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

[Rick Halperin]

June 22




ALABAMA:

Ala. Death Penalty Scheme Is Constitutional


Alabama's capital-sentencing scheme is constitutional, the Alabama Court of 
Criminal Appeals ruled June 17 ( State v. Billups, 2016 BL 194832, Ala. Crim. 
App., No. CR-15-0619, 6/17/16 ).

The decision puts the death penalty back on the table for 4 men facing capital 
murder charges, at least for now.

Just 2 weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated an Alabama death row inmate's 
sentence and remanded the case back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, 
directing the court to consider this very same issue; does Alabama's scheme 
comply with the dictates of Hurst v. Florida, 2016 BL 7258 (U.S. 2016) (98 CrL 
333, 1/20/16)?

Parsing Hurst

Jefferson County Judge Tracie Todd ruled March 3 that the state was barred from 
seeking the death penalty because Alabama's procedures violated the principles 
announced in Hurst, which struck down a Florida death penalty scheme for giving 
judges too much power to override a jury's recommendations about capital 
punishment.

But the Alabama appellate court, in an opinion by Judge J. Elizabeth Kellum, 
ordered Todd to vacate her decision, saying that she was reading Hurst too 
broadly.

In Hurst, the U.S. Supreme Court didn't strike down all sentencing override 
procedures as violative of the Sixth Amendment, the court said. Instead, the 
justices merely ruled that Florida's capital-sentencing scheme was 
unconstitutional because the procedure specifically conditioned a capital 
defendant's eligibility for the death penalty on findings made by the trial 
court and not on any findings made by the jury.

"In Florida, the jury did not have to unanimously find the existence of an 
aggravating circumstance before the jury could vote on whether to recommend a 
sentence of death or even before the jury recommended death," Kellum wrote.

By contrast, a judge can't issue an override under the Alabama scheme unless a 
jury first agrees beyond a reasonable doubt that at least one aggravating 
circumstance exists, the court said.

2 weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated an Alabama death row inmate's 
sentence and remanded the case back to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals 
for further consideration in light of Hurst.

In concurrence, Judge J. Michael Joiner argued that the circuit court judge 
lacked jurisdiction to pass judgment on the constitutionality of the Alabama 
law because none of the men had been sentenced, much less convicted. Joiner 
also criticized the circuit judge for basing her ruling on what appeared to be 
her personal opinions, instead of the law.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office, Montgomery, Ala., represented the state. 
The defendants were represented by The Myers Firm; Emory Anthony Jr.; the C. 
Burrell Law Group; and Katheree Hughes, Jr., all of Birmingham, Ala.

(source: Bloomberg News)






CALIFORNIA:

Kill the Death Penalty Initiative Makes the Ballot


California Voters will be asked this November to close death row. An initiative 
to repeal the death penalty in the state has qualified for the ballot. Backers 
gathered almost 405,00 signatures. The proposition would make life in prison 
without the possibility of parole the most serious punishment.

Voters may be confused by the ballot question, considering the state has has 
not executed an inmate in over 10 years. Inmate appeals can last years. And 
executions have been put on hold by the courts over concerns about the drug 
cocktail used to put someone to death.

"Effectively we have life in prison without the possibility of parole," says 
actor Mike Farrell, who lead the initiative. "The problem is we are still 
paying for the death penalty system which is costing us 150 million dollars a 
year."

Farrell says a better idea is to take the 743 inmates on death row and put them 
to work, saving the state millions and sending money where it needs to go.

"We would require that 60 % of the money they make while they are working be 
paid to the victim's family funds or fines and restitutions," Farrell told 
KABC.

A similar ballot initiative was defeated in 2012. Supporters of the death 
penalty also turned in signatures in hopes of getting an initiative on the 
ballot this fall.

(source: KABC news)






USA:

Pikesville man may get death penalty or life behind bars for fatal shooting 
during robbery


A Pikesville man has been indicted on a federal murder charge for a 2009 
shooting during a commercial robbery.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment charging 26-year-old Stanislav 
"Steven" Yelizarov with using, carrying and discharging a firearm during a 
crime of violence, resulting in death. According to the indictment, on December 
26, 2009, Yelizarov allegedly shot and killed a man during a commercial 
robbery.

He now faces a maximum sentence of death or life in prison. He's currently in 
prison serving a sentence on unrelated state and federal charges connected to a 
conspiracy to rob an Owings Mills jewelry store.

(source: WBFF news)