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

[Rick Halperin]

March 23



ALABAMA:

Mother, boyfriend, charged in 22-month-old's death


Shannon Dale Gargis took a long breath and let out a sigh when Franklin County 
District Judge Paula McDowell told him he would face the death penalty.

Seconds later, standing in front of McDowell, dressed in a black-and-white 
Franklin County Jail suit with his feet and hands shackled by chains, Gargis 
closed his eyes and tilted his head back as the judge announced Gargis would be 
held in jail without bail.

Gargis, 28, is charged in the death of his girlfriend's 22-month-old daughter, 
and was in court for a hearing Tuesday afternoon. He only appeared to show 
emotion when he realized he would be denied bond.

"It was like he was more worried about a bond than what he was charged for, or 
what he is accused of doing," Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver said.

Oliver said the baby's mother, Hailey Rose Renfroe, 20, who also goes by Haley 
Rose Brisbois, is charged with aggravated child abuse.

Deputies said Gargis is accused of becoming angry with the baby, who was named 
Serenity. Investigators said evidence indicates the baby was picked up by the 
throat and thrown across the room, hitting the back of the couch.

Officials said Gargis told authorities the baby was limp when he picked her up, 
and he put her on a loveseat before he went to bed to go to sleep.

"How do you do something like that?" Oliver asked. "I just can't understand 
it."

Authorities said it is believed the abuse had been going on for at least a 
month, and Renfroe knew it was happening and did nothing to stop it. 
Investigators said Gargis, who is from the Belgreen area, moved in with Renfroe 
in January.

"The child was black and blue from head to toe," Oliver said. "It looked like 
the child had been thrown around like a rag doll. It was awful. It was like the 
baby was being used for a punching bag."

Investigators said the baby was found unresponsive and unconscious Tuesday 
morning at Renfroe's residence at 411 Railsplitter Road, Phil Campbell.

Oliver said Franklin County Coroner Elzie Malone pronounced the child dead at 
the residence.

Investigators found evidence the baby had been physically abused on numerous 
occasions, including Monday night or Tuesday morning, according to reports.

Reports indicate Gargis took Renfroe to work about 7 p.m. Monday. She came home 
from work about 2:30 Tuesday morning, found the baby and got Gargis out of bed.

Officials said Renfroe called 911, and deputies and paramedics found Serenity 
lying on the loveseat dead.

Gargis and Renfroe, who is originally from Dearborn, Michigan, both are being 
held in the Franklin County Jail without bail.

Court officials said Renfroe has 10 pending charges from 2013, which are mostly 
drug-related charges in Marion County. Reports indicate Renfroe was out of jail 
on bail totaling $35,500.

Marion County officials were preparing Tuesday to revoke the bond. Records 
indicate 2 charges are chemical endangerment of a child, which involved 
Serenity before she was born.

"This is a tough case on the investigators, deputies and everyone involved," 
Oliver said. "No one wants to see a child hurt, and especially one injured the 
way she was.

"It was obvious by the discussions and talk among the deputies it's been tough 
on them. Just looking at the photos (of the child) is bothersome. You keep 
asking why, and what could drive a person to hurt someone like this, especially 
an innocent baby."

Capital murder is punishable by death or life in prison without parole.

Aggravated child abuse is a Class B felony and is punishable by 2-20 years in 
prison.

(source: Times Daily)






OHIO:

Memory of surviving victim of Barberton triple murder at issue in death-penalty 
trial


The recollections of a woman who survived a stabbing and shooting while her 
boyfriend and his 2 children were murdered is at the heart of a death-penalty 
murder trial that began on Tuesday.

Eric Hendon, 31, faces the death penalty if convicted of fatally shooting John 
Kohler, 42, Ashley Carpenter, 18, and David Kohler Carpenter, 14. He is charged 
with 3 counts of aggravated murder, and 1 count each of attempted murder, 
felonious assault and aggravated robbery.

Both prosecutors and defense attorney addressed the expected testimony of 
survivor Rhonda Blankenship during opening statements. Blankenship was stabbed 
and shot in the face at point-blank range during a New Year's Eve 2013 
attempted marijuana theft at her Barberton apartment.

Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Daniel Sallerson argued that Blankenship has 
been consistent throughout her interviews with police and with her trial 
testimony that landed Hendon's brother, Michael, in prison for life.

Michael Hendon was convicted at trial of complicity to commit aggravated 
murder. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones ruled he was 
mentally unfit for the death penalty. Corrigall Jones is also presiding over 
Eric Hendon's trial.

Sallerson said Blankenship always identified the person who shot all four 
people inside the home as "the taller one" or "the older one." Eric Hendon is 
about 6 inches taller than his younger brother.

"She always put an emphasis on the taller person was in charge and the one who 
did the shooting," Sallerson told the seven-man, five-woman jury.

Blankenship is expected to testify on Wednesday.

Defense attorney Brian Pierce countered that Blankenship submitted a written 
statement from her diary that identified Michael Hendon by name as the shooter.

He said he will also present experts in eye-witness identification and 
pharmacology.

Dr. Harvey Shulman, an emeritus associate psychology professor at Ohio State, 
will testify that the traumatic events Blankenship survived, as well as her 
consumption of social media and newspaper accounts of the case, impacted her 
recollection of the killings.

Dr. Seth Brownlee, the Director of Pharmacology at Northeast Ohio Medical 
University, is expected to testify about the drugs Blankenship was administered 
during her 7-day stay in the hospital.

Pierce said the powerful painkiller fentanyl and the sedative propofol have the 
ability to alter memories.

The diary entry was a point of contention before the trial began. The fight 
over the diary resulted in a jury being dismissed and the September trial date 
delayed. Blankenship testified at an evidentiary hearing that she mixed up the 
names of the 2 men, but meant that the taller one had been the shooter while 
the shorter one helped.

"We're not submitting to you that she lied," Pierce said. "She went through a 
horrible ordeal. But we are going to show you why her story changed."

(source: cleveland.com)






CALIFORNIA:

Suspect in deaths of 2 men near Roseville returns to court


Joshua Daniel Smith will return Friday to court after a 2nd delay to secure an 
attorney for the Sacramento man suspected of killing two men who were shot and 
set on fire last June near Roseville.

Along with the murder charges, Smith also faces allegations of committing the 
crimes in service to a criminal street gang, using a gun and laying in wait - 
the latter giving Placer County prosecutors the option of seeking the death 
penalty. Smith appeared in Placer Superior Court Tuesday in Auburn.

Placer County District Attorney's prosecutors allege Smith, 38, is a Norteno 
gang member and shot Jason John Benson, 33, and Warren Alexander Galsote, 34, 
in the head on rural Annabelle Avenue between Roseville and Granite Bay June 
25, 2015, before soaking the still-alive men with gasoline and setting them 
ablaze.

Prosecutors say Smith targeted Galsote because he had witnessed a crime. The 
men later died at an area hospital.

Defense attorney Martin Jones of Ciummo & Associates, the county's Madera-based 
public defense contractor, initially called for a week's delay at Smith's 1st 
appearance on Monday. Jones said the firm had reached the negotiated limit of 
homicide cases its attorneys are able to accept in Placer County.

But Placer Superior Court Judge Angus Saint-Evens ordered the parties back to 
his Placer County Jail courtroom on Tuesday where the judge appointed Jones 
until another attorney is selected to represent Smith in the potential capital 
case.

Smith has been held without bail in Auburn since his arrest last Thursday at 
Sacramento County Main Jail, where he had been held on other charges since 
July, according to Placer County Sheriff's officials.

Sacramento Superior Court records show Smith has been in and out of Sacramento 
County custody for more than two decades, arrested nearly a dozen times on 
offenses ranging from burglary to auto theft and assault.

A no-bail warrant for his arrest was issued by Placer County in February, 
sheriff's officials said.

(source: sacbee.com)