[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----VA., N.C., S.C., GA., FLA., ALA., LA.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 17



VIRGINIA:

Virgina, don't revive the electric chair


Since the turn of the century, capital punishment in the United States has been 
on an accelerating downward spiral. Fewer states sentence people to death, 
fewer still carry out those sentences, and the relative handful of states that 
continue to execute people do so with diminishing frequency.

At the same time, with vanishingly few exceptions, lethal injection has become 
the consensus method used for the dwindling number of executions - the only 
technique regarded as relatively humane, meaning absent obvious manifestations 
of the intentional infliction of pain.

Yet as so many states move forward, Virginia is considering a step back. That's 
the direction the commonwealth would go if it enacts legislation forcing 
convicts to die by electric chair if lethal injection drugs cannot be found.

The legislation, passed by Richmond's Republican-controlled House of Delegates 
and now before the Senate, arises from 2 factors: the scheduled execution of 1 
of the state's 7 death row inmates, and the fact that drug companies have 
blocked the use of their products in lethal injections, leaving death penalty 
states scrambling.

The bill's sponsor, Del. Jackson H. Miller (R-Manassas), used the horrific 
murders committed by Ricky Gray, who is scheduled to be executed next month, to 
argue for requiring use of the electric chair in the absence of lethal 
injection drugs. Mr. Gray was convicted of killing a Richmond musician, his 
wife and their 2 daughters, age 9 and 4, and also confessed to killing his own 
wife and 3 other members of a Richmond family.

Mr. Gray's crimes were ghastly; their ghastliness does not negate or diminish 
the electric chair's cruelty.

Of the 744 people executed in the United States since Jan. 1, 2001, just 9 of 
them (including 5 in Virginia) have died by electrocution, according to the 
nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center. There's a reason the chair is no 
longer used by the vast majority of states: It's barbaric.

A court in Georgia, a death penalty state, outlawed use of electrocution in 
2001 as violating its state constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. 
The court noted the chair inflicts "purposeless physical violence and needless 
mutilation," noting its "specter of excruciating pain and its certainty of 
cooked brains and blistered bodies."

Since 2008, no state besides Virginia has used the electric chair. Virginia 
allows inmates to select the electric chair as an alternative to lethal 
injection. Yet if Mr. Gray elects to die by lethal injection, and the needed 
drugs are lacking, then what?

1 alternative is to wait until the drugs are procured. Executions are routinely 
delayed for any number of reasons; a delay in order to carry out the sentence 
humanely is hardly unreasonable.

Another alternative is for Virginia to recognize the future and scrap capital 
punishment altogether. Use of the death penalty nationwide has fallen steadily 
for 15 years, to just 28 executions last year from 85 in 2000. In the same 
span, death sentences have plummeted to 49 last year from 223 in 2000. The 
trend is clear; Virginia should embrace it.

(source: Editorial Board, Washington Post)






NORTH CAROLINA:

A Forsyth County judge ruled against prosecutors Tuesday who wanted school 
records for a Winston-Salem man accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death 
outside her house in 2014.


Ferjus Bernard Moore, 54, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 
Cheryl Annise Bethea, 43, on Aug. 25, 2014. Forsyth County District Attorney 
Jim O'Neill said last year that Bethea was stabbed 39 times.

Forsyth County prosecutors are pursuing the death penalty.

According to Winston-Salem police, Bethea and Moore had been dating for about 3 
years and had lived together at her house at 305 Upton St. The 2 had been 
arguing outside Bethea's house when, police said, Moore stabbed her. Bethea's 
daughter and grandson were inside the house at the time. According to a search 
warrant, Moore was found outside on top of Bethea. Police seized a knife at the 
scene.

Assistant District Attorney Matt Breeding filed a motion last week requesting 
Moore's school records. Breeding and Assistant District Attorney Jennifer 
Martin are prosecuting the case.

Breeding said in court Tuesday that prosecutors were asking for the records so 
they can better prepare for trial. He said Moore's attorneys, Mark Rabil and 
David Botchin, may offer evidence that Moore was mentally disabled during the 
sentencing phase of the trial or they may seek a defense of diminished 
capacity.

"It's really an opportunity to explore issues that may come up in sentencing," 
Breeding said.

Rabil said in court that the request is premature. He said he and Botchin are 
continuing to investigate the case. In a written objection, Rabil and Botchin 
said the records might include psychological testing reports, school counseling 
reports or nursing records, which are protected by various state and federal 
laws.

They also said the request violates Moore's constitutional rights against 
self-incrimination.

Breeding acknowledged that Rabil and Botchin have not given any notice of what 
their defense will be. He said prosecutors wanted to get a head start in trial 
preparations.

Judge David Hall of Forsyth Superior Court, however, denied prosecutors' motion 
for the school records.

Hall agreed with Rabil that it is premature but added that prosecutors could 
renew their motion at a later time when the issue becomes relevant.

He also granted prosecutors' motions to request Moore's medical records from 
his stay at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center from Aug. 25, 2014, to Sept. 4, 
2014. Moore was treated for cuts after the incident on Aug. 25.

Hall also granted prosecutors' motions for records from Forsyth County EMS 
regarding its treatment of Moore.

Moore is in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed. No trial date has 
been set.

(source: Winston-Salem Journal)

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

Death penalty review set for man accused of shooting Lake Wylie couple


The man accused of fatally shooting a Lake Wylie couple will have his case 
heard before a federal committee later this month to determine if prosecutors 
should seek the death penalty in the case.

According to federal court documents, filed Monday, a Capital Review Committee 
is scheduled to meet Feb. 29. The committee will take up the case against 
Malcolm Hartley.

Hartley is charged with murder in the October 2014 killings of 61-year-old 
Debbie London and 63-year-old Douglas London. Federal prosecutors say Briana 
Johnson, 18 years old at the time of the shooting, drive Hartley to the 
London's home where he shot and killed the couple.

The information was filed as part of an appeal from Hartley's attorney, Rob 
Heroy. The appeal asks for witness statements, grand jury testimony and reports 
documenting witness statements, along with a slew of other investigative 
reports, interviews and evidence.

The document was an appeal of a Magistrate Judge David Keesler' order earlier 
this month that denied a previous attempt by the defense to obtain evidence.

"[It] is necessary for the defendant to meaningfully present his case in 
mitigation to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in an attempt to persuade the 
government as to why the death penalty should not be authorized in this case," 
the appeal contends.

The document also asks for information and evidence whether Doug and Debbie 
London were engaged in criminal activity near the time of their deaths.

The appeal requests the materials "as quickly as possible" saying the Capital 
Committee hearing is scheduled for February 29. The DOJ considers the case for 
about 90 days.

Jamell Cureton, the alleged leader of the United Blood Nation (UBN) gang, is 
accused of plotting the murder of the Londons from behind bars.

The Londons were found shot to death in their Tioga Road home on October 23.

A 51-page federal indictment says the couple was killed to keep the husband 
from testifying against 3 gang members who attempted to rob the Londons' 
mattress store in May 2014.

Cureton was reportedly wounded by Doug London during the attempt.

A total of 12 accused UBN gang members were indicted in the case.

(source: WBTV news)

**********

Jury to weigh life or death for man found guilty of killing North Hills mom


A Wake County jury will reconvene on Wednesday to start deciding the sentence 
for a man who was found guilty Tuesday in the death of a North Hills mother.

The jury took about an hour on Tuesday afternoon to find Travion Smith, 23, 
guilty of 1st-degree murder in the May 2013 death of Melissa Huggins-Jones, a 
mother of an 8-year-old child.

Because this was a capital case, Smith could face the death penalty for killing 
Huggins-Jones in her North Hills apartment. During the penalty phase of the 
trial, jurors will hear arguments for why Smith should live or die.

Smith is 1 of 3 people charged with 1st-degree murder in connection with the 
death of Huggins-Jones. Ronald Anthony and Sarah Redden were also charged in 
the case.

Anthony pleaded guilty to 1st-degree murder and is serving a life sentence. 
Sarah Redden has admitted she was the get-away driver after the killing of 
Huggins-Jones.

If Smith is sentenced to death, he will join 152 other offenders on death row 
in North Carolina right now.

North Carolina's death row is located in Raleigh and currently houses 149 men 
and 3 women.

North Carolina is 1 of 32 states with a death penalty, but because of legal 
challenges, no executions have been carried out in the state since 2006.

The Restoring Proper Justice Act was signed into law by Gov. Pat McCrory this 
past summer. It removes some of the impediments to executions in the state, 
including dropping the requirement that a licensed physician be present during 
an execution.

Doctors had been reluctant to participate because such an action violates their 
medical ethics. The revision allows other medical professionals, not just 
doctors, to oversee an execution.

The new law also allows the state to exempt information about drugs used in 
lethal injections and the companies that manufacture them from public records 
laws.

(source: WNCN news)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Meeting to determine death penalty set for man accused of shooting couple


A federal committee will meet later this month to discuss whether prosecutors 
should seek the death penalty in the case of the accused shooter of a Lake 
Wylie couple.

The Capital Review Committee is scheduled to meet Feb. 29 regarding Malcolm 
Hartley, according to documents filed by his defense team Tuesday. Hartley is 
one of 12 accused United Blood Nation gang members indicted in late 2014. 
Several face charges directly connected to the murder of Doug and Debbie 
London.

The information was contained in an appeal filed by Hartley's attorney. His 
defense team is asking the government to release certain discovery information 
before or not long after the Capital Review Committee meeting so it can be used 
to argue against the death penalty.

"In this case, the defense is trying to get those kind of statements and any 
evidence that's favorable to them earlier so that they can use it in connection 
with their conference with the Department of Justice," said James Wyatt, a 
defense attorney and legal analyst.

The new documents filed were an appeal of a magistrate judge's order that 
denied a previous attempt by the defense to obtain evidence.

In the appeal, the defense seeks a wide range of evidence that would be in 
favor of Hartley, including whether he was "coerced" by fellow conspirators. It 
also seeks evidence harmful to the reputation of the Londons, including whether 
Doug London was ever arrested.

Wyatt said the defense will cast the net wide for any evidence that can be used 
to protect Hartley from facing a death penalty case.

"A normal case, you want to ask for a broad array of evidence. In a death 
penalty case, you want to make doubly sure you ask for that and more," Wyatt 
said.

7 of the 12 suspects in the indictment have already pleaded guilty. None have 
been sentenced.

In the new notice, Hartley's defense team said the Capital Review Committee 
might not make a decision for "several months" after the meeting.

(source: WSOC TV news)






GEORGIA----impending execution

Georgia parole board denies clemency to Travis Hittson


The State Board of Pardons and Paroles has denied clemency to Travis Hittson, 
who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday for killing a fellow Navy sailor.

The board's decision, announced Tuesday, rejected pleas for mercy from 
Hittson's legal team. In a clemency petition, the lawyers said Hittson is 
extremely remorseful for what he did, has had an exemplary prison record and 
was manipulated to commit the murder by a co-defendant who may one day be 
paroled.

The murder occurred April 3, 1992, in Warner Robins. According to court 
records, Hittson's lead petty officer, Edward Vollmer, told Hittson to kill 
fellow sailor Conway Utterbeck on the pretense that Utterbeck was planning to 
kill them.

After Hittson hit Utterbeck on the head with a baseball bat, Vollmer handed 
Hittson a handgun and told him to shoot Utterbeck. Hittson then fired a fatal 
shot into Utterbeck's forehead, and he and Vollmer cut up Utterbeck's body and 
buried buried the remains in different places.

The clemency petition says Vollmer exercised "unnatural dominance and control" 
over Hittson and manipulated him into killing Utterbeck.

Separately, Hittson's lawyers will appeal a state court judge's decision, 
denying a request to throw out Hittson's death sentence. But a Butts County 
judge denied that request and Hittson's lawyers are expected to appeal that 
decision to the Georgia Supreme Court.

"Mr. Hittson was robbed of a fair and reliable sentencing trial when the 
prosecutor was permitted to sandbag the defense with the testimony of a state 
psychologist, Dr. Robert Storms, who revealed off-the-cuff but nevertheless 
callous statements allegedly made by Mr. Hittson about the victim, during a 
pre-trial evaluation," the petition said.

During the trial, the trial judge had said he would not let Storms take the 
stand unless Hittson's lawyers presented psychiatric mitigation evidence during 
the sentencing phase of the trial, the petition said. Even though Hittson's 
defense team did not present such evidence, the judge let Storms testify 
anyway, the petition said.

For this reason, Hittson's defense team "was utterly disarmed by the 
prosecution's tactic, abetted by the trial court's disregard of both governing 
law and its own assurances," the petition said.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)






FLORIDA:

House Ready To Move On Death Penalty Changes


Taking an approach backed by prosecutors and Attorney General Pam Bondi, the 
Florida House on Wednesday is slated to take up a bill that would revamp the 
state's death-penalty sentencing system.

Lawmakers are hurrying to make changes after the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 
ruled that the current system is unconstitutional because it gives too much 
power to judges, instead of juries, in sentencing defendants to death.

The House and Senate agree on a key part of addressing the Supreme Court ruling 
- requiring that jurors be unanimous in deciding that at least 1 "aggravating" 
factor exists before a defendant can be eligible for the death penalty. But the 
two chambers are divided on a high-profile issue about whether jurors should be 
required to be unanimous in recommending to judges that death sentences be 
imposed.

In the past, Florida has required only majority recommendations. The House, 
with support from prosecutors and Bondi, wants to move to a 9-3 vote, while the 
Senate wants to require a unanimous recommendation. The House is slated to take 
up its bill (HB 7101) during a floor session Wednesday afternoon, according to 
a calendar of bills approved Monday by the Rules and Calendar Committee.

(source: northescambia.com)






ALABAMA:

Sleepy juror dismissed in John Clayton Owens capital murder trial; state rests 
case


A juror had to be dismissed Tuesday afternoon in the capital murder trial of a 
Huntsville man accused of killing his elderly neighbor during a burglary in 
2011.

Madison County Circuit Judge Alison Austin suddenly halted proceedings in the 
trial of John Clayton Owens and ordered the public removed from the courtroom. 
After speaking briefly to the juror, Austin dismissed the woman.

Austin, in telling the remaining jurors about the dismissal, pointed out that 
it is important for them all to stay alert and do what they need to do to 
decide the case. Observers in the courtroom last week noticed the dismissed 
juror appearing to doze during testimony.

Owens, 32, faces the death penalty in the Aug. 26, 2011, strangling death of 
Doris Richardson, his 91-year-old neighbor on Bide-A-Wee Drive. 12 jurors and 2 
alternates were chosen to hear the case.

Jurors on Tuesday morning heard direct testimony from Huntsville Police 
Investigator Charlie Gray, who testified about Owens' interrogation after his 
arrest and phone calls Owens made from the county jail. They also heard audio 
of that questioning and those calls, in which Owens admitted burglarizing the 
elderly woman's house but denied killing her.

In the phone calls, Owens' stepmother mentions his previous criminal history, 
which included burglary. Following the lunch break Tuesday, Circuit Court Judge 
Alison Austin told the jury that the evidence of his prior convictions could 
not be used to determine his guilt or innocence in the capital case.

Testimony resumed after those jury instructions with defense lawyer Brian Clark 
cross-examining Gray. The 1st questions dealt with items found at the scene 
that were never analyzed for clues, including feces left behind in a toilet in 
Richardson's home. The waste was never analyzed to determine if it belonged to 
the victim or her killer.

Gray also said that a shotgun found lying on Richardson's couch was never 
dusted for fingerprints. Neither was a second shotgun found leaning up against 
the wall nor a suitcase that had been pulled from a nearby closet.

Clark asked the investigator about any measurements taken of marks found on 
Richardson's neck. Testimony from a state pathologist last week indicated the 
marks were consistent with someone squeezing the victim's neck during her 
slaying.

Gray testified that, if measurements were taken, they would have been recorded 
by crime scene investigators.

Clark turned his focus on Thomas Owens, John Owens' uncle. The defendant was 
living with his uncle next door to Richardson's 2206 Bide-A-Wee Drive home.

Thomas Owens, who the defense team has targeted as a possible alternate suspect 
in the case, was also the person to report John Owens to investigators after he 
said he found Richardson's stolen property in his back yard and in his nephew's 
bedroom.

Clark pointed out that Thomas Owens touched the evidence even after a police 
officer had told him not to. The empty jewelry boxes, coins and other stolen 
items turned up on the patio the day after the murder - and after crime scene 
investigators had already searched that area with Owens' permission.

Gray testified that Thomas Owens and his cousin, Rodney Reyna, called 
investigators to the house after finding the evidence. He said the men told him 
they'd found the items laid out on John Owens' bed.

Both men testified last week, however, that they found the stolen items between 
the bed and the wall after Reyna moved the mattress from the wall to unplug a 
radio that John Owens had left on.

Gray told Clark that the trial is the 1st time either man had said anything 
about the radio.

Testimony turned to items of evidence that investigators were looking for 
during a search of the Owens house, including clothing that could hold trace 
evidence from the crime. Clark asked about several pairs of gloves found during 
the search, including cloth gloves and latex gloves.

Gray said none of the gloves, which Clark indicated could have been used during 
Richardson's strangulation, had been submitted to the lab to determine if the 
victim's DNA was on them.

Clark questioned the investigator about Thomas Owens' alibi for the night of 
the slaying, on which he told police he was shooting pool at Steve's Lounge. 
Gray said investigators did not question anyone at the bar to determine if 
Owens was there that night.

"Tommy wasn't a suspect," Gray said.

"He was never a suspect, was he?" Clark said.

"No sir, he was never a suspect," Gray responded.

Gray indicated that Thomas Owens was not considered a suspect because he had 
called police after finding the stolen items.

Clark brought up a man named James Jones, who alleges that he talked to Owens 
multiple times in the week before Richardson's murder about buying a gun from 
him. Though Jones is listed in court records as a witness in the case, he has 
not yet been called to the stand.

Jones' allegations could potentially back up Owens' claims that he burglarized 
Richardson's home several days before her murder.

The state rested its case around 2:30 p.m. The defense was anticipated to begin 
its presentation after a short break.

(source: al.com)

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

Man sentenced to death penalty, again


Jessie Livell Phillips has now been sentenced to death twice.

Marshall County Circuit Judge Tim Riley on Friday imposed the death sentence on 
Phillips after his convinction was upheld by the Alabama Court of Criminal 
Appeals in December.

Part of the court's ruling required Riley to re-sentence Phillips.

Phillips was convicted of killing his wife, Erica Phillips and her unborn child 
during a shooting at a car wash in Warrenton in 2009. Jessie and Erica were 
arguing in their vehicle when Phillips pulled out a gun and shot Erica in the 
head. A witness to the shooting called police.

He was convicted and sentenced in 2012.

"The judge re-imposed the death penalty today," District Attorney Steve 
Marshall told The Sand Mountain Reporter. "Part of the question the judge was 
dealing with was regarding a recent Supreme Court case that brought into 
question Alabama's system.

"The same Supreme Court case shut down Florida's system, and Alabama's is 
similar. That was the question today. He decided to not rule ours 
unconstitutional."

(source: The Arab Tribune)






LOUISIANA:

Struggling public defender's offices running head-on into Louisiana budget 
crisis


Poor people accused of crimes in Lafayette, Acadia and Vermilion parishes who 
are dependent upon court-appointed lawyers can forget about speedy trials, and 
those already slow-moving death penalty cases will grind to a crawl.

Both scenarios and more are probable if the tri-parish 15th Judicial District 
Public Defenders Office doesn't get an injection of cash soon, officials said 
Tuesday.

Such are some of the consequences of broke public defenders offices, where 
indigent defendants' constitutional right to a lawyer has run head-on into 
Louisiana's budget crisis.

Citing a lack of funds, the 15th District's chief public defender, G. Paul 
Marx, on Monday canceled the services of 26 criminal defense attorneys who had 
contracts with the office. Marx also laid off or accepted the resignations of 9 
attorneys and 2 social workers who were full-time employees. Those who kept 
their jobs were hit with a 20 % salary cut.

"How did this happen? We're going to have to look back at this for quite some 
time," Marx told the Louisiana Public Defender Board in a meeting Tuesday in 
Baton Rouge. "It's just a disaster."

Funding for public defenders offices across the state has been cut due to 
Louisiana's budget crisis - shortfalls of up to $900 million through June 30 
and $2 billion next year - and it hit Marx's 15th District office harder than 
most, though not all: The head of the state defender board said this week that 
Plaquemines Parish's program will shut down entirely.

"The dilemma we find ourselves in is unprecedented. I would say we're in a 
crisis setting," said Keith Stutes, district attorney for the 15th Judicial 
District.

Stutes said what's getting lost in the arguments over attorney pay and 
increased workloads is the plight of the defendants, who have the right to have 
their cases adjudicated. Now, he said, it looks like they'll sit in legal limbo 
until funding is found to pay for their defense.

And when their attorneys do return, there will be such a bubble in the justice 
pipeline, it could take years to work itself out, Stutes said.

In 2015 alone, the 15th Judicial District Public Defenders Office handled 
12,264 new cases. Of those, 7,555 were still on the 15th District Court docket 
at beginning of January, according to figures provided by the local defenders 
office. Marx's cost-cutting move this week followed one he made in January when 
he announced his office would postpone representing nonjailed defendants 
accused of misdemeanor crimes.

After this week's layoffs and contract cancellations, the local defenders 
office is left with 6 full-time attorneys, including Marx, and 11 Gideon's 
Promise Law School attorneys who do not charge the defenders office for their 
services. The remaining attorneys will concentrate on the most serious cases, 
and there will be at least one defender in Lafayette City Court.

Some of the longtime defense attorneys who worked on contract scratched their 
heads Tuesday, lamented the problems and questioned aloud what the loss of 
longtime attorneys will mean.

"There's something to be said about experienced lawyers and what they bring to 
the table for a defendant," said Valex Amos Jr., a criminal defense attorney 
for decades whose contract was canceled.

Amos, who has represented clients in 13 capital cases, said defendants in the 
15th District's 2 death penalty cases may have to be represented by attorneys 
with the New Orleans-based Capital Defense Project.

Thomas Alonzo, who also had his contract canceled, said Tuesday his 
representation of a Vermilion Parish defendant accused in the 2014 first-degree 
killing of a sheriff's deputy was unclear. In that case, Quintylan Richard and 
his alleged accomplice face the death penalty.

On Tuesday, both Amos and Alonzo continued to represent their clients at the 
Lafayette Parish Courthouse, even though they know they won't be paid.

"I can't just walk away," Amos said. He conceded he doesn't know how long he'll 
continue to help out free of charge.

Clare Svendson, who resigned from her defender job in Marx's office last week, 
said she has taken a job as a federal public defender in Lafayette.

"I hopefully saved someone else from being let go," she said.

Caitlin Graham kept her job in Marx's office. On Tuesday, she and Marx attended 
a rally at LSU before the state Public Defender Board met at the university's 
law school. She said her case load has doubled and her pay has dropped.

She also said the 15th District defenders office could face lawsuits because of 
the situation.

(source: The Advocate)