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

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 25



TEXAS:

Family forgives killer as they prepare for upcoming execution



They've waited 18 years.

They've forgiven the man who brutally murdered their sister, but they want to 
see his sentence carried out.

They want justice for Vicki.

On Thursday, Robert Charles Ladd, 57, is scheduled to be executed in Texas' 
infamous death house at the Walls Unit in Huntsville.

Several members of the family of Ladd's victim, Vicki Ann Garner, plan to 
witness the execution, including her sisters, Teresa Wooten and Kathy Pirtle.

The sisters and their families have ridden an emotional roller coaster through 
the years topped with the deaths of their parents, who did not live to see 
their daughter receive justice.

GONE, NOT FORGOTTEN

Vicki loved the Dallas Cowboys and never gave up on her team, even during their 
more unsuccessful years.

On Sundays, Vicki could be found on the edge of her couch, wringing her hands. 
If the Cowboys won, she'd cheer, but if they lost, she'd say, "You'll get them 
next time."

Vicki also loved Elvis Presley - his music, movies and everything else about 
the King. A trip to Graceland excited her so much she said she felt she was in 
Heaven.

She also loved wrestling, and her sisters said they didn't dare suggest it was 
fake or they'd see her angered.

Kathy and Teresa remembered their sister as giving the best hugs in all of 
Texas.

"Vicki was sweetness and a unique individual," Kathy said. "When she hugged 
you, you knew you had been hugged. She gave the best hugs."

"She was one of the most loving, tender, gentle and naive people one could ever 
meet," Teresa added of her mentally disabled sister. "She was an angel on 
earth."

Teresa said Vicki was considered intellectually and developmentally disabled, 
but she was high-functioning, meaning she could live alone under supervision of 
health care professionals. Vicki worked for the Andrews Center Behavioral 
Healthcare System in Tyler, where she also was a client.

Emily Biasini, the women's maternal aunt, said her niece was a person everyone 
remembered.

"She was an adorable child, and she left an impression on everyone she met as 
an adult. She thrived in Tyler, and she left an impression," Emily said.

Vicki's life may have been cut short, but she lived life and had fun.

"She might be gone, but we will never forget her," Teresa said.

Teresa and Kathy said they never will forget the moment they learned Vicki was 
dead.

On Sept. 25, 1996, Ladd sexually assaulted, strangled and beat Vicki to death 
before setting her body on fire.

Vicki was 38 years old.

THE MURDER

As she got ready for work the morning of Sept. 26, 1996, Teresa heard her 
husband, Michael, talking on the phone.

His tone was subdued, his voice shaky, and she knew something was wrong.

"He hung up, walked into the bathroom. I asked what's wrong. He just wrapped 
his arms around me and softly said Vicki is gone," she said. "It was 
devastating.

Miles away in Canton, Kathy also received the same news from their parents, 
Gene and Lawanta Garner, after they were notified by Tyler police.

"Part of our hearts were broken that day, and they have been ever since," 
Teresa said.

The family learned through Tyler police in days following the murder that Ladd 
had previously served time in prison for a 1978 triple homicide in Dallas. Ladd 
was sentenced to 40 years in that case but was released after serving only 13.

Police told the sisters that Ladd murdered Vicki in her Tyler apartment, then 
burned her body to hide evidence.

Detectives also learned Ladd was selling items from Vicki's apartment, and 
evidence, including DNA, linked him to the crime scene.

Ladd went to trial almost a year later and was prosecuted by Smith County 
District Attorney Jack Skeen Jr. and assistant D.A. David Dobbs.

The duo showed jurors the evidence putting Ladd in the apartment and committing 
the crime.

After deliberating only 18 minutes, the jury that convicted Ladd in the murder 
returned with the harshest of all possible sentences - the death penalty.

Teresa said the family was pleased with the verdict, because it meant Ladd 
would not hurt anyone else. He would not walk the streets again, but they still 
had questions.

BETRAYAL

Why was their sister killed by a man, who should've been in prison?

They family questioned how Ladd had been released after he was convicted of 
killing a Dallas area woman and her 2 small children.

They felt betrayed by the justice system, which they said failed them and all 
of the residents of Texas and allowed a killer to kill again.

"If he would have still been in prison, then our sister would be alive today," 
Teresa said, who now works as a sexual assault director in Mount Pleasant. "He 
was released on mandatory release, because the laws had changed, and this 
allowed him to kill our sister."

The family was not the only ones to question Ladd's release.

Dobbs, who assisted then-D.A. Skeen, said the case was one that shocked 
prosecutors in Smith County.

"We were furious when we found out that (Ladd) had only received 40 years in 
the Dallas case and then was let out after serving such a short portion of that 
sentence. That case happened at a time when the state prison system was 
completely overrun and broken. That would not happen today," he said.

The family did not hesitate when stating they blamed the system.

"I personally could live with him locked up for the rest of his life, but I 
don't trust the state to keep him locked up," Kathy said. "They are subject to 
the laws changing, and if they get someone in legislation, they could change 
everything overnight."

The family has learned during the past 18 years that the system is not perfect.

In 2003, while en route to witness Ladd???s scheduled execution, the family 
learned Ladd was granted a stay.

"All we could do is just turn around. It was really hard," she said.

The family believed the case would go back through the process quickly, but it 
was stalled in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas Judge 
Richard Schell's court, where it sat for almost 9 years without movement.

The court did not answer questions as to the delay, but District Clerk records 
show no activity from 2005 until 2013.

"Truth be told ... I think it just fell through the cracks. No one was putting 
on any pressure until I wrote the Office of Attorney General in October 2011, 
and they filed a writ of mandamus with the 5th Circuit," Teresa said.

In 2013, Judge Schell denied an appeal filed on Ladd's behalf in his court in 
2005, but the ruling came 2 years after Vicki's mother's death in 2011, and 
while her father, Gene, was in intensive care with only days to live.

THE LONG YEARS

Though the case may be coming to an end, the years of turmoil took its toll on 
the family.

Kathy and Teresa clasped each other's hands as they talked of how the murders 
changed their parents.

"I think the hardest part in all of this is watching mother and daddy age over 
night over this," Kathy said.

Teresa agreed saying, "from that day, you could see a change in their 
personalities. They continued to live, but you could see the anguish written on 
their faces. With each trial process, they relived that day over and over. In 
fact, we all did."

The sisters said despite their parents forgiving Ladd, they believed the grief 
cut their parents' lives short.

Their mother, Lawanta, died in 2011 at 78, and their father, Gene, died in 2013 
at 83.

"It's really been a long, hard journey. Over the course of time, we have lost 
both our mom and our dad, and neither one of them ever saw justice," Teresa 
said of the lengthy process.

Her sister, sighed and added, "It's been real emotional roller coaster of ups 
and downs."

Kathy's husband, Clint, said Vicki's death created a ripple effect in the 
family, but all of the couples managed to stay committed to each other, and the 
family as a whole grew stronger.

"It disturbed the family dynamic somewhat. ... Not so much the marriage, but in 
how we related to our children and everything. There was a ripple effect 
throughout everything that we did. It seemed everything happened at the most 
inopportune time whenever you're trying to be supportive ... you have to push 
everything aside and take care of that," Clint, a retired state trooper, said.

Kathy said the fabric of the family unit was stretched, but it never broke. Her 
sister agreed.

"It really has been a tough time for all of us. I can tell you that without 
Michael, I wouldn't have made it. This man has been throughout the past 18 
years my rock, and I don't know what I would have done without him," she said 
clutching her husband's arm.

In a soft-spoken voice, Michael replied, "It was a really tough time, and you 
see a lot of emotions, but the days are getting shorter for him. He will have 
judgment day pretty soon."

The sisters said memories of their sister sometimes come out of the blue and 
cause waves of emotion that overcome and drain them.

"You find yourself wondering why this is bothering me, it doesn't even connect 
that it bothers you, because of something that happened 18 years ago," Teresa 
said.

As Ladd's scheduled date with death approaches, the family has opened their 
hearts and allowed the healing to begin, but reservations remain.

JUSTICE REALIZED

Despite losing their daughter tragically, Gene and Lawanta decided they needed 
to forgive the man who took her life.

Teresa said, a few years after the murders, her mother and father wrote Ladd, 
telling him they forgave him of the crime.

But the burden did not subside, and Teresa and Kathy find themselves carrying 
that burden with the help of their families.

They want to forgive, but they can never forget.

"For me it's been an on-going process. You know I forgive him, and I'm at 
peace, and then something happens, and so it's a constant thing. I can't say I 
have forgiven and totally let go of it, but I am working on it," Kathy said.

Teresa said she wrote Ladd a letter telling him she forgave him, but she 
stressed the forgiveness was not for him, but for her peace of mind.

Her forgiveness came after her letter-writing campaign that got the case back 
on track after the 9-year delay.

Even with the forgiveness, the man still manages to strike fear in the family. 
They recalled the emotions they felt in November when they came face-to-face 
with Ladd at a hearing.

"In all honesty, it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be," Teresa said. 
"When he walked in, it was just that looking at him brought everything back. He 
looked incredibly scary, more than I had imagined or more than I remembered."

Teresa said her current line of work in advocacy for sexual assault victims was 
inspired out of years dealing with the murder of her sister.

"I could not be there during Vicki's darkest moment," Teresa said. "She was 
alone, and that is something that has been my nightmare for 18-plus years. She 
died hurt, afraid and alone. ... It was Vicki, and what happened to her that 
brought me here. I couldn't be there for Vicki, but I can be here now for 
survivors of rape, assault and sexual violence, and I do that in memory of 
her," she said.

Kathy and Teresa are concerned about how they will feel if Ladd's execution is 
carried out Thursday, but they know that it will mean justice for Vicki.

The Tyler Paper reached out to Ladd and requested an interview from death row, 
but he refused the request.

Vicki's family will be in Huntsville at 6 p.m. Thursday for the planned 
execution.

"We are not going to celebrate his death, but we will be there to witness it, 
and then celebrate Vicki finally getting justice," Teresa said.

(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----1

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----519

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

2------------Jan. 28-------------------Garcia White---------520

3------------Jan. 29-------------------Robert Ladd----------521

4------------Feb. 4--------------------Donald Newbury-------522

5------------Feb. 10-------------------Les Bower, Jr.-------523

6------------Mar. 5--------------------Rodney Reed----------524

7------------Mar. 11-------------------Manuel Vasquez-------525

8------------Mar. 18-------------------Randall Mays---------526

9------------Apr. 9--------------------Kent Sprouse---------527

10-----------Apr. 15-------------------Manual Garza---------528

11-----------Apr. 23-------------------Richard Vasquez------529

11-----------Apr. 28-------------------Robert Pruett--------530

12-----------May 12--------------------Derrick Charles------531

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Man Accused In Gun Shop Owner's Death Now Facing Attempted Escape Charges



A man awaiting trial in the shooting death of a western Pennsylvania gun shop 
owner is now accused of having tried to escape from the county jail.

State police in Indiana County say 44-year-old Jack Edmundson Jr. of Saltsburg 
is now charged with felony attempted escape and related counts.

The Indiana Gazette reports that he is accused of trying to saw through a steel 
bar in front of a cell window, but police and jail officials were tipped off in 
June about his possible intentions after reviewing telephone conversations.

Prosecutors allege that Edmundson grabbed a gun from a display case at Frank's 
Gun & Taxidermy in Conemaugh Township on Dec. 31, 2013, and killed 62-year-old 
Frank Petro.

District Attorney Patrick Dougherty says he plans to seek the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)








GEORGIA----impending execution

Ga. inmate who's come close to death 3 times to die Tuesday



A Georgia death row inmate who has come within hours of execution 3 instances 
is as soon as once more scheduled to die this week.

Warren Lee Hill, 54, who was sentenced to death in August 1991, was initially 
scheduled to die 2 1/2 years ago. Challenges filed by his lawyers have provided 
short-term reprieves on 3 occasions and twice have properly halted all 
executions in Georgia for months at a time.

His case has also drawn national focus to Georgia's toughest-in-the-nation 
regular for death row inmates to prove intellectual disability in order to be 
spared execution on these grounds. State law and a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court 
ruling prohibit the execution of the intellectually disabled, but Georgia needs 
proof beyond a reasonable doubt of that disability.

Hill was sentenced to death in Lee County for the 1990 beating death of fellow 
inmate Joseph Handspike. At the time Hill was already serving a life sentence 
for murder in the 1986 slaying of his girlfriend.

Hill started exhibiting indicators of intellectual disability at an early age, 
and all medical doctors who have examined Hill now agree he's intellectually 
disabled, Hill's lawyers have argued. The state has consistently argued Hill's 
defense has failed to prove beyond a affordable doubt that he is intellectually 
disabled, and Georgia's strictest-in-the-nation regular has repeatedly been 
upheld by state and federal courts.

Hill has a mild intellectual disability, giving him the emotional capacity of 
an 11-year-old, Brian Kammer, a lawyer for Hill told The Associated Press.

"That's who we're going to execute if we execute Warren Hill - a boy in a man's 
body," Kammer stated. "An 11-year-old can write letters and can talk 
articulately at instances, but we never count on an 11-year-old to be in a 
position to handle hard circumstances without enable."

Lawyers for the state have repeatedly argued Hill is not intellectually 
disabled, saying he supplied for his loved ones from an early age and was a 
recruiter in the military, in addition to other proof.

A U.S. Supreme Court opinion from May possibly that invalidated a Florida law 
mentioned folks facing the death penalty must have a fair opportunity to show 
the Constitution prohibits their execution.

Hill's lawyers argued that selection also invalidates Georgia's strict typical 
because psychiatric diagnoses are topic to a degree of uncertainty that is 
practically impossible to overcome.

The state's lawyers reject that argument, saying Georgia's the burden of proof 
is not in conflict with the U.S. Supreme Court selection and that the high 
court in its 2002 selection left that up to the states.

Hill nonetheless has a federal appeal pending, and his lawyers are also asking 
the U.S. Supreme Court to take into consideration his arguments based on the 
higher court's ruling in the Florida case. He also has a clemency hearing 
Monday ahead of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles, the only entity in 
Georgia that can commute a death sentence to life without the need of parole.

Hill was very first set for execution in July 2012. But the day prior to he was 
set to die, the state announced it was altering its execution approach from a 
3-drug combination to a single drug injection and reset his execution for about 
a week later.

Hill's lawyers filed challenges to the state's last-minute switch in execution 
protocol, saying that transform necessary a public hearing ahead of it could be 
instituted below existing administrative procedures. The Georgia Supreme Court 
halted the execution much less than two hours before Hill was to be put to 
death to give the justices time to contemplate that challenge.

Executions in Georgia were effectively place on hold for about 6 months even 
though that challenge was pending.

The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in February 2013 that the execution method 
change was legal. The next day, a new execution date 2 weeks later was set for 
Hill.

Days ahead of the execution was set to occur, Hill's lawyers submitted 
statements from the 3 medical doctors who examined Hill in 2000 and testified 
at his trial that he was not intellectually disabled. The physicians wrote in 
new statements that they had been rushed at the time of Hill's trial and new 
scientific developments had surfaced considering that then. All 3 reviewed 
facts and documents in the case and wrote that they believed Hill is 
intellectually disabled.

As Hill was being prepared for lethal injection, an 11th Circuit panel issued a 
keep to give the judges time to evaluation the new physician statements. The 
3-judge panel cited procedural rules in an April 2013 ruling rejecting Hill's 
request to submit his case to a federal court for reconsideration primarily 
based on the new statements.

Hill's 3rd scheduled execution date was in July 2013. A Fulton County Superior 
Court judge issued a short-term remain to take into consideration Hill's 
challenge to a new state law prohibiting the release of information and facts 
about the supply of Georgia's supply of lethal injection drugs. The Georgia 
Supreme Court in May perhaps upheld that law.

Executions were properly stopped for about 10 months though that challenge was 
deemed.

He is now set to be executed at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

(source: Associated Press)








TENNESSEE:

TBI: Evidence analysis in Bobo case done



Authorities say they have completed their analysis of more than 460 pieces of 
evidence in the case of a woman whose partial remains were found 3 years after 
her disappearance, possibly bringing defense attorneys a step closer to seeing 
how prosecutors have linked their clients to her.

2 men, Zachary Adams and Jason Autry, were arrested last spring and charged 
with murder and kidnapping in the case of Holly Bobo, a nursing student who was 
20 when she disappeared from her Decatur County home in April 2011. In October, 
John Dylan Adams was charged with raping Bobo. All have pleaded not guilty.

No trial has been set, and the defendants' lawyers have filed a motion to 
dismiss the charges. The attorneys said they had not received any evidence 
linking their clients to the crime. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation spokesman 
Josh DeVine said Thursday that some hair samples have been sent to the FBI for 
testing, but the TBI has analyzed all the evidence it has received.

Still, it was unclear when the defense would receive any information. District 
Attorney General Matt Stowe told The Associated Press that they would get the 
evidence they're requesting "at some point."

At the time of Bobo's disappearance, her brother told police he saw a man 
dressed in camouflage leading her into the woods near her home in Parsons, 
located about 110 miles east of Memphis. Last September, more than 3 years 
later, authorities said 2 men searching for ginseng found Bobo's skull in a 
wooded area not far away.

Bobo's disappearance and the subsequent lengthy search attracted national 
attention as authorities distributed posters with her photograph throughout the 
South.

Prosecutors have not said whether they plan to seek the death penalty. Hearings 
scheduled for this month have been postponed to an undetermined future date.

Jennifer Lynn Thompson, Adams' attorney, says state prosecutors have not even 
told her who found Bobo's remains or where they were found.

"I do not understand what is happening," Thompson said. "I have never before 
been involved in a case where there is no information about why my client was 
charged."

In the motion to dismiss, Thompson and Fletcher Long, Autry's lawyer, asked the 
judge to force prosecutors to produce "all dental record analysis and forensic 
studies" performed on the skull.

Adams has been in jail since March and Autry has been in jail since April. At a 
court hearing Dec. 17, Decatur County Circuit Judge Creed McGinley expressed 
concern that prosecutors had not yet provided key evidence to defense 
attorneys. He ordered the state to begin turning it over by Dec. 24.

Thompson says the state missed that deadline.

Then, TBI Director Mark Gwyn - who has said the Bobo investigation has been the 
most exhaustive and expensive in agency history - announced he was suspending 
all work on the case after Stowe accused TBI agents of misconduct.

Stowe took office Sept. 1 after defeating District Attorney Hansel McCadams, 
who had indicted Adams and Autry.

The dispute was only resolved after Stowe stepped down from the case and 
Jennifer Nichols, a Shelby County attorney who was Stowe's co-counsel on the 
case and who had worked with death-penalty cases, was appointed as a special 
prosecutor. She is the 3rd prosecutor in the case, which Stowe said is unusual.

He said the fact that multiple prosecutors have been involved, plus the complex 
nature of the case, have contributed to the delays.

"We're talking about terabytes and terabytes of information," he said.

Attorney Steve Farese, who serves as an adviser to the Bobo family, said the 
recent developments in the case are "different" than in other cases, and he 
acknowledged that the family is concerned with how the case is going.

"But they understand that this is a tedious process and they want to make sure 
everyone has their t's crossed and their i's dotted and to get this thing done 
right," Farese said.

Later, Farese added: "No one should lose focus that this is about justice."

(source: Associated Press)








KANSAS:

It's time to repeal the death penalty



My Catholic faith tells me that taking the life of another is a mortal sin.

I have never taken the life of another human being and would never commit such 
a crime. If a convicted killer is executed by our state, that person is killed 
in the name of the people of Kansas. If I do not speak out against the death 
penalty, I share in that guilt.

Members of the Kansas Legislature will be considering repeal of the death 
penalty this session. If repeal successfully passes, a person convicted of 
capital murder in the future would be sentenced to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole. Isn't that a better choice for us Kansans who do not 
believe in taking a human life? It's vital for those of us who support repeal 
to let our views be known now. Please write your legislators today.

MARY LOU WEIDENBACH, Topeka

(source: Letter to the Editor, Topeka Capital-Journal)








OKLAHOMA----impending execution

Glossip execution faces possible delay



About 10 people who did not physically commit the act of murder - but who 
instead paid to have it done - have been executed in the United States since 
1977, according to Death Penalty Information Center.

"It is not unprecedented, but it is the exception." said Richard Dieter, 
director of the center.

Richard Glossip, 51, could join the group. He was convicted in Oklahoma City in 
1998 of firstdegree murder for orchestrating the killing of his then boss, 
Barry Van Treese. Prosecutors said he paid a man named Justin Sneed to kill his 
Budget Inn motel boss before Treese could confront him about $6,000 missing 
from the business.

The guilty verdict from 1998 was overturned and he was granted a new trial. He 
was retried in 2004. Again, jurors convicted Glossip and he was sentenced to 
death.

Glossip, though, has steadfastly maintained his innocence. He told CNHI 
reporter Janelle Stecklein in November he has come to terms with his scheduled 
execution. "I've thought about it so long, I got to a point, if it gets to that 
stage, I'm ready for it," said Glossip. "You've got to be prepared. If you're 
not, it's not going to go well for you."

Glossip's execution was scheduled for this upcoming Thursday. However, a 
decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to review the use of Midazolam has many 
predicting Glossip's execution will be delayed. Supporters are also hopeful 
Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin may decide to spare his life.

"Richard's case is a quintessential example of why we need to put down this 
system that is broken," said Sister Helen Prejean, who was portrayed in the 
1995 movie "Dead Man Walking."

Prejean is a well-known advocate against the death penalty. She is listed as 
Glossip's spiritual advisor and will attend his execution, if it happens.

"He had no motive to kill Barry Van Treese," Prejean told the News-Capital. 
"The claim that he did it was because the books were messed up, but no receipts 
(prove that and) there is no evidence he was doing anything wrong with the 
business."

(source: McAlester News)