[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., GA., OKLA., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 6



CONNECTICUT:

What a writer learned from serial killer Michael Ross


Martha Elliott says nobody has ever done this before and you can understand 
why.

"I am the 1st person who spent 10 years talking with a serial killer and 
getting to know him really well," she told me last week during a phone 
conversation from her home in Maine.

But she quickly added that, in addition to becoming Michael Ross' friend, "I 
also got to be friends with 2 of the victims' families."

Elliott said she wrote her book, "The Man in the Monster: An Intimate Portrait 
of a Serial Killer" (Penguin Press) because she wanted to document what she had 
been through with Ross, to shine a light on the problems of executing those who 
are mentally ill and to try to help those suffering families understand the man 
as well as "the monster."

Elliott seems to take pride in the fact she was able to endure those 10 years 
of face-to-face and phone conversations with Ross, as well as witnessing his 
execution. But as she wrote in the first line of her book: "No one in her right 
mind invites a serial killer into her life."

This man, while in what he called his "monster" stage, raped and strangled 8 
females, most of them teenagers. 6 of them lived in Connecticut and 2 in New 
York state.

These were his victims: in Connecticut, Robin Stavinsky, 19, of Columbia; April 
Brunais, 14, of Griswold; Leslie Shelley, 14, of Griswold; Wendy Baribeault, 
17, of Lisbon; Tammy Williams, 17, of the town of Brooklyn; and Debra Smith 
Taylor, 23, of Griswold. In New York: Paula Perrera, 16, of Wallkill and Dzung 
Ngoc Tu, 25, a student at Cornell University. The killings, all of them random, 
the victims unknown to Ross, occurred from May 1981 to June 1984.

"I deplore violence," Elliott wrote in her preface, "and I do not wish to 
mitigate what Michael Ross did before his 1984 arrest. He took 8 lives and he 
ruined many more."

But she added, "Until we see the man in the monster, we cannot begin to 
comprehend why he did what he did or to make a personal judgment as to whether 
sentencing Michael to death was a just punishment."

Elliott called Ross "my partner" in her long investigation. "I believe he 
worked with me for so many years as a kind of atonement for what he had done," 
she wrote.

In much of the book, she described a man "consumed with guilt." He said the 
reason he dropped his legal appeals after he was convicted and received the 
death sentence was to spare the victims' families more anguish.

He finally was executed on May 13, 2005, the 1st in this state since Joseph 
"Mad Dog" Taborsky in 1960. He will be the final person to be executed in 
Connecticut; last month the state Supreme Court spared the lives of the 11 
remaining inmates on death row, ruling it would be unconstitutional to execute 
them because the General Assembly 3 years ago abolished the death penalty for 
all future cases.

Elliott was pleased by the decision, as she opposes capital punishment. She 
admits, however, that she told Ross if he had killed one of her kids, "I would 
want to kill you with my bare hands."

She said she would hope to stop herself from doing so in that situation and she 
doesn't think any state or federal government should kill a killer. She is 
particularly disturbed to see it applied to the mentally ill. (Ross was 
diagnosed by a series of psychiatrists as being a sexual sadist, a mental 
illness.)

"Michael's death sentences were a perfect example of the almost impossibility 
of a jury listening to psychiatric evidence and acting on what psychiatric 
experts say," she told me.

She noted that in 1987, when Ross was put on trial, convicted of the 4 murders 
he committed in New London County and sentenced to death, Connecticut law 
stipulated that only 1 mitigating factor needed to be found by a jury in order 
to spare the defendant the death penalty. (The law was later changed to require 
juries to balance mitigating and aggravating factors.)

But in 1987, Elliott said, "Mental illness was an automatic mitigant. However, 
the jury couldn't ignore the pain of the families. So they voted for death. 
It's not fair to ask a jury to make that decision. That's why we shouldn't 
execute people who have severe mental illness. And I don't think we should 
execute anybody."

Elliott didn't get involved with Ross' case until the summer of 1995, when she 
was editor-in-chief of the Connecticut Law Tribune and Ross was lobbying to 
have his appeals dropped so he could be executed. The state Supreme Court had 
overturned the death sentences (but not the convictions) from the New London 
County trial because some psychiatric evidence had been withheld from the jury. 
However, Ross said he wanted to be put to death so as to spare the victims' 
families another trial on the penalty phase. (Against his wishes, he was tried 
again in 2000 and that jury also sentenced him to die.)

Elliott wrote to Ross in prison, asking him to do an interview with her. But as 
she wrote in her book, "The thought of him petrified me."

Part of her fear doubtless stemmed from the fact Elliott herself had been the 
victim of an attack by a man when she was a college student. She thought the 
man, who didn't know her, was going to kill her. She was saved when another 
woman arrived in time to stop the assault.

Although Elliott had feared Ross, even while just speaking with him over the 
phone as well as meeting him, she wrote: "The man I met was nothing like what I 
had expected ... This sensitive, articulate Cornell graduate was also a devout 
Roman Catholic who would profusely express his remorse for his crimes to anyone 
who would listen."

She also wrote that "the man who emerged" during their relationship was 
"soft-spoken, self-effacing and even funny."

But by then Ross had spent years on medication, 2 drugs that suppressed his 
production of testosterone. Ross said this got rid of the violent sexual 
fantasies that had driven him to commit those crimes. He said he had been freed 
from "the monster within" and returned to being "Michael."

Their phone calls began in February 1996 and they first met at prison a month 
later. She was still nervous at the thought of being with him but when he was 
escorted out in his prison jumpsuit, he "looked like the type of person who 
would offer to carry my groceries."

What made Michael Ross a killer? Elliott concluded that "some tragic alchemy of 
his genetics, brain structure and body chemistry, coupled with his childhood 
experiences, created a sadistic serial killer."

Those childhood traumas included being ordered to repeatedly strangle the 
weakest chickens on his family's farm in Brooklyn, Connecticut, starting when 
he was 8; being psychologically and physically abused by his depressed mother; 
and being beaten by his father.

Elliott acknowledges that her years spent with Ross helped her as well as him. 
"I had to confront the 'bogeyman' who attacked me," she said during our 
interview as she talked about her college trauma. "Knowing Michael, getting 
over the fear I'd had of him, helped me get over the lingering fear of being 
attacked again. I had a little forgiving to do (of her assailant) and Michael 
helped teach me how important that was."

"He taught me a lot," she added. "He taught me about appreciating human beings 
and not making assumptions about them; that even in the worst of the worst, 
there is some good. That's a big lesson. I'm very glad I learned it."

(source: Randall Beach, New Haven Register)






GEORGIA:

Athens woman facing death penalty blames attorneys for psych hospitalization


An Athens woman facing the death penalty for allegedly murdering a pregnant 
convenience store clerk nearly 5 years ago recently asked a Superior Court 
judge to appoint her new legal representation.

That is just one of the things Shameeka Lasha Watson, 35, writes in a letter 
she recently penned while in a state psychiatric hospital. In the letter, the 
accused killer tells Western Judicial Circuit Chief Judge David Sweat she did 
not belong in the facility and blamed her current attorneys for putting her 
there.

"I'm not the one who's saying I'm crazy everybody else is," Watson writes in 
the letter filed Aug. 13 in Clarke County Superior Court. "That's considered as 
poor (judgment) because I know I'm sane and not insane. My bus is fully loaded. 
It might be missing a couple of people but that's all it's missing."

Watson and her husband, Clarence McCord III, are accused of murder in the death 
of 25-year-old Kejuan Hall on Dec. 30, 2010. Hall worked the night shift at 
Golden Pantry at Timothy Road and Atlanta Highway. Because the single mother 
was pregnant, Watson and McCord are also charged with feticide for causing the 
death of the unborn child.

In June, Watson's lawyers filed a motion requesting she undergo a psychological 
evaluation, the results of which have not yet been filed with the court. Sweat 
granted the motion and ordered Watson moved to East Central Regional Hospital 
in Augusta or another Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental 
Disabilities facility.

At whichever facility Watson was taken, she writes in her most recent letter to 
the judge she does not belong there.

"These people (at the facility) walk around in so many circles that it's making 
me dizzy," Watson writes. "Have you ever seen a dog chase its tail? That's what 
it like. If I ain't crazy by the time I leave I would or will be very scrambled 
or discombobbulated (sic). LOL :) That was only supposed to make you laugh 
because it was somewhat of a small joke."

Watson further writes, "Well any who ... I've been misrepresented wrong. My 
lawyer have not did their jobs. Because if they had I wouldn't be here and I 
show wouldn't've (sic) been in jail as long as I have either. This isn't a 
laughing matter because it's got to do with my life."

Watson claims in the letter police charged her with Hall's murder because of 
her prior criminal record.

"Let's just put it like this, I wouldn't harm a fly," the letter noted. "Take 
that back because I don't like buggs (sic) ... Just say I wouldn't hurt the 
regular citizen if they stomped on my foot and bumped me. That's the kind of 
person I am. But I'm being defiled as something else. I know what I do and 
don't do.

"I know that I'm being wrongfully accused. I need someone on my side so I can 
show and tell," Watson writes. "I just want this stuff over with it's been 
dragging on too long. I'm not trying to rush you into anything. I got patience 
I can wait on you."

She signed the letter, Meeka Wa

Hall was stabbed 31 times by 2 different weapons in the convenience store's 
office, possibly a knife and screwdriver, according to authorities. Hall also 
suffered injuries to her head, torso and arms.

Authorities said Hall's head was covered with a box when they discovered her 
body. The motive for Hall's killing was robbery, Athens-Clarke County police 
said.

In his notice of intent to seek the death penalty for both defendants, District 
Attorney Ken Mauldin said Hall's killing was "outrageously or wantonly vile, 
horrible or inhuman in that it involved depravity of mind."

Following a phone call from a tipster, police arrested Watson and McCord about 
a month after Hall's death. Both have written letters to the judge presiding 
over their case while incarcerated.

McCord was the first to send Sweat a letter, claiming he was innocent several 
months after Hall was killed.

Initially denying he was at the Golden Pantry the night Hall was murdered, 
court records show he later said he was there, but made no admission concerning 
the clerk's death.

McCord then wrote to the judge claiming he and Watson only stumbled onto the 
murder scene. They left without notifying police because Watson was on 
probation, he wrote.

"When I seen (Hall's body) i paniced (sic) and tried to leave and get my wife 
from that," McCord wrote. "(Watson) is on probation and I didn't want anything 
to happen to the rest of her time on it. From what i understands about 
probation u can't be around the police. I know i handle the susitution (sic) 
wrong but i didn't want no part of it."

Also according to court records, Watson pointed the finger at her husband. When 
questioned by police soon after her arrest, Watson said she and McCord stopped 
at the Golden Pantry so she could use the restroom. Watson reportedly told 
police she came out of the restroom and saw her husband with "blood on his 
hands and cuts on the middle and ring finger of his left hand," a search 
warrant affidavit noted.

One of Watson's attorney's filed a motion asking she be tried separately from 
McCord because their respective defenses are "in conflict and antagonistic." 
The motion was granted.

Then, in a December 2013 letter to the judge, Watson may have incriminated 
herself. The letter was sealed by the judge, but not before the district 
attorney read it and concluded it contained incriminating statements. According 
to a prosecution motion, Watson's letter "would be admissible in a trial as an 
admission by the defendant."

Trial dates for Watson and McCord have not been set. In May the DA filed victim 
impact statements written by Hall's family members, an indication the dates are 
close to being set. According to court sources, McCord is expected to go on 
trial 1st.

(source: Athens Banner-Herald)






OKLAHOMA----impending execution

Richard Glossip case: Here's the story of his victim ---- A motel manager 
scheduled for execution was convicted of arranging for his boss to be killed.

--

Richard Glossip: "I have to ask, 'How does murdering another innocent man make 
things better?'" the deathrow inmate wrote.

Full statement from Barry Van Treese family

The Van Treese family released a statement to the Tulsa World ahead of Richard 
Glossip's Sept. 16 execution:

Over these many years our family has endured all manner of pain as a result of 
the death of Barry. The Van Treese family knows with absolute certainty the 
State of Oklahoma has provided the opportunity for justice to be served in this 
case. The death penalty in Oklahoma is reserved for the most heinous crimes. 2 
juries who heard all of the testimony agreed this case warranted the death 
penalty for Richard Glossip. Numerous courts have reviewed the facts of this 
case and have determined Richard Glossip's case warrants the death penalty. To 
ensure Richard Glossip received a fair judgement, he was given a second trial 
where he was represented by a legal team with decades of experience. The facts 
and testimony of the case have been proven in two trials and reviewed by every 
possible court all the way to include the US Supreme Court. And, finally, as 
the law provides in these types of cases, the Pardon and Parole board 
extensively reviewed the case, talked with and questioned Glossip, and voted 
unanimously against clemency.

Execution of Richard Glossip will not bring Barry back or lessen the empty hole 
left in the lives of those who loved Barry. What it does provide is a sense 
that justice has been served.

We have a right as a family and as citizens of the United States of America to 
expect justice to be served. Would not you feel the same if this was your loved 
one?

. --

In January 1997, Richard Glossip was living with his girlfriend at the Best 
Budget Inn in Oklahoma City, where he worked as a manager for 1 of the 2 motels 
owned by Barry Van Treese.

Van Treese and his wife, Donna Van Treese, audited their business in late 
December 1996 and discovered that more than $6,000 was missing from the 
Oklahoma City books, according to court records. Wondering whether Glossip had 
a hand in the discrepancy, Barry Van Treese told day desk manager Billye Hooper 
things "needed to be taken care of," which Hooper took to be a reference to 
Glossip's management despite not knowing for sure that money was missing.

Oklahoma County prosecutors said Glossip told Justin Sneed, a maintenance 
worker at the motel, that if Barry Van Treese inspected the rooms and saw that 
work hadn't been done inside them, they both would be fired. Sneed was not a 
paid employee but was able to stay in one of the rooms in exchange for his 
services.

So when Glossip reportedly offered Sneed $10,000 to kill their boss on the 
night of Jan. 6, 1997, police said Sneed - who they alleged was "totally 
dependent" on Glossip due to his work arrangement - listened.

Sneed confessed to entering Room 102 using a master key and hitting Barry Van 
Treese with a bat before throwing him to the floor and hitting him "10 or 15" 
times. The motel owner gave Sneed a black eye, and photos of both men's 
injuries were included in a packet of papers requesting that Glossip be granted 
clemency from a death sentence in the case. The effort was denied in October.

Sneed is serving a life sentence without parole for his role in the murder 
after pleading guilty and testifying against Glossip, who was convicted of 
1st-degree murder with the added stipulation that his former boss was killed 
for remuneration. Glossip was sentenced to death Aug. 14, 1998.

His conviction was overturned on appeal, and another jury found him guilty on 
Aug. 27, 2004, and returned the same sentence. Since then, Glossip has taken 
his case all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court without success.

He is scheduled to die by lethal injection Sept. 16 following the Supreme 
Court's 5-4 ruling that the use of midazolam in executions is constitutional.

But hundreds of thousands of people, led by well-known anti-death-penalty 
advocate Sister Helen Prejean and actress Susan Sarandon, are calling on Gov. 
Mary Fallin to stay his execution.

Van Treese family feels his loss every day

Barry Van Treese's sister, Alana Mileto, and her family watched Prejean and 
Sarandon appear on a Monday broadcast of the "Dr. Phil" show, where they 
presented their case for Glossip's innocence.

The women believe there is evidence that was never presented in court that 
casts doubt on his guilt, and they point to a letter they said was written by 
Sneed's daughter, O'Ryan Justine Sneed, in advance of Glossip's October 
clemency hearing.

Sneed's daughter has not spoken to media about the case or confirmed publicly 
that she wrote the letter, which wasn't received in time for the hearing but 
which states that Justin Sneed is considering recanting his testimony but fears 
being sentenced to death himself.

A statement from Van Treese's family sent to the Tulsa World by Mileto says the 
"Dr. Phil" segment was "very 1-sided." Van Treese was a "fun-loving" father and 
husband, and his family feels his loss every day, according to the statement, 
which further describes him as an honorable businessman who expected honesty 
and accountability from his employees.

"Over these many years our family has endured all manner of pain as a result of 
the death of Barry," Mileto said in a separate statement. "The Van Treese 
family knows with absolute certainty the State of Oklahoma has provided the 
opportunity for justice to be served in this case. ... We have a right as a 
family and as citizens of the United States of America to expect justice to be 
served."

During the television show, Sarandon choked up while reading a statement from 
Glossip in which he continued to maintain his innocence. For his part, Sneed 
wrote a letter to a former Tulsa World reporter in which he discussed his and 
Glossip's involvement in the crime.

Sneed was described by the state as having limited intellectual ability and a 
child-like demeanor, which prosecutors said put him in a good position to be 
dependent on Glossip.

"I have to ask, 'How does murdering another innocent man make things better?'" 
Glossip wrote. "I also have a family who should not have to suffer through 
that. They should not have to see their father, their brother, their uncle 
killed. That is not justice."

He also said the fight for his life extends to others on death row who were 
wrongfully convicted.

"I hope and pray my eventual exoneration will help others and that this country 
will finally realize just how broken our system is and how easy it is to make 
mistakes," Glossip said. "If my execution ensured no other innocent man was 
sent to the death chamber, I am prepared to die for that cause. I have never 
been in trouble with the law in my life. ... I was a good citizen and always 
tried to help others. Now I have gone from doing everything right to fighting 
(for) my life."

Prejean held a press conference in Oklahoma City on Thursday and presented 
about 270,000 signatures requesting a stay of Glossip's execution to Fallin's 
office.

Plans to cover up death thwarted by police

Once the deed was finished early Jan. 7, 1997, Sneed said, he told Glossip what 
he had done and Glossip told him to drive Van Treese's car, which had about 
$4,000 inside, to a nearby parking lot. By this point, Donna Van Treese was 
concerned about her husband because she had not heard from him and called the 
motel to ask when he was last seen.

"My sister and an uncle who live in Oklahoma City were on property at the motel 
within a short time joining the search for Barry," Mileto said. "We later 
learned Glossip knew exactly where Barry was. His dead body was still lying 
beneath the bedding in Room 102. The room where he was beaten to death."

In that room, Sneed said, he and Glossip took money from their boss's wallet, 
put a shower curtain over a broken window and covered the body. The story for 
the broken window would be that it was broken during a fight, and they would 
use chemicals and a saw to clean the mess.

"They turned the air conditioner on high, broke the key off in the door, then 
left," Mileto said. "Glossip made arrangements for the morning housekeeping 
crew to clean other rooms."

Oklahoma City police officers were eventually called after Barry Van Treese's 
car was found at a nearby credit union, and after hearing what they said were 
conflicting statements from Glossip, they searched Room 102 themselves.

The motel was described as being in "deplorable" condition, and police said 
only 1/2 of the rooms were habitable. Donna Van Treese testified that her 
husband was not as involved in motel operations in his last 6 months of life 
because her mother and her husband's mother had both died recently, which led 
to the facility's falling into disrepair.

Officers found Barry Van Treese's body around 10 p.m. Jan. 7, and Sneed was 
already gone. Glossip was questioned and released and began making plans to 
leave town but was detained before he could do so.

"We are enormously thankful Barry's body was discovered before their plan to 
dispose of it using the hacksaw, muriatic acid and trash bags was carried out," 
Mileto said. "Many families of victims do not have this closure."

In Glossip's 2005 appeal to the state, the court stated that there was evidence 
that connected him with the commission of the crime. The court additionally 
found that he lied about Van Treese's whereabouts and Sneed's part in the 
murder because he felt like he "was involved in it."

"He admitted knowing Sneed killed Van Treese in room 102," the appeal states. 
"He knew about the broken glass. However, he never told anyone that he thought 
Sneed was involved in the murder until after he was taken into custody that 
night, after Van Treese's body was found."

State intends to carry out death sentence

Fallin's office has repeatedly emphasized that Glossip has had multiple 
opportunities in court to prove his innocence and that 2 juries and several 
appeals court judges have determined his guilt. Fallin spokesman Alex Weintz 
said Thursday that Sarandon and Prejean are fighting a public relations 
campaign and should take evidence to a judge, as Fallin does not have the power 
to indefinitely stay an execution.

"They can order new trials," he said of judges. "The governor can't. They are 
not doing that because they have no new evidence."

Barry Van Treese's uncle, Boyce Bowdon, who lives in Oklahoma City, wrote a 
statement commending Fallin for the "wisdom and courage to stand strong against 
the pressures of crusaders against the death penalty." He also called for the 
end of the continuing focus on his family's heartbreak.

"Governor Fallin recognizes that the issue before her is not whether the death 
penalty is barbaric and should be eliminated," Bowdon said.

"The issue is whether a man who has been given every opportunity provided by 
our legal system should be given another 60 days to do what his attorneys could 
not do in nearly 2 decades. ... Talk shows, Hollywood, and petition campaigns 
should not be allowed to undermine the authority given by our Constitution to 
our courts."

Mileto said she believes that Glossip is guilty and deserves the death penalty.

"Execution of Richard Glossip will not bring Barry back or lessen the empty 
hole left in the lives of those who loved Barry," she said. "What it does 
provide is a sense that justice has been served."

(source: Tulsa World)






NEBRASKA:

Nebraska ballot measure raises stakes for death penalty foes


The Nebraska Legislature's vote to abolish the death penalty was hailed as a 
sign that red-state conservatives are turning away from the punishment, but 
opponents now face the much greater challenge of persuading voters.

National death penalty experts say the campaign could test the notion that 
conservative sentiment has shifted. Even some opponents of capital punishment 
acknowledge they face an uphill battle.

Ohio State University law professor Doug Berman, a death penalty expert, says 
the vote drew national attention because it played into the notion that capital 
punishment was losing support in a deeply conservative state.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty announced last month it had gathered nearly 
167,000 signatures, nearly 3 times the minimum number needed to place the issue 
on the November 2016 ballot.

(source: Associated Press)