[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., ALA., OHIO, NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 14




TEXAS----new execution date

San Antonio hit man's execution set March 7


A convicted hit man has a date set for execution early next year for the 1992 
slaying of a San Antonio woman.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says the prison 
agency has received Bexar County court documents setting Rolando Ruiz, 44, for 
lethal injection March 7.

Ruiz was condemned for collecting $2,000 to kill 29-year-old Theresa Rodriguez 
at her San Antonio home in a life insurance scheme involving her husband and a 
brother-in-law.

In 2007, Ruiz came within an hour of execution before a federal apeals court 
halted the punishment.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----20

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----538

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

21---------January 11---------------Christoper Wilkins----539

22---------January 25---------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane----540

23---------January 26---------------Terry Edwards---------541

24---------February 2---------------John Ramirez----------542

25---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------543

26---------March 7------------------Rolando Ruiz---------544

27---------March 14-----------------James Bigby-----------545

28---------April 12-----------------Paul Storey-----------546

29---------June 28------------------Steven Long-----------547

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Tales from the Texan who cooked 218 last meals for death row inmates


Brian D. Price went to prison in 1989.

"For the assault of my ex-wife and the kidnapping of my brother in law. A 
domestic dispute that got way out of hand and I lost control for a while and it 
cost me 14 years of my life. I ended up at the Walls Unit Prison in Huntsville, 
Texas, that's where the executions take place."

Everyone in prison gets a job, and Price was assigned to the kitchen. One day, 
the inmate who usually prepared the last meals for death row inmates wasn't 
able to cook, so they asked Brian if he would step in. The prison can't force 
someone to do it, but Price agreed.

"I decided if I was going to do the last meal, no matter what their crime was, 
I was going to try and do it as if it was someone I knew and loved, a family 
member. I wanted to prepare it to the best of my ability with what we had to 
work with. When someone would request a last meal, they'd request sometimes 
some extravagant meals. Most of the time they didn't get what they requested 
because it had to be something we could prepare right there out of the kitchen 
commissary. If they wanted a lobster, they got a piece of frozen pollock, which 
I'd try to gussy up a little bit. I'd wash the breading off and put my own 
batter on it, made it look like something from Long John Silvers so they 
thought they were getting something from the free world, at least. If you 
wanted a steak, you got a hamburger steak. Well, after I prepared that last 
meal for that particular inmate, a man who had committed a murder ... I'm 
Christian, so that night I prayed over the meal and asked the lord to give him 
forgiveness, if he hadn't already. The next day Sergeant Cook called me into 
his office and said, 'Hey Price, the guy they killed last night, he sent a word 
of thanks over to you. He said he really enjoyed that meal.' When I heard that, 
it really had an affect on me. I thought, well, that was probably the last 
thanks that man gave anyone in this world. I maybe brought a little bit of a 
smile on his face before he left."

Price told his supervisor he'd take over the last meals, and for 10 years, from 
1991 to 2001, he cooked 218 last meals in the state of Texas.

There was 1 particular meal he made over and over again.

"The most requested last meal, believe it or not, was a cheeseburger and french 
fries. Comfort food. We made homemade buns for it. It was really big, a monster 
burger."

There were also some unusual requests.

"1 man wanted dirt from the grave he was going to be buried in for his last 
meal. Some type of voodoo ritual. But we gave him yogurt instead."

I wondered if an inmate could ask for as much food as he pleased.

"They would request whatever they wished but they wouldn't get it. One man 
wanted 24 tacos and 6 enchiladas, a whole bunch of stuff. Captain Parkin said, 
'No, he can't eat all that. Just give him s6tacos, a couple enchiladas.' A 
reasonable amount that he could probably finish before he went to meet his 
maker."

In 2011, a Texas inmate named Lawrence Russell Brewer, a white supremacist gang 
member, was executed for chaining a man to the back of a pickup truck and 
dragging him to his death. For his last meal he requested 2 chicken fried 
steaks, a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger, fried okra, a pound of barbecue, 3 
fajitas, a meat lover's pizza, a pint of ice cream and a slab of peanut butter 
fudge with crushed peanuts.

Brewer didn't eat any of it. Not a single bite.

Prison officials used this as an excuse to take away an inmate's right to a 
chosen last meal. In 2011 the state of Texas stopped allowing inmates to choose 
their last meal. Instead they would eat whatever's on the menu in the chow hall 
that day.

This really upset Price, who was already years out of prison, married and 
running his restaurant. He felt someone on death row was already paying the 
ultimate price: losing their life for the crime they committed. He thinks 
everyone deserves 1 last bit of comfort and 1 last choice.

He felt so strongly, he offered to come back to the prison and work for free.

"I offered to prepare the last meals again, myself, at my own expense."

His offer was denied.

When Price went to prison he supported the death penalty, but after he started 
cooking last meals he changed his mind.

"It's a horrible thing. there's only 1 way to paint capital punishment, which 
I'm totally against, and it's painted jet black. That's what it is, it's a 
tragedy."

Price has a book you can order called Meals To Die For. This interview is a 
part of my podcast, Your Last Meal, which also features the rapper Prodigy from 
Mobb Deep.

(source: Rachel Belle, KIRO Radio news)

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

DA's office gets funding for potential Blanco death penalty case


The Texas Governor's Office awarded the 33rd/424th Judicial District Attorney's 
Office a $223,000 grant Dec. 13 for costs associated with an upcoming capital 
murder trial that could potentially result in the state seeking the death 
penalty, officials said.

The case involves 24-year-old John Lawrence, accused in May of sexually and 
physically abusing a 15-month-old female child who was found unresponsive by 
EMS personnel at a Blanco residence. The child later died, authorities 
reported.

In June, Lawrence was indicted on a capital murder charge, which carries a 
possible sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.

He also faces a charge of super-aggravated sexual assault of a child, a 
1st-degree felony, due to the age of the alleged victim.

"If a state seeks the death penalty in a case in Blanco that is currently 
pending, the cost of the experts, the testing, and the resources necessary to 
effectively prosecute the case are more extensive than other criminal 
prosecutions," District Attorney Wiley "Sonny" McAfee said. "The preparation 
for that case, selection for the jury, and actual prosecution are very intense, 
and we have to ensure that everything is done prior to trial such as DNA 
testing of all relevant evidence."

2 other small children in the home were also treated for injuries, including a 
toddler boy who suffered from bleeding of the brain, according to Blanco police 
officials.

Jamie Petronella, the mother of the toddler who died, also faces 1st-degree 
felony charges of injury to a child punishable by 5 to 99 years or life in 
prison with a conviction. Authorities identified Lawrence as Petronella's 
boyfriend after their arrests in May.

McAfee said he and his staff will consider a number of factors before the final 
determination to pursue the death penalty.

"We look for the facts of the case. We look at the age of the victim, and the 
defendant in this case is charged with the murder of a child less than 10 years 
of age," McAfee said. "We've talked to the family members of victims as well as 
law enforcement and anybody that might have relevant information in a decision 
to seek the death penalty."

Funding to assist with the upcoming trial will be administered through Burnet 
County, which is the grant writing administrator for the district attorney's 
office. The 33rd/424th Judicial District encompasses Burnet, Blanco, Llano, and 
San Saba counties.

"We have some time before we're seeking the death penalty or not, but in order 
to do that effectively, we have to have the resources in place," McAfee said. 
"If we had those same costs (without the grant), they'd be borne by the 
taxpayers of Blanco County."

The capital murder trial is tentatively scheduled for August 2017.

(source: dailytrib.com)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Death penalty trial in 2014 slaying to begin in January


A death penalty trial is scheduled next month in the shooting death of a man 
found in the trunk of a burned car in Pennsylvania more than 2 years ago.

The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat (http://bit.ly/2hqyAUB ) reports that jury 
selection begins Jan. 9 for the trial of 20-year-old Jonta Bishop of 
Hagerstown, Maryland, with opening statements slated for Jan. 17.

Prosecutors have said they plan to seek capital punishment if Bishop is 
convicted of 1st-degree murder in the September 2014 death of 36-year-old James 
Deenen Jr.

Authorities allege that the slaying occurred during a marijuana purchase, and 
Bishop shot the Hyndman resident in the back of the head, stuffed his body in 
the trunk and set fire to the vehicle.

A defense attorney earlier argued that the shooting was in self-defense.

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Death penalty in N. Carolina more likely if victim is white


Defendants charged with murder in North Carolina from 1990 to 2009 were more 
than twice as likely to receive the death penalty if the victims were white, 
report researchers.

Catherine Grosso and Barbara O'Brien, associate professors at Michigan State 
University's College of Law, conducted the most comprehensive study of its kind 
to date, also finding the race of the defendant doesn't carry much weight.

"The white victim effect was the clearest and strongest finding in this study 
analysis," Grosso says. "Race still matters in the criminal justice system, and 
it shouldn't."

"I have a hard time believing that a preference for white victim cases doesn't 
reflect a fundamental bias in our criminal justice system."

At the same time, the researchers found cases involving both a black defendant 
and a black victim were more than 2 times less likely to advance to a capital 
trial, where a jury decides whether to impose a death penalty or a life 
sentence.

"The dismissing of black-on-black crime is so salient right now," Grosso says. 
"There's under-policing in black communities, and that may be what's going on 
here. It's the justice system that seems to be driving this scenario."

The study was inspired by North Carolina's Racial Justice Act of 2009, which 
allowed death row inmates to challenge their sentencing based on evidence of 
racial discrimination. Since statistical evidence was needed, the researchers 
were tapped to conduct the study.

Prosecutors don't seek a death sentence in the majority of cases that North 
Carolina law says are eligible for the death penalty, the researchers say. So 
with a team of about 45, Grosso and O???Brien examined 5,000-6,000 cases to 
understand how the law is implemented and to identify cases to include.

The end result was a data set of 1,500 cases - a sample of defendants against 
whom prosecutors could have but didn't seek a death sentence and all defendants 
for whom a jury decided to impose either the death penalty or a life sentence. 
This included everyone on death row in North Carolina.

Researchers identified the race of every defendant and victim and coded 
information relating to the defendant, the victim, and the circumstances of the 
crime. In addition, research team members visited every courthouse in the 
state.

The scholars obtained unusually complete information due in part to cooperation 
from North Carolina officials, Grosso says.

While the study is exclusive to cases in North Carolina, the results echo an 
alarming trend occurring throughout the United States, O'Brien says.

"I have a hard time believing that a preference for white victim cases doesn't 
reflect a fundamental bias in our criminal justice system," she says. "What we 
worry about is the extent to which these biases play out even before a case 
gets to sentencing. There's every reason to think it's not just appearing at 
that stage in the process."

The study appears in the North Carolina Law Review.

(source: futurity.org)






ALABAMA:

In Alabama, we give judges the power of gods


In March 2016, the Florida Legislature struck down judicial override.

What's that?

A system granting judges unchallenged authority to change a jury imposed life 
sentence to a death sentence, or change a jury imposed death sentence to a life 
sentence.

Then, in August 2016 the Delaware State Supreme Court banned its judicial 
override system. Nevertheless, in September 2016, the Alabama State Supreme 
Court upheld judicial override. The decision was unanimous.

Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange praised the court's ruling as an 
important victory for victims and for criminal justice... Really? How does 
Strange define justice?

Is it a coincidence that 95 % of Alabama death row inmates are destitute, 
non-white, and that Alabama has no public defender system? Furthermore, even 
though only 6 % of Alabama murders involve black offenders and white victims, 
31 % of overrides involve black offenders and white victims. Where is this 
sentencing disparity coming from, judges?

Supreme Court Associate Justice, Sonia Sotomayor said, "[Judicial] override 
undermines the sanctity of the jury's role in our criminal justice system." Why 
have a jury if a judge can veto their decision? Former Chief Justice John Paul 
Stevens believes that by allowing a judge to override a jury in this way, 
Alabama severs the death penalty from its only legitimate mooring, the jury. 
Former Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor advocated abolishing judicial 
override. Why? Overrides facilitate corruption and give rise to a perception 
that judges are politicians in robes. She's right.

Sue Bell Cobb, former Chief Justice for the Alabama Supreme Court, in her 2015 
article in Politico, wrote, "How do we convince Americans that justice isn't 
for sale--when in 39 states it is?" Bell also said judicial candidates spent 
$275 million nationally in elections from 2000-2015.

Delaware appoints their judges. When the Delaware State Supreme Court banned 
override, every death row inmate had been sentenced by a jury. Florida judges 
invoked override to impose 87 life sentences, while override accounted for only 
2 % of the death row inmates. However, the Equal Justice Initiative, based in 
Montgomery, reported that judicial overrides accounted for 20 % of the Alabama 
death row inmates. Furthermore, in 111 cases since 1976, Alabama judges exerted 
override to impose death penalties in 91 % of those cases. Why? Is it to 
project a so-called tough on crime persona? Is it to pander to citizens 
diseased by bloodlust?

William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, published in 
1765, wrote it's better that 10 guilty persons escape than that 1 innocent 
suffer. This doctrine holds that governments and courts must err on the side of 
innocence. Does Alabama's system operate in this way? A 2011 EJI report 
revealed that 93 people housed on death row due to override, 37 % left death 
row because their convictions or sentences were reversed. A system riddled with 
such error and inefficiency should be abolished. Therefore, since 2007, 7 
states have banned capital punishment, and 4 governors have halted executions.

Martin Luther King described a system like Alabama's, as power without love is 
reckless and abusive. King, then describes the ideal system, power at its best 
is love implementing the demands of justice.

(source: Opinion, Marc Greenwood----al.com)






OHIO:

OH Supreme Court upholds death penalty for Medina County murderer


The convictions and death sentence of a former inmate who fled from a halfway 
house and killed a Medina County man were affirmed Tuesday by the Ohio Supreme 
Court.

The court rejected all the legal claims made by Steven E. Cepec.

Cepec was convicted for the June 2010 murder of Frank Munz, a man living near 
the property where Cepec was staying. Police captured Cepec after responding to 
a 911 call from Munz's nephew, who was in the house at the time of the murder.

After violating his parole for an earlier offense, Cepec was sent in May 2010 
to a halfway house to complete a drug treatment program. On the day he was 
admitted to the program, he left to go to the hospital but never returned to 
the halfway house.

On June 3, Frank Munz's nephew, Paul, heard his uncle and Cepec talking. Paul 
then hear "2 loud thumps," his uncle shouting, someone choking, silence, and 
panting. He called 911 when someone tried to open his door.

Responding officers found Cepec hiding in brush and arrested him.

(source: WOHIO news)

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

Death row inmate denied appeal after botched execution


Death row inmate Romell Broom was denied an appeal from the U.S. Supreme after 
he was unsuccessfully executed in 2009 under the watch of Ohio Department of 
Rehabilitation and Correction.

For 2 hours, Broom cried in agony due to the pain from being stuck with 18 
needles during the botched execution. It was eventually called off by by then 
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland. A second execution will be scheduled within the next 
few years.

Broom, 60, is the only person to survive lethal injection and the 2nd survive 
an execution in United States.

Broom was convicted and given the death penalty for raping and killing a 
14-year-old girl. The incident occurred Cleveland in 1984.

Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan said they would have granted Broom's 
appeal, with Breyer saying the execution attempt took place under "especially 
cruel and unusual circumstances."

The botched execution brings to question Ohio's ability to affectively and 
humanely perform executions.

Broom's lawyer, attorney Adele Shank said the state violated his rights and 
failed to use the incident as a learning tool.

"Here the court had the opportunity to address a case where there was a living 
person there to vindicate their constitutional rights," Shank said. "So it's 
very disappointing that this unique opportunity was not accepted for review by 
the court."

(source: michronicleonline.com)






NEBRASKA:

Death protocol spurs more questions


Nebraska voters have spoken definitively in favor of the death penalty. Now the 
state needs a way to carry it out. The last Nebraska execution was in 1997, 
when Robert Williams was electrocuted. The state hasn't attempted an execution 
in the 7 years since the method was switched to lethal injection.

Public opposition to capital punishment has been increasing, both nationwide 
and in Nebraska, and lawsuits filed against manufacturers of the drugs used to 
carry out the death penalty have made it harder for states to procure them.

Many American and European manufacturers no longer sell the drugs to states for 
use in carrying out the death penalty by lethal injection. Nebraska has spent 
thousands of dollars to buy the drugs internationally, yet failed to import 
them.

Some death penalty states have been able to obtain the needed drugs by passing 
laws or adopting procedures shielding the manufacturers' names. The names are 
public under the 2009 Nebraska law that changed the state's method of execution 
to lethal injection.

Gov. Pete Ricketts, saying he respects the will of the voters, backs an 
administrative change in the death-penalty protocol.

Ricketts and the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services propose adding a 
pharmacist or pharmaceutical chemist to the state's execution team. Prison 
officials say doing so would help the state obtain the drugs to carry out a 
death sentence, since the identities of execution team members are kept 
confidential under the 2009 state law.

Prison officials say death-row inmates would be notified about the specific 
drugs to be used 60 days before a scheduled execution and say that should 
provide time for appeals.

Advocates for open government and critics of Nebraska's death penalty question 
the need to shield the manufacturer's identity. Some state senators have 
discussed clarifying the intent of the 2009 law.

It's up to the Legislature to decide whether to accept the governor's plan or 
reject it.

(source: Opinion, Kearey Hub)