[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., VA., N.C., FLA., LA., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 27




TEXAS:

Suspect in guard's death appears in court----Billy Joel Tracy asks judge for 
the return of hot pot, noodles


A Texas inmate facing the death penalty in connection with the brutal beating 
death of a Telford Unit guard last year was in a Bowie County courtroom for a 
pretrial hearing Friday afternoon.

Billy Joel Tracy, 38, is accused of pummelling correctional officer Timothy 
Davison, 48, to death with a metal tray-slot bar July 15 during a routine 
transport between a recreational day room and a cell in administrative 
segregation at the Barry Telford Unit in New Boston, Texas. Last month Bowie 
County District Attorney Jerry Rochelle announced the state is seeking the 
death penalty for Tracy.

During that hearing, Tracy asked 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart about 
getting some packages of Ramen noodles and a "hot pot" returned to him that 
were confiscated along with all of his other personal belongings from his cell 
in Telford. The conversation again turned to Tracy's property at Friday's 
hearing. When Lockhart asked him about the items at Friday's hearing, Tracy 
said they were "stolen."

Tracy said he has received some property back, but not all. Mount Pleasant 
lawyer Mac Cobb, Tracy's lead defense attorney, said he has made inquiries 
concerning Tracy's personals, specifically a typewriter.

Two Texas Department of Criminal Justice correctional officers stood on either 
side of Tracy, each with a hand on the inmate's biceps, during the hearing. 
Tracy stood in a crisp white jumpsuit with "ad seg" printed in red capital 
letters on his back.

"One item of concern, there was a typewriter taken from his quarters at the 
prison," Cobb said. "Up until today, as far as the defense and Mr. Tracy are 
concerned, it was a mystery as to what happened to it. I understand it is in 
DPS (Department of Public Safety) custody being analyzed. The OIG (Office of 
Inspector General) hasn't provided a report yet. We may want to have our expert 
examine it."

Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp said she and others from her office as 
well as the defense are planning a visit to Telford to photograph and video the 
crime scene.

"This is going to disrupt the operations of the prison substantially, so we're 
(the state and defense) going together," Crisp said. "We're going to need an 
order to bring in outside cameras and video equipment."

The lawyers also discussed the state's ongoing effort to provide the defense 
with copies of or access to all evidence in the case. Crisp said her office is 
working with prison officials to acquire Tracy's medical and psychological 
records, as well as documents, autopsy photos and other materials to give to 
Cobb and Texarkana lawyer Jeff Harrelson, who is sitting second chair for the 
defense.

Tracy is being held at the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, approximately 
four hours from Texarkana. The distance makes it difficult for Cobb, Harrelson, 
the defense's investigator and mitigation expert to consult with Tracy. Crisp 
asked Lockhart if it would be possible for the court to pen an order directing 
TDCJ to move Tracy to the Coffield Unit in Tennessee Colony, Texas, which is 
slightly closer to Texarkana and Mount Pleasant. Rochelle said his office is 
concerned about the security of TDCJ staff.

"I still would defer to the decision making of TDCJ. They know best how to 
house this individual," Rochelle said. "But if they have the ability to house 
him where the defense has requested, the state has no objection."

Tracy has a long history of violence both in and out of prison. Tracy's prison 
history began in 1995 when he was just 18 and sentenced to a 3-year term for 
retaliation in Tarrant County. Three years later, in 1998, Tracy was sentenced 
to life with the possibility of parole, plus 20 years for burglary, aggravated 
assault and assault on a public servant in Rockwall County.

In 2005, Tracy received an additional 45-year term for stabbing a guard with a 
homemade weapon at a TDCJ unit in Amarillo. Tracy was sentenced to 10 years in 
2009 for attacking a guard at a TDCJ unit in Abilene.

Tracy's violent behavior toward prison staff led to his placement in 
administrative segregation where he is allowed out of his cell for an hour each 
day for recreation. Davison, who had less than a year of experience with TDCJ, 
was walking Tracy back to his cell in administrative segregation when Tracy 
allegedly managed to free one of his cuffed hands, grab Davison's tray-slot bar 
and use it like a baseball bat to beat him. Tray-slot bars are used to 
manipulate the rectangular opening in a cell door at mealtime at Telford and 1 
other Texas prison unit, according to prison sources.

Lockhart scheduled the case for another pretrial hearing April 1. If convicted 
of capital murder, Tracy faces life without the possibility of parole or the 
death penalty.

(source: Texarkana Gazette)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Death penalty: State-sanctioned murder


Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 as a result of the U.S. Supreme 
Court's Gregg v. Georgia ruling, 1,429 persons have been executed. Although 
African-Americans constitute only 13 % of America's population, they constitute 
35 % of those sentenced to death and killed, totaling 494.

By the way, of those 1,429 persons, 327 involved Blacks who had been convicted 
of murdering whites or whites who had been convicted of murdering Blacks. And 
guess what? Only 31 of the white defendants were executed, while 296 of the 
Blacks were. And strong evidence indicates that not all of those Blacks had 
committed those murders. That and several other reasons are why I call the 
death penalty "state-sanctioned murder."

Those who support the death penalty argue that it's a deterrent, that it's 
reasonable retribution, that certain killers deserve it, that it's religiously 
mandated, that it's the law, that it has procedural safeguards, and that it's 
founded on the fair notion of "an eye for an eye." Here are the reasons I 
reject all of that.

If it's based on deterrence, why is it that the South, which has the highest 
murder rate in the country, also has the most death penalty executions at 80 %, 
while the Northeast has the lowest murder rate but only one percent of the 
executions? And why do nearly 90 % of past and current presidents of the 
country's leading criminal law academic societies agree that it's not a 
deterrent.

If it's reasonable retribution, why do many, if not most, of the proponents 
constantly scream for revenge? Furthermore, aren't we- i.e., the civilized 
members of society- better than the sociopathic killers who kill to get their 
way? And isn't the notion of killing killers to show that killing is wrong 
rather hypocritical?

If certain killers deserve it, why don't all of those "certain" killers get it? 
Consider this: a person could commit a single capital-type murder in one of the 
31 states that has the death penalty and he or she would be executed. But 
another person (or that same person) could commit 10 capital-type murders in 1 
of the 19 states that does not have the death penalty and he or she could not 
be executed.

If it's religiously mandated (at least by the three faiths with the most 
adherents), how does a proponent justify the destruction of what God, Allah, 
Jehovah, etc. created? In other words, since we as humans can only procreate- 
and not create- how can the killing of the Creator's creation be justified, 
especially in light of the fact that such killing is not the result of the sort 
of on-the-spot deadly self-defense that is necessary in response to an imminent 
threat? And because the death penalty is not the result of such immediate 
self-defense, isn't an execution sinful for believers and unethical or immoral 
for non-believers?

If it's the law, wasn't slavery and Jim Crow the law? And wasn't the execution 
of kids the law until 2005 when the U.S. Supreme Court finally outlawed it? 
Moreover, wasn't the execution of 22 persons since 1976 for crimes they 
committed as children the law?

If there are procedural safeguards, why is it that since 1973, a total of 156 
factually innocent persons (including six in Pennsylvania) were arrested, 
charged, tried, found guilty, and sentenced to death with those sentences 
upheld many times on appeal? Why was it necessary for zealous and persistent 
defense attorneys- over the strenuous and repeated objections of the 
prosecutors- to fight nonstop to finally persuade some judges to reverse those 
sentences shortly before the scheduled executions? And during those attempts to 
persuade those judges, innocent men and women had spent decades in the living 
hell known as death row. What if those defense lawyers had not been so zealous? 
What if they had not been so persistent?

By the way, do the proponents deny the racism and the classism of capital 
punishment? If so, how do they explain the fact that 98 % of the chief District 
Attorneys in death penalty states are white and only 1 % Black? And why is it 
that while the poor constitute more than 15 % of the country's population, they 
are about 90 % of the death row population?

Finally, if it's founded on the fair notion of "an eye for an eye," which means 
we kill killers, then why don't we rob robbers or kidnap kidnappers? Even 
better, why don't we rape rapists? Yeah, that's it. In the very same way our 
tax dollars are used to pay a state employee to kill a convicted killer through 
lethal injection, why don't we hire and pay a state employee to rape a 
convicted rapist through sexual penetration? Savage, you say? Barbaric, you 
say? Uncivilized, you say? Exactly, I say- just as savage and as barbaric and 
as uncivilized as the death penalty.

Oh, I almost failed to mention why I call capital punishment "state sanctioned 
murder." Well, a governor approves it, so it's state action. And murder is 
defined as a premeditated (i.e., planned) and unjustified (i.e., done in the 
absence of an imminent threat to life or limb) killing, especially when a 
deadly weapon (i.e., lethal injection or electric chair or gas chamber or 
hangman's noose or firing squad) is used. Since the public is not legally 
permitted to murder, neither should the state governments be permitted to do 
so.

The words from David Walker's Appeal, written in 1829, and the words of 
Christopher James Perry Sr., founder of the Tribune in 1884, are the 
inspiration for my "Freedom???s Journal" columns. In order to honor that 
pivotal nationalist abolitionist and that pioneering newspaper giant, as well 
as to inspire today's Tribune readers, each column ends with Walker and Perry's 
combined quote- along with my inserted voice- as follows: I ask all Blacks "to 
procure a copy of this ... (weekly column) for it is designed ... particularly 
for them" so they can "make progress ... against (racist) injustice."

.(source: Commentary; Michael Coard; His "Radio Courtroom" show can be heard on 
WURD-900 AM----Philadelphia Tribune)






VIRGINIA----stay of impending execution

Ricky Gray's execution put on hold until Supreme Court weighs in


An order filed in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday put the March 
16 execution on hold until the Supreme Court could decide whether to intervene.

Gray was sentenced to death in connection with the 2006 New Year's Day 
quadruple murders of the Harvey family in Richmond. In December, he petitioned 
to have his death penalty case reviewed by all 15 federal appeals court judges 
in Richmond. He remains housed on death row at Sussex I State Prison.

Along with the legal maneuvering are concerns Virginia does not currently have 
all the drugs needed for a lethal injection. The Department of Corrections says 
it does not have the 1st drug needed, which can be Midazolam or Pentobarbital 
or Thiopental Sodium. Gray does have the option to select electrocution 
instead.

He was set to be executed at Greensville Correctional Center. At least 6 
citizens who are not Department of Correction employees must be present during 
an execution, with the method of death chosen by the inmate.

Alfredo R. Prieto was the last inmate put to death in Virginia, on Oct. 1, 
2015.

During that time, state officials had to acquire the lethal injection drugs 
from Texas. Jason Clark, the Director of Public Information with the Texas 
Department of Criminal Justice, stated there are no plans to provide lethal 
injection drugs to Virginia.

Clark pointed out that in 2013 the Virginia Department of Corrections gave his 
agency pentobarbital to use as a backup drug in an execution. His agency was 
approached in 2015 by Virginia officials and the Texas Department of Criminal 
Justice reciprocated, giving them three vials of pentobarbital.

According to the most recent reports from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a 
death row inmate waits an average of 137 months between sentencing and 
execution. Since 1977, Virginia has had 110 executions. 79 of those were done 
by lethal injection, 31 by electrocution. Under state law, the inmate must 
request electrocution, and can do so up until 15 days before the execution 
date.

Gray's death sentence was specifically for the murders of Stella and Ruby 
Harvey, daughters of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey, who were also killed with the 
help of Ray Dandridge. A week later, Percyell Tucker, his wife Mary and their 
daughter, Ashley Baskerville, who was an accomplice in the Harveys' murder, 
were also killed.

Dandridge is serving a life sentence.

(source: NBC news)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Prosecutors seek death penalty for man charged with witness' murder


A Wallace man will be tried for his life in the November 2014 slaying of a 
state's key witness in Duplin County.

The state's case against 37-year-old Nashid Porter will be pursued capitally 
following a Rule 24 hearing in Duplin County Superior Court on Thursday, 
according to District Attorney Ernie Lee, of North Carolina's Fourth Judicial 
District, which includes Duplin, Onslow, Jones and Sampson counties.

The Duplin County case was declared capital in the 1st-degree murder of 
27-year-old Obediah Hester IV, in that there is least 1 potential aggregating 
circumstance exists in the case pursuant to state law, Lee added. Along with 
the 1st-degree murder charge, Porter faces additional charges of possession of 
a firearm by a felon and discharging a weapon into occupied property causing 
serious bodily injury in Duplin County Superior Court, according to court 
records.

Hester was found dead near an abandoned trailer on Wards Road in Wallace on 
Nov. 14, 2014, just 2 months before he was set to take the stand as a state's 
witness in Porter's 1st-degree murder trial in the July 2012 fatal shooting of 
32-year-old Brian Theodus Grant in Wilmington. Porter was out on pre-trial 
release at the time of Hester's death, and was arrested by U.S. Marshals days 
later on a charge of 1st-degree murder. Prosecutors say Hester was a key 
witness for the state in Grant's murder.

Hester was shot 11 times, but the ultimate cause of his death was ruled to be 
from a blow to the head by a cinder block, according to Duplin County 
investigators. But before he was shot, Hester provided videotaped testimony in 
the Grant case, which prosecutors are seeking to introduce as evidence during 
Porter's 1st-degree murder trial in the July 2012 killing on May 31.

The 2012 case has since been moved from New Hanover County to Pender County, 
after a judge granted a defense motion to change venue. The May trial date is 
the 3rd trial date scheduled in the case, which has been delayed several times 
since Hester's death.

Porter has rejected a plea deal in both 1st-degree murder cases. In that deal, 
the State required Porter to plead guilty to both murder cases in exchange for 
2 life sentences without the possibility of parole, according to Assistant 
District Attorney Connie Jordan, a prosecutor for the 2012 murder case.

Porter is scheduled for a March hearing in Wilmington, where a judge will hear 
any outstanding motions in preparation for the trial in Pender County Superior 
Court at the end of May, according to Samantha Dooies, assistant to District 
Attorney Ben David. The judge will also address some representation issues with 
Porter's attorney, Chief Public Defender Jennifer Harjo. Harjo is the 2nd 
attorney to represent Porter in the 2012 murder case.

Porter is currently being held at the New Hanover County Jail without bond.

(source: Port City Daily)






FLORIDA:

Unanimous juries in death sentences


Florida's death penalty sentencing law is on track to get significantly better.

Just not good enough.

When the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 12 struck down Florida's capital sentencing 
system because it gives juries too little weight, the Legislature was forced to 
amend the law in order for executions to resume in the state. Although the 
court's ruling in Hurst v. Florida didn???t address the issue, bills in the 
House and Senate both seek to change the number of jurors required to agree on 
a death sentence.

It's a long overdue overhaul. Florida is 1 of just 3 states, along with Alabama 
and Delaware, that do not require a jury be unanimous on recommending the death 
penalty. However, Florida stands alone in allowing a simple majority of jurors 
(seven) to issue a death sentence.

Florida's unique position is both constitutionally and morally suspect, as it 
leaves so much room for doubt when handing down the ultimate penalty. Indeed, 
the Florida Supreme Court has cited legal precedent and the state's "outlier 
status" in urging the Legislature to re-examine the state's capital sentencing 
statute.

Hurst added urgency to that move. A bill in the Florida Senate would change the 
law to require jurors be unanimous in both finding a defendant eligible for the 
death penalty and in recommending the sentence be imposed. The original version 
of a similar bill filed in the House diverged from the Senate measure on the 
key issue of unanimity by requiring a supermajority of 9 jurors to recommend a 
death sentence.

Tuesday, however, the House bill was amended to bump that supermajority up to 
10 jurors, putting Florida's law on par with Alabama's. Some legal and 
political observers believe that is setting the stage for a compromise between 
the 2 chambers, and that the Senate bill eventually will abandon jury unanimity 
and adopt the House supermajority of 10.

Although that???s an improvement to the current system, it still allows 
sentencing to proceed despite doubt. There must be the highest level of 
certainty attainable when sentencing a convict to death, for a mistake cannot 
be undone if an innocent person is executed.

To be sure, adopting unanimity would lead to fewer death sentences. A study by 
the Harvard Law School found that requiring jury unanimity in Florida, Alabama 
and Delaware would have caused death sentences over the last 5 years to drop 
from 117 to 26 - a decrease of 77 %. Florida alone would have imposed 70 % 
fewer death verdicts.

The goal, however, should not be to put as many convicts on death row as 
possible. It should be to ensure the innocent are not wrongly convicted. To 
that end, the results of a recent Tampa Bay Times review of more than 450 death 
penalty cases dating back decades are chilling.

The Times found that prisoners who were sentenced to death based on 
non-unanimous jury recommendations were far more likely to have their cases 
overturned on direct appeal, or to be ultimately acquitted. Of the 20 people 
who have been exonerated and for whom sentencing information is available, 15 
were sent to death row by a divided jury.

Florida leads the nation in death row exonerations since 1976. That statistic 
alone demands a thorough review of the state's judicial system.

The Legislature, however, can install a powerful check against miscarriages of 
justice by requiring jury unanimity on death sentences, just as 29 other states 
have.

(source: Editorial, Ocala Star Banner)

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

Lawmakers move ahead with death penalty bill


The Florida Senate is moving ahead with a compromise bill to overhaul the 
state's death penalty law.

A Senate committee voted Thursday to approve a death penalty bill that would 
require at least 10 out of 12 jurors to recommend execution in order for it to 
be carried out.

The Senate originally wanted to require that all 12 jurors agree to a death 
sentence. But senators agreed to switch to 10 jurors as part of a compromise 
with the House. The bill (SB 7068) heads to the full Senate next. The House has 
already passed its version.

Some senators said they were opposed to the jury change and predicted Florida's 
death penalty law could come under scrutiny again.

The Legislature is rewriting the death penalty law after the U.S. Supreme Court 
ruled last month that the current method is unconstitutional.

(source: Associated Press)






LOUISIANA:

Death sentence in killing of Blanchard minister overturned for 2nd time


For the 2nd time, a death sentence meted out in the killing of a Blanchard 
minister has been overturned by the Louisiana Supreme Court.

In a brief released Friday, the court affirmed the 2012 conviction of Robert 
Glen Coleman in the 2003 killing of Julian L. Brandon, Jr. but overturned the 
resulting death sentence because Caddo prosecutors failed to timely notify the 
defense during the penalty phase of the trial of their intent to use evidence 
of other crimes committed by Coleman.

" ... the state purposefully misled the defendant concerning the evidence it 
intended to present at the penalty phase and gave defense counsel numerous 
assurances that its penalty phase evidence evidence and testimony would mimic 
what it presented at defendant's 1st trial," the court opined in its brief.

Coleman was first tried, convicted and sentenced to death in 2005. His 
girlfriend Brandy Holmes also was tried, convicted and sentenced to death for 
her part in the brutal killing of 70-year-old Brandon in his Blanchard home on 
New Year's Day. Brandon's 68-year-old wife, Alice, also was gravely injured but 
survived. Her injuries left her severely debilitated until her death in 2008. 
Coleman's conviction was overturned in 2007 after the court found trial error 
because prosecutors discriminated against prospective jurors based on race.

At issue is evidence implicating Coleman in the death of Shreveport resident 
Terrance Blaze in January 2003 sometime near the killing of Brandon. Coleman 
was never charged in the case involving Blaze.

During the penalty phase of Coleman's 2nd trial in the Brandon killing, 
prosecutors suggested in their opening statement that Blaze "was shot in the 
back of the head" by Coleman. The court found that while prosecutors had given 
sufficient pre-trial notice of their intent to prove Coleman's involvement in 
the crime, they had not fairly notified the defense of their intent to say 
Coleman was in fact the killer.

In concurring with the court's decision, Justice Jeanette Knoll separately 
wrote to "emphasize how critical it is for the State to be forthright and 
prompt when giving notice of its intent to use 'other crimes' evidence during 
the guilt phase of a capital trial."

"Given the grave and final nature of capital punishment and the precious 
resources the people of this State dedicate to ensuring justice is done in 
these most serious cases, the State's unreasonable delay in giving notice 
concerning such as crucial piece of evidence is indefensible," Knoll wrote. 
"This practice tends to inject gamesmanship into the proceedings which we will 
not tolerate."

In dissent, Justice John L. Weimer argued that because the defense did not 
raise an objection to the prosecution's statement during the penalty phase, 
Coleman did not have a claim on appeal.

The court remanded the case back to district court for a new sentencing 
hearing. Holmes, whose sentence was affirmed by the court and has lost 
subsequent appeals, remains 1 of 2 women on Louisiana's death row.

(source: Shreveport Times)






ARKANSAS:

Jail phone recordings subpoenaed in murder case


A subpoena has been issued by an attorney for 1 of 3 codefendants in the Don 
and LaDonna Rice Rice murder case. An attorney for 20-year-old Mikayla Mynk has 
subpoenaed recorded phone calls her codefendant, 24-year-old Gassville resident 
Nicholas Ian Roos made from a Baxter County jail phone.

The subpoena compels Securus Technologies, the company that provides phone 
service for inmates, to turn over "Baxter County Detention Center Facility 
inmate phone calls and recordings made by inmate Nicholas Roos," to Mynk's 
defense team or bring them to court on March 17.

Roos, Mynk, and their codefendant, 23-year-old Mountain Home resident Zack 
Grayham all face 2 counts of capital murder and several other felony charges in 
connections with the death of the Midway couple, the fires that burned their 
home and truck as well as theft and burglary charges.

All 3 have entered not guilty pleas.

Baxter County Prosecuting Attorney David Ethredge announced earlier that the 
state will be seeking the death penalty for all 3 defendants in the alleged 
capital murders of Midway husband and wife Donald, 75, and Ladonna Rice, 71, 
who died Nov 7. Defendants found guilty of capital murder face only 2 potential 
penalties in Arkansas, death or life in prison without parole.

The couple's home was burned and authorities later found their truck burned at 
a different location. Their bodies were discovered in the rubble of their burnt 
home.

During the most recent hearing regarding the murder case, Baxter County Circuit 
Court Judge Gordon Webb announced the affidavits in the case will remain 
sealed. The affidavits contain the information investigators compiled to charge 
the 3 defendants and also describe the items seized by authorities during the 
execution of a search warrant related to the case.

Attorneys for Roos earlier filed a motion "to enter an order prohibiting the 
state, or any of its agents, latent or patent, from attempting to elicit 
information, evidence or statements from defendant by double-celling or other 
means."

The motion asks the court to prevent the state from using "agents" to gather 
information from Roos through covert or overt means. Double-celling is when 
authorities place a 2nd prisoner in a cell with another prisoner.

On December 30, Baxter County Circuit Court Judge Gordon Webb granted the 
motion filed on behalf of Roos. What impact the granting of that motion may or 
may not have on the ability of Mynk's attorneys to compel the disclosure of any 
phone calls or recordings of phone calls made by Roos remains to be seen.

(source: Baxter Bulletin)