[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEV., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 12



NEVADA:

Death row's James Biela pushes for new trial


James Biela was convicted for the 2008 murder of 19 year old Brianna Denison.

It was one of the most sensational crimes in Northern Nevada at the time 
because for a time, there was no suspect or motive.

Brianna Denison's body was not immediately found.

She was eventually found February 15, 2008 approximately 4 weeks after 
disappearing.

An autopsy would show she had been strangled and raped.

In the spring of 2010 Biela was convicted of killing Denison and raping 2 other 
women.

For that he received the death penalty plus multiple life sentences.

His 2 new attorneys Edward Reed and Chris Oram gave several instances in court 
on July 11 2016, in which they say the Washoe County Public Defender's Office 
dropped the ball.

They say the defense attorneys should have pressed harder for a change of venue 
considering all of the pre-trial publicity.

One of Biela's public defender's at the time, Maizie Pusich, testified in court 
Monday. Saying, as a native, she was hard pressed to find a case more shocking 
- naming Darrin Mack, Cathy Woods, and Tamir Hamilton as trails that so fully 
captured the public's attention.

Oram played a tape in court where he says Reno Police gave his client improper 
Miranda Rights.

Oram says it was not only cause for an appeal but also a reason to request 
Biela's statements to police be thrown out.

Biela's current defense team says the Washoe County Public Defender's Office 
should have pursued their own psychological evaluation of one of Biela's rape 
victims.

The woman identified as Amanda C in court records, did not go to police 
immediately after her attack.

There was no physical evidence available by the time she went to authorities.

She identified James Biela as her attacker only after he was named a suspect in 
the Denison case.

She claimed she was infected with herpes by Biela. In court it was shown that 
was not true.

Oram also said in court the tipster who called Secret Witness about the case, 
which led to the conviction of Biela, should have been identified and compelled 
to testify during trial.

Some of these issues have already been commented on by The Nevada Supreme Court 
when it upheld Biela's death sentence.

Justices said there was nothing in the record that showed juror's decisions 
were a result of passion or prejudice.

The court said Amanda C's testimony, where she identified Biela during trial as 
"the man who haunts my dreams," was sufficient to support his conviction.

Biela's original trial lasted 3 1/2 weeks, there were 60 witnesses and the jury 
deliberated for 9 hours.

His new attorneys may call several of the original players to the stand in this 
case. Which is why the court calendar has been marked off for 2 weeks.

(source: KOLO TV news)






CALIFORNIA:

State Supreme Court overturns death penalty over judge's error


The state Supreme Court upheld a Stockton man's conviction for a 1999 murder 
and robbery Monday but overturned his death sentence because the trial judge 
removed a prospective juror who said she was morally opposed to the death 
penalty but believed she could set her views aside.

Although all jurors in capital cases must be willing to vote for a death 
sentence, "a prospective juror's conscientious objection to capital punishment 
is not by itself a sufficient basis for excluding that person from jury 
service," Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar said in the 7-0 ruling.

The ruling entitles the defendant, Louis Zaragoza, to a penalty retrial in 
which a new jury would decide whether he should be sentenced to death or life 
in prison without parole.

The victim, David Gaines, 36, was fatally shot while chasing a man who had 
grabbed a paper bag from the hands of Gaines' father, William, in front of 
their Stockton home in February 1999. The bag usually contained the day's 
receipts from the Gaines' liquor store, but on this day it held only a Pyrex 
bottle, the court said.

Witnesses identified the thief as Zaragoza's brother, David, who was ruled 
mentally incompetent to stand trial. A San Joaquin County jury found that Louis 
Zaragoza was waiting nearby and shot David Gaines as he chased the thief with a 
canister of Mace.

The state's high court unanimously rejected defense challenges to Zaragoza's 
convictions but said Superior Court Judge Thomas Teaford had wrongly removed a 
prospective juror, based solely on her answers to a pretrial questionnaire.

Asked whether she had any religious or other personal convictions that would 
interfere with her ability to take part in a capital case, the woman said she 
did, and explained, "Don't feel I have the right to decide if a person is to 
die." Asked later whether her beliefs would have a substantial impact on her 
decision as a juror, she wrote, "Somewhat."

But later in the questionnaire, she wrote that she would not automatically vote 
to acquit Zaragoza or sentence him to life in prison in order to avoid a death 
sentence. Asked if she could set her feelings aside and follow the law as the 
judge explained it, she said she could.

Over a defense lawyer's objections, Teaford granted the prosecutor's request to 
dismiss the juror "for cause," saying her written answers showed "a substantial 
impairment" in her "ability to be neutral." But Cuellar said her answers, 
considered together, did not clearly show that she was unwilling or unable to 
follow the law.

Under established court precedents, Cuellar said, a trial judge must allow such 
a juror to remain on the panel and answer questions that might clarify her 
views. If she showed a willingness to follow the judge's instructions, the 
prosecution could then use one of its limited number of challenges to remove 
her.

The case is People vs. Zaragoza, S097886.

(source: San Francisco Chronicle)






USA:

Feds' death-sentence appeal against cop-killer Ronell Wilson in limbo


The government says a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Texas death-penalty case 
could impact its decision whether to challenge a federal judge's ruling sparing 
convicted cop-killer Ronell Wilson's life.

The U.S. Justice Department needs more time to mull an appeal of Brooklyn 
federal court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis' ruling earlier this year vacating the 
death sentence due to Wilson's intellectual disability, according to a motion 
filed Friday at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan.

The Texas case, involving a death-sentence imposed on Bobby James Moore in 1980 
for slaying a 70-year-old Houston grocery clerk during a robbery, will come up 
for hearing and ruling during the high court's next term, starting in October.

"The court's decision in Moore ... will likely implicate any determination of 
whether to appeal and, if any appeal were pursued, in resolving that appeal," 
wrote Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Busa.

In March, Brooklyn federal prosecutors filed a notice of appeal to preserve 
their right to formally contest Garaufis' ruling that spared Wilson's life.

The U.S Justice Department has yet to decide whether to move forward with the 
appeal.

In imposing a series of consecutive sentences of life without parole against 
Wilson, Garaufis said the U.S. Constitution "forbids the execution of 
intellectually disabled persons."

Wilson, 34, was sentenced to death in 2013 in a penalty-phase retrial after 
Garaufis previously ruled the former Stapleton gang member was not mentally 
incapacitated.

The defendant was convicted of murdering Detectives Rodney J. Andrews, 34, and 
James V. Nemorin, 36, during an undercover gun buy-and-bust operation in 
Tompkinsville on March 10, 2003.

A prior Brooklyn federal court jury had sentenced Wilson to death in 2007. 3 
years later, an appeals court tossed out the sentence due to prosecutorial 
errors during the original penalty phase of the trial.

The convictions stood, and Wilson was retried for the penalty phase only.

Jurors again voted for death.

Wilson appealed, and in July 2014, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ordered 
Garaufis to reconsider Wilson's claim of intellectual disability in light of a 
U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Florida case.

The country's highest court found that Florida had adopted a too-rigid cutoff 
for IQ test results in deciding who could be spared the death penalty due to 
intellectual disabilities.

In his March ruling, Garaufis said Wilson had demonstrated "significant defects 
in adaptive functioning" which met the legal standard for proving intellectual 
disability.

Garaufis also said those issues, dealing with a broad array of abilities, 
skills and behavior, manifested themselves before Wilson turned 18.

In the Texas case, courts in that state relied on a 1992 definition of 
intellectual disability to deem Moore eligible for the death penalty.

His lawyers argue the professional psychiatric community now finds such 
standards outdated.

(source: silive.com)

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

Defense confirms plan to show mental defect in Dylann Roof trial


Defense lawyers plan to provide evidence of a mental condition when a federal 
jury discusses Dylann Roof's fate, court filings stated Monday.

Roof, who is white, would face the death penalty if convicted of certain 
charges in the June 2015 shooting deaths of 9 black worshippers at Emanuel AME 
Church in Charleston.

In hopes of getting a lifetime prison sentence for the 22-year-old, his defense 
team can show the jurors evidence of mitigating factors. Monday's filing 
confirmed that the attorneys plan to present testimony and documentation of a 
"mental disease or defect or any other mental condition."

The development was expected. Lawyers defending Roof from a separate murder 
case in state court already have said that experts are doing a mental health 
evaluation. That trial, set to start in January, had been delayed so the 
examination could be finished.

In U.S. District Court, Roof was indicted on 33 charges, including hate crimes 
and religion rights violations. The Nov. 7 proceeding could last 6 weeks. The 
penalty phase alone could take 2 weeks.

Prosecutors on Monday also responded to the lawyers' request for a "bill of 
particulars," or detailed statement of the accusations. They asked Judge 
Richard Gergel to order the filing because, they argued in part, Roof's 
indictment didn't fully explain how the crime was connected with interstate 
commerce, a component that would make the shooting a federal case.

In the response, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Williams said the indictment 
already mentioned Roof's use of the internet, along with the gun and ammunition 
he bought for the crime. The extra requirement would give the defense a 
"script" of the prosecution's case well ahead of the trial, he wrote.

The judge did not immediately rule on the issue.

(soruce: The Post and Corrier)

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

Donald Fell's defense team asks court to rule death penalty 
unconstitutional----Federal judge opens 2 weeks of hearings in Rutland


Lawyers for Donald Fell, a Vermont man accused of capital murder, are asking a 
federal judge to strike down the death penalty, which prosecutors plan to seek 
in Fell's upcoming re-trial.

Judge Geoffrey Crawford opened what is expected to be two weeks of hearings on 
the question of whether the death penalty violates the U.S. Constitution's 
prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment."

Fell has been down this road before.

He was convicted of the 2000 kidnapping and murder of Rutland grandmother Terry 
King and later sentenced to death. Later, during an appeal, the judge 
determined the misconduct of a lone juror in the case required him to toss out 
the conviction and order a new trial. The 2nd trial is not expected before next 
year.

Fell was not in the courtroom as the death penalty hearing got underway Monday 
though several of King's family members are attending.

The 1st witness was a University of California psychologist, Craig Haney, who 
said inmates held for long periods in solitary confinement and on death row 
suffer stress and psychological harm.

Lori Hibbard, King's daughter, was unsympathetic.

"It seems like a waste of time," Hibbard said outside the courthouse, noting a 
federal appeals court has previously approved imposition of the death penalty 
in Fell's case.

"He should've already been executed long ago. He did get the death penalty and 
I don't think we should be doing this all over again, but, we are, and I'm 
going to be here every day," Hibbard said.

(source: WPTZ news)

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

Expert: death penalty inhumane


Keeping federal death row inmates in solitary confinement for years and 
sometimes decades, deprived of human interaction and touch, is inhumane, 
according to the 1st defense witness in a federal hearing in Rutland on Monday.

"According to the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, anything 
greater than 15 days is inhumane, cruel and degrading treatment," said Dr. 
Craig Haney, a professor in the University of California Santa Cruz psychology 
department.

The 1st day in a 10-day hearing regarding the constitutionality of the death 
penalty in Donald Fell's capital case began in Rutland federal court Monday 
morning.

Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford, who is presiding over Fell's 2nd death penalty 
trial in the carjacking and kidnapping death of a North Clarendon woman, said 
argument about the death penalty serves as a sort of symbolic language.

"Both sides argue about right and wrong, nature and nurture, determinism and 
free will, and the consequences of our actions," Crawford said in his opening 
remarks.

In framing the importance of the hearing that will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
each day until July 22, Crawford said this is an opportunity to hear from the 
scholars themselves, and question them.

"And create a rich, factual record for higher courts with broader authority to 
rule on the big questions," he said.

According to Haney, public opposition to the death penalty is increasing and 
courts are recognizing its flaws, citing unreliable and cruel outcomes.

Haney described what he called a social death among inmates in prolonged 
solitary confinement. "They experience a deep joylessness and have lost the 
capacity to regain it. ... The self begins to recede," he said.

Fell, 36, was convicted by a federal jury in 2005 and sentenced to death in 
2006 for carjacking and kidnapping which resulted in the death of Terry King, 
53, in 2000. But claims of juror misconduct got his conviction and sentence 
overturned and he was granted a new trial, scheduled to begin on Feb. 27, 2017.

If convicted a 2nd time, Fell could be sentenced to death again. He currently 
remains lodged at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Vermont U.S. Attorney Eric Miller said the death penalty is justified in Fell's 
case.

"The defendant, Donald Fell, committed the offenses in an especially heinous, 
cruel, and depraved manner in that it involved torture and serious abuse of the 
victim," Miller wrote. "Donald Fell abducted and murdered, or participated in 
the abduction and murder of Teresa King who was particularly vulnerable. ... 
(Fell) is likely to commit criminal acts of violence in the future."

In Monday's hearing, Haney testified all day.

In a series of photographs, Haney walked Crawford and those in the courtroom 
through the U.S. Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana, where Fell was 
previously lodged in the Special Confinement Unit.

As part of his testimony, Haney showed images of Fell's cell with a bunk, 
shower, commode, chair, desk and television.

"It's one of the neatest cells I've seen," Haney said.

While housed in the SCU, Fell used a 9-inch handmade "metal shank" to stab a 
fellow inmate in the neck, according to Federal Bureau of Prison records.

"On February 24, 2012, inmate Donald Fell assaulted inmate Roane (James Roane 
Jr.) with a homemade sharpened weapon," according to a memorandum from Warden 
Charles L. Lockett. "Based on this information, for mutual safety, I recommend 
that ... Donald Fell be separated from inmate James Roane."

As part of his testimony, Haney also showed a picture of Roane's room, which 
was littered with books, papers, food and towels, a stark contrast to Fell's 
cell.

Haney said the image of Roane's room was taken after the stabbing and its 
disheveled state could have been a result of the stabbing.

Court documents report that immediately after the stabbing, Fell was escorted 
to the door of the Lower B Range of the SCU by an inmate and he still had the 
shank in his hand.

According to Haney's testimony, death-row inmates are housed in either Range A, 
B, or C, and he detailed, with images, the living conditions on each level. He 
showed cages used for inmate exercise, and church services. Inmates never see 
the outside and, despite having windows in their cells, the windows are opaque 
and let in light, but nothing can be seen, Haney said.

"This is severe," he said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sonia Jimenez asked Haney detailed questions about a 
Colorado study that found adverse reactions could not be attributed to solitary 
confinement.

"I believe the flaws in the study were fatal," he said.

The defense will continue presenting witnesses this week.

(source: Barre Montpelier Times Argus)