[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., MO.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 20


PENNSYLVANIA:

Lehigh DA seeks death penalty against gunman in Valley killing spree


Lehigh County authorities will seek the death penalty for the alleged gunman in 
a double killing in Allentown, according to court records.

Todd West, 23, is scheduled for a formal arraignment Tuesday, along with 2 
alleged accomplices in the July 5 murders of 2 people at Sixth and Greenleaf 
streets. West and the men are also charged in a killing in Easton.

West deserves to be put to death if convicted of 1st-degree murder because the 
crime placed others at the risk of death and he is charged with a killing that 
was either committed before or after the Allentown deaths, according to court 
records filed Wednesday.

Under Pennsylvania's death penalty law, capital punishment can only be imposed 
in cases of premeditated murder where at least one of 18 aggravating 
circumstances is present. All 12 jurors must agree it is appropriate.

Juries make the decision at a hearing held separately from the trial. In it, 
prosecutors present aggravating circumstances - for instance, multiple murders 
-- to justify the death penalty. Jurors weigh those against mitigating 
circumstances that the defense details, such as a defendant's age or ability to 
appreciate the criminality of the actions.

West, of Elizabethtown, N.J., remains in Lehigh County Jail along with his 
alleged accomplices, Kareem Mitchell, 23, of Newark, N.J., and Robert A. 
Jourdain, 20, of Easton.

The men are charged in the murders of 22-year-old Kory Ketrow on Lehigh Street 
in Easton and the killings of Francine E. Ramos, 32, and Trevor Gray, 21, in 
Allentown. The men also allegedly fired shots at 2 others in downtown Easton 
during the crime spree, authorities say.

West told a detective he heard voices in his head during the killing spree and 
believed the devil was speaking to him.

West and Jourdain are also charged with 3 knifepoint robberies in Allentown the 
morning after the slayings. And West is also charged in New Jersey with gunning 
down 4 men and wounding a 5th in May and June in his hometown of Elizabeth.

Authorities have said there was no motive in the killings.

(source: Morning Call)






MISSOURI:

2 state senators to take a shot at Missouri's death penalty laws


At least 2 Missouri senators will once again attempt to scrutinize or abolish 
the death penalty during the 2016 legislative session.

Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, was elected to the Senate in 2014 and previously 
served in the Missouri House. He doesn't expect the bill to abolish the death 
penalty he's introducing in the upcoming session to pass, but he said he hopes 
it'll be heard be in committee.

Weiland has filed similar legislation for at least the past 4 sessions, 
according to the Missouri House and Senate websites. None of the bills were 
taken up for committee discussion.

"I file it every year and talk about the issue because I think it needs to be 
discussed," Wieland said. "The more we talk about it the more people become 
educated on the issue."

Missouri has executed 18 inmates since November 2013, according to The 
Associated Press.

Wieland is refiling a version of his 2015 bill, but he's significantly 
revamping the text. He's removing a provision that would have created the Death 
Penalty Costs Reinvestment Fund. With the fund, the state could have 
reallocated to violence prevention programs the money it uses to fund public 
defenders who represent death row inmates.

"I just don't see how we could enforce it," Wieland said.

For at least the past 4 sessions, Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, has filed 
bills to require the state auditor to compare the costs of death penalty cases 
and 1st-degree murder cases in which prosecutors don't seek the death penalty.

2 of the bills were passed out of a committee but were never discussed on the 
Senate floor. The other received a committee hearing but was not voted on.

But Keaveny isn't giving up - he's filing the legislation again for the 2016 
legislative session.

Keaveny said the state auditor has never commissioned an investigation 
comparing the taxpayer cost of death penalty cases against the alternative, 
life without parole cases. The state auditor's office didn't respond to 
repeated requests to verify this information.

"I am an opponent of the death penalty," Keaveny said. "Until we have some 
facts and figures, we're not going to get into a serious discussion about it."

(source: The Missourian)