[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., TENN., MO., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

May 10




TEXAS:

Houstonians show a change in support for death penalty


Have changes in attitudes, the law and forensic science combined to change 
Houstonians' support for the death penalty?

A recent poll shows fewer Harris County citizens are in favor of the death 
penalty, and Harris County courts are handing down fewer death sentences.

Texas has sent more prisoners to the death chamber in the last four decades 
than any other state. And of those sentences, more have been handed down in 
Harris County (126) than any other Texas county.

But a recent Houston-area survey shows support for the death penalty steadily 
declining.

The percentage of residents saying death is the most appropriate punishment for 
first-degree murder dropped from 39 % in 2008 to 27 % in 2016 -- the lowest 
result ever.

Pat Monks is a lawyer and conservative Republican who contends the death 
penalty is too arbitrary, too expensive and too unjust.

"It violates all conservative values to be for the death penalty," Monks said.

Proof of that, he says, are recent exonerations, like that of Anthony Graves, 
who was freed from death row after spending 18 years there for a murder he 
didn't commit.

"If you're going to kill somebody, that system has to be perfect. It's just 
not, that's what's wrong with the death penalty," Monks says.

Last year, Harris County courts only handed down one death sentence. The number 
statewide has declined as well. A significant influence has been the 
legislature's adoption of life without parole as a sentencing option to death 
11 years ago.

But the death penalty in Texas remains the law, as well as a plank in the state 
Republican Party's platform.

Jared Woodfill is an attorney and a conservative Republican who is running for 
state party chairman.

"The reality is that the system, I don't believe, is broken," Woodfill said.

He believes the death penalty should remain an option in capital cases. He 
insists the appeals process and improvements in DNA testing that have led to 
exonerations also ensure the system is just.

"So there are multiple levels of protection in place to ensure innocent people 
are not executed. And that if mistakes are made, they are caught and reversed," 
Woodfill insists.

Monks doesn't agree. He's urged the state Republican Party to change its 
platform support for the death penalty several times without success.

Woodfill says it's not likely when the party convenes later this week in Dallas 
for its state convention.

(source: click2houston.com)






FLORIDA:

Former chief justice pushes for death row re-sentencing


The Florida Supreme Court is deciding whether 390 inmates on death row should 
be re-sentenced to life after the state's death penalty scheme was ruled 
unconstitutional.

Harry Lee Anstead was the Chief Justice of Florida's Supreme Court from 2002 to 
2014. 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Arizona's death 
penalty in what is know as the Ring case, Anstead argued that Ring applied to 
Florida.

Other justices disagreed. More than a decade later, he was proven right when 
the high court threw out Florida's sentencing scheme, citing the Ring decision.

"This decision about Florida's statue being unconstitutional should have been 
made many years ago," said Anstead.

Since the other justices ignored Anstead's dissent so long ago, he's now going 
to other former Florida Supreme Court justices in arguing that all 390 inmates 
on death row should now get a life sentence.

"This hopefully is setting things right in a large way, not a small way, in a 
large way," he said.

Anstead remains troubled that since his dissent, now proven right, several 
dozen inmates have been put to death. Gainesville killer, Danny Rolling, was 
among them.

"A number of prisoners on death row have been put to death in Florida, and 
arguably, they've been put to death under an unconstitutional death penalty 
scheme," Anstead said.

Ironically, Lloyd Duest, who was the inmate in the case in which Anstead first 
cited his Ring objections, has died; not by lethal injections, but by other 
cases.

Lloyd Duest died in 2011, 8 years after justice Anstead thought his sentence 
should have been reduced to life in prison.

While the 3 justices say all death row inmates should be re-sentenced to life, 
the attorney general said that everyone on death row should stay there.

(source: WEAR TV news)

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

Florida's Modified Death Sentencing Regime Is Still Unconstitutional, Judge 
Says----Juries in the state must unanimously impose the death penalty, a 
circuit judge ruled.


A Florida judge ruled on Monday that the state's recently amended system for 
sentencing people to death is unconstitutional.

Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch said that the new regime - which allows a 
"less-than-unanimous" jury to impose the death penalty - violates Florida's 
constitution, which requires unanimity.

"Every verdict in every criminal case in Florida requires the concurrence, not 
of some, not of most, but of all jurors - every single one of them," Hirsch 
wrote.

Hirsch was considering the case of Karon Gaiter, a man charged with 1st-degree 
murder who is awaiting trial under new legislative changes enacted by Florida 
lawmakers in March. The changes were part of an attempt to fix the state's 
death penalty regime after the Supreme Court ruled in January that allowing 
judges to overrule a jury's recommendation in death penalty cases was 
unconstitutional.

"The Sixth Amendment requires a jury, not a judge, to find each fact necessary 
to impose a sentence of death. A jury's mere recommendation is not enough," 
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in the 8-to-1 ruling in Hurst v. Florida.

Under the modified system, Florida jurors must unanimously agree on the factual 
reasons that support the imposition of a death sentence, known as "aggravating 
factors." The same law requires 10 of the 12 jurors to make the final 
recommendation of death, rather than a simple majority.

This latter part of the law, Hirsch said, fell short of the state 
constitution's requirement of full unanimity.

Florida is among the U.S.'s most active death penalty states, and its death 
sentencing scheme had long been an outlier. Prior to January's Supreme Court 
ruling, state law didn't require juries to be unanimous in order to recommend a 
death sentence or to unanimously agree on the factors that would merit a death 
sentence rather than life in prison. Judges could ultimately override a jury's 
recommendation and impose a death sentence based on their own determinations.

The Hurst ruling has since thrown Florida's death penalty system into turmoil.

Legal analysts predict that unanswered questions about the ruling's breadth and 
its effect on already-sentenced prisoners could result in "multi-headed, 
snake-like litigation."

Just last week, the Florida Supreme Court considered whether the Hurst ruling 
should allow all 390 inmates on the state's death row to receive commutations 
to life sentences.

Florida has already blocked 2 prisoners' executions and passed at least 1 
legislative fix in an attempt to preserve its death sentencing system without 
violating the Constitution.

Alabama and Delaware both have death sentencing schemes similar to Florida's - 
and, either proactively or through litigation, have adjusted how they impose 
the death penalty.

Delaware has halted capital murder cases and death penalty sentencing hearings, 
pending litigation. Though the state carries out few executions and hasn't 
performed one in nearly 5 years, it imposes more death sentences per capita 
than most other states.

The Supreme Court recently instructed Alabama to re-examine 1 prisoner's 
sentence - a move that could have wide implications for the state's death row.

Non-unanimous death sentencing decisions were particularly pronounced in 
Alabama: A 2015 study from the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and 
Justice at Harvard Law School found that 26 out of 34 of the state's death 
sentences in the past 5 years were decided by split juries.

Several of the Supreme Court's liberal justices have been vocal in their 
skepticism - or outright disdain - for the death penalty in America.

Justice Stephen Breyer has recently noted "3 fundamental defects" with the 
death penalty- unreliability, arbitrariness and long delays in carrying it out 
- and emphasized "the need to reconsider the validity of capital punishment 
under the Eighth Amendment."

(source: Huffington Post)

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

Sievers' attorney says death penalty should be "off the table"


An attorney representing Mark Sievers - accused of planning the murder of his 
wife Teresa Sievers spoke to Fox 4 about recent 1st-degree murder charges 
against his client which could get him the death penalty.

Mark Sievers and Jimmy Rodgers had previously been charged with 2nd degree 
murder. Their mutual friend Curtis Wayne Wright took a plea deal in the case.

Last week, a grand jury indicted Sievers and Rodgers on 1st-degree murder 
charges, after the state produced evidence that Sievers hired Wright and 
Rodgers to kill his Teresa.

A conviction of 1st-degree could result in the death penalty. Attorney Tony 
Faga, whose firm represents Sievers, says there are mitigating circumstances 
that should take that punishment off the table.

"His 2 kids, no prior criminal record, not a danger to anyone else in society," 
Faga said.

It's been almost a year since Teresa Sievers was found dead in her Bonita 
Springs home, bludgeoned with a hammer. Mark Sievers' long-time friend Curtis 
Wayne Wright told detectives that Mark told him he would pay him to kill Teresa 
with life insurance money.

Faga says calling it a murder for hire is a stretch. Wright took a plea deal to 
avoid the death penalty that Sievers and Rodgers could face.

"I think if you look at the whole context of his statements, they're just not 
as clear as they would have you believe," Faga said. "There's a lot of 
mitigating circumstances to keep the death penalty off the table, I think."

Faga says the constant media scrutiny might compel them to ask to have the 
trial in another county.

"Our philosophy may be that it's impossible to get a fair and impartial trial," 
he said. "Then we're gonna have to move it somewhere else."

Faga says that in addition to the question of a venue change for the trial, 
another question for Sievers' defense team is whether to move to separate 
Mark's trial from that if Rodgers. Both of those questions have yet to be 
decided.

(source: Fox news)

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

Death penalty sought in Florida murder case for man arrested in Frederick


A ruling that Florida's death penalty law is unconstitutional could affect the 
case for a man arrested in Frederick and charged with a Miami killing.

On April 20, prosecutors in Florida filed a notice of their intention to seek 
the death penalty in the case of Renell Demetrius Jones, according to online 
court records.

He was arrested Dec. 13, 2014, in Frederick after Miami-Dade County police say 
he helped plan a July 2, 2012, robbery of Michel Lopez Garcia that ended in the 
Miami resident's death.

Miami-Dade police found Garcia dead in the 13600 block of Southwest 178th 
Street. He had called officers to report a robbery but was stabbed to death 
before police arrived.

Prosecutors may no longer be able to seek capital punishment in the case. In an 
unrelated 1st-degree murder trial, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch ruled 
Monday that Florida's death penalty law was unconstitutional, according to The 
Miami Herald.

Several charges in Florida were previously considered capital offenses, 
according to the Death Penalty Information Center: 1st-degree murder, felony 
murder, capital drug trafficking and capital sexual battery.

Jones' attorney, Ana Davide, said in a phone interview she did not believe the 
death penalty should have been considered in the case and agreed with Hirsch 
that the law was unconstitutional.

Davide also expressed concern about media coverage of her client's case.

"I think his treatment has been unfair," she said.

Jones' father, Randy Jones, of Frederick, denied the accusations against his 
son in a previous interview with The Frederick News-Post. He declined to 
comment in a phone interview Monday.

Ed Griffith, of the Miami-Dade State's Attorney's Office, also declined to 
comment on the case or the general decision-making process around death penalty 
cases.

Jones has a hearing scheduled for Friday, according to Miami-Dade court 
records.

In Maryland, the death penalty has been abolished since 2013. Before that, it 
was permissible only in 1st-degree murder cases.

(source: Frederick News-Post)






ALABAMA----impending execution

Alabama death row inmate Vernon Madison seeks stay of execution


Attorneys for an Alabama death row inmate are asking a judge to stay his 
execution set for Thursday and resentence him to life without parole based on 
recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings.

Vernon Madison, now 65, was charged and convicted in the April 18, 1985, 
slaying of police Officer Julius Schulte, who was responding to a domestic 
disturbance call.

He had 3 trials because state appellate courts twice sent the case back to 
Mobile County, 1st for a violation based on race-based jury selection and later 
based on improper testimony from an expert witness for the prosecution.

He was convicted in a 3rd trial in 1994. The jury then recommended a sentence 
of life without parole, but Mobile County Circuit Judge Ferrill McRae overrode 
the decision and sentenced him to death.

In January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Hurst v. Florida that Florida's 
scheme allowing judges to override a jury's sentencing recommendation in death 
penalty cases was unconstitutional. The decision prompted Florida's legislature 
to rewrite its capital punishment sentencing law.

Alabama has a similar sentencing scheme, though the attorney general's office 
has noted that it was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1995.

In another ruling issued May 2, the Supreme Court granted review of the case of 
Alabama death row inmate Bart Johnson. It was the 1st Alabama case challenging 
the state's capital murder sentencing scheme to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme 
Court since Hurst was decided.

Attorneys from the Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative represent both 
Johnson and Madison.

They argue that the Johnson decision is critical to Madison's case because his 
death sentence was the result of judicial override. That ruling, handed down 
after Madison's execution date was set, has "raised fundamental questions about 
the constitutionality of the use of judicial override in Alabama," they argue.

"This ruling implicates all (capital) cases in Alabama," Bryan Stevenson, 
founder and executive director of EJI, said last week. "We have argued that 
Alabama's statute no longer conforms to current constitutional requirements. 
The Court's ruling today supports that view."

The attorney general argues that the Johnson decision "does not strike down or 
invalidate Alabama's death penalty sentencing scheme," but instead orders a 
state appellate court to reconsider the facts of that specific case in light of 
Hurst.

"Alabama's current death-penalty statute, under which Madison was sentenced, 
has never been struck down by the United States Supreme Court," state attorneys 
argue in court documents.

On May 5, Madison's attorneys asked the Alabama Supreme Court to not only stay 
his execution but also reconsider the state's death penalty sentencing scheme 
in light of the decisions.

The attorney general opposed the stay and argued that Madison's claim must 
first be made in circuit court, under Alabama law.

On May 6, the Alabama Supreme Court denied Madison's request.

His attorneys put forth the same arguments in a petition filed Monday in Mobile 
County Circuit Court. They say his death sentence is unconstitutional, in light 
of the Hurst and Johnson rulings, and ask Judge Robert H. Smith to resentence 
him to life without parole.

"Because Alabama's death penalty sentencing scheme has exactly the same defect 
that was declared unconstitutional in Hurst, it is no longer viable," they 
wrote in the filing. "More specifically, there is a serious question as to 
whether Alabama's judicial override system can sustain when the very precedent 
upon which it is based has been overruled by Hurst."

The attorney general countered with several filings arguing that the appeal was 
filed outside the one-year window after the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals 
entered its judgment in July 1998, and that the claim could have been raised on 
direct appeal.

Madison, who has been on death row since Nov. 12, 1985, is one of Alabama's 
longest-serving death row inmates.

Over the years, he has filed numerous state and federal appeals that have been 
denied, including denials by the Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme 
Court to review the case.

During an April 14 competency hearing, testimony showed that Madison has had 
several strokes and suffers from serious dementia. His severe mental decline 
rendered him incompetent to be executed, his attorneys argued.

Smith later issued a ruling denying the stay of execution.

Last week, Madison's attorneys filed a request for an emergency stay in U.S. 
District Court in the Southern District of Alabama.

Attorneys for the state filed a response asking the federal court to allow the 
execution to go forward as scheduled. They say Madison did not exhaust his 
state appeals before filing the federal petition and that his attorneys have 
not proven he lacks a rational understanding of the state's move to execute 
him.

(source: al.com)






TENNESSEE:

Anderson County murder trial defendant claims he didn't plan killing


It's undisputed that Norman Lee Follis Jr. killed his uncle by strangling him 
with an extension cord, his attorney said.

"We can't whitewash that," Mart Cizek told a jury Monday during opening 
statements in the 1st death-penalty trial in Anderson County in more than 30 
years.

Cizek, however, is fighting to keep the 52-year-old Follis off death row by 
convincing jurors it wasn't a planned murder worthy of capital punishment but 
rather a crime of passion in defense of his longtime girlfriend.

Follis has admitted strangling his uncle and neighbor, 79-year-old Samuel J. 
"Sammie" Adams, inside Adams' apartment on Patt Lane off Raccoon Valley Road in 
the Claxton area and putting the body in a closet there.

The decomposing corpse was discovered under a mound of clothes and blankets 
shortly after Follis' confession on Jan. 24, 2012, and more than a month after 
the man was killed.

Adams, described as helpful to neighbors, had a habit of flashing the 
considerable amount of cash he carried with him.

And while testimony revealed Follis sold Adams' 1997 Mercury Marquis to a 
Knoxville man for $1,000 in early January, money wasn't the motive, according 
to Follis' confession.

He said he strangled his uncle after he discovered him sexually attacking his 
girlfriend and now co-defendant, Tammy Sue Chapman.

"I just come around there, and he had, he had her down on the couch" with one 
hand on her crotch and the other on a breast, Follis said in a rambling, 
two-hour long statement to Anderson County Sheriff's Department Investigator 
Donald Scuglia.

"I grabbed the extension cord off the (expletive) heater that was there and 
just put it around his throat," Follis said.

During the scuffle, Follis told Scuglia that Adams fell off Chapman and onto 
him. Follis admitted dragging Adams' body into the closet and putting the couch 
in front of the door.

After Adams was reported missing in December 2011, Follis became a suspect when 
he seen driving Adams' car.

Initially questioned in January by another detective, Follis said he had taken 
his uncle to area hospitals and the last he knew, Adams was either being 
evaluated in the Lakeshore Mental Health Institute or was perhaps in a veterans 
hospital. A check of medical centers revealed neither Adams nor Follis had been 
to them, authorities said.

The mystery finally unraveled when Chapman was nabbed at the nearby home of 
Follis' stepmother, Sandra Follis. Chapman - who wasn't welcome there - had 
Adams' keys to her home.

Prosecutor Tony Craighead said he has 13 potential witnesses, while Cizek said 
Follis will likely testify in his own defense.

Craighead said testimony may wrap up Tuesday afternoon. Should Follis be 
convicted of murder, a 2nd phase of the trial would involve the jury 
determining whether he should receive the death penalty.

Chapman, 47, also charged with 1st-degree murder, will be tried later. Both 
Follis and Chapman are jailed in lieu of $1 million bonds.

(source: Knoxville News Sentinel)






MISSOURI----impending execution

Ex-drug dealer who killed best friend and policewoman in dispute over LAWNMOWER 
to be executed tomorrow


A former drug dealer who gunned down his best friend, her guest and a police 
officer in a dispute over a lawnmower will be executed tomorrow. Earl Forrest 
went to Harriet Smith's home after a drinking session and demanded she buy him 
the gardening equipment and a mobile home after he introduced her to a source 
for crystal meth.

A struggle ensued and Forrest, 65, shot a guest of Smith's, Michael Wells, in 
the face, killing him.

Forrest, of Platte County, Missouri, USA, also killed Smith by shooting her 6 
times - and has since blamed her for the shooting.

He then stole crystal meth worth 17,000 pounds and fled to his home, where he 
got into a shootout with police officers.

Forrest shot Chief Deputy Joann Barnes and Sheriff Bob Wofford in the struggle 
and also fired at his own girlfriend, Angela Gamblin.

Chief Deputy Sharon Joann Barnes was shot and killed by Earl Forrest

Deputy Barnes died from her injuries.

Forrest was friends with Ms Smith, who he called 'Tottie', for 30 years but has 
expressed no remorse over his crimes - and even blames her for the incident.

"I'm still mad at Tottie," Forrest said, during an interview for the A&E TV 
series 'A Killer Speaks'.

"She should have kept her word and done what she promised. Then everyone would 
be happy and alive."

Forrest also admitted that he is dangerous and uses violence when he feels he 
has been wronged.

According to court documents, he was charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree 
murder, and the jury found him guilty on all 3 counts.

The jury subsequently recommended a death sentence for each of the 3 murders.

(source: mirror.co.uk)






CALIFORNIA:

Scot faces death penalty after being charged with killing his Glaswegian mum 
and American stepdad ---- Derek Connell - who was brought up in Shawlands in 
Glasgow - is alleged to have shot his mum Kim Higginbotham and her husband 
Christopher in a bloody rampage.


A Scot has been charged with murdering his mother and stepfather by shooting 
them at their home in the US.

Derek Connell, 29, is facing the death penalty after being accused of killing 
Scots mum Kim Higginbotham and her American husband Christopher in a bloody 
rampage.

The couple were found dead at their home in Bakersfield, California, on April 
30 by police officers who were called to the scene.

Connell, originally from Glasgow, is also alleged to have taken a video of 
their dead bodies on his mobile phone and sent it to a relative.

He has denied the murders and claimed he arrived home to find his mother and 
stepfather already dead.

Police records state Mrs Higginbotham, 48, was found lying in a pool of blood 
in the hall of the property with a spent bullet near her body.

Mr Higginbotham, 48, was lying face down in a pool of blood and police said it 
appeared bleach had been poured on his skin and clothing in an effort to clean 
up the crime scene.

2 shotguns, 5 handguns and 7 rifles were seized from the home.

Connell was born in Rutherglen Maternity Hospital and lived with his mother in 
Shawlands on Glasgow's south side as a child. No details of his father were 
listed on his birth certificate.

Mrs Higginbotham worked as a secretary in Glasgow and met her future husband 
while he was stationed with the US navy in Scotland.

She moved with her son to be with Mr Higginbotham when he went back to America 
more than 20 years ago and the family settled in southern California.

Connell is being held in custody without bail while he awaits trial on 2 counts 
of 1st degree murder.

Court documents state Connell told police he did not know what to do when he 
found the bodies and lay next to his mother face-to-face for an undetermined 
amount of time.

Connell said he tried to clean up the blood before he left the house and began 
driving around in circles.

According to police, Connell said: "I probably didn't handle the situation like 
I was supposed to. I had never had to deal with anything like that before."

Connell also told officers that his stepfather had large gambling debts from 
betting on horse racing and boxing matches and had used a loan shark.

Connell also claimed to have served in the US Army in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Mrs Higginbotham had worked for the last 16 years as a kindergarten teacher at 
the nearby Princeton Street Elementary School. A minute's silence was held at 
the school following her death.

James Hay, director of student support services at Delano Union School 
District, said: "There was some intense grieving on the part of the staff.

Mrs Higginbotham was a fixture at that school and was highly respected. Her 
loss is going to be deeply felt."

Her husband worked at a power plant.

Neighbours in the quiet residential area told of their shock at the death of 
the couple.

Kim Riddle, whose children grew up with Connell, said the family moved into the 
neighbourhood when he was 7 or 8.

She said "They were not real sociable but I guess they knew everybody because 
the group mailbox was right here in front of their house.

"When Derek came home from school, he had to do his homework right then and 
there and was not allowed to go out until it was all done. I did the same thing 
but after a while as my son got older, I was a little lax."

Fellow neighbour Jana Owen said: "It really is a shock. I just feel so sad. 
Just to see them going out in body bags made me about want to vomit."

(source: dailyrecord.co.uk)