[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., COLO., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 3



NEBRASKA:

Taking a look at what's next for death penalty in Nebraska


Now what? That's the question many were asking regarding the recent death 
penalty referendum result that brought back capital punishment.

Many death penalty opponents claimed before the vote that a win for the repeal 
side would simply put the state right back into a position that doesn't allow 
it to carry out executions. The main problem was the inability to get one out 
of the three drugs used for executions based on the protocol the state 
established.

But steps are being taken to pump some life back into capital punishment, which 
hasn't been used in Nebraska in nearly 20 years.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services proposed a new drug protocol 
Monday, which would allow the state's prison director to handle lethal 
injections case by case, including the type of drugs used and the doses, in 
addition to keeping the source of the drugs confidential.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said Tuesday the changes were a step in the right direction, 
noting that the people made a choice to bring the death penalty back, therefore 
he other state officials had a duty to "carry it out."

The move was immediately decried by death penalty opponents, who have raised 
questions about the transparency of the proposed execution procedures.

The proposal, for which a required public hearing is scheduled Dec. 30, would 
provide confidentiality to the providers of the lethal injections, which the 
department said is in accordance with the 2009 protocol that guarantees 
confidentiality to those carrying out the executions, including the drug 
providers. The proposal also mandates that the inmate be notified of the type 
of drug and the quantity that will be used 60 days before the attorney general 
seeks a death warrant.

Ricketts said the proposed changes give the state needed "flexibility" to be 
able to find suitable, legal drugs to carry out death sentences.

Opponents of the Nebraska death penalty haven't given up trying to put a stop 
to it.

Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha is expected to introduce another death penalty 
abolition bill. His successful legislative effort to repeal the death penalty 
in 2015 was overturned by this year's vote. Before the Nov. 8 election, 
Chambers vowed that if the retain side lost, he would begin drafting another 
bill for the new legislative session.

"If the public votes to reinstate -- well, not reinstate it, but wipe out what 
the Legislature did --and the death penalty survives, in January I will offer 
another bill to repeal. And as long as I'm in the Legislature I will continue 
doing it," Chambers said.

The ACLU of Nebraska, which has also long worked to eliminate the death 
penalty, will likely pursue legal action against "any effort to cloak 
Nebraska's broken death penalty in secrecy," said Danielle Conrad, executive 
director of ACLU of Nebraska.

"Both death penalty supporters and opponents should be able to agree that the 
most extreme use of state power should absolutely not occur in the shadows," 
she said, adding:

"Any ill-advised effort to limit the rights of citizens, journalists and 
criminal defendants to know and understand this process would implicate grave 
constitutional, legal and policy questions that will come at the expense of the 
Nebraska taxpayer."

The state currently has 10 inmates on death row, with the potential for 2 more 
-- Anthony Garcia and Nikko Jenkins, both of Omaha -- to receive a death 
sentence. 3 of the inmates have already exhausted appeals, and Nebraska 
Attorney General Doug Peterson announced Tuesday that those 3 inmates would be 
1st in line to get execution dates set if the proposed revisions are approved.

(source: North Platte Bulletin)






COLORADO:

DA to seek death penalty against father charged with killing 6-year-old son 
---- Brandon Johnson faces 8 charges in connection with death of Riley Johnson

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against an Arapahoe County man accused 
of stabbing his 6-year-old son to death, they told a judge Friday.

Brandon Johnson, 27, faces 8 charges in connection with the death of Riley 
Johnson on the morning of Feb. 10. Those charges include 1st-degree murder 
after deliberation and 1st-degree murder of a victim under 12.

During a hearing Friday morning in the Arapahoe County courthouse, 18th 
Judicial District Chief Judge Carlos Samour asked District Attorney George 
Brauchler if his office planned to seek the death penalty, and Brauchler said 
yes. Formal filing to seek the death penalty is expected Friday afternoon.

Other charges stem from Johnson's alleged sexual assault of his ex-girlfriend 
whom he lived with on the same morning.

Arapahoe County sheriff's deputies were called to a home on the 500 block of 
East Harvard Avenue at 5 a.m. on Feb. 10 after a woman reported that her former 
boyfriend had sexually assaulted her at knifepoint.

When deputies arrived they found Riley dead from knife wounds. A 2-year-old in 
the home was not harmed. Riley was Johnson's son from another relationships and 
the assault victim was the 2-year-old's mother.

During a preliminary hearing Friday morning, Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office 
investigator Tara Mueller said the couple had broken up a couple of months 
before but lived together for financial reasons. Shortly before the attack, the 
woman had texted Johnson that she was seeing someone else.

Johnson slept in one room with his son Riley and the woman slept in another 
with their 2-year-old son, Mueller said.

The woman told Mueller that Johnson woke her up in the middle of the night, 
made her to go to the living room under threat of a kitchen knife and sexually 
assaulted her.

Johnson's former girlfriend told investigators that he threatened to kill the 
kids if she screamed during the alleged rape.

Following the assault, the woman told investigators that Johnson walked back to 
his room with the knife. She heard one loud scream from the 6-year-old boy and 
then nothing else.

She told investigators that she tried to call 911 from Johnson's phone but 
didn???t know his passcode. She went to her room to try with her phone when 
Johnson entered and she dropped her phone.

She told investigators that Johnson walked away and said, "All I wanted was a 
family."

When he went back into his bedroom, she left the apartment and went to a 
neighbor's to call the police.

The woman told investigators that Johnson had become withdrawn after the 
breakup, mentioning depression and potential self-harm. She said he had also 
started drinking. She said Johnson never expressed any resentment toward Riley 
during that time.

Brauchler last sought the death penalty in July 2015 in the Aurora movie 
theater shooting case where 12 people were killed and 70 were injured. The jury 
convicted the shooter on all counts but chose not to sentence him to death.

(source: Denver Post)






CALIFORNIA:

Woman to stay on death row for insurance killing


There is to be no reprieve for a woman who was at the centre of an insurance 
killing 24 years ago.

Catherine Thompson was 42 at the time when she allegedly arranged for her 
husband to be killed so she could collect a $400,000 life insurance payout. She 
was convicted in 1992 of embezzling money from her employer and then engaging 
in various fraudulent transactions to gain enough money to hire someone to kill 
her husband, Melvin Thompson, 49, who owned an auto repair shop in Santa 
Monica, California.

He was shot dead at the shop with police arresting Catherine Thompson 
immediately - she was in jail during his funeral and, according to an LA Times 
report, requested jewelry from his body be brought to her.

Shortly after she was released she used the jewelry to finance a gambling trip 
and was later arrested again when police learned of her fraudulent dealings 
which linked her to Philip Sanders, the man she was convicted of hiring to 
carry out the killing.

Now 68, Mrs Thompson claimed her constitutional rights were violated as she was 
forced to stand trial at the same time as Sanders; and claimed that the 
prosecution had conspired with Sanders to ensure her conviction in order for 
him to avoid the death penalty.

In an acknowledgement, Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar described the 
cooperation with the prosecutor and defense as "unusual" but did not believe 
that Thompson's rights were violated.

"The evidence of defendant's guilt was overwhelming, including her many 
financial frauds indicating her motive, her lies??? [and] her blurted-out 
statements indicating guilt," Werdegar wrote in a statement reported on by the 
LA Times.

This was Mrs Thompson's 1st appeal and she still has the right to challenge the 
sentence and conviction on other grounds.

(source: ibamag.com)

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

Death penalty case moves forward in 5 Modesto slayings


A judge on Friday scheduled a preliminary hearing to start April 24 for Martin 
Martinez, who is accused of killing his girlfriend, Amanda Crews, along with 
her 2 daughters, his mother and his niece.

The 5 slayings occurred July 18, 2015, at Crews' home on Nob Hill Court in east 
Modesto. In addition to Crews, 38, the victims were her daughters, 6-month-old 
Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez's mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and 
Martinez's 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael's father.

In a separate case, Martinez has already been ordered to stand trial on charges 
of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews' 2-year-old son, 
Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher's death has not been scheduled. 
That case will be set aside, for now, as the case in the 2015 killings moves 
forward.

The preliminary hearing is expected to last a few weeks, the attorneys said in 
court. At the conclusion of the hearing, Stanislaus Superior Court Judge 
Ricardo Cordova will determine whether there's enough evidence for Martinez to 
stand trial.

The defendant remains in custody at the county jail. Prosecutors are seeking 
the death penalty against Martinez. He has pleaded not guilty to 5 counts of 
murder, as well as the charges in the toddler's death.

Crews' son suffered severe head injuries on Sept. 30, 2014, while alone with 
Martinez. The toddler died at a Madera children's hospital after 2 days on life 
support. A child abuse expert and pediatrician at the hospital testified that 
the boy's brain had suffered severe swelling. Bleeding also was found just 
outside the brain.

Police investigators were about 2 weeks away from arresting Martinez in 
Christopher's death when the 5 other homicides occurred. The defendant was 
arrested several hours after the 5 bodies were discovered in the home.

(source: Modesto Bee)

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

Janet Nguyen calls on AG to pursue death penalty in Seal Beach mass shooting


Following a decision by the California Court of Appeal which reaffirms that the 
California Attorney General's Office will have the responsibility of sentencing 
convicted mass murderer Scott Dekraai, Senator Janet Nguyen has called on 
Attorney General Kamala Harris to pursue the death penalty. Mr. Dekraai stands 
convicted of eight murders with special circumstances and 1 attempted murder, 
following a mass shooting at the Salon Meritage in 2011.

"We will never be able to replace the loved ones lost, but we do owe it to the 
families and friends of Mr. Dekraai's victims to ensure that he is held 
accountable, to the fullest extent, for the lives he took," said Senator Janet 
Nguyen. "For the anguish he caused and the disregard he displayed for human 
life, Mr. Dekraai deserves to receive the death penalty."

In her letter to the Attorney General, Senator Nguyen cited Mr. Dekraai's 
premeditation and the malice with which he committed these heinous murders as 
evidence of the need to impose the maximum possible sentence in this case.

"Mr. Dekraai has caused an immeasurable amount of pain and suffering throughout 
the Seal Beach community, the reverberations of which are still being felt to 
this day," said Senator Janet Nguyen.

"As a representative for the residents of Seal Beach, I could not in good 
conscience stay silent on this matter that broke the hearts of our community 
and hope that the Attorney General will seek the death penalty."

The mass shooting for which Mr. Dekraai was convicted took the lives of 
Victoria Buzzo, David Caouette, Randy Lee Fannin, Michele Dashbach Fast, 
Michelle Marie Fournier, Lucia Bernice Kondas, Laura Webb Elody and Christy 
Lynn Wilson.

About Senator Janet Nguyen

Senator Janet Nguyen was overwhelmingly elected to represent the residents of 
California's 34th State Senate District in 2014. With this victory, Senator 
Nguyen became the first woman elected to represent the 34th Senate District and 
the 1st Vietnamese-American in the country to be elected to the State Senate. 
Senator Nguyen is the highest-ranking Vietnamese American elected official in 
the United States.

The 34th State Senate District includes the cities of Fountain Valley, Garden 
Grove, Los Alamitos, Santa Ana, Seal Beach, Westminster, the unincorporated 
communities of Midway City and Rossmoor, as well as portions of Anaheim, 
Huntington Beach, Long Beach, and Orange.

(source: oc-breeze.com)






USA:

Killers facing death penalty rarely want to admit mental illness----Experts say 
accused killers facing the death penalty rarely see their own mental illness


Most accused killers facing the death penalty who represent themselves suffer 
serious mental illness -- but rarely admit it, experts say.

Dr. Xavier Amador, one of the nation's most renowned forensic psychiatrists, 
sat at his computer one day last week and called up the racist manifesto 
attributed to Dylann Roof. He began to read it again.

First, the accused Emanuel AME Church killer wrote that he didn't grow up in a 
racist home or environment. Okay, Amador noted, no history of violent racial 
influences.

Roof went on: "The event that truly awakened me was the Trayvon Martin case."

The event. Amador underscored the singular. One thing.

Roof described searching online for more about Martin, a black teenager gunned 
down by a community watchman in Florida. Then he searched "black on white 
crime."

"I have never been the same since that day," Roof typed.

Tucked in those clear, crisp words, Amador saw the classic germination of a 
paranoid schizophrenic's delusion, in this case one that might have led a young 
man barely out of his teens to grip fervently to a new and violent white 
supremacist ideology. The 2,440-word online manifesto, which Roof apparently 
last updated just hours before police say he walked into a Bible study and 
gunned down nine worshipers in 2015, appears to detail a derailment into 
delusion.

Amador has not examined Roof, but he knows those derailments well.

He has worked on 70 death penalty cases, many involving seriously mentally ill 
defendants, and was co-chair of the last text revision of the "Schizophrenia 
and related disorders" section of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of 
Mental Disorders, known as the "psychiatrists' Bible."

Amador isn't involved in Roof's case. But he noted that the 22-year-old now on 
trial for his life didn't appear to ponder and research these new racist views. 
He clung to them suddenly, seemingly in mere minutes.

"It screams delusion,' Amador said. "He looks at a couple of web pages, and the 
whole world makes sense to him."

What is a delusion? A fixed, false belief typically held despite all 
contradictory evidence.

Amador pointed to Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unabomber whose case he worked 
on. From his isolated cabin in Montana, Kaczynski would spot an airplane and 
feel certain it would harm him due to the anti-technology views he held so 
stridently that he killed for them.

People who suffer paranoid schizophrenia see the world through a lens of fear. 
They feel scared, alienated, alone. Then many have this aha notion that 
explains their fear: the threat of black people, technology, you name it.

Many also withdraw. They tend to be shy and socially awkward, even 
dysfunctional. Many fight with family, have fall-outs with friends, move a lot 
and become homeless. Like Roof.

"They get kicked out for doing something outlandish," Amador said, pausing. 
"Or, in this case, horrific."

*****

Those who kill in the name of violent ideologies that are fueled by serious 
mental illness often live in a devastating loop.

They hold extreme views due to delusions caused by an illness. But they cannot 
see that they are ill because the delusions seem so real. And any attempt by 
their defense attorneys, no matter how skilled, to dilute their messages by 
offering evidence that a severe mental illness drove them to kill only confirms 
their paranoid worldview.

They believe their defense attorneys are working against them, too.

If Roof is like other killers who discharge their highly experienced legal 
teams to avoid presenting evidence of mental illness, he may not believe he has 
a serious illness, or doesn't want anyone to know about it, said Anthony Ricco, 
who's served as lead counsel on about 45 federal death penalty cases and 
teaches at Fordham School of Law.

"Dylann Roof is thinking, 'I'm the one. I'm the messenger of death,'" Ricco 
said.

On Friday, Roof told U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel that he doesn't want 
his former defense attorneys, now his "standby counsel," to be allowed to 
present evidence he opposes during his hate crimes trial. Those attorneys had 
planned to present evidence of a "mental defect" and just weeks ago questioned 
Roof's competency to stand trial.

The nature of Roof's mental state remains shrouded behind sealed court 
documents and closed-door hearings aimed at protecting his rights to an 
impartial jury and a fair trial. However, recently unsealed documents shed some 
light.

For instance, just as jury selection was set to begin last month, lead defense 
attorney David Bruck asked the judge to examine Roof's mental competency to 
stand trial - over Roof's objections. Gergel then found reason to believe Roof 
might suffer a "mental disease or defect" that rendered him unable to assist 
properly in his defense or to grasp the nature and consequences of the 
proceedings against him, as the law requires. Gergel ordered a psychiatric 
examination.

After reviewing the exam, Gergel found Roof competent. The 22-year-old high 
school dropout swiftly asked to exercise his constitutional right to represent 
himself, casting aside one of the nation's premier capital defense attorneys.

Typically, when defense attorneys tell clients they want to offer evidence of 
serious mental illness, "that's when the fireworks start," Amador said.

The attorneys want to save the defendant's life by demonstrating the illness. 
Yet, the defendant wants no part of it - and moves to represent himself.

Take Frazier Glenn Frazier Miller, a KKK wizard who killed 3 people outside of 
Jewish community centers in Kansas in 2014, said Robert Dunham, executive 
director of the Washington, D.C.-based Death Penalty Information Center. Dunham 
sees "extraordinary parallels" between Roof and Miller, who disagreed with his 
attorneys offering a mental health-related defense and instead represented 
himself.

"Because of his delusional world view, he did not agree that was he was 
mentally ill, and he didn't want his delusional racist views presented as 
mental illness," Dunham said.

After the jury sentenced him to death, Miller hollered: "One day my spirit will 
rise from my grave and you all will know that I was right. Heil Hitler!"

Amador, who worked on the Kaczynski case, recalled the man's defense attorneys 
raising the idea of presenting mental illness in an effort to keep him from 
getting the death penalty. The brilliant mathematician turned irate.

"I'm not a sicky!" he declared and pitched his pen across the courtroom.

Then he stood and declared that he wanted to represent himself.

"All of us found him to be a paranoid schizophrenic," Amador recalled of the 
myriad mental health experts involved.

Trouble was, Kaczynski didn't believe it. And he didn't want the power of his 
voluminous anti-technology writings discounted as the ravings of a madman.

Most likely, several national experts agreed, neither does Roof.

As a professor at Columbia University in New York, Amador found that at least 
half of people with schizophrenia and related illnesses "never understand their 
illness," Amador said. "And that's a symptom of illness. They're convinced 
nothing is wrong with them."

The problem is so pervasive that Amador once gave a presentation to defense 
attorneys dealing with seriously mentally ill clients entitled: "How to not get 
fired."

*****

Attorney J. Wyndal Gordon served as standby counsel to the so-called Beltway 
Sniper, John Allen Muhammad, when he represented himself in Maryland on 6 
murder charges stemming from a shooting campaign that left 10 dead in that 
state, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Gordon said he was struck by Muhammad's intellect and his ability to digest 
information. Once, Muhammad read and absorbed a 280-page textbook on trial 
procedures in a single night.

"He could retain massive amounts of information and understand how to apply 
it," Gordon said. "I don't think Dylann Roof has that same kind of intellect, 
and that's going to put him at a severe disadvantage. He's just a lame duck 
allowing this to happen, and he has no experience in registering objections and 
applying the rights he has available to him."

Not knowing when and how to object at key points in the trial undermines not 
only the outcome but his future ability to appeal the final verdict it goes 
against him, Gordon said.

"In that courtroom, he will look like a deer in the headlights, and I expect 
that is what you will see for the duration of the trial," he said.

Muhammad reportedly fired his legal team during his 1st trial in Virginia for a 
spell because he didn't want them to mount a mental illness defense. He 
maintained his innocence and wanted a chance to prove that. He later 
back-tracked and brought back his legal team, but the trial ended with a death 
sentence that was carried out in 2009.

Gordon suspects Roof also is trying to keep his former lawyers from applying a 
similar strategy and likely wants to keep the focus on his manifesto and the 
views that drove this crime.

"I believe that is the reason he fired his lawyers," he said. "He has something 
to say, and he wants an opportunity to say it."

*****

Very few people facing the federal death penalty, particularly several mentally 
ill killers, have represented themselves, leaving a dearth of case law to go 
on. But legal experts see clear trouble for Roof ahead.

Everyone wants a fair trial in which both sides advocate strongly. It's a tenet 
of the criminal justice system and never more important than when a defendant's 
life is at stake. But when an accused killer represents himself, "it inherently 
undermines the fairness of the process," Dunham said.

"Nobody wants to be perceived as mentally ill, and that's why many capital 
defendants are uncooperative in the investigation and presentation of that kind 
of evidence," Dunham added. "The result of that is devastating."

Because it almost always means a death sentence.

That Roof thinks he can represent himself effectively demonstrates the degree 
of his delusion, experts said. And the fact that a young man with a possible 
history of psychiatric issues and no legal experience can act as his own 
attorney in the face of the death penalty shows "we have a broken system that 
needs to be repaired," said Ricco, a New York-based attorney who worked on the 
World Trade bombing conspiracy case and represented the bombers of the U.S. 
Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.

"How then can a 22-year-old have the wherewithal to represent himself?" Ricco 
asked. "The answer is that he doesn't."

Because Roof lacked any skill in qualifying prospective jurors, Gergel 
qualified a panel of 70 possible jurors in just 5 days last week. That pace is 
unheard of in federal death penalty cases and likely is because Roof isn't 
plumbing the range of questions that Bruck and his team would, if allowed, said 
Chris Adams, a Charleston-based attorney who's secretary of the National 
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and has handled numerous death penalty 
cases.

Those questions can reveal prejudices that impact a juror's ability to be fair 
and impartial, especially in a hate crimes case that deals with race and 
religion. Instead, Roof only occasionally stood to object or request the judge 
ask potential jurors follow-up questions.

"This is very, very, very, very fast for capital voir dire," Adams said. "It's 
concerning."

By comparison, the ongoing death penalty retrial of Gary Sampson underway 
Boston took almost 2 months to complete the same phase of questioning. He is 
accused of killing 3 people during a bloody crime spree in New England in 2001.

However, Roof's case no longer involves skilled courtroom adversaries battling 
it out.

"It's a 1-sided fight," Adams said.

That fight continues Wednesday when Roof and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay 
Richardson, a seasoned prosecutor, each will present their opening statements.

(source: The Post and Courier)

**********

Dylann Roof's Lawyers Want Back on Death Penalty Case


Defense attorneys dismissed by Charleston church shooting defendant Dylann Roof 
strongly condemned his decision to represent himself and filed a motion Friday 
to get back on the case.

The lawyers are worried Roof may not present evidence that could sway a jury to 
spare his life while acting as his own attorney during his federal death 
penalty trial and that would violate the U.S. Constitution's ban on cruel and 
unusual punishment.

The lawyers said they did not know why Roof wanted to represent himself but 
added that other defendants in capital cases have fired their lawyers to avoid 
having embarrassing evidence revealed. The lawyers also suggested that Roof 
might deliberately sabotage his own defense in order to get the death penalty.

"The reliability of the most complicated proceeding known to the criminal law 
... cannot be assured with an untrained layperson - in this case, a 22-year-old 
9th-grade dropout," the four defense lawyers wrote.

Unlike other motions filed since Roof took over his own defense Monday, this 
request isn't signed by Roof.

Even after Roof took over his own defense, the lawyers are still sitting with 
him in court, and Roof frequently consults with them. How much the attorneys 
can help has become its own source of conflict between Roof and U.S. Judge 
Richard Gergel. The judge said Roof has to accept that he is his own attorney 
and make his own decisions.

Roof, who is white, is charged with federal hate crimes, obstruction of justice 
and nearly three dozen other charges in the killing of the 9 African-Americans 
at the end of a Bible study in June 2015 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal 
Church in Charleston.

Police said he hurled racial slurs during the shooting and left 3 people alive 
so they could tell the world the killings were because he hated black people.

Roof himself has filed several motions in recent days, including one asking 
Gergel to delay the start of testimony several days from next Wednesday to the 
week of Dec. 11. Roof said he has not filed several requests he wants to make 
before testimony begins.

Gergel has not taken up the motions, instead spending Friday on a fifth day of 
questioning potential jurors to qualify a pool of 70 people from which 
prosecutors and Roof will choose for the final jury. Some 53 people were 
qualified by the end of Thursday, and Gergel hoped to finish the job Friday.

(source: Associated Press)