[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----DEL., OHIO, NEB., UTAH, CALIF., US MIL.

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 15



DELAWARE:

Delaware AG won't appeal court rejection of death penalty


Delaware Attorney General Matt Denn said Monday that he will not appeal a state 
Supreme Court decision declaring the state's death penalty law 
unconstitutional, but that he believes the ruling cannot be applied 
retroactively to the 13 men currently on death row.

In a statement released by his office, the Democratic attorney general said he 
decided not to appeal the Aug. 2 ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a 148-page opinion, a majority of Delaware Supreme Court justices said the 
law violates the U.S. Constitution because it allows a judge to sentence a 
person to death independently of a jury's recommendation.

The ruling also found fault with parts of the law that allow a judge to find 
the existence of 1 or more aggravating circumstances weighing in favor of the 
death penalty, and because it does not require jurors to be unanimous in 
deciding whether any aggravating circumstances exist.

The justices said the law is also flawed because it allows the judge, not the 
jury, to make the crucial final determination on whether aggravating 
circumstances outweigh mitigating factors, thus mandating a death sentence. 
That determination, the court said, must be made unanimously and beyond a 
reasonable doubt by the jury.

Denn concluded that even if the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the split opinion 
on federal constitutional grounds, Delaware's Supreme Court would ultimately 
invalidate the death penalty law based on the state constitution.

"The Delaware Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that the Delaware 
constitution provides rights to a jury trial that are independent of and in 
some instances more expansive than those provided by the Sixth Amendment to the 
United States Constitution," the statement reads. "Litigating and appealing 
these issues - a process that would likely take years before issues of both 
federal and state constitutional law were resolved - would likely not only 
bring about the same result, but would also deny the families of victims 
sentencing finality."

At the same time, Denn reiterated that he would support an amendment to the 
existing law requiring a unanimous jury verdict in order to impose a death 
sentence. His agency also said it would argue that the Supreme Court decision 
does not retroactively apply to current death row inmates.

"It sounds like the state is going to continue to fight those cases, and 
they're entitled to do so, but there's a fight on the other side of that 
argument," said Santino Ceccotti, a public defender who successfully argued to 
the Delaware justices that the existing law is unconstitutional.

Ceccotti said the men currently on death row would have to challenge their 
sentences in federal court over the issue of retroactivity.

"In due time, that issue will be resolved," he said.

Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers have said they plan to introduce legislation to 
revise Delaware's death penalty law in light of the court ruling, but it's 
unclear whether they have enough support in the General Assembly.

A bill to abolish capital punishment cleared the state Senate by a single vote 
last year but was defeated in the House earlier this year. U.S. Rep. John 
Carney, a heavy favorite to win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in a 
Democratic-leaning state, praised the court ruling declaring Delaware's law 
unconstitutional, saying capital punishment was "too flawed" to be considered 
fair or just.

(source: Assoicated Press)






OHIO:

Dayton triple homicide could become death penalty case


The suspect in a triple homicide now faces multiple charges including murder, 
aggravated murder and kidnapping could face the death penalty.

Muhammad Shabazz Ali, 61, is scheduled to appear in court Monday afternoon, 
August 15, on 28 charges. Prosecutors tell FOX 45 that Ali is eligible for the 
death penalty, but they will have to meet to determine if he should. Ali is 
accused of fatally shooting Jasper Taylor, 74, Tammy Cox, 53, and Michael Cox, 
25, on Wednesday, August 10. The 3 were found inside a home on Oxford Avenue in 
Dayton with gunshot wounds, police say they believe it was a case of domestic 
dispute. When police arrived on the scene of the shooting, they began pursing a 
vehicle and eventually stopped it in the area of Germantown and Paul Laurence 
Dunbar streets.

FOX 45 has learned that hours before the deadly shooting, Ali was arrested at 
the Day-Mont Behavioral Center. Workers called 911 saying that Ali was being 
violent and throwing things around. "He's pulling things off the walls, cussing 
and carrying on, screaming," the worker told 911. In the background you can 
hear Ali screaming, "I want my medication." Ali was taken to Grandview Hospital 
after the incident.

Ali has served time previously for killing a woman. In 1988, he went by his 
given name, Robert Ford Jr. and was convicted of manslaughter, he served 20 
years in prison.

(source: WRGT news)






NEBRASKA:

Death penalty costs Nebraska about $14 million annually, finds study 
commissioned by capital punishment foes ---- Ernie Goss completed the death 
penalty cost review for Retain a Just Nebraska, which is waging a campaign to 
keep the Nebraska Legislature's repeal of capital punishment.


Maintaining the death penalty costs Nebraska about $14 million annually, 
according to an economic study commissioned by a group working to keep capital 
punishment off the books.

Omaha economist Ernie Goss said death penalty cases are more costly to 
prosecute and defend than murder cases where life without parole is the maximum 
sentence. More public money is spent on death penalty appeals and housing 
inmates on death row, said Goss, who based his analysis largely on cost studies 
conducted in other death penalty states.

"To put it in other words, if the death penalty stays repealed and we leave in 
place life imprisonment, the state will save approximately $14.6 million 
annually," Goss said.

Although Goss is an economics professor at Creighton University, he also 
produces studies for paying clients. He completed the death penalty cost review 
for Retain a Just Nebraska, which is waging a campaign to keep the Nebraska 
Legislature's repeal of capital punishment.

The repeal is on hold pending the outcome of a referendum that seeks to restore 
the death penalty. Voters will decide the issue during the Nov. 8 general 
election.

The Legislature's repeal of the death penalty prompted supporters of capital 
punishment to collect signatures to put the referendum on the ballot. Gov. Pete 
Ricketts, who unsuccessfully vetoed the repeal, was a strong supporter of the 
petition drive.

Goss calculated the state spent $533 million on "justice activities" in 2013. 
Without the death penalty, the cost would have been about $519 million, he 
wrote.

Between 1973 and 2014, Nebraska saw 1,842 homicides and 33 death sentences but 
only 3 executions, Goss found. The state's last execution took place in 1997.

(source: Omaha World-Herald)






UTAH:

Lawyers want bail hearing for man accused in husband's death


Lawyers for a Utah man who could face the death penalty in the house-fire death 
of his restaurateur husband made a push for a judge to set bail on Monday.

Craig Crawford's defense attorneys also asked for an order requiring 
authorities to hand over key evidence in the case, including reports from the 
state medical examiner and arson investigators.

"We need those," said lawyer Jim Bradshaw, who wants a 2-day bail hearing be 
set as soon as possible. Crawford, 47, appeared in a tan jail jumpsuit and 
glasses and spoke little except to say he agreed with his lawyer's requests.

The bond hearing will be scheduled during a telephone conference on Wednesday, 
Judge Vernice Trease said.

Crawford is accused of setting the couple's house on fire in May, shortly after 
his husband John Williams, 72, filed for divorce and unsuccessfully sought a 
restraining order.

Williams was trapped on the 4th floor after the stairs caught fire. Authorities 
say Crawford went outside and watered the plants while his husband screamed for 
help. Williams died of smoke inhalation.

Williams was a well-known LGBT pioneer in Utah who owned the popular Market 
Street Grill and other restaurants.

His niece Laura Forsgren said the family hopes Crawford doesn't get a chance to 
be released.

"We think he's a very dangerous person," she said. "It's been horrific and a 
nightmare for our whole family."

Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty if Crawford is 
convicted. He is facing aggravated murder and arson charges.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Huntsman faces death penalty decision on Wednesday


A Salinas mother accused of killing and abusing 2 young children last year is 
scheduled to be in court again on Wednesday.

The Monterey County District Attorney's Office said it is weighing whether to 
pursue the death penalty in the case against Tami Huntsman.

(source: KION news)

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

California Supreme Court overturns death penalty in 1993 killings of 2 Target 
employees


The California Supreme Court decided unanimously Monday to overturn the death 
sentence of a man convicted of killing 2 former co-workers at a Target store in 
1993 after he had been passed over for promotion.

Sergio Dujuan Nelson was 19 when he shot and killed Robin Shirley and Lee 
Thompson, who had worked with him at a Target store in La Verne.

Nelson rode his bike to the Target store and shot the victims as they sat in a 
car in a parking lot. He had quit his job but the victims still worked at the 
store.

Nelson, who had no prior criminal history, admitted the killings but argued 
they stemmed from depression.

During the penalty phase of his trial, a jury deadlocked on whether he should 
be sentenced to life without parole or to death.

A 2nd jury empaneled to recommend Nelson's sentence also had trouble reaching a 
decision.

After being told the jury was deadlocked, Los Angeles County Superior Court 
Judge Clarence Stromwall, a Reagan appointee who died in 1996, allowed the 
jurors to be questioned about their deliberations and removed one of the 
holdouts.

The state high court said Nelson was entitled to a new trial on his sentence 
because the death verdict had been tainted by "the intrusive influence" of the 
trial court's questions and comments.

"A trial court may intervene in jury deliberations where it receives reports of 
juror misconduct or in response to an impasse, but such interventions must be 
limited and undertaken with the utmost respect for the sanctity of the 
deliberative process," Justice Goodwin Liu wrote for the court.

"In this case, the trial court went considerably beyond any permissible 
intervention and took action that undermined the sanctity of jury deliberations 
and invaded the jurors' mental processes," he added.

The court also decided, 5-2, to overturn Nelson's special-circumstance 
conviction of lying in wait.

"The fact that there was substantial evidence of premeditation and deliberation 
does not necessarily mean there was substantial evidence of watching and 
waiting for an opportune time to act," Liu wrote for the majority.

In a dissent, Justice Carol A. Corrigan, joined by Justice Ming Chin, said they 
would have upheld the conviction because Nelson killed the victims in an 
"ambush."

(source: Los Angeles Times)






US MILITARY:

Death penalty complicates Guantanamo


One obvious reason for the excruciatingly slow Guantanamo Bay Navy Base 
military commission procedures leading to a trial of some of the alleged 
plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks is that the death penalty is 
in play.

If the accused prisoners were not facing the possibility of their own execution 
(they don't seem interested now in their own "martyrdom"), these years-old 
pre-trial maneuvers almost certainly could be shortened, and families who lost 
loved ones might see some kind of justice done in their lifetimes.

But even jury selection now appears to be years away for the trial of Khalid 
Sheikh Mohammad (reported to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks by 
al-Qaida), Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul 
Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi on charges related to the 2001 
attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York City, Washington, D.C., and 
Pennsylvania.

Some of the issues that have drawn out this case have seemed minor, such as the 
defendants' insistence that they didn't want female guards touching them. 
Others have been more substantial, including whether a long 2014 letter that 
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad wrote to President Barack Obama contains state secrets 
(U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that it doesn't) and whether it can 
be mailed to Obama (so far no determination).

In late July, Chief Prosecutor Gen. Mark Martins reported that "over the past 2 
weeks, the commission addressed some 30 separate matters on the record, 
exhausting all active requests for relief on the docket that had been fully 
briefed and were prepared for judicial consideration."

But, of course, that doesn't mean the trial can begin soon. Martins makes 
similar reports with regularity, and no doubt an additional "30 separate 
matters" will be brought up again and again to be resolved before the trial can 
get underway.

Many international war tribunals do not use the death penalty. Indeed, the U.S. 
is among just a small number of nations that still uses this cruel and unusual 
punishment, although the number of American states abolishing capital 
punishment is growing.

Perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks committed monstrous atrocities. 
Killing those convicted of these crimes will simply add to the death toll 
without changing a thing that happened on that terrible day for the United 
States.

Taking the death penalty off the table, however, might allow some kind of 
justice to be achieved sooner.

(source: Editorial, The Kansas City Star)