[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., NEB., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

June 18



MISSOURI:

Death sought in Arkansans' killings



Missouri prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a 35-year-old man 
accused in the killing of an Arkansas couple. He is already serving life 
sentences for 6 slayings in Illinois.

Prosecutors in Jefferson County south of St. Louis filed notice on June 8 of 
their intent to seek Nicholas Sheley's execution if he's convicted in the 
Festus, Mo., killings of Jill and Tom Estes of Sherwood.

Police say the Esteses were attacked outside a hotel after leaving a graduation 
party in 2008. Sheley is accused of loading their bodies into a pickup that 
belonged to another of his victims and dumping the bodies near a gas station a 
short distance away.

Sheley is serving 6 life sentences at a Pontiac prison for a string of killings 
that began in his Illinois hometown of Sterling. 4 victims whose bodies had 
been bludgeoned with a hammer were found in a Rock Falls apartment. They ranged 
in ages from 2 to 29. The other victims were a 65-year-old man whose body was 
found behind a Galesburg grocery store in northwestern Illinois and a 
93-year-old man killed in Sterling.

In February, Sheley was extradited to Missouri where, unlike in Illinois, 
offenders can be sentenced to death.

Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney Forrest Wegge declined to comment, as did 
the assistant prosecutor handling Sheley's case. The June 8 court filing 
outlining the state's decision cites Sheley's convictions in the six Illinois 
killings as well as 3 other aggravating circumstances, including his attempt to 
rob the Arkansas couple while committing an "outrageously or wantonly vile, 
horrible or inhuman" killing.

Public Defender David Kenyon, 1 of 2 St. Louis-based attorneys appointed to 
represent Sheley, declined to comment. An arraignment is scheduled for July 6.

(source: Associated Press)








NEBRASKA:

The Federal Government Plans To Seize Nebraska's Illegal Execution Drug 
Shipment When It Arrives In The U.S.----A letter from the FDA explains that the 
shipment would be illegal. The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services 
expects the drug to arrive sometime in the next week.



Nebraska's next shipment of execution drugs may never arrive. That's because 
the drugs are from a foreign supplier and the U.S. government is prepared to 
seize them.

The state, in fact, should be expecting this.

Earlier this year, Nebraska approached Chris Harris, a small supplier in India 
who has sold drugs to the state before, to sell massive amounts of sodium 
thiopental so the state could execute the 10 people remaining on its death row.

"Please give me a call when you have time to discuss," Nebraska Corrections 
Director Scott Frakes recently wrote to the would-be supplier of the state's 
execution drugs.

His email contained an attachment: a 2013 court ruling that spells out that the 
drugs the state spent more than $50,000 on would not be allowed into the United 
States.

The drugs aren't approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and the court 
ruling that Frakes attached makes it clear that the FDA has no choice but to 
seize the drugs when they come to the states.

The shipment, enough for hundreds of lethal injections, is expected to arrive 
any day now, according to public records and emails obtained by BuzzFeed News.

(source: buzzfeed.com)








CALIFORNIA:

Supreme Court Rules Against Double Murder Defendant----Community theater actor 
and accused killer Daniel Patrick Wozniak can't get judge booted from his death 
penalty trial, court rules.



The California Supreme Court today rejected a double- murder defendant's 
attempt to get an Orange County Superior Court judge removed from his death 
penalty case.

The state's high court, without comment, rejected the petition seeking to keep 
John Conley from presiding over the case of Daniel Patrick Wozniak. Wozniak is 
accused of killing 2 people, dismembering 1 in a Los Alamitos theater and 
dumping his body parts in El Dorado Park.

Public Defender Scott Sanders, who represents Wozniak, alleges that his 
client's rights were violated by a jailhouse informant in much the same way as 
convicted mass killer Scott Dekraai, who Sanders also represents.

Sanders convinced another judge to have the Orange County District Attorney's 
Office removed from prosecuting the Dekraai case, a ruling that is under 
appeal.

Sanders argued that Conley could be called as a witness on the use of jailhouse 
informants, and he also contended that the judge demonstrated bias when arguing 
against his dismissal from the case.

Orange County prosecutors countered that nothing the defense claimed should 
lead to Conley's disqualification.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy argued that there was no evidence 
of outrageous governmental misconduct -- as was claimed in the Dekraai case -- 
because the Orange County Sheriff's Department was not part of the Wozniak 
prosecution.

Costa Mesa police led the Wozniak investigation, Murphy said.

The prosecutor argued the only time his team interacted with the sheriff was 
when the defense ignored requests for information backing a claim Wozniak's 
jailers conspired to have him appear on MSNBC's "Lockup" program to damage his 
case.

The producer of the program, Suzanne Ali, has denied that Wozniak's jailers 
helped arrange for the interview. Ali told investigators she picked Wozniak out 
of a crowd of inmates because of his height, ill-fitting jail jumpsuit and 
"actor's smile."

Attorneys for NBC and 44 Blue Productions, which produced "Lockup," have argued 
that Wozniak didn't say anything incriminating in the interview.

Murphy also reiterated that he and his team had no idea Wozniak did the 
interview, and he alerted Sanders "as a professional courtesy."

Prosecutors argued that any evidence from the informant wouldn't be used in 
Wozniak's trial. Also, the informant -- Fernando Perez -- was not officially a 
government informant at the time he chatted with Wozniak.

Wozniak is accused of shooting Samuel Herr after luring him to the Los Alamitos 
Joint Forces military base in May 2010. Prosecutors allege he then used the 
victim's cell phone to trick his friend, Juri Kibuishi, into going to Herr's 
Costa Mesa apartment, where the defendant gunned her down and then made it look 
like Herr killed her during a sexual assault. Wozniak then allegedly returned 
to the base to dismember Herr.

(source: patch.com)








USA:

Many Basic Facts About Executions Remain Secret - Until Something Goes 
Wrong----As Oklahoma's death-row inmates await word on whether the state's 
execution procedure is constitutional, states - including Oklahoma - maintain 
strong laws protecting disclosure of information about the way they implement 
the death penalty.



Last year, an Oklahoma inmate sat on a gurney for 43 minutes while the drugs 
that were supposed to course swiftly through his body and kill him failed to do 
so.

Any day now, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in a case on 
whether Oklahoma's death penalty protocol is constitutional, a case filed in 
the aftermath of that botched execution, many of the details of which still 
remain shrouded in secrecy. How the Supreme Court will decide - how narrowly or 
broadly or whether they will issue an opinion at all - is unknown.

1 thing is clear, however, in Oklahoma and elsewhere: The way people are 
executed in America is increasingly done in secret.

The identities of the actual executioners have been secret for a long time. But 
in recent years, states have extended that same secrecy to the very drugs used 
to kill people - where they???re purchased, how they're purchased, and how 
they're prepared and administered.

Death penalty lawyers argue the secrecy means they don't find out about many of 
the problems until something goes wrong. But even in those cases, 
investigations are done by the state itself, shielding an unknown amount of 
that information - beyond what the state releases - from public disclosure.

Lockett's execution took place more than a year ago, yet reporters in Oklahoma 
are still waiting for Gov. Mary Fallin's office to turn over emails and records 
from that night. Eventually Ziva Branstetter, a journalist now with the Tulsa 
Frontier, had little choice but to sue for the documents in December of last 
year.

Fallin has attempted to delay the suit - arguing that, although her office 
hasn't turned over the records, she hasn't formally denied the request either. 
Fallin's office claimed in court that absent a formal denial, the courts 
couldn't weigh in.

The response from Fallin isn't an anomaly, either. Her office has stopped 
responding to emails about a BuzzFeed News open records request from months 
ago.

In a statement, a Fallin spokesperson said the governor was committed to 
transparency.

"It is an extremely time-consuming process," Alex Weintz said. "And, since our 
office gets many Open Records requests, it can take a while to receive 
documents in response to a request."

The situation in Oklahoma isn't unusual.

"Departments of Corrections have realized that the more information they 
provide, the more it reveals how little they know," said Deborah Denno, a law 
professor who has followed the death penalty for decades.

"It's always been there, but now it's becoming more pronounced. The only time 
we really find out what's going on is when something goes wrong and we have a 
really badly botched execution."

The secrecy has also provided cover when things go wrong. That's how it has 
played out in Georgia after state officials had to halt an impending execution 
after finding particles floating in the syringe.

Georgia officials said the state would put its executions on hold while it 
investigated what went wrong. Attorney Gerald "Bo" King, who represents the 
woman on death row, worried that the "self-investigation" would be biased.

"[The state] will not be merely the subject of this investigation; they will 
also conduct it," King wrote in March. "And they will hide all critical aspects 
of their self-assessment from Ms. Gissendaner, the public, and this court."

Those concerns have been borne out in the time since. After a short 
investigation, Georgia told the courts, the press, and the public that the 
likeliest cause of the drug's issues is that it was stored at too low of a 
temperature. But state officials did not publicize the fact that the expert 
consulted by the state also pointed to a 2nd possible cause - problems with how 
the drug was made. The state then withheld the results of a test that could 
support or cast doubt on that assessment, refusing to turn those results over 
to BuzzFeed News in an open records request.

"After reflection," - and a BuzzFeed News report detailing how the state was 
withholding the results - the state changed its mind and released them. The 
results cast doubt on their assessment that it was temperature, and not a 
problem with the secret pharmacist that mixed the drug, that caused the drug to 
go bad.

The lethal injection problems have not appeared to change the minds of those 
who have supported the secrecy.

"Georgia did they right thing, they didn't use the drug. It's not a problem," 
said Kent Scheidegger of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, an organization 
that works to support the death penalty. "Oklahoma - they did have one case 
where the insertion wasn't done correctly. But they've taken steps to fix it."

Scheidegger and other supporters argue that the secrecy is vital. Without it, 
he says, people wouldn???t be willing to participate in executions or sell 
lethal drugs.

"I cannot think of another instance where companies would face the same 
criticism for participating in a government function," Scheidegger said.

Military companies aren't shielded from public scrutiny, and the amounts the 
government pays those companies are a matter of public record. When asked why 
this should be different, Scheidegger said, "I lived through Vietnam era and I 
don't remember them doing this with military contractors."

"As long as the drug is tested, it shouldn't matter where it comes from," he 
added.

It's the argument that almost all other states have made when the secrecy has 
been challenged.

In fact, these days, Nebraska seems to be the only state fine with turning over 
records that illustrate how its lethal drugs are procured, even if the Food and 
Drug Administration has said those drugs are illegal and will be seized.

Nebraska's lethal injection drugs are purchased from a supplier in India.

(source: buzzfeed.com)

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

Defense seeks to block emotional testimony in theater shooting trial----Day 33 
in the Aurora theater shooting trial



Jurors will hear heartbreaking testimony from Ashley Moser about the night she 
and her 6-year-old daughter, Veronica Moser-Sullivan, went to the movies.

But attorneys for the Aurora theater shooting gunman urged a judge to prevent 
Moser from telling them some of the worst details about her injuries, 
Veronica's death and the loss of her pregnancy.

They also asked the judge to block prosecutors from showing Moser a picture of 
Veronica, the youngest of the 12 people killed at the Century Aurora 16 theater 
on July 20, 2012.

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler on Wednesday told District 
Court Judge Carlos Samour Jr. that he plans to call Moser to the stand Friday. 
Prosecutors have said they expect that day to mark the end of their case.

Also Wednesday, Samour dismissed Juror 267 after he found that she had not been 
completely forthcoming about knowing witness Maria Carbonell, who testified on 
Day 6. Samour has now dismissed 2 jurors this week, after the dismissal of 3 
jurors last week.

19 jurors remain on the panel - 14 women and 5 men. 7 of them are alternates, 
but only the judge and attorneys know which ones.

Tamara Brady, 1 of the attorneys representing James Holmes, listed more than a 
dozen facts or descriptions expected to be revealed during Moser's testimony. 
She described the details as horrific, at times pausing while relating them to 
the judge.

The emotional weight of the testimony is what makes the details inappropriate, 
Brady said.

"The death of a child strikes a particular chord for the jury," she said.

Snippets of how Veronica died have come up in previous testimony.

Kaylan Bailey described babysitting Veronica that day and the spangly sandals 
she gave her. Security video from inside the theater's lobby showed the little 
girl wearing the sandals as she walked past.

Also, officers cried on the witness stand as they described carrying Veronica 
out of the theater. Photos from her autopsy were shown.

Brady argued that the additional details from Moser would be unnecessarily 
repetitive and would prejudice the jury unfairly against Holmes, who faces the 
death penalty. In some instances, the testimony would not be relevant to the 
heart of the case, in which Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of 
insanity, Brady said.

Brauchler argued that the testimony is extremely relevant.

Moser originally thought the Batman movie they were there to see was a cartoon 
- explaining why a 6-year-old was at a midnight premiere, Brauchler said - and 
she was later worried that the violent film would scare Veronica.

Veronica asked to sit in her mother's lap during the movie, but Moser's 
pregnancy made it uncomfortable.

Brauchler argued that Moser's last words to Veronica explain why she was 
sitting in the seat where she was shot: "You're a big girl. You can sit in your 
own seat."

Details about Moser's injuries, ongoing treatment and the 16 months she spent 
at Craig Hospital after the shooting show how she is living with the impacts 
from the shooting, Brauchler said. Moser had to learn how to hold a spoon again 
and make a sandwich.

Preventing her from testifying about those details would be denying Moser an 
opportunity to do what other survivors called to the stand have done, Brauchler 
said.

70 people were injured in the attack. Dozens have been called to testify since 
the trial began April 27.

"I agree with Ms. Brady. It is a horrific thing to deal with the murder of a 
child," Brauchler said. "That is what the allegations are in this case."

But Brady argued that asking Moser to share those details is an effort by 
prosecutors to draw out emotion from jurors and not an effort to present 
relevant evidence. She also asked the judge to block prosecutors from showing 
Moser a photograph of Veronica during her testimony.

"I think the point of (the picture) is so that Ashley will start crying," Brady 
said. "Everyone in this courtroom will be heartbroken to see Ashley shown a 
picture of her daughter."

She forcefully told the judge that the photograph is not relevant.

"It is inexplicable to me that we could go through the testimony of this mother 
and not show her a picture of her daughter," Brauchler responded. "Showing her 
the picture has to be something we allow."

Samour deferred his ruling.

(source: Denver Post)