[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.Y., PENN., VA., N.C., S.C., OHIO, KAN.

[Rick Halperin]

March 23



TEXAS:

With support of US Supreme Court, Texas authorities execute mentally ill man


Adam Kelly Ward, a severely mentally ill Texas man sentenced to death for the 
2005 murder of 44-year-old Michael Walker, was executed Tuesday evening by 
lethal injection. Ward, 33, was the 9th person executed in the US so far this 
year and the 5th in Texas alone.

Roughly 2 hours before the execution, the US Supreme Court rejected Ward's 
appeal. The high court refused to comment on the case, signaling its support 
for the barbaric practice of murdering the mentally impaired.

Ward was given a lethal dose of pentobarbital at the Walls Unit in Huntsville 
after 6 p.m. local time, according to the Associated Press. As it took effect, 
he took a deep breath followed by a smaller one and then stopped moving. He was 
pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m.

Ward had been on death row less than nine years after being convicted and 
sentenced to death in 2007. During that trial, a psychiatrist testified that 
Ward suffered from a psychotic disorder which caused him to "suffer paranoid 
delusions such that he believes there might be a conspiracy against him and 
that people might be after him or trying to harm him," according to court 
documents.

Evidence of Ward's paranoia, delusions and bipolar disorder was presented in 
his initial trial and subsequent appeals court trials, with a federal district 
court noting that by age 15 Ward "interpreted neutral things as a threat or 
personal attack." He was found to have begun exhibiting delusional tendencies 
as early as the 6th grade, leading the court to declare, "Adam Kelly Ward has 
been afflicted with mental illness his entire life."

The details surrounding Ward's murder of Walker clearly indicate that his 
mental illness of delusions and paranoia prompted him to commit the murder.

Walker was a code enforcement officer who was inspecting Ward's property in 
Commerce, a town 65 miles northeast of Dallas. The Ward family had been cited 
numerous times for violating housing and zoning codes.

Witnesses said that the 2 got into an argument when Walker began taking 
pictures around the perimeter of the Ward property, prompting Ward to spray 
Walker with a hose he had been using to wash his car. Ward's trial lawyer, 
Dennis Davis, says that Walker then told Ward that he was calling for back up, 
which Ward interpreted as meaning that the police were coming to kill him.

"He had no idea that was the exact wrong thing to say to that person," Davis 
told AP. After Walker made the phone call, Ward went into his house, returned 
with a gun and shot Walker nine times.

Ward later testified that he believed Walker was armed, telling AP, "Only time 
any shots were fired on my behalf was when I was matching force with force, 
when this man had pulled a gun on me and he pointed it at me and was fixing to 
shoot me, which is self-defense." There was no evidence demonstrating that 
Walker had a weapon, suggesting that Ward had suffered a psychotic episode.

Davis told AP, "When I stepped in front of the jury, I said, 'I'm not going to 
be so callous and look you in the face and say my client didn't kill this man. 
He killed him but you have to understand why. These delusions he has caused the 
situation.'"

Despite Ward's mental illness clearly prompting him to commit the murder, state 
and federal courts repeatedly rejected his appeals for a life sentence in lieu 
of the death penalty. Most recently, Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Elsa 
Alcala rejected Ward's last petition with the state last Monday.

In issuing her verdict, Alcala said, "As is the case with intellectual 
disability, the preferred course would be for legislatures rather than courts 
to set standards defining the level at which a mental illness is so severe that 
it should result in a defendant being categorically exempt from the death 
penalty."

Any appeals to the state legislature in Texas for reforms to such laws will 
fall on deaf ears, as the state's legislature remains among the most 
reactionary in the country. At present, there are 249 inmates on death row in 
Texas. The state has carried out by far the most executions since the death 
penalty was reinstituted in the US following the 1976 Gregg v. Georgia Supreme 
Court decision, executing 535 people, or more than a third of the total 
executions. These have included many individuals convicted of crimes committed 
as juveniles and the mentally impaired.

(source: World Socialist Website)

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

Baptist minister arrested in death penalty protest


A Texas Baptist minister was arrested March 22 in a civil disobedience protest 
of the execution of a man who claimed he was mentally ill when he shot and 
killed a city code enforcement officer in a dispute over trash in 2005.

Jeff Hood, an advocate for abolishing the death penalty who writes a column for 
Baptist News Global, found it symbolic that Texas carried out the execution of 
33-year-old Adam Kelly Ward during Holy Week.

"We're at the holiest time of the Christian calendar, and the state basically 
is re-enacting the passion of Jesus," Hood said in an interview March 23.

Hood, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who serves on the board of the 
Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, described a capital punishment 
protocol complete with a last meal, a final farewell to loved ones, procession 
to the execution site, being strapped to a gurney and even piercing the skin 
during lethal injection.

Hood walked past a police tape barrier for protestors outside the Walls Unit in 
Huntsville, Texas. He was confronted by 2 officers who demanded he turn back or 
be arrested, and he told them he could not do that.

"Obedience to our faith requires civil disobedience," Hood said Wednesday, 
noting that Baptists "come from a long line of resistance to injustice."

Hood bonded out Wednesday morning after spending a night in the Walker County 
Jail. He is charged with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by 
up to 180 days in jail, $2,000 in fines or both. He is scheduled to appear in 
court May 19.

While unpleasant, Hood described his night in jail "a very spiritual 
experience."

Hood, a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, heads up the 
Abolishing the Death Penalty community in the Alliance of Baptists. He was 
ordained in 2006 at a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention 
and received standing with the United Church of Christ in 2015.

Hood is spiritual adviser to Will Speer, a death row inmate convicted of a 
prison murder in 2001. In 2014 Hood staged a 200-mile walk from Livingston, 
Texas, to Huntsville to protest the death penalty.

"I wish that Baptists would take the death penalty seriously," Hood said. "I 
wish Baptists would be willing to give themselves over so lives can be saved."

Ward was pronounced dead at 6:34 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the 
state's death chamber in Huntsville. He was convicted of killing Michael "Pee 
Wee' Walker, 44, a code enforcement officer for the city of Commerce, Texas, 
after a verbal altercation that began when the official began taking photos of 
alleged trash hoarding at Ward's home.

Ward shot Walker 9 times with a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. His lawyers 
claimed he was mentally ill and under paranoid delusions that the officer was 
going to kill him. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected his final appeal about 2 
hours before the execution, upholding a lower court's decision that Ward's 
mental illness did not "rise to the level" of making him ineligible for the 
death penalty.

Hood said he did not know Ward personally but felt connected to him because he, 
too, lives with bipolar disorder. The Supreme Court has ruled that it is 
unconstitutional to execute someone who is intellectually disabled or insane, 
but the state can execute the mentally ill if they are able to understand what 
is happening to them and why.

(source: baptistnews.com)






NEW YORK:

EDNY Prosecutors to Appeal Reversal of Death Sentence


The Eastern District U.S. Attorney's Office will appeal a judge's decision to 
vacate a death sentence for a man convicted of murdering 2 police officers.

Prosecutors filed notice Tuesday saying they would challenge the decision to 
undo Ronell Wilson's death sentence. Eastern District Judge Nicholas Garaufis 
said Wilson was ineligible for capital punishment because he was intellectually 
disabled in the eyes of the law (NYLJ, March 16).

Garaufis had ruled in February 2013 that Wilson was not intellectually disabled 
and, therefore, eligible for capital punishment. Later that year, a jury said 
Wilson deserved death for the 2003 killings of undercover detectives Rodney 
Andrews and James Nemorin.

Wilson appealed, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit sent the 
case back to Garaufis to review Wilson's mental capacity in light of a 2014 
U.S. Supreme Court case, Hall v. Florida, 134 S. Ct. 1986.

On March 15, Garaufis said he would impose life imprisonment without the 
possibility of parole based on a "careful interpretation of evolving Supreme 
Court precedent and a sober review of the evidence."

Wilson was convicted of the crimes in 2006; the same jury voted for execution. 
In 2010, the circuit kept the jury's guilt determination intact, but ordered 
retrial on the penalty phase.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Busa filed the notice of appeal in U.S. v. Wilson. 
04-cr-1016.

David Stern of Rothman, Schneider, Soloway & Stern, a member of Wilson's 
defense, declined to comment.

(source: newyorklawjournal.com)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Dad Gets 2nd Chance After Junk Science Convicted Him of Killing His Kids-----14 
years after his boys died in a house fire, Daniel Dougherty was sent to death 
row for their murder. Now, he's back in court with a new try for freedom.


On a summer night in 1985, flames swept through Daniel Dougherty's red-brick 
rowhouse in Philadelphia, killing his 1 young sons who slept upstairs.

The 25-year-old mechanic told police he had been sleeping on a sofa in the 
living room when he woke just before 4 a.m. and saw his curtains on fire. He 
bolted outside and grabbed a neighbor's garden hose, ready to douse the blaze 
and rescue his sons, Daniel, 4, and John, 3, who shared a bed on the 2nd floor.

But it was too late. Dougherty tried breaking a window and climbing a ladder to 
reach the children but the smoke and flames blew him back. When authorities 
arrived, the bulky 6-foot-4 Dougherty, the son of a late policeman, was 
frantic.

To authorities, the hard-drinking repairman, who got into a fight with both his 
girlfriend and ex-wife that night and skipped an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, 
was the prime suspect. One officer claimed he physically blocked Dougherty from 
charging into the burning home. When the cop asked for Dougherty's name, he 
allegedly replied, "My name is mud and I should die for what I did."

The children died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, a 
medical examiner later concluded.

An hour after the inferno that took his children's lives, Dougherty was being 
interviewed by homicide detectives. "I ain't got nothing to remain silent 
about," Dougherty said as he waived his Miranda rights. Lacking evidence to 
charge Dougherty, police released him, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported in 
2014.

But 14 years later, Dougherty would be charged with the murder of his sons, 
after his estranged 2nd wife - with whom he was in a custody battle for a child 
born after the boys died - called police and claimed he confessed to the 
alleged crime.

Dougherty was convicted in 2000 and put on death row - a sentence that was 
later vacated after prosecutors agreed Dougherty didn't have effective counsel. 
The grieving dad has always maintained his innocence. Now, with the help of 
arson experts on a mission to debunk mythical theories that are still employed 
by authorities, Dougherty has the chance to prove it.

A new trial for the 56-year-old began Monday in Philadelphia - 2 years after an 
appellate court found that Dougherty's lawyer failed to challenge the state's 
scientific evidence claiming the fire was arson, the Inquirer reported.

Had the jury heard and believed a fire science expert at the time, it "would 
have had reasonable doubt about [Dougherty's] guilt and would have been 
compelled to acquit him," the court wrote in its decision in 2014, according to 
the Inquirer.

At the heart of the case is flawed and disproved forensics used to seal 
Dougherty's conviction???techniques that are believed to have led to wrongful 
convictions, and some executions, across the country.

"The tragedy of losing your child in a fire, then being accused and convicted 
of intentionally setting that fire ... I can't even imagine the mental torture 
of that," Marissa Boyers Bluestine, legal director of the Pennsylvania 
Innocence Project, told The Daily Beast.

"The problem is there's no evidence that he's guilty. Zero," Bluestine added. 
"The evidence came from the fire marshal who was talking about scientific 
techniques that have been disproven, having no reliability whatsoever.

"You have someone who's not just convicted, but on death row for that. If it 
happens to him it quite literally could happen to anybody."

In some cases, advances in fire science is helping some wrongly convicted 
prisoners earn their freedom. In 2014, a South Korean-born man's arson-murder 
conviction was overturned after he spent 24 years behind bars.

Han Tak Lee, now 81, was accused of killing his 20-year-old daughter in a fire 
in 1989 but always said the blaze was an accident. A judge concluded his 
conviction was based on since-discredited arson science.

For other inmates, the reexamination came too late.

In 2004, Texas officials executed Cameron Todd Willingham - accused of setting 
a blaze that killed his 3 young daughters in their Corsicana home 13 years 
before, and whose tragic end spawned a New Yorker investigation. Like 
Dougherty's case, Texas prosecutors relied on outdated arson theories and 
testimony from a jailhouse snitch, who later recanted.

5 years after Willingham's death, renowned fire expert Craig Beyler concluded 
the Texas fire marshal had "limited understanding" of arson science and that 
his findings "are nothing more than a collection of personal beliefs that have 
nothing to do with science-based fire investigation."

Experts fighting for Dougherty are expressing similar sentiments. Renowned 
arson investigator John Lentini, who is expected to testify at the new trial, 
has said the original probe was so flawed the cause of the blaze should have 
been ruled "undetermined."

Philadelphia Assistant Fire Marshal John Quinn concluded the fire had 3 points 
of origin inside the house, based on burn marks, and therefore was intentional 
- information Dougherty's attorney never challenged.

Quinn declared the blaze started in three places: a loveseat, a sofa, and a 
spot beneath a dining-room table. He also testified that Dougherty's claims 
that he tried to save the kids weren't believable, as his body showed no 
exposure to flames or smoke, the Inquirer reported.

It took the jury only 3 hours to find Dougherty guilty of murder in 2000, and 
another 3 1/2 hours to sentence him to death, the Inquirer reported.

Dougherty sobbed on the witness stand as he denied igniting the blaze that 
killed his children. "They were my life," he cried, adding that he took them on 
a motorcycle ride that day, changed their clothes, and flipped their mattress 
that night.

When an assistant district attorney asked Dougherty why he immediately darted 
from the house instead of upstairs, Dougherty answered, "Everyone makes 
mistakes. I made a big one."

Lentini and other experts who've reviewed Dougherty's case say the 3 burning 
spots are likely the result of "flashover," a naturally occurring phenomenon 
where rising heat collects at the ceiling until the temperature reaches 1,100 
degrees and the room combusts. Flashovers can create burn marks such as those 
seen in Dougherty's home.

"Unfortunately, it is not possible given the level of destruction and 
documentation, to determine where exactly this fire started or how it started," 
Lentini wrote in a post-conviction report. "What I can state with certainty is 
that the evidence does not support a determination of 3 points of origin, which 
was the sole basis for Lt. Quinn's determination that the fire was 
intentionally set.

"Lt. Quinn's conclusion that the fire was intentionally set has no scientific 
basis, then or now," Lentini said in a report submitted to the court.

This didn't stop the law enforcement of Philadelphia from presenting what 
experts call junk science. "You're talking about the 5th-largest city in the 
country. This isn't backwater," Bluestine told The Daily Beast. "It's supposed 
to be among the most sophisticated law enforcement departments. Especially when 
you're talking about a capital case, there's no excuse."

Philadelphia authorities have stood by Dougherty's conviction.

During the trial's opening arguments on Tuesday, assistant district attorney 
Jude Conroy said evidence would show Dougherty was guilty, beyond all doubt, 
the Inquirer reported.

Conroy told jurors Dougherty was drunk, angry, and ended up alone in the house 
after an argument with his live-in girlfriend and the boys' mother. Then the 
prosecutor reinforced fire marshal Quinn's findings, telling the court about 
"an open flame to the couch, to the loveseat, to items under the table."

Dougherty's attorney, David Fryman, questioned why cops didn't charge Dougherty 
until 14 years after the fire, if authorities were certain of his guilt, 
according to the Inquirer.

Fryman told jurors investigators failed even to snap a photo of the stove, to 
show whether the knobs were in an on or off position, the Inquirer reported. 
"The commonwealth claim that this fire was intentionally set doesn???t have any 
validity," Fryman said.

Bluestine, of the Innocence Project, said that by the time Dougherty's trial 
began, Philadelphia authorities should have been trained in scientific 
standards laid bare by the National Fire Protection Association. The council 
became concerned about the validity of fire investigations in 1985 and 
published its 1st guide 7 years later, Lentini says in a paper (PDF).

"The myths are slowly dying out ... but there are still practitioners who use 
them today, with disastrous consequences," Lentini wrote.

Dougherty's murder and arson charges came in 1999, well after the fire, when 
his estranged 2nd wife, Adrienne Sussman, told police he confessed to sparking 
the inferno. At the time the charges were made, Sussman was in a custody battle 
with Dougherty over their son, Stephen.

Philadelphia prosecutors wasted no time in making Dougherty a villain. They 
claimed he set the fire in vengeance against two women who wronged him: the 
girlfriend with whom he lived and the mother of his boys, from whom he was 
separated. Witnesses labeled him a drinker, and said he was possessive toward 
women and called his wife names, the Inquirer reported.

While Sussman never testified at Dougherty's 2000 trial, the prosecution 
presented testimony from 2 jailhouse informants - in prison on multiple 
convictions and charges and promised reduced sentences by prosecutors - who 
said Dougherty confessed to them while in custody, the Inquirer reported.

Stephen Dougherty, now 24, told The Daily Beast he speaks with his father every 
day and said he just wants to come home. Stephen grew up without both parents, 
as his mother, who struggled with drug addiction, passed away in 2005.

Because of his mom's drug use, he said, he spent weekends and weekdays with his 
dad, who took him off-roading in his truck and taught him to play basketball 
and baseball. His father was just a "regular, average ... hard-working man," he 
said.

The younger Dougherty said that one day, he hopes to rebuild cars and live in a 
house with his father.

"I know my dad's not guilty," Dougherty said in a phone interview. "He's the 
farthest thing from a bad guy. He loved life, and it was taken away from him."

"My dad's not a monster," Dougherty added. "He's not the man that the DA is 
trying to make him out to be ... fire is unpredictable, and it can take 
anybody's life."

(source: the dailybeast.com)

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

Why Pa. should abolish the death penalty


This past February marked a year since Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf declared a 
moratorium on the death penalty. In a statement released last year, Wolf said 
the state's current death penalty is "a flawed system that has been proven to 
be an endless cycle of court proceedings as well as ineffective, unjust and 
expensive."

I applaud Wolf for these measures taken against the death penalty, and urge the 
state of Pennsylvania to go deeper this year, examining the logic behind the 
death penalty, and finally abolishing it for good.

The two main arguments in support of the death penalty are the retributivist, 
which holds that it is intrinsically good for those who have committed crimes 
to be punished proportionally; and the consequentialist, which holds that 
harming those that engage in culpable wrong-doing to prevent future wrong-doing 
is a morally justifiable end.

Supporters say that a human being possesses a right to life because of his 
dignity. If a person kills another, or commits another heinous crime, he loses 
his dignity and therefore his right to life.

The question I have for those who make this argument, and the State of 
Pennsylvania, is, does the loss of the right to life imply a duty to kill?

Aubryanna Tayman

Hanover

(source: Letter to the Editor, York Daily Record)

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

Easton's 'good Samaritan' murder trial delayed until the fall


The Easton capital murder trial of Jeffrey S. Knoble Jr. has been delayed by 3 
months to give his defense attorneys more time to prepare.

Knoble will be tried in September, instead of June, under an order issued 
Wednesday by Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano.

Knoble, 26, of Riegelsville could face the death penalty if convicted of 
killing a man inside a downtown Easton hotel room last year, then recording a 
cellphone video of the man's corpse.

Andrew "Beep" White, 32, of Easton was shot early March 11, 2015, at the former 
Quality Inn on South Third Street. Authorities have called White a good 
Samaritan who had rented a room for Knoble that night because he had no place 
to stay.

Knoble's public defenders have said they are preparing a mental-health defense, 
including the possibility that their client was insane or operating under 
diminished capacity.

(source: Morning Call)






VIRGINIA:

Appeals court hears death row inmate's case


A Virginia prisoner who killed two people during an escape was improperly 
denied a chance to show that he wouldn't do it again if spared the death 
penalty, his lawyer told a federal appeals court Tuesday.

Attorney Jonathan P. Sheldon said the trial judge should have allowed an expert 
witness to testify that William Morva would not endanger other inmates or 
prison guards if sentenced to life without parole. The jury had cited "future 
dangerousness" as the aggravating factor in sentencing Morva to death for the 
2006 slayings.

Virginia Senior Assistant Attorney General Alice Armstrong argued that the U.S. 
Supreme Court has never required a trial judge to allow the kind of expert 
testimony sought by Morva.

The appeals court typically issues its decision several weeks after hearing 
arguments.

Morva was in jail awaiting trial on attempted-robbery charges in 2006 when he 
was taken to a Blacksburg hospital for treatment of an injury. He overpowered a 
Montgomery County deputy sheriff in the hospital and used the deputy's pistol 
to shoot unarmed security guard Derrick McFarland.

Morva shot Cpl. Eric Sutphin of the sheriff's department 1 day later on a 
walking trail near the Virginia Tech campus, which had been shut down on the 
1st day of classes as police tracked the escapee.

Sheldon also argued in court papers that Morva's trial attorneys failed to 
adequately investigate their client???s background, but Tuesday's hearing 
focused entirely on the trial court's refusal to allow a psychologist to 
conduct a prison-violence risk assessment and present the results to the jury.

Prosecutors argued during the sentencing phase of the trial that Morva "would 
kill again if put in prison," Sheldon said. He said the defense expert would 
have countered with scientific evidence that Morva posed an "exceedingly low" 
risk of violent behavior.

He said every other state that imposes the death penalty based on "future 
dangerousness" allows such defense testimony, but appeals court Judge Albert 
Diaz said "that doesn't mean it???s constitutionally required."

Armstrong said a defendant is entitled to a psychiatric expert only if mental 
health is an issue, and Morva had an expert for that purpose.

(source: Associated Press)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Darryl Hunt: In his own words


Next Saturday the ACLU will hold its annual Liberty Awards ceremony in Chapel 
Hill. Darryl Hunt was scheduled to appear and be honored for his work in 
promoting justice and ending the death penalty. Sadly, that much-deserved award 
will now be made posthumously. Darryl died on March 12, at the age of 51.

In 1984 Darryl was wrongfully accused and later convicted of murdering Deborah 
Sykes, a former copy editor at the Twin City Sentinel. He spent nearly 20 years 
in prison, all the while professing his innocence. Finally on December 22, 
2003, Willard Brown confessed to the murder and Darryl was released from prison 
2 days later. His conviction was formally vacated on February 6, 2004. Several 
weeks later Darryl appeared on Triad Today for his 1st in-depth television 
interview since being freed. It would be the 1st of many visits he would make 
to our studio, mostly to talk about his Project for Innocence and Justice.

Over the past year, Darryl battled depression and stage IV cancer. On March 13, 
police found him locked inside of his car, dead from what they described as a 
selfinflicted gunshot wound. Those of us who knew Darryl were shocked and 
saddened by the way he left us, but thankful that he was finally at peace.

Much has been written about this quiet, humble man, but I thought it best to 
let Darryl speak for himself. As such, what follows are excerpts from some of 
the conversations we had on Triad Today over the years.

(March 3, 2004) JL: If I were in your place, I would be so angry at the system, 
at the District Attorney, at everybody. Yet you seem to have this aura of inner 
peace about you. How is that?

DH: I just use my faith, My faith keeps me strong. It kept me strong while I 
was in prison.

JL: But you were locked up for nearly twenty years for something you didn't do. 
What was going through your mind all that time?

DH: Well it's human nature that you become angry, but I relied on my faith, and 
I truly believe that if you really believe in God, then you let God handle the 
difficult problems.

JL: Was there ever a time when you were ready to give up and say, "I might as 
well commit suicide because I'm going to be in here forever?" Did anything like 
that go through your mind?

DH: No, not suicide, but you get to the point where things just continue to go 
wrong, so you really have to draw on your faith. That's what I used to do 
because it was just days of depression, and I was always asking God "Are you 
listening?" Then it would seem like I would get a letter or card from somebody, 
and that would be His answer to my question.

JL: Some people, even some members of the Sykes family still think you had 
something to do with Deborah's murder. How do you feel about that, and do you 
understand why they think that way? was told the same things for 20 years, you 
tend to believe that, and it becomes engrained in you. So when somebody comes 
up to you and says, "What we told you wasn't the truth, now this is the truth", 
now it's up to you to let go of whatever it was. Truth is sometimes like that. 
The Sykes family lost their daughter, and that's hard in itself. You can't 
replace a daughter.

JL: How was it being married while you were in prison?

DH: The day that we was married was the day after the Supreme Court had turned 
me down for a new trial. So I didn't think we was going to get married because 
the chances of ever getting out was looking slimmer.

JL: You thought you'd be in prison forever?

DH: Yeah. So she (April) told me I must be crazy. She said, "This is forever. 
If I don't get you in this lifetime, I'll get you in the next."

JL: Pretty romantic.

DH: Yeah. She's always been my rock.

The person that I always count on.

JL: Anything you regret about your life before all this happened? Anything 
you've tried to work on?

DH: My biggest and only regret that I have about my prior life is that I 
dropped out of school.

JL: But you're going back to school now.

DH: Yes, at Winston Salem State.

JL: What do you want to do with the rest of your life?

DH: I want the Darryl Hunt Defense Committee to be changed to the Committee for 
Social Justice, to help guys who are in prison find a nice job coming out of 
prison.

(February 15, 2006) A documentary, "The Trials of Darryl Hunt" had recently 
been shown at film festivals around the country, and was

DH: Yes I understand it because if you scheduled for a screening at the Stevens 
Center in April.

JL: The documentary tells about how, at one point, the prosecutors offered to 
let you off with time served if you confessed to the murder. And you said?

DH: I told them I couldn't do it. I couldn't live with myself pleading to 
something I didn't do, and it was wrong, and I thought Ms. Sykes' family 
deserved to know (the truth).

JL: Did anything good come out of being in prison all those years?

DH: The way I was able to survive 19 years in prison was I always think of 
something positive. I met my wife, my faith grew stronger. There were a whole 
lot of positive things.

JL: The Darryl Hunt project is up and running. Remind us what it's all about.

DH: We're working with other innocence projects around the State, trying to get 
innocent people out of prison. The other thing is we work with other 
organizations to help people coming out of prison to really adjust. There are a 
lot of organizations out there, but they really don't understand what people go 
through in prison, and how to break that cycle.

(November 17, 2010) On this day our discussion focused mainly on job placement 
for former prisoners.

JL: What are the misperceptions most people (and employers) have about someone 
who has just been released from prison?

DH: Most people think that they are violent, and are going to continue to rob 
and steal, and that's not the case. Most guys coming out of prison want to be 
able to take care of their family and take care of themselves.

(February 15, 2012) JL: Give us an update on your Project for Freedom and 
Justice.

DH: We try to help who we call "Homecomers", people coming from prison, coming 
back home. And we try to help them find housing, clothing, a job, offer 
financial literacy, job readiness classes and counseling. One of the biggest 
things is counseling, where we help those guys understand the transition from 
prison to life.

JL: How many men have you served since you began the project?

DH: Since we started the project in 2005, we've served almost 5,000 people.

JL: Do you have a handle on how successful the project has been?

DH: From the count I had a couple of weeks ago, we only had 10 people we know 
of who actually went back to prison for different violations.

JL: The services that you provide have really made a difference for these men.

DH: Yes. It builds self esteem to be able to have an opportunity for people to 
believe in what they're doing.

Most people will remember Darryl Hunt as the man who was wrongfully convicted 
of a brutal murder. But to thousands of former prisoners, Darryl will be 
remembered as the man who helped them overcome adversity and start a new life. 
In the end, the only person Darryl couldn???t help was himself. It is a tragic 
irony, but one filled with the hope that his work will continue.

(source: yesweekly.com)

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

Death penalty remains possible in Hewitt trial, plea deal rejected


Catawba County Superior Court convened Tuesday for a 2nd day of hearings in a 
triple homicide case before Judge Nathaniel J. Poovey.

Everette Porshau Hewitt, 37, of Claremont, is charged with three felony counts 
of 1st-degree murder, 1 felony count of 1st-degree burglary, 1 felony count of 
robbery with a dangerous weapon, and 1 misdemeanor count of 2nd-degree 
trespassing.

Defense attorney Robert Campbell is representing Hewitt.

The state made a few motions in Tuesday's hearing, one of which was to join the 
charges together for the trial. Poovey allowed the motion.

Poovey decided in court to put Monday's meeting between the sides and him on 
the record. During that meeting, the District Attorney's Office made a plea 
deal offer to the defendant. However, the defense refused the deal. The deal 
would have dropped the 1st-degree murder charges down to 2nd-degree, if Hewitt 
pleaded guilty to the new charges. The deal did not modify the attempted murder 
or robbery with a deadly weapon charge.

"My client has maintained his innocence," Campbell said. "It has always been 
his words to us that he is not guilty of these crimes."

Poovey addressed the defense's motion Monday to make the case non-capital due 
to discovery violations by the prosecution.

"I have considered dismissing charges, and I have considered making the case 
non-capital," Poovey said. "Based upon the facts, I find that a sanction to 
make this case non-capital is inappropriate."

On Monday, Poovey denied 3 other motions to make the case non-capital.

Poovey did give sanctions in regards to the discovery violations. The defense 
will be allowed to give the last argument in the trial, even if they present 
evidence. Typically, the prosecution gives the last argument if the defense 
presents evidence. Another sanction gives the defense the freedom to 
cross-examine 2 of the investigators in the case more extensively.

Hewitt is held without bond and his trial is scheduled to begin March 28. 
Assistant District Attorneys Sean McGinnis and Kyle Smith are prosecuting the 
case.

(source: Hickory Record)



SOUTH CAROLINA:

Death penalty sought in 2 Horry County slayings


Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty against 2 men charged in the 
slayings of 2 Horry County convenience store clerks in separate robberies last 
year.

Local media outlets report that prosecutor Jimmy Richardson said Tuesday he'll 
see the death penalty against 34-year-old McKinley Lee Daniels and 21-year-old 
Jerome Jenkins Jr., 21, both of Loris.

The 2 are charged in the shooting deaths of 2 convenience store clerks in 
January of 2015.

Authorities say that 40-year-old Bala Paruchuri was shot and killed on Jan. 2, 
2015. Authorities say surveillance video shows Paruchuri was cooperating and 
had his hands in the air when he was shot.

Prosecutors say 30-year-old Trisha Stull was shot and killed during a 2nd 
convenience store robbery on Jan. 25, 2015.

(source: Post and Courier)






OHIO:

Brunswick man found guilty of murdering mother, faces death penalty


A Brunswick man faces the death penalty after a jury found him guilty of 
murdering his mother.

The jury in James D Tench's murder trial returned a guilty verdict Wednesday 
afternoon on 3 counts of aggravated murder, 2 counts of murder, aggravated 
robbery, kidnapping and tampering with evidence, the Medina County Prosecutor's 
Office said.

The jury deliberated for one day before reaching its verdict.

Each aggravated murder count carries a potential death sentence, life in prison 
without parole, or life in prison with the possibility of parole.

The prosecutor's office will decide which aggravated murder or murder charge 
will carry the sentence, Medina County Prosecutor Dean Holman said previously.

The mitigation or penalty phase of the trial will begin April 4. Prosecutors 
will present arguments for why Tench should be put to death, while the defense 
will present what it feels are mitigating factors that should prevent the death 
penalty.

Mary Tench, 55, was found dead Nov. 12, 2013 inside her car on Carquest Drive 
in Brunswick. Medina County Coroner Neil Grabenstetter said she died from 
several blunt trauma injuries to her head and neck. The impact fractured her 
skull.

James Tench was accused of beating his mother to death after she confronted him 
about his debts and about the fact that he used her credit card to buy concert 
tickets, court records say.

He pleaded guilty in 2014 to robbing a Strongsville restaurant and is currently 
serving a five-year prison sentence at the Richland Correctional Institution.

Jury selection in the murder case began Feb. 22 and opening statements occurred 
March 7, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The state rested its case March 16 after calling 53 witnesses. The witnesses 
included officers from the Brunswick Police Department; an agent from the Ohio 
Bureau of Criminal Investigation; 2 U.S. Secret Service agents; an FBI agent; 
and an FBI chemist.

Tench took the stand when the defense began presenting its case on Monday.

The sides presented closing arguments on Tuesday afternoon.

(source: Associated Press)






KANSAS:

Kansas Man Guilty of Capital Murder in Quadruple Homicide


Jurors have convicted an eastern Kansas man in the fatal shootings of 3 adults 
and a toddler in 2013.

Franklin County court officials say the jury found 30-year-old Kyle Flack 
guilty of capital murder on Wednesday for the deaths of Kaylie Bailey and her 
18-month-old daughter, Lana. That means Flack could face the death penalty when 
sentenced next week.

He also was convicted in the deaths of Bailey's boyfriend, Andrew Stout, and 
his roommate, Steven White, who lived in a rural farmhouse where Flack 
sometimes stayed.

It's unclear what led to the shootings. Investigators say Flack at one point 
told detectives that 2 drug dealers may have been involved, but detectives 
determined those people didn't exist.

The defense called no witnesses during the trial. Jurors began deliberating 
Wednesday morning.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Man convicted in quadruple homicide could face death penalty


Jurors have convicted an eastern Kansas man in the fatal shootings of 3 adults 
and a toddler in 2013.

Franklin County court officials say the jury found 30-year-old Kyle Flack 
guilty of capital murder on Wednesday for the deaths of Kaylie Bailey and her 
18-month-old daughter, Lana. That means Flack could face the death penalty when 
sentenced next week.

He also was convicted in the deaths of Bailey's boyfriend, Andrew Stout, and 
his roommate, Steven White, who lived in a rural farmhouse where Flack 
sometimes stayed.

It's unclear what led to the shootings. Investigators say Flack at one point 
told detectives that 2 drug dealers may have been involved, but detectives 
determined those people didn't exist.

The defense called no witnesses during the trial. Jurors began deliberating 
Wednesday morning.

(source: Associated Press)