[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., GA., MO., OKLA., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 16




NORTH CAROLINA:

Attorneys: North Hills murder was 'tragic, completely senseless'


After being delayed by winter weather Monday, closing arguments began Tuesday 
morning in the murder trial of Travion Smith, a 23-year-old who is charged with 
the 1st-degree murder of a woman in her North Hills apartment in May 2013.

Smith is 1 of 3 people charged with 1st-degree murder in connection to Melissa 
Huggins-Jones' death and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Huggins-Jones was new to the Triangle, having divorced and moved from Tennessee 
to an apartment complex off Six Forks Road, in the North Hills area with her 
8-year-old daughter, Hannah Olivia Jones. Her son had stayed behind with his 
father in Tennessee to finish the school year.

On the morning of May 14, 2013, Hannah wandered out of the apartment and 
approached a nearby construction crew, asking for help. A construction worker 
followed the girl back into the apartment and found Huggins-Jones dead in her 
bed, covered in blood.

On Tuesday, the defense first had an opportunity to connect the dots for the 
jury. Smith's attorney said the case is about his co-defendant, Ronald Anthony, 
the man they say controlled Smith and is ultimately responsible for the murder. 
Anthony pleaded guilty in 2015 to 1st-degree murder to avoid the death penalty.

"Everyone in this case is involved because of (Anthony)," Phoebe Dee said.

But prosecutors disagree, saying that Smith was there with Anthony committing 
the murder, which makes him just as culpable.

"The 2 were always together and are described as brothers," prosecutor Jason 
Waller said.

Both sides called Huggins-Jones' murder "horrible, tragic and completely 
senseless."

"(Huggins-Jones) was looking forward to a peaceful life here in Raleigh with 
her 2 kids, but that turned into a nightmare," Waller said.

Defense attorney Jonathan Broun will have the opportunity to speak to the jury 
this afternoon, then the judge will give the jurors instructions on the law and 
deliberations will begin.

If Smith is found guilty, the trial will move into a sentencing phase where the 
jury will have to decide if he will get the death penalty.

Closing augments will continue at 1:30 p.m. and will be streamed on WRAL.com.

(source: wral.com)






GEORGIA----impending execution

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles says it will consider the clemency 
application of an inmate scheduled to be executed at midweek


Court documents show Hittson, who was stationed in Pensacola, Florida, went 
with 2 other sailors, Edward Vollmer and Conway Utterbeck, to Vollmer's 
parents' home in Warner Robins. Hittson and Vollmer went out drinking and 
killed Utterbeck upon returning home.

Vollmer reached a plea deal with prosecutors and is serving a life sentence for 
the killing.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI:

Cash, Killings and Secrets


The State of Missouri paid its "confidential execution staff" in cash-stuffed 
envelopes, full of $100 bills. Yes, that's right, according to a recent 
Buzzfeed investigation, the people in Missouri responsible for actually 
executing death row inmates were paid, in total, over $250,000 in hard cold 
currency since 2013, in possible violation of federal tax laws.

Can you imagine? On the night of a scheduled execution, a high-ranking 
corrections officer hands over an envelope, stuffed with thousands of dollars 
in cash, to the executioner, who is identified only by a pseudonym. The purpose 
of this circuitous payment route is to protect the identity of the executioner. 
To avoid a paper trail that could lead back to the identity of the state-paid 
death administrator.

Now Missouri potentially finds itself in a bit of a tax pickle -- since these 
payments allegedly were not properly reported to the Internal Revenue Service. 
I don't want to get into the alleged tax evasion issue, although the idea of 
state government circumventing federal tax laws to get their death machine 
rolling is fascinatingly disturbing.

What I want to talk about is the perceived need for secrecy in the first place.

Punishment is done on behalf of society. When an offender commits a crime, 
society suffers the collective harm. When we punish, we punish on behalf of 
each and every one us. In some states, we punish using the death penalty.

But if the death penalty is an appropriate punishment for certain defendants, 
then by definition it has to be carried out. Someone has to be the person to 
administer death. Otherwise, the death penalty is a punishment without death. 
Which would make it life without parole. Or something like that.

So why the need for government secrecy about the execution team?

Government secrets -- by and large -- are not a good thing. I've written here 
before about why secrecy is wrong in the context of lethal injection drugs.

What about secrecy around the executioner? I am not sure I buy that either.

Yet, it is true, that historically, the executioner's identity was kept secret. 
Think of the hooded hangman. And in keeping with that history, many modern 
state statutes continue to require that the executioner's name be confidential.

That requirement reflects the reality that there is a stigma to being an 
executioner. And there are other concerns as well. Perhaps with the advent of 
the internet and social media, there is a real need to protect the 
executioner's privacy. Perhaps executioners themselves have some deep-seated 
ambivalence or conflict in the role that they play when they extinguish the 
life of another. Executioners who have gone public after the fact talk about 
the profound impact, and burden, that the job had on their own lives and their 
own world views.

Or, perhaps, states are concerned that if names were made public, then no one 
would be willing to take the job. Think of the lengths that Missouri has 
undertaken to keep the executioner's identity a secret.

Which brings me to my larger point. If government secrecy is necessary to avoid 
significant harm and duress to the executioner, then maybe the government 
should not ask people to perform such a troubling job in the first place.

(source: Jessica Henry, Huffington Post)






OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma grand jury probes executions after trail of resignations


An Oklahoma grand jury investigating flawed executions in the state met on 
Tuesday after three top officials who previously testified before the panel 
submitted their resignations shortly after.

Death penalty opponents said the resignations underscore the state's systemic 
failures in implementing the death penalty. The state's leaders see the grand 
jury as a necessary step in identifying problems that they can solve to then 
soon resume executions.

The latest person to resign was Steve Mullins, the general counsel to Governor 
Mary Fallin, a Republican. Mullins, who announced his decision last week, said 
he was doing so because of the stress of the job.

"One reason Oklahoma executions are so flawed is the lack of transparency. The 
public doesn't know where the state gets its drugs or the qualifications of 
those who carry out the executions," said attorney Dale Baich, who has 
represented death row inmates in Oklahoma.

The other officials who resigned are State Penitentiary Warden Anita Trammell 
and Department of Corrections Director Robert Patton. Both said they were 
stepping down for personal reasons and to take on other work.

The state set up the multi-county grand jury in October that has met behind 
closed doors. It is expected to finish its work in July and issue a report.

Oklahoma drew international condemnation following a troubled execution in 2014 
in which medical staff did not properly place an intravenous line on convicted 
murderer Clayton Lockett.

The execution was halted after the needle popped out, spewing lethal injection 
chemicals in the death chamber. Lockett, seen twisting on the gurney, died 
about 45 minutes after the procedure began due to chemicals built up in his 
tissue.

The state then revised its protocols but the two planned executions that 
followed last year were flawed, with the wrong chemical being added to the 
lethal injection mix.

One of the executions was carried out and convicted murderer Charles Warner 
said in his final words, "My body is on fire." The other execution of Richard 
Glossip was halted just minutes before the planned time after the mistake was 
discovered.

After that, the state placed a moratorium on executions.

Oklahoma had been one the leading states in terms of executions since the U.S. 
Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, executing 112 death row 
inmates in the time, according the Death Penalty Information Center.

(source: Reuters)






CALIFORNIA:

Prosecutors will seek death penalty against Martin Martinez in 5 Modesto 
slayings


A prosecutor on Tuesday informed the court that the Stanislaus County District 
Attorney's Office will seek the death penalty against Martin Martinez, who is 
accused of killing his girlfriend, Amanda Crews, her 2 daughters, his mother 
and his niece last summer.

Martinez appeared briefly in court Tuesday morning with his appointed attorney, 
Chief Deputy Public Defender Sonny Sandhu. The attorney has entered the 
not-guilty plea on behalf of his client and denied the enhancements and 
special-circumstances allegations.

In a separate case, Martinez has already been ordered to stand trial on charges 
of murder and child abuse in the Oct. 2, 2014, death of Crews' 2-year-old son, 
Christopher Ripley. The trial in Christopher's death has not yet been 
scheduled.

The 5 slayings occurred July 18 at Crews' home on Nob Hill Court in east 
Modesto. In addition to Crews, 38, the victims were her daughters, 6-month-old 
Rachael and 6-year-old Elizabeth; Martinez's mother, Anna Brown Romero, 57; and 
Martinez's 5-year-old niece, Esmeralda Navarro. Martinez was Rachael's father.

Deputy District Attorney Rick Mury told Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge 
Ricardo Cordova of the prodecution's decision to to seek the death penalty 
against Martinez during a brief hearing Tuesday morning.

Prosecutors have filed a court document listing what type of evidence they 
would present to a jury if Martinez is convicted of 5 counts of murder along 
with special-circumstances allegations that make the case eligible for the 
death penalty.

According to prosecutors, the evidence in these alleged factors in aggravation 
will include:

-- Testimony of friends and relatives who discovered the victims' bodies.

-- Photographs and videos of the victims in life.

-- Victim impact evidence including testimony of family and close friends of 
the victims.

-- The defendant's lack of remorse at the crime scene.

-- Evidence of defendant's statements regarding the victims. -- Violence used 
in the homicides.

-- Crime scene details to show advance planning and lack of remorse.

-- All trial evidence regarding premeditation and deliberation, multiple 
homicides and lying in wait for the victims.

The document filed Tuesday morning by Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees 
also indicates that prosecutors would present character evidence about the 
defendant that would included allegations of child abuse and domestic violence.

In the penalty phase of capital murder cases, the same jury that convicts a 
defendant has to decide whether to put the defendant to death. The case 
charging Martinez with the 5 slayings has not yet reached the preliminary 
hearing phase, where the judge decides whether there is enough evidence for 
Martinez to stand trial.

For now, the cases in the 5 slayings and Christopher's death will be prosecuted 
separately. They could be consolidated in the future.

Prosecutors believe Martinez killed Crews and his mother with a knife. The 
criminal complaint filed last week includes knife enhancements in the deaths of 
Crews and Romero. Those enhancements do not appear on the murder charges for 
the children. Prosecutors have declined to discuss the manner of death for the 
children found at the Nob Hill Court home.

Martinez since 2004 had worked as a stock/delivery clerk for the Stanislaus 
County Health Services Agency. Crews had worked as a doctor in Stanislaus 
County Health Services Agency clinics, most recently in Modesto.

About 3:30 p.m. July 18, police officers conducting a security check at the Nob 
Hill Court home discovered the 5 bodies. They had been called by Crews' 
friends, who grew concerned after she and her daughter did not meet with them 
as planned earlier that day.

Martinez was found in San Jose, where he has family. San Jose police arrested 
Martinez as he walked out of a movie theater with his father several hours 
after the slayings were discovered in Modesto.

Modesto police investigators were about 2 weeks away from arresting Martinez in 
Christopher's death when the 5 other homicides occurred. Detectives had 
completed their investigation and were awaiting a report from a medical expert 
who reviewed Christopher's death.

The boy suffered severe head injuries on Sept. 30, 2014, while he was alone 
with Martinez. The boy's mother had left the home to pick up one of her 
daughters and had asked Martinez to change the boy's soiled diaper.

The toddler died at a Madera children's hospital after 2 days on life support. 
A child abuse expert and pediatrician at the hospital testified that the boy's 
brain had suffered severe swelling. Bleeding also was found just outside the 
brain.

Martinez, 31, remains in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail. He is being 
held without bail. Judge Cordova scheduled the defendant to return to court 
March 21 for another pretrial hearing.

(source: Modesto Bee)