[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., S.C., GA., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

March 1



TEXAS----impending execution

Polunsky inmate waits for death


Coy Wesbrook, Texas Death Row inmate No. 999281, stepped through white metal 
doors wearing over-worn white prison scrubs and black reading glasses that were 
slipping off his nose. Wesbrook was sentenced to death by lethal injection for 
a shooting in 1997 that claimed four lives. Now, he is counting down the days 
until his scheduled execution on March 9.

In an interview late last year, he told 2 journalists from Texan News that he 
killed in self-defense.

"I didn't attack these people, these people attacked me," said Wesbrook. 
"That's what got the ball rolling in the first place. I didn't go over there 
with the intent to kill anybody."

Wesbrook is 1 of 263 people on Texas death row, the nation's busiest. If he is 
executed as planned on March 9, he will be among about 12 %% of executed 
prisoners in the nation who expressed remorse for their actions or admitted 
guilt in final statements.

That figure comes from an analysis official statements from condemned prisoners 
in a database maintained by Tarleton State University journalism and 
broadcasting students. The database contains the final words spoken, if any, by 
condemned prisoners and can be found at 
http://www.tarleton.edu/scripts/deathrow/. The final statements come from 
public records, news accounts and academic research involving 1,339 executions 
of the 1,427 carried out in the United States since 1976.

The database shows that about 6 percent of prisoners executed made unambiguous 
declarations of innocence or said the wrong person was tried for their crime.

Other statements consisted of offenders telling loved ones goodbye, praying, 
making hand gestures, talking about drugs, blaming the court system, words of 
advice, and rambles. In 30 percent of the cases, records show the inmate made 
no statement or records could not be found saying whether a statement was made 
Wesbrook, according to state prison records, was convicted of killing his 
ex-wife and 3 men in her home on Nov. 13, 1997. A 5th victim, another woman, 
was shot but survived. Wesbrook said he killed because he observed his ex and 2 
of the men having sex.

"I don't feel like I'm in the wrong," said Wesbrook. "I don't feel like I 
deserve to die. I haven't done anything like this in my entire life."

Wesbrook came into prison without a criminal history, but with a lot of mental 
issues. Records show that Wesbrook had a hard time learning when he was younger 
and didn't develop proper social skills. Wesbrook was also sent to therapy when 
he was a child to help with his social and educational skills.

In his interview, Wesbrook says he always believed that there was a God, and 
when his time comes in March that he will be with God.

"I believe there is a God in heaven," said Wesbrook. "I've read the Bible 3 
times, front to back. I pretty much know what it's all about and pretty much 
have given myself to the Lord."

Wesbrook expressed remorse for his victims and their families.

"Over the years now, I've had time to think about all this stuff and 
rationalize it and I see where I went wrong, so I???m prepared," said Wesbrook. 
"In fact, I was so prepared to die, when we rolled up here, I asked, 'What do I 
got to do to find a way to get me executed like next week.'"

If Wesbrook is executed as planned on March 9, he will be the 4th prisoner 
executed in Texas for 2016. Westbrook said his attorney is not planning on 
making any last-minute appeals.

"I'm happy it's over with - finally," said Wesbrook. "For me it's the light at 
the end of the tunnel - finally. I have no bad feelings for any of these people 
up here. I don't want to kill the guards. I don't want to kill the major. I 
don't want to kill the judge. I don't want to kill anybody. Killing is over 
with - it's time to kill me."

Wesbrook has had the last 17 1/2 years to contemplate what his final words 
would be. At the end of the interview, Wesbrook recited what he was planning 
for his final statement.

"To the victims' families, I'm sorry that all this stuff happened. I'm not 
proud of what I did, but [y'all] weren't there that night, [y'all] don't really 
know what everybody did," said Wesbrook. "I was there, I knew what everybody 
did, and I was just literally scared out of my mind."

Megan Peterson is a December 2015 journalism graduate of Tarleton State 
University. She and videographer Justin Pack interviewed Wesbrook on Dec. 2, 
2015 in the Polunsky Unit in rural Polk County Peterson oversaw the update of 
the final statements database with assistance from students Alejandra Arrequin, 
Chance Bragg, Misty Browning, Tyler Christensen, Sara Gann, Rebekah Gilligan, 
Ariel Hall, Sean Hargrove, Dominique Martin, Veronica Morales, Aimee Nash, 
Cresenda Steele and assistant professor Dan Malone.

The statements were sorted and counted by Texan News staffers Megan Andrews, 
Alejandra Arreguin, Harley Brown, Sydney Burns, Shelby Clayton, Ashley Ford, 
Denise Harroff, Rebecca Hernandez, Maggie Mankin, Veronica Morales, Forrest 
Murphy, Keauno Perez, Kelsey Poynor and Sammie Wight.

(source: Texan News Service)

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

Texas Prepares for Execution of Coy Wesbrook on March 9, 2016


Coy Wayne Wesbrook is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CST, on Thursday, March 
9, 2016, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, 
Texas. 58-year-old Coy is convicted of the murder of his 32-year-old ex-wife 
Gloria Jean Coons, 43-year-old Diana Ruth Money, 41-year-old Anthony Ray 
Rogers, 35-year-old Antonio Cruz, and 28-year-old Kelly Hazlip on November 13, 
1997, in Houston, Texas. Coy has spent the last 18 years of his life on Texas' 
death row.

Coy dropped out of school following the 8th grade. He did not have a prior 
prison record in Texas. He had previous worked as a security guard.

On the night of November 12,1997, Coy Wesbrook stopped by the home of his 
ex-wife, Gloria Coons. Wesbrook had hoped that he and Gloria could reconcile, 
however, upon his arrival, he discovered that several other people, roommate 
Diana Money, Kelly Hazlip, and Anthony Rogers, also at her home. A 3rd male, 
Antonio Crux, arrived a short time later. They had all been drinking heavily. 
Wesbrook was invited to stay and drink with them.

Wesbrook told police that he was uncomfortable staying, but did so anyway. 
Eventually, during the early morning hours of November 13, 1997, the talk 
turned to a sexual nature. Gloria left the group, disappearing into her bedroom 
with Kelly, a male. Anthony joined them a short time later. Anthony reappeared, 
with his pants unzipped, claiming that Gloria had just given him oral sex and 
was about to sleep with Kelly.

Wesbrook felt that he was being humiliated and left the apartment. Antonio 
followed Wesbrook and attempted to talk to him, before taking the keys to 
Wesbrook's truck. Wesbrook grabbed a hunting rifle from his truck and returned 
to the apartment to retrieve his keys.

Upon returning the apartment, Wesbrook claims that he was verbally harassed, 
threatened, and physically abused by the individuals in the apartment. Wesbrook 
alleged that Ruth threw a beer at him, causing him to fire his weapon. Anthony 
and Antonio then rushed at Wesbrook. Wesbrook shot both them. He then entered 
the bedroom and upon seeing Gloria and Kelly having sex, he "lost it" and shot 
both of them.

Several neighbors heard the gunshots and called police. Neighbors exited their 
apartments and observed Wesbrook leaving Gloria's apartment and another man 
lying on the ground. Police found Wesbrook standing by his truck, making 
several self-incriminating statements, some of which could be heard on 9-1-1 
calls by the neighbors. All died at the scene, except Kelly, who was shot in 
the abdomen. He died 5 days after being shot.

Wesbrook was convicted and sentenced to death on September 2, 1998.

Please pray for peace and healing for the families of Gloria Coons, Antonio 
Crus, Diana Money, Anthony Rogers, and Kelly Hazlip. Please pray for strength 
for the family of Coy Wesbrook. Please pray that if Coy is innocent, lacks the 
competency to be executed, or should not be executed for any other reason, that 
evidence will be presented prior to his execution. Please pray that Coy may 
come to find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has 
not already found one.

(source: theforgivenessfoundation.org)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----16

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----534

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

17---------March 9------------------Coy Wesbrook----------535

18---------March 22-----------------Adam Ward-------------536

19---------March 30-----------------John Battaglia-----------537

20---------April 6------------------Pablo Vasquez-----------538

21---------April 27-----------------Robert Pruett------------539

22---------May 11-------------------Terry Edwards---------540

23---------June 2-------------------Charles Flores----------541

24---------June 21------------------Robert Roberson-------542

25---------July 14------------------Perry Williams---------543

26---------July 27------------------Rolando Ruiz-----------544

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






CONNECTICUT:

Court rules Peeler got best lawyer he could afford


Convicted killer Russell Peeler Jr. was entitled to the lawyer of his choice, 
but not one he couldn't afford, the state's highest court ruled Monday.

Peeler is currently in limbo as he waits a final decision from the state 
Supreme Court on whether he will get the death penalty for ordering the murders 
of a Bridgeport mother Karen Clarke and her 8-year-old son B.J. Brown in 1999 - 
a crime that shocked the country.

But before the deaths of the boy and his mother, Peeler was convicted of 
killing Clarke's boyfriend, Rudolph Snead, in a Bridgeport barbershop. It's 
that conviction, and its sentence of 105 years in prison, that Peeler is trying 
to get overturned on the basis that he was deprived of the lawyer of his 
choice.

That lawyer, Gary Mastronardi, of Bridgeport, declined to represent Peeler 
because Peeler had no money and the state would not pay the fee Mastronardi 
demanded to take the case.

"Given the court's determination that Mastronardi was not available to 
represent the defendant because the defendant was indigent and Mastronardi 
would not accept assigned counsel rates to represent him, we conclude that the 
trial court did not violate the defendant's right to counsel of choice," the 
state Supreme Court ruled Monday.

"I'm not surprised by the ruling," Mastronardi said.

"We are certainly pleased with the court's favorable decision, but given the 
current reality in which criminal defendants have multiple opportunities to 
challenge any conviction, we fully anticipate continued litigation regarding 
this matter well into the future," said Bridgeport State's Attorney John 
Smriga.

Peeler, who ran a drug operation in Bridgeport in the 1990s, had gotten into a 
dispute with Snead over some of the proceeds of drug sales.

On Sept. 2, 1997, Snead was driving on the Interstate 95 entrance ramp in 
Bridgeport from Lindley Street with his 7-year-old son, Tyree, and Brown in the 
back seat when Peeler pulled alongside car and fired at Snead, according to 
trial testimony; Snead was wounded in that incident.

On the night of May 29, 1998, Snead was on the telephone in the back of the 
Boston Avenue Barbershop in Bridgeport when Peeler, a jacket over his head, 
confronted Snead with a .40-caliber handgun, riddling the victim's body with 
bullets.

As Snead slumped to the floor, he uttered in his dying breath, "It was Russell, 
yo."

In 2012, the Connecticut Legislature struck down the state's death penalty for 
all future cases, but lawmakers did not apply the change in law to those 
already on death row. The state Supreme Court later threw out the death penalty 
for everyone, but is now considering an appeal by the state's top prosecutor to 
restore it.

(source: Connecticut Post)






SOUTH CAROLINA:

Senators look to gas for execution


South Carolina executions have long been carried out by lethal injection, with 
the electric chair as an option if inmates so choose.

But 2 senators are proposing the Senate consider allowing nitrogen gas as a 3rd 
option, one adopted last year by Oklahoma, because of the lack of lethal 
injection drugs available for executions nationwide.

This is not the gas formerly used in some states' gas chambers, which in some 
cases involved botched and gruesome executions. In theory nitrogen gas would 
slowly deprive an inmate of oxygen but not suffocate them.

Sen. Mike Fair, a Greenville Republican and chairman of the Senate Corrections 
and Penology Committee, has paired with Sen. Brad Hutto, an Orangeburg Democrat 
and defense lawyer, to propose using the gas as an alternative to a bill that 
would shield the identities of companies that sell lethal injection drugs to 
the state's prison agency.

That bill drew a 7-7 vote last year, preventing it from moving to the floor.

Fair said he plans to poll the bill out of committee Tuesday and propose the 
gas amendments to bypass the secrecy issue and give the Department of 
Corrections a working alternative once they are ordered to carry out an 
execution.

"We think we have an avenue," Fair told The Greenville News. "What we don't 
know is how well we are going to be received by either caucus."

Hutto said he is not a big fan of the death penalty, is not sure it is a 
deterrent but does understand from a victim's point of view that at least it 
stops that defendant from offending again.

"Having said all that, if we are going to have a death penalty, we need one 
that is being administered in a humane way without any legal issues," he said. 
"The way we are headed with this bill trying to let companies hide behind a 
shield, that is asking for more lawsuits and more trouble."

He said inmates could choose between gas or electrocution or lawmakers could do 
away with the electric chair.

Lethal injection has become an issue nationwide in recent years as companies 
have refused to provide the necessary drugs and pharmacists have balked at 
putting themselves into such a public crossfire.

As drug inventories expired, South Carolina's Department of Corrections has 
been unable to replace them.

Inmates can choose to be electrocuted but can't be forced to under state law.

So Fair and other lawmakers pushed a proposal to shield companies selling the 
drugs in hopes the secrecy would make them willing to provide the drugs.

But the proposal stalled in both chambers. Lawmakers since have proposed 
alternatives, including a firing squad or making electrocutions mandatory.

Fair and Hutto say the gas idea would be humane and could get lawmakers beyond 
arguments over secrecy.

While Oklahoma lawmakers adopted nitrogen hypoxia as a backup method of 
execution last year, it has yet to be used in an execution.

Lawmakers there envisioned a mask being placed over an inmate's head and pumped 
with the gas, which would not suffocate the inmate but gradually deprive them 
of oxygen, causing them first to lose consciousness and then to die, in theory 
without pain.

Another type of gas, from hydrogen cyanide, was long used by some states in gas 
chambers. But some of those executions resulted in gruesome deaths and many 
states mothballed the devices in favor of lethal injection.

Today, states are looking at alternatives to lethal injection unable to find 
the necessary drugs.

Oklahoma, where an inmate took 43 minutes to die after a lethal injection in 
2014, also was in search of an alternate method when the idea of nitrogen gas 
surfaced. The drug is relatively cheap and readily available from industrial 
suppliers.

South Carolina last carried out an execution in 2011. Fair said the Attorney 
General's Office says the earliest an execution might again be carried out is 
later this year or early next year. Hutto said it could be several years.

In any case, Fair said the bill to shield drug companies likely will receive an 
objection, a move that would take a two-thirds vote to overcome. But he said 
the amendments would focus the issue on allowing the state's prison agency to 
carry out the law instead of on a debate over secrecy and transparency.

Hutto said he thinks the approach could work, though maybe not in this session.

"I think it has a better chance of passing than the bill they're trying to 
pass," he said.

(source: thestate.com)






GEORGIA:

Personal Reflections Mark Ex-Justice and Prosecutor's Death Penalty Debate


Norman Fletcher said that before he joined the Supreme Court of Georgia in 
1989, he had given little thought to the death penalty. He had never tried or 
defended a death penalty case and, because of that, he didn't oppose it.

And during more than 15 years on the court, Fletcher said he didn't do enough 
to stop what he now calls "the machinery of death."

But the former chief justice said Friday at the annual Bar, Media, and 
Judiciary Conference that during his tenure on the high court, his review of 
death penalty cases caused him to change his mind. Since leaving the court in 
2005 and joining Brinson Askew Berry Seigler Richardson & Davis in Rome, 
Fletcher said, "It has been very hard for me to take every time there has been 
an execution in Georgia. ... I have a terrible job in forgiving myself. It is a 
very, very tough burden to carry."

Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter, who joined Fletcher in a 
discussion moderated by former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter, 
said he has no regrets. Citing Chris Kyle, the author of "American Sniper," 
Porter said, "I'm ready to meet my maker and account for every shot I've 
taken."

Porter, the state's longest-serving district attorney, said the death penalty 
"is a valid punishment in a civilized society." Porter said he has secured 
death penalty verdicts against six defendants and witnessed three executions. 
One of them was the execution of Kelly Gissendaner last fall.

Because the death penalty is state law, Porter added, any district attorney who 
states unequivocally not to seek it "is in dereliction of his duty."

During the conversation, the former justice and the DA shared their personal 
motivations for their stances on the death penalty. Fletcher said over the 
years he became shocked at the often poor quality of the defense, particularly 
in cases involving indigent defendants.

Fletcher said cases reviewed by the high court were often characterized by 
appointed counsel who had never tried a death penalty case, who were civil 
attorneys with no experience in criminal defense, who fell asleep at trial or 
who needed the business so badly that they didn't even have funds to hire 
investigators. The former chief justice touted the creation in 2005 of a 
statewide public defender system, that, while underfunded, "improved the 
quality of defense in death penalty cases."

Fletcher also contended that the death penalty has "absolutely no deterrent 
effect" and "makes no business sense" economically. Death penalty cases devour 
10 % of all court resources, although they involve only 1/10 of 1 % of all 
court filings, he said.

In addition, he said that juries make mistakes. Of 1,423 death sentences handed 
down since 1976, 156 defendants have been exonerated, Fletcher said. "There is 
no question we have executed innocent people in this country."

The chief justice also criticized the administration of the death penalty as 
arbitrary. While he was a justice, the high court reviewed 3,000 murder cases 
where the death penalty either was not sought or, if it was sought, was not 
imposed, he said. He questioned how anyone could say which murder "was more 
horrid, which deserved [the death penalty] more than the others."

The former justice also offered that the ultimate morality of the death penalty 
was "a big factor" in his turn-around. "Jesus died an innocent man," he said. 
"The state executed him. ... Jesus himself was put to death by the state with 
the cooperation of religious leaders."

Acknowledging that he disagreed with most of what Fletcher said, Porter 
explained how he had reached the conclusion that the death penalty is a valid 
punishment. "I've seen things none of you have seen," he said. The body of a 
dead toddler who had been burned alive while imprisoned in the trunk of a car. 
A woman gunned down by a police officer who lured her to a meeting where he 
robbed her before shot her. A body dumped in a well - in a 1985 case where a 
21-year-old was kidnapped, burned, stabbed and strangled - where Porter was 
spared from recovering the body only because a firefighter at the scene was 
smaller in stature and could fit in the dark, confined space more easily.

What kind of penalty, besides the death penalty, should be imposed on a police 
officer who violates his oath of office and uses his position to kill someone, 
Porter asked. What other penalty is available for an inmate serving multiple 
life sentences who from prison successfully arranges the murder of an 
individual over a $500 debt?

In response to those cases, Porter said, "My visceral reaction was that you 
have to think about the death penalty." He said he turned to philosophers such 
as John Locke and Thomas Hobbes for guidance, adding that he concluded that if 
society can take an individual's liberty, it also has the right to take a life.

Porter said he also turned to the Bible, finding support for the death penalty 
in the book of Romans. And he turned to Donald Kiernan, a metro Atlanta 
Catholic priest, known as "the cop's priest," who co-founded the Georgia 
Association of Chiefs of Police and served as its longtime chaplain. Kiernan's 
conclusion, Porter said: "Somebody's got to do it. It's the law in this state."

Porter also challenged Fletcher's arguments that the death penalty is biased in 
its administration, contending that claim has been "generally discredited." The 
DA also suggested that those death row inmates exonerated by the Innocence 
Project were exonerated not based on newly uncovered facts "but on procedural 
defects" associated with the litigation. And, he added, with the advent in 
Georgia of the Capital Defenders, "Those days of poor presentation ... and 
procedural defects are essentially gone." Porter said that every finding of 
error in a death penalty case "proves the system works."

Asked by Carter about the inconsistency that may result from deciding which 
crimes are "so far beyond the pale ... that a person deserves to die," Porter 
replied: "I don't see consistency as a requirement of the system," he said. "I 
don't see consistency as a goal. ... I don't think it's necessary to be 
consistent." Instead, he said, "I represent the citizens of Georgia. ... I 
represent their interests."

(source: dailyreportonline.com)

**********

Father supports death penalty for man who killed teens


The father of 1 of 2 murdered teenagers told Channel 2 Action News that he 
supports the death penalty after a jury found the teens' killer guilty Monday 
afternoon.

The jury deliberated less than 2 hours before finding William Felts guilty of 
murder and other charges. The murder happened 9 years ago.

The father of 1 of the victim's told Channel 2's Tom Jones that the death 
penalty was designed for people like Felts.

The guilty verdict sent family members of the victims, 15-year-old Dell Mattox 
Jr. and his 13-year-old cousin, Chrisondra Sierra Kimble, into tears.

Outside court, Mattox's father explained to Jones why he was so emotional.

"A huge, huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders," Del Mattox. Sr. told 
Jones.

The jury convicted Felts on 10 of 11 counts, including murder, kidnapping and 
aggravated assault.

Family members hugged and celebrated with Fulton County prosecutor Pete Johnson 
after the verdict.

"We were really proud of him. And proud of his team," Mattox said.

Prosecutors argued that Felts was with Jeremy Moody in April 2007 when they 
stabbed to death the 2 cousins in a wooded area behind Bethune Elementary 
School as the teens returned from a snack run.

The assistant DA said it was a robbery attempt that turned deadly.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty. Mattox says it's an appropriate 
punishment.

"I am in agreement with it and if that's what he gets, then that's what he 
gets," Mattox said. "They don't need to be in society with civilized people."

Felts attorney argued he wasn't there during the murders.

Jeremy Moody was sentenced to death in 2013.

The sentencing phase of this trial will begin Tuesday morning.

(source: WSB TV news)

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

Killer's lawyers: Prosecutor paid witnesses and hid it


Lawyers for a man sentenced to death for murder are seeking a new trial because 
the prosecutor paid witnesses and did not disclose it.

An angry Newton County District Attorney Layla Zon said during a hearing Monday 
on a motion for a new trial that the witnesses - 3 of them flown from New 
Jersey - were only reimbursed for the wages they lost while waiting in a 
Covington motel until time to testify in the 2012 death penalty trial of Rodney 
Young.

Young was living and working in New Jersey when he drove to Georgia to murder 
his ex-girlfriend's son.

"These witnesses did not make any money to come down here," said Zon, who 
obtained the pay records from each worker before they were reimbursed. "It's 
insulting." But Zon conceded that she had never before given a witness more 
than the $25 per diem allowed by Georgia law or reimbursed witnesses for 
expenses such as meals, transportation and hotels. Prosecutors called 14 
witnesses who lived in New Jersey, but only 3 of them, plus 1 witness from 
Riverdale, were paid for wages they lost while being away from their jobs to 
testify.

Except for expert testimony, paying "lay" witnesses "has never happened before 
in a criminal prosecution in Georgia," said Josh Moore, 1 of Young's lawyers. 
"This is an inappropriate, illegal payment. ... She held a $700 check over 
their heads illegally and the jury needed to hear about it."

Young's lawyers, including attorneys from ACLU's Capital Punishment Project, 
were in a Covington courtroom Monday to argue for a new trial because the 
payments were not disclosed and that information could have been used when 
those witnesses were questioned.

In the trial 3 years ago, Young's lawyers argued he was intellectually 
disabled, which would have made him ineligible for the death penalty. The 
defense called some of his teachers, who testified that there was evidence of 
the disability.

The prosecution countered by calling former co-workers, including 3 of those 
paid, who said Young did his job well, was punctual and showed no signs of an 
intellectual disability.

Young's lawyers say his work records, since acquired, show otherwise. They 
argued Monday that the paid witnesses - Benito Lopez, Edward Harris, Wanda 
Wilcher and Latrice Rivers - testified in such a way as to ensure they'd get 
the money.

ACLU lawyer Brian Stull said just as Lopez, Harris, Wilcher and Rivers would do 
a good job in order to get paid by their employers, they would give the 
testimony Zon wanted so she would reimburse them for the wages they lost while 
taking part in the trial.

Lopez and Harris were paid $700, Wilcher more than $400, and Rivers $100. Each 
also got the $25 per diem that Georgia law allows.

Zon said she didn't tell Young???s lawyers about the reimbursements for lost 
wages because they didn't ask.

Moreover, she said the suggestion by Young's lawyers that the 4 witnesses lied 
because of the money did not make sense. "They broke even is not an incentive 
to lie," Zon said. "That does not make any sense."

It could be several months before Judge Samuel Ozburn rules. Young's lawyers 
are also challenging the law that requires proof of intellectual disability 
beyond a doubt, the highest legal standard, which no other state uses.

Young murdered 28-year-old Gary Lamar Jones because his mother, Doris Jones, 
had ended their 7-year relationship and moved to Georgia to live with her son.

On March 30, 2008, Doris Jones came home from work to find her son bound to a 
chair, stabbed in the neck and bludgeoned with a hammer. Messages written in 
blood were scrawled on the walls - "get out of the state Atlanta mom" and 
"we'll get you Atlanta mom."

Witnesses led police to Young, who offered to plead guilty in exchange for life 
in prison without parole. But Zon pushed for the death penalty.

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

2nd convict faces death penalty for stabbing College Park teens


William Felts was convicted Monday of 10 of the 11 charges against him and will 
face the death penalty.

The 2nd of 2 men arrested, charged and convicted for the stabbing deaths of 2 
College Park teenagers in 2007 will face the death penalty, according to 
Channel 2 Action News.

2 cousins, 13-year-old Chrisondra Sierra Kimble and 15-year-old Delarlonva 
"Del" Mattox Jr., were brutally stabbed to death after walking to a 
neighborhood store to buy snacks, Fulton County District Attorney Paul L. 
Howard, Jr. said.

Family members reported the teens missing April 5, 2007, after the pair never 
returned home.

Co-defendent Jeremy Moody in 2013 pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder, 
aggravated assault, kidnapping with injury and aggravated assault with the 
intent to rob and rape in connection with the slayings.

6 charges - 2 each for murder, felony murder and kidnapping - carry maximum 
penalties of death by lethal injection and the jury for Moody found for death 
in each of the murder charges.

William Felts was convicted Monday of 10 of the 11 charges against him. A jury 
found him not guilty of rape. The sentencing portion of the trial begins 
Tuesday.

(source for both: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

***********

Chicago lawyers of Georgia inmate cope with his death after execution----At age 
72, Brandon Jones was the oldest inmate on Georgia's death row when he was put 
to death 4 weeks ago.


"It was really kind of a strange experience, way outside the experience any of 
us had had in any other case," said Josh Buchman of McDermott, Will and Emery.

Chicago attorney Josh Buchman specializes in white collar criminal defense, 
often meeting with powerful CEO's in corporate boardrooms. Death row inmate 
Brandon Jones was anything but a white collar criminal, but Buchman took his 
case anyway, donating his legal services.

FOX 32: What's it like to lose a client like this?

"It's terrible. It's terrible," Buchman said. Jones was executed 4 weeks ago 
for the 1979 shooting death of a convenience store manager in Georgia. For the 
last 13 years, Josh Buchman and lawyers from Chicago's McDermott, Will and 
Emery have fought to get his death sentence reduced to a lesser sentence.

"It simply was not one of those horrendous situations where there were multiple 
murders, where there was extreme cruelty or other elements that would make you 
think this was a death penalty case," Buchman said.

Buchman does about 200 hours of pro bono work every year, and this was his 1st 
death penalty case.

"The sense of responsibility that you have because you know that the outcome 
here is not going to be money changing hands between corporations. It's going 
to be somebody living or dying," Buchman said.

McDermott has 1100 lawyers worldwide with many charging upwards of a thousand 
dollars an hour. The firm's chairman says the cost of doing so much work for 
the less fortunate doesn't get a 2nd thought.

"You'll always remember the cases you did where you made a difference in 
someone's life, where you stood up for someone who didn't have the voice or 
didn't have the power. Or didn't have the power to speak for themselves," said 
Chairman Jeff Stone.

Lots of new attorneys are attracted to pro-bono work. Buchman, a 30 year 
veteran, says he does it because it's the right thing to do.

During the 13 years McDermott helped with the case, about 70 different lawyers 
contributed to the effort.

(source: foxchicago.com)

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

Guilty Verdict in Death Penalty Case----A man has been found guilty of 
murdering 2 Atlanta teens in 2007.


A man has been found guilty of murdering 2 Atlanta teens in 2007, and could 
receive the death penalty when sentencing begins on Tuesday.

William Felts was found guilty of 2 counts of murder; aggravated assault with 
intent to rob; and kidnapping with bodily injury.

On April 5, 2007, after 6 pm, 2 teens, who were cousins, went missing after 
they left their home to walk to a neighborhood store and purchase snacks. The 
next day, the bodies of the 13-year-old female victim and 15-year-old male 
victim were found by the female victim???s mother in a wooded area behind 
Bethune Elementary School.

The victims were both naked and each sustained multiple stab wounds. The female 
victim was raped.

Fulton County DA Paul Howard and the state are seeking the death penalty. 
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Christopher Brasher is presiding over the 
sentencing.

(source: patch.com)






FLORIDA----impending execution

Jacksonville white supremacist gets final appeal before March 17 execution


No one from Jacksonville has been executed since 1999. But white supremacist 
Mark James Asay is a little over 2 weeks away from being put to death.

But Asay, 51, may have a better chance than most of avoiding his St. Patrick's 
Day execution due to the uncertainty of the death penalty in Florida.

Asay was sentenced to death for the murders of Robert Lee Booker and Robert 
McDowell in 1987. Booker was black and McDowell was a cross-dressing prostitute 
who was actually white, but Asay believed he was a black woman.

The Florida Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Asay's case Wednesday 
morning, if they decline to delay the sentencing, only the U.S. Supreme Court 
can stop the March 17 execution.

Asay is scheduled to be the 1st person executed since the U.S. Supreme Court 
ruled that Florida's death-penalty procedures are unconstitutional. The Florida 
Legislature is revising the procedures, but nothing has become law yet.

Cary Michael Lambrix of Glades County was originally scheduled to be executed 
in February, but the Florida Supreme Court indefinitely delayed that after his 
attorneys cited the U.S. Supreme Court decision. Lambrix, 55, has been on death 
row for 31 years following his conviction in the killings of a man and a woman 
in Glades County in 1983.

Asay has the same attorney, Martin McClain, and some of the arguments for 
delaying Asay's execution are similar to what McClain argued last month for 
Lambrix.

In court filings McClain contends that Florida cannot go forward with an 
execution when there are no death-penalty procedures in place. He also argues 
that Asay cannot be executed because he was sentenced to death under a 
sentencing scheme that the Florida Supreme Court threw out.

But McClain also makes several arguments unique to Asay, saying that newly 
discovered evidence suggests Asay may not have been the man who killed Booker 
and McDowell because the jury at his original trial was told the bullets were 
from the same gun, but new evidence suggests it may have been 2 different guns.

McClain also said Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador, who denied a motion to delay 
the execution in February, reviewed documents sent to her by prosecutors 
without allowing McClain to examine them first.

Salvador also erred in refusing to have an evidentiary hearing that would have 
allowed the defense to present more evidence, McClain said in court filings.

In response attorneys with the office of Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi 
said the U.S. Supreme Court decision is not retroactive, meaning that Asay 
cannot have his execution delayed because the ruling only affects future cases.

Prosecutors also say that the other arguments to delay the case have no 
validity and that Salvador was correct in finding that the new evidence wasn't 
enough to cast doubt on the verdict.

Asay was drinking with friends, and they decided to look for prostitutes after 
the bar closed. One of Asay's friends was asking Booker about where to find 
prostitutes when Asay called Booker a racial epithet and shot him in the 
stomach, according to police and court records. Booker ran off and was later 
found dead.

Asay and a friend continued looking for prostitutes and agreed to pay McDowell, 
who was dressed as a woman, for oral sex. But Asay then shot McDowell 6 times.

If Asay is executed, he will be the 1st inmate put to death from Jacksonville 
since Allen Lee "Tiny" Davis in July 1999. Davis was the last person to be 
executed via the electric chair. The state switched to lethal injection in 
2000.

(source: jacksonville.com)