[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., OHIO, ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 23



TEXAS:

Case of Texas killer puts spotlight on executing the mentally ill


Scott Panetti believes that the gold filling in his mouth is a Bluetooth device 
that transmits his thoughts to the prison guards who watch over his cell on 
death row.

He told his lawyer that the state wanted to kill him to keep him quiet about 
prison corruption and stop him from preaching the gospel.

He thinks actress-singer Selena Gomez is his daughter and is convinced that 
CNN's Wolf Blitzer has his prison ID card.

"Communicating with Scott is done through the screen of his mental illness," 
said Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, which 
represents Panetti and other death row inmates. "He has been transformed by 
this severe mental illness that he will carry to his grave."

On Wednesday, Panetti's lawyers will tell a panel of federal appellate judges 
in Dallas that their client is too disturbed to face execution for fatally 
shooting his in-laws, and they will ask for money to hire experts to evaluate 
his mental condition. Prosecutors will argue that Panetti understands why he 
was sentenced to death and that the continued delays in his punishment should 
end.

Panetti, whose execution was stayed by a federal court in December, has become 
the poster child for a national debate over the execution of people with mental 
illness. His case raises difficult questions for the criminal justice system 
about whether people with serious mental illness ought to be exempted from the 
death penalty and how courts can fairly evaluate whether a criminal's mind is 
so addled by illness that his execution would constitute cruel and unusual 
punishment.

"The Supreme Court has said that you can be mentally ill - and even seriously 
mentally ill - and still be executed, and that is very controversial," said 
Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, 
which advocates for ending the death penalty.

For nearly 40 years, Panetti has struggled with mental illness, Kase said. In 
the 6 years before he shot his estranged wife's parents, Joe and Amanda 
Alvarado, in Fredericksburg, he was hospitalized more than a dozen times, 
diagnosed with schizophrenia, delusions and hallucinations. On 1 occasion, he 
became convinced the devil had possessed his home and buried his furniture in 
the backyard.

Despite that history, Panetti was allowed to represent himself at his 1995 
trial, where he wore a cowboy get-up with a purple bandanna and demanded the 
testimony of Jesus Christ, JFK and the pope. His outrageous behavior frightened 
jurors, who rejected his insanity plea and sentenced him to death.

In the 2 decades since, Panetti's appellate lawyers have tried to convince the 
courts that he is too mentally ill to face execution.

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court took up his case, issuing a landmark decision 
requiring inmates to have a "rational understanding" of their punishment to be 
considered competent for execution. In other words, they must know that they 
are being executed as retribution for their crime.

The court left it up to states to determine what constitutes a rational 
understanding. In Texas, the courts have interpreted that ruling broadly.

"This is the irony of that" ruling, Kase said. "The state of Texas is still 
trying to kill him, notwithstanding the extensive history of severe mental 
illness and delusions."

Since that ruling, Panetti's lawyers argue, his condition has deteriorated, but 
he hasn't been evaluated by a mental health professional in nearly seven years. 
Though he had been a well-behaved inmate, in recent years, they say, his 
behavior has become aggressive. Prison staff reported that he banged loudly on 
his cell door, threw urine on the walkway and threatened to "smite" officers 
for their "wickedness."

A neuropsychologist who reviewed Panetti's records for free at his lawyers' 
request concluded that his condition was worsening, exacerbated by age and the 
stress of living under a death sentence.

They want the court to grant Panetti funds to hire an expert to determine 
whether he is competent for execution.

Lawyers in the attorney general's office, which is handling the appeals, argue 
that he has had plenty of time to prove his incompetence and that the courts 
have rejected his claim. They say he is not entitled to funding because he 
cannot show that he is too mentally ill to face execution.

"Panetti's mental status has at best been severely exaggerated by his counsel," 
state lawyers wrote in a legal brief.

Dr. Joseph Penn, a psychiatrist at the University of Texas Medical Branch who 
works for the Texas prison system, wrote in an affidavit after reviewing 
Panetti's records that the inmate "may have had some baseline or chronic 
residual psychosis ... but nothing severe enough to warrant treatment with 
medications."

State lawyers also argue that in recorded conversations with his parents, 
Panetti has shown a "fairly sophisticated" understanding of his case.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will decide whether Panetti's lawyers 
gets access to funds to try to prove his incompetence, but his case has much 
broader implications for mentally ill death row inmates.

Since 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court has exempted from the death penalty those 
with intellectual disabilities and those who committed crimes when they were 
younger than 18. In both cases, the court concluded that diminished mental 
capacity meant those individuals should be held less culpable for their crimes. 
Death penalty opponents have long hoped that Panetti's case could help pave the 
way to a similar exemption for those who are severely mentally ill.

But Douglas Berman, a criminal justice professor at Ohio State University, said 
the high court may be disinclined to grant another categorical exclusion from 
the death penalty. The court's decision to exempt those with intellectual 
disabilities sparked a small flood of claims, and courts nationwide have 
struggled to decide how to determine whether those inmates are incompetent.

An exemption for the mentally ill would probably inspire another stream of 
incompetency claims and lead to more confusion among the courts, Berman said. 
But before those larger questions are answered, the appeals court must decide 
whether Panetti gets funds for an examination of his mental competency. A group 
of conservative political leaders, including death penalty supporters and 
former prosecutors, urged the court to at least grant the request and 
ultimately to have mercy on the delusional inmate.

"Even for those who favor a measured and just system of capital punishment," 
they wrote, "the execution of Panetti would be a moral scandal that would only 
undermine confidence in such a system."

(source: Dallas Morning News)

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

Schizophrenic Death Row Inmate's Case Back in Court


A convicted murderer who tried to subpoena Jesus Christ during his 1995 murder 
trial will be the subject of a federal appeals hearing in an attempt to 
overturn a federal ruling denying a stay of execution and funding for a mental 
health expert.

Scott Panetti was convicted of murdering his former wife's in-laws in 1995. He 
was sentenced to death. But late last year Panetti, who believes the State of 
Texas wants to kill him for preaching the Gospel, was granted a stay of 
execution.

Lawyers will attempt to convince a judge to overturn that federal ruling and 
have his case sent back to a lower court.

During the trial, Panetti also tried to call John F. Kennedy and the Pope to 
the stand. He wore a cowboy costume and confessed to the murder in the 3rd 
person under the personality of "Sarge."

A diverse group of people and organizations that include the American Bar 
Association, former Congressman Ron Paul, Murder Victims Families for 
Reconciliation and many others have all expressed their support in sparing 
Panetti from the death penalty.

(source: San Antonio Current)

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

Stormont Conference explores Texas prison system


"Prison and Punishment - The Texas Prison System" is the theme of the 2015 John 
W. Stormont Conference on South Texas, which will feature nine lectures and a 
documentary film.

The conference, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 8 a.m. Oct. 
2 in Victoria College's Student Center.

Keynote speakers Juan Melendez and Delia Perez from the Witness to Innocence 
Project will kick off the conference with a lecture titled "The Death Penalty 
at What Cost? Stories of Innocence and Exoneration on America's Death Row."

Each lecture will last about 20 minutes, followed by a question-and-answer 
session.

The conference will conclude with a screening of "At the Death House Door," a 
film detailing the journey of Rev. Carroll Pickett, Huntsville penitentiary's 
death house chaplain, who accompanied more than 95 men into the execution 
chamber during his tenure.

Pickett is a Victoria College alumnus.

"We're so excited to have such a wide range of speakers at this year's 
conference: exonerees, social justice activists, scholars and former Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice employees," said Lisa DeVries, who co-chairs 
this year's conference along with Ann Kapp. "Texas' prison system is such a 
part of our state's history and involves many players."

Lectures in this year's conference will include: "The Death Penalty at What 
Cost? Stories of Innocence and Exoneration on America's Death Row," by Juan 
Melendez and Delia Perez, at 8 a.m.

-- "The Costs of Incarceration," by Amin Alehashem, at 9 a.m.

-- "The School to Prison Pipeline in Texas," by Morgan Craven, at 9:30 a.m.

-- "Pardon Me if I'm Sentimental: Radio and Texas Prison Bands in the New Deal 
Era," by Caroline Gnagy, at 10 a.m.

-- "The Prison Show: Using Radio to Create Positive Community in a Prison 
Environment," by Raymond Hill, at 10:30 a.m.

-- "The Treatment of Women in Texas County Jails," by Diana Claitor, at 11 
a.m.

-- "40 Days in Orange: A Lenten Journey in the Uniform of the Imprisoned," by 
Kent McKeever, at 11:30 a.m.

-- "For-Profit Penitentiaries: The Past, Present, and Future of Prison 
Privatization in Texas," by Nacona Nix, at 1 p.m.

-- "Citizen: Felonies, Voting, and Skin in the Game," by Corena White, at 1:30 
p.m.

-- Screening of "At the Death House Door" at 2 p.m.

An opening reception will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 1 at the Museum of the Coastal 
Bend. The reception is free and open to the public.

The conference is sponsored by VC's Division of Arts, Humanities & Social 
Sciences and is funded in part by Victoria College, the John. W. Stormont 
Endowment and the Kathryn Stoner O'Connor Endowment.

For more information, call 361-582-2530.

(source: Victoria Advocate)

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

Can Pope Francis Save a Texas Man on Death Row?


It's been almost 30 years since Lidia Guerrero last embraced her son in 
Argentina. Back then, her teenager Victor Saldano was a teenager. He left home, 
telling her "he wanted to see the world."

"Estuvo en Brasil, en el Mato Grosso, en Venezuela, en Colombia, en las 
Guayanas Francesas," she says.

He went everywhere from Brasil to Venezuela to the French Guyanas. Every so 
often, he'd send postcards saying he was well.

But in 1996 Lidia Guerrero got a call saying her son was not well. In fact, he 
was in Texas - accused of murder and facing the death penalty.

She says: "Es muy duro tener un hijo acusado de asesinato - en fin - de un 
delito tan grave - es tremendo y vergonzante - la alegria - se pierde." ("When 
your child is accused of something as terrible as murder - it is shameful, it 
is tough, the joy is gone.")

Sometimes the hope is gone as well.

But not for Guerrero. Since her son's death sentence in the 1995 killing of 
Paul Ray King in Collin County, Guerrero has been praying for a miracle. She 
fears he may be guilty - but she prays to hold him again in Argentina where he 
could spend his life behind bars.

Guerrero is a woman of faith, but not a Catholic. Her attorney is, though, and 
one day in 2014, he had an idea. "Since we have nowhere else to go, let???s go 
to the Pope," he said to her. "He's from Argentina too - he may advocate on 
behalf of Victor." A couple of weeks went by, and then Guerrero got word from 
her attorney:

"El Papa quiere que vengan, que ustedes vengan a Roma."

("The Pope wants us to go to Rome.")

Guerrero is elderly and poor - she's always been poor. So, how could she make 
it all the way to Rome? When friends and relatives heard that the Pope wanted 
to meet Guerrero, they scraped together money for her airplane ticket and room 
and board. At their meeting in Rome, Pope Francis told her that he knew Victor 
Saldano's case well:

"Si habre rezado yo por ese cordobecito."

He even said he's prayed multiple times on Victor's behalf.

That strengthened Guerrero's faith. She knows a figure like Francis' carries a 
lot of weight in Texas, especially with Catholic Governor Greg Abbott.

But papal interventions when it comes to death row inmates have not been 
successful historically.

During his papacy, John Paul II often spoke against the death penalty. He 
raised it during his 1993 U.S. tour.

"If you want equal justice and freedom, then America, defend life," he said in 
a speech.

At the time, some argued the Pope was then speaking against abortion. But 
during a later visit in 1999, he was unambiguous, directly speaking against 
capital punishment and effectively sparing the life of a Missouri death row 
inmate Darrell Mease.

"I got a letter - death letter - saying January 27 of 1999 Darrell Mease shall 
suffer death," Mease says. "But then, the Missouri Supreme Court found out that 
Pope John Paul II was coming to Missouri that very day, so they didn't want to 
execute me that very day, so they changed the date to February."

Mease's sentence was commuted to life without parole.

He's the only person in the U.S. whose life has been spared through papal 
intervention.

But that doesn't mean it can't happen again.

John Burke is a Catholic scholar with St. Edwards University. He says there are 
many arguments Governor Abbott may consider even beyond a papal appeal to spare 
Saldano's life on moral grounds.

"The popularity of Francis, and the growing Latino population and its impact 
politically in the state of Texas - a large percentage of that population is 
either of Catholic background or Pentecostal background - and so, just speaking 
in political terms there's a political self-interest for wanting to - at least 
consider - to move someone from death to life without parole," Burke says.

For her part, Lidia Guerrero's faith still stands strong. But, the mother of 
Texas death row inmate Victor Saldano says she'll give all glory to God when 
her son's life is spared.

(source: kut.org)






GEORGIA----impending female execution

Religious leaders join fight against woman's execution


A woman on Georgia's death row could be executed as early as September 29 and 
now religious leaders have joined her fight.

Kelly Renee Gissendaner is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, September 29 
for killing her husband in 1997.

Her children have released a video, asking for mercy in the case.

The children said their mom has become a caring mother since she has been 
incarcerated.

A court has set a seven-day execution window for Gissendaner, who is Georgia's 
only female death row inmate. Her execution was halted in March because of a 
problem with the lethal injection drug.

Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said in a news release that a Gwinnett 
County Superior Court judge issued an order September 19, saying Gissendaner 
may be executed between 12 p.m. on Sept. 29 and 12 p.m. on Oct. 6.

Gissendaner was scheduled for execution at 7 p.m. March 2. Corrections 
officials told reporters about 11 p.m. that they were postponing the execution 
"out of an abundance of caution" because the lethal injection drug appeared 
"cloudy."

Gissendaner was convicted of murder in the February 1997 slaying of her 
husband. Prosecutors said she conspired with her lover, who stabbed Douglas 
Gissendaner to death.

Local religious leaders will fight the scheduled execution of Gissendaner on 
Wednesday. They are hoping that the parole board will change her sentence to 
life in prison.

(source: WTOC news)

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

Standing with Kelly Gisendaner


This is a message from Mercy Junction. I called. Would you? You could save a 
precious life...

Mercy Junction Justice and Peace Center is asking that YOU call the Georgia 
Parole and Pardons Board TODAY and ask that they STOP the state-sanctioned 
murder of Kelly Gisendaner.

PLEASE CALL: Georgia Parole and Pardons, (404) 656-4661 OR EMAIL: 
Clemency_Info at pap.state.ga.us

WHAT TO SAY: I am calling regarding the impending execution of Kelly Gisendaner 
by the state of Georgia. The Parole and Pardons Board has the power to stop the 
execution from being carried out. Kelly's children are begging for their 
mother's life. Kelly is the example of remorse and rehabilitation. If there has 
ever been a case for clemency, a case in which the wisdom of the Board should 
stop the actions of the state, Kelly's is that case.

STATEMENT FROM MERCY JUNCTION:

Mercy Junction Justice and Peace Center appeals to the Georgia Parole and 
Pardons Board to grant a clemency hearing and commute Kelly Gisendaner's death 
sentence. Mercy Junction strongly opposes the state-sanctioned killing of Kelly 
for multiple reasons, and especially because of our faith in another who was 
executed by the state, Jesus Christ.

1. Mercy Junction believes in the possibility of redemption's power for all, 
even those who have committed the most heinous of crimes. This is centrally 
important to any understanding of following Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:9, John 
10:10). In Kelly we see the possibility of an incredible example of redemption 
(Romans 6:4). From limited freedom, Kelly has already changed the lives of 
others because she has experienced the positive change that the parole and 
pardon board wants to see as part of its own vision statement.

2. Mercy Junction believes that taking responsibility for one's own action is 
essential to the idea of redemption and the possibility for the beginning of 
wholeness of our society. Kelly, through her own words and the reconciling 
witness of her children, has taken responsibility for her actions (I John 1:9).

3. Mercy Junction believes that in following one who was tortured and killed on 
the cross by the state we have a responsibility to oppose this type of tragedy 
being repeated by a state that represents us as citizens.

4. Mercy Junction believes that the board of Pardons and Parole has the ethical 
and moral duty to commute Kelly's sentence to the same sentence that was given 
to the actual perpetrator of the crime.

5. Even though we do not support the death penalty, Mercy Junction believes 
that the current process of carrying out the death penalty is cruel to any who 
have to go through its legal machinations. Kelly has already gone through 2 
stays of execution, and 1 was because of serious questions about the poisons 
being used to kill her. The decades spent on death row in isolation can only be 
considered cruel by any moral standard of incarceration.

6. Mercy Junction believes that even in the most unbending bureaucracy there 
needs to be the ability for wisdom to override processes. The parole and 
pardons board is the only party, according to the constitution of the State of 
Georgia, that can exercise wisdom and stop Kelly's execution. It is the members 
of this board who hold the responsibility for life and death in the stroke of a 
pen. The decision of death is an awesome responsibility. We believe that the 
only way that you can carry out a wise decision with a clear conscience in 
Kelly's case is to grant a clemency hearing, and then stop the killing of 
someone whose continued breath is valued in the divine's judgment.

(source: The Christian Century)






FLORIDA:

Appeals court rejects death sentence in 1984 Jacksonville murder due to 
'ineffective' counsel


More than 30 years after a teen's body was found floating in the St. Johns 
River, a federal appeals court has tossed out the death sentence of a man 
convicted in the drug-related murder.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower-court decision 
that John Gary Hardwick Jr., now 56, did not receive adequate legal 
representation before being sent to death row in the Jacksonville murder.

The appeals court ordered the state to hold a new sentencing hearing or to 
re-sentence Hardwick to life in prison. Hardwick was convicted in the December 
1984 murder of 17-year-old Keith Pullum, whose body was found in the river, 
according to court documents. Hardwick was upset about the disappearance of a 
stash of quaaludes.

A 3-judge panel of the appeals court agreed with Hardwick's argument that he 
received "ineffective assistance of counsel" during the sentencing phase of the 
case.

The court said Hardwick's attorney did not bring up a series of issues to 
jurors, who recommended by a 7-5 vote that Hardwick receive the death penalty.

Those issues, including Hardwick being neglected and abused as a child and a 
long history of substance abuse, could have been considered as "mitigating" 
evidence to argue against the death penalty.

"Because of counsel's deficient performance, the jury saw only a drug dealer 
who brutally killed someone for stealing his quaaludes," said Friday's 45-page 
ruling, written by appeals court Judge Gerald Tjoflat and joined by judges 
Frank Hull and Beverly Martin.

Jurors didn't hear about Hardwick's childhood "that was consistently marked by 
neglect, deprivation, abandonment, violence, and physical and sexual abuse.

They never had a chance to examine the trove of documents evidencing his 
decade-and-a-half long history of drug and alcohol addiction starting at the 
young age of 11 or 12." the ruling continued.

The ruling also said jurors were not told of Hardwick's heavy intoxication at 
the time of the crime, nor did they hear expert testimony about how all the 
factors combined to render him "substantially unable to conform his conduct to 
the requirements of the law, as the post-conviction mental health experts 
unanimously concluded."

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

Bill Seeks Unanimous Juries In Death Cases As Supreme Court To Hear 9 Mile 
Popeye's Case


Juries would have to be unanimous before recommending the death penalty for 
defendants in murder cases, under a bill filed Tuesday in the Florida Senate, 
just weeks before the U.S. Supreme Court is to hear an Escambia County death 
penalty case that was unanimous.

Under current law, a majority of a jury can recommend that a defendant receive 
the death penalty, with a judge ultimately deciding whether to impose the 
sentence. The bill (SB 330), by Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, for the 2016 
legislative session, would establish the higher standard for death sentences. 
The bill also would give direction to judges on some jury instructions in 
death-penalty cases. Those instructions deal with what are known as 
"aggravating circumstances," which are factors used to support death-penalty 
recommendations.

The bill, in part, would require aggravating circumstances to be proven beyond 
a reasonable doubt and be subject to a unanimous vote. The bill - an identical 
measure (HB 157) has already been filed in the House - would only apply to 
sentencing proceedings that begin after July 1, 2016. Similar efforts have 
failed in prior legislative sessions.

However, this year's proposal comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to 
hear arguments Oct. 13 in a case that challenges the way Florida sentences 
people to death. The case stems from the 1998 murder of an Escambia County 
fast-food worker, and attorneys representing death row inmate Timothy Lee Hurst 
contend that Florida's unique sentencing system is unconstitutional. The 
attorneys argue, in part, that a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling requires that 
determination of aggravating circumstances be "entrusted" to juries, not to 
judges. Also, they take issue with Florida not requiring unanimous jury 
recommendations in death-penalty cases. A judge sentenced Hurst to death after 
receiving a 7-5 jury recommendation.

Hurst, now 36, was convicted in the 1998 murder of Cynthia Lee Harrison, who 
was an assistant manager at a Popeye's Fried Chicken restaurant where Hurst 
worked. Harrison's body was discovered bound in a freezer, and money was 
missing from a safe, according to a brief in the case.

(source: northescambia.com)



ARKANSAS:

Don't use our drugs to kill - India-based company to state of Arkansas


India's Sun Pharma prohibits its customers from selling its muscle relaxant to 
prisons for use in lethal injections, but Arkansas has its drug and intends to 
do just that - despite the company's objection. India's largest drug seller, 
Sun Pharma, is the 3rd pharmaceutical company to enforce such a policy. Its 
objection comes after an investigation by the Associated Press found that, as 
of June 30, the Arkansas Department of Correction had purchased sufficient 
quantities of 3 drugs used in its new lethal injection protocol to perform 8 
executions.

A few weeks later, Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson set dates for the state's 
1st executions in almost a decade. 2 death row inmates are scheduled for 
execution and neither has filed an appeal for clemency, according to Parole 
Board spokesman Solomon Graves, the AP reported.

The AP acquired photographs of the drugs' containers, product inserts, and 
expiration dates through an open records request while investigating how the 
state had managed to obtain the drugs. The news outlet contacted the 3 
companies whose labels appeared to match the drugs in Arkansas' execution 
supply.

Sun Pharma spokesman Federick Castro told AP that the company prohibits the 
sale of its drugs for lethal purposes.

"We currently require our customers to certify that they will prohibit the use 
and sale of such products to other customers and members that may administer 
lethal injections or which may sell to facilities that administer lethal 
injections," Castro wrote in a statement.

He did not tell the AP whether he would take action to retrieve the muscle 
relaxant, vecuronium bromide, if it was confirmed that the state had made the 
purchase.

The other manufacturers are Hikma and Hospira, both of which have also said 
they do not want their products used for executions.

London-based Hikma Pharmaceutical said it had launched an investigation to 
determine whether Arkansas had bought midazolam from its New Jersey subsidiary 
West-Ward. The company said it plans to contact the prison department and ask 
for the drugs back.

Hospira, meanwhile, makes potassium chloride, which stops the heart. It 
prohibits the sale of that drug, as well as 6 others, to prisons for use in 
lethal injections. The company did not tell the AP whether it had contacted 
Arkansas.

State officials said a secrecy law surrounding executions prohibits them from 
telling the companies if their drugs have been purchased.

The news comes during a raging debate concerning capital punishment in the US, 
where concerns have mounted over the use of lethal injection drugs, 
particularly since a slew of high-profile executions went awry.

A decade-old ban in the European Union prohibiting EU nations from exporting 
execution drugs has spawned a shortage in the US, prompting prison officials to 
seek out compounding pharmacists willing to come up with a new mix of drugs for 
cocktails to be used in carrying out death sentences.

In March, the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists, the top trade 
group representing over 3,700 compounding pharmacists, said it was discouraging 
members from preparing and dispensing drugs used to execute people.

(source: rt.com)

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

Violent offender faces the death penalty in Clayton County


A convicted felon in state prison for a violent crime in DeKalb County faces 
the death penalty in the Clayton County deaths of 2 women.

Artemio Hernandez, 36, of Riverdale is serving a 10-year sentence for 
aggravated assault, attempted armed robbery and false imprisonment in an Oct. 
25, 2010, DeKalb case.

But Clayton County prosecutors said in the days before that incident, Hernandez 
killed Monica Ambriz, 17, in Jonesboro and Maria Rivera, 61, in Forest Park.

Forest Park Police Maj. Chris Matson said Rivera's Oct. 12 death was "extremely 
violent" and included beating, strangling and stabbing.

Ambriz was taking a break inside her truck at El Progresso No. 7 in Jonesboro 
Oct. 16 when she was taken to a vacant building, said police.

Inside the building, the teenager was raped, assaulted, robbed and killed.

Hernandez is also charged with robbing El Banco in Jonesboro and an ice cream 
shop in Forest Park Oct. 25.

Henry County police said Hernandez is a suspect in armed robberies of 2 
Stockbridge hair salons on Oct. 23 and 24. Women at the salons were sexually 
assaulted, police said.

Hernandez also faces charges of rape and child molestation of a child under 10 
in a 2008 case.

Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson, who first took office in 
January 2009, has opted to seek sentences of life without parole in cases where 
she could have filed for the death penalty. Lawson has said capital punishment 
should be used sparingly and only in the worst cases.

In the case against Hernandez, Lawson stacked the violent charges against him 
as statutory and non-statutory aggravating circumstances to justify the filing 
of the intent to seek the death penalty.

According to court filings, a plea agreement with Hernandez could be worked out 
to avoid the death penalty. Prosecutors typically consult the families of the 
victims to assess how to proceed on punishment.

The Hernandez case is the only death penalty case pending in Clayton County.

(source: Clayton News Daily)