[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., MO., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 2



TEXAS:

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Execution Stays Granted Doubled Last Year


Texas' highest criminal court halted more executions in 2015 than in any of the 
last 9 years, which some legal experts say is a sign of a legal shift in the 
nation's most active death penalty state.

The state has garnered a reputation for having a record number of executions to 
occur year after year throughout history. Even with the noticeable decline in 
executions, the number that occurred in 2015 was still higher than in any other 
state nationwide. Of the 28 executions that took place in 2015 across the 
United States, 13 occurred in Texas.

"There are many legal and cultural explanations for why Texas executes far more 
people than any other state and is doing so at a pace that has no parallel in 
the modern era of the death penalty in the U.S ... Texas has become ground zero 
for capital punishment. Between 1976 (when the Supreme Court lifted its 
prohibition on the death penalty) and 1998 Texas executed 167 people. Next in 
rank was Virginia which executed 60 during the same period."

Reports also say that in 2015, the state's high court granted stays to 8 
inmates who had been sentenced to be executed, which is the highest number 
reported since 2007. According to Texas criminal appeals lawyer Mick Mickelsen, 
execution stays are critical for inmates who may be entitled to a different 
outcome than warranted by an initial trial. Says the Dallas based criminal 
defense lawyer, "statistics show that Texas has been a national leader in the 
number of exonerations of defendants who were wrongfully convicted. There is no 
turning back once someone has been executed, therefore it is important that 
defendants are given every reasonable chance to have a proper and thorough 
review of their case during appeal."

A Changing Landscape for Texas Criminal Appeals?

The recent reports have led some to now question whether changing attitudes on 
a national scale will influence changes in the Texas legal system in the years 
to come.

Some experts suggest the dramatic increase in Texas execution stays may be in 
part due to new members being appointed to the state's Court of Criminal 
Appeals. Others say a national shift in attitudes may also be having an impact.

Lee Kovarsky, a University of Maryland law professor, is quoted by the AP as 
stating of the issue "I strongly suspect that the (Court of Criminal Appeals) 
would still rank very close to the pole representing the least hospitable 
areas, although the spectrum itself may have shifted a little ... I think the 
drift of the court is certainly toward a little bit more caution in allowing 
executions to go forward."

(source: digitaljournal.com)






GEORGIA----new execution date

Georgia Set to Execute Former Navy Sailor Later This Month


A former Navy crewman convicted of killing a fellow sailor in central Georgia 
is scheduled to be executed later this month, state corrections officials said 
Tuesday.

Travis Hittson, 45, will be put to death by injection of pentobarbital at 7 
p.m. Feb. 17, Department of Corrections Commissioner Homer Bryson said in a 
news release. On Monday, Houston Judicial Circuit Chief Judge George F. Nunn 
Jr. had set an execution window beginning at noon Feb. 17 and ending at noon 
Feb. 24.

Hittson was convicted in February 1993 of malice murder in the death of Conway 
Utterbeck.

Hittson was a 21-year-old Navy crewman stationed in Pensacola, Florida, in 
April 1992 when he and Utterbeck went with a third sailor, Edward Vollmer, to 
Vollmer's parents' home in Warner Robins for a weekend, according to court 
filings.

Prosecutors have said Hittson told investigators that the second night they 
were there, he and Vollmer went to several bars while Utterbeck remained at the 
house. As they drove back to the house, Vollmer said Utterbeck planned to kill 
them and they should "get" him first, prosecutors have said.

Vollmer gave Hittson an aluminum baseball bat and entered the home, where 
Utterbeck was sleeping, prosecutors said. On Vollmer's instructions, Hittson 
hit Utterbeck several times in the head with the bat and then dragged him into 
the kitchen where Vollmer was waiting, according to prosecutors.

Hittson told investigators that Utterbeck screamed, "Travis, whatever have I 
did to you?" according to court filings. Vollmer stepped on Utterbeck's hand 
and Hittson shot him in the head, prosecutors have said.

About 2 hours later, Vollmer said they needed to cut up Utterbeck's body to get 
rid of the evidence, prosecutors said. Hittson told investigators they used a 
hacksaw to cut off Utterbeck's hands, head and feet but that he became sick 
after removing a hand and Vollmer finished dismembering the body, according to 
prosecutors.

The 2 then packed Utterbeck's remains in garbage bags and buried his torso in 
Houston county, prosecutors said. They then cleaned up Vollmer's parents' home, 
hid the baseball bat in the shed and drove back to Pensacola, where they buried 
the rest of Utterbeck's remains, prosecutors said.

A woman saw a black Ford Thunderbird with Florida license plates leaving a 
little-used dirt road in Houston County and noted the tag number because it 
seemed suspicious to her. When loggers found Utterbeck's torso in June 1992, 
police determined the car the woman had seen belonged to Vollmer.

Investigators questioned a number of Utterbeck's fellow sailors. When Hittson 
was questioned, he gave a statement that implicated him and Vollmer and then 
told investigators where Utterbeck's body parts were buried. He and Vollmer 
were arrested.

Hittson was convicted of malice murder, aggravated assault, possession of 
firearm during the commission of a crime and theft by taking. He was sentenced 
to death for the malice murder conviction.

Vollmer reached a plea deal and is serving a life sentence. He was denied 
parole in 1999 and again last year. Reconsideration of his case is set for 
2020, parole board spokesman Steve Hayes said in an email.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Georgia Supreme Court denies stay of Brandon Astor Jones execution


In a 5-to-2 decision, the Supreme Court of Georgia has denied a stay of 
execution for convicted murderer Brandon Astor Jones.

Jones is scheduled to be put to death at 7 p.m. today by lethal injection at 
the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson.

Jones, 72, was sentenced to death in Cobb County for the 1979 murder of Roger 
Tackett, who was the manager of a Tenneco gas station and convenience store 
that Jones and his co-defendant, Van Roosevelt Solomon, broke into after hours 
while Tackett was doing paperwork.

Solomon was executed in 1985, the court statement said.

In addition to denying Jones' motion for a stay of execution, the high court 
has also denied his request to appeal a ruling Friday by the Butts County 
Superior Court.

The Superior Court both denied his motion for a stay and dismissed his claim 
that the execution would be unconstitutionally "cruel and unusual" and "an 
arbitrary and disproportionately severe sentence."

Justices Robert Benham and Carol Hunstein dissented with today's ruling.

(source: Albany Herald)






FLORIDA:

Lawyer for Callaway mom accused of murdering her son claim death penalty is 
unconstitutional


A Callaway mom accused of murdering her toddler late last year makes another 
appearance in court where her attorney claims in a court filing the death 
penalty is now unconstitutional in Florida.

27-year-old Egypt Robinson is charged with 1st degree murder and aggravated 
child abuse in the death of her 3-year-old son Aries Juan Acevedo. Acevedo's 
body was found by Bay County Sheriff's Office investigators wrapped in a sheet 
stuffed in a suitcase behind a Callaway home in late December. Investigators 
say Robinson confessed to her roommate that she killed her son.

Prosecutors have announced their intention to seek the death penalty for 
Robinson, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Robinson's attorney, Kimberly Jewell, has asked the court to strike the state's 
notice of intent to seek the death penalty. Jewell says a recent United States 
Supreme Court ruling makes the death penalty unconstitutional in Florida.

In its recent ruling, he Supreme Court said the way Florida sentences offenders 
to death is unconstitutional because it gives to much power to judges and not 
enough consideration to a jury's wishes. The ruling didn't strike down the 
death penalty, just the way its imposed.

Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet did not issue an immediate ruling to Jewell's 
motion.

Robinson's next court date is set for March 7th.

(source: WJHG news)

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

Supreme Court Ruling Has Florida Scrambling to Fix Death Penalty Law


In the wake of a United States Supreme Court decision that struck down part of 
Florida's capital punishment law, the State Legislature and courts are 
grappling with proposals that could significantly change how criminals are 
sentenced to death in a state with 1 of the nation's most crowded death rows.

For now, the ruling has closed the state's pathway to death row: Death penalty 
prosecutions are stalled, and state lawmakers are hustling to write and pass a 
new death penalty law before their session ends in 6 weeks. Also in question is 
whether the 390 inmates awaiting execution in Florida will remain on death row 
or be resentenced to life in prison. As of last week, more than 40 inmates had 
appeals pending.

The Florida Supreme Court has set a hearing on Tuesday to consider whether the 
Supreme Court's Jan. 12 decision striking down part of the state's death 
penalty law is retroactive. At the same time, Florida's highest court approved 
the Feb. 11 execution of Cary Michael Lambrix, whose appeals had run out before 
the Supreme Court decision. Another inmate's execution is slated for March.

Already, 1 Pinellas County judge has told prosecutors they cannot pursue 
capital punishment in a coming 1st-degree murder trial because Florida 
currently has no death penalty.

In the State Capitol, the Republican-controlled Legislature is debating how 
best to change Florida's unorthodox law, with some pushing for a thorough 
overhaul to blunt future legal challenges and others vying for an easy fix that 
would simply address the court's narrow ruling. The Legislature has refused for 
years to address the law's numerous constitutional frailties - namely that it 
requires only a simple majority of a 12-person jury to recommend a death 
sentence to a judge - despite the urging of the Florida Supreme Court to do so 
a decade ago, said Raoul G. Cantero, a former state justice who has called for 
change.

Florida, a state that enthusiastically embraces the death penalty, is second 
only to California in the number of death row inmates, according to the Death 
Penalty Information Center. The Florida governor, Rick Scott, issues death 
warrants routinely. But the state also leads the country in death row 
exonerations, with 26, something that critics of Florida's law said could be 
traced to the death penalty statute.

In its ruling, the Supreme Court found that Florida's death penalty system gave 
too much power to judges and not enough to juries, a violation of the Sixth 
Amendment. The decision rested on one point of the Florida law: To recommend a 
death sentence, a jury must agree on at least one aggravating factor, a 
circumstance that makes the murder so horrific that it merits putting the 
killer to death rather than imposing a prison sentence. The aggravating factor 
could be that the crime was especially heinous or that it was committed after 
substantial premeditation.

But Florida is the only state in the country that does not require a jury to 
unanimously agree on aggravating factors. Jurors here also do not tell the 
judge which factors they chose. So after a jury makes its recommendation, the 
judge can hand down a death sentence based on different aggravating factors 
altogether, an anomaly that the Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional.

In the court's majority opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that "the Sixth 
Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary to impose a 
sentence of death." She added that allowing judges to find aggravating factors 
"independent of a jury's fact-finding" made the system in Florida 
unconstitutional. It is one provision the Legislature must fix if it is to 
reinstitute the death penalty here.

"This is the issue most observers of the capital system saw as unconstitutional 
for a number of years," said Scott E. Sundby, a University of Miami law 
professor who is an authority on capital punishment.

Even with that fix, Florida would still provide the easiest procedural path to 
a death sentence, Mr. Sundby said. Under Florida's system, the jury provides 
only a recommendation to the judge and a recommendation of death does not have 
to be unanimous.

Alabama and Delaware are the only other states that do not require a unanimous 
jury verdict in death penalty sentences. Delaware and Florida require a simple 
majority; Alabama requires a supermajority, a vote of at least 10 to 2. The 3 
states are also the only ones that allow judges to override recommendations for 
life in prison and impose the death penalty.

The Supreme Court opinion for Florida did not weigh in on the issue of 
unanimous or advisory juries. But legal experts said those issues make the law 
vulnerable to constitutional challenge.

"This is your opportunity," said O. H. Eaton Jr., a retired Florida judge and 
death penalty expert. "If you fix those problems, then you will have as good a 
death penalty law as any in the country."

If not, Mr. Eaton warned, "a different problem but the same song comes up again 
and we would end up clearing out death row."

A recent investigation by The Villages Daily Sun newspaper found that Florida 
juries failed to agree unanimously on death sentences in 75 % of the state's 
390 death row cases. It also found that only 43 % of the prisoners would have 
been sentenced to death under a 10-to-2 supermajority jury vote.

One important unanswered question is whether the Supreme Court's ruling will 
affect the inmates on death row here. It is possible that dozens of those whose 
appeals are still pending could see their death sentences reduced to life in 
prison, legal experts say.

For now, the state's death row numbers will not grow. Capital cases that are in 
the pipeline are being delayed until the law is sorted out, possibly by March, 
when the legislative session ends, lawyers said.

State lawmakers are arguing passionately about how far to go in rewriting the 
law, with the Senate leaning toward requiring unanimous death verdicts by 
juries and the more conservative House tilting toward requiring a supermajority 
jury vote of at least 9 to 3 for a death sentence recommendation. The Florida 
Prosecuting Attorneys Association favors requiring a supermajority of jurors, 
not a simple majority, to agree on death verdicts. Aggravating factors, though, 
would need to be decided unanimously, said Glenn Hess, the president of the 
association.

Some, though, said that political motives were preventing a more thorough 
overhaul that would require unanimous jury verdicts for death sentences. State 
Senator Thad Altman, a Republican who has tried for years to change the law, 
said unanimity required greater deliberation by jurors, which was only fitting 
for a death sentence. If convicting criminals in Florida required a unanimous 
jury, condemning them to death should be no different, he said.

"The Legislature here is very pro-death penalty," Mr. Altman said. "They don't 
want to be perceived as being soft on crime in any way and make it more 
difficult to sentence someone to death."

(source: New York Times)

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

SCOTUS Decision Leaves Florida Death Row Inmates in Limbo


A recent SCOTUS decision leaves Florida death row inmates in limbo and the 
state without a death penalty law. On Tuesday, the Florida Supreme Court held a 
hearing to see whether the decision would apply to pending executions, as well.

The recent Supreme Court ruling could change the way Florida sends inmates to 
the death row for good. Florida, which has the 2nd-most crowded death row in 
the nation, after California, sentences inmates to death by a judge's decision, 
not by an unanimous jury decision as in other states. This is why, U.S. 
justices concluded that Florida's death penalty legislation is at odds with the 
Sixth Amendment.

As a result, the Sunshine State's lawmakers will be struggling to come up with 
a new method to sentence convicts to death in the next 6 weeks, before their 
session expires.

In the meantime, lawmakers and courts need to decide whether the 390 people on 
the death row would continue to stay there or have their sentences commuted to 
life in prison. About 40 inmates have an ongoing appeal.

But for 2 inmates the situation is critical. Cary Michael Lambrix, 55, who has 
spent 31 years on the death row, is slated to be executed Feb. 11. Plus, he can 
no longer appeal because all his appeals ran out before the SCOTUS ruling. 
Another inmate waits to be executed in March under the old death penalty law.

In Pinellas County, a court ruled that death penalty cannot be applied to an 
incoming murder case because the state currently lacks a death penalty law.

Lambrix asked the state's top court to block his execution on Tuesday. The 
55-year-old Florida man landed on the death row after being sentenced for a 
double murder he committed in 1984. According to court papers, he killed a 
couple during a visit at his trailer.

The Governor issued his death warrant last fall, and he is expected to die by 
lethal shot next Thursday. In January, the state's top court refused to block 
his execution, but allowed him oral arguments after the Supreme Court ruling on 
Jan. 12, 2016.

The inmate admitted that he killed the man visiting his trailer but only in 
self-defense. Reportedly, the victim assaulted the woman and Lambrix tried to 
protect her. His attorneys also said that he might be innocent since 
prosecution didn't include DNA tests on samples from the victims' clothing and 
the murder weapon.

(source: councilchronicle.com)

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

Attorneys for Donald Smith ask death penalty sentence to be off table


Attorneys are asking that the death penalty sentence be taken off the table for 
accused killer Donald Smith.

Smith appeared in court Tuesday morning. He is accused of kidnapping, raping 
and killing 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle more than 2 years ago.

Lawmakers in Tallahassee Tuesday began the discussion on how to move forward 
with the death penalty system in Florida.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the current system unconstitutional 
because it gives the judge a final say on the death penalty instead of the 
jury.

Bills introduced by State Sen. Thad Altman and Rep. Jose Javer Rodriguez would 
require a unanimous vote from jurors. If those bills pass and Smith is found 
guilty of his crimes, a jury could decide to put him to death.

There are about 390 inmates in Florida on death row.

(source: actionnewsjax.com)






MISSOURI:

Obeying Tax Law "Would Mean the End of the Death Penalty," Missouri Official 
Testifies


A secretive circle of drug suppliers, doctors and nurses could be subverting 
U.S. tax law while carrying out state executions, but that's no problem as far 
as Missouri Department of Corrections director George Lombardi is concerned. In 
fact, during a tense budget hearing yesterday in Jefferson City, Lombardi 
admitted that his executioners wouldn't do their jobs if it meant getting a 
1099 form accessible to the IRS.

And that would be a bad thing, presumably, because Missouri can't kill people 
without relying on anonymous executioners who get paid with cash-stuffed 
envelopes.

"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, responding to questions from State 
Representative Rep. Jeremy LaFaver (D-Kansas City).

LaFaver's questions were triggered by a Buzzfeed News investigation from former 
St. Louis Public Radio reporter Chris McDaniel. McDaniel reported that the 
state corrections department had handed out more than $250,000 in cash to 
executioners since November 2013, all of it seemingly in violation of federal 
tax law.

Without vendors being issued 1099 forms, the IRS has no way of tracking 
recipients who'd be required to pay taxes on their payments - one reason just 
about every single business in America a) refuses to pay its contractors cash, 
and b) gives them a 1099. Not the Missouri DOC. Apparently, the people 
participating in executions insist on being paid under the table to avoid 
generating the type of public records that would make them identifiable to the 
public - and the state goes right along with it.

During the hearing, Lombardi explained that executioners are considered private 
contractors and paid in cash, but he could not identify a policy that allowed 
the department to ignore the 1099s. Lombardi added that his staff counsels 
executioners to report their cash payments to the IRS, but clarified that the 
practice is not reflected in any policy.

"It's just something we do," Lombardi said.

Granted, quibbling over tax law can often seem petty and pedantic. But at the 
same time, Monday's hearing showcased the kind of legal and moral contortions 
that keep Missouri's capital punishment machine chugging along. Many observers, 
including some Missouri Republicans, don't like what they see.

Toward the end of the hearing, LaFaver questioned Dave Dormire, the prison 
official whose name appears on confidential memorandums requesting cash 
payments for executioners. LaFaver asked why the payments aren't reflected in 
the department's budget.

"We don't include a whole lot of things that are expenses; we try to hit the 
highlights of the major items," Dormire said. Questioned further, Dormire 
couldn't identify another example of an expense not included in the budget.

"I respectfully submit and request that executing somebody, it's a big deal," 
LaFaver shot back. "If we're going to spend money to do that, I think it should 
be included in the description, that this is the area of the budget where money 
goes in envelopes in cash to kill people. Maybe worded differently, I 
understand you probably would. I probably wouldn't."

(source: River Front Times)






NEBRASKA:

Judge rejects legal action in Nebraska death-penalty vote


A Lancaster County judge has rejected a lawsuit challenging the death-penalty 
question going to Nebraska voters in November, but has also prevented a 
pro-death penalty group from being part of another suit challenging ballot 
wording.

The Lincoln Journal-Star reports (http://bit.ly/1nKtQZL ) that judge Lori Maret 
issued orders Friday dismissing the case brought by death penalty opponents 
Christy and Richard Hargesheimer. She also dismissed a motion by Nebraskans for 
the Death Penalty to intervene in another suit filed by attorney Lyle Koenig of 
Beatrice.

The Hargesheimers' suit sought to keep Secretary of State John Gale from 
placing the question on the ballot. They said the process shouldn't be valid 
because it failed to disclose Gov. Pete Ricketts as a sponsor.

The argument in their case largely came down to who qualifies as a sponsor of a 
petition, which isn't defined in statutes.

The Hargesheimers' attorney, Alan Peterson, argued that Ricketts should be 
included in the language because Nebraska law requires a sworn list of every 
person sponsoring a referendum.

Omaha attorney Steven Grasz, who represents Nebraskans for the Death Penalty in 
addition to Judy Glasburner, Aimee Melton and Bob Evnen, who are listed as 
petition sponsors, argued that sponsor refers to those who assume statutory 
responsibility for the referendum once the petition begins.

Maret said she was persuaded by the argument that Ricketts wasn't required to 
be listed as a sponsor because Grasz's clients said they were willing to assume 
the statutory responsibilities once the petition process commenced.

Koenig's issue with the question had to do with the title and explanatory 
statement Gale chose to appear on the ballot.

Maret found that the group didn't file the motion within the time allowed to 
challenge the decision on wording or provide an alternative.

(source: Associated Press)