic and suggested that the trial jury's conclusion that White might be a 
future threat could not be considered as factual, because the jury cannot 
foresee the future ??? although consideration of future dangerousness is one of 
the state's legal standards for capital punishment.

Successive appeals on many of the same grounds - and McCann's claim that new 
DNA testing could suggest the presence of another person at the murder scene - 
have all been denied.

In April 2013, White filed a petition for a rehearing with the 5th Circuit on 
the grounds that he wasn't given the opportunity to properly exercise his right 
to counsel, and that, as someone with an IQ "of approximately 87," he has the 
mental capacity of a 12- or 13-year-old and is thus, "in essence, a juvenile." 
A circuit judge denied that appeal in June. 6 months later, the Supreme Court 
refused to hear his case.

White's fight to overturn his pending execution continues. Earlier this month, 
McCann and co-counsel Mandy Miller filed with the CCA in hopes that judges will 
reconsider White's "borderline intelligence" and thus view his case "under a 
more lenient, deferential standard." Additionally, McCann said he's filed a 
motion suggesting that White's 1995 confession should be inadmissible because 
his invocation of counsel deserved due deference. And in a separate appeal, 
McCann and Miller are calling on judges within the CCA to appoint a special 
administrator to ensure that the drugs used to kill White won't cause any 
constitutionally barred suffering. "If we lose that, we will probably file with 
the Supreme Court," said McCann. The attorney also stressed that he's called on 
Manuel to step forward and admit to falsely implicating White during his 
questioning in 1995, but concedes that "it's not looking particularly bright at 
this moment."

Time's running out on their efforts, as White's Jan. 28 execution date draws 
closer. Should McCann and Miller prove unsuccessful, White will become the 2nd 
person to be executed under Governor Greg Abbott, the 2nd Texas inmate put to 
death in 2015, and the 522nd since the reinstatement of the state's death 
penalty in 1976.

"At this point I don't think that they'll give us a stay," McCann admitted. 
"There are some interesting issues if they wanted to bite, and some procedural 
due process, but I don't think there's going to be anything they'll bite on. I 
just wish the CCA could have considered having someone come in and look at this 
with a fresh set of eyes."

(source: Austin Chronicle)

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

American Sniper Chris Kyle's Murder: All About the Upcoming Trial



While American Sniper is earning Oscar nominations and setting box-office 
records, the man accused of killing Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL played by Bradley 
Cooper in director Clint Eastwood's film, faces trial for Kyle's murder in just 
a few weeks.

On Feb. 2, 2013, nearly 4 years after Kyle quit the military, he and his 
friend, Chad Littlefield, were allegedly shot and killed on a Texas gun range 
while helping former Marine Eddie Ray Routh, then 25, cope with his PTSD. 
Routh's trial is set to begin Feb. 11.

"My client will plead not guilty by reason of insanity," Routh's attorney, J. 
Warren St. John, tells PEOPLE. Prosecutors for the State of Texas have said 
they are not seeking the death penalty in the case.

One growing issue: With the film's success, finding an impartial jury may be 
difficult.

"The film will be an issue," St. John says. "I think any case with significant 
publicity has an issue with picking a jury. I've had them in the past, and 
anything that has significant national attention makes it hard to pick a jury."

St. John is unable to comment on any specifics of the case because of a 
court-mandated protective order preventing many involved from speaking to the 
media. (Citing the "unusually emotional nature of the issues involved in the 
case" and the "extensive local and national media coverage this case has 
already generated," a judge in 2013 issued the gag order preventing attorneys 
and family members and others from talking to the media.)

Routh's attorneys filed a motion in 2013 to change the location of the trial. 
"That was denied by the trial court, so now, you can't move the trial," St. 
John says. Routh has been in jail since the killings.

"No one wants to hurry up and do this, and then have it done wrong," says a 
court insider. "Everyone is taking the time to do it right."

Movie May Pose a Challenge

Houston criminal defense attorney George Parnham, who represented Andrea Yates 
(who was convicted of drowning her 5 children, then on appeal in 2006 found not 
guilty by reason of insanity), agrees that the movie poses challenges for 
Routh's trial.

"It's going to be very difficult for him to get a fair trial, not only because 
of the movie, but because of the media surrounding the movie," he tells PEOPLE. 
"Mr. Kyle is a hero in many people's eyes. Due to the fact that this movie has 
gained intense public attention, it's doubtful that a fair jury can be selected 
anywhere."

Parnham believes Routh's legal team should contest the gag order. "The only 
thing people will know about him is what they see in the movie," he says.

To win, Parnham says, Routh's lawyers will need to focus on the effects of PTSD 
and how "irrational" the shooting was.

"Kyle was reaching out to help this disturbed man, and ends up as a Good 
Samaritan, dead. That doesn't make sense," says the attorney. "This is an 
absolutely irrational act, and that has to be driven home to the general 
public."

(source: PEOPLE magazine)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Jurors hear openings in case of accused Pennsylvania killer



Opening statements started in a Pennsylvania courtroom on Wednesday in the case 
of an accused killer whose alleged victims were discovered buried in his 
backyard, prosecutors said.

Hugo Selenski, 41, is on trial in Luzerne County Court for the strangulation 
and beating deaths of a pharmacist and his girlfriend in 2002.

He faces more than 10 charges including homicide and conspiracy. Prosecutors 
are seeking the death penalty.

Authorities discovered the bodies of Michael Kerkowski and Tammy Fassett, along 
with other human remains, in Selenski's backyard in 2003.

Prosecutor Jarrett Ferentino cautioned jurors that they were about to journey 
through a world of "manipulation, violence and greed."

"It's a world that leaves its victims bound and broken," Ferentino said. "What 
you will hear will shock you, will horrify you and will break your heart."

He said the victims were bound and beaten, with their eyes covered with duct 
tape, and strangled with plastic flex ties.

The motive was to steal money to cover a bad check Selenski's girlfriend had 
written to buy a house, he said.

Selenski, his head shaved, appeared relaxed as he sat with his attorneys, 
taking notes and chatting.

The defense suggested in opening statements that another man, Paul Weakley, a 
friend of Selenski from jail, had committed the murders.

Weakley led authorities to Selenski's house where the remains were discovered. 
Two other people were also identified from the remains besides Kerkowski and 
Fassett.

Selenski went on trial in 2006 in a double-homicide case involving the other 2. 
A jury acquitted him of 1 murder and was unable to reach a verdict on the 
other.

Kerkowski had disappeared while he awaited sentencing for illegally selling 
prescription drugs. He and Selenski were friends, the prosecutor said.

Selenski is already serving a prison sentence in the state's Pocono Mountains 
region for a robbery conviction.

(source: Reuters)








GEORGIA----impending execution

Science-schmience, Georgia just wants to execute this intellectually disabled 
man ---- Warren Hill has had intellectual disability his entire life



Here's a riddle: Unless the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles or the U.S. 
Supreme Court steps in, Warren Hill will be executed on January 27th in 
Georgia. Yet if Hill lived in any other state, he would be safe from execution. 
How could that be?

The answer is that Hill is a person with intellectual disability - a category 
of people the U.S. Supreme Court has banned from the death penalty - but 
Georgia's unscientific standard for proving his disability prevents him from 
the protection he'd have in any other death row state.

It's undisputed that Hill has had intellectual disability his entire life. All 
7 doctors who have examined him agree, even those hired by the State. 2 Georgia 
Courts, 1 in 2002 and another in 2012, have also found Hill to be a person with 
intellectual disability by a preponderance of the evidence.

Yet unlike every other death row state, which uses a "preponderance of the 
evidence" standard, Georgia requires proof "beyond a reasonable doubt," the 
heaviest burden of proof in the law. This is significant because there's a 
clear consensus that it's virtually impossible to prove one's intellectual 
disability beyond a reasonable doubt in a capital case. Not only does this fly 
in the face of science, but it tragically results in the execution of persons 
with intellectual disability.

Hill's case has galvanized a wide range of supporters, both in Georgia and 
nationwide, particularly those in the intellectual disability community. The 
Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, All About Developmental 
Disabilities, the Arc of Georgia, the Arc, and the largest national group for 
intellectual disability rights, the American Association on Intellectual and 
Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), all oppose Hill's execution. President 
Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter have called for clemency in Mr. Hill's case, as 
has the family of the victim, specifically citing Hill's intellectual 
disability.

Several members of Mr. Hill's original jury have stated under oath that life 
without parole is the appropriate sentence; they say they would not have given 
him the death penalty at trial if life without parole had been an option. A 
poll even found that a majority of Georgians do not support executing a person 
with intellectual disability like Hill. The will of U.S. Supreme Court and 
Georgians is clear: in this country, we do not execute persons with 
intellectual disability. Yet if the Court or the Georgia Board of Pardons and 
Paroles does not step in, that is exactly what will happen on Tuesday. You can 
sign a letter in support of clemency for Warren Hill and learn more about the 
case at www.SaveWarrenHill.com.

(source: the-newshub.com)

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

Ga. Death Row Case Spurs Debate About Proof Of Mental Disability



Georgia's Board of Pardons and Paroles has scheduled a clemency hearing for 
death row inmate Warren Lee Hill Jr., who is set to be executed next Tuesday.

Hill's lawyers have argued he is intellectually disabled and should not be 
executed. Georgia has one of the strictest standards in proving mental 
disability.

In 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that it was cruel 
and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment for states to execute inmates 
who are intellectually disabled.

But a few states, including Georgia and Florida, set their own standards to 
measure and prove mental disability.

In Georgia, an inmate has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he or she has 
an intellectual disability.

The legal standard is not the same as a clinical standard, said Margaret 
Nygren, executive director and CEO of the American Association of Intellectual 
and Developmental Disabilities.

"When clinicians need to explain about standard deviation and standard errors 
of measurement, it's very hard to get to that 'beyond a reasonable doubt' legal 
standard," Nygren said.

She said most states have a standard of preponderance, or, majority of the 
evidence.

But Georgia House Speaker David Ralston told WABE that Georgia's requirement is 
lawful.

"Our death penalty laws, to my knowledge, have been upheld as constitutional to 
this point. I don't know that there needs to be a national sort of standard in 
these cases," Ralston said. "As long as each state's death penalty statutes 
conform to the constitutional requirement as the federal courts set them out, 
then I think that's the goal we ought to have."

Hill's lawyers say they'll appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing a 2014 
ruling, Hall v. Florida, which strengthened protections for inmates with mental 
disabilities.

Hill's been scheduled to be executed 3 times in the past before winning stays.

Hill is convicted of killing a fellow inmate in 1990 while serving a life 
sentence for the murder of his girlfriend. His clemency hearing is scheduled 
for Jan. 26.

(source: WABE news)








OHIO:

Warren man could face death penalty in stabbing death



A Warren man accused of stabbing his 71-year old great uncle could face the 
death penalty if convicted.

The Trumbull County grand jury handed up a superseding indictment against 
Marcus Honsaker on Wednesday. The indictment adds a specification needed to 
Honsaker's charges for the death penalty to be considered.

Honsaker faces charges of aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated 
burglary, and tampering with evidence.

Donald Giovannone was found stabbed to death in November 2014, Honsaker was 
arrested on Thanksgiving Day 2014.

He is currently being held in the Trumbull County Jail.

(source: WFMJ news)




KANSAS:

Man charged with capital murder in shootings of twin brother, sister-in-law



Prosecutors on Wednesday charged a 24-year-old man with capital murder in the 
shootings last week of his twin brother and sister-in-law at a south Wichita 
apartment complex.

Luis Alvarado-Meraz made his 1st appearance in Sedgwick County District Court 
on Wednesday before District Judge Joe Kisner on the charge and on 2 
alternative counts of 1st-degree murder. Dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit, he 
showed no emotion when the judge told him what offenses he faced in the Jan. 14 
slayings of 24-year-old Manuel Alvarado-Meraz and Manuel???s 22-year-old wife, 
Lucero Rodriguez - the couple he shared a home with at The Shores.

He said little more than "Yes, your honor," and "I understand" when questioned 
by the judge.

But the announcement brought tears to relatives of the brothers present in the 
courtroom to witness the first legal proceeding in the county's latest death 
penalty-eligible case.

Police have said a family member found Manuel Alvarado-Meraz and his wife shot 
to death at their home, near Pawnee and Broadway, early on Jan. 15 and called 
911. Authorities think the couple was killed around 7 p.m. the night before. 
Luis Alvarado-Meraz was arrested in the 700 block of East Mount Vernon about 16 
hours later.

In the criminal complaint filed in his case, Luis Alvarado-Meraz is accused of 
"unlawfully, intentionally, and with premeditation" killing the young couple at 
the same time or in the course of 2 connected actions on Jan. 14. The document 
also gives a notice of "penalty elements" that says prosecutors plan to present 
evidence of aggravating circumstances connected to the killings at 
Alvarado-Meraz's sentencing proceeding if he is convicted of capital murder.

Neither police in interviews nor court documents filed in the case give insight 
into what motivated the shootings.

Kisner on Wednesday set Luis Alvarado-Meraz's bond at $1 million. The judge 
also set an initial date of Feb. 4 for a preliminary hearing in the case, but 
the proceeding is expected to be postponed.

Family members comforted one another but offered no comments following 
Wednesday's hearing.

Alvarado-Meraz will be represented by court-appointed defense attorney Mark 
Manna of Topeka. If convicted of capital murder, he would face either life in 
prison without parole eligibility or the death penalty.

On a financial affidavit filed with the court, Alvarado-Meraz said he was 
single and self-employed as an oil painter. Next to a question that asked the 
reason he received no unemployment benefits, Alvarado-Meraz wrote: "ilegal 
Alien."

(source: Wichita Eagle)








OKLAHOMA----impending execution

Join fight to stop man's execution



Richard Glossip was sentenced to death by the state of Oklahoma for the murder 
of Barry Van Treese and is scheduled for execution on January 29. There is no 
physical evidence linking him with the crime; his conviction is based solely on 
killer Justin Sneed's statement, who initially insisted he acted alone and only 
later implicated Richard in a plea bargain sparing him the death penalty.

Richard has always maintained his innocence - refusing a plea deal that would 
have spared his life, as it would have required him to admit the crime. His 
claim is supported by the killer's daughter, who says her father confessed to 
her he implicated Richard only to make a deal and save himself.

Sister Helen Prejean (portrayed by Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking) has 
joined the fight to save Richard's life. Others who would like to help can do 
so by signing the online petition at 
www.change.org/p/mary-fallin-save-richard-glossip-s-life, pleading with 
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin to spare Richard's life.

REV PATRICK G BURKE

Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny

(source: Belfast Telegraph)