[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., GA., FLA., ALA., OHIO, IND.

[Rick Halperin]

May 30



NORTH CAROLINA:

Death penalty sought in killing of Alamance Crossing employee



The man accused of killing a Jamestown woman on her way home from a Burlington 
retailer last year will face the death penalty at trial.

Anthony Clay Campbell, 54, whose most recent address is listed as 5408 
Francisco Drive, Greensboro, is charged with 1st-degree murder in the death of 
Joyce "Jo" Price Eaton.

Eaton was found June 12 in a ditch on AT&T Drive in McLeansville, near 
Interstate 40/85. She had been shot, stabbed and dragged 15 feet off the road, 
according to her autopsy report. Eaton was last seen the night of June 11 
leaving her job at Verizon Wireless in the Alamance Crossing shopping center.

The Guilford County District Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty for 
Campbell.

Prosecutors made the decision to seek the death penalty based on the cruelty of 
Eaton's killing, chief prosecutor Howard Neumann said this week.

"It was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. That is the aggravating 
circumstance we contend exists," Neumann said.

State laws limit prosecutors from seeking capital punishment unless evidence in 
the homicide supports 1 or more of 11 aggravating factors. Those include a 
defendant's prior record of violent felonies, a killing during the commission 
of another violent felony, monetary gain from a killing or, as in this case, 
brutality of the act.

In April, Guilford County Superior Court Judge Susan Bray heard the state's 
argument for seeking capital punishment in Campbell's case and ruled that 
prosecutors could proceed, Neumann said.

Campbell was appointed a 2nd attorney, required by law in capital cases. He is 
represented by Mark Hayes and Robert McClellan, both of Greensboro.

No trial date is set, and no future hearings had been scheduled as of this 
week.

Campbell was arrested June 17. He is being held in the Guilford County jail 
without bail.

The Guilford County Sheriff's Office has said a motive in Eaton's death was 
money, and contends the 2 argued about $1,800. That's the amount of rent Eaton 
paid each month for her house.

According to search warrants, detectives found a receipt in Campbell's house in 
Mocksville for an $1,800 cash deposit into a SunTrust account June 2. Eaton's 
monthly rent payment was deposited into a SunTrust account, the document says.

Investigators believe Campbell went to the store where Eaton worked the night 
of her killing and waited for her to leave, circling the store.

Autopsy reports showed Eaton suffered extensive injuries in the attack.

She was shot once in the back at close range, according to the autopsy report 
from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. A slash across her neck hit 
her jugular vein. She had additional cuts to her eyebrow, earlobe and head, and 
her right thumbnail was broken off. Eaton also had cuts on her wrists and a 
broken tooth.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office found her abandoned car June 12 in 
Hillsborough.

Cellphone records showed Campbell was the last person Eaton spoke to June 11. 
Records also showed that Campbell's cellphone was near Eaton's workplace around 
the time she left work June 11, as well as near where her body was discovered 
and where her car was found in Hillsborough, according to court documents.

(source: The Times News)








GEORGIA:

Prosecutors seek death penalty in child murder case



Prosecutors again filed written notice Friday to seek the death penalty against 
Gregory Evans, for the 2011 murder of a 19-month-old child.

Under a new indictment filed with a grand jury with a proper diverse makeup, 
prosecutors again are seeking the death penalty.

Evans is charged with viciously beating 19-month-old Janaysia Stevenson to 
death in March 2011. Investigators said the child died from a lacerated 
kidneys, liver, and intestines suffered in a prolonged beating.

Evans will be arraigned formally again on September 10th.

(source: WALB news)








FLORIDA----new death sentence

Edward Covington gets death penalty for 2008 Mother's Day slayings----Victim's 
parents say his violent past hidden



Edward Covington will pay with his life for viciously taking 3.

"As for count 1, Mr. Covington, the murder of Lisa Freiberg, the court will 
impose a sentence of death," Judge William Fuente said.

Barbara Freiberg blew out a short breath, an exhale she's been waiting more 
than seven years to release.

"To hear the death sentence was a huge relief for me because that's what he did 
to my kids. He gave them a death sentence," said Barbara Freiberg, a mother and 
grandmother.

Covington is headed to death row after pleading guilty to murdering his 
girlfriend, Lisa Freiberg, her daughter, Savannah, 7, and son, Zachary, 2, in 
2008.

"Whew! Exhale. I miss him," Barbara Freiberg said.

The trial's testimony was so dreadful and graphic, the grandmother would have 
to leave the courtroom to avoid hearing it.

"To this day, I don't know and I don't want to know ever," she said.

It's the details before the murders she wishes she had known: How Covington had 
a violent past, mutilating his ex-wife's pets when she left him.

"We didn't know he was an ex-guard. We didn't know he mutilated cats. I checked 
him out on the internet. I first checked under Hillsborough County to see if he 
has an arrest record. Nothing at all under his name," said Barbara Freiberg, 
who says she also searched for a criminal record in Pasco County.

But there were no red flags.

They say Covington lied about everything, including mental illness and drug 
abuse.

Even his family was mum about kicking him out days before the slayings.

"We didn't even know he was on a probation situation. We couldn't find that 
out. Nothing. Zip," said father Keith Freiberg.

Their victim's advocate, Julie Weintraub, said crucial information like this 
should be easy to find.

"When you have a violent history, violence should not be hidden from the 
public," she said.

Perhaps if these parents had known, we wouldn't be sitting here.

"I can remember little Savannah. I'd be sitting, say in the kitchen, having 
some coffee and maybe some cereal or something. The little one would come up 
and just like a little bird, would want a little sample, you know, of my cereal 
or something like that. Things like that you can't take away," said Keith 
Freiberg.

(source: abcactionnews.com)

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

Nassau County man commits suicide while on death row for killing his parents



The suffering for Gregory Larkin's family began after they learned someone had 
beaten his parents to death in their Fernandina Beach home in April 2009. Their 
decomposed bodies were found a week later in what veteran lawman Tommy 
Seagraves, then the Nassau County sheriff, called the most brutal killings he'd 
ever seen.

Larkin's family suffered again when police charged him t2 weeks later with 
killing his 73-year-old mother with a baseball bat and 75-year-old father with 
a statue. The motive, prosecutors said, was an alcohol-fueled rage over his 
parents selling a struggling business managed by Larkin, then 35.

The family's anguish continued as they watched Larkin represent himself in the 
2012 trial without putting up a defense. His stand-by public defender called 
Larkin delusional and said Circuit Judge Robert Foster's ruling to allow him to 
represent himself - after 2 of 3 psychiatrists said he was competent to do so - 
was "state-assisted suicide." Foster agreed with the jury's unanimous decision 
to sentence Larkin to death.

The final blow for the family came this week.

Larkin, 41, apparently committed suicide Wednesday night in his death row cell 
at Florida State Prison, authorities told the Times-Union. Family members told 
a woman who helped in Larkin's case that an autopsy found he died of apparent 
asphyxiation, about 2 years after being sent to the prison in Bradford County.

State prison officials declined to discuss the cause or manner of death or 
other details, such as whether Larkin was on suicide watch and how guards were 
monitoring him. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating as a 
routine matter in such deaths in state prison. An FDLE spokeswoman declined to 
comment.

Larkin is the 4th death row inmate to commit suicide in Florida since 2000, 
according to the Department of Corrections. The other 3 deaths were at Union 
Correctional Institution.

DIFFERING FEELINGS

Larkin's prosecutor and a woman who helped in his defense and appeal agreed the 
entire ordeal has crushed the family, but for different reasons.

"I think it's unfortunate that his family continues to go from one tragedy to 
another at the hands of Gregory Larkin," said former Assistant State Attorney 
Wes White.

But Sara Flynn, a mitigation specialist who worked on Larkin's case before and 
after his trial, said the state's decision to seek the death penalty was a 
mistake. She said at least some family members were opposed to the idea.

"Greg's death has come as a great shock to everyone who cared for him," Flynn 
said. "If he did commit suicide, would he have done so if he had never been 
prosecuted capitally?"

The family declined to comment.

"They are not prepared to speak to you now as they are reeling with the 
horrible reality of the manner in which Greg died," Flynn said.

BRUTALLY BEATEN

Prosecutors said Larkin sneaked up on Myra Larkin from behind while she was 
watching a movie in the living room of her home and beat her to death with a 
baseball bat.

He then attacked Richard Larkin working on a computer in the garage. His father 
fought back, but died after his son dropped a concrete garden statue on his 
head.

Prosecutors said Larkin was mad at his parents' decision to sell a struggling 
dive-and-kayak business they owned in Costa Rica for about 15 years. They hired 
their son as the manager.

Deputies discovered the bodies nearly a week later when someone asked them to 
check on the couple's well-being. There were no signs of forced entry and the 
killer had left the doors locked.

A police manhunt for Larkin led to a hotel near Jacksonville International 
Airport, where he was registered. Police also found his parents' missing 1997 
Mercury Mountaineer in the hotel's parking lot.

Larkin, who told investigators he'd been in Mexico when his parents were 
killed, was initially charged with auto theft. Sheriff Seagraves said Larkin 
had a passport stamped in Mexico 6 days before his parents were found and 
returned the day their bodies were discovered. Larkin claimed he was robbed in 
Mexico and the keys to his parents' vehicle were stolen.

Murder charges were added 2 weeks later after DNA from Larkin's parents was 
matched to traces of blood found on some of the clothes he'd left behind.

Neighbors in the Arbours of Amelia subdivision where the Larkins lived 
described them as a friendly couple who had been trying to sell their house and 
return to Costa Rica.

"To get that far in life, in your 70s and get murdered, that's not fair," Andy 
Moeckel, 61, told the Times-Union at the time.

THE TRIAL

Larkin exhibited bizarre behavior before and during his trial, his appellate 
lawyers later argued. That includes saying witnesses would tell jurors he 
didn't commit the crime while they were actually saying the opposite and that 
there was a conspiracy to wait until Foster retired before putting him on 
trial.

Larkin, who hired and fired private attorneys and his public defender, didn't 
make any arguments on his own behalf. A 12-person jury convicted him in January 
2012 and unanimously recommended death.

Assistant Public Defender Brian Morrissey, appointed as stand-by counsel, 
sought to have Larkin's mental health evaluated after he was convicted, but 
before he was sentenced by Foster. Morrissey said then he believed Larkin was 
delusional.

"Mr. Larkin never asked for help and wouldn't take any help that was offered," 
Morrissey said after the trial. "Very unfortunate."

Morrissey has since retired from the Public Defender's Office and couldn't be 
reached to comment.

The prosecutor's sympathy after Larkin's conviction was focused more on what 
Larkin did to his surviving family.

"To watch their brother, their relative, show no remorse has got to be one of 
the worst things in the world," White said.

Foster sentenced Larkin to death in June 2012. Larkin's oldest brother, the 
only family member at the sentencing, looked confused when his shackled brother 
briefly muttered something at him as deputies led him out of the courtroom.

"Justice truly has been served and will be served in its entirety when he is 
put to death for the crimes he has committed," White said at the time.

FAILED APPEAL

Larkin's appellate lawyers argued his conviction and death sentence should be 
overturned because of doubts that he was competent enough to represent himself.

But the Florida Supreme Court unanimously rejected the argument because 2 
doctors found him competent, and Foster disagreed with Morrissey's contention 
that Larkin had demonstrated delusional behavior during his criminal trial.

Larkin's appellate lawyers were working on a new plea when he died.

No funeral arrangements have been announced.

(source: Florida Times-Union)

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

Hearing on intelligence of potential death-penalty killer concludes



Dennis Thurnado Glover will find out if he's going to death row or getting life 
in prison in August, 20 months after he was convicted of the murder of Sandra 
Jean Allen.

Glover, 51, has been in limbo because of uncertainty over whether he has the 
mental capacity to be put on death row. A multiple-day hearing on his 
intelligence concluded Friday and Glover is now scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 
14.

Circuit Judge Mallory Cooper will consider the issue of Glover's intelligence 
and the facts of the murder and then issue her sentence. Under Florida law, the 
only options available to Cooper are life without parole or death.

The hearing concluded with psychiatrist Larry Neidigh testifying that Glover 
was likely intellectually disabled, which was previously called retarded.

"The information I reviewed strongly suggests that he's intellectually 
disabled," Neidigh said. "But I can't be definitive 1 way or the other."

In 2014 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it was unconstitutional to put 
intellectually disabled people on death row and also ruled that Florida's 
method of determining intellectual disability via an IQ test was 
unconstitutional.

Under the law Glover can still be put in prison for the rest of his life if he 
is found to be intellectually disabled. He just can't be executed.

Neidigh said Glover had one IQ test that graded him as intellectually disabled 
and 2 others that put him right at the margin of error between intellectually 
disabled and below-average intelligence. A 4th test had him grade out at below 
average.

All 4 tests were taken before Glover was arrested for Allen's murder. Glover 
refused to meet with Neidigh or take another IQ test.

Neidigh said he based his opinion on the previous IQ test and Glover's school 
and mental-health records, which suggest he struggles with adaptive 
functioning.

Earlier this month prosecutors called clinical psychologist Greg Prichard, who 
said Glover is not intellectually disabled.

Neidigh said he'd examined Prichard's report and didn't understand how he could 
say with authority that Glover definitely wasn't intellectually disabled. 
Glover also refused to meet with Prichard, and the clinical psychologist based 
his opinion on the fact that school officials didn't believe Glover was 
disabled and by examining letters that Glover has written to Cooper and family 
members.

Glover also attempted to fire his attorney, Assistant Public Defender Michael 
Bateh, but Cooper refused to dismiss the lawyer.

Glover has attempted to dismiss his lawyer multiple times, but Cooper has ruled 
there's no reason to remove Bateh and also said she wasn't sure Glover is 
competent to represent himself.

When the hearing began Friday, Glover refused to sit next to Bateh - an empty 
chair was between them for most of the hearing - but did allow Bateh to speak 
to him near the end.

Glover said he found the 51-year-old Allen, who lived 2 doors down from him, 
dead in her home and went to get help from some of his neighbors. He told 
police he saw 2 men fleeing and then found her door cracked open with Allen's 
body inside.

She had been beaten, strangled and stabbed in the neck. The jury that convicted 
Glover recommended he be put to death by a 10-2 vote.

Glover allowed his shoes to be photographed and tested for DNA. He was arrested 
a month after the May 2012 murder when police found Allen's blood on his shoes 
and his DNA on her face, neck and left hand.

(source: Florida Times-Union)








ALABAMA:

Sentencing delayed in the Lisa Graham murder-for-hire-case



The sentencing has been delayed for the Russell County woman convicted in the 
murder-for-hire death of her daughter.

Judge Walker ordered a compete mental evaluation and IQ test by a psychiatrist 
and medical doctor before he makes his decision. Lisa Graham is on several 
medications for a number of conditions including schizophrenia.

On March 5, 12 jurors polled, 10 recommended the death penalty after a week of 
testimonies.

Graham was convicted of hiring a family friend to shoot and kill her own 
daughter Stephanie "Shae" Graham, because she was ruining her life. Her 
daughter was 20-years-old at the time of her death in July 2007.

It only took the jury about an hour to recommend the death penalty. Graham's 
mother asked the judge to spare her daughter's life for the sake of her 
17-year-old son saying, he would lose his mother if she's put to death.

Sheriff Heath Taylor was the primary investigator on the case in 2007, and is 
standing up for Shae.

"We feel sorry for the family at the same time, but Shae deserves justice," 
Taylor said.

Kenny Walton, the man hired to kill Shae confessed to the murder and is serving 
life in prison. The gun used was given to him by Lisa Graham.

This case is the second for Graham. The first case in 2012 ended in a mistrial 
after the judge became ill during the case. Judge Jacob Walker is presiding 
over this case and is not bound by the jury's recommendation.

Judge Jacob Walker is presiding over this case and is not bound by the jury's 
recommendation. Graham's attorneys could appeal the judge's decision. The 
appeal would be heard by the Alabama Supreme Court.

Lisa Graham's son also took the stand on Thursday and asked the judge not to 
sentence his mother to the death penalty. Instead, he would rather her be 
sentenced to life in prison, so that he can still have her around. The 1st 
sentencing hearing was scheduled for May 1 but was also rescheduled.

No date had been set on the next sentencing hearing.

(source: WTVM news)








OHIO:

Prosecutor opposes death penalty bill



Adolf Hitler. Timothy McVeigh. Osama bin Laden.

Those are some of the killers proposed legislation in the Ohio Senate would 
likely keep from being executed, according to Warren County Prosecutor David 
Fornshell.

"In my opinion, almost everyone who commits capital offenses likely has some 
level of mental illness, otherwise they would be incapable of committing these 
horrific acts," Fornshell, a Republican, said on his Facebook page.

State Sen. Sandra Williams, D-Cleveland, told The Enquirer she sponsored the 
proposed bill because it is an attempt "to protect the most vulnerable people" 
in society.

She said Fornshell's statement illustrates much of what is wrong with the 
criminal justice system.

"They try to put everybody in the same bag," she said. "I disagree. I would not 
say that everybody who commits a heinous crime is mentally ill. Every case has 
to be judged on an individual basis."

The U.S. Supreme Court currently prohibits the execution of people with mental 
disabilities. The proposed bill, also sponsored by state senator Bill Seitz, 
R-Green Township, would expand that to include forbidding the execution of 
those with illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

It also would allow someone on death row to be resentenced to life in prison if 
they could prove they suffer from a serious mental illness, according to the 
bill.

But a disorder brought on by criminal conduct or substance abuse would not make 
a defendant ineligible for the death penalty.

Fornshell called the legislation "seriously misguided."

He said it "adds yet another hoop for prosecutors to jump through" for acts 
"society simply cannot tolerate."

Three people were sentenced to death in Ohio last year. One of those was Austin 
Myers, now 20, who killed a childhood friend and dumped his body in Preble 
County.

Prosecuted by Fornshell, he is the youngest inmate on Ohio's death row. 
Fornshell also is seeking the death penalty in a murder case set for trial this 
summer.

But he doesn't think the death penalty is used excessively in Ohio.

"If people looked at the charges and circumstances surrounding all the cases 
that don't get the death penalty, more people than not would be shocked and 
upset," he recently told The Enquirer.

The bill, which has 12 co-sponsors, is in the Ohio Senate's Criminal Justice 
Committee.

(source: ohio.com)








INDIANA:

Police: Cooper left suicide note



The fatal shooting Tuesday of Paula Cooper, the Gary native who once was the 
youngest person in America sentenced to death, was a suicide, according to the 
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

"Based upon the evidence at the scene and the fact that there was a note left 
to indicate the intent of Ms. Cooper, we believe this to be a suicide, and it's 
being investigated as a suicide," said Lt. Richard Riddle, IMPD spokesman.

Riddle said the contents of Cooper's suicide note are being withheld under the 
police investigatory records exception to Indiana's Access to Public Records 
Act.

However, police said the note generally covered Cooper's struggle to survive 
over the past 2 years outside the prison walls that were her home since she was 
convicted of murder in 1986 at age 16.

Cooper, 45, was found dead Tuesday morning lying on her right side next to a 
tree in the 9500 block of Angola Court on the northwest side of Indianapolis, 
according to police.

Police reports indicate she shot herself with a Bryco .380 caliber handgun they 
found in her lap. Her car was parked nearby in a handicapped spot outside a 
technical school.

Cooper's death came 30 years and 12 days after she and three friends murdered 
Ruth Pelke, a 78-year-old Gary Bible school teacher, in Pelke's Glen Park home.

Records show Cooper, then 15, stabbed Pelke 33 times with a butcher knife 
before stealing $10 and Pelke's car. Cooper later described the incident as a 
"robbery gone bad."

Cooper pleaded guilty to murder in April 1986 and was sentenced to die in the 
electric chair. At the time, she was the youngest death row inmate in the 
United States.

Following international outrage and pleas for clemency, including from Pope 
John Paul II, the Indiana Supreme Court in 1989 commuted Cooper's death 
sentence to 60 years in prison.

Indiana law later was changed to limit use of the death penalty to offenders 
who are at least 18 years old at the time of their crimes.

Cooper was released from prison June 17, 2013, with time off for good behavior 
and her educational achievements while incarcerated.

Shortly before winning her freedom, Cooper told The Times she was eager for 
life on the outside.

"I mean, I don't care if I have to sweep floors, wash dishes or flip 
hamburgers, I'm going to take what I can get, you know, just to get on my feet 
and show people that I deserve a chance," she said.

(source: NWI Times)

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

Prosecutors push for June 22 Vann trial



Darren Deon Vann's capital murder case is back on the trial docket beginning 
June 22.

Lake Superior Court Judge Diane Ross Boswell on Friday granted a request by 
prosecutors to restore the trial date, which had been canceled on April 17 when 
the request for a death sentence was filed.

After reviewing the state's motion, Boswell said she listened to a tape 
recording of the hearing.

"It seemed logically the only thing to do was to vacate the June 22 jury trial 
in light of the death penalty filing," Boswell said.

Prosecutors, however, said in the motion that they never asked to delay the 
trial for Vann, 44, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, murder in 
perpetration of robbery, and robbery resulting in serious bodily injury in the 
killings of Afrika Hardy, 19, of Chicago, and Anith Jones, 35, of Merrillville. 
Boswell has ordered that the 2 murder cases be tried together.

Under criminal rules of court procedure, Vann must be tried within 180 days of 
his arrest date, minus any delays attributed to the defense team, or he will be 
released on his own recognizance. He was initially arrested Oct. 20 in Hardy's 
case after her body was found in a bathtub at Motel 6 in Hammond on Oct. 17. 
She and Jones had been strangled.

Thus far, Vann's defense team of Teresa Hollandsworth, Matthew Fech and 
appellate counsel Mark Bates have not asked to delay the trial. At Friday's 
hearing at the Lake County Government Center in Crown Point, Fech renewed his 
request for Boswell to order the state to turn over its DNA evidence, which is 
due by June 5.

In the meantime, Boswell scheduled a meeting in her chambers with attorneys 
involved in the case Monday afternoon to begin developing a questionnaire for 
prospective jurors.

Lake County's most recent death penalty case was in 2013 for Kevin Isom. In 
preparation for that trial, attorneys spent months developing the 
questionnaire, which was mailed out to prospective jurors.

< After Vann's arrest, he led police to other alleged victims whose bodies were 
found in abandoned houses in Gary, court records state. They include Sonya 
Billingsley, 53, of Gary; Tanya Gatlin, 27, of Highland, Teaira Batey, 28, of 
Gary; Tracy Martin, 41, of Gary, and Kristine Williams, 36, of Gary.

(source: Chicago Tribune)