[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., MD., GA., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 27


TEXAS----stay of impending execution

Texas court reprieves death row prisoner Garcia White



Texas's top criminal court has halted Wednesday's execution of a prisoner 
linked to 5 killings in Houston.

The Texas court of criminal appeals issued a reprieve on Tuesday to death row 
inmate Garcia White. Prosecutors and defence attorneys say the court did not 
immediately explain its decision.

White was sentenced to death after being convicted of fatally stabbing twin 
16-year-old girls at a Houston apartment where their mother was also killed. 
White was also tied to the deaths of a grocery store owner and a prostitute.

In their appeal, White's attorneys argued that he may have been mentally 
impaired because of longtime cocaine use when he waived his right to an 
attorney during interrogations.

They also say DNA evidence suggests a 2nd person may have been involved in the 
triple slaying.

(source: The Guardian)

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

Texas halts execution of man convicted in multiple homicide



Texas' top criminal court called off Wednesday's scheduled execution of a 
death-row inmate linked to 5 killings in Houston, though attorneys said the 
court didn't immediately explain its decision.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a reprieve Tuesday afternoon to 
inmate Garcia White, who was sentenced to death after being convicted of 
fatally stabbing twin 16-year-old girls at a Houston apartment where their 
mother also was killed. White also was tied to the deaths of a grocery store 
owner and a prostitute.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys said the court didn't immediately explain its 
decision. Another inmate is scheduled for execution Thursday for a separate 
crime in the nation's busiest death-penalty state.

In their appeal, White's attorneys argued that he may have been mentally 
impaired because of longtime cocaine use when he waived his right to an 
attorney during interrogations. They also said DNA evidence suggests a 2nd 
person may have been involved in the triple slaying.

The bodies of Bonita Edwards, 35, and her 16-year-old daughters Annette and 
Bernette were found at their apartment a few days after they were last seen in 
December 1989. But his confession came only after he was arrested 6 years 
later, for the July 1995 death of 55-year-old Hai Van Pham, who was fatally 
beaten during a robbery at his store.

White told police he went to Edwards' home to smoke crack cocaine and killed 
her during an argument, then attacked 1 of her daughters when she came out of 
her room. Evidence shows the attacker also broke down the locked door of the 
girls' bedroom.

"I stabbed 1 in the bedroom and 1 in the living room," White told detectives, 
who said both girls' throats were slit.

White was convicted of killing the teenagers, and charged but not tried for the 
deaths of Bonita Edwards and Pham. Authorities also linked but never charged 
White with the slaying of a prostitute.

Another inmate, Robert Ladd, 57, is set for execution Thursday. Ladd was 
convicted of fatally beating 38-year-old Vickie Ann Garner of Tyler in 1996.

(source: CBS news)

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

Texas Court Denies Death Penalty Appeal of Intellectually Disabled Man ---- 
Court Standards for Determining Intellectual Disability Drawn From Novella 'Of 
Mice and Men'



Robert Ladd, an intellectually disabled person with an IQ of 67, was denied a 
stay of execution today by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Although in any 
other state he would be considered ineligible for the death penalty because of 
his intellectual disability, Ladd doesn't meet the Texas courts' standards to 
determine whether a person is intellectually disabled, which were drawn in part 
on the character Lennie Small in "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck. Ladd will 
be executed by the state of Texas at 6:00 pm CT on Thursday, January 29, unless 
courts intervene.

"This case is indeed stranger than fiction. Anywhere else in the country, Mr. 
Ladd's IQ of 67 would have meant a life sentence, not death," said Brian Stull, 
senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project and Ladd's 
attorney. "But the Texas courts insist on severely misjudging his intellectual 
capacity, relying on standards for gauging intelligence crafted from 'Of Mice 
and Men' and other sources that have nothing to do with science or medicine. 
Robert Ladd's fate shouldn't depend on a novella."

The Supreme Court has twice ruled to protect the intellectually disabled from 
capital punishment: Atkins v. Virginia (2002) and Hall v. Florida(2014). Those 
decisions should exempt Mr. Ladd from the death penalty, as he was labeled 
"fairly obviously retarded" at age 13 by the Texas Youth Commission in 1970. 
After the Atkins decision, the psychiatrist who had examined Mr. Ladd reviewed 
his notes and reaffirmed his initial diagnosis in an affidavit, stating his IQ 
test and "3 separate interviews confirmed my diagnosis of mental retardation." 
At age 36, Mr. Ladd qualified for services at the Andrews Center in Tyler, 
Texas, which assists the intellectually disabled as well as the mentally ill.

"Robert Ladd's life is full of evidence of his intellectual disability, and he 
doesn't belong on death row," said Stull. "We will continue to ask the courts 
to uphold the protections of Atkins and Hall to spare him from execution."

For more information about the case Ex Parte Ladd, visit: 
https://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment/ex-parte-ladd

For information about the ACLU's Capital Punishment Project, visit: 
https://www.aclu.org/capital-punishment

(source: ACLU)

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

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. 29-------------------Robert Ladd----------520

3------------Feb. 4--------------------Donald Newbury------521

4------------Feb. 10-------------------Les Bower, Jr.--------522

5------------Mar. 5--------------------Rodney Reed----------523

6------------Mar. 11-------------------Manuel Vasquez------524

7------------Mar. 18-------------------Randall Mays---------525

8------------Apr. 9--------------------Kent Sprouse----------526

9------------Apr. 15-------------------Manual Garza---------527

10-----------Apr. 23-------------------Richard Vasquez------528

11-----------Apr. 28-------------------Robert Pruett----------529

12-----------May 12--------------------Derrick Charles------530

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)




PENNSYLVANIA:

Eric Frein death penalty notice filed in Pennsylvania state trooper slaying



The prosecutor in the case against Eric Frein, who is accused of killing a 
Pennsylvania State Police trooper and wounding a second, set in motion Tuesday 
efforts to have him executed for his alleged actions.

Pike County District Attorney Ray Tonkin filed in the county's court of common 
pleas a notice of aggravating circumstances and intent to seek the death 
penalty against Frein.

Frein, 31, of Canadensis in Barrett Township, Monroe County, is accused of 
using a .308-caliber rifle Sept. 12 outside the state police barracks at 
Blooming Grove in Pike County to fatally shoot Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and wound 
Trooper Alex Douglass. Frein eluded authorities for 48 days until his arrest 
Oct. 30 at an abandoned airplane hangar in Monroe County.

If Frein is convicted of 1st-degree murder, Tonkin outlined in Tuesday's filing 
numerous aggravating circumstances that could make him eligible for the death 
penalty. These circumstances include 8 additional felony charges filed against 
Frein.



Other aggravating factors include Frein allegedly committing 1st-degree murder 
while creating a grave risk of death to 2 other people: Douglass and state 
police Police Communication Officer Nicole Palmer, who can be seen on video 
played at Frein's preliminary hearing talking to Dickson as she crouches in the 
doorway during the assault. She suddenly returns, on the video, to the 
barracks' lobby and bangs on the windows to the secure area, trying to get 
troopers' attention.

District Judge Shannon Muir ruled at the Jan. 5 preliminary hearing sufficient 
evidence exists to try Frein on the charges.

The next step in his case is a formal arraignment scheduled Thursday at the 
Pike County Courthouse in Milford, Pennsylvania. Frein remains in the county 
jail without bail.

His court-appointed attorney, Milford-based Michael Weinstein, could not be 
reached immediately for comment Tuesday.

Whether Frein would face death in the next few years is uncertain. Newly 
sworn-in Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has said he supports a moratorium on the 
death penalty and won't sign execution warrants, The Associated Press reports. 
His office was not immediately available for comment Tuesday on Frein 
potentially facing the death penalty.

Pennsylvania law requires a separate sentencing hearing be held following a 
1st-degree murder conviction. A jury hears evidence of aggravating 
circumstances and mitigating circumstances, which lessen a defendant's 
culpability. To impose death, a jury must unanimously agree the aggravating 
circumstances outweigh mitigating circumstances.

(source: The Express-Times)

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

Here's Why We Need to Kill the Death Penalty



In a piece that appeared on PennLive on Jan. 6, Maureen Faulkner criticized 
both Governor-Elect Tom Wolf and me for our opposition to the death penalty.

Ms. Faulkner is the widow of the police officer who was murdered by Mumia 
Abu-Jamal, and as such, has unique standing to comment on this important issue 
of public policy.

Obviously, the horrors she has endured give her a valuable perspective on many 
facets of the criminal justice system. She raises some important points and 
deserves a response.

Ms. Faulkner specifically asks why a person who has taken the life of another 
"be allowed to keep their own life."

There are many reasons that the death penalty, which has been eliminated 
throughout most of the civilized world and has recently been repealed in 6 
states (including our neighbors New Jersey and Maryland), is an inappropriate 
punishment.

Perhaps the most compelling reason for rejecting capital punishment is the 
inevitability of executing completely innocent people.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the death penalty to be reinstated, 149 
people have been sent to death row and then later released after being fully 
exonerated of the crimes for which they were convicted, most through DNA 
evidence. Some of these people came within hours of being executed.

Counting all crimes, over 2,000 people were found to have been wrongly 
convicted in the past 23 years, as of 2012. It is clear that our criminal 
justice system is imperfect.

Considering all of the innocent people who were convicted but then freed by 
DNA, it is extremely disturbing that DNA evidence is available in less than 15 
% of all murder cases.

Most murders are committed by guns, leaving no DNA evidence.

Thus, if there are scores of death row inmates whose innocence was proven by 
DNA out of the 15 % of cases where it is available, how many innocent people 
are there among the 85 % of cases in which DNA evidence is not available?

Assuming the proportion of innocent people is the same in both groups, we have 
sent literally hundreds of people to death row who are innocent but unable to 
prove that innocence. How many of those people have we killed?

Ms. Faulkner says that there is no case where it has been "proved" that an 
innocent person has been executed. With all due respect, that is misleading. 
First, in most cases, once a person is dead, people stop looking.

There is generally no funding source for the hundreds of thousands of dollars 
it would take to continue investigating a case after the defendant has been 
executed. And even if there was funding available in a given case, there is no 
forum where a person's innocence can be "proved."

The state does not conduct posthumous retrials of dead defendants. That said, 
there are a number of cases where there is very strong evidence that an 
innocent person was executed.

They can be found here.

Another compelling reason to eliminate the death penalty is because we simply 
can't afford it. Recent studies in California and Maryland have shown that 
death penalty case costs between 2 and 3 million dollars more to process, try, 
and carry out than a non-capital murder case.

Given that we've processed hundreds of death penalty cases since reinstatement, 
simple math tells us that we are spending billions of dollars just to have a 
death penalty. Think of what that money could be used for instead: more 
effective forms of crime reduction, education, or even tax cuts.

Other reasons to eliminate the death penalty relate to the unfair, arbitrary, 
and racially disparate way it is administered, all of the ancillary costs of 
litigating issues related to capital punishment (such as what chemicals may be 
used for the execution), and the significant moral problems with giving a 
government, which many people don't think can deliver the mail efficiently, the 
power to decide when to kill its own citizens in cold blood.

I can certainly understand Ms. Faulkner's rage and desire for revenge against 
the man who killed her husband. I am sure I would feel the same way if I were 
ever in similar circumstances.

We recently lost one of my heroes, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, who 
opposed the death penalty in all circumstances. Like me, he was frequently 
asked what he would do if someone he cared about was murdered.

I love his answer, which I will paraphrase. He said:

"I would pick up a baseball bat to bash the killer's brains in myself. But 
before I reached him, what I hope I would do is ask myself if this would bring 
my loved-one back, and if I am acting in a way consistent with my religious and 
moral principles, and if I would want my family to see me acting this way. And 
I hope that before I got to the killer, I would put the baseball bat down."

That is what we as a society must do. We must put the baseball bat down.

(source: Op-Ed; Sen. Daylin Leach Headshot, State Senator from Pennsylvania's 
17th District----Huffington Post)








MARYLAND:

Del. McDonough seeks to restore death penalty in some cases



Calling it a 1st step toward fully restoring the death penalty in Maryland, 
Del. Pat McDonough said he plans to introduce a bill that would mandate capital 
punishment for anyone convicted of killing a police or correctional officer, a 
firefighter or witness during the performance of their duty.

McDonough, a Baltimore County Republican, is scheduled to unveil his proposed 
Fallen Heroes Capital Punishment Restoration Act at a news conference Tuesday 
in Annapolis.

Noting the "assassination" of 2 New York police officers late last year, 
McDonough said there was a 50 percent increase nationally last year in 
shootings of law enforcement officers.

Nationwide, there were 50 police officers fatally shot in the line of duty last 
year, up from 18 in 2013, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers 
Memorial Fund. Last year's death toll, a one-year jump, still remains below the 
annual average for each of the previous six decades, data compiled by the fund 
show.

Maryland abolished the death penalty in 2013, becoming the 18th state to do so. 
McDonough contends the General Assembly is "filled with too many legislators 
who are criminal advocates."

"Where is the compassion for crime victims, their families, and public safety?" 
he asked. He said he'd seek to gradually reinstate the death penalty, saying 
capital punishment for multiple murders would be "the next step in bringing 
sanity and justice to our system."

(source: Baltimore Sun)








GEORGIA----imminent execution

As Execution Approches, Some In GOP Want Review Of Mental Disability Standard



The state parole board Tuesday morning denied clemency for Warren Lee Hill. 
He's scheduled for execution at 7 p.m. tonight. Hill's attorneys say their 
client's intellectual disability bars the state from moving forward with the 
execution.

Federal law prohibits executing the mentally disabled but Georgia applies the 
nation???s toughest standard for proving a person is disabled.

GOP leaders in the House and Senate say they're willing to review Georgia's 
mental disability standard for the death penalty.

Officials say Hill has an IQ of 70 and the emotional capacity of an 
11-year-old. But the state argues Hill's attorneys have not proven his 
disability "beyond a reasonable doubt." Georgia is the only state to require 
that standard. In other states, attorneys must only show the disability is 
probable.

Republican leaders in both the House and Senate say they're willing to review 
Georgia's standard, but all stopped short of committing to action.

Wendell Williard, the Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee, 
expressed concern.

"I think the standard needs to be revisited," said Willard. "I think if we 
stand alone on that issue then there's a justification to examine why we're the 
only one."

Jesse Stone, the Republican chair of the Senate non-civil judiciary committee, 
suggested the same.

"I understand Georgia has a strict standard compared to other states. Generally 
speaking, Georgia tries to stay in the mainstream so it may be worth reviewing 
but I haven't seen a bill come up yet," Stone said.

Stone's counterpart on the House non-civil judiciary committee, Rich Golick, 
said despite the controversy he's observed little debate on the issue.

"I haven't heard a groundswell within the chamber or in the other body on the 
issue itself. At this point, I have no legislation that's pending personally 
but if a bill we're to [be introduced] we would certainly give it consideration 
as we do any other piece of serious legislation," said Golick.

Georgia was actually the 1st state to outlaw executing the mentally disabled. 
That was in 1988. It's also when Georgia began applying the "beyond a 
reasonable doubt" standard.

Senate Minority Whip Vincent Fort, D-Atlanta, says he's introduced legislation 
in the past aimed at changing the standard, but according to Fort, it's always 
gained little traction.

Among those speaking out against Hill's execution are former President Jimmy 
Carter, the ACLU, the NAACP, the Georgia Bar Association, the Council of 
Europe, the Archbishop of Atlanta, and a family member of 1 of Hill's victims.

(source: WABE news)








WASHINGTON:

Representative urges death penalty repeal



Local state Rep. Maureen Walsh is among sponsors of a bill introduced Monday to 
replace the death penalty in Washington state with a sentence of life in prison 
without parole.

The Walla Walla Republican said this morning she has co-sponsored previous 
bills to abolish the death penalty and that while she has "extreme empathy and 
sympathy" for the victims of violent crime, the "system of appeals that racks 
up a ton of bills" makes the punishment not worth the cost.

A sentence of life without parole could also be considered a worse punishment 
by many people, Walsh said.

"The death penalty is too easy for them," she said. "Let them rot in jail."

Other arguments she offered are that a life sentence allows a reprieve if a 
person is later found to be wrongly convicted, which the death penalty does 
not. It also would short-circuit lengthy appeals processes and spare families 
the pain of "being dragged through the court process" again and again, she 
said.

"It's just something I think warrants discussion," Walsh said.

House Bill 1739 would also require convicts sentenced to life without parole to 
work to pay restitution to victims and their families.

Along with Walsh, lawmakers sponsoring the bill include Rep. Reuven Carlyle, 
D-Seattle, Tina Orwall, D-Des Moines and Chad Magendanz, R-Issaquah.

Orwall expressed similar views to Walsh's.

"We believe there has been a shift in thinking about the death penalty 
including recognition of the impact of DNA testing, cost to taxpayers, and lack 
of support for victims' families in a drawn-out process," she said.

"This year is the right time to seriously consider this legislation, and we 
deeply respect the openness of colleagues and families that have been touched 
by violence as our state thoughtfully discusses this issue."

9 prisoners, all men, are at present facing the death penalty in Washington 
state. They are incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary which is where 
state law requires executions to be conducted.

The longest serving inmate on death row is Jonathan Lee Gentry, who was 
convicted in 1991 of fatally bludgeoning 12-year old Cassie Holden in 1988 in 
Kitsap County. The most recent person sentenced to death is Byron Eugene 
Scherf, who murdered Correctional Officer Jayme Biendl in 2011 at Monroe 
Correctional Complex in Snohomish County.

The last person executed in Washington state was Cal Coburn Brown, who died by 
lethal injection in 2010 for the 1991 murder of 22-year old Holly Washa.

(source: The Union-Bulletin)








USA:

Justices must take close look at death penalty workings



Ready, aim, fire!

Death row inmates in at least 1 state - with perhaps more to come - may soon be 
hearing those words once again. Why? Because the drugs used to execute those 
marked for death simply haven't been properly working. Or are unavailable. And 
so, lawmakers in Wyoming recently approved executions by firing squad as a 
backup method. Yes, a firing squad. In America. In 2015.

What prompted this, more than anything else, were a few high-profile botched 
executions in which convicts were given a cocktail of drugs meant to kill them 
- but that instead left them gasping for breath and writhing in pain, sometimes 
for long stretches, before they finally expired.

When the Supreme Court last week agreed to hear a case on the constitutionality 
of the way death sentences are carried out in Oklahoma, the question before the 
court hinged on whether the lethal injections constitute cruel and unusual 
punishment.

This page has long been opposed to the death penalty. That said, we understand 
well that there are those with differing views ??? and states that continue to 
carry out death sentences. Still, no one can rationally argue that it makes 
sense to take someone on death row to be executed, but instead effectively 
torture him for a time before actually ending his life.

The U.S. Supreme Court has been closely divided on the death penalty for some 
time now. Essentially, the 4 conservative justices - Antonin Scalia, Clarence 
Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Chief Justice John Roberts - have had a hang-'em-high 
attitude, while the 4 liberal members of the court - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 
Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan ??? have sought to move the 
nation away from frontier-style justice.

This leaves, as is so often the case in our era, a single swing vote on the 
high court who will decide a fundamentally significant matter. If Justice 
Anthony Kennedy sides with the conservatives, they will win the day; if he 
instead joins the liberals, they'll emerge victorious.

That this is no way to run the greatest democracy in the history of the world 
should go without saying. But neither should it need to be stated that we ought 
not be using firing squads.

(source: Editorial, masslive.com)