[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., IND., OKLA., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 15



LOUISIANA----new execution date//not serious

Judge sets March execution date for convicted serial killer


A state district judge has set an execution date for serial killer Daniel Blank 
after rejecting a bid to overturn his death penalty conviction.

The Advocate reports (http://bit.ly/1SRqLmk) Judge Jessie LeBlanc ruled 
Thursday that Blank should be executed March 14.

Blank's appellate attorney Gary Clements says Blank won't be executed then 
because he has more appeals left and Louisiana lacks drugs for lethal 
injections.

In September, LeBlanc rejected Blank's claims of ineffective defense counsel 
and upheld his 1`st-degree murder conviction and death sentence in 72-year-old 
Lillian Philippe's 1997 murder.

Blank's appellate attorneys said prosecutors withheld investigative reports 
that would have challenged the reliability of Blank's confession to Philippe's 
and others' murders - and to armed robberies - and that his trial attorneys 
failed to do enough to exclude use of the multiple-crime confession.

(source: Associated Press)






INDIANA:

A man facing death penalty charges for allegedly killing an Indianapolis police 
officer is suing the city for excessive force and seeks $2.3 million in damages


A man facing death penalty charges in connection with the slaying of an 
Indianapolis police officer is suing the city for excessive force and seeks 
$2.3 million in damages.

Major Davis II filed a complaint this week in federal court in Indianapolis 
alleging slain Officer Perry Renn and another officer shot him at close range 
while Davis was unarmed. He claims he was shot 11 times.

Davis, who's incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City while 
awaiting trial, is seeking a court-appointed attorney to represent him in the 
case.

A message seeking comment was left with an attorney for the city.

Authorities have said Renn was fatally shot with an assault rifle on July 5, 
2014, in a gun battle in an alley on the city's north side.

(source: Associated Press)






OKLAHOMA:

DA seeking death penalty in slaying of elderly Cherokee County rancher


2 men accused of murdering a Cherokee County rancher during a home invasion in 
July could be put to death if convicted on the allegations.

Paul Dean Newberry, 25, and Cheyenne Mason Watts, 23, both of Park Hill, are 
charged with 1st-degree murder stemming from the shooting death of rancher 
Charley Kirk, 88, in July.

Newberry and Watts also are charged with robbery with a weapon, 1st-degree 
burglary, 1st-degree attempted arson, larceny of an automobile and 3rd-degree 
arson, court records indicate.

On Thursday, District Attorney Brian Kuester filed a court document requesting 
the death penalty for both men.

Kuester and his staff considered the list of aggravating factors that by 
Oklahoma statute could validate seeking the death penalty, along with a list of 
mitigating factors, he said.

"Analysis of the evidence caused us to believe that those aggravators were 
certainly present, and therefore we filed the bill of particulars seeking the 
death penalty," Kuester said.

The filing alleges that Newberry and Watts broke into Kirk's home near 
Tahlequah sometime July 26 or 27.

The 2 are accused of shooting Kirk multiple times, breaking 1 of his arms, 
stealing his property by force and trying to burn down his home.

The request for the death penalty cites an earlier burglary that Newberry is 
alleged to have committed and also notes that he escaped from the Muskogee Jail 
on Dec. 14 and is accused of stealing a vehicle in order to flee to Texas.

Kuester said the decision to pursue the death penalty was not made lightly.

"As with any other defendants, they are innocent until proven guilty in a court 
of law," he said. "Just because it's the death penalty doesn't take away the 
standard or burden of proof."

About 6:30 a.m. July 27, a ranch hand discovered Kirk's body and notified 
authorities. Investigators found that the home had been ransacked and that a 
gas line to the kitchen stove had been cut, with newspapers that had been 
burned in an apparent attempt to start a fire, according to an affidavit.

There were signs of forced entry. The Medical Examiner's Office determined that 
Kirk had died from multiple gunshot wounds, the affidavit states.

Missing from the home were guns, prescription medications and an all-terrain 
vehicle, among other things. The vehicle had been burned near Keys High School, 
according to the affidavit.

Choctaw Nation tribal police arrested Newberry and Watts days later on 
unrelated offenses, and some of the stolen items were recovered at that time.

During a police interview, Newberry claimed that he had brought members of a 
drug cartel, along with Watts, to Kirk's residence to steal cattle as a way to 
pay for drugs that Newberry had lost, the affidavit states.

By Newberry's account, Kirk was already dead when he followed the cartel 
members into the home. The supposed cartel members also brought Newberry and 
Watts a bag of stolen items and tried to set fire to the home, according to the 
affidavit.

During Watts' interview, he told investigators that he and Newberry had broken 
into Kirk's home, shot him multiple times with rifles and stolen multiple 
items, including the guns, medications, vehicle, a frozen pizza and batteries, 
according to the affidavit.

There was no mention of a drug cartel.

(source: Tulsa World)






CALIFORNIA:

Fewer in state support capital punishment in latest Field Poll


Californians are evenly divided on 2 competing death penalty proposals they may 
face on the November ballot: 1 seeking to speed up executions, the other to 
abolish them, the Field Poll reported Friday.

A telephone survey of randomly selected voters between Dec. 15 and Jan. 3 found 
48 % in favor of taking "steps to speed up the execution process" and 47 % in 
favor of repealing the death penalty and replacing it with a prison sentence of 
life without the possibility of parole, the Field Research Corp. said. The 
remaining 5 % had no opinion.

The results represent a shift against the death penalty since the last Field 
Poll in September 2014, which found 52 % favoring faster executions and 40 % 
preferring a repeal. It is also in line with other polls showing a gradual 
decline in support for the death penalty in both California and the nation, a 
trend applauded by backers of an initiative to eliminate death sentences.

"There continues to be a very strong movement away from support for the death 
penalty in California," said Matt Cherry, executive director of Death Penalty 
Focus and a leader of the campaign for the proposed ballot measure. He said 
support for the repeal initiative should increase when voters are told of the 
cost savings from eliminating capital punishment - as much as $150 million a 
year, according to the Legislature's fiscal analyst.

Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation and a 
supporter of the initiative aimed at accelerating executions, said the poll 
probably reflects "an increase in people who don???t believe that it's feasible 
to have an effective death penalty because it's been obstructed so long."

"The challenge for the campaign is to make the case that yes, we can fix the 
problems," Scheidegger said.

Both ballot measures are being circulated for signatures.

Californians overwhelmingly approved pro-death penalty initiatives in 1972 and 
1978 and voted narrowly, 52 to 48 %, against a 2012 measure that would have 
abolished capital punishment.

The state has nearly 750 prisoners on death row but has executed only 13 since 
the current law took effect in 1977. Shortly after the last execution, in 
January 2006, a federal judge ruled that the state's lethal injection 
procedures and staff training were so badly flawed that they posed an 
unacceptable risk of a botched and agonizing execution.

Gov. Jerry Brown's administration recently settled a lawsuit by death penalty 
advocates with an agreement to use a single dose of a powerful sedative in 
executions, rather than the 3-drug combination employed in the past.

One provision of the proposed initiative to speed up executions would eliminate 
the currently required period of public comment on the single-drug plan. Other 
provisions would limit appeals of death sentences, set deadlines for state 
Supreme Court rulings on appeals, and expand the pool of defense lawyers by 
requiring attorneys who accept court appointments to represent the indigent on 
criminal cases to also take capital cases.

The Field Poll found voters divided on the subject, as usual, by age, gender, 
race and religion.

A majority of respondents age 50 or over favored speeding up executions, while 
a slight majority of younger voters preferred a repeal. By small margins, men 
preferred faster executions and women preferred abolishing them. Majorities of 
non-Latino white and Asian American respondents endorsed faster executions, 
while larger majorities of Latinos and African Americans - the latter taken 
from a small number of respondents - opposed the death penalty.

Among religious respondents and those with no religious preference, only 
Protestants, by 58 %, favored speeding up executions rather than eliminating 
them.

Pollsters said 1,003 registered voters were surveyed, and the margin of error 
was plus or minus 3.2 % points.

Poll highlights

Among all voters, 48 % favored speeding up executions and 47 % favored 
abolishing them.

Among men, 51 % favored speedups and 45 % favored abolition.

Among women, 46 % favored speedups and 49 % favored abolition.

By religion, 58 % of Protestants favored speedier executions, while 52 % of 
Catholics, 62 % of those of other religions, and a plurality of 49 R of those 
without religious preference favored abolishing executions.

By race and ethnicity, 52 % of non-Latino whites and 51 % of Asian Americans 
favored speedier executions, while 54 % of Latinos and 61 % of African 
Americans favored abolition.

(source: sfgate.com)

**********

Long Beach man could face death penalty in December murder of ex-girlfriend


A Long Beach man accused of fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend in front of 
their son during a December domestic violence incident pleaded not guilty 
Thursday to several felony criminal charges, and could face the death penalty.

Eric Jerome Williams, Jr., 29, has been charged with 2 counts of injuring a 
child's parent and 1 count each of murder, child abuse, possession of a firearm 
by a felon and resisting or delaying a peace officer, officials from the Los 
Angeles County District Attorney's Office said Thursday.

Williams and the victim, Jerica Owens, 26, were in a relationship for several 
years and lived together before they broke up, according to a statement from 
Deputy District Attorney Troy Davis, who is prosecuting the case. The 2 also 
shared a son.

A history of violence

Williams met with Owens Oct. 10 to exchange their son when he reportedly became 
angry with her and choked her, according to Davis. Owens lost consciousness and 
when she awoke, he allegedly choked her again.

It was not clear whether police were involved in that incident.

Williams met with Owens and their son the morning of Dec. 22 in the 1900 block 
of Chestnut Avenue in Long Beach when the 2 got into argument, according to 
Davis.

At some point, he pulled out a gun and shot her several times in the head in 
front of their son before he took the child and fled, the prosecutor said.

Following the shooting, Long Beach police located Williams at a friend's home, 
but he refused to come out. Williams was subsequently arrested and charged Dec. 
24.

Additional allegations

The felony complaint includes a special circumstance allegation that Williams 
killed Owens because she was a witness to a crime, and a 2nd special allegation 
that he personally and intentionally discharged a firearm, causing great bodily 
injury and death.

Williams was previously convicted of battery in 2008 and unlawful driving or 
taking of a vehicle in 2010.

He is scheduled to return to Long Beach Superior Court March 16 for a 
preliminary hearing setting. If convicted as charged, Williams faces the death 
penalty or life in state prison without the possibility of parole.

The District Attorney's Office will decide whether to seek the death penalty at 
a later date.

(source: Press-Telegram)