[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., OKLA., MINN., WYO., UTAH, IDAHO, CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 27




MISSOURI:

Death penalty challenge heard in Adriaunna Horton murder


A judge heard testimony Friday on defense motions challenging the 
constitutionality of the state's death penalty and seeking dismissal of the 
prosecution's notice of intent to seek the measure in the upcoming trial of 
Bobby Bourne Jr.

Bourne, 36, is charged with the 2013 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old 
Adriaunna Horton, of Golden City, with a trial currently set for July.

Thomas Jacquinot, a capital murder case attorney with the state public 
defender's office, filed the motions regarding the state's intent to seek the 
death penalty in Bourne's case to lay the groundwork for a possible appeal on 
constitutional grounds should his client be convicted at trial and condemned to 
die.

Circuit Judge James Journey had indicated at a hearing in October that he does 
not believe he has the authority as trial judge to be overturning what higher 
courts have determined is the law but agreed to hear testimony and arguments on 
the issue. At the end of Friday's hearing, he told attorneys that they could 
expect his ruling on the motions soon.

Jacquinot called Wanda Foglia, a professor of law and criminal justice studies 
at Rowan University in New Jersey, as the lone witness to testify at the 
hearing. An investigator with the Capital Jury Project, a 14-state study funded 
by the National Science Foundation, she presented seven critical findings of 
the project that surveyed 1,198 people who served as jurors in both the guilt 
and punishment phases of capital murder trials.

The study's critical findings were:

-- About 1/2 the jurors acknowledged having made decisions on punishment of 
defendants during the guilt phase and before hearing any testimony or evidence 
in the punishment phase.

-- Jury selection fails to remove "automatic" death penalty jurors, or those 
who feel it is "the only acceptable punishment" for the type of murder case 
they are hearing. More than half the jurors considered it the only acceptable 
punishment for defendants with prior murder convictions, for premeditated 
murders and for murders with multiple victims.

-- Capital jurors displayed significant rates of failure to understand jury 
instructions.

-- Significant numbers of jurors hold erroneous beliefs regarding the death 
penalty being mandatory in certain cases. In Missouri, 48.3 % of the jurors 
surveyed believed it was mandatory if the defendant's conduct was proved to be 
"heinous, vile or depraved," and 29.3 % believed it was required if the 
defendant could be shown to pose a future danger to others. The Supreme Court 
has ruled that there are no mandatory requirements of the death penalty.

-- There is a failure among capital jurors to understand that the primary 
responsibility for sentencing rests with them.

-- A strong influence of race on the process. Defendants are more likely to 
receive the death penalty if the victim is white and chances are highest when 
the victim is white and the defendant is black.

-- Jurors tend not to believe that a sentence of life without parole, the only 
other sentence possible in capital murder cases in Missouri, actually means 
life without parole.

Foglia said that in Missouri cases, 46 % of jurors were deciding in favor of 
the death penalty in the guilt phase of the trial. Jurors who took premature 
stances were more likely to believe the defendant was guilty, to think the 
death penalty was the only acceptable punishment and to have inappropriate 
discussions of their penalty inclinations during deliberations in the guilt 
phase.

She said the jury qualification process itself in capital murder cases creates 
a bias unfavorable to defendants in that it makes jurors more likely to think 
the defendant is guilty and deserves the death penalty. She said 11.3 % of the 
jurors surveyed nationwide acknowledged that the process made them more likely 
to convict the defendant.

Yet another problem lies in jury instructions, she said.

"Over and over again, we are finding that jurors are not understanding how they 
are to handle mitigating and aggravating circumstances (presented in the 
punishment phase)," Foglia told the court.

Nationwide, 44.6 % of jurors did not realize they could consider any mitigating 
circumstances and 66.5 % thought jurors had to reach unanimous agreement on any 
mitigating evidence. She said 49.2 % erroneously believed mitigating factors 
had to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt while 29.9 % did not know that 
aggravating evidence did have to be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

Kevin Zoellner, the assistant attorney general prosecuting the case, 
cross-examined Foglia regarding the impact of project interviewers' own views 
of the death penalty on the results they obtained as well as the effect of the 
length of time after the trial on jurors' ability to recall the instructions 
they received or what they were told was the law.

Both sides agreed that in the Bourne case, race is not a potential factor.

Impact

An expert witness for accused child murderer Bobby Bourne Jr. told the case's 
trial judge Friday that 14 studies show that on the average the process of 
juror qualification in death penalty cases increases the chances of conviction 
by 44 %.

(source: The Joplin Globe)






OKLAHOMA:

Death penalty: Will it stay or will it go?


The stayed execution of an Oklahoma man spurred a larger discussion in the U.S. 
Supreme Court about tinkering with the death penalty, according to an assistant 
federal public defender who spoke at Enid Noon AMBUCS Friday.

Richard Glossip was scheduled to be executed in 2015, but was not due to 
several issues. Glossip is on Oklahoma's death row for his alleged role in the 
murder of Barry Van Treese in 1997.

"There is no question there was another person who beat the hotel owner 
(Treese) to death," said Patti Ghezzi, assistant federal public offender.

She said another man pleaded guilty to killing Treese and in return for naming 
Glossip, the man got life without parole while Glossip got the death penalty.

Ghezzi was one of the many people who filed an action in federal court that 
challenged the constitutionality of the lethal injection protocol in Oklahoma.

"We argued in the Supreme Court and they ruled 5-4 against clients but they 
launched a full review into the death penalty," she said.

"We thought the case was about the method of execution, but in retrospect, it 
was almost as if the argument was between members of the court," Ghezzi said, a 
Cherokee native.

The case called for a full briefing on whether the time came to abolish the 
death penalty, she said.

The death penalty has a long history, with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in one 
case, Furman v. Georgia, in 1972, that individuals required a consistency in 
the application of the death penalty.

Nearly 40 year later, many states were forced to redo statutes on the death 
penalty.

At that time, Ghezzi said Oklahoma had to go back to the drawing board. The 
state modeled its death penalty after the one used in Texas, she said.

Since 1976, Texas has executed 534 people, making it No. 1 in the nation for 
executions. Oklahoma is runner-up, Ghezzi said, with 112 executions.

In the case pertaining to Glossip, Ghezzi said, Supreme Court Justice Stephen 
Breyer called the death penalty cruel and unusual punishment. Glossip's case 
had several issues, she said, including lack of reliability, death penalty has 
been wrongfully imposed, egregiousness versus other factors and constitutional 
difficulties.

Breyer cited 4 death penalty cases in which people were wrongfully executed, 
she said. Another factor is the lengthy delay of an execution.

"Only 73 people were sentenced to death in 2014," Ghezzi said. "7 states 
carried out an execution in 1999 and 98 executions were carried out. 19 states 
have abolished the death penalty and 9 of those occurred after Furman v. 
Georgia. 11 states have not executed any one for more than 8 years."

Today, Oklahoma has 50 people on death row.

Ghezzi said the counter argument is that the death penalty should be left up to 
states.

"It should be left up to the people who elect the legislators who can make that 
decision," she said.

Former Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the Constitution explicitly included 
capital punishment.

"I used the word tinker because that was what was said, 'I will no longer 
tinker with the machinery of death,'" Ghezzi said, quoting a former justice. "I 
think the Glossip case has people thinking and I think that's always a good 
thing."

Without a successor for Scalia, whom Ghezzi said she doubts will get appointed 
before President Barack Obama leaves office, the issue is in a delicate 
balance.

"It all depends on who gets appointed," she said, and then she quoted a Mark 
Anderson comic. "Chances are that it's a 50-50 total crapshoot but it could go 
either way."

Calling it quite an experience arguing before the Supreme Court, the Cherokee 
native said it's something she doesn't really ever want to go through again.

(source: Enid News)






MINNESOTA:

BSM student jurors decide no death penalty for Jesus


In a mock trial that simulated the legal system in Texas, student jurors at 
Benilde-St. Margaret's High School in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, chose 
overwhelmingly to spare Jesus Christ from the death penalty.

"It was a pretty good day for Jesus, overall," prosecuting attorney Mark Osler 
concluded at the end of "Jesus on Death Row: The Trial of Jesus and American 
Capital Punishment" Feb. 25.

Osler, author of a book of the same title, is a law professor at the University 
of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and has conducted similar simulated trials in 11 
states, but never before at a high school.

Just as in a regular trial, members of the junior class at the suburban 
Minneapolis school who acted as jurors received instructions in the law from a 
judge - in this case an actual judge, Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David 
Lillehaug.

They heard opening arguments, listened as "witnesses" testified and were 
cross-examined, and heard attorneys' closing arguments, with Osler as the 
prosecutor and Hank Shea, a veteran attorney who also teaches at St. Thomas Law 
School, as defense counsel. BSM alum Annie Rondoni-Tavernier also served as 
counsel for the defense.

Staging the program at BSM was the idea of religion teacher Claire Shea, Hank's 
daughter.

"We study morality in our religion classes," she said, "so it's so important to 
get situations in front of students where they have to apply morality.

"Students are going to face moral questions in real life, tough questions, so 
this is a good model to get them to deal with those kinds of questions."

Osler explained that, for the purposes of the program, the first part of the 
Texas death penalty law was being skipped; in that portion of the proceedings, 
Jesus was found guilty of blasphemy, a capital offense, and of aggravating 
factors.

The 2nd part of the law in Texas - the state with by far the highest number of 
executions both within the past 5 year and over the last 40 - requires juries 
to determine, 1st, if there is a probability that, if not executed, the 
defendant would be a continuing threat to society, and 2nd, if the death 
sentence is still warranted despite any mitigating circumstances. Minnesota 
does not have the death penalty.

Passages from the gospels were used to elicit testimony about Jesus' 
extraordinary power (walking on water), his ability to draw masses of people 
and for violence to be committed on his behalf (when Peter cut off the ear of 
the high priest's servant).

Jesus' words were turned against him, and testimony elicited to show that him a 
threat to the economy and society by calling disciples away from their jobs and 
families.

Questioned by the defense, witnesses - Simon Peter and his wife, a centurion, 
and the woman Jesus saved from stoning - told of Jesus' history of love, 
healing, forgiveness and his respect for Roman law ("Render unto Caesar what is 
Caesar's").

Divided into traditional jury groups of 12, students deliberated then were 
asked for their verdicts.

Nearly 2/3 of the 16 groups dismissed the death penalty for Jesus outright, 
deciding he did not pose a continuing threat to society. Most other "juries" 
said he did pose a continuing threat, but they either decided there were 
mitigating circumstances that precluded Jesus' execution or the jurors failed 
to reach the mandatory unanimous decision to apply the death penalty.

Of the 16, only one group of student jurors voted that the death penalty was 
warranted for Jesus.

Benilde-St. Margaret's principal Susan Skinner called the trial a wonderful 
educational opportunity to approach faith from a different perspective. "It's 
an opportunity for our students to think critically and make the connection 
between the intellectual and the heart of faith," she said. From a faith 
formation perspective, Claire Shea said it is sometimes easy to forget Jesus 
was a person with human emotions.

"As a religion teacher, when we talk about the need to know Jesus, we can more 
easily find that relationship and that connection when we see him as human," 
she said. "I hope to inspire that more."

(source: thecatholicspirit.com)






WYOMING:

WSP inmate charged with attempted murder of prison guard


A Wyoming State Penitentiary inmate was charged Thursday with the attempted 
murder of a prison guard stemming from a stabbing that allegedly occurred in 
September.

Khristopher Crandall, 28, faces felony charges of attempted 1st-degree murder, 
aggravated assault and battery and interference with a police officer for the 
alleged Sept. 18 attack on Sgt. Mark Viau.

Crandall's attempted murder charge carries a maximum penalty of death, or life 
in prison. His other charges are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

According to a Carbon County Sheriff's Office affidavit, Deputy Tom Lakia was 
notified at 10:05 a.m. Sept. 18 that there had been an assault on a staff 
member at the prison.

The affidavit stated Viau was stabbed "at least" 10 to 15 times, but the stab 
vest he was wearing absorbed the blows. Corrections Officer Zachary Bronum 
arrived and assisted Viau in trying to restrain and disarm Crandall.

Viau told police that Crandall had been handcuffed behind his back so that Viau 
could inspect his cell, 204, in the E unit of Pod 1.

Crandall was at the rear cell when Viau lifted the mattress and allegedly 
discovered a shank, the affidavit stated. Crandall allegedly "made a move as if 
to reach for it" and Viau pinned him to the bed. Crandall then allegedly 
reached around his back and began to use another shank he had apparently hidden 
to stab Viau while still in handcuffs.

At the Memorial Hospital of Carbon County, Viau had a 2- to 3-inch scratch 
under his left pectoral and a 1-inch scratch on his right elbow.

Viau delivered "at least 2 closed fist blows to Crandall's face," who "fell to 
the floor, dropping the shank," the affidavit stated.

Viau said he feared for his life during the encounter. He also told police he 
had found inmate-created "hooch" 2 or 3 times previously on Crandall.

Viau was cleared by medical staff and returned to work a day later.

The shanks were allegedly 11 and 3/4 inches and 9 inches in length.

Crandall refused to speak with police, but injuries were observed around his 
left eye, the affidavit stated.

According to the affidavit, video shows Crandall being escorted from his cell 
in a restraint chair to various areas of the facility to receive a medical 
check and get moved to another cell after the confrontation.

While being checked by medical staff, Crandall allegedly said he targeted Viau 
because he was the "only one who (expletive) with me."

Crandall also, while under constant watch, allegedly said "administration is 
(expletive) with me, so this is what they get."

Calls to the WSP and Department of Corrections for more information were not 
returned.

(source: Rawlins Daily Times)






UTAH:

Bill to repeal death penalty in Utah passes Senate committee


A bill to repeal the death penalty in Utah has taken its first step by clearing 
a judiciary committee and moving to the full Senate.

Sponsored by Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, SB 189 would remove the 
punishment for 1st-degree felony aggravated murder within the state beginning 
May 10, 2016. Only crimes in which the death penalty has been handed down as a 
judgment prior to that date would move forward to execution. Capital cases 
currently being prosecuted would not be affected.

There are currently 9 inmates on death row in Utah.

The bill passed the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice 
Committee in a 5-2 vote Tuesday with a favorable recommendation.

According to the Associated Press, Urquhart said his bill may be a long shot in 
conservative Utah, yet he hopes arguments about the cost related to the death 
penalty, among other concerns, helps garner support for repealing it.

"The reality is we don't have a death penalty, we're just spending an awful 
amount of money so that these people can become famous and thumb their noses at 
the families of the victims," Urquhart said after introducing the legislation 
earlier this month, according to Fox 13 News.

According to fiscal notes related to the bill, it costs the state up to $1.6 
million annually for each individual inmate on death row. With 9 inmates facing 
capital punishment, the overall cost to the state goes up to around $14.4 
million a year.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah supports the measure. "Life in 
prison is a far better alternative to the death penalty," the ACLU of Utah 
stated on its website. "It is a severe sentence that both keeps us safe and 
protects against wrongful executions. It is a swift sentence which is often 
preferred by victims' families over the years of mandatory appeals associated 
with death sentences."

Objections to the death penalty have also included concerns over botched 
executions and wrongful convictions.

"Government shouldn't be in the business of killing," Urquhart said, according 
to the Associated Press. "It's not our place. It's wrong for us to assume that 
because we aren't infallible."

Republican Sen. Mark Madsen supports the legislation for the same reason. He 
was among the committee members who voted to push the bill forward.

"If I knew they were guilty, I would have no moral compunction whatsoever 
pulling the trigger, pulling the switch, whatever it is, but I don't have that 
level of confidence in government," he said, according to the Associated Press. 
"It's an irreversible error."

2 Republicans voting against the measure said they think Utah needs to keep the 
option out of respect of the family members of victims and as an added measure 
of justice against horrific crimes.

Other supporters of the death penalty include Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, who 
sponsored legislation last year that made the firing squad a viable alternative 
to lethal injection if the drugs needed are not available.

"Sometimes capital punishment is more than a deterrent, it's justice," Ray told 
Fox 13 News. "And sometimes for a family to have closure, that's the type of 
justice we need."

This year Ray is sponsoring legislation that would add human trafficking to the 
list offenses punishable by death should the victim involved die.

Whether or not Urquhart's bill survives the Senate floor remains to be seen.

Last October, during his monthly news conference on KUED, Gov. Gary Herbert 
said he supported the death penalty. He also said he believes the majority of 
Utahns support the death penalty as well. However, the governor said his own 
support of capital punishment has certain parameters.

"It should be extremely rare and be done for the most heinous of crimes," 
Herbert said.

"Secondly, the process should be in fact, streamlined," the governor said. "It 
is not right to have someone on death row for 20, 25, 30 years. Justice delayed 
is justice denied."

3 of the 9 death-row inmates in Utah have been there for 30 years. Utah is 
currently 1 of 31 states where the death penalty remains on the books.

(source: St. George News)






IDAHO:

Prosecutor: Extension on Death Penalty Decision for Jacob Marshall Likely Last


A judge has granted an extension for County Prosecutor Grant Loebs to decide 
whether to seek the death penalty against Jacob Lyn Marshall.

"The defense attorneys and the state both agreed and the judge signed the order 
this morning," Loebs said Friday of the month-long extension.

Marshall, 20, of Twin Falls is charged with 6 felonies including murder and 
conspiracy to commit murder in the July 25 slaying of Kent Storrer. Marshall 
and Jerry Burton Kimball, 22, are accused of murdering Storrer after meeting up 
with him to test-drive a car his son-in-law was selling.

The deadline whether to seek the death penalty was due Monday but is now 
scheduled for March 31.

"I think this will probably be the last (extension)," Loebs said.

Marshall waived his right to a speedy trial in October the same time his 
defense attorney asked for an initial extension on the deadline. The new date 
was set for Dec. 31, but as the end of the year neared, the deadline was pushed 
back a 2nd time to Feb. 29.

Earlier in the week, defense lawyers provided Loebs with a long report 
containing hundreds of pages of supplemental reports. It???s now up to Loebs to 
use that and the information he gathers on his own to make a final decision.

"I have a huge volume of information to sift through," Loebs said earlier this 
week.

The prosecutor has been meeting with the victim's family throughout this 
process, and he'll meet with them more before making a decision, he said. He'll 
also consult psychiatric and other experts.

Kimball, who also faces 6 felonies including a 1st-degree murder count, is not 
facing the death penalty. Kimball was described by prosecutors as a willing 
accomplice, but prosecutors say it was Marshall who fired the AR-15 rifle that 
killed Storrer and wounded Storrer's son-in-law Jasper Qualls.

But Kimball and his lawyers are waiting for the death-penalty decision in 
Marshall's case before proceeding with their case, Loebs said last month.

If the prosecutor does seek the death penalty, Marshall will be entitled to 2 
defense attorneys who both meet specific qualifications for defending 
death-penalty cases. Twin Falls County Chief Public Defender Marilyn Paul, who 
is Marshall's attorney, meets those qualifications.

If a jury convicts a defendant in a death-penalty case, it essentially becomes 
a 2-part trial, with a conviction phase and a penalty phase, Loebs said.

During the penalty portion of the trial, the same jury that convicted a 
defendant would have to make 2 decisions. First, they must decide if there was 
an aggravating factor - this could be a murder of multiple people, a murder 
committed in a cruel way or a murder committed with utter disregard for life, 
among other things.

If the jury finds there is no aggravating factor, the possibility of the death 
penalty is thrown out. But if the jury decides there is an aggravating factor, 
they would then hear mitigating evidence, such as the defendant's mental health 
at the time of the crime and other background information that may have 
influenced the crime.

Once that evidence is presented, the jury would have to decide if the 
aggravating factor outweighs the mitigating factors. If the jury decided it did 
outweigh the mitigating factors, then the defendant would be placed on death 
row.

"All of that has to happen before you get the death penalty," Loebs said. "Then 
there's an automatic appeal."

The type of delay granted by Judge Richard Bevan on Friday is normal in these 
types of cases, Loebs said last month.

"The courts are usually pretty good about allowing that, because this is a big 
decision."

(source: magicvalley.com)






CALIFORNIA:

Jury recommends death for man convicted of bakery murder


San Bernardino County jurors have recommended the death penalty for a man 
convicted of the rape and murder of a woman at a bakery in Fontana more than a 
decade ago.

The district attorney's office said Thursday that a jury recommended the death 
sentence for 54-year-old Gilbert Sanchez of Montebello.

Jurors convicted Sanchez in November of the 2001 rape and murder of 30-year-old 
Sylvia Galindo at a bakery in Fontana.

A sentencing hearing for Sanchez has been scheduled for May 27.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Still no plea from Vallejo teenager accused of fatal Fairfield mall attack


A Vallejo teenager accused of 2 violent robberies, 1 of them proving to be 
fatal, was back in court Friday where his defense counsel indicated he will 
challenge an enhancement to a murder charge that could make his client eligible 
for the death penalty if convicted.

William David King appeared a 2nd time in Solano County Superior Court since 
his Feb. 3 arrest on suspicion of using a baseball bat to rob a 63-year-old 
Suisun City woman and a hammer to assault and rob a 37-year-old Vallejo woman 
the day prior.

Cheryl Ann Sherwood, who was allegedly struck multiple times by a baseball 
bat-wielding King in the Solano Town Center shopping mall parking lot, died 
from injuries sustained in the attack Feb. 5.

Solano County prosecutors followed up by filing charges of premeditated 
attempted murder and robbery carrying enhancements for the infliction of great 
bodily injury and the use of a hammer in connection with the Vallejo attack. 
King, 19, is additionally charged with murder with special circumstances 
alleging a murder was committed during the course of a robbery and lying in 
wait.

The special circumstance allegations could make him eligible for the death 
penalty.

It is the lying in wait allegation that Vallejo criminal defense attorney Dan 
Russo said he would challenge in a legal filing.

"We're still trying to figure it out," Russo said Friday.

As Russo explained, King has no prior criminal record.

"None of this makes sense," he said.

King has yet to enter a plea to the charges and was ordered back to court March 
14 to complete the arraignment.

On Feb. 2, Christine Joens had just exited a Tennessee Street bank in Vallejo 
when she was struck multiple times in the head with a hammer. The following 
morning Sherwood was assaulted with a baseball bat in Fairfield before being 
robbed.

King was arrested by Vallejo police that afternoon following a traffic stop. 
Sherwood's purse was allegedly recovered during the traffic stop, according to 
police.

Vallejo police indicate King confessed to at least 1 of the alleged robberies.

Hundreds showed up in support of Sherwood on week ago in Fairfield during a 
celebration of her life. She was a longtime oncology nurse for Kaiser 
Permanente.

Sherwood was remembered as a compassionate woman who went to great lengths to 
care for patients, strangers and animals.

King remains in Solano County Jail without bail. His case has been assigned to 
the Fairfield courtroom of Judge Peter B. Foor.

(source: Fairfield Daily Republic)

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

Other countries have seen death penalty's problems


Re "Is it time to put an end to the death penalty in California?" (Feb. 8):

I am opposed to the death penalty. At a moral level, it is wrong for the state 
to kill a person held in its custody. In the name of the people, the state 
cannot condemn killing by killing itself.

Instead, the state can demonstrate that killing is wrong by punishing a 
convicted killer with life in prison without the possibility of parole, which 
California has used in over 3,000 situations without anyone ever being 
released.

Beyond the moral dimension, the death penalty system is deeply flawed. It is 
riddled with errors. Over 150 innocent people have been condemned to death due 
to mistakes by the police, prosecutors, expert witnesses, defense lawyers, 
judges and juries.

People of color are sentenced to death out of proportion to their share of the 
population due to prejudice and racism in our society. Poor people cannot 
afford adequate defense lawyers, investigators and expert witnesses.

Independent studies have shown that the death penalty doesn't deter crimes; 
states with the death penalty have higher crime rates than states without it.

Also, the death penalty system costs millions of dollars more than life without 
parole due to expensive trial procedures, lengthy appeals and higher prison 
security costs.

The death penalty is a dysfunctional system. That's why the vast number of 
countries around the world have ended it. Once it's abolished, we will no 
longer risk executing innocent people and can devote the $150 million in annual 
savings toward crime prevention, education, literacy, housing, employment and 
other programs that have a proven record of reducing crime and helping create a 
better and safer society.

Stephen F. Rohde, Los Angeles

(source: Letter to the Editor, Daily Breeze)

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

Which California counties hand down the most death sentences?


It's been a decade since California last executed a murderer. In the years 
since, more than 190 California criminals have been sentenced to death.

The sentences have not been uniformly distributed. Some counties have stopped 
or mostly stopped sending murderers to death row at San Quentin State Prison. 
Others still condemn prisoners with relative frequency.

It's unclear whether these criminals will ever be executed. California halted 
executions in 2006 following a court order related to whether the state's drug 
protocol constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. State officials have worked 
to resolve that question. Late last year, they unveiled a new lethal injection 
method that for the 1st time in state history calls for the use of only 1 drug 
to execute inmates.

See death sentences by county across California. sacbee.com/datatracker

Proponents for competing ballot initiatives - one that would speed up the 
process for executions, and one that would abolish the death penalty - are 
collecting signatures for the November ballot.

Since the state's last execution in January 2006, more than 50 death row 
inmates have died from natural causes, suicide or other causes. About 750 
inmates remain on death row.

The state Department of Justice does not publish murder convictions by county. 
So The Sacramento Bee did its analysis by comparing arrests for willful 
homicides from 2005-2014 to death sentences meted out from 2006-2015. The 
comparison isn't perfect: Criminal cases can lag arrests by more than a year; 
not all arrests lead to charges; and not all criminals arrested for willful 
homicide are eligible for the death penalty.

Among large communities, Riverside County emerged as the outlier in the 
analysis, condemning murderers to death row at more than 5 times the statewide 
rate during the last 10 years. About 6 % of murder arrests in Riverside County 
resulted in a sentence of death during that time. By comparison, about 1.1 % of 
murder arrests statewide resulted in a sentence of death over that same period.

Orange County condemned murderers to death row at more than twice the statewide 
rate. Together, Orange and Riverside counties account for 14 % of the state's 
population but 34 % of criminals condemned to death in the last decade.

On the other end of the spectrum, Fresno County saw 555 murder arrests in the 
last decade, and 1 murderer condemned to death. None of the roughly 350 murder 
arrests in San Francisco in that period resulted in a sentence of death.

(source: Fresno Bee)






USA:

Death penalty itself to go on trial in VT


The Federal Death Penalty Act will go on trial this summer in Vermont as 
lawyers involved in the long-running kidnapping and murder case of Donald Fell 
plan to square off about whether capital punishment is constitutional.

The 2-week proceeding would mark the 2nd time in the almost 16-year case that 
defense lawyers have targeted the federal death penalty as unconstitutional. 
Fell, 35, is charged with abducting North Clarendon grandmother Terri King, 53, 
as she arrived to work in Rutland in November 2000, then beating her to death 
in upstate New York as she prayed for her life.

The 1st time around, a trial-court judge in Burlington ruled the death penalty 
was unconstitutional. But an appeals court reversed the decision.

In an order this month, U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford said there was 
"strong disagreement" in "judicial and scholarly" circles about the legality of 
the death penalty.

At a 90-minute hearing Friday in federal court in Burlington, Crawford said the 
proceeding regarding the death penalty most likely will take place in July, and 
he would allocate up to 2 weeks for arguments from defense lawyers and 
government prosecutors. Each side will call witnesses to testify about the 
law's constitutionality.

Fell's lawyers filed motions in November opposing the death penalty for several 
reasons, saying the law is unreliable, arbitrary and adds "unconscionably long" 
delays in cases. They also said capital punishment violates the Constitution's 
Fifth Amendment and 10th Amendment.

Vermont has no death penalty, but Fell is charged under federal law. He was 
convicted and sentenced to death in 2005, but the verdict was overturned due to 
juror misconduct.

Defense lawyers have challenged the death penalty many times without a finding 
that it is unconstitutional. In 2002, Judge William K. Sessions III, then 
presiding over the Fell case, heard arguments from lawyers during a 1-day 
hearing about whether to throw out the death penalty. A month later, Sessions 
declared the Federal Death Penalty Act unconstitutional.

The appeal that followed took nearly 2 years before the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court 
of Appeals overturned Sessions' ruling and allowed the Fell trial to go forward 
with the death penalty back on the table.

Federal prosecutor Bruce Hegyi said Friday that a 2-week hearing on the Federal 
Death Penalty Act would be nearly unprecedented.

King's family members have remained vocal about their support of Fell's being 
put to death if he is convicted again. Outside court Friday, relatives said 
they believe the judge will find the death penalty constitutional.

The authorities say Fell and an accomplice kidnapped King in Rutland in 
November 2000, stole her car and drove her to New York before chasing her 
through a field and killing her, prosecutors have said.

Fell and accomplice Robert Lee were fleeing the double killing of Fell's 
mother, Debra, and her companion Charles Conway in a Rutland apartment, the 
government alleges. No charges were filed in state or federal court related to 
those slayings.

Fell has pleaded not guilty. Lee later killed himself in prison.

Fell was convicted in 2005 of killing King and was sentenced to death, but the 
conviction was overturned last year when Sessions ruled that "egregious" juror 
misconduct warranted a retrial. Fell is jailed at the Metropolitan Detention 
Center in Brooklyn, New York.

If everything stays on schedule, Fell's new trial would start in February 2017.

(source: Burlington Free Press)