[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., GA., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 14



TEXAS----impending execution

Death Watch: Unhappy New Year----Masterson found guilty of capital murder of 
Shane Honeycutt, set to die Jan. 20


Texas goes to the gurney Wednesday, Jan. 20, with its 1st execution of the 
calendar year. Set to die is Richard Allen Masterson, 43, who's spent the past 
14 years on death row for the murder of Darin Shane Honeycutt. Masterson and 
Honeycutt knew each other for very little time. They met at a gay bar in 
Houston just before 2am on Jan. 26, 2001. Dressed in drag that night, Honeycutt 
introduced himself as Brandi Houston. He offered Masterson a ride home from the 
bar and on the way proposed that they go back to Honeycutt's apartment for the 
night. On the morning of Jan. 27, a friend, Larry Brown, coerced Honeycutt's 
landlord into letting him into the apartment, and found his friend Shane naked 
and not breathing on his bed.

Masterson had stolen Honeycutt's car and hightailed to Georgia. He was later 
arrested in Florida - picked up for stealing a 2nd car - and brought back to 
Harris County. Jurors reportedly took only 90 minutes to determine his 
sentence.

Unquestioned during the trial was whether Masterson killed Honeycutt - he 
admitted as much on his return to Houston. During an interrogation, in which no 
attorney was present, he allegedly "add[ed] elements that would elevate the 
case to capital murder," saying he'd rather die than serve a life sentence. But 
the way in which he killed his recent acquaintance - and whether or not he 
intended to kill him - was not so easily discernible. He said in a statement 
during the interrogation (which played to jurors at trial over objections from 
his attorney) that he killed Honeycutt by putting him into a sleeper hold as 
soon as the 2 undressed, and that he never actually planned to have sex with 
him that night. "Something just told me in my mind - I said to myself that I 
was going to kill him," Masterson said.

However, Masterson recanted on those statements in his trial testimony, saying 
that he lied about his actions because he was too embarrassed to tell the 
officer taking the confession that he planned to have sex with a man. Instead, 
he said, Honeycutt requested that Masterson choke him during sex. Something 
"went wrong" and Honeycutt fell forward, gurgling. Masterson said he got up and 
left the room; when he came back, Honeycutt was dead.

The jurors didn't think long on Masterson's intentions, finding him guilty of 
capital murder. During the punishment phase, a litany of witnesses were brought 
out to testify to Masterson's violent past - including accusations of domestic 
violence and reported incidents while incarcerated - and the jury ruled that he 
represented a future danger to society. It did not help his cause that, against 
his attorneys' wishes, he testified that he would defend himself in prison, 
"whether it's against a guard or inmate or anybody else by any means 
necessary."

Masterson had very little chance of winning his trial all along. In a Jan. 2012 
letter written to his judge, Masterson claimed his attorneys had been assigned 
to his case only "a few weeks" before jury selection, and that the investigator 
hired to "ask questions about the deceased['s] background and sex practices" 
never questioned Masterson, among other concerns. A Dec. 2011 letter to that 
same judge elaborated further, listing a number of individuals charged with 
heinous crimes who received lesser sentences. "They all had good lawyers they 
paid," he wrote. "Poor people like me get death."

Masterson has railed against his attorneys in letters and waffled on attempts 
to withdraw various petitions for relief. He's now represented by D.C. attorney 
Gregory Gardner, who on Dec. 21 filed a application requesting that Masterson 
be assigned to an expert doctor for a brain scan to determine whether he 
suffers from organic brain damage. That request was granted Dec. 22, giving 
Masterson 29 days to complete the necessary procedures. Gardner has not replied 
to the Chronicle's requests for updates.

Masterson would be the 13th Texan executed under Gov. Greg Abbott's reign and 
the 532nd since the state's 1976 reinstatement of the death penalty. 6 inmates 
are currently on the death row docket with set dates, including James Freeman 
on Wednesday, Jan. 27.

(source: Austin Chronicle)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Freemansburg cop killer on death row asks for stay of execution


A Freemansburg man sentenced to death for killing a police officer has filed 
court papers asking for a stay of execution.

George Hitcho filed papers on his own behalf last week accusing his trial 
attorneys of botching his case. The 50-year-old wants a stay of execution until 
his appeal against his trial attorneys is resolved.

The typewritten papers were sent from the State Correctional Institution in 
Greene County and docketed in Northampton County on Jan. 4. On Wednesday, 
Northampton County Judge F.P. Kimberly McFadden appointed attorney James Brose 
to handle Hitcho's appeal.

The decision could keep death row inmates George Hitcho and Michael Ballard 
from being executed.

Hitcho fatally shot Freemansburg police officer Robert Lasso on Aug. 11, 2011, 
when Lasso responded to a disturbance complaint from neighbors about Hitcho. 
Chief Public Defender Michael Corriere argued the killing was voluntary 
manslaughter, committed out of stress and confusion but not malice.

Hitcho's death sentence was upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 
September 2015.

In the papers Hitcho filed last week, he said Corriere should have argued 
Hitcho killed Lasso in self-defense.

Hitcho wants a new trial and wants his death sentence vacated.

"My trial counsel committed multiple instances of ineffective assistance of 
counsel by failing to effectively object, raise and/or challenge meritorious 
claims," Hitcho typed onto the appeal form.

"No search warrant, or probable cause, false and forged evidence and testimony 
entered into trial and brought before the jury," he typed. "The trial court 
erred and committed multiple abuses of discretion. Prosecutorial misconduct 
before trial, during and after trial. And my direct appeal counsels provided 
ineffective assistance of counsel by failing to raise multiple meritorious 
issues. Violations of due process and denial of a fair trial."

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has granted numerous death penalty reprieves since 
taking office, including one filed by 5-time killer Michael Ballard of 
Northampton.

According to the Associated Press, Wolf said the reprieves will remain in 
effect at least until he reviews a forthcoming report of the Pennsylvania Task 
Force and Advisory Committee on Capital Punishment and its recommendations are 
addressed.

(source: lehighvalleylive.com)

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

Defense: Bar death penalty in murder case against inmate


Defense attorneys asked a federal judge Wednesday to bar prosecutors from 
seeking the death penalty against an inmate accused of using a homemade weapon 
to attack and kill a guard at a federal prison in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Attorneys for Jessie Con-ui, 38, asked the judge to declare capital punishment 
unconstitutional in the case against their client.

Con-ui is charged with 1st-degree murder in the February 2013 stabbing death of 
Eric Williams at the Canaan federal prison in Waymart. Dressed in an orange 
jumpsuit, he said little during his appearance by video Wednesday from a 
federal super-maximum prison in Colorado.

Prosecutors argued last fall that execution would be justified if Con-ui is 
convicted, citing what they called the defendant's history of violence, 
including a 2002 murder conviction and what they allege was a premeditated 
attack on a federal public servant.

Defense attorney David Ruhnke cited declining use of the death penalty and 
called the system "just too imperfect." He said the federal death penalty 
"evolves as our society evolves" and should be barred as a violation of the 
constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

But Justice Department attorney Amanda Haines cited a recent survey she said 
showed that 60 % of Americans support capital punishment, particularly in 
violent cases.

"We haven't quite evolved to the point where we don't want to seek it or impose 
it, especially in egregious cases like this," Haines said.

Williams, 34, was working in a housing unit at the prison when he was attacked. 
Prosecutors allege Con-ui was angry after the guard ordered a search of his 
cell the previous day. They say in court documents that Williams was stabbed 
more than 200 times; they allege Con-ui also stomped on Williams' head and 
throat and slammed his head onto the floor.

Jury selection for Con-ui's trial is to begin July 11.

(source: lancasteronline.com)






NORTH CAROLINA:

District attorney's office to pursue death penalty against 2 in Greensboro 
homicide


2 men charged in the September shooting death of a woman could face the death 
penalty if convicted.

The Guilford County District Attorney's Office announced this week it would 
seek the death penalty if Jeffrey Bernard Cobb, 29, of 314 Lawrence St., and 
Takwan Dequinten Luster, 26, of 1112 Morris St., are found guilty, said Howard 
Neumann, chief assistant district attorney.

Both are charged with 1st-degree murder, attempted robbery with a dangerous 
weapon and 1st-degree burglary in connection with the death of Doris Hampton 
Leach, 72, of Huffine Mill Road.

Leach was shot in the head in her house Sept. 1 and died Sept. 7 from her 
injuries. Investigators believe the intruders entered the house to rob it, not 
knowing she would be there. They also shot and killed her dog.

3 others also face charges: Tyriq Christopher McCain, 16, of 1214 Valley View 
St.; Crystal Lavern Whack, 28, of 1308 Bothwell St.; and Keoshea Quanvette 
Gattis, 31, of 900 McCormick St. McCain will not face the death penalty because 
he is too young. The district attorney's office does not plan to pursue the 
death penalty against Whack or Gattis, Neumann said.

"Evidence is they did not go into the house," he said of the women. "Mr. McCain 
did appear to go in, but he's too young (for the death penalty)."

In North Carolina, a person must be 18 at the time of a crime for the death 
penalty to be sought.

Neumann said the district attorney's office will pursue the death penalty 
against Cobb and Luster because the killing was committed during 2 other crimes 
- burglary and an attempted robbery - and because both have at least 1 prior 
violent felony conviction.

Cobb and Luster are both affiliated with gangs, but are not validated members, 
said Capt. Mike Richey with Greensboro police.

A person is affiliated with a gang, rather than validated, if he or she takes 
part in activities with gang members but isn't identified as a member by other 
gang members.

Richey declined to say if Cobb and Luster are affiliated with the same gang.

(source: greensboro.com)






GEORGIA----new execution date

Oldest man on Ga. death row to be executed


A signal that Georgia is continuing its stepped-up pace in carrying out the 
death penalty, a judge signed a warrant Wednesday authorizing the execution of 
the oldest man on Georgia's death row.

Brandon Astor Jones will be put to death for the 1979 murder of the manager of 
a Cobb County convenience store who had stayed late to do paperwork. If the 
lethal injection is carried out as planned, Jones will die just 11 days shy of 
his 73rd birthday and almost 31 years to the day after his co-defendant was 
electrocuted for Roger Tackett's June 16, 1979, murder.

Co-defendant Van Roosevelt Solomon's execution came relatively quickly, on Feb. 
20, 1985, less than 6 years after Tackett's murder.

Jones was 1st sentenced to die on Oct. 11, 1979, but a federal court ordered 
him re-sentenced because there was a Bible in the jury room during 
deliberations. Jones was sentenced to death a 2nd time on Sept. 23, 1997.

At one time, Jones had argued that sentencing him after he had spent almost 2 
decades on death row was an affront to human dignity and "waiting for execution 
is intolerably cruel."

The appellate courts disagreed. Jones exhausted all the regular appeals last 
October when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take his case.

He does, however, have a complaint pending in U.S. District Court regarding 
Georgia's law that allows the Department of Corrections to keep secret the 
identify of the pharmacist who will make the pentobarbital that will be used to 
put Jones to death.

Jones stands to be the oldest man Georgia has executed since the death penalty 
was reinstated in the 1970s. The oldest man so far was Andrew Brannon, 66 when 
he died by lethal injection a year ago.

Jones and Solomon were captured just moments after they killed Tackett, who was 
shot in the head at almost point-blank range.

A Cobb County policeman had driven a stranded motorist to the Tenneco 
convenience store to use the pay phone around 1:45 a.m. when he noticed a car 
parked in front with the driver's side door open and lights on inside the 
business, which should have closed almost 2 hours earlier. The car belonged to 
Tackett.

Looking through a window, the officer saw Jones stick his head out of the 
storeroom door in the back before closing the door. Moments later, the 
policeman heard shots, and he found Jones and Solomon inside the storeroom and 
2 .38-caliber revolvers - a large Smith & Wesson and a smaller Colt - nearby.

Tackett was shot 5 times from behind - twice in his right hip and once in the 
jaw, behind his left ear and in his thumb. The medical examiner said Tackett 
was lying on the ground when he was shot behind the ear.

Jones told the officer they found Tackett "bad hurt" in the back of the store 
when they broke in to take money from the register.

Jones' execution could be the 1st of 5 lethal injections expected to be 
scheduled over the next few weeks and months as other men on Georgia's death 
row have exhausted their appeals. That number could increase as there are 10 
now before the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Last year Georgia put to death 4 men and a woman, the largest number of 
executions this state has carried out in a year since 1987, when Georgia also 
executed 5 murderers, all electrocuted.

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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

Georgia to execute its oldest death row inmate next month


The state of Georgia plans to execute its oldest death row inmate next month.

Attorney General Sam Olens' office said in a news release Wednesday that 
72-year-old Brandon Astor Jones is scheduled for execution on Feb. 2. Jones was 
convicted in the 1979 killing of Cobb County convenience store manager Roger 
Tackett.

A federal judge later granted Jones a new sentencing hearing because jurors had 
improperly been allowed to bring a Bible into the deliberation room. Jones was 
resentenced to death in 1997.

The U.S. Supreme Court in October rejected an appeal from Jones. A divided 
Georgia Supreme Court and the federal appeals court in Atlanta had previously 
upheld his death sentence.

Another man convicted in the killing, Van Roosevelt Solomon, was executed in 
1985.

(source: Associated Press)






FLORIDA:

Death penalty on hold for local cases----U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida's 
death penalty system unconstitutional


3 local death penalty cases are up in the air after the U.S. Supreme Court 
ruled Florida's death penalty system is unconstitutional.

The ruling Tuesday came in a challenge filed by death row inmate Timothy Lee 
Hurst, who was convicted of murdering his co-worker Cynthia Harrison in 1998. 
She was bound, gagged, and stabbed more than 60 times.

Trials that were set to begin over the next couple of months will now be 
changing with this ruling.

Some attorneys have filed motions to strike the death penalty from these cases 
because basically it doesn't exist right now.

Attorney Randy Reep said the death sentence will be off the table for a while.

"A defendant who is facing the death penalty currently, now is not facing the 
death penalty," Reep said.

Within hours of the ruling on Tuesday, lawyers for Donald Smith filed a motion 
to bar the prosecution from seeking the death penalty if he's convicted in the 
kidnap, rape and murder of Cherish Perrywinkle.

This is just 1 case among others that will be affected by the change.

Luis Toledo's trial in connection with the deaths of his wife and 2 children 
was supposed to begin in St. Augustine next week.

James Rhodes' case could also be affected. He's charged with the murder of 
Shelby Farah.

"Certainly, a defendant facing the death penalty, this is a benefit to them, 
they are no longer facing the death penalty, until the law in Florida changes 
to comport with the ruling that came out this week," Reep said.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida's death penalty system was 
unconstitutional because the jury only advises a judge on the death sentence. 
The judge has the final say and doesn't have to agree with the jury's 
recommendation.

Reep said this is different from the standard that's been held in other 
situations.

"In almost every other sentencing scheme, it is solely in the purview of the 
judge to impose a sentence whether its prison, probation, all different types 
of that falls directly into the scope of the judge and now you're putting that 
in the hands of the jury or at least requiring a recommendation from the jury," 
Reep said.

When it comes to the future of these cases, Reep said many people will probably 
go forward with a life sentence instead of staying on "hold" for the death 
penalty.

"I think there's more questions than answers in that, does it have to be 
unanimous on the part of the jury, it wasn't really clear on that, conviction 
has to be unanimous, now you might find that a majority is probably 
satisfactory, but I think there's questions as well as answers in this ruling," 
Reep said.

Reep said the ruling this week is clear that people who have already been given 
a death sentence will still go through with that sentence.

(source: WJXT news)

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

Poll: Should Florida require unanimous jury decision to impose death penalty?


The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that Florida's death penalty system is 
unconstitutional because it gives too much power to judges - and not enough to 
juries - to decide capital sentences.

Currently, juries play only an advisory role in recommending death. Judges have 
discretion to reach a different decision.

State Sen. Thad Altman, R-Rockledge, has filed a bill that would require a 
unanimous jury decision to impose the death penalty.

poll--see: 
http://www.tcpalm.com/polls/opinion/Poll-Should-Florida-require-unanimous-jury-decision-to-impose-death-penalty-365199361.html

(source: tcpalm.com)

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

An in-depth look at Florida's death penalty comes from a surprising source


Protesters to the death penalty demonstrate across the highway from the Florida 
State Correctional facility near Starke, Fla.,Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013. (AP) An 
impressive death penalty investigation rolled out last weekend by a somewhat 
surprising source - The Villages Daily Sun, which serves a sprawling retirement 
community in Central Florida - was a must-read even before today's US Supreme 
Court decision declaring Florida's death penalty sentencing process 
unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court today ruled that Florida's unique procedure for meting out 
the death penalty violates a defendant's Sixth Amendment right to trial by 
jury. In Florida, a jury issues an advisory verdict that does not have to be 
unanimous. A judge then decides separately whether the facts surrounding a 
murder include aggravating factors that warrant the death penalty.

All of which raises the question posed in the headline of the Daily Sun's 
investigation: "How would Florida's death row look if it had to play by the 
same rules as other states?" Daily Sun reporter Katie Sartoris told me that her 
investigation was prompted by the fact that the youngest death row inmate in 
Florida is from the newspaper's circulation area. He did not have a unanimous 
verdict from the jury during the penalty phase (a unanimous verdict is required 
to convict).

"It got us thinking about how Florida is an outlier," Sartoris said. Alabama 
and Delaware are the 2 other states that don't require a unanimous verdict at 
the penalty phase.

Reporters around the state may be surprised that the Daily Sun - a paper that 
is not traditionally known for its investigative work and has been criticized 
for 1-sided political coverage - did this kind of ambitious project. Last 
summer, the paper created its first so-called SWAT Team devoted to special 
projects and investigations "so we can dedicate more resources to in-depth 
work," Sartoris said. A combination of 7 reporters, editors and producers are 
contributing to the effort.

"We're very excited about it," she said.

Sartoris started out at the Daily Sun straight out of college in 2012, first 
covering education. She's now the associate managing editor for special 
projects. And the death penalty investigation, complete with a look at the 
secrecy behind the death warrant process and the lethal injection method, isn't 
Sartoris' 1st. She produced a sharp investigation into dog racing deaths in 
December.

She also dug up a number that is important to consider as Florida's death 
penalty process is in the headlines: How many inmates on Florida's death row 
were sent there without a unanimous jury verdict during the penalty phase of 
the trial? It took Sartoris 18 months of digging through online and paper 
archives, but she determined that 287 of the 390 men and women on death row in 
this state fall into that unique category.

With all the scrutiny the death penalty receives, it';s surprising no one had 
tracked down this number before.

"All of the state agencies we talked to told us they didn't have the numbers," 
Sartoris said.

So she and Curt Hills, the paper's managing editor for special projects, and 
production editor Amy Johstono headed up to Tallahassee to dig through the 
records.* In some cases, they were able to find the information on jury 
verdicts from online records of the Florida Supreme Court, but for many they 
had to dig through the Florida Archives.

Reporters covering today's Court decision can get a lot of the background they 
need from Sartoris' wide-ranging investigation. For one small point, I've seen 
reports today that put the number of inmates on Florida's death row at 400 but 
there are, as Sartoris reported, 390 right now. I've also seen reporting that 
the Supreme Court's decision will only affect the cases of a few of the inmates 
on Florida's death row, but that's not actually clear. Sartoris quoted Stephen 
Harper, a professor at Florida International University and coordinator of the 
Florida Center for Capital Representation, saying the ruling could throw 
Florida's system "into chaos."

Bruce Fleisher, a Miami criminal defense attorney who has tried more than 30 
death penalty cases, told me he expected a lot of cases may be affected by the 
decision.

"Anyone who has been sentenced to death in the state of Florida, or any other 
state with similar provisions, will be filing motions for post-conviction 
relief," he said. "The opinion doesn't say what the next step is and who is 
going to be entitled to relief or what they will be entitled to."

Although today's decision did not address the main reason Florida's death 
penalty process is such an outlier - the failure to require a unanimous jury 
decision - it did leave Florida without a constitutional death penalty law. 
Fleisher said he expects the legislature to act very quickly, simply because as 
it stands right now current cases could be in jeopardy. A state lawmaker who 
represents The Villages community has filed legislation changing Florida's 
statute to bring it in line with most of the rest of the country and require a 
unanimous verdict at the penalty phase.

In other words, there is much work still ahead for reporters on this story. 
Meantime, anyone in need of a detailed primer can turn to, yes, the Daily Sun.

* This sentence has been revised to correct the spelling of Curt Hills' last 
name.

(source: Susannah Nesmith is CJR's correspondent for Florida and 
Georgia----Columbia Journalism Review)

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

DELTONA FAMILY KILLED----Prosecutors seek to delay Luis Toledo's death penalty 
murder trial


A day after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Florida's death penalty, 
prosecutors are seeking to delay the trial of Luis Toledo, who had faced 
possible death sentences if convicted.

A hearing is set for 8 a.m. Thursday before Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano at the 
Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand on a motion by prosecutors to delay 
Toledo's trial.

Toledo's defense attorneys are objecting to the state's request to delay the 
trial which was set to start on Tuesday in St. Augustine.

Toledo, 33, is charged with 2nd-degree murder in the killing of his wife, the 
28-year-old Yessenia Suarez, and 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the deaths of 
her children, Thalia, 9, and Michael, 8. The mother and children were reported 
missing Oct. 23, 2013, from their home at 317 Covent Gardens Place in Deltona. 
Their bodies have not been found.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a ruling in Hurst v. Florida striking 
down the state's death penalty as unconstitutional, because a judge makes the 
decision to impose death instead of the jury which is relegated to an advisory 
role.

"The State respectfully requests a continuance of the above-styled matter in 
order to allow time for the issues raised in Hurst to be properly addressed," 
according to the motion filed by prosecutor.

If Toledo goes on trial next week, he would not face the death penalty. If 
convicted, Toledo's maximum punishment would be life in prison without parole.

Last year, Toledo's defense attorneys had sought to delay the trial until the 
Supreme Court ruled on the case of Hurst v. Florida. Prosecutors opposed the 
delay and the judge ruled against it.

Now, it is prosecutors who are seeking a delay.

Under Florida's now unconstitutional procedure, a majority vote of 7 to 5 
jurors recommending death was sufficient for judges to impose death. Judges 
could even override a jury recommendation for life, although that has not 
happened in at least 15 years.

The state Legislature has already introduced bills to change Florida's death 
penalty scheme so that the dozen jurors on a panel must unanimously vote for 
the death penalty.

(source: Daytona Beach News-Journal)

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

Supreme Court decision likely to lead to fewer death penalty verdicts, experts 
say


Home to the 2nd-largest death row in the nation, Florida may be on a path to 
executing fewer prisoners as a result of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling Tuesday 
that requires juries, not judges, to impose the death penalty, experts said.

"Whatever the Legislature does" in response to the court's ruling, "there are 
bound to be some cases where a jury doesn't reach the same decision that a 
judge would have," said Ronald J. Tabak, chair of the Death Penalty Committee 
of the American Bar Association. "And most likely, there will be fewer death 
sentences."

In the 8-1 opinion, the court overturned Florida's unusual capital sentencing 
system, finding it unconstitutional because juries play an advisory role in 
recommending life or death, and are not required to give a factual basis for 
their opinion. By law, judges make the ultimate decision after giving "great 
weight" to jurors' recommendations.

The court's ruling has thrown the state's death penalty process into chaos and 
tasked Florida lawmakers with rewriting the capital punishment scheme. In 
interviews on Wednesday, legal experts said that regardless of the precise 
language that emerges from Tallahassee, there's little doubt Florida will have 
to transfer power from judges to juries, shouldering ordinary citizens with a 
grave duty.

"That'll just up the degree to which the jurors will feel some sense of 
responsibility for their decision," said Mona Lynch, a criminology professor at 
the University of California at Irvine.

Lynch, who has studied how juries reach decisions in capital cases, said that 
in states like Florida and Alabama where juries give advisory verdicts, there 
tends to be a "diffusion of responsibility." Aware that a judge might override 
them, jurors often feel less pressure, making it easier for them to sentence 
the inmate in front of them to death.

"Right now, Florida juries can feel like, well, we're just making a 
recommendation," she said.

Florida is 1 of only 3 states - the others are Alabama and Delaware - where 
judges can override a jury, but that power is used sparingly.

It has been 17 years since a Florida judge intervened in a case to override a 
jury's recommendation. But between 1972 and 1999, judges reversed jurors' 
advisory verdicts of life 166 times in order to impose a death sentence, 
according to one study. At least 2 of the 390 inmates on the state's death row 
are there because judges overruled a jury that voted for life.

"The idea that somebody else may correct the sentence if you get it wrong - 
that does tend to lessen your sense of responsibility and it therefore makes 
you more likely to vote for death, even if you may not really be that convinced 
the person should get death," Tabak said. "That has been a problem with the 
Florida system all along."

A second factor, he said, is whether Florida's Legislature decides to require 
unanimous jury verdicts in capital cases.

Although the Supreme Court's opinion didn't address unanimity, Florida is the 
only state where a simple majority of jurors, by a 7-5 vote, can recommend the 
death penalty. Despite years of effort by some in the Legislature to change 
this, the practice has stood, and most people on death row today received 
non-unanimous jury recommendations.

"If they require unanimity, they're going to have fewer death sentences," said 
Michael Radelet, a University of Colorado professor and expert on the death 
penalty. "It'll be more focused on the worst of the worst."

Radelet, who has studied Florida's death penalty system, said the number of 
defendants sentenced to death has fallen gradually since the 1990s, a shift he 
attributed in part to the practice's declining popularity nationwide. If 
Florida's Legislature requires 12-0 jury verdicts for death penalty sentences, 
prosecutors, facing tougher odds and the high cost of pursuing the death 
penalty, might choose to file fewer capital cases, he said.

Some prosecutors have argued that imposing a unanimous verdict requirement 
would benefit some of the state's most notorious killers, such as Ted Bundy, 
who was executed in 1989 after a jury voted 10-2 to recommend death.

Harry Shorstein, former state attorney for the 4th Judicial Circuit, which 
includes Jacksonville, said he doubted there would be a dropoff in death 
penalty cases.

"It's politically driven," he said. "Maybe in Miami and Broward, the more 
liberal circuits, they might reconsider. But the rest of them are going to seek 
it as long as they feel it helps them get elected."

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

Chaos and uncertainty cloud Florida's death penalty after Supreme Court ruling


Florida's death penalty fell under a huge cloud of uncertainty Wednesday as 
legal experts weigh the impact of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the 
state's sentencing system as unconstitutional.

The day after the court's 8-1 decision, chaos prevailed on many fronts in 
Florida:

-- Public defenders from Miami to Tallahassee, who represent defendants in 
murder cases, called for a halt to all executions and trials that could result 
in the death penalty.

-- The Florida Supreme Court told the state to explain why the Hurst vs. 
Florida decision should not apply retroactively to the case of Michael Ray 
Lambrix, set to be executed Feb. 11 for 2 murders.

-- The veteran prosecutor in Gainesville told legislators that he's not sure 
how to handle a murder case. "I don't know what to do," Bill Cervone said.

The role of the jury in a death penalty case in Florida is a recommendation, 
not binding on a judge, but the nation's highest court said Tuesday that the 
jury - not the judge - should have the final decision on every fact that 
results in a death sentence. The decision came in the case of Timothy Lee 
Hurst, 37, on death row for killing a co-worker at a Pensacola restaurant in 
1998.

Gov. Rick Scott provided no specifics on what steps the state might take or 
whether he would lift pending death warrants for Lambrix and a 2nd double 
murderer, Mark Asay.

"We're reviewing that decision," Scott said Wednesday in Brandon on the second 
stop of a statewide bus tour to promote his tax cut proposals. "I can tell you 
as a governor, it's a solemn duty, it's the law of land. What I think about it 
when I'm involved in that is the victim. Those are not easy. My heart goes out 
(to the victims)."

Attorney General Pam Bondi had no comment Wednesday.

Experts who closely monitor Florida's troubled death penalty record said the 
state could have avoided its current problems if it had acted more than a 
decade ago in response to a similar case.

"It's a self-inflicted wound," said Robert Dunham of the Death Penalty 
Information Center in Washington, D.C. "Unless Florida redresses this issue, 
it's going to be in the national spotlight again."

In Ring vs. Arizona in 2002, the Supreme Court ruled that juries and not judges 
should decide the fate of defendants in capital cases. But on several occasions 
until the Hurst ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Florida death 
penalty appeals that were based on the Ring case, so the state Supreme Court 
said it didn't apply.

As long ago as 2006, legislators in both parties filed bills to review and 
reform Florida's death penalty sentencing system. But they focused on a 
different issue: that a simple majority vote by a 12-member jury is sufficient 
to recommend death and that a requirement to cite aggravating circumstances to 
justify the death penalty, such as the severity of the crime, also does not 
need to be a unanimous decision.

Then-Attorney General Charlie Crist was locked in a primary fight for the 
Republican nomination for governor. Nicknamed "Chain-Gang Charlie" for his 
tough-on-crime political stances, Crist insisted no changes be made.

A Times/Herald review of 10 years of legislation turned up no bills that would 
have addressed the issue in the Hurst case.

"I can't even remember that it came up," said former Sen. Paula Dockery of 
Lakeland, who chaired the Criminal Justice Committee for 6 years from 2004 to 
2010.

A total of 390 inmates are on death row, but many of their sentences are on 
appeal. Many more cases are on trial, or are about to go to trial.

Miami-Dade Public Defender Carlos Martinez said he has several dozen capital 
murder cases awaiting trial. For now, he said, the Hurst decision means that a 
defendant could not be given a harsher sentence than life imprisonment without 
parole, which death penalty opponents have sought for decades.

"There is no death penalty right now," Martinez said. "A clarification needs to 
come quickly."

If every Florida death sentence were reduced to life without parole, Martinez 
said, it would save taxpayers millions of dollars and avoid years of legal 
battles that clog court dockets.

Nancy Daniels, the public defender in Tallahassee for 25 years, said the state 
should suspend all legal activity on death cases immediately.

"The prudent thing to do is to put a moratorium on all pending death cases 
until this is clarified," Daniels said. "Everything needs to be put on hold."

Daniels said she believes that every Florida inmate sentenced to death after 
the Ring decision has a new avenue of appeal.

In the Hurst decision, the U.S. Supreme Court sent the case back to the Florida 
Supreme Court for clarification.

Legal experts said that at a minimum, Florida will have to rewrite the complex 
legal instructions that are explained to jurors in capital cases.

An order issued by the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday (and announced a day 
later) orders attorneys for the state to answer how Hurst vs. Florida applies 
to Lambrix's case.

The Florida Supreme Court ordered the state to respond by Jan. 20 with answers 
to: "the retroactivity of Hurst, the effect of Hurst in light of the 
aggravating factors found by the trial court in Lambrix's case, and whether any 
error in Lambrix's case is harmless."

An ominous legal sign for Florida is that the U.S. Supreme Court's Hurst 
decision also invalidated two cases that the Florida Supreme Court cited in 
upholding numerous death penalty cases: Spaziano vs. Florida and Hildwin vs. 
Florida.

"Time and subsequent cases have washed away the logic of Spaziano and Hildwin," 
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority.

The decision would appear to be vindication for Florida Supreme Court Justice 
Barbara Pariente. She authored the dissent in the Hurst case in 2014 and wrote: 
"I continue to believe that, in light of Ring, Florida's death penalty statute 
. . . is unconstitutional."

(source for both: Tampa Bay Times)

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

Editorial: High court decision allows chance to rethink broken system


The U.S. Supreme Court's surprising decision Tuesday striking down Florida's 
capital punishment sentencing system was not only just, but generous.

Just, because our state's long and troubled history with the death penalty has 
only gotten more controversial in recent years as we've rushed to execute 
inmates. And generous, because Florida legislators now have an opportunity to 
fix a broken system that has been challenged for being arbitrary, racist and 
cruel.

They should take it. They should also halt all executions - including 2 Gov. 
Rick Scott has scheduled in February and March - until they have done a 
fair-minded review of the process.

The high court's monumental 8-1 decision in the Timothy Lee Hurst case surely 
allows legislators that pause. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for the 
majority, declared that the process by which we impose the death penalty 
unconstitutionally violates the Sixth Amendment right to a trial by jury. 
Florida law allows juries to recommend a death sentence, but gives judges the 
power to ultimately decide on imposing it.

"The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary 
to impose a sentence of death," Sotomayor wrote. "A jury's mere recommendation 
is not enough."

We agree. The high court was right to intervene.

Tuesday's decision came 3 years after state lawmakers passed, and Scott signed 
a bill sponsored by Stuart Sen. Joe Negron and Fort Walton Beach Rep. Matt 
Gaetz aimed at reducing delays in death penalty cases. The 2013 Timely Justice 
Act, gives the governor 30 days to sign a death warrant once the Clerk of Court 
certifies that appeals have been exhausted. After that, the state has 180 days 
to carry out the execution.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, who has defended the current system, 
released a statement Tuesday noting that "the state will need to make changes 
to its death-sentencing statutes."

And both Negron and Gaetz told the News Service of Florida they expect the 
Legislature to "remedy the defects in our death penalty process so that this 
issue is quickly resolved."

But given Florida's spotty history with the death penalty, would it not be 
better to focus less on quickness and more on fairness? The number of 
minorities sentenced to death in Florida remains so disproportionate to their 
size of the population. Florida has had 26 wrongful convictions that resulted 
in death sentences, the most of any state. And the state hasn't even been 
competent at executing inmates. In 2000, Florida had to create a lethal 
injection system when the electric chair had repeated malfunctions. In 1 case, 
the chair may have caused flames to ignite on 1 prisoner's head. Last year, 
executions were halted while the courts considered whether 1 of the drugs in 
the lethal cocktails being used to execute prisoners was actually causing the 
inmates to feel as if they were being burned alive.

While very few, understandably, are sympathetic to those guilty of murder, a 
civil society should ensure that we are doing justice fairly, and without 
cruelty or torture.

Also, there is great political pressure on elected trial court judges to be 
tough on crime. No judge wants to be painted as soft or sympathetic to an 
alleged murderer. The jury system serves as an important check that allows the 
community, and a defendant's peers to consider the weight of the evidence. 
According to a recent report, 287 of the 390 men and women currently on 
Florida's death row were sent there without a unanimous jury recommendation.

Yes, there are few issues with more political support in Florida than capital 
punishment. But lawmakers must use this opportunity given to us by the high 
court to rethink the frequency and application of the death penalty.

At the minimum, change the law to require a unanimous jury verdict.

(source: Editorial, Palm Beach Post)

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

390 death row sentences may be appealed


The Supreme Court's decision to void Florida's death penalty could trigger new 
sentencing appeals for Florida's 390 death row inmates, including 25 cases 
stemming from the 5th Judicial Circuit comprised of Lake, Sumter, Marion, 
Citrus and Hernando counties.

Lake has 10 cases and Sumter has 1.

"The ruling could have a broad impact," said Robert Dunham, executive director 
of the Death Penalty Information Center in a telephone interview Tuesday.

But it is no guarantee any of the inmates will get new sentencing hearings.

Dunham said death row inmates would have to file appeals and prove their judges 
harmed their cases.

Brad King, state attorney for the 5th Judicial Circuit, said his office will 
look at each individual on a case-by-case basis as state legislators work to 
rewrite the statute so it falls in compliance with the ruling.

King added there could still be several reasons why the law won't affect some 
cases. He said he anticipates state lawmakers will address the statute before 
his circuit's 2 upcoming capital trials this spring, including one in Sumter 
County.

The justices on Tuesday ruled 8-1 that the state's sentencing procedure is 
flawed because juries play only an advisory role in recommending death while 
the judge can reach a different decision.

The court ordered a new sentencing hearing for Timothy Lee Hurst, who was 
convicted of the 1998 murder of his manager at a Popeye's restaurant in 
Pensacola. A jury divided 7-5 in favor of death, but a judge imposed the 
sentence.

Florida's solicitor general argued that the system was acceptable because a 
jury first decides if the defendant is eligible for the death penalty.

Hurst's attorneys argued, in part, that a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling 
requires that determination of aggravating circumstances be "entrusted" to 
juries, not to judges. They also took issue with Florida not requiring 
unanimous jury recommendations in death penalty cases.

Florida is 1 of only 3 states that does not require a unanimous jury verdict 
when sentencing someone to death. The others are Alabama and Delaware.

In 3 of Lake's 10 death row cases, jurors were unanimous in recommending a 
death sentence. But in 7, the votes were split, and a judge decided to send 
those defendants to death row:

J.P. "Pig" Parker was convicted of robbing and kidnapping a convenience store 
clerk in Stuart in 1982, stabbing the woman so she fell to her knees then 
shooting her execution-style in the back of the head. His take from the store 
was about $30. The case was moved to Lake County because of intense press 
coverage. The death penalty vote came in at 11-1.

Allen Cox was already serving several life sentences for kidnapping, sexual 
battery and aggravated battery when someone stole $500 from him at Lake 
Correctional Institution in 1998. He used a prison shank to stab a suspect 3 
times, causing the man to bleed to death. Cox also beat up the man's cellmate. 
His death penalty vote was 10-2.

Guy Gamble told his girlfriend he was going to kill his landlord 6 days before 
repeatedly hitting the man in the head with a claw hammer in 1991. He then 
stole the man's car and took his girlfriend out to dinner. Gamble's death 
penalty vote was 10-2.

Jason Wheeler ambushed and killed a Lake County Sheriff's deputy responding to 
a domestic call at his Paisley residence in 2005. 2 other deputies were also 
shot. Wheeler's death penalty vote was 10-2.

Donte Hall burst into a house filled with female strippers, robbing and opening 
fire on the male guests in 2006. 2 people were killed with an AK-47 assault 
rifle. His death penalty vote was 8-4.

Donald Williams helped an 81-year-old woman shop for groceries in a motorized 
wheelchair then robbed and kidnapped her from the supermarket's parking lot in 
2010. Her body was found in the woods several days later. His death penalty 
vote was 9-3.

James Duckett, a Mascotte police officer in 1987, was convicted of raping and 
killing an 11-year-old girl and tossing her body in a local lake. At his trial, 
3 other girls said he had made sexual advances toward them. His death penalty 
vote was 8-4.

(source: Daily Commercial)

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

Attorneys: No death penalty for Donald Smith


Attorneys for the man accused of raping and killing 8-year-old Cherish 
Perrywinkle say he should not get the death penalty, because the death penalty 
fundamentally does not exist in Florida in the wake of a momentous Supreme 
Court decision yesterday.

"It's my position that there is no death penalty," Julie Schlax, attorney for 
its Donald James Smith, told First Coast News.

It's an argument Schlax made in a court filing Tuesday, which notes that since 
the high court struck down the constitutionality of Florida's Death Penalty law 
in Hurst v. Florida, there is effectively no legal form of capital punishment 
in the state. Therefore, she argues, "until such time as a new sentencing 
scheme is passed by the Florida Legislature, the only possible penalty for 1st 
degree murder is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole."

The state attorney's office released a statement saying "It is inappropriate 
and premature to comment on the issue. The defense has filed a motion and we 
will respond accordingly, in court, on the record."

The Hurst decision was already predicted to be disruptive for the roughly 400 
inmates on Florida's death row. In their decision, justices found Florida's 
practice of allowing judges, not juries, to make the final determination about 
a death sentence unconstitutional. Schlax said she intends to file similar 
motions in all of her death penalty cases.

No hearing date has been set to hear arguments about the motion in the Smith 
case.

(source: firstcoastnews.com)