[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., FLA., MISS., LA., OKLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 13



PENNSYLVANIA:

Husband in Craigslist Slaying Says Counsel Was Ineffective


A newlywed husband convicted along with his wife of killing a man who was lured 
through a Craigslist ad should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea because 
his previous attorneys were ineffective, his lawyer argued.

Attorney Richard Feudale has asked for a hearing in Northumberland County Court 
claiming that Elytte Barbour, 23, should have pleaded guilty but mentally ill 
in the stabbing death of Troy LeFerrara, 42, of Port Trevorton.

Feudale argued that a breakdown in communication between Barbour and his 
previous legal counsel led to the August 2014 guilty plea to 2nd-degree murder 
and other charges. Barbour claimed he was told that no potential defense was 
available and he would face the death penalty if he didn't plead guilty.

If Barbour had been aware of a possible mental illness defense and mitigating 
factors involved with seeking the death penalty, he wouldn't have been afraid 
to face a death sentence at trial, he argued.

Barbour also wasn't provided with psychiatric or mitigation reports until after 
he entered his guilty plea, according to the petition.

He and Miranda Barbour, 20, are serving life sentences without possibility of 
parole. Miranda Barbour admitted she used Craigslist to arrange a meeting with 
LaFerrara in a parking lot in November 2013.

She drove LaFerrara into Sunbury where she repeatedly stabbed him while her 
husband, who had been hiding under a blanket on the backseat floor, restrained 
him with a piece of cable around his neck.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Nicholas Yarris spent 22 years on death row for a murder he didn't commit


One in a series on issues pertaining to the death penalty in Pennsylvania.

On Jan. 16, 2004, Nicholas Yarris walked out of prison a free man after 22 
years on Pennsylvania's death row.


Yarris, now 54, is one of 15 people in the United States - and the only person 
in Pennsylvania - to be released from death row after being found not guilty of 
a capital murder by means of a DNA test.

"I'm kind of a walking encyclopedia on the death penalty," Yarris joked during 
a recent phone interview from his home in California.

In 1981, Yarris, 20 at the time, was driving with a friend in what turned out 
to be a stolen car. A Chester police officer pulled Yarris over and the 
encounter turned violent, the officer claimed. The incident ended with Yarris 
being charged with the attempted murder of a police officer.

Yarris said the charges against him were trumped up and when the case went to 
trial, he was acquitted of the attempted murder charge. He was convicted of 
theft for stealing the car.

A drug addict, Yarris struggled with withdrawal while in prison. In an attempt 
to get himself out of prison, he made up a story about knowing who killed Linda 
May Craig, who had been kidnapped from a parking lot of the Tri-State Mall in 
Delaware. Her body was found the next day, and it was determined she had been 
raped.

When police could not connect the person Yarris had claimed killed Linda May 
Craig to the crime, they began to suspect Yarris Soon, a prison informant 
claimed that Yarris had confessed to the murder.

Following a brief trial in 1982, a Delaware County jury convicted Yarris and 
sentenced him to death for the murder and rape of Linda May Craig. Though in 
1984 while in transit between prison and the Delaware County Courthouse, Yarris 
escaped and was placed on the FBI's most wanted list.

He said life on the run was not for him and thought he would have been shot to 
death if police found him first.

"I didn't kill the woman. Why am I running?" he asked.

After 25 days on the run he called his parents, told them where he was and 
turned himself in.

For the next 20 years, Yarris would sit on death row waiting to die.

The Stats

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, there are 182 convicts 
sitting on death row in Pennsylvania.

State Correctional Institutes Graterford and Greene house the death row 
inmates, and executions are performed at State Correctional Institute Rockview.

While many wait for their appeals to proceed or for their sentence to be 
carried out, no one has been executed in Pennsylvania since 1999. Gary Heidnik 
was executed by means of lethal injection in 1999, and before him Keith 
Zettlemoyer and Leon Moser, convicted of killing his former wife and 2 
daughters on Easter Sunday in a Lower Providence church parking lot, were 
executed by the same method in 1995. All 3 men had given up their appeals 
process and asked to die.

The last person in Pennsylvania to be executed involuntarily was Elmo Smith, a 
Bridgeport man sentenced to die for the rape and murder Mary Ann Mitchell, of a 
young woman from Roxborough, whose body was found in Lafayette Hill. He was 
executed in the electric chair in 1962. He would be the last person in 
Pennsylvania to be executed by the electric chair.

Between 1915 and 1962, 350 people, including Smith, had been executed using the 
electric chair.

In 1990 the electric chair was taken out of the State Correctional Institute 
Rockview and was no longer the official method of carrying out the death 
penalty in Pennsylvania. Lethal injection has become the method by which death 
row inmates are executed, but it has scarcely been used, partially because the 
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections does not have the drugs necessary to 
perform the executions. Pennsylvania uses a "3-drug cocktail" to perform lethal 
injections. The 1st part - fast-acting barbiturate - is very difficult to 
obtain, according to Secretary of Corrections John Wetzel said in a press 
release.

The state does not currently have the drugs needed to perform lethal 
injections, but if it needed to purchase the drugs, it would be an open 
process, Wetzel said.

"We would get it legally, ethically and appropriately," he said.

The Moratorium

In January, Gov. Tom Wolf placed a moratorium on the imposition of the death 
penalty until a study by the state Senate is completed and reviewed.

With the moratorium in place, when a defendant is up for execution, the 
governor will issue the condemned a temporary reprieve lasting until the study 
is completed.

"Today's action comes after significant consideration and reflection," Wolf 
said when he announced the moratorium. "This moratorium is in no way an 
expression of sympathy for the guilty on death row, all of whom have been 
convicted of committing heinous crimes. This decision is based on a flawed 
system that has been proven to be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well 
as ineffective, unjust and expensive.

"Since the reinstatement of the death penalty, 150 people have been exonerated 
from death row nationwide, including six men in Pennsylvania. Recognizing the 
seriousness of these concerns, the Senate established the bipartisan 
Pennsylvania Task Force and Advisory Commission to conduct a study of the 
effectiveness of capital punishment in Pennsylvania. Today???s moratorium will 
remain in effect until this commission has produced its recommendation and all 
concerns are addressed satisfactorily."

That study was supposed to be completed by 2011.

Yarris, the man released from death row, said he thought something would have 
been done in Pennsylvania shortly after he left prison, not almost 10 years 
later.

Life on the row: 'Abject Misery'

Susan Behringer, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, 
said the department does not take a stance in the death penalty debate. Its 
role is to house the offender and carry out the death sentence if it is ever 
taken that far.

Those on death row spend their entire lives there, save for an hour a day for 
recreation, but even they are not placed with general population for their 
brief exercise.

Those who can afford a television and cable can buy it for themselves, 
Behringer said.

The death row Yarris remembers was one rife with violence. When he entered 
Pennsylvania's state prison system in 1982 he was more or less sentenced to 
live in hell, he said.

Shortly after his 1982 conviction, Yarris was taken to State Correctional 
Institute Huntingdon just outside of Pittsburgh. There he was placed in a 
disciplinary unit, where he said he lived in silence because of a "no talking 
rule."

"I did not want to live anymore," Yarris said.

In 1995 Huntingdon was closed, and he was housed in a facility in Pittsburgh 
until 1998, when he was moved to death row at State Correctional Institute 
Greene.

He said throughout his time he was beaten by corrections officers, contracted 
illnesses that he was not treated for and was at times beaten by other 
prisoners.

One beating from a guard resulted in 11 broken bones in his hands. He said to 
save his humanity he would say "thank you" to the guards after they attacked 
him.

Through the plethora of bad experiences he said he found some hope through 
reading. One officer took pity on him and gave him books. From then on, he 
said, he spent most of his time on death row reading. Yarris said he learned 
early on that an education was important, and during his time in prison he read 
thousands of books. He compared the idea of freedom to being hit with a tidal 
wave.

"I had to prepare for it," he said.

That said, in 2002, just 2 years before Yarris would be exonerated, he gave up 
his appeals and in 2002 asked to be put to death.

"Lingering in hell is a lot worse than being executed," he said.

While he openly talks about the abuse he suffered at the hands of prison guards 
and even other prisoners, Yarris called his time on death row "the greatest 
adventure of my life."

On July 1, 1988, he married a woman while he was in prison. He says that 
marriage taught him how to love and how to accept love.

"I made an effort to cherish every nuance of life," Yarris said.

Freedom

Yarris said he learned about DNA testing while incarcerated in the 1980s and 
wanted a test to prove that he had nothing to do with the killing of Craig. 
However, for years he was denied the opportunity to have a test completed from 
the evidence collected at the scene of the murder.

Finally in 2003 a test of the killer's glove left at the crime scene proved 
that Yarris was not the killer. Yarris maintained that on the night Craig was 
killed, he was having dinner with his parents, 26 miles away.

He said when he learned he would be getting out of prison he was put in a 
solitary cell for his own safety and for the protection for the officers. 
Yarris explained the officers acknowledged they broke him during his decades on 
death row.

"They told me 'We believe you'll be so full of rage that you'll want to kill 
one of us,'" Yarris said.

Almost immediately after being released from prison, Yarris left the United 
States and spent the next 9 years in the United Kingdom, where he met his 2nd 
wife and had a daughter.

He knew that adjusting to life would be difficult, but said when he went to 
England he began speaking in Hyde Park. Shortly after he arrived in the United 
Kingdom he began working with organizations on criminal justice reform in the 
United Kingdom.

"I want to be a productive citizen," Yarris said.

During that time, Yarris sued the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, 
seeking compensation for time he wrongly served in prison. At some point, he 
said, he was having problems with his wife and did not want to deal with the 
possibility of a trial. He said he gave the Delaware County District Attorney's 
Office 30 days to settle for $4 million. If they wouldn???t take the settlement 
he would take the case to trial in federal court and seek $23 million.

At the last minute the Delaware County District Attorney's Office agreed and 
paid out the $4 million settlement to Yarris.

"I gave $1 million to my attorney and set up a trust fund for my daughter," he 
said.

Yarris' daughter, 9, lives in England with 2nd his ex-wife.

Present: "I don't have time to be bitter"

Yarris is married for the 3rd time and is working on a movie based on his book, 
"7 Days to Live." He is also working on a television series in which he will 
interview exonerated inmates called "Dead Man Talking."

In December, Variety.com reported that Yarris is working with Lucy Rice on a 
film based on his book.

Yarris said it's taken him a while to adjust, but he???s not angry at anyone.

"It's not been an easy road," Yarris said. "I don't have time to be bitter."

(source: Times Herald)

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

Should governors be jailed for not signing death warrants?


The judge ordered jail for the Kentucky county clerk, Kim Davis, who is an 
elected official and refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples 
because of her religious beliefs, even though it is the law.

When governors, who are elected officials, refuse to sign death warrants for 
convicted criminals on death row, even though the state has a death penalty law 
on the books, should they not be jailed for failure to carry out their official 
duties because they don't believe in the death penalty?

Richard Graessel

(source: Letter to the Editor, Morning Call)






FLORIDA:

Trial Begins for Inmate Accused of Killing Deputy


Lawyers will begin selecting jurors Tuesday for the trial of Terrence Barnett, 
the inmate accused of fatally injuring Polk County detention deputy Sgt. Ronnie 
Brown during an altercation.

Prosecutors want to seek the death penalty for Barnett, and the trial, expected 
to last 4 weeks, will be the 1st death penalty case Circuit Judge Jalal Harb 
will oversee.

Barnett, 34, is already serving 30 years for his role in a 2007 killing in 
Highlands County. According to documents, Bryan "Red" Fanning was tied up, 
beaten and left to die in his home, which had been set on fire.

Barnett's lawyer, Robert Norgard, could not be reached on Friday.

While in South County Jail, Barnett was indicted on charges of killing Brown. 
On Aug. 30, 2009, he broke a sprinkler in his cell, swallowed pain-reliever 
pills and refused to let deputies put him on suicide watch, according to 
reports. He later told investigators that he was fading in and out of 
consciousness from the pills. According to a transcript, he said he didn't 
remember what happened after Brown came into his cell.

An arrest report states Barnett said, "all bets are off." Brown attempted to 
restrain Barnett, but Barnett shoved him, causing Brown to fall backward onto 
his back. He died days later in the hospital after complications from back 
surgery.

Brown's widow, Albertina, said she wants justice, but taking Barnett's life 
won't make life better for her.

"I'm just learning how to live without my husband, my best friend and no matter 
what, he's not coming back," Albertina Brown said. "Taking his life won't bring 
me closure."

She plans to be at the trial, but said their 23-year-old daughter and Brown's 
26-year-old daughter from another marriage won't be attending.

"Ronnie was our rock, our backbone," Albertina Brown said. "He held the family 
together."

After the injury to his lower back, Brown had surgery, but never regained his 
ability to walk. Brown died soon afterwards. He was 48.

Prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty in the case in 2010.

Initially, Barnett was charged with battery on an officer causing serious 
bodily injury, But an indictment charged Barnett with first-degree murder under 
the concept of "felony murder" - meaning Brown died as the result of Barnett 
committing the felony of resisting an officer with violence.

Death sentences require prosecutors to argue "aggravating circumstances." One 
aggravator is that the victim was a law enforcement officer "engaged in the 
performance of his or official duties." A second aggravator is that the 
defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony.

In the Fanning case, Barnett pleaded no contest in 2009 to 2nd-degree murder as 
part of a plea deal in exchange for up to 30 years in prison. He attempted to 
withdraw from the agreement, but the request was denied.

(source: The Ledger)






MISSISSIPPI:

Judge orders McGilberry to Jackson County for resentencing


A judge has ordered the return of Stephen McGilberry to the Jackson County jail 
to await resentencing in the 1994 beating deaths of four family members.

The Sun Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1iDsWeI ) Circuit Judge Roberts Krebs 
issued the order Friday, and Circuit Judge Dale Harkey signed off. Jackson 
County deputies are to retrieve McGilberry from the state prison at Parchman on 
Sunday and bring him back to the Jackson County jail until sentencing.

McGilberry, now 37, was 16 when he killed his mother, stepfather, sister and 
her 3-year-old son with a baseball bat.

He won a third chance at sentencing after a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling 
found that automatic life sentences for juveniles violate the Eighth 
Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The court ruled 
that certain factors, such as the age of the offender at the time of the 
killing and the nature of the crime, should be considered first.

McGilberry's stepfather, Kenneth Purifoy; mother, Patricia Purifoy; stepsister, 
Kimberly Self and her 3-year-old son Kristopher Self, were killed in October 
1994 in St. Martin. McGilberry took a money order from his mother's purse and 
drove away in the family's vehicle.

The jury sentenced him to death, but a U.S. Supreme Court barred the death 
penalty for juveniles. In 2005, McGilberry was re-sentenced to 4 life terms 
without parole.

McGilberry said he committed the crimes because he was mad at his mother for 
grounding him from using the family car. She did so, authorities said, because 
he'd stopped going to school and lost a job.

McGilberry claims he's changed since the killings, having found God and been 
ordained as a minister. He's also married and says he's been a trusted inmate 
over the years.

Michael Purifoy, Kenneth Purifoy's son, said his family wants McGilberry to 
remain in prison for the rest of his life. The family and others have written 
letters to the Jackson County District Attorney Tony Lawrence to ask that he 
remain imprisoned.

Charlotte James, Kenneth Purifoy's sister, said the family had moved on with 
their lives "just to have him open up the can of worms again. We are victimized 
all over again, and yet the court is worried about his rights and treats him 
like this poor, little victim.

"He had no remorse for what he did," she said. "4 people no longer have their 
lives. My brother was the most loving, caring, easygoing guy that you could 
ever meet.

"...These 4 people, these innocent people, will never get up again and have a 
life. Why should he?"

(source: Associated Press)






LOUISIANA:

Murders of whites more likely to mean death penalty in Louisiana, though blacks 
make up most homicide victims, study finds


The killers of white people in Louisiana are roughly 5 times as likely to be 
sentenced to death than the murderers of black people, according to a study 
released last month.

Meanwhile, black people account for 72 % of all homicide victims in the state, 
a comparison the report's authors say shows implicit bias in the way juries and 
the courts go about punishing killers based on the race and gender of a victim.

The report, by University of North Carolina political science professor Frank 
Baumgartner and documentation specialist Tim Lyman, will be published in the 
fall edition of the Loyola University of New Orleans Journal of Public Interest 
Law.

"I think there's the death penalty that we might wish we had, and then there's 
the death penalty that we really do have," said Baumgartner, who earlier this 
year published a nationwide study partially titled "#BlackLivesDon'tMatter," 
which showed similar findings.

(source: bayoubuzz.com)






OKLAHOMA----impending execution

New Evidence in Glossip case will be presented Monday, September 14 by Legal 
Defense Team Member Don Knight


Editor's Note: This week, attorneys Don Knight, Mark Olive and Kathleen Lord, 
who are working to establish Richard Glossip's innocence - released a lengthy 
memorandum to reporters worldwide. The memo outlined new evidence in the case 
they are making for Glossip's innocence.

They and others fighting to stop Glossip's execution are asking for more time 
to continue their investigations.

Introducing the memo to reporters via email, the attorneys wrote:

"In the early morning hours of January 7, 1997, Justin Sneed, by himself, beat 
Barry Van Treese to death with a baseball bat in Room 102 of the Best Budget 
Inn, a motel in Oklahoma City owned by Mr. Van Treese. Upon arrest, he first 
denied any involvement in or knowledge of the murder. Over the course of a long 
interrogation by 2 detectives, Sneed was pressured to implicate Richard 
Glossip, the manager of the hotel, and was fed details which, if he adopted 
them, would help him.

"Sneed finally adopted the detectives' story and agreed, in exchange for a life 
sentence for the murder he alone committed, to testify that Mr. Glossip was the 
mastermind of the plot to murder Mr. Van Treese to steal money from his car. 
Based upon Sneed's testimony, Mr. Glossip is scheduled to be executed 
Wednesday, September 16, at 3:00 p.m.

"The prosecutors conceded in argument at trial: 'the physical evidence doesn't 
directly implicate Mr. Glossip.' Therefore, the scheduled execution is based 
upon Sneed's testimony and credibility alone."

Don Knight and leaders of the Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty 
(OK-CADP) will meet with reporters on Monday, September 14 at 10 a.m. in the 
2nd floor Supreme Court Hallway at the state Capitol in Oklahoma City.

Here is the summary Knight and his colleagues provided to the news media on 
Friday, September 11. They believe it strengthens the case that "Mr. Sneed lied 
to save his own life."

Evidence includes the following:

1.1 The use of interrogation techniques proven to elicit false statements

Richard A. Leo, Ph.D., J.D., is the national, leading expert on police-induced 
false confessions and erroneous convictions. ... Dr. Leo evaluated the 
circumstances of Mr. Sneed???s interrogations and concluded, based upon decades 
of social science research, that law enforcement in this case used the 
"personal and situational factors associated with, and believed to cause, false 
confessions." For example:

"The suggestion that Richard Glossip was involved in the homicide of Barry Van 
Treese first came from investigators, not Justin Sneed. The investigators feed 
Justin Sneed their theory that Richard Glossip was the mastermind of this 
homicide, and they repeatedly tell him that Richard Glossip was putting the 
crime on him;"

Interrogators "repeatedly tell him that he will be the scapegoat for the crime 
if he does not confess, implying that he will receive the harshest punishment 
if he does not confess to it; they repeatedly suggest that Richard Glossip is 
the one who put him up to it; and they tell him that he can get this 
straightened out;"

Interrogators "presumed the guilt of Richard Glossip from almost the start and 
sought to pressure and persuade Justin Sneed to implicate Richard Glossip."

"The investigators repeatedly lied to Justin Sneed by telling him that multiple 
people or witnesses had implicated him in the murder."

Dr. Leo's report explains the science behind why techniques such as these 
create "the suspect's perception that he is trapped, there is no way out, and 
that his conviction will be inevitable, thus leading to the perception that he 
has little choice but to agree to or negotiate the best available outcome or 
mitigation of punishment given the subjective reality of his situation." Such 
tactics "are substantially likely to increase the risk of eliciting false 
statements, admissions, and or confessions."

Finally, Dr. Leo notes Sneed's "multiple, inconsistent, and contradictory 
accounts of the crime" which is consistent with a guilty person "falsely 
implicating an innocent third part as an accomplice."

1.2 Sneed habitually broke into cars and hotel rooms to support his addiction 
to methamphetamine

The state portrayed Sneed as a hapless dupe who had taken methamphetamine, but 
"he didn't use it that often." The state asked: "Why would he need that much 
money?"

Mr. Glossip's legal team has newly discovered evidence never before presented 
that casts serious doubt on this key part of the prosecution's case. According 
to one of Sneed's drug dealers at the time, Sneed on his own, habitually broke 
into peoples' cars and motel rooms to take property to support his severe drug 
addition:

AFFIDAVIT OF RICHARD ALLAN BARRETT

1. I met Bobby Glossip who I knew as "Critter" in late 1995 or early 1996 at 
the Plaza Motel in Oklahoma City.

2. At that time, I began dealing methamphetamine with Bobby Glossip and 
continued to do so until the end of 1996. During this period of time, we dealt 
drugs out of many different motels in the Oklahoma City area.

3. In or around September of 1996, I first started meeting Bobby Glossip at the 
Best Budget Inn on Council Road and 1-40. I met regularly with Bobby Glossip at 
the Best Budget Inn for the purposes of selling methamphetamine until the end 
of 1996.

4. I always met with Bobby Glossip in Room 102. Room 102 had a waterbed. I met 
with Bobby Glossip in Room 102 at the Best Budget Inn at least 3 times a week.

5. One of the first few times I was at the Best Budget Inn there was a young 
man in Room l02 getting high with Bobby Glossip. He was using methamphetamine 
with a needle. Bobbie Glossip always made people shoot up with a needle before 
he would sell to them; to be sure they were not the police. When he left, I 
asked Bobby Glossip who the guy was. Bobby Glossip told me the kid was the 
motel maintenance man. Bobby Glossip told me to always keep my car locked when 
I was at the motel. Later I learned this was because the maintenance man 
(Justin Sneed) broke into cars at the motel parking lot and stole items from 
the cars.

6. During this approximately four month period of time I would go to the Best 
Budget Inn to sell methamphetamine approximately 3 to 4 times a week. Each time 
I went to the Best Budget Inn, the guy I knew as the maintenance man would come 
to Room 102 within 30 minutes of me arriving to buy drugs from Bobby Glossip, 
who was buying drugs from me.

7. Each time the maintenance man would come to Room l02, he would use cash 
(mostly coins) or items to trade for methamphetamine. I specifically recall 
Justin Sneed bringing the following items to trade for drugs: food stamps 
(trade $150.00 in stamps for $100.00 of drugs), radar detectors, car stereos, a 
Samsonite silver hard-covered briefcase and, on one occasion, a nickel-plated 
.38 caliber handgun. I was present when Justin Sneed told Bobby Glossip that he 
had taken these items from occupied rooms at the motel and cars in the parking 
lots of the motel and other businesses near the motel. I remember that Bobby 
Glossip traded "a 16" (16th of an ounce) with Justin Sneed for the handgun. 
This would have been enough of the drug for Sneed to shoot up 6 or 7 times (and 
would typically last for a day and a half or so). People who use meth with a 
needle chase the "rush" instead of just the high and so they typically use more 
of the drug than those who snort it, as I used to do. However, either way, the 
effects of the drug would last for days. On more than one occasion I observed 
Justin Sneed shoot up with a needle. Based on my own experience, I believe 
Justin Sneed was addicted to methamphetamine in a bad way. Methamphetamine is a 
very addictive drug. I often saw Justin Sneed "tweaking." This means a 
twitching of his mouth and a chewing of his lips. This is a sure sign that 
someone is high on methamphetamine.

8. In my experience, 90 % of the people I knew who were addicted to meth were 
thieves; stealing to support their habit. People with this addiction stay awake 
for days or weeks and will do anything to get more of the drug, even kill. 
People get very paranoid and mean when they are high on methamphetamine, and 
will shoot someone, or beat someone, even to death, to keep them from telling 
others of illegal things the user may be doing, or just from having paranoid 
thoughts that someone might turn them in.

9. I saw nothing to make me think that Justin Sneed was controlled by Richard 
Glossip. I never saw anything to make me think that Richard Glossip knew 
anything about Justin Sneed stealing from motel rooms or cars in the motel 
parking lots or the businesses nearby. I did not see anything to make me think 
that Richard Glossip was addicted to drugs.

10. I met Richard Glossip when he would come to Room 102 to see Bobby Glossip. 
Richard Glossip came to the room but never would stay very long. He mostly came 
to tell us to quiet down. I did not see Richard Glossip socialize with Bobby 
Glossip. In fact, Bobby Glossip was mean to Richard Glossip and told him to 
stay out of his business. As far as I know, Richard Glossip was a good hearted 
guy who was not involved in Bobby Glossip's drug business. I never saw Richard 
in the room when people were shooting meth and I never saw Richard come to the 
room when Justin Sneed was there.

11. When I was in the Oklahoma County Jail, I got a letter from a lawyer named 
Wayne saying he wanted to talk to me about Richard Glossip's case. I didn't 
know what the case was about, but I heard through rumors at the jail that it 
was a murder at the Best Budget Inn in Room 102, and they had my fingerprints. 
This freaked me out, and I started trying to get transferred to federal 
custody. I entered a plea in my federal case to get transferred so as to get 
away from this situation. After this, no one contacted me again and it was my 
intention not to talk to anyone about this situation. When I was first called 
by my cousin on September 8, 2015 to tell me someone wanted to talk to me about 
the case, I hung up on her, as I did not want to talk to anyone about this 
case. I only agreed to talk to Richard Glossip's lawyer because my mother 
called me back and asked me to.

12. I was not at the Best Budget Inn on January 7, 1997.

13. I provided this affidavit freely. No one threatened me, coerced me, or 
offered anything to me in exchange for this affidavit. I swear and affirm that 
the foregoing statement is true and correct. I am aware that by providing this 
affidavit, I may have to testify.

Thus, Sneed - a tweaking drug addict who, on his own and for his own selfish 
need for drug money, routinely broke into occupied motel rooms (like Mr. Van 
Treese's) using his access as the maintenance man at the Best Budget Inn, and 
cars that were in the parking lot of the Best Budget Inn (like Mr. Van 
Treese's) to steal people's property to sustain his drug habit - eventually 
provided the only evidence against Mr. Glossip.

1.3 Exonerations of death-sentenced inmates are common under similar 
circumstances:

For example, the following are cases that ended in exonerations for 
death-sentenced inmates:

Randall Dale Adams (Texas) - David Harris was arrested for the murder when it 
was learned that he was bragging about it. Harris then claimed that Adams was 
the killer.

Joseph Burrows (Illinois) - No physical evidence linked Burrows to the crime. 
He was convicted largely on the testimony of Gayle Potter and Ralph Frye, who 
received lighter sentences in exchange for testifying. Ms. Potter confessed in 
July of 1994 that she alone had committed the murder. Mr. Frye recanted his 
testimony as well, claiming that prosecutors and police officers had coerced 
him into providing testimony.

Lawrence William (Larry) Lee (Georgia) - Lee was convicted and sentenced to 
death based upon what the court called "a weak prosecution case dependent for 
its success on the believability of 2 witnesses unfavored in the law and by the 
public - a jailhouse snitch and a co-conspirator - with absolutely no forensic 
evidence to link [him] to the crime scene."

Anthony Graves (Texas) - Graves was convicted in 1994 of assisting Robert 
Carter in multiple murders in 1992. There was no physical evidence linking 
Graves to the crime, and his conviction relied primarily on Carter's testimony 
that Graves was his accomplice. 2 weeks before Carter was scheduled to be 
executed in 2000, he provided a statement saying he lied about Graves's 
involvement in the crime. He repeated that statement minutes before his 
execution.

Nathson Fields (Illinois) (featured on Dr. Phil show with Susan Sarandon, 
Sister Helen Prejean and defense team member Don Knight) - Fields received a 
new trial because his trial judge, Thomas Maloney, accepted a $10,000 bribe 
during the trial and was convicted for fixing murder trials. Co-defendant Earl 
Hawkins, who had admitted to killing 15 to 20 people, testified against Fields 
in exchange for a lesser sentence. However, at Fields' retrial, Judge Vincent 
Gaughan found Hawkins "incredible," saying that "If someone has such disregard 
for human life, what regard will he have for his oath?"

Jeremy Sheets (Nebraska) - Adam Barnett was arrested for the 1992 rape and 
murder of the same victim as in Sheets' case. Barnett confessed to the crime 
and implicated Sheets. In exchange for the taped statement, Barnett received a 
plea bargain in which he avoided a charge of 1st degree murder, did not have an 
additional weapons charge filed, and received a commitment for his safety while 
incarcerated. Barnett committed suicide prior to the trial and his taped 
statement was the key evidence used against Sheets at trial.

Wesley Quick (Alabama) - Quick was accused of shooting 2 men in the presence of 
a female acquaintance, and then picking up his friend, Jason Beninati. Beninati 
testified that Quick drove to the scene of the crime and showed him the bodies 
of his victims. In the retrial in which he was acquitted, Quick testified that 
it was actually Beninati who was responsible for the murders, and the one who 
had disposed of the murder weapon.

John Thompson (Louisiana) - Kevin Freeman was originally charged with the 
murder, but arranged a plea agreement with prosecutors and implicated Thompson. 
At Thompson's retrial, the jury heard testimony that Freeman, was the actual 
killer.

Alan Gell (North Carolina) - The 2 key witnesses presented by prosecutors were 
Gell's ex-girlfriend and her best friend, both teenagers who were at the 
victim's house and pled guilty to involvement in the murder. They testified 
that they saw Gell shoot the victim on April 3, 1995, but many witnesses later 
testified to having seen the victim alive days later. Prosecutors withheld 
evidence that might have cleared Gell in the initial trial, including an audio 
tape of one of the girls saying she had to "make up a story" about the murder.

Laurence Adams (Massachusetts) - Adams was convicted at age 19 on the testimony 
of 2 witnesses, both of whom had unrelated charges against them dropped after 
their testimony. The government's key witness testified that Adams had admitted 
to the offense in a discussion in a private home, but subsequently discovered 
records indicated that, at the time that the witness alleged the conversation 
took place, he was actually incarcerated with one of a pair of brothers who 
were suspects in the case. The 2nd witness recanted her testimony against Adams 
just prior to her death.

Dan L. Bright (Louisiana) - There was no physical evidence against Bright and 
the prosecution's key witness, Freddie Thompson, provided the only evidence 
that served to convict Bright.

Derrick Jamison (Ohio) - Jamison was originally convicted and sentenced to 
death in 1985 based in part on the testimony of Charles Howell, a co-defendant 
who received a lesser sentence in exchange for his testimony against Jamison.

1.4 A new defense report casts serious doubt on the testimony of the 
prosecution's medical examiner.

As reported by Phil Cross at KOKH FOX 25 on September 10, 2015, jurors in the 
second trial report being misled by the testimony of medical examiner Choi as 
to the length of time that Mr. Van Treese survived after Sneed's attack. The 
new report is consistent with Mr. Sneed's statements that he waited to leave 
until he saw Mr. Van Treese take his last breath.

At the press conference [on Monday, September 14], Mr. Knight will talk about 
what this information means to the case against Mr. Glossip, and will provide 
further details uncovered in this investigation, including new expert reports 
and a new key witness who will discuss statements made by Mr. Sneed after Mr. 
Sneed put Mr. Glossip on death row.

(source: The City Sentinel)

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

Don't put to death an innocent man


The Oklahoma citizens who sentenced Richard Glossip to die are just like you 
and me -- ordinary folk. As fact finders, they are supposed to receive all the 
information they need to make an informed judgment. So if facts are falsified 
or withheld, crucial evidence goes missing or key witnesses lie, the jury's 
decision will inevitably be skewed. They can only work with what they're given. 
Unfortunately for Richard Glossip, what the jury did not know could mean an 
innocent man is executed next week.

Of the 155 people exonerated off death row (10 of whom were tried in Oklahoma) 
most were wrongly convicted because their jurors received incomplete or 
misleading information at trial. This, I'm convinced, is what has happened to 
Richard Glossip, who is scheduled to be put to death on September 16 unless his 
pro bono lawyers can surface witnesses and evidence to get him a hearing in 
court.

I'm involved in the effort to save his life because I am convinced he is 
innocent. I wrote to him and then spoke to him, and during that first phone 
call he asked me to be with him if he's executed. Sadly, this isn't the 1st 
time I have been asked to perform this duty. In fact, I've already accompanied 
6 people to execution, 2 of whom I'm convinced were innocent. I've seen our 
justice system up close. And I've seen how broken it is.

How did Glossip end up on death row in the first place?

On January 7, 1997, Barry Van Treese, the owner of the Best Budget Inn in 
Oklahoma City, was bludgeoned to death by a man, Justin Sneed, who confessed to 
the killing. However, he claimed that Glossip, the manager of the motel, had 
offered him money to kill Van Treese. The jury apparently believed Sneed's 
testimony, and despite the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals in 2001 
describing the evidence in the first trial as "extremely weak," the decision 
was affirmed by the U.S. Court of Appeals in 2013.

As a result of all this, the person who actually committed the murder is now 
serving a life sentence in a medium security prison, while Glossip, convicted 
of "murder-for-hire" -- almost solely on Sneed's word, and in the absence of 
physical evidence from the scene -- now faces death by lethal injection.

It shouldn't be this way. And if the jury had been given access to some key 
information, it probably wouldn't be.

So what didn't they hear at the time?

For a start, Sneed, age 19 when he was arrested, only saw his attorney once in 
the first 6 months he was in custody. Plus, during the police interrogation and 
his trial testimony, Sneed gave several contradictory versions of what took 
place. In fact, Sneed gave several versions of the story in his initial police 
interview.

It is almost impossible, then, to see Sneed as a reliable witness. And without 
his testimony, it is exceedingly doubtful that the prosecution would have been 
able to obtain a guilty verdict against Glossip, much less a death sentence.

The jury in both trials also didn't get to see Sneed's taped confession, which 
for some reason wasn't shown in court. As the video clearly shows, the police 
made clear they didn't believe that Sneed was acting alone, before finally 
revealing that they had arrested Glossip. They went on to press Sneed on 
whether the "whole thing" was his idea.

Another key point I'm sure the jury would like to have been aware of is that 
Sneed told others before the trial that when he killed van Treese, he was 
coming off a "2-day meth run." This would have added additional weight to 
Sneed's admission that he "hustled" to get money for drugs, and it would have 
presented a clear motive for robbing Van Treese.

Finally, a worker at the motel testified that Glossip was manipulating the 
books, something that documents submitted after the conviction show wasn't the 
case. It appears that having no solid forensic evidence to corroborate Sneed's 
accusations, the prosecution had no choice but to show that Glossip had a 
compelling motive to have van Treese killed. The theory proffered was that 
Glossip stole from his boss and thus feared for his job if the truth came out.

But there is also a sinister realm of unfairness in capital cases, where 
exculpatory evidence "goes missing."

In this case, it was motel receipts that supposedly were lost in a flood. And 
there was the shower curtain and duct tape that Sneed claimed he and Glossip 
used to cover the motel window that was broken during the struggle. Had the 
curtain and tape been presented as evidence, the jury might have heard that 
they contained only Sneed's fingerprints, not Glossip's.

Finally, the jury did not get to see the surveillance video from the Sinclair 
gas station across the street where Sneed went the night of the murder -- as 
did a man staying at the motel, who left in the early morning hours in such a 
rush that he left behind his luggage. Common sense would suggest this man 
should at least have been a suspect, but he was not identified nor questioned.

There was so much that the jurors never knew. The fact that Richard Glossip is 
facing imminent death based on such flawed and threadbare evidence shows just 
how broken our court system is. And the case is also a betrayal of the 
constitutional ideal of fairness that we all cherish, and of a group of people 
summoned to pass life-or-death judgment. They will be forced to live with the 
question and possible doubt that they may have sentenced to death an innocent 
man.

(source: Helen Prejean, CNN----Editor's Note: Sister Helen Prejean ministers to 
prisoners on death row. The views expressed are her own.)

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

Unanswered questions


10 death row exonerees in Oklahoma alone, 155 nationally, bear witness to the 
reality that not everyone's "day in court" is fair, or results in a finding of 
the actual truth. This is one of many reasons death penalty abolitionists cite 
as justification for their position. Even supporters of state-sponsored 
executions must acknowledge that human beings called on to judge their peers 
can and do make mistakes.

For this reason, Oklahoma established a final stopgap to prevent the ultimate 
injustice of executing someone for a crime he did not commit, the granting to a 
single person the ability to say, "Wait, let's make absolutely sure," thus 
giving the justice system a chance to re-evaluate, to find and correct possible 
wrongs.

That unique responsibility rests with Gov. Mary Fallin, who seems eager to find 
any excuse not to exercise for Richard Glossip.

Set for execution Wednesday, Glossip was convicted of the murder of Barry Van 
Treese, based on the testimony of one man, who admits to being the actual 
killer and who received a plea deal for that testimony, saving himself from 
death row. Glossip's 1st trial was overturned for inadequate legal 
representation. It was barely better in his 2nd trial. People without money are 
almost never able to defend themselves properly.

Fallin has an opportunity -- a moral obligation -- to show discernment, wisdom 
and leadership and not allow unanswered questions to follow Glossip to his 
grave.

Glossip's execution needs to be stayed for 60 days.

(source: Letter to the Editor, Rena Guay; Tulsa World)