[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., MO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 6



LOUISIANA:

Suspect in officer's killing pleads not guilty


A man accused of killing a New Orleans policeman entered a not guilty plea in 
the city's Criminal District Court Monday.

Travis Boys, 33, appeared before Judge Karen K. Herman to enter the plea to 
1st-degree murder, punishable only by death or by life in prison, in the death 
of Officer Daryle Holloway, 45.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro has said he is seeking the death penalty.

Police have said Boys managed to get his cuffed hands in front of his body and 
reach a .40-caliber handgun with which he shot the officer, who was driving him 
to jail on June 20 after he was accused in a domestic shooting. Boys escaped 
from the police vehicle but was caught a day later after an intense manhunt.

He is represented by public defenders Christopher Murell and Anna Van Cleve. 
Murell did not respond Sunday to an email asking whether Boys plans to plead 
not guilty.

Murell read a statement from Boys' family outside Criminal Court Monday: "Our 
hearts go out to the family and friends of Officer Daryle Holloway in this 
terrible time of grief. The outpouring of love and support for the Holloway 
family is a tribute to his life and honorable service to our community. We 
cannot imagine the sorrow and heartache we know Officer Holloway's family and 
children must be feeling, and we are deeply sorry for their loss. We are very 
moved by the grace of Officer Holloway's mother to ask the community to hold us 
in its prayers. The Holloway family is in our thoughts and prayers every day, 
always forever."

The loss is still being felt by Holloway's family. "My family is still numb, 
still hurting," said David Belfield, Holloway's uncle.

Cannizzaro has rarely asked for the death penalty since taking office in 2008. 
Since Holloway was a police officer, his killing automatically qualified as a 
1st-degree murder.

A discover date has been set for Aug. 20.

(source: USA Today)






MISSOURI:

Man accused of killing Sherwood pair seeks new venue


A 35-year-old man serving life sentences for 6 Illinois slayings wants to move 
a Missouri murder trial that could lead to his execution.

Nicholas Sheley's request for a venue change says he can't get a fair trial in 
Jefferson County south of St. Louis, where prosecutors intend to seek the death 
penalty if he's convicted in the killings of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood, 
Ark. Police say the couple was attacked outside a Festus hotel after leaving a 
2008 graduation party.

Sheley was scheduled to make his 1st Missouri court appearance Monday, but his 
arraignment was postponed after the judge stepped down at Sheley's request.

Court records don't indicate why Circuit Judge Mark Stoll withdrew, but under 
Missouri law Sheley didn't have to explain why he asked.

(source: Associated Press)






USA:

U.S. should follow Illinois, abolish death penalty


It's increasingly clear Illinois got it right when it abolished the death 
penalty in 2011, and any attempts to reinstate capital punishment in the state 
should be rejected.

The signs that the United States is turning away from executions are all around 
us. For years, politicians pushed to expand the death penalty to new categories 
of crime. Now public support is declining. States continue to abolish it. The 
number of executions across America is dropping.

In a thoughtful U.S. Supreme Court dissent last week in Glossip v. Gross, 
Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, offered plenty 
of evidence that Illinois was wise to turn away from the death penalty. He even 
questioned whether it's time for the entire nation to follow suit.

The underlying case was about a drug used in lethal injections. In his dissent, 
though, Breyer went on to say he doubts capital punishment can be 
constitutional because it fails several tests: It is too frequently imposed on 
people who turn out to be innocent; it is handed down arbitrarily; it fails as 
a deterrent to crime, and the years of solitary confinement on death row are 
excessively harsh.

Death penalty supporters point to Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev or 
accused Charleston shooter Dylann Roof, arguing only execution is fair 
punishment for the most evil crimes. Justice Antonin Scalia went so far as to 
ridicule Breyer's dissent as "gobbledy-gook."

The real gobbledy-gook is claiming the death penalty is fair when time after 
time innocent people are condemned to die for crimes they did not commit. In 
Illinois, men have been carted off to death row not because of something they 
did but because of police and witness perjury, withheld evidence, false 
confessions and hoodwinked juries. The Center on Wrongful Convictions lists 26 
Illinois men sentenced to death and later exonerated, mostly since the state 
reinstated capital punishment in 1977.

Even 2 men whom Scalia cited in an earlier opinion as the poster cases for the 
death penalty turned out to be innocent.

The death penalty suffers from an innocence syndrome. Police and prosecutors 
pull out all stops when a heinous, sensational crime is committed. Outraged 
judges and juries are less willing to acquit, even if the evidence is flimsy. 
Rules often are bent to assure convictions.

The Supreme Court struck down the death penalty in 1972, but gave states a 
chance to write new rules to assure capital punishment was fair. More than 40 
years later, that effort has fallen short. Attempts to wring imperfections out 
of the system have driven up costs and the length of time spent on death row. 
It's time to heed Breyer's call and put the death penalty on trial because it 
violates the Eighth Amendment as cruel and unusual punishment.

Illinois has fixed its capital punishment problem by getting rid of it. The 
Supreme Court should follow, and declare the death penalty unconstitutional.

(source: Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times)

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

Boston Marathon bomber files motion for new trial for conviction and death 
sentence


Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has filed a motion for a new trial, 
less than 2 weeks after he was formally sentenced to death for the 2013 attack.

Tsarnaev's lawyers filed a preliminary motion for a new trial Monday for his 
conviction and death sentence. The motion did not contain any details on what 
grounds they plan to argue, saying only that a new trial is "required in the 
interests of justice."

The 21-year-old Tsarnaev was convicted of 30 charges in the bombing, which 
killed 3 people and injured more than 260. The same jury recommended the death 
penalty, and a federal judge on June 24 sentenced him to death.

Tsarnaev's lawyers call the motion a "placeholder" until they can file a more 
detailed motion next month.

(source: Associated Press)