[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., ALA., NEV.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 18



TEXAS----execution

Texas man executed for setting fire that killed 3 children


A Texas inmate was executed Wednesday for setting a fire that killed his 
18-month-old daughter and her 2 young half-sisters at an East Texas home 15 
years ago.

Raphael Holiday, 36, became the 13th convicted killer put to death this year in 
Texas, which carries out capital punishment more than any other state. It has 
accounted for 1/2 of all executions in the U.S. so far this year.

Asked by a warden if he had a final statement, Holiday thanked his "supporters 
and loved ones."

"I love y'all," he said. "I want you to know I'm always going to be with you."

He thanked the warden. As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began, he took 2 
deep breaths and appeared to yawn, his mouth remaining open as he wheezed 
several times. Then all movement stopped.

19 minutes later, at 8:30 p.m. CST, he was pronounced dead.

Holiday never addressed or looked at witnesses, including the children's 
grandfather and mother, his former common-law wife. The mother initially stood 
at the back of the death chamber witness area, watching from behind a 
corrections officer. About 10 minutes later, with Holiday motionless on the 
death chamber gurney, she walked toward a window to see him.

She and other relatives of the slain children declined to speak with reporters 
afterward.

The punishment was carried out after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal 
seeking to halt Holiday's punishment so new attorneys could be appointed to 
pursue additional unspecified appeals in his case. Austin-based lawyer Gretchen 
Sween argued that Holiday's court-appointed attorneys abandoned him after the 
justices in June refused to review his case. Those lawyers advised Holiday his 
legal issues were exhausted and new appeals and a clemency petition would be 
fruitless.

Earlier Wednesday, the judge in Holiday's trial court stopped the execution 
after Holiday's trial attorney filed an appeal saying the conviction and some 
trial testimony were both improper. The judge agreed the issues should be 
reviewed and withdrew his execution warrant. The Texas attorney general's 
office appealed, the judge's order was voided and the warrant reinstated, 
clearing the way for the lethal injection to move forward more.

The execution took place about 2 1/2 hours later than scheduled because of the 
late state court appeal.

Holiday told The Associated Press recently from a visiting cage outside death 
row that he didn't know how the log cabin he once shared with his wife and the 
children in the Madison County woods about 100 miles north of Houston caught 
fire in September 2000.

"I loved my kids," Holiday said. "I never would do harm to any of them."

Evidence and testimony showed Holiday was irate over a protective order his 
estranged wife obtained after his arrest for sexually assaulting one of the 
children. Holiday, from prison, contended he knew nothing about the assault.

According to court records, he showed up at the home and forced the girls' 
grandmother at gunpoint to douse the interior with gasoline. After it ignited, 
he sped away in the grandmother's car, hit a police car that arrived outside 
the cabin and then led officers on a chase that ended 2 counties away when he 
wrecked.

Defense attorneys at his trial suggested an electrical problem or a pilot light 
started the blaze in the early hours of Sept. 6, 2000, killing Holiday's 
daughter, Justice, and her half-sisters, Tierra Lynch, 7, and Jasmine DuPaul, 
5.

The girls' grandmother told a jury she watched Holiday bend down and then the 
flames erupted, court records show. Jurors convicted him of capital murder and 
decided he should be put to death.

The lethal injection was the last one scheduled for Texas this year, but at 
least 5 inmates have execution dates set for early next year.

Texas carried out 10 executions in 2014.

Holiday becomes the531st condemned inmate to be put to death in Texas since the 
state resumed capital punishment on Dec. 7, 1982; he is the 13th condemned 
inmate to be put to death since Greg Abbott became governor in January of this 
year. Holiday becomes the 1420th inmate to be put to death overall in the USA 
since the nation resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----13

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----531

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

14---------January 20 (2016)-----Richard Masterson--------532

15---------January 27---------------James Freeman---------533

16---------February 16--------------Gustavo Garcia--------534

17---------March 9------------------Coy Wesbrook----------535

18---------March 22-----------------Adam Ward-------------536

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






GEORGIA----impending execution

Marcus Ray Johnson's request for clemency denied


The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied a clemency request from 
attorneys representing condemned inmate Marcus Ray Johnson.

In reaching its decision, in addition to hearing testimony, the Board prior to 
the meeting had thoroughly reviewed Johnson's parole case file which includes 
the circumstances of the death penalty case, Johnson's criminal history, and a 
comprehensive history of his life.

Johnson was convicted on April 5, 1998, of malice murder, felony murder, 
aggravated assault, rape and aggravated battery in the March 1994 death of 
Angela Sizemore in Albany. Johnson was sentenced to death. Johnson's conviction 
and sentence have been upheld throughout the appeals process.

Johnson is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday, November 19 at 7 
p.m. at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

(source: WFXL news)






ALABAMA----new death sentence//female

Lisa Graham sentenced to death for hiring man to kill her daughter


Convicted of capital murder for persuading a family friend to gun her daughter 
down on a remote dirt road in Russell County on July 5, 2007, Lisa Leanne 
Graham today was sentenced to the death penalty.

After a jury convicted her March 5, Judge Jacob Walker III initially set a 
sentencing date of May 1, but then postponed it so Graham could have a 
psychological evaluation. Walker noted then that Graham had been diagnosed with 
post-traumatic stress disorder and was taking medications prescribed for 
schizophrenia.

Today's sentencing is not the end of the story, as Graham is expected to 
appeal, a process that will add new chapters to what even veterans of the 
criminal justice system found to be a sordid and surreal story of a mother 
whose jealousy and disdain for her daughter led to a cold-blooded murder on an 
isolated Russell County road.

Graham was accused of persuading longtime family worker Kenneth Walton to kill 
daughter Stephanie Shea Graham, who went by Shea. Walton said the mother met 
him at the Columbus Public Library that day and loaned him her pistol for the 
job.

He caught up with Shea at a Victory Drive gas station, where she left her car 
with friends and rode off in Walton's pickup truck. He took her on a long, 
night drive down Alabama Highway 165 before pulling off on Bowden Road so they 
could relieve themselves.

When she got out to squat beside the truck's open passenger door, he pulled out 
the pistol and shot her in the head from the driver's seat, then got out, 
walked around the truck and shot her again and again.

He left her half-nude body where it lay, and drove away. Asked in court how his 
deadly betrayal of a young woman who trusted him made him feel that night, he 
replied, "I felt normal."

Because witnesses saw Shea leave the gas station with Walton, investigators 
focused on him immediately. He confessed, and told them of the mother's 
involvement, particularly of the pistol he had returned to her the next day.

Lisa Graham further incriminated herself when authorities came looking for the 
gun. She had given it to an elderly neighbor she knew as "Papa" to clean, but 
told sheriff's investigators she didn't know where it was, and allowed them 
futilely to search her house before her husband told them "Papa" might have it. 
Finding ample evidence of her involvement in the homicide, they charged her 
with murder. Russell County District Attorney Ken Davis said the circumstances 
warranted the death penalty.

But 5 years passed before the case finally came to trial - the 1st time.

Walton pleaded guilty June 14, 2012, and was sentenced to life in prison. 
Graham's trial was set for the following fall. But after jury selection and 
some initial testimony, Circuit Judge George Greene abruptly declared a 
mistrial on Sept. 25, 2012, saying he could no longer preside because of his 
failing health.

When prosecutors pursued a 2nd trial, Graham's defense team appealed, claiming 
Greene could have continued the trial, and to try Graham again would constitute 
double-jeopardy. During testimony in that appeal, witnesses said Greene had 
multiple health issues, and had been falling asleep in court, even snoring.

Greene retired in December 2013, and died Jan. 1, 2014.

After the Alabama Court of Appeals rejected the defense's double-jeopardy 
arguments on Oct. 17, 2013, Graham???s attorneys appealed to the Alabama 
Supreme Court. It turned them down on Aug. 8, 2014.

Meanwhile other Russell County judges recused themselves from presiding at 
Graham's next trial. Walker, a Lee County Circuit Court judge, was appointed to 
fill in.

Jury selection in the 2nd trial began Feb. 17, with witness testimony starting 
the following week.

That testimony showed Graham repeatedly had remarked to witnesses that Shea was 
ruining her life, and she would kill her daughter if she could. The daughter 
was facing aggravated assault charges related to a drive-by shooting in 
Columbus, and Graham feared she would flee town and leave her parents 
responsible for her $100,000 bond.

Walton testified he lured Shea into his pickup the night she died with the 
promise of providing her with a vehicle in which to run away.

(source: ledger-enquirer.com)






NEVADA----new death sentence

Bean sentenced to death


A Third Judicial District Court jury in July sentenced convicted murderer 
Jeremiah Bean to death.

Judge John P. Schlegelmilch agreed Tuesday.

Schlegelmilch sentenced Bean to 5 consecutive death penalties.

Bean, 27, was found guilty after a 2-plus week guilt phase portion of his trial 
in July in the murders of Bob and Dorothy Pape, 84, inside their Fernley home 
on May 10, 2013, and of Eliazar Graham, 52, of Sparks, in Mustang, and of Angie 
Duff, 67, and Lester Lieber, 69, inside Pape's Fernley home, on May 13. He also 
burned the Pape home early May 13, 2013.

On July 6, the jury ruled there were aggravating circumstances that warranted 
the death penalty.

Schlegelmilch affirmed that sentence at Tuesday's hearing.

Schlegelmilch sentenced Bean to death by lethal injection for each of the five 
murders, with an additional term of 96 to 240 months each for use of a deadly 
weapon. Each sentence was consecutive.

Schlegelmilch also sentenced Bean on 7 other charges, including burglary with 
use of a firearm, grand larceny, grand larceny of a motor vehicle, 1st-degree 
arson, robbery with use of a deadly weapon, burglary to obtain a firearm and 
grand larceny of a firearm.

The total aggregate sentence is 78 to 195 years.

Lyon County District Attorney Stephen Rye said he was pleased with the outcome.

"It's a just verdict and a just sentence," he said. "He deserves the maximum 
penalty, and that's what the judge imposed."

(source: Reno Gazette-Journal)