[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARK., OKLA., NEB., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 23



ARKANSAS:

Capital murder suspect in baby death found mentally fit to proceed with trial


A former Hot Springs man charged with capital murder for the death of his 
3-month-old son last year was found fit to proceed to trial Monday in Garland 
County Circuit Court after a court-ordered mental evaluation.

James Antonio-Carlos Page, 35, now lists a Plattville, Ala., address, but has 
remained in custody in lieu of $1 million bond since his arrest Nov. 6, 2015. 
He was charged with 1st-degree domestic battery at the time of his arrest, but 
the charge was upgraded to capital murder 2 days later after the victim, Zayden 
Page, died at Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock.

If convicted, Page could face up to life in prison or the death penalty in the 
case. Prosecuting Attorney Terri Harris confirmed Tuesday that the death 
penalty has not been formally waived at this point.

A motion for Page to undergo a mental examination was filed Feb. 10, 2016, and 
the examination at the Arkansas State Hospital was initially scheduled for 
April 19. It was later rescheduled for May 26 and completed. The mental 
evaluation report was sealed as part of an order limiting pretrial publicity, 
but Page was found to be fit to proceed.

Page appeared in court Monday with his attorney, Clay Janske, who did not 
object to the findings of the report. A pretrial date is now set for Oct. 31, 
with the trial set to begin Nov. 8.

According to the affidavit, on Nov. 6, 2015, around 7:30 p.m., Dr. Karen Farst, 
an emergency room physician at Arkansas Children's Hospital, notified Hot 
Springs police about a 3-month-old male brought into the ER with injuries that 
included a burn around his neck, a broken collarbone, rib fractures and 
multiple bruises to his head and face.

Farst stated the victim had been in the custody of his father, identified as 
Page, all day and that Page had said the injuries were due to a fall. Farst 
stated in her opinion it was impossible that the injuries were sustained from a 
fall.

According to hospital personnel, at one point Page stated he was leaving the 
hospital and fleeing back to his home state of Alabama.

Page later came to the HSPD voluntarily to provide a statement and was 
interviewed by police Detectives Chris Hays and Kenneth May. During the 
interview, Page stated he had taken his fiancee to work earlier that morning 
and arrived back at the residence around 10:30 a.m.

He said the baby was crying and continued to cry, so Page picked him up from 
his car seat and "shook him violently." After some time, when the baby 
continued crying, he said he threw the victim into his car seat and that the 
victim continued to cry after being thrown.

The affidavit notes Page is approximately 6 feet, 2 inches tall, and was 
standing up holding the victim when he threw him into the car seat, which was 
located on the floor.

Page admitted that after approximately 30 minutes he noticed the victim was not 
breathing and that he took him to the hospital at that point. The victim was 
initially taken to CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs and then airlifted to 
Children's.

(source: The Sentinel-Record)






OKLAHOMA----new death sentence

Jurors choose death penalty for Oklahoma City man convicted of rapes, murder


Jurors on Wednesday chose the death penalty as punishment for an Oklahoma City 
man convicted of raping his girlfriend and her friend before fatally beating 
the friend.

The Oklahoma County jury deliberated less than an hour.

Last week, the jurors found Albert Ray Johnson, 49, guilty of 1 count of 
1st-degree murder, 1 count of assault and battery with intent to kill, 2 counts 
of forcible oral sodomy, 2 counts of 1st-degree rape, 2 counts of forcible anal 
sodomy, 2 counts of kidnapping and 1 count of assault and battery with a 
dangerous weapon.

After convicting Johnson last week, the jury chose life in prison as punishment 
for each count except the count of murder. Jurors on Wednesday decided the 
punishment of death for the murder count after listening to closing arguments.

During the trial

Prosecutors said Johnson forced his girlfriend to invite over a female friend 
so he could "rape and kill" her. Johnson was accused of threatening to kill his 
girlfriend and her 8-year-old daughter if she didn't comply with his request.

The former girlfriend testified during the trial and told the jury she was 
forced to call her friend, Rachel Rogers, 24, to her home in The Village. 
Prosecutors said the call to Rogers occurred about 1:30 a.m. June 13, 2014.

When Rogers arrived at the home shortly after the call, Johnson pulled her 
inside and put a knife to her throat, the girlfriend testified. The victim said 
Johnson then raped both of them at knifepoint.

After the rapes, Johnson tied up the women and beat them with metal objects, 
prosecutors said. Johnson fatally beat Rogers with a dumbbell, "crushing her 
face," prosecutors said.

(source: The Oklahoman)






NEBRASKA:

Judge: Language on ballot initiative to restore death penalty not unfair


A Lancaster County district judge has ruled the language in the referendum 
aimed at restoring the death penalty in Nebraska is fair, striking down a 
lawsuit claiming the inclusion of a single word was misleading.

Beatrice attorney Lyle Koenig's lawsuit had challenged the attorney general's 
proposed ballot language that describes life in prison as the "maximum" 
sentence for 1st-degree murder, when in fact it is the only sentence.

In her order Tuesday, Judge Lori Maret said the proposed language used by 
Attorney General Doug Peterson clearly expresses the intent of the referendum 
petition as required by law.

"The inclusion of the word 'maximum' does not render the ballot title 
insufficient or unfair," Maret wrote.

Nebraskans for the Death Penalty immediately launched the petition drive to 
retain the death penalty after the Legislature abolished it in May 2015 by 
passing LB268 on a veto override vote.

The successful petition drive to repeal LB268 put the issue on the November 
ballot.

Koenig's lawyer wasn't immediately available for comment on the order, which 
was filed Wednesday.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)






CALIFORNIA:

Cops Endorse the Death Penalty


Police don't want to kill anybody. Cops will tell you this. Fatally shooting 
somebody takes the officer off the street, away from his or her usual job, and 
into a ream of paperwork and lengthy interviews. Simply put, it's too much of a 
pain in the ass.

That doesn't mean cops aren't in favor of having someone else kill somebody. In 
fact, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, the city's police union, 
is all about it. The POA is endorsing the Death Penalty Reform & Savings Act, a 
ballot initiative that would accelerate the execution process for the almost 
750 condemned inmates on California's death row, and would set a timeline of no 
more than 5 years from death sentence to execution for future recipients of 
capital punishment.

The POA did not comment to SF Weekly. But the union endorsed the speedier death 
measure earlier this year, and in a recent article in the union's newspaper, 
the POA Journal, former police Captain Paul Chignell called it a "dynamic and 
positive change." (He also decried the "intellectual elite" in the media that 
"police officers face... on a daily basis," so here we are.)

Not that it matters much anyway. There hasn't been a death penalty handed down 
in San Francisco since 1991 - and with current District Attorney George Gascon 
an ardent opponent of capital punishment, it's unlikely to change. But it's 
good to know whose lives matter.

(source: sfweekly.com)