[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., FLA., ALA., LA., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 16



TEXAS----impending execution

Texas inmate who's scheduled to die Thursday seeks delay


When firefighters responded to a call about smoke coming from a home in East 
Texas, they found the burned body of a 93-year-old woman who lived there alone.

Investigators later determined that Cecelia Schneider was beaten and stabbed 
before her body and the bed where she was found were set on fire at her home in 
Tyler. Her missing car was found later that day, wrecked and abandoned.

Clifton Lamar Williams, a 21-year-old former fast food restaurant worker and 
cocaine user, was arrested about a week later after investigators found his 
fingerprint and blood inside the car. He had been dating a woman who lived a 
few doors away from Schneider's home.

Williams was convicted of capital murder - and his death sentence was scheduled 
to be carried out Thursday in Huntsville. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to 
review his case in April.

Late Wednesday, his attorney, James Huggler, filed court motions seeking to 
spare Williams after a disclosure from the Texas Attorney General's Office that 
2 witnesses at Williams' 2006 trial in Tyler used incorrect statistics provided 
in an FBI database when testifying about population and DNA probabilities.

Huggler wants to delay Williams' punishment at least 60 days to investigate any 
effect of the errors.

Prosecutors insisted the revised figures change the lab results only slightly 
and the new statistics remain overwhelmingly against any claims that Williams 
is innocent.

If the sentence is carried out, Williams, 31, will be the 10th inmate to 
receive a lethal injection this year in Texas, equaling the number of prisoners 
put to death all of last year in the nation's most active capital punishment 
state.

Another of Williams' lawyers, James Volberding, unsuccessfully argued in 
appeals that Williams' legal help at his 2006 trial in Tyler was deficient. He 
also said Williams, who dropped out of school in the 12th grade, was mentally 
impaired and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.

At Williams' trial, defense attorneys told Smith County jurors that Williams 
became known on the streets as "Crazy C" after a stint in a mental health 
rehabilitation center.

Prosecutors said Williams broke into Schneider's home to get money to buy 
cocaine. According to trial testimony, Williams told a psychiatrist he began 
smoking marijuana at age 15, started lacing it with embalming fluid, then moved 
on to cocaine by the time he was 17.

Investigators said Williams led police to a pond where Schneider's purse that 
had contained about $40 was found, along with a knife from her kitchen that 
investigators believe was used to stab her.

During the trial, a pathologist testified that Schneider was stabbed 4 times on 
July 9, 2005, including in her heart and lungs, and was beaten and may have 
been strangled.

Williams told police another man was responsible for the slaying and forced him 
to drive Schneider's car. His attorneys said the man, who denied any 
involvement in the slaying, wore gloves and therefore didn't leave 
fingerprints. Williams told a relative he cut his hand in a fight.

After Williams was convicted, defense lawyers said during the trial's 
punishment phase that Williams had been raised by a mentally disturbed mother 
who died when he was about 12. Court documents showed she was not abusive and 
practiced voodoo.

Williams is among at least 8 Texas prisoners with execution dates in the coming 
months.

Some death penalty states have had difficulties obtaining drugs for lethal 
injections, but Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials say they have 
enough pentobarbital, a powerful sedative, to accommodate all scheduled 
punishments. They have refused to identify the drug provider.

(source: Associated Press)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Credit DA John Morganelli for supporting death penalty


Kudos to Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli for his stand on 
the death penalty for Eric Ballard. Morganelli always tries to have closure for 
the families of the victims, contrary to liberals who are against the death 
penalty. They never lost a family member and have no idea of the pain it causes 
their loved ones.

The murderers have a lot of nerve complaining about the pain that lethal 
injections cause them. What about the terrible methods they used to kill their 
victims who are in the ground and get no appeals?

Morganelli is always for the good people but has problems with public defenders 
who use defendants' mental problems in their defense of the murderers time and 
again.

Morganelli should keep up the good work, and maybe he should have the job of 
Gov. Wolf, who is against the death penalty.

Merle Getz

Bethlehem Township

(source: Letter to the Editor, Morning Call)

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

Death warrant signed in York murder case----But Gov. Wolf has declined to sign 
any execution notices and has promised to give temporary reprieves.


A death warrant has been signed for Hector Manuel Morales, who was convicted of 
1st-degree murder in 2011 for killing a commonwealth witness who had been 
scheduled to testify against him in a drug case.

Morales, 32, shot and killed Ronald Simmons Jr., 42, after breaking in the back 
door of Simmons' home in the first block of North Tremont Street in York around 
1 a.m. July 16, 2009. Simmons was to testify against Morales at a preliminary 
hearing on drug charges that day.

Gov. Tom Wolf has declined to sign any execution notices and has promised to 
give temporary reprieves to any death row inmates scheduled for execution. He 
previously signed a reprieve for Hubert Michael Jr., who killed Trista Eng, a 
Franklin Township teen, in 1993.

In accordance with state law, Department of Corrections Secretary John Wetzel 
has been signing death warrants since Wolf took office. Morales' warrant was 1 
of 3 that Wetzel signed on Wednesday.

Wolf said he wants the entire death penalty process - from the prosecution 
seeking a death sentence to execution - reviewed by a legislative task force 
created in 2011.

The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme 
Court to determine if Wolf's moratorium is legal.

(source: York Daiy Record)






VIRGINIA:

Legitimacy of death penalty topic of hearing


Is Virginia's death penalty constitutional?

That's a question that will be addressed Thursday afternoon during a motions 
hearing for Howard Samuel Cole, charged with capital murder in the death of his 
5-month-old son.

Cole is slated to appear with his attorney, Robert D. Finch, before Judge 
Marcus Long Jr. in Pulaski County Circuit Court at 1 p.m.

Authorities allege Cole murdered his son, Cory Samuel Cole, in January 2014 and 
then buried his naked body in a shallow grave in a wooded area of Draper.

Cole has been held without bond at New River Valley Regional Jail since his 
Jan. 30, 2014 arrest. In addition to capital murder, he is charged with the 
illegal disposal of Cory's body.

Prosecutors say an autopsy determined the child died of asphyxiation and blunt 
force injuries to the head and neck. He had 26 bruises on his body, back of the 
head and face.

Cory's mother, Samantha Anna-Jane Taylor, pleaded no contest to a charge of 
felony child abuse and neglect in April for leaving the infant in Cole's 
custody in violation of a court order. She was ordered to serve 7 years of the 
maximum allowable sentence of 10 years.

(source: southwettimes.com)

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

Judge: Prosecutors may seek death penalty in Manassas case with cause 
'undetermined'


A Prince William County judge ruled Wednesday that prosecutors could proceed 
with a capital murder case against a man accused of killing his toddler son, 
even though Virginia's chief medical examiner ruled that he could not determine 
how or why the boy died.

The judge also set Jan. 11 as the 1st day of trial for Joaquin S. Rams, charged 
in the October 2012 death of 15-month-old Prince McLeod Rams. Rams has been in 
jail without bond since January 2013 after Assistant Virginia Medical Examiner 
Constance DiAngelo ruled that Prince died from drowning.

But in October 2014, DiAngelo's boss, Chief Medical Examiner William T. 
Gormley, reversed that finding and declared that the cause and manner of 
Prince's death were "undetermined." So Rams's attorneys asked Prince William 
Circuit Court Judge Craig D. Johnston to dismiss the case.

"They had a perfect right to indict" Rams for capital murder in July 2013, 
defense lawyer Daniel J. Morissette argued, when a cause of death was clear. 
"But at this point in time, the fundamental basis for issuing the indictment is 
void."

Prince William Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Sandra R. Sylvester said the 
murder case is not void simply because there is no official cause of death. "We 
have a battle of experts here," Sylvester said. "There is an expert opinion in 
this case that drowning was the cause of death, and that is from the 
pathologist who did the autopsy on this child," indicating that DiAngelo would 
remain a prosecution expert despite being overruled by her boss.

Sylvester said that "Gormley comes into this case 2 years later, after a lot of 
publicity by the original defense team," and that Gormley, "under pressure," 
issued a revised autopsy report without actually examining the child's body.

"It's a difficult case," Sylvester said, "but a case that should be heard by 
the jury." She added: "We haven't said who our experts are. But our experts 
will say this is a drowning."

Prosecutors said they believe that Joaquin Rams drowned his son to collect on 
more than $500,000 in life insurance policies he had taken out on him. Rams had 
previously collected more than $162,000 after the sudden death of his mother in 
2008, which was ruled a suicide, but was unable to collect on another life 
insurance policy after the unsolved slaying of his former girlfriend, Shawn 
Mason, in 2003.

Rams has maintained his innocence in the death of his son, and his lawyers said 
that he had taken out insurance policies on the boy to show his financial means 
while fighting a custody battle with the boy's mother. Although Rams was a 
suspect in the 2 earlier deaths, he has no prior criminal record. He was 
indicted in 2013 in Mason's death, but prosecutors dismissed that case last 
year.

Prince Rams lived with his mother in Montgomery County but was visiting his 
father in Manassas on the afternoon of Oct. 20, 2012. Medical records show that 
the boy had had a series of febrile seizures in the weeks before that visit.

As the toddler napped in a bedroom next to his half brother, Joaquin Rams Jr., 
their father swooped into the room and suddenly scooped Prince out of his crib, 
the then-13-year-old Rams has told investigators. The father told his teen son 
to get the 2 other adults living in the house to call for help, then rushed 
Prince into a bathroom.

Rams's attorneys have said the father was merely splashing cold water on the 
boy to cool him down while feverish. Police and prosecutors said they believe 
that Rams quickly drowned the boy.

Moments after taking Prince from the bedroom, housemate Roger Jestice has said 
he went upstairs and saw Rams trying to cool his son down while calling 911. 
Paramedics arrived and found Prince cold and wet. He was rushed to a hospital 
and revived, but he had suffered irreparable brain damage. He died at Inova 
Fairfax Hospital the next day. Jestice, along with his wife, Sue, who was also 
in the house, and the junior Rams all say that Rams did not drown the boy.

Rams was arrested in January 2013 and was later indicted for capital murder and 
fraud against the MassMutual insurance company.

"I do not conclude," Johnston ruled, "that the fact that the chief medical 
examiner may have overruled the doctor who did the autopsy ... precludes the 
commonwealth from attempting to go forward at this juncture, certainly without 
either of them being designated as experts.:

Court records show that medical experts may not be the only evidence 
prosecutors plan to use against Rams. His defense lawyers claim that jailhouse 
informants are being lined up against Rams and have successfully sought jail 
records and phone recordings related to 3 Prince William jail inmates, 
including Jose Reyes Alfaro, who pleaded guilty last year to 3 murders in 
Manassas in 2011 and was given 7 life sentences.

(source: Washington Post)






FLORIDA:

2nd death-penalty trial begins for Jacksonville man accused of killing 
65-year-old woman


Randall Deviney sat in a Jacksonville trial Wednesday for the 2nd time accused 
of slicing open 65-year-old Delores Futrell's throat beside a koi pond in the 
backyard of her Westside home.

The 25-year-old was convicted of the August 2008 slaying in 2010 and sentenced 
to death, but that conviction was overturned because Jacksonville police 
continued to interrogate him despite Deviney telling them "I'm done" 6 times.

Deviney confessed to killing Futrell and a recording of that interrogation was 
played at the 1st trial violating his right to remain silent, according to the 
Florida Supreme Court.

Bernie de la Rionda, the lead prosecutor, said Futrell was well-loved with some 
neighbors calling her Mama and her common-law boyfriend, Hartwell Perkings, 
Papa. Deviney lived one street from the couple's townhouse in the 5600 block of 
Bennington Drive.

Perkings - who has since died - had his testimony perpetuated, which means 
recorded in a deposition and played at trial as evidence. He talked about how 
Futrell easily made friends in the neighborhood, including Deviney who they had 
known since he was about 10 years old.

De la Rionda said Deviney knew that August night that Futrell had multiple 
sclerosis and was nearly defenseless. He said Perkings had gone to New York to 
work like he did every summer and that their 80-pound American bulldog named 
Prince went with him.

Despite the woman's frailty, she put up a fight, and Deviney's DNA was found 
under her fingernails, de la Rionda said.

He also told the jury that jail phone calls between Deviney and his father, 
also a convicted murder, will be shown at trial.

"I still can't believe you did it," de la Rionda said Michael Deviney told his 
son in a phone call.

"It wasn't me. It was another person inside of me," Randall Deviney responded, 
according to the prosecutor.

Jim Hernandez for the defense team opted not to give an opening statement, 
which is sometimes done not to tip off prosecutors about a legal strategy.

Deviney previously told police during an interrogation that he "lost it" when 
Futrell brought up his childhood.

The case has been delayed many times, most recently when Deviney said he has 
evidence in another death involving Donald Smith, the suspect in the murder 
trial of 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle.

Deviney wrote several letters to prosecutors and media saying he'd reveal all 
he knew if prosecutors would drop the death penalty against him and allow him 
to get out of prison at some point. Prosecutors said they had no interest in 
talking with Deviney and implied they didn't think he was telling the truth.

(source: jacksonville.com)






ALABAMA:

Strange moves to dismiss death penalty challenges


Attorney General Luther Strange this week moved to dismiss 7 death row inmates' 
challenges to Alabama's execution protocol, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's 
recent ruling upholding a similar method in Oklahoma.

Strange said earlier this month he planned to move to set execution dates as 
soon as possible. The state has not executed an inmate since July 25, 2013.

The Attorney General's office said in court filings last fall that the state 
had changed the drugs it uses to execute condemned inmates. The major change 
was the introduction of midazolam as a sedative to render inmates unconscious 
before the use of 2 other drugs that paralyze the muscles and stop the heart.

Florida has not reported complications in executions that use midazolam. The 
drug was present in three botched executions in Ohio, Oklahoma and Arizona last 
year, though its effect on the condemned was not clear. In a case titled 
Glossip v. Gross, Oklahoma inmates sued over that state???s use of midazolam, 
arguing it would not render them unconscious fast enough to prevent the pain 
from the 2nd and 3rd drugs.

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the inmates??? claims in a 5-4 ruling last 
month. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito said the condemned 
inmates had not proven the process would violate their Eighth Amendment 
protections against cruel and unusual punishment, and had also failed to 
propose an alternative method of execution.

Strange's office adopted the Supreme Court's ruling in a Monday filing in the 
Thomas Arthur case. Arthur, convicted in 1982 in a murder-for-hire scheme, 
challenged the use of midazolam on the same grounds as the Oklahoma inmates. 
Arthur is also pursuing a separate challenge, claiming that corrections 
officials do not consistently administer a consciousness test during 
executions. Chief U.S. District Judge Keith Watkins stayed Arthur's execution 
in March over the test issue. Watkins wrote that witnesses differed on the 
administration of the test.

The attorney general's office wrote both claims fail under the Glossip ruling. 
The attorney general's office wrote that Arthur had not shown any "plausible 
facts" that midazolam would not render him unconscious before execution.

Strange also argued that because the Supreme Court had upheld Oklahoma's 
execution protocol, Alabama's similar methods should pass constitutional 
muster.

"Arthur's Eighth Amendment rights cannot be burdened by the alleged failure to 
perform a consciousness assessment where the Supreme Court has already held 
that the overall protocol itself is constitutional and that the use of 
midazolam in that protocol does not entail a 'substantial risk of severe 
pain,'" the filing said.

Arthur' attorneys filed a notice the same day, saying the Supreme Court did not 
make a direct ruling on the "efficacy" of midazolam. The attorneys also noted 
differences between the Oklahoma protocol and Alabama's. Alabama's procedures, 
they wrote, provided "minimal safeguards for monitoring an inmate's level of 
consciousness."

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)






LOUISIANA:

Dale Cox brings bad press to Caddo


The damage is done.

In spite of Dale Cox's announcement he won't run for the Caddo district 
attorney seat, some feel Caddo's judicial system has already been marred.

Cox achieved national infamy following comments first reported in March by The 
Times - "We need to kill more people. ... I think the death penalty should be 
used more often" - which were followed by a steady stream of remarks that 
raised widespread ire and put Caddo under a less-than-attractive spotlight.

Interviews with the New York Times and The New Yorker reinforced his stance as 
a strong advocate of the death penalty.

In his interview with the New Yorker, Cox told reporter Rachel Aviv, "Over 
time, I have come to the position that revenge is important for society as a 
whole. We have certain rules that you are expected to abide by, and when you 
don't abide by them you have forfeited your right to live among us."

It's a viewpoint some say is out-of-style.

"Parishes across the state of Louisiana are slowly abandoning the use of the 
death penalty while Caddo's use has actually increased," said Louisiana 
Coalition for Alternatives for the Death Penalty executive director Sidney 
Garmon.

Marjorie Esman, Louisiana ACLU executive director, said Cox's position was 
clear when he made similar statements to The Times in March.

"It was clear from statements made early on that his goal to convict, prosecute 
and execute as many people as possible could lead to overly zealous and perhaps 
improper use of his prosecutorial authority," Esman said.

But in a Wednesday press conference Cox said that was never the case.

"My position about the death penalty is simply that - my position," Cox said. 
"When our people decide to get our legislators to change the death penalty 
where it's no longer the law then we won't have to worry about it. But while it 
is the law I have sworn an oath to uphold the law. I don't get to pick and 
choose what laws to uphold."

But some argue cases such as Rodricus Crawford's, a black man who was sentenced 
to death in a debatable verdict, prove Cox was taking this position to the 
courtroom and working to exercise it in his prosecutions.

"It is never appropriate for a lawyer to use their own personal motivations as 
a litigation strategy," Esman said. "And, based on the things Mr. Cox said, it 
appeared that's what he was doing."

Shreveport defense attorney Ross Owen said Cox's stance has also become a 
source of embarrassment for Caddo.

"His view on the death penalty portrays Shreveport and Caddo Parish in a bad 
light," Owen said. "His rhetoric is beyond the pale. It's inflammatory and it's 
beneath the dignity of the office."

It was for this reason, and not because of his stance's effect on the people he 
prosecuted, Cox decided not to run for DA.

"Our community does not need any more controversy," Cox said. "I feel taking 
myself out of the elective process may help heal the community instead of 
continuing the controversy."

Cox said he has no inclination to change his opinion, but understands the 
problems it's presented for his position in the judicial system and why it's 
evoking such reactions.

"At some point you have to examine your life and decide if what you believe in 
is having adverse effects on others, and to what extent," Cox said.

If his commitment to healing is sincere, Owen said now is the time for Cox to 
prove it.

"The next step for Cox would be to take actions consistent with promoting 
healing by resolving death penalty cases he had in a humane, reasonable 
fashion," Owen said.

Still, in the midst of the controversy, many are concentrating on October's 
election to fill the position of District Attorney.

Bossier-Webster District Attorney Schuyler Marvin said Cox's decision will have 
a big impact on the upcoming DA election for Caddo.

For example, because running for DA would mean having to surrender his seat, 
Second Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Stewart has been hesitant to throw 
his hat into the ring, Marvin said.

"Many candidates are waiting to see what Judge Stewart decides to do," Marvin 
said. "So all eyes are on him as candidates try and make their decision."

Marvin said Cox withdrawing his name from candidacy could factor into the 
judge's decision to run, as well as the current candidates' campaigns.

Stewart wouldn't comment on his possible candidacy.

Candidates for the seat include assistant Caddo DA Dhu Thompson, criminal 
defense lawyer Mark Rogers and defense attorney Lee Harville.

Regardless of who runs, Owen said potential candidates can learn from Cox's 
mistakes and use those lessons as they continue their campaign.

"From here, we look for someone with a more judicial temperament who's not 
prone to making outlandish statements and has the wisdom and experience that 
comes with decades of being a lawyer, prosecutor and judge," Owens said.

(source: Shreveport Times)






USA:

Former juror knows the stress of a death penalty decision----Denver mother 
reflects of life and death decision


If anyone can understand the difficult decisions facing the jurors in the 
theater shooting trial, it's Tonya McCabe.

Almost 20 years ago, McCabe sat in the jury box as one of the 12 who found 
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh guilty of murder. They also sentenced him 
to death.

"It's a big decision and it's emotional," she said. "If in fact the decision is 
made for the death penalty, that's huge. That rides on your heart."

McCabe was in her 20s when she was seated on the jury.

"You just feel kind of like, ugh, wow. It's a heavy load to bear."

"Very emotional. And I'm sure they're going to be shedding some tears as well."

She remembers the jury quickly selecting a take-charge foreman and having 
professional discussions in the jury room.

"We were so relieved finally to be able to talk to each other because during 
the trial you're not allowed to speak to anyone for that matter about what's 
going on."

McCabe has no regrets. She hopes the jury in Aurora won't either.

"I'm still to this day very proud to have sat on the that jury and I hope the 
jurors you know in this case wind up feeling this way as well."

An experience that very few Americans with ever truly understand.

"I think the choice I made back then still stand true today, it's who I am. I 
will always be with me."

(source: thedenverchannel.com)