[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., S.C., FLA., ARIZ., USA

[Rick Halperin]

June 4




NORTH CAROLINA:

3 charged in murder of 16-year-old in Hope Mills


The Hope Mills Police Department has charged 3 men in the murder of a 
16-year-old last Saturday.

Investigators say the teen - who has not been named - was taken from a friend's 
home to a location along McKinnon Farm Road - a dirt road north of the town - 
and shot.

His body was found just after 8 a.m. Along a unpaved portion of the road, a 
piece of yellow crime scene tape is still tied around a tree branch, marking 
the general area where police found the 16 year old's body.

Police said the shooting was drug related.

Now, detectives have charged 18-year-old Devon Scott Hall of Fayetteville with 
1st-degree murder, 1st-degree kidnapping, and felony robbery.

Darian Rashad Revels, 20, of Hope Mills, is also charged with first-degree 
murder, 1st-degree kidnapping, and felony robbery.

Daniel Worth Hall Jr., 19, is charged with accessory after the fact to 
1st-degree murder. Devon Hall and Daniel Hall Jr. are brothers.

All 3 were arrested in Fayetteville. The men charged with murder are being held 
without bond. Hall Jr. is being held on a $250,000 bond.

On Friday, the 3 men charged faced a judge for the 11st time.

Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit in a heavily guarded detention center 
courtroom, Hall looked down as he listened to the charges read by District 
Court Judge Tal Baggett.

Judge Baggett told both Revels and Devon Hall that they could face life in 
prison or the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Police said the investigation is not over and more may be charged.

(source: WTVD news)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Executing Dylann Roof would reinforce racist system


The United States is essentially the only liberal democracy that still 
practices the death penalty, which is more expensive than life imprisonment 
and, according to studies, not a deterrent to crime.

Charleston church slaying families accept pursuit of death penalty

The death penalty has always had a deeply racist element to it, particularly in 
the American South: 55 % of those awaiting execution are minorities, and 
studies show that minority defendants are more likely to receive the death 
penalty if the victim is white. Executing the white Dylann Roof for killing 
black victims hands death-penalty supporters an argument to undermine the 
racist realities of the system.

Executing Dylann Roof is also a convenient way to see him simply as one bad 
actor and ignore the racial ideology that drove him to commit these heinous 
acts. Executing him will not remove the blight of racism and xenophobia that is 
on the rise.

Calling for the death penalty also defies the message of forgiveness from the 
family members of those killed at Emanuel A.M.E.. These family members 
expressed so powerfully the message of the Christian faith that brought the 
practitioners to Emanuel. It is a faith that disavows vengeance and demands 
forgiveness. It is a faith that has always been incompatible with the death 
penalty as its worship is directed toward a victim of an unjust execution by 
the state.

As Coretta Scott King has said: "as one whose husband and mother-in-law have 
both died the victims of murder assassination, I stand firmly and unequivocally 
opposed to the death penalty.... An evil deed is not redeemed by an evil deed 
of retaliation. Justice is never advanced in the taking of a human life. 
Morality is never upheld by legalized murder."

Executing Roof will not make us a more whole society. It will simply reinforce 
a broken system where poor and minority defendants suffer the most.

Will McCorkle

Clemson

(source: Letter to the Editor, The State)






FLORIDA:

Miami's condemned hope for new sentences as Florida Supreme Court weighs death 
penalty


40 years have passed since William Lee Thompson raped a young woman inside a 
North Miami-Dade motel, torturing her for 2 days until she died.

Thompson today remains the longest serving Miami prisoner on Florida's death 
row.

Like many of the 388 death-row inmates - including more than 20 from Miami-Dade 
- Thompson is hoping that a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision will give him a 
chance to escape execution. That January decision, in Hurst v. Florida, ruled 
that the state's sentencing scheme was unconstitutional, forcing lawmakers to 
revamp the law and throwing fuel into the fire of legal uncertainty surrounding 
capital punishment.

Now, the Florida Supreme Court is weighing whether longtime death row inmates 
such as Thompson should be afforded new sentencing hearings. The so-called 
"retroactivity" question will likely be answered in the coming months, and is 
one of several legal battles that have delayed 2 executions and kept the 
state's death penalty in legal limbo.

For relatives of the murdered, the ongoing legal battles are dredging up years 
of frustration with the pace of the justice system, while death penalty critics 
believe the court may soon fix a flawed, if cruel, system of capital 
punishment.

"Time has healed some things, but some things you still get angry about. Why 
has it taken so long? Why has he used the court system to his advantage?" said 
Chris Ivester, the brother of Sally Ivester, the woman murdered by Thompson in 
1976. "What is the judicial system really about - to protect the victim? Or to 
protect the perpetrator?"

Thompson's lawyer, Marie-Louise Samuels Parmer, has now asked the Florida 
Supreme Court to throw out his death sentence because of the Hurst case. She 
also believes Thompson cannot be executed because of a high court ban on 
capital punishment for people with low IQs.

"We are hopeful the Florida Supreme Court will give Mr. Thompson the 
opportunity to have a new sentencing under Hurst, and also present him the 
chance to present - in a scientifically sound manner - that he is 
intellectually disabled," Samuels Parmer said.

The next round of death penalty legal wrangling comes Tuesday, when the Florida 
Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case of Larry Perry, who is 
accused of murdering his infant son in Osceola County.

Justices will consider whether the Hurst decision actually declared the entire 
Florida death penalty unconstitutional, and whether the new law applies to 
"pending prosecutions" for crimes that occurred before it was passed in March.

Opponents of the death penalty believe it's only a matter of time.

"It's clear that at a bare minimum, the overwhelming majority of death row 
inmates are going to have to be re-sentenced, or sentenced to life in prison," 
said Karen Gottlieb, of Florida International University's Florida Center for 
Capital Representation. "The decision could not be more important. It's 
literally the difference between life and death."

The case of Timothy Lee Hurst, who murdered a Pensacola fast-food restaurant 
worker, has emerged as the biggest test to Florida???s capital punishment 
system since the 1970s.

In the January decision, the U.S. Supreme Court declared the state's death 
sentencing system was unconstitutional because it gave too little power to 
juries. For decades, Florida jurors issued bare majority recommendations, with 
judges ultimately imposing the death penalty.

The opinion evolved from a similar ruling in a 2002 case, Ring v. Arizona, 
holding that juries in that state should have the sole authority to decide on 
aggravating circumstances that made someone eligible for the death penalty. 
Florida had long considered itself different because of the jury's "advisory" 
role.

Except for Alabama, Florida and Delaware, all other states that have the death 
penalty require a unanimous jury verdict to impose the death sentence - an 
issue that has long rankled critics of Florida's death penalty.

The decision forced the Legislature to fix the death-penalty sentencing scheme. 
Florida's new law requires juries to unanimously vote for every reason, known 
as aggravating factors, that a defendant might merit a death sentence. Whether 
to actually impose the death sentence requires 10 of 12 jurors.

That unanimity issue is still very much bubbling. Earlier this month, 
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch became the 1st state court judge to 
declare that the new law is unconstitutional - prosecutors are now appealing 
that ruling.

For now, the Hurst decision will certainly apply to inmates who, although 
sentenced to death, had not finished their initial "direct" appeals to the 
Florida Supreme Court. In all, the state's high court counts 37 "direct 
appeals" pending before the court.

In Miami, that includes relatively recent death row additions such as Joel 
Lebron, convicted of executing high-school senior Ana Maria Angel after 
kidnapping her and her boyfriend from South Beach in 2002; Tavares Calloway, 
convicted of shooting 5 during a botched 1997 robbery, and Rafael Andres, 
convicted of murdering a waitress during a robbery in 2005.

But the vast majority of Death-Row inmates would benefit from Hurst only if the 
Florida Supreme Court finds the decision is retroactive. Some of Miami's most 
infamous killers - their victims include cops, children and elderly people - 
fall into that category. Some of the cases include:

-- Guillermo Arbelaez, who hurled 5-year-old Julio Rivas to his death from a 
Miami bridge after a fight with the boy's mother in 1988.

-- Daniel Lugo and Noel Dorbal, bodybuilders who hacked up Frank Griga and his 
girlfriend after a botched kidnapping in 1994. The case was made into the dark 
comedy Pain and Gain, which angered Griga's relatives and prosecutors. -- 
Labrant Dennis, who murdered University of Miami linebacker Marlon Barnes and 
his girlfriend inside a campus dorm room in 1996.

In Thompson's case, he and another man murdered Ivester, 23, inside the Sunny 
Isles Motel.

Then 23, he was a former short-order cook, carnival worker, prostitute and 
soldier. He checked into the motel with motorcycle gang leader Rocco James 
Surace, 30. With them were 2 girlfriends: Ivester, of Georgia, and Barbara 
Savage, 19.

At their urging, Ivester had asked her mother for money. She produced only $25. 
For 2 days, the men raped her with a chair leg, burned her flesh with 
cigarettes and whipped her for hours with a chain. She died of internal 
bleeding.

Decades of legal fights ensued. Thompson, 64, received 2 more sentencing 
hearings. Each time, a jury recommended death.

"3 separate juries determined that Mr. Thompson deserved death," said one of 
the case's most recent Miami-Dade prosecutors, Abbe Rifkin. "Thompson and the 
other cases that could be affected by Hurst run the risk of of becoming classic 
examples of justice delayed, justice denied because of the amount of time which 
has passed since they were originally sentenced. Important witnesses die or 
move on. A new jury might never hear all the facts."

But Thompson's attorneys say he should be spared because he has an IQ of only 
70. The last sentencing - a 7 to 5 jury vote - came under a system that has now 
been declared unlawful, lawyer Samuels Parmer wrote to the Supreme Court.

"The jury's previous recommendation is meaningless, unconstitutional and void," 
she wrote.

The issue of retroactivity likely won't turn on the Thompson case.

Legal analysts believe that the Florida Supreme Court will most likely decide 
through the cases of convicted killers Mark Asay and Michael Lambrix, both of 
whom were scheduled to be executed in recent months.

After the Hurst opinion was released, the Florida Supreme Court stayed both 
executions.

Prosecutors have pointed out that the Ring case, which spurred the Hurst 
decision, has been found not to be retroactive - and retroactivity would cause 
a "severe and unsettling impact" on the justice system, with hundreds of cases 
having to be reopened with witnesses who may no longer be around.

Death-penalty opponents - from the ACLU to the Florida Association of Criminal 
Defense Lawyers - have urged the court to convert all death row inmate 
punishments to life in prison, saying they were sentenced under an entirely 
unconstitutional defective system.

Some legal analysts don???t believe the Florida Supreme Court will go that far. 
In March, Justice Barbara Pariente - during a hearing in the Hillsborough case 
of Kenneth Jackson - seemed to suggest that the argument that everyone on death 
row should instantly get a lesser sentence was "fallacious".

"They would all have to be reduced to life," she said. "Believe me ... our 
workload would be considerably decreased if we could do that."

But who, then, would get a new sentencing under Hurst?

Attorney Martin McClain said there is also debate as to whether only cases 
before Ring v. Arizona, or an even earlier case from 2000, could be eligible 
for new sentencing hearings. He believes "retroactivity" should be afforded to 
everyone - including his clients, Asay and Lambrix.

Said McClain: "How can you fairly - without it being arbitrary - apply it to 
some people and not others?

(source: Miami Herald)






ARIZONA:

Death Row Diaries: 1984 murder put fear into parents of teenage newspaper 
carriers


Death Row Diaries: A young newspaper carrier was found murdered in 1984.

Arizona's most notorious death row inmates past and present have incredible 
stories including this man who struck fear into the parents of paper carriers 
in the early 1980???s.

DONALD EDWARD BEATY

Date of Birth: February 7, 1955

Executed: May 25, 2011

The Crime:

Back in the mid 1980's, newspapers in the Valley were mostly delivered by young 
teenagers. They would load up their bicycles and deliver them to their 
neighbors either early every morning or right after school. They would also 
head out on weekends or in the early evening time to collect fares from their 
customers.

One such newspaper carrier was 13-year-old Christy Ann Fornoff, who delivered 
for the afternoon newspaper, the Phoenix Gazette. On May 9, 1984, she was 
collecting her fares at the Rock Point Apartments in Tempe. Her mom waited 
patiently outside but Christy never returned. A search of the area found her 
collections book but no sign of the girl.

2 days later, the apartment's maintenance manager, Donald Edward Beaty, who 
assisted police in searching for Fornoff, told them he found the girl's body 
nearby wrapped in a white sheet. She was near a trash container on the north 
side of the apartment complex.

ferret hair that was found on the victim

Hair fibers from the victim were found in Beaty's apartment, along with other 
evidence belonging to the little girl. Another interesting piece of evidence 
collected was ferret hair that was found on the victim. The prior tenant at 
Beaty's apartment owned a ferret.

The autopsy revealed that Fornoff was smothered and died within 2 hours of her 
disappearance.

Beaty was charged with the murder on May 21.

The Trial:

Beaty's 1st trial ended in a mistrial with the jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor 
of guilt.

the prosecution found out about a confession Beaty made

In his 2nd trial, the evidence presented was basically the same except that the 
prosecution found out about a confession Beaty made while in a therapy group in 
jail.

Beaty participated in a new co-ed group therapy. As part of the contract for 
the group therapy he signed agreement that said in part," I understand that all 
group communication is confidential and therefore group business cannot be 
discussed outside of group. Only in this way can I feel free to express my 
feelings." During 1 session, Beaty was extremely agitated and stated that "he 
was not a terrible person and did not mean to kill Christy Fornoff." Dr. 
O'Connor, who facilitated the group discussion, was forced to testify regarding 
Beaty's confession and that he used, along with these words, hand motions to 
indicate that he only intended to muffle the girl's mouth.

Dr. O'Connor, who at first refused to testify, was soon ordered to do so by the 
court. Beaty's defense fought against the inclusion of this testimony but the 
court allowed it, because they said it was not coerced and the therapy sessions 
were voluntary and not mandatory.

Beaty was convicted of 1st degree murder and sexual assault and was given the 
death penalty.

The parents of Christy Fornoff continued to advocate for victim???s rights, 
helping with the passage of a victim's bill of rights in 1990 and creating a 
mountain retreat for the family members of other victims.

"It is a shame that it takes this long for justice to be done."

At the time of Beaty's execution, some 25 years after the murder, the victim's 
parents said, "Our mind set is to forgive, but that does not mean justice 
should not be done, it is a shame that it takes this long for justice to be 
done."

The Execution:

May 25, 2011

Last words:

To his witnesses, "I love you."

To the Fornoff family, "I just want to say to the Fornoff family, I am sorry, I 
am sorry, God will let you see her again."

(source: ABC news)






USA:

There Is No Justice In Killing Dylann Roof


A few months ago, I learned that the state of Texas publishes the last words of 
the men and women it executes. At first, reading through each statement made me 
feel uneasy, as if I were eavesdropping on a conversation through a door that 
was mistakenly left cracked open. But after reading through several dozen of 
the testimonies, amid the disquiet, I began to feel as if I were bearing 
witness to a small moment of human redemption. To read through each statement 
is to be introduced to something we would otherwise neglect. It is a small 
reclamation of humanity for those whom we have deemed to be no longer worthy of 
it. I was particularly struck by the words of a man, named Reginald, before he 
was strapped to a table to receive lethal injection: "They are fixing to pump 
my veins with a lethal drug the American Veterinary Association won't even 
allow to be used on dogs. I say I am worse off than a dog." This, in its rawest 
form, is capital punishment. The death penalty not only takes away the life of 
the person strapped to the table - it takes away a little bit of the humanity 
in each of us.

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would seek the 
death penalty in the case of Dylann Roof, the 22-year-old accused of walking 
into the Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina, last year and 
murdering 9 black members of its congregation after spending the preceding hour 
praying alongside them.

In response to the D.O.J. announcement, I've been struck by how many 
self-identified progressives, typically opposed to capital punishment, have 
said that Roof is an exception and deserves to be killed for what he has done. 
Such a position - that the death penalty is horrific except when it comes to 
horrific people - is far from uncommon. It includes the woman likely to be the 
Democratic Presidential nominee, who, on Thursday, came out in support of the 
D.O.J.'s decision. And it includes our President, who in his 2nd book, "The 
Audacity of Hope," wrote, "While the evidence tells me that the death penalty 
does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes - mass murder, the 
rape and murder of a child - so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community 
is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the 
ultimate punishment." But herein lies the question: If the very person whose 
Administration is seeking to kill Roof acknowledges that, according to 
extensive research, putting Roof to death will not prevent another like him, 
then what, exactly, is the utility of capital punishment?

Perhaps President Obama and Hillary Clinton assume such a position with a 
genuine, complex belief that the death penalty is justified, or perhaps it 
stems from an effort to rebuff the idea that those on the left are soft on 
crime. Such equivocation, however, panders to the most callous part of us. It 
is the part that would rather see a man die than ask if we have the right to 
kill. It is the part of us that would rather have our public policy shaped by 
anger and notions of retribution than by ideas about rehabilitation and 
reconciliation.

Those who support the death penalty are accepting a practice that is both 
ineffective and fundamentally flawed. It means supporting a system that not 
infrequently kills those with serious mental illness. It means supporting a 
system in which an execution is far more likely to take place when the 
convicted murder is black and the victim is white, than it is when the victim 
is black and the killer is white. It means supporting a system that has 
sentenced, and continues to sentence, innocent people to death. In our impulse 
to rid the world of those we find reprehensible, we forget that we are also 
ridding the world of those who have done nothing wrong.

Additionally, to call Roof uniquely evil, as Ta-Nehisi Coates has also pointed 
out, is to ignore the history that made him possible. Roof is not a historical 
anomaly as much as a representation of a past that America prefers to sweep 
under its rug rather than commit to cleaning up. When Roof told Tywanza 
Sanders, one of the victims in the church, "You rape our women and you're 
taking over our country and you have to go," he was echoing a vast history that 
has used such rationale to decimate black lives. Killing Roof does nothing 
other than soothe the moral conscience of a country that would rather not 
reckon with the forces that created and cultivated his ideology.

It is easy not to support the death penalty when there is doubt about the 
culpability of the person sitting in the chair; it is harder to sustain such 
principles when the crime of the accused is morally indefensible. But if our 
principles are only our principles when it is convenient for us, when they 
align with our visceral emotional responses, then they are, in fact, not 
principles at all. What's the point of having progressive principles if they 
can't contain your rage?

In Texas, execution No. 270 was that of Napoleon Beazley, who was convicted in 
the car-jacking murder of John E. Luttig. Beazley was 17 years old at the time 
of the offense. In his final statement, he said, "I'm not only saddened but 
disappointed that a system that is supposed to protect and uphold what is just 
and right can be so much like me when I made the same shameful mistake."

If he is convicted, Roof, too, will have last words to share before he is 
injected with the poison that will take his life. I don't know what he will 
say, but I know it won't bring back those 9 people in that church. All it will 
do is help continue a cycle of brutal retribution in which our tax dollars fund 
state-sanctioned murder. And it won't make us all that different from him.

(source: Clint Smith is a teacher, writer, and Ph.D. candidate at Harvard 
University----The New Yorker)