[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., PENN. FLA., ALA., LA.

[Rick Halperin]

June 23



TEXAS:

Death Watch: New Rodney Reed Filing----Death row inmate's lawyers seek retrial


Attorneys for death row inmate Rodney Reed have filed a supplement to the Feb. 
2015 brief seeking a retrial on his death penalty case, arguing that new 
evidence has come their way that further indicates that Reed is not responsible 
for the April 1996 murder of Stacey Stites.

The brief, filed June 7 to the Court of Criminal Appeals and Reed's trial court 
in Bastrop, points to a conflicting detail in the timeline of former Giddings 
Police Officer Jimmy Fennell, Stites' fiance and the man Reed defenders believe 
is actually responsible for killing Stites. Since Fennell first gave his 
official statement to police 2 days after Stites' body was found, the 
understanding was that he spent the night of April 22 at home with his fiancee 
- beginning at 8pm or 8:30 - and that he slept through her early morning 
departure for work at H-E-B. (Fennell testified in court to this chronology, as 
well.) But according to a recent interview with Curtis L. Davis - a Bastrop 
County Sheriff's deputy who at the time was one of Fennell's best friends - 
Fennell told Davis that he spent the night of April 22 drinking beer with 
fellow police officers by his truck after Little League baseball practice. 
Davis said Fennell told him the next morning that he didn't return home to 
Stites until 10 or 11 o'clock that night.

Reed's lead counsel, Innocence Project attorney Bryce Benjet, explained in the 
19-page brief that Davis revealed this conflicting detail during an April 
interview with CNN. The network is currently producing a special for its show 
Death Row Stories about Reed's case and the efforts to save his life. (Indeed, 
the Chronicle was in Living???ston, where death row inmates are housed, when 
CNN's crew interviewed Reed.) Benjet wrote that he had not been aware of the 
interview until one of CNN's producers asked Benjet to comment "about certain 
statements made by Officer Davis." He said that a producer of the show allowed 
him and an assistant to view "portions of the interview with Officer Davis and 
to briefly review a transcript of the entire interview." CNN declined to 
release a copy of the interview or the transcript for use with the filing. 
Benjet expects the "relevant portions" of the recording to be part of the 
special when it airs. A representative for CNN told the Chronicle that there is 
currently no airdate for the episode.

Benjet argues that Fennell's conflicting chronologies concerning how he spent 
the evening before Stites' murder further represents evidence of Fennell's 
consciousness of guilt, and that the notion of his drinking well into the night 
on April 22 would put him out of his and Stites' apartment at a time that 3 
forensic pathologists have concluded was the actual time that Stites was 
killed. The state's theory holds that Stites was abducted by Reed and killed on 
her way to work on April 23, around 3am. Reed's Feb. 2015 petition for a 
retrial was rooted in the scientific conclusion that Stites actually died 
before midnight, on April 22, and that her body was moved from one location to 
another after she had been killed. The 2015 filing also notes that Davis 
accompanied Fennell through much of what the state accepts to be his discovery 
process of his red pickup truck after the murder, and notes how Davis signed 
out of a 12-hour work shift on April 22 after only 1 hour because of what he 
described as a "broken tooth." Davis then spent the next 3 days away from work 
on leave for a "personal death." The filing further notes how there is no 
documentation of any attempt by the police to interview Davis or otherwise 
establish whether he could have driven Jimmy Fennell home after dispensing of 
Stites and the truck.

The idea that Fennell was providing conflicting statements in the aftermath of 
Stites' murder aligns with six other instances listed by Benjet in the initial 
2015 application for a rehearing. Benjet also implies that Fennell provided 
false testimony during trial, and that the state's failure to provide this 
information on trial constitutes a violation of due process under Brady v. 
Maryland. (Fennell is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence that began in 
2008 after he accepted a plea deal on charges that he raped a woman while on 
duty as a police officer in nearby Georgetown.)

"In this case, the State failed to disclose Fennell's inconsistent statement as 
to his whereabouts on the night of April 22, 1996," Benjet wrote. "Even though 
the trial prosecutors may not have been aware of what Officer Davis learned 
from Fennell, Officer Davis was a Bastrop County Sheriff's Officer. And the 
[BCSO] was the lead agency investigating Stacey's murder. Accordingly, Officer 
Davis' knowledge of what Fennell told him is imputed to the State."

Reed most recently faced an execution date of March 5, 2015, but saw his 
execution stayed 2 weeks earlier, as the Court of Criminal Appeals sought more 
time to review the merits of the claims made in his Feb. 2015 filing. There is 
currently no timetable for advancements in his case.

(source: Austin Chronicle)






CONNECTICUT:

Resentencing For death row Inmate Peeler Scheduled for July 1


Russell Peeler Jr., sent to death row for ordering the 1999 killings of Karen 
Clarke and her 8-year-old son Leroy "B.J." Brown in Bridgeport, is scheduled to 
be resentenced in Superior Court to life in prison without the possibility of 
release on July 1, attorneys and court officials said Wednesday.

Peeler, 44, will be the second of Connecticut's 11 formerly condemned prisoners 
to be resentenced since last month's Supreme Court ruling that spared their 
lives. The justices initially outlawed capital punishment for all in an August 
2015 ruling, but the decision was appealed by prosecutors.

Cheshire home invasion killer Steven Hayes was resentenced last week in New 
Haven Superior Court to 6 consecutive life sentences without the chance for 
parole. Hayes' accomplice, Joshua Komisarjevsky, is scheduled for resentencing 
on July 26 in Superior Court in New Haven.

Peeler was sentenced to death in 2007 after a Superior Court jury in Bridgeport 
convicted him of ordering his younger brother, Adrian Peeler, to kill Clarke 
and her son at a Bridgeport apartment. The boy and his mother were slated to 
testify against the older Peeler at an upcoming murder trial.

Adrian Peeler, 38, is serving a 20-year prison sentence for his role in the 
slayings.

According to trial testimony, the Peelers ran a lucrative crack cocaine ring 
and Leroy witnessed an attempt by Peeler to shoot his mother's boyfriend in a 
drug-money dispute. Peeler went after the boyfriend a second time, killing him. 
Days before Peeler was to be tried for the slaying, Clarke and her son were 
found shot to death in their Bridgeport apartment.

Peeler was convicted of capital felony charges in 2000 but a jury deadlocked on 
whether to sentence him to death. A judge then imposed life in prison without 
the possibility of release. Prosecutors successfully appealed the judge's 
decision, arguing that the judge should have declared a mistrial instead. 
Though the high court also agreed with a challenge by the defense of the trial 
court's refusal to permit disclosure of a witness's psychiatric records to the 
jury, the justices said the mistake was harmless and ordered a new sentencing 
hearing for Peeler in which jurors voted for death.

The Supreme Court's 5-2 decision last month, which upheld its landmark August 
2015 ruling that said capital punishment in Connecticut is unconstitutional, 
overturned Peeler's death sentences and ordered the lower court to impose a new 
punishment of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Connecticut legislators abolished the death penalty in 2012 with the caveat 
that the new law apply to future capital crimes committed in Connecticut and 
that executions for those who committed capital crimes before the repeal could 
still take place. Attorneys representing those on death row argued in legal 
challenges that the new law violated the condemned inmates' constitutional 
rights.

Erskine McIntosh, one of Peeler's attorneys, said a life sentence is "the 
correct disposition" in the Peeler case.

"There were any number of legal theories that I believe would have resulted in 
the disposition we have today," McIntosh said.

(source: Hartford Courant)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Philadelphia Attorneys Balk at Post-Conviction Appointments


Philadelphia's First Judicial District has started taking steps to alleviate 
its growing backlog of post-conviction appeal cases that was uncovered earlier 
this year, but the court's methods have angered some attorneys and left many 
wondering if indigent defendants will receive adequate representation.

Philadelphia judges recently sent a letter to court-appointed attorneys telling 
them to start handling Post-Conviction Relief Act cases. However, according to 
attorneys, many who received the letter do not have experience handling PCRA 
cases, which can be very complex, and attorneys have found it difficult to be 
taken off the cases.

Ronald L. Greenblatt of Greenblatt, Pierce, Engle Funt & Flores, who serves on 
the executive committee of the Philadelphia chapter of the Pennsylvania 
Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he has been approached by several 
lawyers who are worried they do not have the experience to properly handle the 
cases. He said some attorneys feel the court is pressuring them to stay on the 
cases, as they have been told they will no longer receive any court-appointed 
work if they refuse the PCRA cases.

"I'm never telling people what to do, but I wouldn't recommend attorneys taking 
these," said Greenblatt, who does not do court-appointed work. "I wouldn't do 
it. There's no consideration of the courts about the time [requirements.] 
There's no appreciation for the difficulty of the work."

PCRA appeals, according to most attorneys, are very difficult to handle, and 
require, not only a lot of work, but also experience in identifying improperly 
handled evidentiary issues and questions of law.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Administrative Judge Jacqueline Allen said 
the PCRA appointments are being made under the normal appointment protocol. 
Allen said the court recently held an orientation program for civil division 
judges, who are now handling PCRA cases along with judges from the trial 
division, but she has not received negative feedback from attorneys about the 
appointments, or any issues about withdrawing from cases.

"We look forward to the continuing working relationship with those attorneys 
who have made themselves available to take on this significant and important 
work," she said.

Judge Leon W. Tucker, supervising judge of the criminal division in 
Philadelphia, did not return calls for comment.

The court has taken some steps to address the competency concerns by organizing 
a $50, 3-hour continuing legal education class focusing on how to handle these 
cases. Temple University Beasley School of Law Professor Jules Epstein, who 
helped develop and put on the CLE, said the class was an important step. "PCRA 
practice, to be done properly, requires a tremendous knowledge of both law and 
procedure," he said. "To make sure the system works, we need lawyers who have 
the knowledge, and we need to be ready to pay them for their time and efforts."

(source: The Legal Intelligencer)

**********

Death Penalty is on the table judge tells Eric Frein


A Pike County judge has rejected the plea by attorney for Eric Frein to take 
the death penalty off the table of his upcoming murder trial.

Judge Gregory H. Chelak says the death penalty has been previously upheld in 
Commonwealth courts when applied to capital murder cases, so the option is 
available in the Frein case.

Frein's attorneys cited several reasons why they believe the death penalty 
would be an unfair, inhumane form of punishment - the judge didn't agree.

He also rejected Frein's request to have the Aggravating Circumstances which 
raised the case to death penalty status removed.

Frein is charged with killing one Pennsylvania State Trooper in 2014 and 
critically wounding another after he allegedly ambushed them at their Pike 
County Barracks.

The Pike County District Attorney has yet to state publicly whether he will ask 
for the death penalty.

(soruce: pahomepage.com)

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

Request to bar death option in trooper ambush case denied


A Pennsylvania judge has denied a pair of defense requests that sought to 
prevent prosecutors from seeking the death penalty against a man charged with 
fatally ambushing a state police trooper near a rural barracks.

Attorneys for Eric Frein (freen) had said the death penalty option was 
unconstitutional. A Pike County judge rejected the claims on Friday.

Frein is charged with fatally shooting Cpl. Bryon Dickson II and wounding 
another trooper in September 2014.

He led police on a tense 48-day manhunt before U.S. marshals caught him about 
30 miles from the shooting scene. Frein has pleaded not guilty.

Court documents say Frein spoke of wanting to start a revolution in a letter to 
his parents and called Dickson's slaying an "assassination" during a police 
interview.

(source: Associated Press)






FLORIDA:

Murder case sentencing on hold for death penalty ruling


The former ice cream truck driver accused of killing 2 and injuring 4 others 
may not face the death penalty, in spite of prosecutors' requests.

They argue Michael Keetley was seeking revenge when he armed himself with a gun 
and started shooting at people standing on the front porch of a Hillsborough 
County home.

Prosecutors want Keetley to pay for the alleged crimes with his life, but a 
Hillsborough judge put the brakes on a possible death sentence, based on the 
latest ruling that Florida's death penalty is unconstitutional.

Attorney Anthony Rickman reviewed the decision for FOX 13 News and said, "we 
are back where we started 3 months ago where we have no death penalty in 
Tampa."

In her ruling, Hillsborough Judge Samantha Ward said state lawmakers did not go 
far enough when they rushed a new law in March.

Legislators were reacting to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in January that 
struck down Florida's death penalty procedures because it gave all the power to 
a judge and not a jury. Lawmakers fixed that part, but did not require the 
jury's decision to be unanimous.

Instead, a jury could sentence someone to death on a 10 to 2 vote.

"What the judge said is, that is unconstitutional... The Sixth Amendment of the 
Constitution requires a unanimous verdict, not a majority of 10, or super a 
majority of 10," explained Rickman.

Judge Ward's decision comes on the heels of a similar ruling by a Miami judge. 
Both decisions will be appealed, Rickman believes, all the way to the U.S. 
Supreme Court.

Rickman said it could all have been avoided.

"They rushed, they made it to try to appease everybody. They created a statute 
that had constitutional flaws, " said Rickman.

Those flaws, Rickman says, will be seized by a murder defendant who may be 
trying to plead guilty in an effort to dodge death and get a life sentences 
instead.

(source: Fox News)

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

State seeks death penalty against Sievers, Rodgers


The State Attorney's Office filed notice Wednesday that it will seek the death 
penalty against both Mark Sievers and Jimmy Ray Rodgers in connection with the 
June 2015 death of Sievers' wife, Teresa.

The attorneys for both men were officially notified by Assistant State Attorney 
Hamid N. Hunter.

Each defendant now has until 20 days before trial to notify of an intention to 
present testimony from a mental health professional citing mitigating 
circumstances.

Mark Sievers and Rodgers were indicted on 1st-degree murder charges in early 
May. Sievers is accused of coordinating with a lifelong friend, Curtis Wayne 
Wright, to have his wife killed at the couple's home in Bonita Springs. 
Investigators said Wright and Rodgers traveled from their home state of 
Missouri to carry out the killing.

Wright pleaded guilty in February to a 2nd-degree murder charge and agreed to 
cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence.

(source: ABC news)

**********

State of Florida will ask for the death penalty at Pablo Ibar retrial----The 
Spaniard of Basque descent has already spent 16 years on death row, after a 
conviction in the 1990s for a triple-homicide


The State of Florida has announced its decision to ask for capital punishment 
for Pablo Ibar, despite the Florida Supreme Court having vacated a death 
penalty sentence from the year 2000 and ordered a new trial.

Ibar, a Spanish citizen of Basque descent, was convicted of a 1994 triple 
homicide of a nightclub owner and 2 models. He has already served 22 years in 
prison, 16 of them on death row.

Andres Krakenberger, a spokesman for the Pablo Ibar Association Against the 
Death Penalty, told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday that the defense 
had received the state's notification. He said the decision was "predictable," 
though it has caused "profound disappointment," given that the prosecution is 
pressing charges against someone who has "clear proof of his innocence."

A spokesman for Ibar claims that he was wrongly convicted and has already had 
to serve 16 years on death row

Krakenberger said Ibar was wrongly convicted and has already had to serve 16 
years on death row, while the Florida Supreme Court agrees that the "scant" 
evidence against him is "weak."

The court vacated the conviction in February saying: "Ibar's DNA was not found 
on a blue t-shirt recovered from the crime scene that was allegedly used to 
partially cover the face of the perpetrator, whom the state claimed to have 
been Ibar. [...] Ibar never confessed to the crime as he steadfastly proclaimed 
his innocence [and] presented an alibi as to his whereabouts."

The spokesman criticized "the coldness" of the notification the defense 
received. Krakenberger said it shows that capital punishment is seen as a 
"procedure" in the United States despite the fact that it is "cruel, inhumane 
and degrading" and "has no place in the 21st century."

Krakenberger told reporters that Ibar, who was transferred from death row to a 
county jail earlier this month, received the news with "a certain resignation," 
though he said, speaking broadly, that he was in good spirits because his 
situation "has improved."

Ibar's defense team needs $1.3 million to mount their case. They still need to 
raise $590,000. The defendant has received $50,000 for his legal fees from the 
Basque Country government, regional organizations and private individuals who 
have donated to the cause through the association's website.

(source: El Pais)






ALABAMA:

Court hears arguments over competency of Alabama death row inmate


An appellate court will hear arguments over whether strokes have left a 
65-year-old Alabama inmate mentally incompetent to be executed.

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hold a hearing Thursday in the case 
of inmate Vernon Madison. The appellate court in May stayed Madison's execution 
just 7 hours before he was scheduled to receive a lethal injection.

Madison was convicted in the 1985 killing of Mobile police Officer Julius 
Schulte. Prosecutors said Madison crept up and shot Schulte in the back of the 
head as he sat in his police car.

Lawyers for Madison argue that stroke-induced dementia have left Madison 
incompetent. Attorneys for the state say while his health has deteriorated, 
Madison still has an understanding of the crime he committed and the punishment 
he faces.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Man returned to Alabama's death row in 2010 slayings of 3


A man convicted in the 2010 shooting deaths of 3 people, and dumping their 
bodies along Birmingham-area roads, was re-sentenced this week to death and 
returned to Alabama death row after an appeals court recently ruled he had not 
been properly sentenced the 1st time.

Marcus Benn had been sentenced in January 2015 for his conviction on s7 capital 
murder charges involving the slayings of Jaime Gutierrez, Jose Colderon, and 
Evelyn Peralta. 3 of the capital murder counts were for having been convicted 
of murder in the 20 years prior to when the 3 were killed.

Jefferson County Circuit Judge Tracie Todd held a sentencing hearing for Benn 
in December 2014, but held off and made a written ruling more than a month 
later imposing the death penalty based in part on the jury's recommendation.

Benn argued in his appeal to the Alabama Criminal Court of Appeals that Todd 
should have pronounced his sentence in open court. The appeals court agreed in 
a decision on June 3.

"Specifically, Benn asserts that, because the circuit court did not pronounce 
his sentence in open court, a judgment of conviction was never entered and his 
appeal is not ripe," according to the opinion.

On Tuesday in a hearing that lasted no more than a few minutes, Benn was 
brought before Todd and she re-sentenced him to death.

"We're just happy that justice was served in this case and the judge followed 
the jury's recommendation," Deputy Jefferson County District Attorney Danny 
Carr said after Tuesday's hearing.

Ken Gomany, 1 of Benn's attorney, said Benn can now continue his appeal.

Marcus Benn, 38, in October was found guilty in the deaths of Jaime Luna 
Gutierrez, Jose Manuel Martinez Calderon, and Evelyn Peralta. A jury 
recommended death.

Benn, 40, was found guilty in the slayings in October 2014. The jury voted 10-2 
to recommend he be sentenced to death.

Gutierrez, Calderon and Peralta were killed Dec. 27, 2010 and Benn was charged 
3 days later.

Benn testified at his trial that he shot the 2 men because he was afraid for 
his life.

Gutierrez was shot numerous times - including 4 shots to the back of the head - 
and his body was left on 22nd Street off Ishkooda-Wenonah Road. Midfield police 
investigating a burned-out truck off Hartman Industrial Boulevard found 
Peralta's body in a nearby ditch. She was partially dressed and had been shot 
twice in the back of the head. Benn denied any knowledge of or involvement in 
Peralta's death.

After his arrest, Benn led investigators to Calderon's body, which was found in 
the 3500 block of Carver Avenue.

Birmingham police found a blood-stained jacket and 2 guns when they searched 
the home of Benn's girlfriend, an evidence technician testified. Blood on the 
jacket and on a pistol matched the victims.

Benn had been convicted of reckless murder in 1994 in the drive-by shooting - 
he was the driver not the shooter - of Parrish Tabb, 18, on April 1, 1993 on 
Dennison Avenue. He had originally been charged with capital murder in that 
case. He was released from prison in 2009 after serving 16 years.

Bill Myers and Philip Petersen also represented Benn. Deputy Jefferson County 
District Attorney Neal Zarzour also prosecuted the case.

(source: al.com)






LOUISIANA:

Local attorney compares Angola death row to POW hot boxes


U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson questions why the state has spent more than 
$1 million fighting to prevent air conditioning from being installed at 
Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

In 2013, three death row inmates with medical problems filed a lawsuit against 
the state to get relief from the extreme heat and humidity at the prison. 
Currently, heat remediation measures consist of one cold shower each day, ice 
chests in cells and fans outside of cells.

Previously, Jackson ruled that the prison must keep the heat index at or below 
88 degrees, stating it is unconstitutional to keep inmates in a building where 
the heat exceeds 88 degrees.

On June 15, Jackson heard testimony about the effectiveness of the measures 
implemented by the prison to keep prisoners cool. In April 2014, the state 
spent $29,000 hiring a private firm to monitor heat levels on death row, 
according to a report by the Associated Press. The total amount spent on the 
lawsuit so far is $1,067,000, and the case is still in litigation.

"Inmates spend 23 hours a day in their cell, under stifling heat and humidity," 
Peter Russell, managing partner with McBride & Russell Law Firm, LLC recently 
told the Louisiana Record. "It's similar to the hot boxes where POWs were held 
in Vietnam. Louisiana's death row looks like a throwback to the 1920s."

Russell believes that society has "dehumanized death row inmates, but it's not 
a partisan issue." The tough-on-crime culture created the attitude that the 
"criminal isn't deserving of respect." The reality is that everyone has basic 
human rights, Russell said.

"The state of Louisiana needs to do the right thing," he said. "It's just basic 
human dignity. The governor could order the prison to find money for the AC 
unit."

The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but Russell 
explained that the government has protections at both the state and federal 
levels.

"Judges tend to err on the side of government due to limited resources," he 
said.

Some prisons in Louisiana have air conditioning and some do not, according to 
Russell.

The Department of Corrections (DOC) insists that the refusal to provide air 
conditioning isn't political in nature. The DOC is concerned that this lawsuit 
could force the state to accommodate other prisoners. According to the 
Governor's Executive Fiscal Budget 2016-2017, the Correction Services budget is 
facing a $94 million budget cut over last year. Louisiana State Penitentiary 
will lose $26 million from its annual budget.

Jackson is trying to find solutions to keeping prisoners cool.

Both sides have until July 11 to submit memos on other measures that could be 
implemented to control heat and humidity on death row. Last year, the 5th U.S. 
Circuit Court of Appeals determined that any remedy should be limited to the 3 
plaintiffs who filed the suit, not all 85 inmates who currently reside on death 
row.

In Texas, a federal judge just certified a class-action lawsuit for 1,400 
inmates who are suing the state to install air conditioning in prisons to 
prevent heat-stroke deaths. In 2011, 10 Texas inmates died from heat stroke 
while at Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota.

(source: louisianarecord.com)