[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OHIO, MO., KAN., S. DAK.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 2



OHIO:

Death penalty sought in officer's slaying


A man accused of killing a Danville police officer and Newark native in January 
could potentially be put to death for his alleged crimes.

Herschel R. Jones III, 32, was charged Monday in Knox County Common Pleas Court 
with aggravated murder with a death penalty specification. Knox County 
Prosecutor Chip McConville announced the charges Monday afternoon after a 
meeting with the grand jury earlier that day.

Jones is accused of shooting Danville Officer Thomas Cottrell Jr. on Jan. 17 
behind the Danville Municipal Building. Jones was located several hours later 
and arrested by police for a violation of his parole.

Under Ohio law, killing a police officer is 1 of the aggravating factors for a 
potential death sentence.

Jones also was indicted on charges of tampering with evidence; 3 counts of 
grand theft of a firearm; 1 count of grand theft of a motor vehicle; and 
charges of assault, kidnapping and aggravated burglary.

Some of the charges date back to November 2015, when Jones is suspected of 
robbing a person at gunpoint in a home in the Mount Vernon area.

McConville said a man woke up to find someone, wearing camouflage and a mask, 
inside the home. The victim was reportedly duct-taped and 2 firearms, a 
.380-caliber pistol and a .22-caliber revolver, were reported stolen.

Jones was not able to be identified as the suspect in that robbery at the time.

The victim identified a Jennings .380-caliber pistol recovered from Jones at 
the time of his arrest - following Cottrell's death - as being his, McConville 
said.

Detectives said the .380-caliber weapon matched 2 shell casings recovered at 
the crime scene at the Danville Municipal Building. The weapon also matched 2 
bullets, officials said: 1 recovered in Cottrell's cruiser and a 2nd recovered 
on Cottrell.

Jones is suspected of stealing Cottrell's Ford Crown Victoria police cruiser 
and his firearm before fleeing the Municipal Building scene.

Cottrell's 9 mm service weapon was recovered near Jones at the time of his 
arrest, officials said. Jones had reportedly tried to burn several items, 
including pieces of Cottrell's uniform, McConville said. The tampering with 
evidence charge is tied to that alleged action.

According to reports, Jones' relatives had called his parole officer a week 
before Cottrell's death about allegations of drug use and domestic violence.

In October, Jones' girlfriend had accused Jones of assaulting her and 
threatening to shoot a police officer and steal his uniform. Charges against 
Jones in that case were dismissed a short time later because the woman later 
recanted her story.

The indictment filed Monday does include a charge of assault related to the 
victim in that case.

The parole officer responsible for Jones' supervision has been placed on 
administrative leave, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and 
Correction.

Jones has a lengthy criminal history, including convictions for illegal 
assembly and receiving stolen property in 2012, receiving stolen property and 
burglary in 2009, breaking and entering and carrying a concealed weapon in 
2008, breaking and entering and receiving stolen property in 2005, and 
intimidation and receiving stolen property in 2002.

Knox County has not indicted a capital case since 2011, when Matthew J. Hoffman 
was charged with the deaths of three people and hiding their remains in a 
hollow tree.

McConville said capital cases are lengthy, and he expects more than 100 motions 
to be filed in Jones' case, including motions for competency evaluations.

Since Cottrell's death, Knox County law enforcement officers have been on edge. 
Danville Police Chief Daniel Weckesser said Monday a threat was posted on 
social media over the weekend that was directed at law enforcement personnel.

Weckesser said the threat will be investigated, but it is not clear what agency 
will lead that investigation.

Weckesser said the Danville Police Department has been overwhelmed with support 
in the days and weeks following Cottrell's death. He said the department had 
planned to make Cottrell a full-time officer in the "near future" and had hoped 
to make him a school resource officer once the resources were available.

Jones is being held in the Morrow County Jail. He is expected to appear in Knox 
County for an arraignment at a later date.

(source: Newark Advocate)






MISSOURI:

Missouri Corrections Head Defends Cash Payments Before State 
Legislature----Director George Lombardi was questioned about $250,000 in cash 
payments to executioners - all without disclosures to the Internal Revenue 
Service. The practice was revealed by BuzzFeed News last week.


Days after BuzzFeed News revealed that the state of Missouri has paid $250,000 
in cash payments to those who help the state carry out the death penalty, the 
head of the department of corrections defended the practice before a state 
budget committee.

A high-ranking corrections official hands out envelopes filled with thousands 
of dollars in cash before each execution. The state does not disclose the 
payments to the Internal Revenue Service, as is required by federal tax law. 
Without filing a form called a 1099 with the IRS, the agency has no way of 
ensuring the recipients are paying taxes on the payments.

Experts BuzzFeed News spoke with said the practice possibly violates the law, 
and that the state could be contributing to considerable tax evasion.

Director George Lombardi could not point to an exemption that allowed the 
department to not issue 1099s, but said the policy was essential.

"Is it your understanding that there is some sort of exemption for the 
department of corrections to skirt that federal requirement?" Rep. Jeremy 
LaFaver asked.

"It is my understanding that giving 1099s to these individuals would reveal who 
they were, and would mean the end of the death penalty, because these 
individuals wouldn't do it," Lombardi said.

"What we do is counsel those folks that they need to report that [to the IRS]," 
Lombardi said.

"Is there a document that proves that?" the lawmaker continued.

"No."

"Is it in a written policy?"

"No, it's just something we do."

Lombardi seemed agitated that he was being questioned about the cash payments. 
At the beginning of the inquiry about it, Lombardi said "I don't intend to 
answer that question as it's under litigation." He also would not answer who is 
delivering the envelopes of cash, although BuzzFeed News has reported that it 
is David Dormire, the director of Adult Institutions.

Lombardi also was questioned about a 2015 audit that criticized the department 
for not following its procedures on the cash payments.

"The auditor was correct in calling us on that, and we changed it immediately," 
Lombardi said, adding that witnesses are now documenting the exchange.

However, "confidential execution team member receipts" from well after the 
audit show discrepancies. Some are lacking a witness signature, others are 
entirely blank, and many of the witnesses signed the receipts on different days 
than Dormire.

The department of corrections would not provide any explanation of the 
discrepancies.

(source: BuzzFeedNews)






KANSAS:

Jury selection begins in quadruple murder in Kansas----Court administrator said 
at least 600 jury summons were sent

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a man accused in the 2013 killings 
of 4 people at a Kansas farm, including an 18-month-old girl.

2 weeks have been set aside to pick a jury for Kyle Trevor Flack's trial. He is 
charged with capital murder in Franklin County in the shooting deaths of Kaylie 
Smith Bailey, 21, and her young daughter, Lana-Leigh Bailey. He's also charged 
with 1st-degree murder in the deaths of Bailey's boyfriend, Andrew A. Stout, 
30, and his roommate, Steven White, 31. Prosecutors have announced plans to 
seek the death penalty.

District court administrator John Steelman said in an email that 600 jury 
summons were initially sent out. After examining questionnaires, 137 potential 
jurors were summoned to appear in groups of 6.

The 4 victims were killed over several days in April and May of 2013. The 
bodies of the 3 adults were already decomposing when concerned friends and 
relatives summoned police to Stout's farm in Ottawa, about 50 miles southwest 
of Kansas City. A crime lab worker testified at Flack's preliminary hearing 
that Kaylie Bailey's wrists were tied behind her back with black zip ties, and 
she was naked from the waist down.

Bailey's daughter's body was found a few days later in a suitcase in an Osage 
County creek.

Authorities say Flack, who has been in custody since shortly after the bodies 
were discovered, was friends with Stout.

At Flack's preliminary hearing, Franklin County Sheriff's Detective Jeremi 
Thompson testified that Flack told investigators before he was formally charged 
that Stout argued with White over rent and followed him to the garage carrying 
a shotgun. Flack told authorities that Stout fired on White, hitting him in the 
chest, and then handed the gun to Flack.

"I shot him, he dies," the investigator said Flack told him.

Thompson said Flack then said he and Stout put a tarp over White's body and 
placed cinder blocks on the tarp before they went back in the house to smoke 
marijuana.

Flack previously served prison time for shooting a former employer in 2005 
after being fired, according to court records.

(source: Capital Journal Online)






SOUTH DAKOTA:

SD Death Penalty Repeal Up For Debate


A retired circuit judge who presided over a death penalty case has found 2 
dozen fellow South Dakota legislators joining his effort so far to end 
executions in the state.

District 17 Sen. Art Rusch (R-Vermillion) has filed Senate Bill 94 as its prime 
sponsor. Rusch presided over the retrial of Donald Moeller in the 1990 rape and 
murder of a 9-year-old girl. Moeller was found guilty and sentenced to death in 
the 1997 retrial. He was executed in 2012 by lethal injection.

Rusch's current legislation would go further than past efforts to repeal the 
death penalty. His bill would commute current death sentences to a life 
sentence without the possibility of parole.

"I am the 1st legislator in the history of the state of South Dakota who has 
personally tried a death penalty case and sentenced a man to die," he told the 
Press & Dakotan in a previous interview. "Doing that (experience) changes how 
one looks at the death penalty. It's too hard on the people who have to 
participate in it - it's too expensive - and it doesn't work."

Rusch also questioned the deterrent effect and fair use of capital punishment.

"The only people who have been executed in South Dakota are the murderers who 
use it to commit suicide," he said at the time. "The others, who don't want to 
be executed, aren't being executed."

District 30 Rep. Timothy Johns (R-Lead), also a former circuit judge, is the 
bill's prime sponsor on the House side.

Johns brings a great deal of credibility in seeking to overturn the death 
penalty, Rusch told the Press & Dakotan this weekend.

"Although he never personally tried a death penalty case, (Johnson) certainly 
saw the experience in Lawrence County where they had such expense for their 3 
cases," Rusch said. "And (he) is generally familiar with the criminal justice 
system and would know how ineffective the death penalty is as far as deterring 
future conduct."

Rusch said his effort has already drawn the backing of nearly 1/4 of the 
Legislature. The repeal legislation has been sponsored or co-sponsored by nine 
Senate and 15 House members, representing 24 of 105 lawmakers in the 2 
chambers.

"We were able to get 22 additional sponsors to sign on, for a total of 24. The 
bill is set for hearing on February 10 before the Senate State Affairs 
committee," Rusch said. "I suspect we have an uphill battle on this (effort). 
Hopefully, people who are opposed to the death penalty will contact their 
legislators and let them know what their feelings are."

The Rusch and Johns bills have received bipartisan support, the retired 
Vermillion judge noted. Besides Rusch, the southeast South Dakota legislators 
co-sponsoring the bill include District 17 Rep. Ray Ring (D-Vermillion), 
District 18 Sen. Bernie Hunhoff (D-Yankton), District 19 Rep. Kyle Schoenfish 
(R-Scotland), District 21 Sen. Billie Sutton (D-Burke) and District 21 Rep. 
Julie Bartling (D-Gregory).

Even if the death penalty repeal passes the Republican-dominated Legislature, 
the measure seems headed for a veto by Republican Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

"I don't support repeal (of the death penalty)," Daugaard said during a Press & 
Dakotan interview.

The governor said he found some crimes so depraved and heinous that they 
deserve capital punishment.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley couldn't be reached for comment 
Monday. However, he has previously told the Press & Dakotan he supports keeping 
capital punishment, which was reinstated in South Dakota in1979. He argues the 
death penalty is needed for vile crimes.

"South Dakota has imposed capital punishment on only the most dangerous 
defendants," he said at the time. "These are individuals who not only visited 
unspeakable suffering to their victims but who also pose a serious risk of 
future harm to South Dakota citizens."

Hunhoff, who has led past efforts to ban the death penalty, said the current 
effort will hopefully gain new momentum.

"A lot of people have taken notice that judges like Senator Rusch as well as 2 
of South Dakota's previous attorneys general are now strongly opposed to the 
death penalty," he said. "It doesn't fit South Dakota's values of respecting 
life. The thought that we can kill our way to a better society is misguided."

The only justification for the death penalty would be that it might be a 
deterrent, Hunhoff said.

"But any reasonable review of the statistics shows the opposite is probably 
true. It coarsens the values of a society," the Yankton lawmaker said. "States 
without the death penalty are generally less violent. And worldwide, countries 
that still impose the death penalty are some of the cruelest places to live - 
(places) like China, North Korea, Iran and Iraq."

Hunhoff argued it's impossible to impose the death penalty in a fair manner. He 
added that some death row inmates were wrongly executed and later exonerated.

"Race has been a factor in South Dakota. And long ago, we even hanged an 
innocent man," he said. "Government makes mistakes even in the best 
circumstances."

Hunhoff noted both Rusch and Johns are highly respected retired judges who have 
taken leadership on the death penalty issue. This year's legislation has also 
gained bipartisan co-sponsors, he added.

"So I'm hopeful we can have a good discussion in the 2016 Legislature," Hunhoff 
added.

On the Republican side, Schoenfish has signed as co-sponsor of the death 
penalty repeal on financial and political grounds.

"The death penalty requires a tremendous use of taxpayer dollars and a great 
deal of power entrusted to the government to carry it out," he said. "The death 
penalty is arbitrary and may not be one of the most efficient aspects of 
government, as the number of people executed every year is very small compared 
to the number of people actually on death row. While it is an emotionally 
charged issue, an evidence-based, cost-benefit debate on it is appropriate."

The Press & Dakotan also sought comment from Ring, Sutton and Bartling but had 
not received responses by the deadline for this story.

The death penalty issue cuts across the political and religious spectrum of the 
Legislature.

As one example, District 18 Rep. Mike Stevens (R-Yankton) has dealt with the 
death penalty in the courtroom as well as in the Legislature. The Yankton 
attorney has represented an individual charged with 1st-degree murder and 
facing the death penalty. Ultimately, the case resulted in a plea bargain.

Stevens previously told the Press & Dakotan he supports the South Dakota death 
penalty as it is currently implemented. He doesn't see the South Dakota 
Legislature moving to repeal capital punishment.

Hunhoff credits Denny Davis, a Catholic deacon from the Vermillion area, with 
spearheading the repeal effort through his work with the group, South Dakotans 
For An Alternative to the Death Penalty.

Davis, in turn, credits Rusch for stepping forward and sponsoring SB 94.

"I think Art Rusch is a big plus this year because he is a credible witness to 
the psychological damage death cases do to all those involved," Davis said.

"Judges, juries, defense and prosecuting attorneys - deciding who lives or dies 
is not something anyone wants to decide. Judge Rusch presided over a death case 
in South Dakota, so he has first-hand experience."

Johns, as a retired West River judge, also brings credibility to the House 
bill, Davis said.

Davis isn't sure about the impact of an election year on legislators' votes. He 
does expect an uphill battle in repealing the death penalty.

"Will it be easier this year? I don't know," he said. "Obviously, the 
governor's support on this issue would mean a lot, (because) it would take a 
majority to override a veto. If we could get it to that level, I'm not sure 
this Legislature would challenge him."

Davis challenged legislators to overturn the death penalty in South Dakota.

"Death cases are more expensive than life in prison," he said. "If this 
Legislature says it is pro-life, then that means all of life, not just the 
unborn."

The time may be right for change, Davis said. "I think we have a chance this 
year to end the barbaric practice. I pray it will happen," he said.

Rusch referred to the Catholic Church's leader as an inspiration for abolishing 
capital punishment.

"Pope Francis has designated 2016 as the Year of Mercy," Rusch said. "I can't 
think of a better thing to do this year than repeal the death penalty."

(source: Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan)