[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., S.C., FLA., LA., IND., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

May 21



TEXAS----3 new execution dates



Daniel Lopez has been given an execution date for August 12; Bernardo Tercero 
has been given an execution date for August 26, and Juan Garcia has been given 
an execution date for October 6. All these dates should be considered serious.

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----7

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----525

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

8----------June 3--------------------Les Bower------------526

9-----------June 18-------------------Gregory Russeau------527

10---------August 12-----------------Daniel Lopez---------528

11---------August 26-----------------Bernardo Tercero-----529

12---------October 6-----------------Juan Garcia----------530

(sources for both: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








NORTH CAROLINA:

N.C. House bill would loosen execution restrictions



Although 149 criminals sit on North Carolina's death row, not one inmate in the 
state has been executed in 9 years.

A bill in the N.C. legislature seeks to restart executions by making changes to 
the protocol that has been one of the major obstacles to the process for nearly 
a decade.

House Bill 774, which was passed by the N.C. House and is currently under 
consideration in the Senate, would allow medical professionals other than 
licensed physicians to oversee executions.

Under the bill, the presence of physician assistants, registered nurses, nurse 
practitioners and emergency medical technicians would also suffice to perform a 
legal execution.

Brian Bechtol, a North Carolina physician assistant and owner of Urgent Care of 
Mountain View in Hickory, N.C., said physician assistants are just as qualified 
to perform an execution.

"I think it's good that our roles are expanding. I just don't like the topic 
that is being discussed right now," he said.

"No matter what your personal belief is, and I absolutely believe in the death 
penalty, as a medical professional - where we swear to save lives when possible 
- that sort of goes against our ethical principles."

The American Medical Association assists with the credentialing of physician 
assistants as well as physicians. The association strongly encourages 
physicians not participate in executions.

In 2007, the North Carolina Medical Board banned providers from giving lethal 
injection to inmates.

Although the N.C. Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that the board could not take 
away physicians' licenses for participating, physicians have since been highly 
discouraged from doing so.

UNC political science professor Frank Baumgartner said the attempt by 
legislators behind the bill to move forward with the death penalty goes against 
national trends.

According to his research, only 43 individuals have been executed of 401 death 
sentences in North Carolina since 1977.

Compared to the amount of money and time spent on the trial and appeals 
process, he said the sentence is a wasteful process.

He also said the inherent flaws in the justice system are extremely problematic 
when applied to executing individuals.

"Why would anyone want to bring this beast back from the dead?" he said.

Even if the law did pass, the executions would not resume due to litigation 
obstacles, including cases involving the repealed Racial Justice Act and 
nationwide concerns with the constitutionality of lethal injection.

The bill would still require a licensed physician to be on the premises to 
announce the person dead.

Tarrah Callahan, executive director of the N.C. Coalition for Alternatives to 
the Death Penalty, pointed to the two exonerations in North Carolina last year 
as proof of the problems with the justice system.

Half-brothers Henry McCollum and Leon Brown were declared innocent and released 
in September 2014 after serving 30 years in prison. McCollum spent those 3 
decades on death row.

"The governor hasn't even made steps on granting them a pardon. And here we 
are, instead talking about how to rush executions to restart," Callahan said.

"It just doesn't match."

(source: Daily Tar Heel)








SOUTH CAROLINA----female to face death penalty

Death penalty sought for mother in death of Hartsville toddler



Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against the mother of a toddler killed 
in 2013 in Hartsville.

In a press release Wednesday, Fourth Circuit Solicitor Will Rogers said his 
office will seek death against April Dixon for the December 2, 2013 murder of 
Madison Dolford.

Authorities say Timothy Sanders shot and killed the 21 month old. The 
solicitor's office announced it would seek the death penalty against Sanders in 
December, 2014.

Prosecutors said Sanders' case was eligible for the death penalty because he 
killed the child for money or something else of value, and on behalf of another 
person.

Both Dixon and Sanders are charged with murder.

No trial date is set for either person.

(source: WBTW news)

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

Could the firing squad be a new death penalty in South Carolina?



Death row inmates, on average, spend 15 years there before they are executed. 
Much of that time is spent appealing their sentences.

"I talked to each person that I was responsible for executing. I went down on 
my own time and talked to them, made sure they were spiritually ready to go." 
Former State Corrections Director John Ozmint says in the 8 years he was on the 
job, 15 of his inmates were put to death. 2 of those were done in the electric 
chair.

"I said, 'I gotta ask ya', and he said 'I know what you're gonna ask me, Mr. 
Ozmint'. And I said, 'well, why?' He said '2 reasons. One, I deserve it. I 
killed 2 people. And 2, I just want you all to know I can take it'."

South Carolina is 1 of 14 states where an inmate can choose how they are put to 
death. Inmates on death row can choose one of two methods to end their life: 
lethal injection and the electric chair: South Carolina being one of four 
states that still uses the chair.

Lethal injection is the primary execution method used in all 33 death penalty 
states. Death by firing squad- an execution method now legal in four states, 
could soon be an option in South Carolina.

"A firing squad would be the most humane way of executing someone's life." 
State Representative Joshua Putnam introduced a bill last month that would 
bring back the firing squad as a 3rd option in South Carolina. He's been 
hammered by critics that say the method is inhumane.

"That would be ridiculous for the state of South Carolina to start with the 
firing squad," said State Representative Carl Anderson.

John Ozmint says no Supreme Court has ever found it to be cruel and unusual.

Representative Putnam is pushing the firing squad option because South 
Carolina's supply of lethal injection drugs has run dry. Supplies ran out in 
2013. Multiple states are facing the same situation- essentially taking the 
death penalty off the table.

"My limited discussions with the Directors across the country is that there are 
no supplies left to be had," said Ozmint.

Representative Putnam says "If you elect lethal injection, you know you're not 
gonna be put to death."

Manufacturers are no longer selling it to states, and pharmaceutical companies 
are not required to sell states the necessary drugs.

"Where the drugs have been administered wrong in other states, and you have 
excrutiating pain for that individual that's sentenced to death." Putnam says 
if he had to choose a method for himself, he would choose death by firing 
squad.

"There's not really much of a way to mess up a firing squad."

Utah recently became the 4th state to make firing squads an execution option.

"These are heinous crimes. These are the most nasty, the most evil people of 
our society," said Putnam.

"I've talked to men as they've gone to their death who would look you in the 
eye and tell you 'I deserve the death penalty for what I did'," said Ozmint.

No one has been executed in the state of South Carolina since 2011. The last 
sentence was carried out by lethal injection. With that no longer being an 
option for the forseeable future, state lawmakers continue to search for other 
options. Ozmint says the State Supreme Court will not issue an execution 
warrant while there's still uncertainty about how it can be carried out. 
Meanwhile, death sentences are rapidly declining as the cost of capital 
punishment cases dramatically increases- costing the state millions for a 
sentence that may never happen.

"I don't wanna see those people- those horrible people out there that just get 
a pass because we can't figure out another solution."

It's not likely lawmakers will get to debate the death penalty issue before 
this legislative session ends, but House Representatives say it's an important 
discussion that needs to happen when the next session starts in January.

(source: WACH news)








FLORIDA:

State Seeks Death Penalty in Barry Davis Murder Trial



Wednesday began the 3-day penalty phase in the Barry Davis murder trial.

Monday, a jury found Davis guilty on 14 counts for murdering John Hughes and 
Hiedi Rhodes in 2012.

During the penalty phase, jurors will hear from Davis' family and the victims' 
families, who will recommend or not recommend the death penalty for Davis.

The judge will make the final decision.

Davis' father took the stand and talked about his son being award with the Bay 
County Sheriff's Office "Do the Right Thing Award" for saving a drowning man.

"They gave him like a $500 scholarship and a certificate," Barry Davis, Sr. 
said. "It was on television and the newspaper and everything. Actually they 
interviewed him."

"Did he maintain a relationship with that man," asked Davis' defense attorney.

"Yes, yes," Davis, Sr. said.

Davis' uncle also took the stand. Mental health experts for both the defense 
and prosecution will testify during this process.

(source: WJHG news)








LOUISIANA:

Working on death row: 'We're all going to die - but we do choose whether to 
kill' ---- Richard Bourke, who gave up a career in Melbourne to work with death 
penalty cases in Louisiana, says in his TEDx talk that the work has moments of 
beauty



Australian lawyer Richard Bourke, who works to save prisoners from death row in 
the US, has told of moments of spirituality, dignity and beauty in some of the 
toughest legal cases.

The former Melbourne lawyer, currently the director of the Louisiana Capital 
Assistance Center, returned to Australia to speak to audiences at TEDxSydney 
about his work saving clients from the death penalty.

He reflected on 20-hour work days, last-minute appeals, frantic searches for 
new evidence and, in unsuccessful cases, the difficulty of witnessing final 
moments his clients spent with their loved ones.

But he said there were happy moments too, when he would meet people who chose 
not to kill. Several years ago he worked on a drug case involving a triple 
homicide. He described his client, Chuck, the convicted party, as a "kind, 
remorseful and spiritual man".

Bourke said for lawyers working in the US justice system, the key to seeking 
any penalty less than death is securing the agreement of the families of the 
victims. In this case all had consented but the mother of the youngest victim, 
a 17-year-old girl whose last words were "please don't shoot me I'm pregnant".

A private meeting was arranged between the mother and her daughter's killer, at 
the end of which she hugged him. In court the mother spoke about her loss but 
also her desire that Chuck be spared the death penalty. "It was a moment of 
unparalleled dignity and beauty," Bourke said.

"We're all going to die - we don't have a choice about that - but we do choose 
whether to kill or not."

Much of Bourke's work in Louisiana could not be done without the assistance of 
Australian volunteers. In late 2013, Guardian Australia visited Bourke in his 
New Orleans office.

The legal centre had once been a recording studio and Bourke was dressed 
casually in a t-shirt and jeans despite it being December in the northern 
hemisphere.

A former Melbourne lawyer, he first went to New Orleans in 1998 to volunteer on 
death row cases at the Louisiana Capital Assistance Center (LCAC) - a 
non-profit organisation assisting prisoners on death row.

Co-founded in 1983 by Briton Clive Stafford Smith (dubbed by the Telegraph in 
Britain as the "Knight of the Living Dead" after he was awarded his OBE), the 
LCAC is often the last hope for prisoners who are facing the death penalty. The 
centre represents inmates at trial level, and for those already on the row 
(there are 88 men on death row in Louisiana) investigates the circumstances of 
their cases - sometimes discovering new evidence and launching appeals.

Beyond the casework, the LCAC also undertakes large-scale projects that have 
strategic importance.

For its Black Strikes project Australian volunteer Ursula Noyes travelled 
around Louisiana for 9 months investigating instances where prosecutors struck 
out black jury members to achieve all-white or near all-white juries in death 
penalty cases.

Much of the LCAC's work is under-resourced and needs to be propped up by 
Australian volunteers, says Bourke. There are usually at least 2 Australians 
assisting on cases at any 1 time.

"Coming out here [New Orleans] in 1998, talking to clients and seeing the 
paltry resources given to their cases was terrible," he said then. "But seeing 
what I was able to do as a volunteer made me aware of how great a contribution 
volunteers could make."

After volunteering, Bourke returned to Melbourne for a career as a barrister 
and co-founded Reprieve Australia with Nick Harrington. The organisation 
manages a volunteer program that has to date sent more than 100 Australian 
volunteers to work on death penalty cases in the southern US states.

In 2002, Bourke gave up his career at the Melbourne bar to relocate to 
Louisiana and work full-time on death penalty cases.

"It's been a life-changing experience for some volunteers," he says. "Some have 
gone on to do this work full-time and it's changed the course of their careers. 
The ability to participate in this kind of work - for poor people who the state 
are trying to kill - is transformative. The clients are so deprived of voice, 
of advocates, of their families and their communities, so for volunteers it's a 
tremendous opportunity to make a real difference."

(source: The Guardian)

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

Lawsuit Filed Against Angola Prison and Louisiana Department of Public Safety 
and Corrections Over Unconstitutional and Deficient Medical Care



Prisoners at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola (Angola) filed a 
lawsuit today alleging that they needlessly suffer from chronic pain, permanent 
injury, and preventable sickness and death as a result of prison officials' 
failure to provide constitutionally adequate medical care. Cohen Milstein 
Sellers & Toll PLLC serves as counsel for the plaintiffs in this litigation.

The Promise of Justice Initiative (PJI), the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & 
Toll PLLC (Cohen Milstein), the Advocacy Center (AC), and the American Civil 
Liberties Union Foundation of Louisiana (ACLU-La) filed a complaint against the 
Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DOC) and Angola's 
wardens alleging violations of the Cruel and Unusual Punishment clause of the 
Eighth Amendment and federal disability statutes. The complaint, titled Lewis 
et al. v. Cain et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle 
District of Louisiana. In challenging the inadequate medical care, the 
complaint alleges that the prison's more than 6,000 prisoners are all at risk 
of serious harm, while scores of men have already experienced unnecessary 
injury, suffering and death.

The class action complaint details several problem areas at the prison: delays 
in evaluation, treatment, and access to specialty care; denial of medically 
necessary treatments including surgeries, medication, medical devices, and 
physical therapy; inappropriately managed medications; poor follow-up care; and 
a lack of qualified staff. The complaint also details the way these medical 
problems impose hardship on prisoners in other areas such as work duties and 
housing assignments.

Prisoners report horror story after horror story: a man denied access to a 
specialist for 4 years while his throat cancer advanced; a man denied medical 
attention 4 times during a stroke, which left him blind and paralyzed; a blind 
man denied even a cane for 16 years. In many cases, only the specter of legal 
action spurred the prison to provide long-delayed medical care.

The complaint contends that Angola's medical care worsened when Earl K. Long 
Hospital in Baton Rouge, which used to serve prisoners with medical 
emergencies, was closed during the reorganization of the state's Charity 
Hospital System. Even basic screenings and treatments are now being broadly 
denied.

"The grave systemic deficiencies in the delivery of medical care at Angola lead 
to appalling outcomes," said Jeffrey Dubner, an attorney at Cohen Milstein. 
"Preventable illness, injury and death are not part of a prison sentence, yet 
Angola officials are pervasively subjecting the men in their custody to these 
risks."

The complaint also alleges that disabled prisoners are especially hard-hit by 
the inadequate delivery of care. Miranda Tait, Managing Attorney for AC, said, 
"Because prisoners with disabilities generally require stabilizing care and 
management of chronic conditions, the failure of the prison to deliver adequate 
care heightens the chance that a prisoner with disabilities will be condemned 
to increased misery and exacerbated disabilities."

The investigation into the delivery of medical care at Angola began more than 2 
years ago as a result of multiple prisoners' reports of grossly inadequate 
medical care. Attorneys interviewed more than 200 men in connection with this 
investigation and found scores whose problems echo those of the plaintiffs 
named in the complaint. The class action seeks an injunction that will bring 
the prison in line with constitutional standards in the delivery of medical 
care.

The Promise of Justice Initiative is a private, non-profit organization that 
advocates for criminal justice reform and abolition of the death penalty on 
behalf of indigent defendants and prisoners who seek fair and equal treatment 
under the law.

Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC has been a pioneer in class action lawsuits 
on behalf of individuals and small businesses for over 40 years. It has 80 
attorneys and offices in Washington, D.C., New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, 
Denver, and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

The Advocacy Center of Louisiana is a statewide non-profit organization 
dedicated to assisting people with disabilities and seniors in Louisiana to 
achieve maximum potential and independence. The Advocacy Center of Louisiana 
employs 50 people statewide who assist people to achieve employment, education, 
housing, and health care goals.

The American Civil Liberties Foundation of Louisiana has been Louisiana's 
guardian of liberty since 1956, working daily in courts, legislatures and 
communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties that the 
Constitution and laws of the United States guarantee everyone in this country.

(source: globenewswire.com)



INDIANA:

Indiana Supreme Court upholds Lake County death-penalty conviction



The Indiana Supreme Court has upheld the conviction and death-penalty sentence 
of Kevin Charles Isom for the murders of his wife and 2 stepchildren.

The 30-page decision released Wednesday in the direct appeal to the verdict and 
3 consecutive death sentences comes nearly 1 year after the state's highest 
court heard oral arguments.

Isom was sentenced in 2013 for the Aug. 6, 2007, murders of Cassandra Isom, and 
her 2 children, Ci'Andria Cole, 13, and Michael Moore, 16, at their apartment 
at the Lakeshore Dunes complex in the Miller section of Gary. Cassandra was 
shot in the head at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun and was also shot with 
a .40-caliber handgun. Ci'Andria was shot with a .357-Magnum revolver, the 
.40-caliber handgun and the shotgun, and Michael was killed by a shotgun blast 
to his chest and side. He also was shot with the .40-caliber pistol.

Isom told police he had lost his job as a security guard a few months before 
the killing and that his wife had informed him she planned to file for divorce.

Among the issues raised in the appeal was whether the trial court judge, Lake 
Superior Court Judge Thomas Stefaniak Jr., improperly denied a defense motion 
for a mistrial after the testimony of a downstairs neighbor who said he called 
911 after hearing gunfire in the apartment above his.

While being questioned by prosecutors, the witness said he heard a girl say, 
"Daddy," and that he heard Isom's daughter talking inside the apartment just 
before the shooting began. The judge sustained a hearsay objection by defense 
counsel and told jurors to disregard the "Daddy" or "daughter" testimony.

The highest court determined that Stefaniak's final instructions addressed the 
issue of how jurors may not consider testimony that had been stricken from the 
record. The court wrote that it assumed the jury obeyed the judge's 
instructions in reaching its verdict.

The appeal also challenged the judge's refusal to allow Cassandra Isom's sister 
to respond to a jury question about whether the victims' family forgave Isom. 
The question came after a defense witness, one of Isom's cousins, testified 
that she had spoken to Cassandra Isom's parents and said they forgave him, and 
a second cousin who said that Cassandra Isom's parents didn't want the death 
penalty.

The appeal described forgiveness as a "potentially a significant piece of 
evidence that should have been considered by the jury before it make its 
recommendation to the court." While expressions of forgiveness by a crime 
victim may be considered mitigating circumstances, the court said that the 
appeal didn't outline how forgiveness by her family is a mitigating factor.

The court remanded the case back to Lake County with instructions to issue a 
new sentencing order consistent with the court's opinion.

(source: Ruth Ann Krause is freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.)








ARKANSAS:

Sentencing phase focuses on memories of slain girl



Jersey Bridgeman loved to chase butterflies and feed ducks, her mother, DesaRae 
Crouch, told a packed courtroom Wednesday.

A jury earlier had found Zachary Holly, 30, of Bentonville guilty of capital 
murder in 6-year-old Jersey's death. The girl's body was found in the closet of 
an abandon house next to Holly's residence on Southeast A Street on Nov. 20, 
2012. Pajamas were wrapped around her neck.

The jury of 7 men and 5 women began to deliberate at 11 a.m. Wednesday and 
returned hours later with its verdict.

Holly stood between his attorneys as Circuit Judge Brad Karren read the 
verdict. Jersey's family members hugged during a break after the verdict was 
read.

Crouch testified during the sentencing phase that it was fun to be Jersey's 
mother.

"She had stories," Crouch said. "She was a very colorful character."

Jersey loved being a big sister. She and her younger sister, Leah, were 
sidekicks, Crouch said.

Jersey loved to eat french fries, Crouch said.

"She liked McDonald's," Crouch said. "What kid doesn't?"

Sniffles could be heard around the courtroom as Crouch testified, but that 
comment drew laughter from some in attendance.

Holly rocked in his chair as a tearful Crouch described Jersey.

Vickie Price, Jersey's grandmother, called her daughter and 2 granddaughters 
"The Three Musketeers."

Price told jurors that she missed hearing Jersey's voice and getting hugs from 
her.

"I will never hear her yell 'Memaw' to me ever again," Price said.

Prosecutors also called Amanda Gatwalt as a witness. She was Jersey's 
kindergarten teacher at Sugar Creek Elementary School. She told jurors that 
Jersey had learned to spell her last name, and that Jersey had a story to tell 
her almost every day.

Gatwalt described the last time she saw the child, who had won an 8-pound 
turkey at school. Jersey had the turkey in her backpack and was dragging it 
across the floor. Jersey was concerned that she wouldn't be able to get on the 
bus with the turkey, and the 2 laughed about it, Gatwalt said.

"The last time I saw her was when she was all hunched over with a big turkey in 
her backpack," said Gatwalt, drawing a laugh from people in the courtroom.

Nathan Smith, Benton County prosecuting attorney, rested the prosecution's case 
after Gatwalt's testimony. Smith asked jurors in his opening statement in the 
sentencing phase to impose the death penalty on Holly.

Holly also was found guilty of rape, kidnapping and residential burglary.

Robby Golden, one of Holly's attorneys, described Holly's childhood to the 
jury. Holly lived in 39 different homes and attended 23 different schools 
during his childhood, Golden said.

The California Department of Human Services was contacted 16 times about 
neglect, along with physical and sexual abuse complaints concerning Holly, 
Golden said.

The defense will begin to call witnesses this morning in an attempt to persuade 
the jury to spare Holly's life. Holly could be sentenced to life imprisonment 
without parole or the death penalty for the capital-murder conviction.

(source: Arkansas Online)