[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., KAN., COLO., UTAH, CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 3



ARKANSAS:

Additional discovery sought in death-penalty case


Defense attorneys are seeking additional discovery in a 2013 capital murder 
case where prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Howard Dallas Short II, 40, is being charged with capital murder in the death 
of 64-year-old Michael Wayne Robb, who was found dead in his home at 27 Wilson 
Road in Greenbrier on Aug. 6, 2013. Short also faces a fleeing charge.

Defense attorneys James W. Wyatt and Dale E. Adams filed a motion for 
additional discovery in Faulkner County Circuit Court requesting prosecutors 
provide more information that could potentially be used against Short.

The motion, filed Jan. 25, stated the defense has received the autopsy report 
and photographs released from Arkansas State Crime Laboratory experts but also 
requests reports from all experts involved.

The defense asked for any notes, data and summary sheets written by any and all 
experts involved in its motion. The defense also asked that the state provide 
employee history binders that include "curriculum vitas, competency tests, logs 
of both external and internal proficiency tests, training logs, testimony logs, 
testimony evaluations, cases reviews, complaints, results/findings of any both 
internal and external audits and corrective action reports" from each expert 
involved.

The last death penalty conviction in Faulkner County was in 1982. Rickey Ray 
Rector of Conway was sentenced to death following the murders of Arthur 
Criswell and police officer Robert Martin, according to the Encyclopedia of 
Arkansas History and Culture. He was tried separately for the 2 murders and was 
lethally injected on Jan. 22, 1992.

Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Hugh Finkelstein said the state is seeking 
the death penalty in Short's case because it believes the murder was committed 
for pecuniary gain and was "someone the defendant knew or reasonably should 
have known was especially vulnerable to attack because of either a temporary or 
permanent severe physical or mental disability which would interfere with the 
victim's ability to flee or defend himself."

The murder was also committed in "an especially cruel or depraved manner," he 
said.

Short's jury trial initially was scheduled for Feb. 2-12. Faulkner County 
Circuit Judge Charles "Ed" Clawson Jr. ruled in favor of the defense's request 
on Jan. 8 to continue the jury trial to July 12-29, excluding weekends and 
Mondays.

The trial was moved to allow Adams the opportunity to familiarize himself with 
the case. Adams took over former co-counsel Robert L. Thacker's position in the 
case after Thacker requested to withdraw. Thacker noted in his Jan. 8 motion to 
withdraw that defense attorneys had "recently discovered that at least 4 
attorneys who are employed in the office of Mr. Thacker and who are subject to 
his administrative authority and oversight have previously represented a 
witness who will or may be called by the Plaintiff in the prosecution of the 
Defendant herein," causing a conflict of interest.

(source: Log Cabin Democrat)






KANSAS:

Becker's anti-death penalty bill appears doomed; measure was sidelined to House 
Judiciary Committee


A disappointed State Rep. Steven Becker is "confident" a bill he sponsored to 
abolish the death penalty won't get a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee.

The Buhler Republican and former judge pushed a death penalty bill last year 
only to see it sidelined in the Judiciary Committee, with no hearing and no 
advancement to the House floor for a vote. The strategy this year was to find a 
wide range of lawmakers to sponsor a bill and to start the legislation through 
the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee.

Introduced Jan. 22 with over 15 diverse sponsors, House Bill 2515 promptly was 
assigned by Speaker of the House Ray Merrick, R-Stilwell, to the Judiciary 
Committee.

The News was unable to reach Judiciary Chairman John Barker, R-Abilene, but the 
committee's ranking minority member, Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, echoed 
Becker's prediction.

"I think it's unlikely that Chairman Barker is going to call that up for a 
hearing," Carmichael said.

The Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty pushed back against Merrick's 
action. On Tuesday, it appealed on Facebook for death penalty foes to contact 
Merrick's office and "strongly request" he reassign House Bill 2515 "to a 
committee that will let it be heard."

"It is important that important public policy issues like the death penalty are 
fairly debated and discussed by the legislature," the coalition stated on 
Facebook.

However, this particular death penalty bill contains more than policy, 
Carmichael said, and that could be a weakness.

Each bill is supposed to have a single subject, Carmichael said.

House Bill 2515 would abolish the death penalty and take the savings in legal 
expenses from appeals - "We could be talking, easily, millions of dollars," 
Carmichael said - and give it to the Department of Corrections.

With that provision, Carmichael said, some could argue the bill violates the 
single subject expectation. He said the Legislature has mixed policy and 
funding in education and judicial bills, and those bills drew criticism.

The state's top attorney, Attorney Gen. Derek Schmidt, addressed Republican 
lawmakers Tuesday about the death penalty and a recent ruling by the U.S. 
Supreme Court that upheld the Kansas death penalty in the case against the 
convicted Carr brothers, according to Rep. Jan Pauls, R-Hutchinson. Schmidt, 
who favors the death penalty, also was scheduled to talk to the House Judiciary 
Committee today about the same topic, Pauls said.

Pauls, who sits on Judiciary, was in the Legislature in 1992 and voted for the 
death penalty Becker is trying to repeal. She favors retaining a death penalty.

"I don't know that there's a lot of push to have it heard," Pauls said of 
Becker's bill. The Supreme Court ruling that upheld the death penalty "probably 
reduced the incentive to have the matter discussed further," she said.

A moderate Republican with less than 4 years in office, Becker is not taking an 
active role in the efforts to urge Merrick to reverse course.

"I don't think I carry a lot of weight with the Speaker's office," Becker said.

(source: The Hutchinson News)

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

Kansas Panel Requests Additional Money For Defense In Death Penalty Cases


Court-appointed lawyers in Kansas say they need more money to defend 
high-profile murder cases, like the Carr brothers from Wichita.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld the death penalty sentences handed down 
in that case and in another Kansas murder case. Because of the ruling, 
court-appointed attorneys will have to continue working on those cases, and 
that will take more money.

"This is a 1st for Kansas," says Patricia Scalia, with the Kansas Board of 
Indigent Defense Services. "Staff are not experienced, therefore they do not 
meet the standards established by the American Bar Association. Outside help is 
needed. We've got attorneys who have never seen this case before needing to get 
entirely up to speed on something that has proceeded over the course of 10 and 
more years."

Scalia is requesting more than a half-million dollars in additional support for 
the current fiscal year.

(source: KMUW news)






COLORADO:

Don't expand Colorado death penalty


I just read the Denver Post editorial on the Colorado death penalty. I am 
shocked that Sen. Lundberg now wants the death penalty imposed if 9 of 12 
jurors votes for it.

There are many reasons people are reluctant to impose such a drastic penalty, 
chief among them the fact that many people on death row have been exonerated 
because of DNA evidence.

I just finished reading Bryan Stevenson's "Just Mercy," an excellent book 
written by the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. He dealt mostly with 
cases in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. I was thankful Colorado didn't have the 
kind of "justice" often found in the deep South, and now Sen. Lundberg wants to 
bring it to Colorado.

I lived in Texas for over 30 years, and they were death penalty happy, 
particularly in Harris County. When we hear of terrible crimes, such as the 
murder of children or of mass killings the first thing we think is "death 
penalty." Understandable. But mistakes happen in the justice system. If Sen. 
Lundberg feels the death sentence isn't imposed enough perhaps it should be 
eliminated. There is no perfect solution, but it is better to err on the side 
of caution.

Sharon K. Yonkees

Longmont

(source: Letter to the Editor, Times-Call)






UTAH:

Human traffickers could face execution under plan


Human traffickers could be sentenced to death if victims are killed in 
commission of the crime under a bill advanced Tuesday by a House committee.

"I think we all know how heinous of a crime human trafficking is. We have kids 
that are being trafficked for sexual purposes, for labor," said Rep. Paul Ray, 
R-Clearfield, the sponsor of HB136. "We just think it's a good move to make 
this available to the prosecutors to have in their arsenal if they need to go 
at it."

Ray's legislation makes engaging in human trafficking an aggravating factor 
that makes a homicide eligible for capital punishment.

In the past, Ray sponsored legislation making deaths resulting from child abuse 
eligible for the death penalty and he argued Tuesday that they type of abuse 
victims of trafficking suffer should warrant the same kind of punishment.

"This is the most heinous of crimes," said Bountiful Police Chief Tom Ross, who 
is president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association. "This is the death of a 
child who has been tortured through abuse or sexual assault."

The House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee voted 6-3 to move the 
legislation to the full House for a vote, which could come by the end of the 
week.

Ray had originally envisioned the bill to just apply to child trafficking, but 
expanded it Tuesday to include adults, as well. It would be up to prosecutors 
to decide whether to seek capital punishment.

Opponents argued the death penalty is arbitrary in its application, costly to 
the state and that the resources would be better spent helping victims of human 
traffickers.

"Don't consider spending this kind of money on this kind of an action that 
really only ends up over-criminalizing conduct that is already criminal when 
you're leaving your victims without support and without resources," said 
Virginia Ward, who works with victims of trafficking.

The Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement to 
the committee that race, socio-economic background, effectiveness of attorneys 
and other factors determine whether capital punishment is imposed and Ray's 
bill "keeps moving Utah in the wrong direction."

"We ought to be using this money wisely and the death penalty is not a wise use 
of resources," said Kent Hart, executive director of the Utah Association of 
Criminal Defense Lawyers. "It also engages the citizens of this state and this 
body in killing of its citizens. ... We cannot sanitize it any way."

It is estimated that a death-penalty case costs taxpayers about $1.6 million to 
work through the court system and carry out the execution, an expense paid for 
by the county seeking the death penalty.

Rep. Brad Daw, R-Orem, said it is "absolutely appropriate" that human 
trafficking be added to the list of crimes in which the death penalty is an 
option.

"If we get right down to the morality of it ... and the reason they're being 
prosecuted for the death penalty, for me it really does not become a very 
challenging issue," he said. "The fact is they've done things that are 
horrific. They're heinous. ... This bill makes perfect sense to me."

(source: Salt Lake Tribune)






CALIFORNIA:

McStay defendant to represent himself again----Chase Merritt faces possible 
death penalty if convicted of killing Fallbrook family of 4


A judge on Tuesday ruled that the welder accused of killing the McStay family 
of Fallbrook can act as his own attorney in the potential death penalty case.

The decision by San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Michael Smith marks the 2nd 
time that defendant Charles "Chase" Merritt has been cleared to represent 
himself in the quadruple-murder case.

Merritt, 58, fired his attorneys nearly 2 weeks ago.

Merritt is accused of killing his business associate Joseph McStay, 40, as well 
as McStay's wife, Summer, 43, and the couple's children, Gianni, 4, and Joey 
Jr., 3. He has pleaded not guilty to 4 counts of murder.

McStay ran a company that provided indoor water fountains, and often hired 
Merritt to craft custom products.

The family vanished in February 2010. Their bodies were found in 2 shallow 
desert graves in San Bernardino County in November 2013. Merritt was arrested a 
year later.

2 months after his arrest, Merritt fired his attorney. At that time, he told 
the judge he wanted the case to move along faster, and was subsequently granted 
permission to represent himself.

Merritt reversed course in May and hired a team of attorneys - who he fired 
nearly 2 weeks ago. However, court records indicate that Merritt may be trying 
to rehire one of those attorneys.

Thus far, the public has only heard the prosecution side of the case. At 
Merritt's preliminary hearing last June, prosecutors presented evidence that 
Merritt's DNA was on the steering wheel and gear shift of the family's 
abandoned car; that suspicious checks were written to him from Joseph McStay's 
business account shortly before and after the family disappeared; that someone 
- presumably Merritt - tried to delete that checking account the day after the 
family vanished; and that Merritt's cellphone was used in the remote area near 
the gravesites.

(source: San Diego Union-Tribune)

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

Defense motions to dismiss death penalty case, recuse DA's Office, set for 
March


Defense attorneys for a Fairfield man accused of the 2013 strangulation death 
of a young girl agreed Tuesday to delay making arguments to dismiss the case, 
remove the Solano County District Attorney???s Office from the case, and bar 
the death penalty from being sought until March.

Anthony Lemar Jones, 35, appeared in Solano County Superior Court anticipating 
a hearing into an allegation that prosecutors withheld information from his 
defense team that could have helped mitigate a decision to seek the death 
penalty in his case. Jones is charged with the special circumstances murder of 
13-year-old Genelle Conway-Allen, whose naked and lifeless body was found Feb. 
1, 2013, in Allan Witt Park.

In April 2015, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty in the 
case.

In recent weeks, defense attorneys for Jones have filed a handful of motions 
that center on an alleged meeting between prosecutors and Genelle's family 
members in which they expressed their desire not to have the death penalty 
sought in the case.

In a motion to dismiss the case due to outrageous government conduct, defense 
attorneys for Jones state they presented evidence before a committee of 
prosecutors in March 2015, offering evidence that would mitigate a decision to 
seek death. Defense attorneys allege that prosecutors knew as early as February 
2015 that family members did not wish to have the death penalty sought and did 
not share that information with the defense team prior to making their 
presentation.

Prosecutors recently responded to the allegation in a handful of court filings 
that indicate there was never a discussion or meeting with members of Genelle's 
family in February 2015.

In separate motions, defense attorneys also are asking a Solano County Superior 
Court judge to bar the death penalty in Jones' case and remove the Solano 
County District Attorney's Office and appoint the state Attorney General to 
assume the role of prosecutor.

Prosecutors, in their response to the defense motions, called them frivolous.

A hearing has been set for March 21.

According to testimony from a November 2014 probable cause hearing, Jones is 
alleged to have followed Genelle in his vehicle as she walked home from school 
on Jan. 31, 2013. A student who was walking home with her that day testified 
that he saw Genelle get in Jones' car.

Genelle, according to testimony, did not return home that day, leading her 
foster mother to report her missing.

She was found dead the following morning.

The special circumstance allegations prosecutors have included allege the 
murder was committed during the commission of a kidnapping, sodomy and lewd or 
lascivious act.

A jury trial is set for Sept. 7.

Jones has pleaded not guilty and remains in Solano County Jail custody without 
bail.

(source: The (Vacaville) Reporter)