[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., OKLA., ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 26


PENNSYLVANIA:

Martin resentenced to life in prison for 1993 Palmyra murder



Bradley Martin, who had been sentenced to die for the September 1993 murder of 
a Palmyra florist, was resentenced Monday to life imprisonment without parole.

Senior Judge Robert J. Eby, who sentenced Martin 20 years ago to the death 
penalty, ruled in December that he would sentence Martin to life behind bars.

Eby stated in the Dec. 5 ruling that he was precluding the prosecution from 
continuing to seek the death penalty because Martin had been offered a plea as 
part of a package deal with his co-defendant Carolyn King. King refused to 
plead guilty, the 2 went to trial and were convicted of 1st-degree murder for 
killing Guy Goodman. The jury decided that Martin and King should receive the 
death penalty for killing Guy Goodman on Sept. 15, 1993.

"The senseless and brutality of this killing cannot be overstated," Eby said 
before resentencing Martin Monday morning.

He said his December ruling was not a change of heart about the death penalty.

"In my opinion, that sentence was appropriate," Eby said.

But the process that ended with Martin receiving the death sentence was flawed, 
he added.

District Attorney David Arnold said his office decided not to appeal Eby's 
December ruling. He said Goodman's son and daughter along with the detectives 
who worked the case had collectively agreed with that decision. Goodman's 
children did not attend the hearing because of Monday's road conditions, the 
district attorney said.

"We respect the court's ruling," Arnold told the judge.

"The family had had enough. We would be looking at countless more years to get 
to this point," Arnold said after Martin's resentencing hearing.

"None of us are happy about it," he said, adding prosectors believe Martin 
should have been executed for Goodman's murder.

"But rules are rules," Arnold said.

The district attorney said he expects the same result in King's case. A hearing 
is scheduled for March 3 on a defense motion to preclude the prosecution from 
pursuing the death penalty.

By agreeing to the life sentence, Martin gives up his right to file any more 
appeals in state or federal court.

"It's been a long road. The court has been with this case for two decades," 
said Christopher Walters, one of Martin's defense attorneys.

Martin has acknowledged that he and King killed Goodman in his Palmyra home, 
Walters said.

Gary Procter, another Martin defense attorney, said Martin wanted to apologize 
to his family and the Goodman family.

Martin's parents, who attended Monday's hearing, declined comment.

In a 39-page order, Eby wrote "the interests of justice warrant that (Martin) 
receive a sentence of life imprisonment for the charge of 1st degree murder 
..."

Eby made his ruling after determining that the plea agreement offered to Martin 
before his 1994 trial violated Martin's due process rights because "it 
impermissibly conditioned (Martin's) ability to accept the agreement for a 
sentence of life imprisonment without exposure to the death penalty upon a 
factor or factors outside of (Martin's) control."

The district attorney at the time, Bradford Charles, required Martin and his 
co-defendant, Carolyn King, to both plead guilty in order to receive a life 
sentence.

A package plea offer was made to Martin and King on Feb. 7, 1994, and was 
available to them when their trial began on Sept. 30, 1994.

Eby said King had a pen to sign the agreement but changed her mind at the last 
minute and the case was heard by a jury, which convicted both of them of 
1st-degree murder and recommended both receive the death penalty.

The Lebanon County District Attorney's Office argued that prosecutors have 
"complete discretion both to decide whether to offer a plea agreement and to 
dictate its terms," Eby wrote in his December ruling.

Eby agreed with that contention, but noted that the Commonwealth must act in 
accord with the Constitution.

"We do not step outside of precedent by applying Constitutional protections to 
the discretionary area of plea bargaining," Eby wrote.

The judge emphasized that a sentence of life in prison was considered 
acceptable by prosecutors 20 years ago.

The judge rejected the premise that a new sentencing hearing should be held 
before a jury to determine if Martin should still be sentenced to death.

"Absent our intervention to remedy the due process violation suffered by Martin 
in 1994, it is possible that outcome could occur again," Eby wrote.

Martin was 22 at the time of the murder; King was 28. Martin, who had been 
incarcerated on a parole violation, was free on a 2-hour pass from the Lebanon 
County prison when he and King traveled to Goodman's home on Sept. 15, 1993. 
Goodman had visited Martin and written to him while Martin was in prison.

Martin struck Goodman over the head with a vase, and the couple duct-taped a 
plastic bag over his head. Goodman's body was found by police 10 days later.

Martin and King stole Goodman's car, credit card and checkbook and drove to 
Bismarck, N.D., where they abducted and killed a 59-year-old woman. They were 
arrested in Arizona after a police chase on Oct. 5, 1993.

Martin and King pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder in the death of Donna Martz 
and were sentenced to life in prison in Nevada. The Nevada sentence is 
consecutive to Martin's sentence for the Goodman murder.

(source: Lebanon Daily News)








OKLAHOMA----impending executions

Oklahoma may postpone 3 executions for Supreme Court review into lethal 
injections----4 death row inmates sued the state saying they fear the sedative 
midazolam cannot prevent their suffering during lethal injection

Oklahoma is debating the delay of 3 executions while the U.S. Supreme Court 
reviews the kind of sedative used for lethal injections.

It comes after a number of death row inmates suffered reactions to the drug or 
were not rendered sufficiently unconscious.

Rather than stop the executions himself, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt 
took the unusual step of asking the justices for a stay.

The review will test the sedative - midazolam - to check that it renders 
recipients unconscious, the state's attorney general said in a Monday filing 
with the court.

Oklahoma wants the right to resume executions if it finds a different suitable 
drug.

The delay would affect inmate Richard Glossip, 52, who was convicted of 
arranging for 'the beating death of his employer'; John Grant, 53, who 'stabbed 
a correction worker to death'; and Benjamin Cole, 49, who 'bent his 9-month-old 
daughter in half, breaking her spine, killing her.'

Glossip is scheduled to be executed on Thursday.

Grant's execution is set for February 19 and Cole is scheduled to be put to 
death March 5.

They are among 4 death row inmates who sued the state, saying they fear the 
sedative midazolam cannot prevent their suffering as lethal drugs take effect.

HOW LETHAL INJECTIONS WORK

States that have the death penalty execute convicts using 3 drugs.

The 1st sedates the inmate, the 2nd paralyzes, and the 3rd stops their heart.

Oklahoma adopted midazolam in 2013, which is also used in Florida.

The 1st execution using midazolam was called off after the convict, murderer 
Clayton Lockett, clenched his teeth, moaned and writhed on the gurney before a 
doctor noticed a problem with the intravenous line.

1 of the 4 was executed this month and showed no signs of physical distress.

Charles Warner implied discomfort during his final statement January 15 but 
before any lethal drugs were administered.

'It is important that we act in order to best serve the interests of the 
victims of these horrific crimes and the state's obligation to ensure justice 
in each and every case,' Pruitt said in a statement.

'The families of the victims in these 3 cases have waited a combined 48 years 
for the sentences of these heinous crimes to be carried out.'

Oklahoma, as well as Florida, uses midazolam as 1 of 3 drugs in lethal 
injection executions.

The 2nd drug serves to paralyze the inmate and the 3rd one is used to stop his 
heart.

Last April, Oklahoma used midazolam for the 1st time in the execution of death 
row inmate Clayton Lockett, who clenched his teeth, moaned and writhed on the 
gurney before a doctor noticed a problem with the intravenous line and the 
execution was called off.

Lockett died 43 minutes after the procedure began. An investigation found he 
died due to the lethal drugs he was given.

Oklahoma revamped its procedures in response to the Lockett execution, 
including a 5-fold increase in the amount of midazolam used.

'2 federal courts have previously held the current protocol as constitutional, 
and we believe the United States Supreme Court will find the same,' Pruitt 
said.

(source: Daily Mail)

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

The Supreme Court Allowed A Man To Be Executed, Then They Took His Case



Just over a week ago, the Supreme Court denied a stay of execution to an 
Oklahoma inmate named Charles Warner over the dissent of the Court's 4 more 
liberal members. According to Justice Sonia Sotomayor's dissent, the drug 
cocktail that Oklahoma planned to use on Warner was too likely to result in the 
"needless infliction of severe pain" to be permissible under the Constitution's 
ban on cruel and unusual punishments. Sotomayor, however, only garnered 4 votes 
for her position, and she needed 5 to halt the execution.

Nevertheless, on Friday, just over a week after Warner received a fatal dose of 
the poisonous cocktail Sotomayor criticized in her opinion, the Supreme Court 
announced that it would hear Warner's case after all.

Under normal circumstances, Warner's death would moot his case. Subject only to 
narrow exceptions, the Supreme Court only has jurisdiction over cases where a 
decision in a particularly party's favor is likely to redress an injury that 
party experienced. And the justices only have the power to destroy life. They 
do not have the power to resurrect the dead.

Warner, however, is 1 of 4 death row inmates who challenged the use of a 
potentially unreliable sedative that may allow inmates to experience 
considerable pain during their executions. The other 3, at least as of this 
writing, are still alive.

Though the Court's decision to hear this case may seem like good news for these 
3 inmates - who will almost certainly be executed absent judicial intervention 
- there are reasons to doubt that the Court will ultimately rule in their 
favor. If a 5th justice agreed with Sotomayor that this challenge to Oklahoma's 
execution protocols has merit, it would be very odd for that justice not to 
join Sotomayor in voting to stay Warner's execution. The fact that all 5 of the 
Court's conservatives allowed Warner to be executed suggests that they see no 
problem with Oklahoma's practices.

Additionally, the Court appears to have departed from an informal practice it 
has historically used in death penalty cases. It takes 5 justices to grant a 
stay of execution, but only 4 to grant a petition asking the Court to review a 
case. To prevent the incongruous circumstance where the Court announces that 
they will hear a particular inmate's case only to have that case become moot 
when the inmate is executed, however, a 5th justice typically grants a 
"courtesy" vote to stay an inmate's execution when 4 justices agree to hear 
that inmate's case.

To date, however, the Court has not stayed the 3 remaining inmates' executions, 
1 of whom is scheduled to be executed on Thursday. If a majority of the Court 
is willing to allow a man to be killed while his case is currently pending 
before the justices, that is not a good sign that there are 5 votes to halt 
Oklahoma's execution practices.

(source: thinkprogress.org)








ARIZONA:

Arizona death row inmate who wants no further appeals may be examined for 
mental competency



A mental competency exam may be conducted for a 44-year-old Arizona death row 
inmate who wants no further appeals in his case stemming from the 2006 beating 
death of his 14-year-old niece in Kingman.

Brad Lee Nelson was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to death for 
the 2006 killing of Amber Leann Graff. The Arizona Supreme Court in 2012 
decided an automatic appeal by upholding Nelson's conviction and sentence.

Nelson is now asking to represent himself, not have any further appeals and 
accept his death sentence.

Judge Richard Weiss of Mohave County Superior court last week ordered 
prosecution and defense attorneys to file arguments by Feb. 20 on whether 
Nelson must have a mental health exam.

The development was first reported by the Mohave Valley Daily News.

(source: Associated Press)








CALIFORNIA:

Defense: Misuse of jailhouse informant should block death penalty in man's 
double-murder case



The number of Orange County criminal cases tainted by possible misuse of 
jailhouse informants has grown to 30 cases spanning three decades, defense 
attorneys alleged in papers filed in a double-murder case.

Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders made the accusation in a motion to 
block the death penalty in the case against Daniel Wozniak, a community theater 
actor accused of killing 2 acquaintances in 2010. Sanders contends that local 
police and prosecutors improperly used informants and hid their information 
from defendants.

It is the same strategy that Sanders is using in the case of confessed mass 
killer Scott Dekraai, who killed 8 people, including his wife, at a Seal Beach 
salon. A judge in the Dekraai case found misconduct by prosecutors and police, 
including that some "undoubtedly lied" on the witness stand.

"For decades the (district attorney) and (sheriff's department) have known 
about and ignored issues regarding the reliability of informants, the improper 
use of informants and the concealment of informant evidence," Sanders wrote in 
an 81-page motion in the Wozniak case filed Friday.

Wozniak prosecutor Matt Murphy, however, fired back the same day that Sanders 
is wrong. Murphy told Judge James Stotler that the motion amounted to "the 
biggest dud in the history of Orange County jurisprudence."

"This is a delay and he is dumping it on you at the last possible second," 
Murphy told the judge. The trial is scheduled for Feb. 13 after being stalled 
for 4 years.

Wozniak is accused of killing Costa Mesa neighbor Samuel Herr, 26, and Herr's 
friend, Juri Kibuishi, 23, in 2010.

Sanders alleges that police and prosecutors improperly used a paid informant to 
elicit a confession from Wozniak behind bars. Murphy said the informant was not 
working for authorities when he spoke with Wozniak.

Sanders, in his motion, also alleges that Orange County sheriff's deputies 
worked with prosecutors to get MSNBC an interview with Wozniak, resulting in a 
damaging portrayal of the defendant on national television. Murphy said he had 
nothing to do with the interview.

In the courtroom Friday, Murphy angrily said Sanders had made a career of 
mucking around and improperly accusing prosecutors and police of misconduct.

The rancor between Murphy and Sanders was so heavy Friday that Stotler accused 
them of "dogfighting."

The judge set a hearing today on the motion.

(soruce: Orange County Register)