[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., N.C., S.C, GA., FLA., MISS.

[Rick Halperin]

June 26



TEXAS:

Lubbock man arrested in double homicide indicted for capital murder----David 
Carrillo accused in fatal shooting of couple



A Lubbock County grand jury indicted Thursday a 29-year-old man who admitted to 
investigators he shot to death his former girlfriend and her boyfriend in their 
bedroom.

David Carrillo is charged with 2 counts of capital murder.

Grand jurors, who usually meet on Tuesdays, convened in a special session 
Thursday to deliberate Carrillo's case.

Carrillo is accused in the April 18 fatal shooting of Jennifer Cruz and Albert 
Martinez at Cruz's home in the 5000 block of 44th Street.

1 count of the indictment accuses Carrillo of shooting 2 people. The 2nd count 
of the indictment accuses him of shooting Cruz in the act of burglary.

Lubbock police responded about 2 a.m. to a call about a man with a gun at the 
residence.

A dispatcher could hear Cruz calling out to someone named David to put down the 
gun before shots rang out, according to an arrest warrant.

Cruz reportedly used the name several times.

Responding officers found the bodies of Cruz and Martinez in the bedroom.

Further investigation led police to identify Carrillo, who had 2 children with 
Cruz, as a possible suspect, according to a warrant.

Carrillo was arrested at his home in the 2200 block of 100th Street.

At the police station, Carrillo admitted to entering Cruz's home through the 
bedroom window.

He said wanted to talk to Martinez about threats he sent him on Facebook.

He told investigators Cruz and Martinez "came at him" before he shot them, the 
warrant states.

Carrillo said he fled the scene and disposed of his gun.

Capital murder carries a punishment of life in prison or the death penalty.

Carrillo remains at the Lubbock County Detention Center. His bond is set at $1 
million, according to jail records.

(source: lubbockonline.com)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Convicted Upper Merion killer remains on death row as attorneys debate 
jurisdiction

The man whose death sentence was overturned for the 2005 killing of Jennifer 
Pennington in Upper Merion will remain on death row, for now.

On Thursday Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Steven ONeill ordered 
Harold Murray's attorney, Michael Wiseman, and attorneys from the Pennsylvania 
Department of Corrections to file additional briefs to determine whether or not 
O'Neill has the jurisdiction or authority to take Murray, 37, off of death row 
while he waits for a new sentencing phase.

While those briefs are filed, Murray will stay on death row in State 
Correctional Institute Graterford.

In court, Wiseman argued that his client is living on death row without a death 
sentence, which violates his constitutional rights because he is unable to 
participate in group programs that could be used to show jurors that he would 
behave well as a prisoner in general population for the rest of his life. 
Wiseman said that could be used as mitigating evidence during the sentencing 
phase. Right now, Murray, is serving 2 life sentences - 1 for the death of 
Shawne Mims and one for the killing of Pennington???s unborn child.

Wiseman asked if the Department of Corrections could conduct an individual 
assessment to see if Murray would be able to live in general population without 
a problem. If the department made such an assessment and found Murray would not 
be suitable for general population, there would be nothing more to say, he 
added.

Murray was initially given a death sentence in 2009 for the killings of 
Pennington's unborn child. However, Pennsylvania law does not allow for jurors 
to sentence a defendant to death for the killing of an unborn child. The courts 
realized the error and reversed it, giving him a life sentence.

In January 2014, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned the death penalty 
imposed for the death of Pennington, saying it was too closely connected to the 
jury's decision to sentence Murray to death for the killing of her unborn 
child, and sent the case back to Common Pleas Court for resentencing.

Julia Tilghman, an attorney for the Department of Corrections, argued that it 
is not in Judge O'Neill's jurisdiction to rule on how the prisons house 
inmates. She said it is the practice of the department to keep defendants 
sentenced to death on death row through the course of their appeals and through 
their retrials. She also argued it is not the job of the Department of 
Corrections to help the defendant create mitigating factors for sentencing.

On Jan. 31, 2005, detectives from the Philadelphia Police Department's Homicide 
Division responded to the 3600 block of Ford Road in Philadelphia for a report 
that a human body had been found on the side of the road. The victim was later 
identified as Pennington. Investigators found a receipt for a room at the Best 
Western Hotel in King of Prussia with Mims' name on it.

Investigators went to the Best Western room to find Mims dead from 2 gunshot 
wounds.

According to the affidavit of probable cause, an autopsy performed on 
Pennington showed she was pregnant and had died from two gunshot wounds in the 
face. The autopsy performed showed that Mims had been killed from 2 separate 
gunshot wounds, 2 to in his chest, hitting the lung, and the other going 
through his back.

On Jan. 31, 2005, police learned that Mims and Pennington were a part of a 
group that robbed 2 drug dealers on Jan. 30, 2005. Court documents cite revenge 
as the motive for the killings. Murray was found guilty in April 2009 and 
sentenced to death for the murder of Pennington and her unborn child and to 
life in prison for the murder of Mims.

The new sentencing phase in which a jury will determine whether Murray will be 
sentenced to life in prison or death for the killing of Pennington has not been 
scheduled. A status hearing in the case has been scheduled for September.

(sources: Times Herald)

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

DA to seek death penalty for Troy Hill man accused in 3 homicides



Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. will seek the death 
penalty against a Troy Hill man charged in 3 killings over 2 days in March 
2014, his office announced Thursday.

A notice of intention to seek the death penalty against Theodore Smedley, 20, 
was filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

Aggravating circumstances cited in the filing include another murder 
conviction, a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or 
threat of violence, committing the killing during a felony and creating grave 
risk to someone other than the deceased while committing the offense.

Mr. Smedley was arrested and arraigned Thursday on charges that he killed 2 men 
who were found shot to death in a Cadillac Escalade on Brown Way in Garfield on 
March 25, 2014, said Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney's office.

A grand jury issued an indictment this month charging Mr. Smedley in the deaths 
of Rashad Freeman, 18, of Verona and Jamarow Trowery, 36, who previously 
resided in Homewood, Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg, Mr. Manko said.

Pittsburgh police said the pair were killed on their way to pick up another 
man, who called police after he heard 5 gunshots and went outside to find the 
SUV crashed into the back of the Radiant Life Alliance Church on Kincaid 
Street. Mr. Trowery had been shot in the chest and Mr. Freeman in the neck.

Court records show Mr. Smedley faces two counts of homicide, recklessly 
endangering another person and a gun violation in that case.

He was already incarcerated and awaiting trial in the death of Rasheed Strader, 
18.

Mr. Strader was shot multiple times in the chest and neck on Goettman Street in 
Troy Hill during the evening of March 24, 2014. He was found lying between 2 
parked cars about 9:30 p.m. and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Mr. Smedley has been charged with homicide, conspiracy and a gun violation in 
his death.

A warrant was issued April 2 of last year in Mr. Strader's death, and Mr. 
Smedley was apprehended 2 weeks later by the U.S. Marshals Service and 
Pittsburgh police.

He has been lodged at the Allegheny County Jail since.

(source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

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

Pittsburgh man now charged with 3 homicides; could face death penalty



The Allegheny County District Attorney's Office plans to seek the death penalty 
for a Troy Hill man accused in 3 Pittsburgh homicides.

Authorities said Theodore Smedley, 20, was arrested Thursday and charged with 
the March 2014 deaths of Jamarow Trowery, 36, and Rashad Freeman, 18. Police 
said the victims were found shot in an SUV that crashed into the back of 
Radiant Life Alliance Church in Garfield.

An indictment charging Smedley with both killings was returned earlier this 
month by a county grand jury, said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the DA's office.

Smedley was already awaiting trial for homicide in the death of Rasheed 
Strader, 18, who was killed 1 day before Trowery and Freeman were slain.

Police said Strader had been shot multiple times and found lying between 2 
vehicles on Goettman Street in Troy Hill on March 24, 2014.

In announcing its intention to seek the death penalty, the DA's office said 
Smedley has "a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or 
threat of violence to the person."

(source: WTAE news)








VIRGINIA:

Judge sets trial date for Jesse Matthew in Hannah Graham case----The 4-week 
trial will begin July 5, 2016



We now know when Jesse Matthew will stand trial in the death of University of 
Virginia student Hannah Graham.

The 4-week trial is scheduled to be held July 5, 2016 to July 29, 2016. 
Albemarle County Circuit Judge Cheryl Higgins set the trial date at a hearing 
Thursday.

Higgins did not recuse herself from the trial. Higgins said her daughter 
attended a candlelight vigil for Graham, but her daughter did not know her or 
who the vigil was for.

Higgins said if there are any motions to suppress search warrants that she 
signed off on, another judge will hear those motions.

The defense and commonwealth agreed to have 8 pre-trial motions before the 
trial begins.

Matthew is charged in the September abduction and killing of 18-year-old 
Graham.

Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Denise Lunsford is seeking the death 
penalty for Matthew. Because of that, Matthew had to say goodbye to defense 
attorney Jim Camblos. Matthew was assigned 2 public defenders.

Earlier this month, the 33-year-old Matthew was convicted of attempted capital 
murder, abduction and sexual assault in an unrelated 2005 case in Fairfax 
County. He'll be sentenced in October.

Investigators have said that DNA also links Matthew to the 2009 killing of 
Roanoke County native Morgan Harrington. He has not been charged in that case.

Following Thursday's hearing Gil Harrington, the mother of Morgan Harrington, 
said she is upset that it will be at least another year before Jesse Matthew 
goes on trial.

(source: WDBJ news)








NORTH CAROLINA:

"Death penalty and the pursuit of it can border on being crimes in themselves"



In case you missed it, the lead editorial in this morning's edition of 
Raleigh's News & Observer does a fine job of summarizing the new and disturbing 
report from the good people at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation: "On 
Trial for Their Lives: The Hidden Costs of Wrongful Capital prosecutions in 
North Carolina."

As the editorial notes:

"District attorneys who choose to bring capital charges often do so as an 
expression of the public's outrage over a heinous crime. But a new report 
suggests that putting a defendant on trial for his life also can involve 
another sort of outrage - the pursuit of flimsy cases at high cost to taxpayers 
and great damage to the accused.

The report from the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in North Carolina 
looked at problems with death penalty cases from an unusual perspective. 
Instead of focusing on defendants who were wrongly convicted, the center 
studied 56 North Carolina capital cases brought between 1989 and 2015 that 
ended with an acquittal or dismissal of all charges.

The finding of 56 cases is a remarkably high number over the past 
quarter-century given that the state's death row population is 148. Presumably, 
prosecutors would not pursue costly, extended death penalty cases unless there 
was a high probability of a conviction. But the report found shoddy cases 
derailed by serious errors or misconduct, including witness coercion, evidence 
not properly disclosed and bungled investigations."

The editorial concludes this way:

"In North Carolina, there have been no executions since 2006 because of 
concerns about the drugs used and the refusal of doctors to participate in a 
process that by law requires a doctor's presence. Some in the North Carolina 
General Assembly are trying to streamline the path to execution by proposing a 
change that would allow medical personnel other than doctors to fulfill the 
required medical role.

This report adds another chapter to the evidence that the death penalty and the 
pursuit of it can border on being crimes in themselves. The record demands that 
the wrongs wrought by this pursuit of vengeance be ended by the pursuit of 
justice."

NC Policy Watch will host a Crucial Conversation luncheon today at noon with 
the authors of the report. We'll post the video of the event in the very near 
future.

(source: ncpolicywatch.org)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

South Carolina Can't Execute Charleston Shooter Because Of Drug Shortage



Soon after the alleged Charleston Church shooter Dylann Roof was arrested, 
people across the country, including South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, began 
calling for the 21-year-old's death.

There's just 1 problem. The state couldn't execute Roof right now even if they 
wanted to.

An international boycott of the drugs the U.S. uses for executions has made 
them difficult to find, with South Carolina among the states that have 
completely run dry.

South Carolina uses a 3-drug cocktail that includes Pentobarbital, a drug the 
state ran out of in 2013. That means if Roof is put on death row he'll be 
waiting with dozens of inmates the state is unable to execute because of the 
shortage.

This problem isn't uncommon as states across the country scramble to get the 
right drugs for their executions.

Some states like South Carolina allow inmates sentenced to death to choose 
electrocution over lethal injection, but the inmate has to choose that method 
himself. Tennessee passed a law in 2014 that allowed for use of the electric 
chair if lethal injection chemicals are not available. The states have 
struggled for years to circumvent the boycott. Robert Dunham, executive 
director of the Death Penalty Information Center, told The Daily Caller News 
Foundation that when U.S. pharmacies refused to provide the chemicals, states 
looked to Europe. But the European Union banned the sale of the chemicals to 
the U.S. for use in execution.

States tried to get around that by going through 3rd parties in places like 
India, but Europe eventually caught onto that too.

To obtain the drug, some states have tried to keep the supplying companies 
secret because those companies fear public opinion backlash for participating 
in the execution.

"They're worried that if their customers find out they are making drugs to kill 
people they'll go elsewhere," Dunham told TheDCNF. "It is horrid to imagine any 
other public policy that involves human life where the identity of a supplier, 
the quality and quantity and the safety record of the supplier is not open to 
the public."

While South Carolina hasn't executed an inmate since 2011, some states, such as 
Texas which has executed 9 people this year, have managed to make it work.

(source: The Daily Caller)








GEORGIA:

Defendant in death case blames police for his crimes



Accused cop killer Jamie Hood, representing himself in his own death penalty 
case, told jurors in his opening statement Thursday that the reason he is on 
trial is because of corrupt police officers.

Hood repeatedly brought up the deaths of his brother and a friend at the hands 
of the police. He also used his opening statement to rant about his prior 
conviction for the armed robbery of a pizza delivery man.

"The evidence will show I was illegally convicted of an armed robbery charge 
that I'm innocent of. Destroyed my life and played a significant role in the 
charges I now have," Hood said.

He blamed also 1 of his victims, police officer Tony Howard, for the crime 
spree that left another officer, Elmer "Buddy" Christian III, dead on March 22, 
2011.

Hood has pleaded not guilty to murder and dozens of other felonies even though 
he has admitted several times in court that he killed Christian.

Christian and Howard were both shot after Hood was pulled over for allegedly 
kidnapping Judon Brooks. Brooks said Hood bound his hands and feet and put him 
in the trunk of his car because he wouldn't tell Hood where to find a certain 
drug dealer.

Police searched for Hood for four days. Hood called the Georgia Bureau of 
Investigation to tell law enforcement where they could find him. He decided to 
release his hostages only after officers agreed his surrender could be covered 
live on television. Hood also is charged with murdering Kenneth Omari Wray when 
he refused to tell Hood where to find the same drug dealer. Prosecutors say 
ballistics linked Wray's death to the shootings of the police officers almost 3 
months later.

District Attorney Ken Mauldin is seeking the death penalty for the deaths of 
Christian and another man 3 months before the shootout with police.

"They say I committed murder because I was cut out of a drug connection," Hood 
said. "The evidence will show these are ugly lies; not just lies, but ugly 
lies. Something is greatly wrong with the reason I am facing the charges that I 
have. There have been some unfortunate things to happen to me in my life that 
led me to face these charges. I have had some unfortunate experience with 
police brutality and police misconduct."

Hood insisted on representing himself after he fired two sets of attorneys from 
the Office of the Georgia Capital Defenders after they suggested his mental 
competency may be an issue . Hood agreed to let one of those attorneys to serve 
as "stand by" council to offer advice on procedure only.

Hood spent the beginning of his 25-minute opening statement speaking about the 
separate shooting deaths of his brother, Timothy, and his friend, Edward 
Wright.

He also complained that there had been prior trouble between him and Howard, 
the officer who was wounded on March 22, 2011.

"It's all about revenge. I'm not trying to run. I'm not asking for no plea 
bargain. It's not about me. It's about prejudice. It's got to stop," Hood said.

Hood also ranted about his trouble finding a job after he was released from 
prison in 2009.

"I couldn't get a job so I started dealing drugs ... (You) get out (of prison) 
and can't find a job. If a man's willing to work, why not let him?" Hood said.

Mauldin began his opening statement by mimicking Hood's own words when he was 
taken in to custody.

"'What ever I get I deserve. I can't blame nobody.' Those are the words of the 
defendant Jamie Donnell Hood, spoke just hours after his surrender in March 
2011," Mauldin said.

But that has changed, the DA said.

"This trial will be about blaming everyone else except 1 person," Mauldin said.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








FLORIDA:

Death row inmate's appeal rejected in CCI guard's murder



The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an appeal by a man sentenced to 
death in the 2003 murder of a Charlotte Correctional Institution guard.

Inmate Dwight Eaglin argued, at least in part, that he received "ineffective" 
legal representation during his trial and during sentencing.

But justices unanimously ruled against Eaglin, who was convicted of killing 
correctional officer Darla Lathrem and another prisoner, Charles Fuston, during 
a foiled escape attempt.

The appeal included arguments that Eaglin's attorneys should have raised issues 
about his diagnosis of bipolar disorder and about abuse he suffered as a child.

But the Supreme Court pointed to what are known as "aggravators," which are 
factors considered in determining whether murder defendants should receive the 
death penalty.

"Even if counsel had presented testimony during the penalty phase that shed 
light on Eaglin's abusive childhood, his dysfunctional family, and that he 
suffered from mental health disorders, our confidence in the outcome of the 
penalty phase would not be undermined when viewed in the context of the penalty 
phase evidence and the mitigators and aggravators found by the trial court,'' 
the Supreme Court opinion said.

Eaglin, now 39, is on death row at Florida State Prison near Starke.

(source: ABC news)








MISSISSIPPI:

Mississippi private prisons hold inmates longer, without reducing crime - study



Private prisons in Mississippi routinely extend inmate's sentences by 2 to 3 
months to leverage extra costs from the state, a new study found. However, the 
extended prison stays are having no effect on crime reduction.

The 1st-of-a-kind study from the University of Wisconsin compared time served 
by inmates in public and private prisons in Mississippi, between 1996 and 2004, 
to determine whether private prisons were more cost effective and whether they 
were leading to lower crime rates through rehabilitation programs.

The study found that private prison operators were increasing inmates' prison 
sentences by 60 to 90 additional days (roughly 4 to 7 %) for the average 
prisoner through a scheme of prison conduct violations. The additional 2 to 3 
months were leading to an average additional cost per prisoner of $3,000 and 
eroding any costs savings the state was trying to achieve.

"If inmates sent to private prisons somehow serve longer terms, this undermines 
the very cost benefit that makes private prisons attractive relative to public 
prisons," said Anita Mukherjee, an assistant professor of actuary science at 
the University of Wisconsin, and the study's author, in a statement.

Mississippi has the highest incarceration rate in the US, with 40 percent of 
inmates held in private prisons. Since 1980, states have been contracting with 
private prison operators to help reduce costs and expand bed capacity, which 
has led to the US contracting 10 % of its 2.3 million prison population out to 
private prisons. The private prison contracting industry is now worth $5 
billion. Under Mississippi state law, private prisons have to provide cost 
savings of 10 % compared to public prisons.

Mukherjee said states could structure incentives for private prison contractors 
that matched their public policy outcomes, whether it is reducing costs or 
reducing re-offending rates.

Reviewing the study's findings, Nazgol Ghandnoosh, a prison activist with The 
Sentencing Project, told RT that states are not accruing savings when they 
contract with private prisons.

"One of the big differences is that private prisons appear to cost less per 
prisoner, but when you look at the contracts they specify they don't want the 
most expensive prisoners - old prisoners and those that have high healthcare 
expenses, they will not accept those prisoners," said Ghandnoosh.

"Generally, people in private prisons are younger and healthier. When you take 
that into consideration, states are not actually accruing any savings."

In her study, Mukherjee also found that the use of prison conduct violations 
targeted all inmates in every demographic, offense and sentence length, and 
that those in private prisons accumulated more prison infractions than those in 
public prisons. State parole boards use infractions in assessing whether to 
give an inmate early release.

"Prisoners in private prison are 15 % more likely to receive an infraction over 
the course of their sentence ... virtually all reported infractions are 
recorded as 'guilty,'" said Mukherjee. She added that "systematic differences 
in release policies constitute a distortion of justice."

Mukherjee also found that because of the "distortion of justice," the other 
"promise" of rehabilitation programs leading to a reduction in crime wasn't 
fulfilled.

Ghandnoosh told RT that one of the other hidden facts about private prisons is 
they are likely to cut back on personnel and programming expenses.

"They are less likely to have unionized workers and they are likely to spend 
less money to train them, and they also provide fewer services within prisons," 
said Ghandnoosh. "That contributes to making these prisons less safe 
environments, and it can contribute to the high recidivism [reoffending] rates 
we are seeing in these prisons."

(source: rt.com)