[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S.C., FLA., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 21


TEXAS:

Prosecutor will seek death penalty in Texas campsite mass murders


Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell said she will seek the death 
penalty against the man accused of killing 6 members of 2 families at a 
campsite near this East Texas town.

Mitchell announced the decision to the Palestine Herald-Press late Friday 
afternoon. She filed capital murder charges earlier this week against William 
Hudson, 33, whose property abutted the campsite. He is being held without bond 
at the county jail.

The penalty for capital murder in Texas is death by lethal injection or life in 
prison with no chance for parole. A jury makes the decision if the prosecutor 
asks for the death penalty.

Mitchell said the case will be presented first to a county grand jury. Attorney 
Stephen Evans of Palestine was appointed to represent Hudson.

The district attorney said the massacre was the "single most horrific crime 
committed in Anderson County's modern history. Our hearts grieve for the 
Johnson and Kamp families. We will use all resources available to prosecute 
Hudson to the fullest extent of the law."

She told a news conference 5 of the victims were shot to death, and the 6th 
died from blunt force trauma, a deadly blow to the body.

The sole survivor of the carnage, Cynthia Johnson, 73, hid in the woods from 
Hudson on Saturday night when authorities said he carried out the carnage. She 
called 911 about 7 a.m. Sunday to report the killings. He was arrested at his 
mother's nearby home.

The district attorney said Hannah Hudson, 40, an insurance adjustor from the 
Dallas-Fort Worth area, died of blunt force trauma. Shot to death were her son, 
Jade, 6, her father, Carl Johnson, 77, her fiance Thomas Kamp, 46, and Kamp's 2 
adults sons - Austin, 21, and Nathan, 24 - from a previous marriage.

Mitchell said intense publicity raises the question of transferring the case to 
another jurisdiction in Texas, but she will insist it be prosecuted and tried 
in Anderson County.

Arrest affidavits said survivor Cynthia Johnson, husband of Carl, told 
investigators Hudson befriended the campers Saturday afternoon when he used his 
tractor to free a vehicle stuck in mud. She said he later socialized and drank 
with them before slaughtering the victims.

Investigators found the bodies of the Kamps and the Johnson child in a pond 
behind Hudson???s home. Hannah Johnson and her father were found dead in a 
silver travel trailer at the campsite, where Mrs. Johnson said they ran for 
their lives from Hudson.

(source: The Daily Item)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Stories of murder and execution to be heard Saturday


The Mother Emanuel AME tragedy is part of the reason a North Carolina advocacy 
group decided to hold their annual conference in the greater Charleston area.

The stories of murder and execution will be heard Saturday in North Charleston 
at the Hilton Garden Inn off International Boulevard.

The group, "Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation" (MVFR) focuses on 
giving hope and healing to families of murder victims' and the death penalty.

"It wrecked my life," said Teresa Avent, a member of the group whose brother 
was murdered.

Avent said her brother's death turned her life upside-down.

After several years she finally got to a place where she could face the accused 
killer and find a level of forgiveness.

"Forgiveness is not so much for the offender," Avent said. "It's so much for us 
as the victims. It releases us to move forward in a productive manner.:

Back in June the word 'forgiveness' rang across the Lowcountry and the nation.

Family members of the victims killed in the Mother Emanuel AME shooting spoke 
of forgiveness to the accused killer.

It's part of the reason MVFR chose this location for their conference.

"Also because there's a broader suffering community and we wanted to highlight, 
amplify community, build voices to those who have been adversely affected by 
homicide," said Jeremy Collins, a board member.

"We invited people from the community and the nation to come together and share 
experiences and stories they have of losing loved ones to murder and 
execution," said Executive Director, Jack Sullivan, Jr.

The group also focuses on the death penalty and finding a better way to deal 
with that issue from a family victims' standpoint.

Sullivan's sister was murdered 18 years ago. Her killer was never found, but to 
this day he said he wouldn't ask for execution.

"We want to talk to the person and find out what he or she was going through," 
Sullivan said. "Why did he or she have to pull the trigger on my sister, our 
sister, and what is the best way for this person to be held accountable for 
what took place."

South Carolina leaders from the NAACP President, Black Lives Matter, and 
Reverend Dr. Nelson Rivers will be in attendance.

The day-long workshop will begin at 9:00 a.m. Saturday at the Hilton Garden 
Inn.

The group welcomes families in the community that have been affected.

On Sunday members will attend the church service at Mother Emanuel AME as a way 
to show the victims' families their support.

(source: WCSC news)






FLORIDA:

Fla. man guilty of killing daughter he kept in freezer


A Polk County man was convicted Thursday of murdering his 3-year-old daughter 
and keeping her body in a freezer, then killing her mother and burying them 
both in an orange grove, WFTV reported.

Lester Ross, 37, was found guilty Thursday by a Polk County jury of 1st-degree 
murder and aggravated manslaughter.

In December 2010, police found the bodies of MaSarah Ross and Ronkeya Holmes 
buried at an orange grove in Winter Haven. Police said Ross allegedly killed 
his daughter, MaSarah, in 2009 and kept her in a freezer.

When Holmes came to check on her daughter, Ross poisoned her, then buried the 
bodies together, according to police. Ross' ex-wife admitted in court that she 
drove Ross to bury the bodies "because she feared her husband would kill her if 
she talked to police," WFTV reported.

Ross was arrested 2 years after the murders and will face life in prison or the 
death penalty.

(source: Palm Beach Post)






CALIFORNIA----new death sentence

Jury gives death penalty to man convicted in Hawaiian Gardens triple homicide


A jury recommended Friday that a Montebello man be sentenced to death for 
murdering a former girlfriend, along with her brother and father, during an 
early morning shooting rampage in Hawaiian Gardens 5 years ago.

Joseph Mercado, who will turn 32 on Monday, is due back in a Norwalk courtroom 
Jan. 29 to be formally sentenced by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Raul A. 
Sahagun.

Mercado was convicted last week of 1st-degree murder for the May 6, 2010, 
killings of his ex-girlfriend, Serena Tarin, 23, and her father, Alfredo Tarin, 
53, and 19-year-old brother, Alfred "A.D." Tarin.

He also was convicted of 3 counts of attempted murder and one count each of 
first-degree burglary with a person present, shooting at an inhabited dwelling, 
child abuse and arson of an inhabited structure, and jurors found true the 
special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, murder while lying in 
wait and arson during the commission of a murder.

He was acquitted of 1 count of assault with a machine gun or assault rifle on a 
peace officer.

At the start of the trial's penalty phase, in which jurors were asked to 
recommend whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison without the 
possibility of parole, the panel heard recordings of frantic 911 calls made by 
Serena Tarin and her younger brother shortly before they were killed.

"I need an officer here. My ex-boyfriend's here and he's not welcome here ... 
He has no business being here ... I think he's trying to get inside," she 
reported in the call made at 3:41 a.m.

'Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,' she said frantically after popping sounds 
can be heard in the background. "Please hurry. Oh my God, please hurry."

The 911 operator asked, "What was that noise?' with the young woman responding, 
"I don't know" and later informing them of Mercado's name and age when asked 
his identity.

She is later heard saying, "Joseph, don't do this, please don't do this ... the 
baby," referring to their child.

As the recording was being played in court, Mercado sat with his hands covering 
his face and appeared to be crying after jurors heard the recording.

The panel also heard a recording of a 911 call made by the woman's brother 
shortly before he was killed.

"You'll hear A.D. take his last breath," Deputy District Attorney Robert Villa 
told jurors.

'Please hurry, please help, please!' the 19-year-old could be heard pleading in 
the recorded 911 call in which he reported gunshots.

A 911 operator could later be heard repeatedly asking if he was OK as a woman 
screamed in the background.

Authorities said shortly after the crime that Mercado was involved in a child 
custody dispute with his ex-girlfriend and tried to set the home on fire.

Mercado then broke into the back of the home and opened fire with an assault 
rifle, killing the mother of his young son and the other 2 victims. 2 others, 
including Tarin's mother, were wounded.

About a half-dozen other family members escaped, with some hiding on the roof.

The couple's son was later adopted by Serena Tarin's sister and her husband.

Mercado was shot by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy as he emerged from 
the home that morning, and has remained jailed without bail since then.

(source: Press-Telegram)

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

Man convicted of killing 4, including SCV resident


A 34-year-old man has been convicted of 4 counts of 1st-degree murder for 
shooting and killing 4 people, 1 of them a Castaic resident, outside a Los 
Angeles boardinghouse 3 years ago.

The district attorney's office says jurors found Ka Pasasouk guilty Thursday 
after deliberating for less than 2 hours.

He could face the death penalty for the December 2012 killing of 49-year-old 
Castaic resident Teofilo Navales, along with 34-year-old Robert Calabia of Los 
Angeles, 24-year-old Amanda Ghossein of Monterey Park and 26-year-old Jennifer 
Kim of Montebello.

Jurors will return Dec. 2 for the beginning of the trial's penalty phase. They 
will be asked to recommend whether Pasasouk should be sentenced to death or to 
life in prison without parole.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Akemon said the crime began as a drug- and 
alcohol-fueled robbery and the killings continued for the purpose of 
eliminating witnesses.

(source: signalscv.com)

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

State's death penalty prospects mixed


Is the death penalty viable in California? Until recently, opposing it usually 
meant political suicide at the state level. In 1986, Rose Bird, chief justice 
of the California Supreme Court and Gov. Jerry Brown???s appointee, was booted 
from office by voters after she overturned 64 straight death-penalty 
convictions. So were 2 like-minded associate justices.

After that, even Democrats promised to execute the worst criminals. Democratic 
Gov. Gray Davis executed 5 men. His successor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 
terminated three, the last being Clarence Ray Allen, convicted of organizing 
three murders. As the Los Angeles Times reported, "At the time of the killings, 
Allen was in prison, convicted of the 1974 murder of Mary Sue Kitts."

In his 2010 bid to return to the governor's office, Gov. Brown said he would 
uphold the death penalty. In 2012, voters defeated Proposition 34, which would 
have repealed capital punishment in California. Ever enigmatic, after that 
election, the governor said, "Yeah, I voted yes, of course."

In recent years, the death penalty has been suspended because of accusations 
the "drug cocktail" used in executions violated the Eighth Amendment's 
guarantee against "cruel and unusual punishments." However, there are 2 new 
developments the past month. Reuters reported California prison officials 
"filed proposed new guidelines for using lethal injection to kill condemned 
inmates, a step that could lead to a resumption of the death penalty." And AP 
reported "a federal appeals court reversed a lower court ruling that had found 
[the death penalty] was unconstitutional because of excessive delays."

Voters again could get a say. One initiative advanced for the November 2016 
ballot by actor Mike Farrell would repeal the death penalty. Given that Prop. 
34 lost, 52 % to 48 %, it has a chance.

The other proposed initiative is backed by county district attorneys across the 
state, including Riverside County's Michael Hestrin and San Bernardino County's 
Michael Ramos. According to Californians for Death Penalty Reform and Savings, 
the measure would streamline "the existing inefficient appeals process" by 
"providing prompt appointment of attorneys" and restricting "frivolous and 
unnecessary claims."

Under state law, if 2 similar initiatives pass, the 1 with the most votes 
becomes law.

However, California elects a new governor in 2018. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who 
already has announced his candidacy, in 2013 came out strongly against the 
death penalty. Other Democratic candidates likely will take the same stance. 
Republicans now are so weak a statewide electoral force, supporting the death 
penalty won't help much. Which means a death penalty opponent almost certainly 
will move into the Governor's Office in 2019.

(source: Editorial, Press-Enterprise)