[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----DELAWARE

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 4



DELAWARE----new death sentence

Death penalty, life in prison in Eden Park shootout


One man was sentenced to death and another was sentenced to life in prison 
Friday morning for their part in the murder of Herman Curry and the 
manslaughter of 16-year-old Alexander Kamara Jr. during a 2012 shootout at a 
soccer tournament in Wilmington's Eden Park.

Otis Phillips was sentenced to be executed Nov. 17. That execution date will 
most likely be stayed as appeals are filed.

"Those who judged me are condemned," the 38-year-old man said while looking at 
prosecutors after being sentenced to death.

In addition to receiving the death penalty, Superior Court Judge Calvin L. 
Scott Jr. scentenced Otis Phillips to an additional 141 years in prison for 
additional charges related to the shootout and life in prison for the 2008 
killing of Christopher Palmer.

"We had a very thoughtful and conscientious jury who unanimously voted for 
death," Prosecutor Ipek Medford said after the sentencing hearing. "It was our 
honor to be able to echo their voices."

Otis' co-defendant, Jeffery Phillips, was sentenced to life plus 76 years in 
prison. He said nothing during the hearing.

Prosecutors charged that Otis Phillips and Jeffrey Phillips, who are not 
related, were members of the Sure Shots street gang and went to a Jamaican 
soccer tournament in Eden Park on July 8, 2012 seeking revenge against members 
of the Jamaican community because a Jamaican man shot and killed a friend of 
theirs at a party hours earlier.

Prosecutors said Otis Phillips also specifically targeted Herman Curry, who had 
organized the soccer tournament, because in 2008 Curry had seen Otis Phillips 
shoot and kill Christopher Palmer.

Eyewitnesses testified at trial that Otis Phillips and Jeffrey Phillips walked 
into the park together that day, around 2:30 p.m., dressed in black and with 
grim looks on their faces. Otis walked directly to Herman Curry and tapped 
Curry on his shoulder with his right hand and as Curry turned, Otis raised a 
gun with his left and began firing. One witness said he heard Otis tell Curry, 
"today you dead."

Curry then tried to run but witnesses said Otis Phillips chased after him and 
continued to fire.

As this was happening, witnesses testified Jeffrey Phillips pulled out a gun, 
turned toward the crowd and began shooting. At that moment witnesses said they 
saw Alexander Kamara Jr., who was waiting for his turn to play in the 
tournament, drop to the ground and never move again.

Curry was hit 3 times in the chest by bullets. Kamara was hit once in the head.

While a Superior Court jury convicted Jeffry Phillips and Otis Phillips last 
year for the killings, they split on their recommendation for punishment. The 
jury panel recommended 10-2 to spare Jeffery Phillips' life, while they 
unanimously recommended that Otis Phillips, 38, be executed.

On Nov. 21, both men were found guilty of nearly a dozen charges including the 
1st-degree murder of 47-year-old Herman Curry, the manslaughter of 16-year-old 
Alexander Kamara Jr., gang participation and conspiracy, among other charges.

Prosecutor John Downs said this was very "violent, vengeful act" that sparked 
an investigation that brought closure to numerous criminals that had been 
operating in the area for years.

"We're thankful to have been a part of that," Downs said.

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

Judge blasts Delaware death penalty case


Last-minute legal wrangling in 2012 led U.S. District Court Judge Gregory M. 
Sleet to twice delay the execution of convicted killer Shannon Johnson, but 
each time a higher court overruled him.

The 28-year-old was executed in the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center near 
Smyrna on April 20, 2012, at 2:55 a.m. - just 74 minutes after the final 
override.

Now, 3 years later, Sleet is criticizing the death penalty process, saying 
Johnson's execution "highlights profound failings in our judicial process."

His comments - a rarity since judges usually remain tight-lipped about their 
cases - are featured in a 10-page article he wrote for the summer edition of 
the American Bar Association???s Criminal Justice magazine.

"The Johnson case, and its result, is by far the most troubling I have 
encountered," Sleet wrote.

Death penalty opponents and advocates haven taken notice, especially since his 
comments come just months after Delaware legislators failed to repeal the death 
penalty for the 2nd time in 2 years.

"Judge Sleet has a reputation for being a very thoughtful person," Executive 
Director of the Death Penalty Information Center Robert Dunham said. "When 
someone like him writes something like this, we should be concerned."

Johnson's case was unique - he wanted to be executed despite his sister's 
efforts to halt his execution at the last minute.

Johnson was convicted in the September 2006 killing of Cameron Hamlin, a 
musician who had begun dating Johnson's ex-girlfriend and the mother of his 
child.

One evening, Johnson set out to find his ex-girlfriend in hopes of reconciling. 
He found her sitting in front of her home in a car with Hamlin.

Johnson pulled out a gun and began firing into the car, fatally injuring 
Hamlin.

Prosecutors said Johnson then stalked his ex-girlfriend for several weeks, 
finally catching up with her on Nov. 10, 2006.

Johnson, who evaded detection by sometimes dressing in the all-covering garb of 
a Muslim woman, fired at and hit his ex-girlfriend. He stopped and fled when 
his gun jammed, police said.

After his arrest 5 days later, prosecutors said Johnson tried to hire an inmate 
who was going to be released to kill the woman and prevent her testimony. He 
was eventually found guilty in 2008.

Johnson waived his appeals, speeding up his own execution. In the week before 
his 2012 execution, his sister, Lakeisha Truitt, and the Federal Public 
Defender's Office attempted to spare his life.

The public defender tried to convince Sleet and then the U.S. Third Circuit 
Court of Appeals to halt the execution.

Sleet stayed the execution twice, the 2nd time arguing that Johnson was not 
mentally competent to speed his own execution and that a state competency 
review was flawed. He wanted more time to digest the lengthy briefs that had 
been filed in the case.

"The case is troubling to me not because I was certain, based on the parties' 
filings, that Johnson was, in fact, incompetent - he very well may have been 
competent. Rather, the case was and remains disturbing to me because, in the 
unnecessary haste to execute Johnson before his execution certificate expired - 
a haste arguably exacerbated by the State and the Third Circuit - I believe 
that the judiciary's fundamental role of ensuring due process, as realized 
through an adversarial process, was sacrificed or, at the very least, 
undermined."

The appeals court, however, vacated the stay and refused to hear Johnson's 
case. He was executed less than 2 hours later.

Sleet wrote that it was wrong for the appeals court to vacate the stay "without 
a single court - state of federal - reviewing the process and the 
constitutionality of the state court competency proceeding."

Thomas J. Reed, a professor emeritus at Widener University Delaware Law School, 
said challenging a state competency review is difficult.

"I'm not surprised the ruling went against Johnson," Reed said. "I haven't 
heard of it going any other way in our state."

Johnson is the last person to have been executed in Delaware. 15 inmates are 
currently sitting on Delaware's death row.

In recent decades, Reed said at least 2 other death row inmates waived their 
appellate rights because they wanted to die.

"No questions about their mental competency were raised," he said. "One cannot 
assume that a convicted murderer sentenced to die by lethal injection is 
mentally incompetent on the theory that no competent person would choose to 
hasten their death."

But because it was Johnson's sister who intervened and asked the court to have 
Johnson submit to a mental exam - which he did not cooperate with - the death 
sentence was not set aside, Reed said.

"It is a sad situation," he added, "and difficult because Johnson's murder was 
heinous and fit the parameters for a death sentence under Delaware law."

The death penalty has been in place statewide since March 29, 1974, after it 
was reinstated. Delaware is one of 32 states with capital punishment still in 
place.

Legislators attempted to repeal Delaware's death penalty in May, but was 
blocked by a crucial House committee for the 2nd time in 2 years.

Lawmakers on the House Judiciary Committee declined to release the bill from 
the committee in a 6-5 vote. The result was the same that kept similar 
legislation unresolved 2 years ago.

Gov. Jack Markell has said he would sign a repeal bill if it made its way to 
his desk, calling capital punishment an "instrument of imperfect justice."

For Kristin Froehlich, board president of Delaware Citizens Opposed to the 
Death Penalty, the state???s judicial system is indicative of problems 
associated with the death penalty nationwide.

Sleet's speaking out against the process is helpful in hopefully getting 
lawmakers to pay attention to the flaws in the system, she said, and ridding 
the state of the death penalty for good.

"Delaware is going to execute an innocent person if we don't change this," she 
said. "Judge Sleet's article points to that rush to execute without sufficient 
due process."

Froehlich, who is the sibling of a murder victim, knows firsthand the grief 
process, but she said killing someone else and using the death penalty as a 
crutch for punishment isn't the answer.

"It's not an inexpensive system. It's not a deterrent," she added. "It's kind 
of an emotional response to a horrible situation, and it's not good enough."

Sleet's article offered suggestions for fixing the failing death penalty 
process in the courts.

He said that while Johnson's guilt was not in dispute - there was eyewitness to 
the shooting and his own admission - the court should have been allowed to 
review the state's competency hearing where Johnson waived his appeals.

"Nevertheless, if one of the goals of our adversarial process is, as I believe 
it to be, to 'preserve the integrity of society itself,' we must face the fact 
that, in so far as the administration of the death penalty is concerned, the 
process is broken," Sleet wrote.

Sleet isn't the first judge to voice his concerns about flaws in the judicial 
process, especially when it comes to competency proceedings, Dunham said.

More recently, aggrieved judges across the country have spoken up about their 
frustrations with court proceedings and the lack of control they have in 
overruling decisions.

In many cases, Dunham said, people who are mentally ill will argue that they 
don't want their lawyers pushing for a competency hearing because they believe 
they are in a fine mental state.

However, this interference by defendants and unwillingness to cooperate is 
"often evidence of their incompetence," he said.

"It amounts to placing a greater value on the finality of a state court 
judgment than on the accuracy, reliability, fairness or constitutionality of 
that judgment," Dunham said.

Sleet wrote that he hopes his comments will be a starting point for analysis 
and action. He declined to talk further when he was reached for comment 
Thursday.

"Thus while it is impossible to remedy any possible constitutional infirmity in 
Johnson's case, it seems to me that it is incumbent upon as as participants in 
the legal process at issue, especially those of us at the very heartbeat of 
that process, to continuously evaluate whether that process has functioned 
consistent with both our notions of due process and societal precepts of what 
is or is not fair," he wrote.

(source for both: The News Journal)