[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.J., FLA., OHIO, OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 22


TEXAS----impending execution

ACLU attorney files paperwork to halt execution of ETX man convicted of murder



An American Civil Liberties Union attorney has filed paperwork to halt the 
execution of an East Texas man convicted of murder.

According to the Smith County 114th District Court, attorney Brian Stull has 
filed a "post-conviction writ of habeas corpus" in order to halt the execution 
of Robert Charles Ladd. Stull has filed the paperwork challenging Texas legal 
procedures to determine intellectual disability in the wake of Hall v. Florida.

"Undersigned counsel has insufficient time to prepare a more thorough 
application, but begs the Court's patience to consider this important issue, to 
grant a stay, and to set this case for further briefing and a hearing," wrote 
Stull.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Robert Charles Ladd, 57, 
is set to be put to death by lethal injection on Thursday, January 29, 2015, 
for the rape and strangulation murder of Vicki Ann Garner on September 25, 
1996.

Court documents state Ladd also robbed Garner's home before setting it on fire.

1996 crime scene

Police were able to connect the murderer to the crime scene after DNA was found 
on Garner and a television set taken from her home. Authorities said he 
exchanged it for crack cocaine. Ladd was found guilty capital murder on August 
23, 1997, and four days later he was sentenced to death.

Ladd's execution had been put on hold in 2003 when old evidence showed the 
suspect was mentally challenged; he received an IQ score of 67 . 2 other 
appeals were previously denied in 1999 and 2000.

Then District Attorney Jack Skeen disagreed with the stay and stated he 
believed Ladd knew exactly what he was doing when he brutally murdered Garner, 
a mentally-challenged woman.

Ladd was also convicted of murdering a woman and her 2 children and then 
setting her house on fire in 1978. He was released from prison after serving 16 
years of a 40-year sentence.

(source: KETK news)

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

1 week from execution, death row inmate makes final plea to be spared due to 
"intellectual disabilities"



A North Carolina lawyer intervened unexpectedly Wednesday in the impending 
execution of a Tyler man convicted of murdering a woman in the 1990s.

Robert Charles Ladd was found guilty of capital murder in August of 1997. A 
jury sentenced him to death for breaking into 38-year-old Vicki Ann Garner's 
home in Tyler on September 25, 1996, killing her and then setting her body on 
fire before stealing various items from her home.

A lengthy application for a post-conviction writ of habeas corpus field 
Wednesday in Smith County's 114th District Court seeks a stay which would halt 
Ladd's planned execution on January 29. This latest request comes after more 
than a decade of attempts on Ladd's part to convince judges at all levels of 
the criminal justice system of his own mental disabilities. In some cases, 
being mentally disabled disqualifies a criminal from potential execution under 
the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Attorney Brian Stull told the court he had just been retained by Ladd a week 
prior to the filing, and though he believes there is a case to be made in 
Ladd's favor, he would need more time to do so.

The crux of Stull's argument is that a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court case, Hall v. 
Florida, nullifies a 7-pronged approach laid out by the Texas Court of Criminal 
Appeals for determining whether someone's intellectual disability is severe 
enough to qualify for exemption from execution under the Eighth Amendment.

"In Hall," Stull wrote, "the court confirmed that states' procedures must 
conform to accepted clinical standards and must afford defendants a 'fair 
opportunity' to establish an exception based on intellectual disability."

Stull said the state's current system currently relies on several "subjective" 
criteria.

The underlying issue is that the state's evaluation system has yet to come 
under legal scrutiny in the wake of Hall. Stull argues, as a result, that 
Ladd's case should prompt a full evidentiary hearing in order to begin the 
process of applying the ramifications of the Supreme Court's decision to 
existing Texas law.

Such a hearing would force a delay in Ladd's execution proceedings. As of 
Thursday afternoon, Judge Christi Kennedy had yet to rule on the initial 
request.

(source: KYTX news)








NEW JERSEY:

'Blind Faith' Killer Robert Marshall Gains Parole Hearing



Convicted killer Robert O. Marshall has been granted a full hearing before the 
state Parole Board, according to an article in the Asbury Park Press.

Marshall, 75, a former Toms River insurance salesman who was well-known in the 
community, has been in prison for 30 years, since his Dec. 19, 1984 arrest in 
the September 1984 murder-for-hire of his wife, Maria. The story of Marshall, 
the murder and his trial and conviction became widely known via the 
best-selling 1989 novel "Blind Faith," by Joe McGinniss, as well as the 1990 TV 
miniseries that was based on the book.

Marshall was convicted in 1986 of arranging Maria's murder so he could collect 
on a $1.5 million life insurance policy to pay off his debts and get out of his 
marriage, because he had fallen in love with another woman.

Marshall initially was sentenced to death, but in 2006 that sentence was 
overturned on appeal due to what the court ruled was ineffective counsel. He 
was resentenced to 30 years to life in prison at that time, and New Jersey 
abolished the death penalty a short time later.

Marshall sought early release on the grounds of health issues in 2012, but that 
request was rejected by Judge Wendel E. Daniels.

Maria Marshall was murdered Sept. 7, 1984, as she and her husband returned to 
Toms River from a trip to Atlantic City. Robert Marshall pulled off at the 
Oyster Creek picnic area in Lacey Township -- the rest area has since been 
closed. He told investigators he was hit on the head and knocked out while he 
was changing a flat tire, and when he regained consciousness, he found Maria 
dead of 2 gunshot wounds.

One of the men accused in the case, Larry Thompson of Louisiana, who was found 
not guilty by a jury, admitted last year that he was the triggerman.

Robert Marshall's hearing before the full parole board is set for March.

(source: patch.com)








FLORIDA:

Florida Supreme Court upholds death penalty in Craigslist killer case



The Florida Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence against a Georgia man 
who came to be known as the "Craigslist Killer" after he murdered a woman in 
Jacksonville.

David Kelsey Sparre, 23, was convicted of killing Tiara Pool in July 2010 
inside her Hodges Boulevard apartment. Sparre, who lived in Waynesville, Ga., 
arranged to meet Pool through Craiglist while her husband was deployed at sea. 
He later said he killed Pool for the "rush."

"It was brutal murder," said Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda, who 
prosecuted Sparre. "One where the death penalty was certainly justified."

During trial de la Rionda said Sparre stabbed Pool about 90 times while killing 
her. De la Rionda also said Sparre tortured the victim and took pleasure in it.

Sparre arranged to meet Pool while her husband, with whom her marriage had 
become troubled, was deployed at sea. Pool had placed a Craiglist ad looking 
for male companionship while her sons were out of town with grandparents.

After Sparre answered her ad, the victim traded sexually suggestive texts with 
him before meeting up with him at a local hospital. He was there with his 
grandmother, who was having heart surgery.

According to police and prosecutors, Sparre left the hospital with Pool and had 
sex with her in her Hodges Boulevard apartment before killing her. He cleaned 
up some of the evidence before leaving and later told police he'd learned about 
forensic investigations from watching TV.

After killing Pool, Sparre stole her husband's PlayStation 3, and then drove 
Pool's car back to the hospital to be with his grandmother. Police later found 
Sparre by tracking his emails, text messages and phone calls.

At a death-penalty hearing prior to sentencing, Chief Assistant Public Defender 
Refik Eler, who defended Sparre at trial, had planned to introduce evidence 
that his client was mentally unbalanced and had been abusing drugs and alcohol 
since he was 11.

But Sparre instructed Eler not to present any evidence on his behalf. And 
reiterated that instruction to Circuit Judge Elizabeth Senterfitt, who ruled 
that Eler couldn't present the evidence against Sparre's wishes.

With no defense, and friends and family of Pool testifying for the prosecution 
during the hearing, the jury that convicted Sparre unanimously recommended he 
get death and Senterfitt complied with the recommendation.

On appeal Tallahassee Public Defender Nada Carey argued that Senterfitt abused 
her discretion by not considering all the evidence that would have kept Sparre 
off death row. She said it didn't matter that Sparre didn't want it brought up.

Carey said the justices should mandate that every time a death-penalty 
defendant refuses to present evidence in his or her own defense, a special 
counsel should be appointed to present mitigating evidence. But Justice Peggy 
Quince seemed lukewarm to the idea during oral argument in December, 2013.

"How do we honor the defendant's right to not present mitigation while urging 
the judge to consider all the evidence," Quince said. "I'm not sure both can be 
done."

The Supreme Court has previously ruled that defendants have a right to not 
present evidence in their own defense. It also has ruled that trial court 
judges have the right to appoint special counsel when they believe it's 
appropriate.

But Carey told the justices there are no guidelines for when special counsel is 
appointed, it's up to the individual judge. And the Supreme Court needs to step 
in and establish guidelines because right now people are not being sent to 
death row in a fair and uniform manner.

Justice Barbara Pariente agreed that there needed to be some guidelines for 
when a special counsel was appointed. But she also expressed skepticism that 
Sparre should be resentenced.

Sparre sent a letter to the mother of his child saying he wanted to know what 
it was like to stab someone, and with that type of evidence justifying death, 
Senterfitt may have been justified in rejecting any argument for life without 
parole, Pariente said.

(source: jacksonville.com)








OHIO:

Ohio wants death row inmates' 1st Amendment challenge to lethal injection law 
dismissed



A new state law that shields the names of companies providing lethal injection 
drugs is not a free speech violation, attorneys for the Ohio prisons agency 
argue as they ask a federal judge to dismiss a challenge of the law by 4 death 
row inmates.

Nothing in the law that takes effect in March infringes on prisoners' First 
Amendment rights or affects their ability to argue issues in court, according 
to a court filing by the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

Mandates in the law limit the information the state will provide the public, 
including the inmates, according to the attorneys representing the Department 
of Rehabilitation and Correction.

"Refraining from providing information is an entirely different enquiry than 
suppression of a person's speech," the attorneys said in Tuesday's filing.

Inmates also allege the restrictions treat them differently than other groups, 
arguing that state lethal injection expert witnesses could have their identity 
shielded under the law, while defense witnesses wouldn't get the same 
protection. The state disputes the unequal treatment allegation.

"Proponents of the death penalty have no greater access to the information than 
the opponents," the state attorneys said.

Supporters of the new law say shielding the names of companies that provide 
lethal injection drugs is necessary to protect drugmakers from harassment and 
ensure the state gets supplies of the drugs.

Ohio executions have been on hold since a troubling 26-minute execution a year 
ago during which a prisoner getting a first-ever 2-drug combo repeatedly gasped 
and snorted.

The state has ditched that 2-drug method and said it will use 1 of 2 different 
anesthetics in the future, neither of which it has on hand and both of which 
may be hard to find.

Attorneys for the inmates say there is no evidence whatsoever of companies 
being harassed.

The lawsuit was filed in December on behalf of Ohio death row prisoners Ronald 
Phillips, Raymond Tibbetts, Robert Van Hook and Grady Brinkley.

(source: Associated Press)








OKLAHOMA----impending execution

Richard Glossip, Death Row Inmate Set To Die Next Week: 'I Think About Just 
Being Able To Hug My Family'



Richard Glossip wakes up each day knowing that at 6 p.m. on Jan. 29, he's going 
to die.

The 51-year-old has been on death row ever since he was convicted of 1st-degree 
murder nearly 17 years ago on the testimony of a single witness. Glossip has 
maintained his innocence from the start, and now he's hoping that a last-minute 
reprieve from Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) -- or the White House -- can spare 
him from becoming the 196th person to be put to death by the state of Oklahoma.

Justin Sneed, a young contract handyman who worked and lived at the Best Budget 
Inn that Glossip managed in Oklahoma City, confessed to beating motel owner 
Barry Van Treese to death with a baseball bat on Jan. 7, 1997. Prosecutors said 
Glossip feared losing his job and recruited Sneed to kill his boss. Sneed would 
later testify that Glossip promised him $10,000 to commit the crime. Both men 
were convicted of 1st-degree murder. In exchange for his testimony, Sneed 
received a life sentence without parole; Glossip received a death sentence.

A judge told Glossip that if he admitted his involvement in Van Treese's death, 
he would be sentenced to life in prison and eligible for parole in 20 years. 
Glossip said he refused to perjure himself by admitting to something he didn't 
do.

Last month, Glossip went on a hunger strike, which drew more attention to his 
case. He had already brought several anti-death-penalty advocates into his 
corner, including Sister Helen Prejean, the nun and clemency advocate behind 
the memoir Dead Man Walking. A Change.org petition calling for Fallin to spare 
Glossip's life has garnered more than 11,000 signatures.

If Glossip is executed as planned, he'll leave behind four children: Christina, 
35; Erica, 32; Tori Lynn, 28; and Richard Jr., 26, as well as two 
grandchildren, ages 14 and 8. The Huffington Post spoke to him by phone earlier 
this week.

glossip

I laugh all the time. I know the guards done think I flipped, completely crazy, 
because I laugh at the TV all the time.

I love British comedies. Especially this one called "Last of the Summer Wine." 
It's these 3 guys, these old buddies who have been friends for years and years 
since school. And it's about the things they enjoy, like climbing a hill and 
lying in the grass. They don't need cars, homes, all that fancy stuff. They 
just need a cup of tea or to go lie on a hill somewhere.

And you watch that, it makes you realize you didn't need all them things in 
life either. All you need to live is a simple life. A simple life will always 
be the best.

You just gotta make do with what you have. And I do. Anything funny that comes 
on, I'll watch, and I'll sit and laugh with it. It helps me get through every 
day, knowing something's there to laugh at.

It doesn't always have to be a serious thing every day that you get up. Just 
because you're facing being executed, don't mean you can't laugh and try to 
live a life as best you can while you're in your situation.

I'm proud to say a lot of people down here say I've made a difference in their 
lives, and it's helped them to cope with this a lot better. You gotta spend the 
time you have no matter where you are, make the best out of the situation.

My last cellie, Wendell Grissom -- he ended up seeing that you don't have to 
live every day in this place miserable. That you don't have to be mad at a 
guard because he does something to you that you didn't like. It's their job; 
you can't be getting mad and kicking on the door and screaming at people just 
because they decided they didn't like what you're doing at the time.

Grissom had that problem at first. Even his pen pal in England wrote me and 
said, "I've never seen such a big change in a person." She said his demeanor is 
so much better since he met me.

And that makes you feel good, knowing you could help change somebody. To make a 
difference. Letting it destroy your mind or taking whatever peace you have left 
is just crazy. You just can't let that happen to you.

I didn't realize I had that much strength to deal with this for so many years. 
People complain about the simple things in life that they don't have. Like a 
new car or this or that. I get up every day facing this and I fight. It 
surprises me that I have it in me. I sure didn't think I did.

I thought I'd have been a granddad many times over. I am a granddad, and I'm 
happy about that. But a lot is different now, that's for sure. I just thought 
life would be totally different.

I have 2 grandkids that I've never seen except in pictures. It gives you 
something to look forward to. That if something should happen, and this should 
change, I would get to see these people and get to be part of their lives. 
They'd get to see me, who I am, and see that this place hasn't changed me.

Every now and then I'll lie back and think about that. I really do. I just 
think about amazing things that could happen if I were to be set free.

I think about just being able to hug my family. Being with them at mealtimes. 
And I miss working so bad, it's unbelievable. I love to work. I've always loved 
to work.

That's one of the things I miss most in life. Being able to get up and go to 
work each day, and bust my ass each day, as I always have. I know it sounds 
strange and simple.

My oldest daughter just got back into my life. We had written each other 
several times since I've been locked up, but as for phone conversations, we 
just started talking on the phone a little over a month ago. She was so excited 
to talk to her dad, since we haven't seen each other for so long.

When your family starts getting back in your life and you see how much they 
loved you, even after all the years you've been separated from them, it helps 
keep you very, very strong. Especially over these last couple of weeks.

They showed up at my trial without my consent. I really didn't want them there. 
I didn't want them drug into this mess. That's what it was. A mess.

I didn't want them visiting me in prison, which made them very upset, for the 
most part. I didn't want them seeing me through the glass and cuffs and 
shackles. I didn't want them seeing their dad like that. I wanted them to 
remember me as I was.

My uncle was a preacher, so I had to grow up in the church. But I've never 
really been away from the church for long periods of time. I've always 
believed.

I think [being on death row] makes you a lot stronger in your beliefs. Or you 
better let it make you a lot stronger in your beliefs, that's for sure. When 
you get down close to where I'm at now, it's a comfort to know that you've made 
peace with everything. Especially God.

A lot of people ask if I hate [Sneed]. I don't hate him. Hatred ain't gonna do 
anything for you. I don't know what people believe in the afterlife, or what's 
going to happen. I don't even know, to be honest with you 100 %, what I 
believe. But I do believe that there is something after this life, and that I 
don't want to be going through it hating everybody.

I don't give up hope in any way, shape or form. Because until they lay you on 
that table and stick them needles in you and you're completely dead, you always 
have hope. I'll never let them take that away from me, no matter what.

I'm not afraid of dying. Everybody dies. It's just a part of life: You're born, 
you die, that's it. But I do want people to know that I'm innocent.

Everybody's skeptical when you first tell them you're innocent. When you're on 
death row and in prison, people come up and say, "I'm innocent; I didn't do 
it." But when you look into the case and start seeing for yourself, "Hey, 
something ain't right here," then it really kind of bugs some of these people 
that I'm not more angry than I am. That I'm taking this like I am. But I'd 
rather take it like this than be miserable every day up until that day.

A lot of reporters have asked me, "If you got out tomorrow, would you be bitter 
toward all of the things that have happened to you?" I told them, "No, I 
wouldn't." I'm not a bitter person now, and I don't want to be a bitter person 
ever. Things happen. It's unfortunate that they do. But all I can do now is 
fight.

My friends say, "You just can't seem to catch a break." Maybe now I'll catch 
the break. Who knows. It's not over till it's over.

(source: Huffington Post)