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

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 7



OHIO:

Ohio executions set to resume in January 2017


As Ohio resumes executions in the new year, death row inmate Ronald Phillips is 
scheduled to die on January 12, 2017. Phillips was sentenced to death in 1995 
for the 1993 rape and murder of his girlfriend's 3 year-old daughter, Sheila 
Marie Evans.

Phillips, originally from Akron, OH, has always had a fear of needles. 
According to the Associated Press, this fear stems from his childhood, when he 
would witness his parents sell drugs and let strung-out addicts shoot up in 
their kitchen.

Negative sentiments against the death penalty in Ohio have been expressed on 
Denison's campus through speakers like Jim and Nancy Petro. A former auditor 
and attorney general of Ohio and former Cuyahoga County commissioner, Petro is 
now a member of Ohioans to Stop Executions' board of directors with his wife 
Nancy. Denison also welcomed death row exoneree Ronald Keine to tell his story 
in 2014. And in 2016, Sister Helen Prejean, a staunch death penalty opponent, 
was the keynote speaker at Denison's 175th commencement.

Courses such as Jack Shuler's "Dead Man Walking: Executions in America" 
contribute to the discussion on the death penalty by examining its history and 
present issues with executions.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, Ohio has performed 53 total 
executions, placing it in the top 10 states with the most executions. Texas 
tops the list at 538.

Phillips' execution has been delayed several times over his 20-plus stay on 
death row. The most recent delay occurred when he requested to donate a kidney 
to his mother in 2013. This request was ultimately denied. However, attorneys 
are still attempting to vacate the death sentence for Phillips.

Last Thursday, the Ohio Parole Board held a clemency hearing at the Ohio 
Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections for Phillips. The hearing started 
at 9:00 a.m. and didn't conclude until 6:30 p.m. After hearing from the defense 
and prosecution, the board did not make an immediate decision, so it's unclear 
whether or not Phillips' execution will be vacated or delayed.

While Phillips' defense team is responsible for some of the delays, a 
moratorium that was placed on executions after Dennis McGuire's botched 
experience in 2014 is a significant reason why Phillips still lives on death 
row.

McGuire's execution lasted 26 minutes. Executed on January 16, 2014 for the 
murder of his girlfriend and unborn child, McGuire was the 1st to be executed 
with a new lethal injection cocktail. The drugs: midazolam and hydromorphone, a 
sedative and narcotic painkiller respectively, were injected into McGuire's arm 
at 10:27 a.m. Lawrence Hummer, a pastor McGuire requested at his execution, 
said that three minutes into the execution, "'he lifted his head off the 
gurney, and said to the family who he could see through the window, 'I love 
you, I love you,' then laid back down' (2015). At 10:58 a.m., his stomach began 
to swell. For the next 10 minutes, according to Hummer, "he struggled and 
gasped audibly for air." Hummer cringed for the next 11 minutes while "McGuire 
was fighting for breath, his fists clenched the entire time." Hummer heard his 
gasps through the glass wall. "The gasps turned to small puffs like a dying 
animal fighting for another breath."

At 10:53 a.m., the warden finally called the time of death. McGuire's execution 
was the longest since 1999 when Ohio resumed executions. According to an 
article by Jeremy Pelzer from 2015, McGuire's family, traumatized after 
witnessing his death, ended up filing a federal lawsuit in January of 2015 
saying he suffered needless pain. In February of 2015, less than a month later, 
his family dropped the lawsuit after Ohio said it would not use the 2 drug 
combo again. Despite McGuire???s family's attempt to ban the 2 drug combo, and 
unfortunately for Phillips, Ohio will use midazolam along with rocuronium 
bromide, which paralyzes the inmate, and potassium chloride, a substance that 
stops the heart, reports Andrew Welsh-Huggins in a 2016 Associated Press 
article.

Kevin Werner, Executive Director of Ohioans to Stop Executions, isn't new to 
reading about heinous crimes. But some have wondered why he would continue to 
fight for the abolition of the death penalty when these heinous crimes occur.

"The work I do on the death penalty isn't necessarily always for the inmates. I 
think a lot of them don't belong there, I don't think they're the worst of the 
worst, but they are all there for horrific crimes," Werner begins. "But in 
those tough cases what I really think about is the impact on the victim's 
family."

Werner, a father himself, understands the emotional reaction people have toward 
a case like this because he recognizes his kids have also been the age of 
Sheila Evans. "I get that people want justice and want to exact revenge, but I 
also think about how this is a family who had unimaginable things happen to 
them. They have to relive it every time there's a hearing or something new 
happens with the case." At this point, Sheila's family has been reliving this 
for over 20 years.

"So in this case I empathize more for the family who has lost a loved one. I 
ask myself, 'what do they really need? Do they need to be back in court or do 
they just need this person to go anonymously away into the prison system.'" 
Werner believes that the latter is often the better outcome for families.

"That's where the empathy is in these cases - with the family," he said.

But Phillips still sits on death row awaiting his execution. Now in his early 
40s, he has medium length salt and pepper hair with a goatee and mustache to 
match. He smiles with his eyes when he looks into the camera, his hands firmly 
clasped together. Without the crime attached to him, he just looks like a 
normal guy with a fear of needles.

(source: The Denisonian)






NEBRASKA:

Secrecy of death penalty legislation


Knowing that the federal government would not allow lethal injection drugs into 
the country, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts went ahead and wasted $54,000 in 
taxpayer money on drugs from India. Today, a little more than a year later, the 
governor has yet to lose his resolve to execute Nebraskans. In his defense, the 
Nebraskans whose lives he is trying to end are on death row. Plus, the 
referendum on death penalty last month (you know, the one Ricketts poured 
$200,000 of his own personal wealth into, after the legislature overturned his 
veto) yielded favorable results for capital punishment.

While the death penalty is here to stay for now, rather than administering it 
with complete transparency, the Nebraska Department of Corrections with the 
support of the Ricketts administration has proposed new death penalty protocol 
that shrouds the practice in secrecy. The new proposed rules would allow the 
state not to release any records of the company or entity producing the 
requisite drugs. They would also allow the state to keep the drugs secret until 
60 days before a request for a death warrant.

Attorney General Doug Peterson has said that the purpose of the new protocol is 
not meant to surround executions with secrecy. Instead, the new protocol is 
meant to protect the pharmacies creating the drugs from harassment from death 
penalty opponents, though it is unclear what is meant by "harassment." As 
consumers, we certainly have the right to withhold our business from companies 
with whom we have philosophical disagreements with.

Furthermore, considering the wide-ranging problems facing the DOC, including 
persistent understaffing/overtime issues, mass-overcrowding, lack of behavioral 
and mental health treatment and so much more, how can citizens trust the DOC to 
handle an issue as fragile as execution?

The new rules, and any subsequent attempt to carry out an execution, will face 
legal challenges by inmates on death row and possibly even some of our own 
lawmakers. As he is a Republican, one would expect Gov. Ricketts to be a 
staunch advocate of small government, one of the anchors of conservatism. But 
that is obviously not the case. There is nothing "small government" about the 
state taking someone's life.

As the governor said himself in his 2015 State of the State address, 
"Overregulation delays progress and growth." And by regulating how we allow our 
government to kill its citizens, the governor's administration is certainly 
delaying societal progress. The only countries that execute more of their own 
citizens than the U.S. are China, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Countries that 
I, and hopefully Gov. Ricketts, would argue are controlled by overbearing 
governments that trample citizens' inalienable rights.

What's more is that pushing new rules and regulations on how to carry out an 
execution is a sideshow to the real problems facing our state. As I have 
written about in a previous article, our state is facing a projected $900 
million budget shortfall, our prisons are spilling over their edges with 
overcrowding, our education is fairing poorly and we have a long-standing 
humanitarian crisis in Whiteclay, Nebraska. An execution has not even taken 
place in nearly 2 decades, and no death row inmate has escaped in that time, so 
there is very little worry in regard to a threat on citizens' safety. Rather 
than fretting about how to kill people who are not a public danger, our state's 
most executive officer should focus on the most poignant issues facing 
Nebraska.

That said, the citizens have spoken and the story they are telling is that of 
being pro-death penalty. Like many of the results that rolled in on election 
night, I disagree with this one. But I respect the fact that the Repeal 
campaign won, and that Nebraskans overwhelmingly want the death penalty. What 
was not on the ballot, though, was secrecy and backdoor dealing.

In fact, Trump's win is, in many ways, a widespread rebuke of these exact kinds 
of behind-the-scenes governing policies that Gov. Ricketts is trying to 
implement. As a country, we have to answer to most the rest of the Western, 
democratic world as to why we still use such a barbaric form of punishment. As 
our governor, Mr. Ricketts has to answer to us as to why he is trying to 
execute Nebraskans without at least affording his constituents complete 
transparency.

(source: Willy Morris is a junior political science major; The Daily Nebraskan)






CALIFORNIA:

How Prop 66's death penalty law will work, and a look at 10 Orange County death 
row cases


State passes Proposition 66----California voters

Yes: 6,603,585 (51.1 %)-----No: 6,312,750 (48.9 %)

Orange County voters

Yes: 652,016 (59.1 %)-----No: 450,891 (40.9 %)

[source: Secretary of State's Office]

Skylar Deleon was sentenced to death in 2009 for tying an Arizona couple, who 
had docked their yacht the

Well Deserved in Newport Beach, to an anchor and tossing them overboard into 
the waters off of Catalina in an attempt to steal the 55-footer.

More than 6 years after his conviction for the murders, Deleon's 1st of 3 
standard appeals he can file has yet to reach the California Supreme Court.

Deleon is 1 of 749 inmates - including 63 others convicted in Orange County - 
awaiting execution on California's death row.

Proponents of Proposition 66, barely approved a month ago by California voters, 
hope it will reduce the time for cases like Deleon's to fully play out. But the 
measure, designed to speed up legal proceedings for California executions that 
stretch decades, could become bogged down in its own legal snarls.

Here is a close look at the proposition and and death row:

Q. How does Proposition 66 work?

A. A major reason for delays is the small pool of appellate attorneys 
designated to handle capital cases. Inmates can sometimes wait 5-plus years to 
get a specialized lawyer. Prop. 66 would expand the pool of lawyers hired by 
the state to handle the cases. All state appeals must be exhausted within 5 
years. A secondary appeal known as a habeas corpus petition, where a defendant 
can raise claims such as prosecutor misconduct or new evidence, would have to 
be filed within 1 year instead of 3.

Q. When was the last California execution?

In 2006. There hasn't been one since because of legal battles over the state's 
previous 3-drug lethal injection method. But last month the Department of 
Corrections approved new regulations for the injections, and Proposition 66 
eliminated a time-consuming administrative review of the state's new rules for 
single-drug executions.

Q. When does Proposition 66 take effect?

A. Former Attorney General John Van de Kamp and Ron Briggs, a former death 
penalty advocate, have filed a lawsuit saying the measure would cause confusion 
in the courts, cost more money and deny inmates' constitutional rights. They 
have asked the state's Supreme Court to put an immediate stay on the measure 
during litigation. The Secretary of State's Office is scheduled to certify the 
election results on Dec. 16, then the high court is expected to consider the 
stay.

Q. If the State Supreme Court denies the stay, can California then begin 
executions?

A. Possibly. About 20 death row inmates have exhausted all of their appeals and 
would be 1st in line for execution. One, William Peyton, was convicted in the 
1980 stabbing death of a Garden Grove woman. Kent Scheidegger, director of the 
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and a Proposition 66 author, said he believes 
the state can resume executions within 6 months.

"I'm optimistic that the mature cases, in which all the reviews of judgment are 
complete, will go forward," Scheidegger said.

But some legal experts expect more lawsuits.

Q. Will it work?

A. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said the appeal process 
would move faster because the cases won't all be in a bottleneck waiting for 
the California Supreme Court.

Q. Some believe Prop. 66 will actually slow down executions?

Yes. Wes Van Winkle, a Berkeley-based defense attorney who specializes in 
capital cases, who is representing Deleon in his first appeal, said he believes 
the measure will create more legal steps. Under the current process, for 
example, a defendant can file a habeas corpus petition directly with the state 
Supreme Court.

Under Proposition 66, the defendant must first file the appeal with the trial 
court, where the original judge who presided over the case will consider it. If 
the judge rejects the appeal, the defendant can petition the appellate court 
and then the California Supreme Court.

Q. Can enough qualified lawyers be found willing to take on death row appeals?

A. Van Winkle said he isn't so sure because of how detailed and time-consuming 
such appeals are. "A lot of lawyers will do it once and never again, because 
it's so much work," he said. "It's not something you can do in a year."

Rackauckas said the notion that there aren't enough attorneys who can handle 
capital cases is "ridiculous."

"If nothing else, just the fact that we can get attorneys appointed to handle 
these cases a few years earlier will make a big difference," he said.

Q. What is the worst fear of many who oppose Prop. 66?

A. That a defendant will be executed too quickly, not allowing a lawyer 
sufficient time to find favorable evidence.

"In a jurisdiction where we've found important discovery 10, 20 and 30 years 
later, the idea that you now will have to find all evidence within 1 year 
doesn't make any sense," Scott Sanders, a prominent Orange County public 
defender, said about the habeas corpus petition. "It isn't fair and it isn't 
constitutional."

Q. What do those who favor Proposition 66 say?

A. Rackauckas said the measure will indeed uphold defendants' constitutional 
rights while helping mend a broken system and relieve decades of delays.

"These cases are defended with great vigor, and the chances of somebody not 
getting a fair trial in a death penalty case are very slight," he said. "There 
won't be any laxity in terms of the work done on appeal."

SOME DEATH ROW INMATES WITH O.C. TIES

Daniel Patrick Wozniak, 31

A former community theater actor from Costa Mesa, he killed 2 friends in an 
attempt to fund his 2010 wedding. Wozniak lured his neighbor, Samuel Herr, 26, 
to the Joint Forces Training Base is Los Alamitos, where he shot and killed 
him. He later returned and cut off his head and other body parts and tossed 
them in Long Beach's El Dorado Park. Wozniak then killed Juri "Julie" Kibuishi, 
23, and staged the crime scene to try and throw police off of his trail.

Iftekhar Murtaza, 32

He killed Jayprakash and Karishma Dhanak, the father and sister of his 
ex-girlfriend, and nearly killed her mother, Leela Dhanak in 2007. He 
apparently believed his girlfriend's family, which lived in Anaheim Hills, 
caused the breakup because they were devout Hindus and Murtaza is a Muslim.

Alejandro Avila, 41

Avila was sentenced to death for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of 
5-year-old Samantha Runnion. Her nude body was found dumped in the hills above 
Lake Elsinore in 2002. In the trial, a forensics expert testified that 
Samantha's DNA, possibly from her tears, was found in Avila's car. The 
California Supreme Court upheld his death sentence in June.

Gerald Parker, 61

Dubbed the Bedroom Basher, Parker was convicted in 1999 for murdering 5 Orange 
County women and an unborn child in a string of 1970s slayings. Parker 
confessed to the killings after he was confronted with DNA evidence. His 
confession led to the exoneration of ex-Marine Kevin Green, who had been behind 
bars for 17 years.

Randy Kraft, 71

Also know as the Scorecard Killer and the Freeway Killer, Kraft may have killed 
more than 60 young men in Oregon, Michigan and California during 13 years 
ending in 1983. He was sentenced to death in 1989 after a nearly yearlong 
trial. The killing spree of the meek-looking computer programmer from Long 
Beach ended after police stopped him on suspicion of drunken driving and found 
a dead Marine in his car.

Maria del Rosio "Rosie" Alfaro, 45

She became the 1st woman sentenced to death in Orange County in 1992 when 
convicted of stabbing 9-year-old Autumn Wallace more than 50 times in 1990 
after a botched burglary attempt to get money for drugs.

Rodney James Alcala, 73

Alcala is a convicted rapist and serial killer sentenced to death in 2010 for 5 
slayings, including the murder of 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, abducted in 
Huntington Beach in June 1979, the year Alcala was arrested. He is known as the 
Dating Game Killer, because he once appeared on "The Dating Game" TV show. In 
2013, he was sentenced in New York to 25 years to life for murdering 2 women in 
the 1970s. In September, Alcala was charged in Wyoming with the killing of a 
pregnant woman reported missing in 1977.

James Marlow, 60

Known as The Folsom Wolf, Marlow and his girlfriend, Cynthia Coffman, traveled 
throughout Southern California killing young women. Marlow was sentenced to 
death in 1990 for abducting, raping and strangling Lynel Murray, 19, of 
Huntington Beach. Coffman, a former cocktail waitress who had "Property of the 
Folsom Wolf" tattooed on her behind, was sentenced to life in prison. Both were 
sentenced to death in San Bernardino County in 1989 for the murder of Corinna 
D. Novis, 20, of Redlands.

Skylar Deleon, 37, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 51

Deleon, a former child actor and AWOL Marine, and Kennedy, a Long Beach gang 
member, were both sentenced to death in 2009 for the murders of an Arizona 
couple. Thomas and Jackie Hawks were tied to an anchor and thrown overboard 
while still alive in a botched attempt to steal their yacht in 2004. Deleon was 
also convicted in a separate murder-for-money incident of Jon Peter Jarvi, who 
was slashed to death on a Mexican highway in December 2003.

John Samuel Ghobrial, 46

He murdered Juan Delgado, a 12-year-old La Habra boy, in 1998. Ghobrial, a 
trained butcher, dismembered the boy's body with a meat cleaver and stuffed his 
remains into concrete cylinders. Ghobrial then scattered the concrete cylinders 
around the neighborhood.

Maurice Steskal, 57

Steskal was a Bible-reading ex-convict who hated cops. In 1999, Steskal, armed 
with an AK-47 assault rifle, ambushed Orange County sheriff's Deputy Bradley J. 
Riches at a 7-Eleven in Lake Forest by firing 30 rounds, killing the deputy. 
More than 60 sheriff's employees sat in the courtroom to see the death penalty 
imposed

(source: Orange County Register)

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

Quadruple Murder Suspect Faces Potential Death Penalty Case


A suspected member of a Jamaican gang potentially faces a death-penalty case in 
connection with a quadruple murder at a makeshift eatery in West Adams.

Marlon Jones, whose false identities range in age from 35 to 41, was captured 
Friday, a day after the FBI placed him on its 10 Most Wanted list. Prosecutors 
said cops caught up with him following a car chase in South L.A.

The bureau said in a statement that Jones, who allegedly is involved in 
marijuana trafficking, is an East Coast gangster who came to Dilly's 
underground Jamaican restaurant on Oct. 15 "to settle a disagreement with the 
rival gang." Prosecutors today alleged that Jones entered the converted home in 
the 2900 block of Rimpau Avenue, where a birthday party was taking place, and 
opened fire on a rival, killing him.

"More gunfire was exchanged between the groups, killing 3 men and wounding 10 
others," according to a statement from the Los Angeles County District 
Attorney's Office.

2 others arrested after the violence, 33-year-old Mowayne McKay and 25-year-old 
Diego Reid, were later released, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Isidro 
Soto said last week.

Jones was charged today with 4 counts of suspicion of murder. A special 
circumstance of multiple murders was attached to the case, prosecutors said, 
meaning he could be eligible for the death penalty. Prosecutors have not yet 
announced whether they intend to seek the death penalty.

(source: laweekly.com)






USA:

Trial of accused Emanuel AME Church shooter expected to begin Wednesday


The federal death penalty trial for the man charged with hate crimes in the 
deaths of 9 people at Emanuel AME Church is expected to begin Wednesday.

Authorities say Dylann Roof, 22, sat with the black churchgoers in Bible study 
for an hour on June 17, 2015 before opening fire and hurling racial insults.

In all, the Eastover man faces 33 federal charges: 9 counts of violating the 
Hate Crime Act resulting in death; 3 counts of violating the Hate Crime Act 
involving an attempt to kill, 9 counts of obstruction of exercise of religion 
resulting in death, 3 counts of obstruction of exercise of religion involving 
an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon and 9 counts of use of a 
firearm to commit murder during and in relation to a crime of violence.

This is the 1st day in a week that Roof will have his attorneys represent him. 
The suspect represented himself as 67 people - 50 white men and women, 15 black 
men and women, one pacific islander and one that identified as "other" - were 
qualified for the jury pool, but submitted a hand-written note Sunday asking 
for his counsel to take over for the next phase of the trial.

Once 12 jurors and 6 alternates are seated, opening statements and witness 
testimonies are expected to begin. The jurors chosen would decide whether Roof 
lives or dies for his alleged crimes.

Roof currently pleads not guilty, but his lawyers have offered a plead guilty 
several times if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

On Tuesday, Judge Richard Gergel denied a motion to delay the trial.

Roof's attorneys said they wanted to hold off on the trial because of the 
publicity surrounding the mistrial in a former North Charleston police 
officer's case.

The motion stated the Michael Slager mistrial "declared less than 48 hours 
before the scheduled start of the trial in this case, is highly likely to 
create undue pressure on the jury to compensate for the judicial system???s 
apparent failure to punish Mr. Slager by imposing a harsher punishment here."

U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel said he wouldn't allow other events to 
affect the progression of the trial.

(source: WTOC news)

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

Feds: Brothel enforcer could face death penalty in 2 killings


An alleged enforcer for a New Jersey prostitution ring has pleaded not guilty 
to federal murder and racketeering charges in connection with 2 killings in 
Trenton more than 3 years ago.

NJ Advance Media reported in October that Wilmer Chavez Romero, of New 
Brunswick, had been charged under an 8-count indictment in U.S. District Court 
with 2 murders in 2012 and 2013.

Chavez Romero, 27, was arraigned on the indictment Tuesday before District 
Judge William H. Walls in Newark, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The indictment describes Romero, who was first arrested on a human trafficking 
charge in September 2014, as the "house manager" for a Bridgeton brothel run by 
a statewide prostitution ring.

The unnamed criminal organization also operated other brothels in New 
Brunswick, Trenton, Orange, Asbury Park, Lakewood, according to the indictment.

Chavez Romero, who the indictment states served as an enforcer for the 
organization, allegedly killed 2 people on Sept. 4, 2012 and Jan. 23, 2013 in 
Mercer County.

The indictment identifies the victims only as "N.R.G." and "B.E.," 
respectively, but news reports from Trenton at the time name them as Neemias 
Reyes-Gonzales, 36 and Benito Escalante, 26.

The indictment doesn't specify a motive for these 2 killings, but prosecutors 
say the group employed violence both against rivals and associates who they 
perceived to be disloyal.

Chavez Romero specifically is alleged to have committed violent acts both in 
order to further organization's criminal aims and to hide its illegal 
activities.

According to reports, Reyes-Gonzales previously had been arrested in a 
prostitution sting in July 2012, and Escalante was killed in a home that had 
been visited by law enforcement in a similar investigation around that time.

Alleged brothel enforcer charged

Authorities say Wilmer Chavez-Romero served as the manager of a Bridgeton 
brothel and an enforcer for its owners.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Chavez Romero faces the possibility of 
death or life imprisonment if convicted of murder in aid of racketeering, the 
use of a firearm during a violent crime or conspiring to harbor aliens 
resulting in death.

The U.S. Attorney's Office did not indicate if prosecutors would seek the death 
penalty on those charges.

The racketeering and racketeering conspiracy offenses Chavez Romero is charged 
with carry a maximum sentences of life in prison.

Chavez Romero's case is currently scheduled for trial Jan. 3, 2017.

(source: nj.com)