[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MISS., LA., TENN., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 9




MISSISSIPPI:

Inmates take lethal injection drug challenge to Mississippi Supreme Court


2 Mississippi death row inmates have filed fresh challenges to the state's 
lethal injection procedures with the Mississippi Supreme Court.

The move came after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told them a state 
court should determine whether Mississippi was breaking state law by using a 
new drug.

Richard Jordan and Gerald Loden filed their appeals Wednesday, saying the court 
should rule illegal Mississippi's plan to use midazolam as a sedative because 
it's not the kind of drug called for by state law.

Jordan, now 70, was convicted of kidnapping and killing Edwina Marta in 
Harrison County on Jan. 13, 1976.

Rachael Ring, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Jim Hood, said his office is 
reviewing the appeals.

The court actions are part of a series of continuing legal skirmishes 
nationwide over lethal injection drugs.

In August, U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate had issued a preliminary 
injunction blocking Mississippi from putting anyone to death. The appeals court 
overruled Wingate in February, but Wingate's injunction remained in place until 
Tuesday, when the appeals court published its ruling. Since then, Hood's office 
has been free to ask the state Supreme Court to set execution dates for inmates 
who have exhausted their other appeals. Hood hasn't yet done so.

Jordan's attorney, Jim Craig, predicted state Supreme Court justices wouldn't 
approve execution dates while challenges to midazolam were pending. He said 
Hood has been ducking the issue since 2014.

"All AG Hood has done is file motions and briefs to evade a court hearing where 
we can prove that the Mississippi Department of Corrections' procedure will 
torture prisoners in the death chamber," Craig said. "If he really thinks we 
can't prove our case, General Hood needs to come out from his hiding place and 
meet us in court."

Mississippi law requires a 3-drug process, specifying an "ultra-short-acting 
barbiturate" followed by a paralyzing agent and a drug that stops an inmate's 
heart. But Mississippi and other states have increasingly struggled to obtain 
such drugs since 2010, as manufacturers refuse to sell them for executions.

"Not only is midazolam not an ultra short-acting barbiturate, it is not a 
barbiturate at all," say both appeals. Lawyers for both men argue that the 
Mississippi Department of Corrections can't unilaterally change a punishment 
that the Legislature wrote into law without usurping lawmakers' power.

Midazolam doesn't render someone unconscious as quickly as a barbiturate. Craig 
argues midazolam leaves an inmate at risk of severe pain during execution, 
violating the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution's bar on cruel and 
unusual punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 upheld as constitutional 
Oklahoma's use of midazolam.

Jordan's appeal raises an additional argument, arguing that his 40-yearlong 
wait between a death sentence and execution equals cruel and unusual 
punishment.

Jordan had agreed to serve life without parole after successfully challenging 
his sentence 3 times, but got the state Supreme Court to rule that Jordan could 
have only been sentenced to death or life with possibility of parole. A 
prosecutor then won a death penalty for the 4th time in a 1998 sentencing 
trial.

"These extraordinary circumstances make his execution excessive and 
disproportionate to the crime and thus in violation of both the federal and 
state constitutions," the appeal states.

Loden pleaded guilty in 2001 to kidnapping, raping and murdering Leesa Marie 
Gray in Itawamba County.

(source: sunherald.com)






LOUISIANA:

Local attorney to receive national honor


The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project will honor a local attorney with its annual 
Champion of Justice Award this week.

When it came to selecting this year's recipient of the award, Shawn Armbrust, 
executive director of the organization, found the perfect honoree in Shreveport 
attorney A.M. "Marty" Stroud III, who has become an outspoken advocate against 
injustices within the legal system. He will be recognized for his achievements 
at a Tuesday luncheon at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C.

"We try each year to bring unusual voices to the event," said Armbrust, who has 
been with the innocence project for the past 11 years.

Armbrust said she looks for honorees who talk about important matters within 
the legal system, and this year she thought it would be a good idea to honor a 
prosecutor.

"It's really important to give credit to prosecutors who have done the right 
thing," Armbrust said. "Marty really stood out and - to some degree - Marty's 
done things that were a lot harder than others."

Stroud, who works for the Shreveport firm Barham Warner Stroud Carmouche, was 
the lead prosecutor in the 1984 first-degree murder trial of Glenn Ford. Ford 
was sentenced to death for the November 1983 death of Isadore Rozeman, a 
Shreveport jeweler. In March 2014, Ford was released from prison when the state 
admitted new evidence that proved Ford was not the killer.

Taking full responsibility, Stroud issued a public apology for his role in 
sending Ford to death row. He has since become an outspoken opponent of the 
death penalty and proponent of dialogue on the injustices that exist in the 
state's criminal justice system.

"I never thought the letter would go as far as it did - I was just concerned 
about the Glenn Ford case," said Stroud, who believes the situation has opened 
up other questions about the criminal justice system, which he is glad to see 
happen. Stroud believes there are many more problems in the criminal justice 
system in Louisiana. He said the more people are educated, the better the 
system can become. With more voices speaking up and more group discussions 
taking place, he believes things are moving in the right direction.

"The compass is turning. I think we are starting to move in the right 
direction, slowly but surely," Stroud said.

The attorney said he was humbled when he heard he was being offered the 
prestigious recognition from the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project.

"It was surely a shock when I got the call and I hope my comments next week 
will be of benefit to the group," said Stroud, who will also serve as the 
keynote speaker during the annual fundraising luncheon.

After receiving the award, Stroud hopes to continue helping affect changes in 
the system that he believes are stacked against defendants - especially the 
poor.

"We should have less people locked up. A lot of reform needs to be taken. It's 
going to take the citizens of the community to get involved," said Stroud, who 
believes issues surrounding officer-involved shootings and the high rates of 
incarceration in the state of Louisiana are issues ripe for conversation in the 
community.

Stroud wants to advocate against the look of hopelessness in the eyes of people 
who are incarcerated and don't believe they ever have the chance for reprieve 
or redemption.

Armbrust said Stroud stands out in a time when people are less likely to admit 
fault and take full responsibility for their errors.

In the annals of criminal justice and innocence projects.the outcome of the 
Glenn Ford case will likely prove to be Stroud's most revered legacy.

"He did more than just say he was wrong - he apologized, explained what he did 
wrong, and explains to people how to avoid it," Armbrust said. "It takes real 
guts and we need to see more of that in our system."

(source: Shreveport Times)

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

Family of Slain Louisiana Man Denounces Dallas Police Deaths


The mother of the son of a black man killed by white Louisiana police officers 
said Friday she grieved with the families of 5 police officers killed in Dallas 
during a protest over police shootings, adding she was now "walking a mile with 
them."

Quinyetta McMillon described herself as "very hurt" for the officers and their 
families.

"Now, I'm walking a mile with them. We're bearing the same shoes right now," 
McMillon said in an interview with The Associated Press Friday.

The Dallas protest came in response to police shootings, including the one in 
which 37-year-old Alton Sterling was killed Tuesday in Baton Rouge during a 
struggle with 2 police officers outside a convenience store where he was 
selling CDs.

Sterling was black; both officers are white. Cellphone video of his shooting 
was posted online and set off angry protests in Baton Rouge and beyond. The 
Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation into Sterling's 
shooting.

Police say Sterling was armed and an eyewitness said he had a gun in his 
pocket. But McMillon resisted those claims Friday, saying she didn't know 
Sterling to carry a gun and doesn't believe he had one with him the night he 
was shot to death.

"I do not believe in my heart that there was a gun," she said.

McMillon said she believes police said that "to cover up something." The Baton 
Rouge Police Department didn't respond to the claim. The 2 officers involved in 
the shooting death, Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, are on administrative 
leave, which is customary, during the investigation.

"They should be prosecuted, the both of them. I don't want the death penalty 
for them. I want them to be in prison," McMillon said, calling the federal 
investigation a "very positive step."

McMillon called Sterling a good father to their son Cameron, 15, who broke down 
in sobs at a rally outside City Hall earlier this week. She said Cameron 
Sterling has been devastated by the loss.

"I called them the Doublemint twins because they both liked snacks. They both 
like to eat, so they was always eating something" when they spent time 
together, which was regularly, McMillon said.

Her face lighting up with a slight smile as she talked, McMillon said Alton 
Sterling was close to their son. She recalled when Cameron Sterling took his 
first steps, Alton Sterling swooped in to catch his son each time he wobbled, 
to keep him from hurting himself when he fell. She said it's one of her best 
memories.

"Every second my son goes to stumble, he's breaking his neck to get to him," 
McMillon said. "And that memory will never be forgotten, because right now I 
use that same memory in terms of coping with my son and letting him know right 
now, 'You still pick yourself up.'"

Court records show Sterling had pleaded guilty in 2011 to being a felon in 
possession of a firearm and illegally carrying a weapon and was arrested in May 
2009 after an officer confronted him outside another store where he was selling 
CDs.

McMillon focused on Sterling's smile, saying people knew he was a "good, 
genuine man." Prior cases aren't relevant, she said.

"As far as his criminal record, it has nothing to do with right now. That is 
the past," she said. "Right now, we're focusing on what happened to him."

Protesters have gathered for three nights at the Triple S Food Mart where 
Sterling was shot to death as they tried to make sense of recent events, 
including a fatal shooting in Minnesota, in which Philando Castile's girlfriend 
streamed video to Facebook after he was shot by a police officer Wednesday. 
Castile also was black.

Cornell William Brooks, the national head of the NAACP, visited Baton Rouge on 
Friday and said he is tired of victims of police shootings being treated as 
"hashtag tragedies" instead of human beings mourned by their families.

Asked about how the shootings reflect on race relations across the nation, 
McMillon said she didn't want Sterling's shooting to "be a race thing." She 
wouldn't answer questions, however, about whether she believed police would 
have responded the same way if Alton Sterling had been white.

After the shootings of police officers in Dallas, McMillon said she hoped the 
Baton Rouge protests would remain peaceful. More protests were planned 
throughout the weekend.

Baton Rouge Police Chief Carl Dabadie Jr. said his department has strived to 
avoid a "military-style response" to the protests.

State and local law enforcement officials briefed Louisiana Gov. John Bel 
Edwards on Friday about their public safety strategies. Louisiana State Police 
Col. Mike Edmonson said officials reviewed with the governor what assets were 
available to law enforcement and how quickly they can be mobilized in an 
emergency.

(sources: ABC news and Associated Press)

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

The state where targeting a police officer is a hate crime


After a Texas sheriff's deputy was murdered at a gas station in suburban 
Houston last summer, lawmakers across the country cried for action to protect 
police officers. They've had limited success.

In May, Louisiana became the first state in the nation to make it a hate crime 
to target police officers. The proposal was largely in response to the Texas 
killing, and it was fairly controversial when Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, 
a Democrat, signed the Republican-backed bill into law.

Black Lives Matter proponents, who are critical of police brutality, argued it 
was unnecessary, since many states already have enhanced penalties on the books 
for assaulting and/or killing police officers - including Texas, where the 
murder of a police officer can result in a death penalty sentence. And civil 
rights experts were concerned the measure would weaken hate crime laws.

Police officers who had formed Blue Lives Matter - a group formed in direct 
response to the Black Lives Matter movement - saw the issue of expanding 
protections to them much differently. "Symbolically it advises that there is a 
value to the lives of police officers," former police Lt. Randy Sutton of Las 
Vegas told CNN. "When you give value, it acts as a deterrent in one sense, but 
it also is a tool to add extra punishment for the assaults and the crimes 
against them."

Despite the controversy, similar legislation was considered this year in 
California, New Mexico, Maryland and New Jersey. The New Jersey resolution is 
the only one that is still being considered, according to the nonpartisan 
National Conference of State Legislatures's Richard Williams. Williams said 
he's seen an uptick in legislation addressing law enforcement more broadly over 
the past 2 years. But as state legislatures across the nation wrap up, 
Louisiana remains the only state with this kind of law on the books.

There's been even less movement on this front in Washington. In September, Sen. 
Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) introduced legislation to make the death penalty an option 
for someone found guilty of specifically targeting a law enforcement officer, 
firefighter or public official. It has 23 co-sponsors, all Republican.

"I am sick and tired of this narrative across this country that we???re hearing 
from so many political figures that somehow the police are systemically a bunch 
of racist rogues," Toomey says in a TV ad promoting the bill.

There's a similar bill in the House with 49 co-sponsors, also all Republican. 
But despite having a significant chunk of support from Republicans in a 
Republican-led Congress, both pieces of legislation have sat motionless since 
being introduced.

It's unclear exactly why these bills haven't moved in the wake of a national 
debate about police brutality and police protections. Public opinion polling on 
police endangerment is scarce, though Americans do seem uncertain about the 
flip side of the debate, the Black Lives Matter movement.

A recent Pew Research Center poll found that 41 % of black people said they 
support the movement "strongly." An additional 24 % support it "somewhat," for 
a total of 65 %. Among whites, 40 % support it. Meanwhile, a September 
PBS/Marist poll found a notable 35 % of Americans see the Black Lives Matter 
movement advocating violence to make its point.

The statistics don't seem to support the idea there's a war on police. As NPR 
reported in September, police killed in the line of duty is actually on a 
downward trend:

But The Washington Post's database of police shootings finds that there have 
been more officers shot and killed in the line of duty this year than at this 
point last year.

The Anti-Defamation League has warned expanding hate crimes to police risks 
"diluting" hate-crime legislation by opening the door to including more groups. 
(A hate crime is defined as attacking a person specifically because of their 
identity, like racial or ethnic or religious.)

"Working in a profession is not a personal characteristic, and it is not 
immutable," Allison Padilla-Goodman with the Anti-Defamation League told CNN.

In the wake of yet another police killing on Texas soil - the deadliest for law 
enforcement since 9/11 - we'll have to wait and see whether legislation, 
whether in Washington or in the states, to expand protections to police 
officers gains any momentum.

(source: Washington post)






TENNESSEE:

Editorial (Circa 1913): On 'Substituting the Electric Chair for the Hangman's 
Noose'


On Sept. 27, 1913, the 58th General Assembly of Tennessee approved Senate Bill 
125, making the electric chair the state's official method of execution. The 
chair, which Tennessee has used to kill 126 prisoners - the 1st of whom was 
executed nearly 100 years ago on July 13, 1916 - is the subject of this week's 
cover story.

The bill adopting the electric chair in Tennessee stated that "whenever any 
person is sentenced to punishment by death, that court shall direct that the 
body of such person be subjected to shock by a sufficient current of 
electricity until he is dead." It appropriated $5,000 "or so much thereof as 
may be necessary" for the construction of a death chamber and electric chair. 
And while the condemned had previously been hanged to death in the counties 
where they were convicted, the bill also stated that all executions would 
thereafter be carried out in Nashville.

The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 27 to 4 and the House by a vote 
of 64 to 2. In all, 6 men voted against it, and we only have their last names: 
Cecil, Fitzpatrick, Fulton, Hare, Emmons and Shaw. The bill was signed into law 
by then-Gov. Ben Hooper.

After the jump is the text of a editorial that ran in the Lawrence Democrat 
almost 2 weeks after the bill was passed. Among other things, it shows that a 
century later we're still having all the same arguments about the death 
penalty:

We are pleased with the passage of the law substituting the electric chair for 
the hangman's noose in Tennessee. It is a short step it is true but 
nevertheless a step in the direction of juster, less horrible, less barbaric 
penal laws.

The killing of men for crime is illogical, and out of harmony with saner 
instincts of civilization. The only reason to be urged for capital punishment 
is that the penalty be made thereby so harsh and horrible as to become a 
preventive force to the commission of crime. The student of history, however, 
knows that in every age it has failed utterly to accomplish this end. Wherever 
and whenever punishment has been most harsh and brutish, the very crimes thus 
sought to be prevented have instead increased. Barbarity does not reform the 
criminal. Harshness and horror of penalty rather sows the seeds of brutishness 
and blood-lust in the minds of those of inherent weakness or crime-tendency, 
which grows into a sanguinary harvest.

There is even in the mind of the ignorant, a sense of proportion, a conception 
of justice, which revolts at the idea of the state committing the very 
man-killing for which it condemns the individual to death. And while 
electrocution preserves this ancient horror, and perpetuates barbarity, yet it 
seeks to diminish its horror, and hide it away from publicity. Of course this 
is a contradiction in legal standard, a rank and palpable inconsistency to seek 
to take away the horror it may create. Electrocution shows a tendency in the 
public ideals toward a humaner, and a saner system, and will help bring man to 
a realization of the futility and hurtfulness of the age-old error of killing 
to punish killing. And as it has such a tendency we are pleased because of the 
passage of the law in Tennessee.

One wonders what the editorial board of the Lawrence Democrat thinks of the 
fact that 100 years later, this "age-old error" persists, slowed only by 
logistical concerns like the availability of drugs for lethal injection - the 
next execution method, adopted in the hopes that it was "a step in the 
direction of juster, less horrible, less barbaric penal laws."

(source: Nashville Scene)






CALIFORNIA:

Sierra LaMar: Trial nears for missing teen's accused killer


Missing teen Sierra LaMar's accused killer was back in court Friday afternoon 
as a judge weighed various motions concerning his upcoming capital murder 
trial.

Prosecutors are seeking a death sentence against Antonin Garcia-Torres, 22, for 
LaMar's alleged Morgan Hill-area murder. The 15-year-old girl vanished on her 
way to a school bus stop near Morgan Hill on the morning of March 16, 2012. 
Garcia-Torres, who wore a suit and sat passively during Friday's hour-long 
hearing, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge and also to attempted 
kidnappings of other women.

Among issues Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Vanessa A. Zecher must 
decide is whether to allow television, photography and the use of electronic 
devices to tweet or blog from court throughout the trial, as requested by major 
networks and other news organizations, including this newspaper.

Also at issue is a motion by Garcia-Torres' court-appointed lawyers, currently 
under conditional court seal, to suppress evidence, as well as the schedule for 
upcoming motions to sever the kidnapping charges and to move the trial to 
another county where the case has received less publicity.

One of Garcia-Torres' lawyers, Brian Matthews, argued Friday against allowing 
the media to photograph, film or electronically broadcast any of the upcoming 
proceedings. He also expressed concerns about the impact of cameras.

"What happens is, witnesses change, their demeanor and sometimes their 
testimony," Matthews said. "It affects lawyers and everyone, subconsciously. 
Our position is, it's all prejudicial, especially considering his life is at 
stake."

Prosecutor David Boyd said the District Attorney's Office had no position on 
the matter.

The judge said she would issue a written ruling in a few days.

The trial could begin in September with jury selection, the judge said. 
However, Matthews suggested the defense may not be ready by then.

"It's too fast," Matthews said of the deadline.

But Zecher disagreed.

"It's been 4 years, right?" she said, referring to the 2012 crime.

It is unclear how long the trial will last. Prosecutor David Boyd estimated the 
evidence portion would take 10 weeks. But at a previous hearing, Garcia-Torres' 
other attorney, Al Lopez, said it could last a year.

Zecher is expected to rule later this month or in August on a host of other 
issues, including whether to keep the defense's evidence-suppression motion 
under seal, to suppress any evidence they requested be excluded from trial and 
to hold a separate trial for the kidnapping charges.

She will also rule on Garcia-Torres' motion to move the trial out of the 
county. His lawyers have filed for a change of venue, claiming that massive 
media coverage of the case has made it impossible to find impartial jurors.

However, Matthews lost a similar motion concerning the release of the grand 
jury transcript in the case after lawyers for this news organization argued 
that the coverage was unlikely to contaminate the jury pool, particularly since 
Santa Clara County has a large population of 1.8 million.

Motions for a change of venue in much bigger cases, including the trial of 
Michael Jackson in much smaller Santa Barbara County, have been denied.

The last time a change of venue was granted in Santa Clara County was in 1980, 
when the county population -- and thus the jury pool -- was smaller. That's 
when the so-called San Jose Cheese Company murder trial involving the local 
Mafia was moved to Los Angeles County.

Regardless of where the trial is held, one of the biggest challenges will be 
finding 12 jurors and up to 6 alternates willing and able to serve during the 
whole trial, which could last 6 months.

In addition, jury selection alone could take an extra 2 to 3 months, largely 
because this is a death penalty case, and jurors must be open to the 
possibility of imposing the ultimate punishment.

Garcia-Torres' trial had been scheduled to start last spring. Over his lawyers' 
objections, Garcia-Torres in April asserted his constitutional right to a 
speedy trial within 60 days, which would have begun in June. He dropped his 
request after the judge explained that any new lawyer would have to spend 
months reviewing evidence, including 20,000 pages of documents, 600 compact 
discs and about 1,000 hours of recordings.

(source: Mmercury News)

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

Defense: AT&T not providing subpoenaed records in McStay family murder case


Defense attorneys for McStay family murder suspect Charles "Chase" Merritt 
filed a motion Friday in San Bernardino Superior Court requesting that AT&T be 
compelled to produce records in connection with the case.

The motion, filed under seal, was discussed during a pretrial hearing for 
Merritt, 59, of Homeland, who faces the death penalty in connection with the 
February 2010 beating deaths of Joseph McStay, 40, his wife, Summer, 43, and 
their 2 sons, Gianni, 4, and Joseph Jr., 3, in their Fallbrook home in San 
Diego County.

Merritt's attorney, Rajan Maline, said he and defense attorney James E. McGee 
II have issued 3 subpoenaes to AT&T since April requesting the records, but the 
communications company has not complied with the requests.

"They're essentially not complying. They cited reasons, but we don't think 
those reasons are adequate," said Maline.

Judge Michael A. Smith set the next hearing for July 19, in which 
representatives or attorneys from At&T are expected to be present to explain 
their position.

Representatives for AT&T couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

The McStay family's Feb. 4, 2010 disappearance mystified the public and stumped 
police, who suspected foul play from the get-go. In November 2013, a man riding 
his dirt bike discovered skeletal remains west of the 15 Freeway and north of 
Stoddard Wells Roads, on the outskirts of Victorville, and called police. Crime 
scene investigators unearthed the remains of 2 adults and 2 children in 2 
shallow graves. The remains were later identified as those of the McStay 
family.

Merritt, Joseph McStay's former business associate, was arrested a year later 
and charged with 1st degree murder. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

Prosecutors believe greed motivated Merritt to beat the McStay family to death 
in their home with a 3-pound sledgehammer before transporting their bodies 100 
miles away, where he allegedly buried them.

During his preliminary hearing, Merritt was described as a debt-ridden gambling 
addict who wrote multiple checks totaling more $21,000 on Joseph McStay's 
online QuickBooks account within a week of the family's disappearance. The 
checks were deleted from McStay's computer once they were printed, according to 
court testimony.

Merritt then went on a gambling spree, withdrawing thousands of dollars in cash 
from ATM machines at Indian casinos in Temecula and San Bernardino and the 
Commerce Casino near Los Angeles, according to court records and testimony from 
Merritt's preliminary hearing.

Maline said he isn't sure whether the records he and McGee are requesting from 
AT&T will even be used in Merritt's defense, which is why the motion was filed 
under seal and why they are requesting prosecutors are not made privy to the 
information as of yet.

Several new members either joined or are positioned to join Merritt's defense 
team and were present during Friday's court proceedings.

Suzy Israel, a former deputy public defender of 16 years in San Bernardino 
County, is pending appointment to Merritt's defense team. Forensics expert 
Randolph Beasley has also joined Merritt's team, as has media advisor Robert 
Wallace. Gary Robertson, a retired homicide sergeant for the San Bernardino 
Police Department, is now Merritt???s assigned private investigator.

(source: San Bernardino Sun)






USA:

4 plead not guilty in couple's shooting death at Lake Wylie


4 of the men charged in the 2014 shooting deaths of a couple at their South 
Carolina home are requesting a jury trial.

The Charlotte Observer reports (http://bit.ly/29DAyf0 ) the 4 pleaded not 
guilty Friday.

Prosecutors say Doug and Debbie London were killed in their Lake Wylie home in 
October 2014 to prevent their testimony against three United Blood Nation 
members who attempted to rob their mattress store in Pineville.

12 people were indicted in their deaths. Prosecutors say all are gang members.

The 4 in court Friday were Nana Adoma, Randall Hankins, Malcom Hartley and 
Jamell Cureton.

Cureton is accused of participating in the robbery and ordering the Londons 
killed. Hartley is accused of firing the gun. The U.S. Department of Justice 
hasn't decided whether to seek the death penalty in their cases.

(source: Associated Press)

********

Federal judge to hear death penalty challenge


A Vermont man facing a 2nd federal death penalty trial for the abduction and 
murder of a supermarket worker almost 16 years ago is asking the federal judge 
hearing the case to declare the death penalty unconstitutional.

In a 2-week hearing scheduled to begin Monday in Rutland, Vermont, the 
attorneys for Donald Fell plan to outline why they feel the federal death 
penalty violates the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that prohibits 
cruel and unusual punishment.

Attorneys across the country representing people facing death penalty trials, 
and those appealing already imposed death sentences, are making similar 
arguments, but the Fell case will be the 1st to make it before a federal judge, 
said Robert Dunham, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information 
Center.

"All the indicators are that the public is turning away from the death 
penalty," said Dunham, who is listed as a possible witness by Fell's defense 
team.

Dunham said seven states have abolished the death penalty since 2000 and 
prosecutors across the country are seeking the death penalty less frequently. 
Juries are imposing it less frequently, fewer executions are being carried out 
and there is evidence the death penalty is carried out more frequently in some 
parts of the country than others, he added.

Vermont U.S. Attorney Eric Miller declined comment, but a list of government 
witnesses expected to be called will testify the death penalty is still favored 
by a majority of Americans and it does have a deterrent effect on future crime.

Kent Scheidegger, the legal director of the California-based Criminal Justice 
Legal Foundation, which describes itself as supporting victims of crime, said 
he felt Fell's attorneys and death penalty opponents in general were making a 
mistake by asking a judge to rule on the constitutionality of the death 
penalty.

"By bringing this motion, they are going to actually have to submit this stuff 
as evidence and have an adversary hearing," Scheidegger said. "I hope that the 
government will pull out all he stops and show that these supposed facts are 
nonsense."

Fell, now 36, was arrested in 2000 and charged with abducting and later killing 
Terry King, a 53-year-old North Clarendon grandmother, as she arrived for work 
at a Rutland supermarket. Vermont has no state death penalty. Fell was charged 
under federal law.

In 2002, the judge then hearing the case, William Sessions, declared the 
federal death penalty unconstitutional. 2 years later, the Second Circuit Court 
of Appeals overturned the decision, allowing the trial to go forward.

Fell was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to death. His conviction was 
overturned in 2014 because of juror misconduct. He is due to go on trial again 
early next year.

But as part of their appeal, Fell's defense attorneys asked U.S. District Court 
Judge Geoffrey Crawford to consider the constitutionality of the death penalty. 
In February, Crawford ruled there was "strong disagreement" in "judicial and 
scholarly" circles about the legality of the death penalty. He set the 2-week 
hearing to take evidence on the issue and ultimately issue a ruling.

No matter what Crawford decides, the losing team of attorneys will appeal that 
decision. It's hoped that the Fell case, or perhaps another, will eventually 
make it to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices will be asked to rule on 
the constitutionality of the death penalty, Dunham said.

"We don't know whether there are sufficient votes in the United States court to 
declare the death penalty unconstitutional," Dunham said. "The court might not 
even know."

(source: Associated Press)

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

New lawyers in North Dakota death penalty case almost ready


New lawyers handling the appeal for a man sentenced to death for killing a 
University of North Dakota student say they should complete the transition in 3 
months.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., of Crookston, Minnesota, was convicted in 2005 of 
kidnapping and killing Dru Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. The case 
resulted in tougher laws for sex offenders on the state and federal levels.

A judge earlier this year agreed to shift Rodriguez's legal representation from 
a federal public defender's office in Minnesota to an office in Pennsylvania 
that specializes in death penalty cases.

Court documents show that the new legal team has met with Rodriguez and expects 
to take over the case on a full-time basis in October. Rodriguez sits on death 
row in an Indiana federal prison.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Police will be on high alert in some areas, and one U.S. Rep. wants to make 
cop-killing punishable by the death penalty.


Officials across New Jersey expressed condolences, and police departments said 
Friday that they would be on high alert, following overnight shootings in 
Dallas that left five police officers dead.

"Mary Pat and I are sick and heartbroken, as our thoughts and prayers are with 
the officers killed and injured in yesterday's vicious shootings, along with 
their family and friends," Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement posted 
online. "The people of New Jersey mourn with the City of Dallas and the Dallas 
law enforcement community. Brave police officers all across this country who 
protect us on a daily basis deserve to be supported by all Americans. We must 
unite as a country and recommit ourselves to law and order, safety for our 
citizens and respect for each other and reject the hatred and violence behind 
these attacks."

Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose told NJ.com that police will be 
"more vigilant" at protests planned in the city this weekend.

"We are going to ensure that people have their First Amendment rights," he told 
the website. "But, we have to make sure security (is in place) in case of any 
copycats."

State Acting Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino encouraged residents to 
hold peaceful demonstrations. He stressed the need for cooperation between 
citizens and law enforcement officers.

"Law enforcement and community leaders from across New Jersey have resolved to 
continue to work together to ensure that people have the opportunity to 
demonstrate in a peaceful and productive manner, reducing tensions rather than 
raising them, following the shootings of police officers in Texas, as well as 
the officer-involved shootings in Minnesota and Louisiana, Porrino said in a 
statement. "Now is the time to use the bonds we have built to unite and ensure 
that these tragedies are not compounded in our communities."

U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur said he wants to see Congress act on a bill that would 
make anyone who kills or attempts to kill a law enforcement officer, 
firefighter or other first responder an aggravating factor in death penalty 
determinations.

The bill, HR 814, known as the Thin Blue Line Act, is awaiting action by the 
House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland 
Security, and Investigations.


"We need to do this to deter this kind of event," MacArthur said, referring to 
the Dallas shootings, which he called "a clear assassination."

"Our men and women deserve protection," he said. "This kind of tragedy (the 
Dallas shootings) can happen anywhere."

(source: patch.com)