[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TENN., LA., OHIO, MO., ARK., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 11



TENNESSEE:

Follis found guilty of 1st-degree murder in death penalty case


An Anderson County man who is facing the death penalty as a possible sentence 
was found guilty of 1st-degree murder on Tuesday for killing his uncle in 
Claxton more than 4 years ago.

A jury of 8 women and 4 men deliberated for about 1 hour and 40 minutes before 
unanimously returning the guilty verdict against Norman Lee Follis Jr., 52, in 
Anderson County Circuit and Criminal Court in Clinton. Follis was convicted of 
killing his uncle, Samuel "Sammie" J. Adams, 79, sometime between December 5, 
2011, and January 24, 2012.

It was the 1st death penalty trial in Anderson County since 1991, officials 
said.

Adams' body was found hidden underneath an apartment staircase on Patt Lane in 
Claxton on January 24, 2012, after he was reported missing in December 2011. 
His decomposing body was buried under at least 10 blankets, and a couch had 
been shoved up against the door of the closet where Adams was hidden, according 
to testimony.

Defense attorneys did not dispute that Follis killed his uncle, a Korean War 
veteran.

"We cannot whitewash that out," attorney Mart Cizek said.

But they argued that Follis was defending first his girlfriend and then himself 
after he saw Adams on top of his girlfriend, Tammy Sue Chapman, 47, groping 
her. Follis tried to get Adams off Chapman, but Adams attacked Follis, the 
defense said. The 2 men fell to the floor, the defense said, where Follis 
grabbed a extension cord to defend himself and force Adams off of him.

"I put it around his neck until he let go of me," defense attorney Wesley Stone 
said, recalling Follis' explanation for the killing.

But prosecutors called it murder, a premeditated killing that profited Follis 
and Chapman. They said Follis misled family, neighbors, and law enforcement 
officers about where Adams was that last month - before his body was found in 
the Patt Lane apartment closet on January 24, 2012 - and they cited testimony 
that Follis sold Adams' car for $1,000 cash on January 16, 2012.

They characterized Follis' explanation for the killing - the defense of a third 
party followed by self-defense - as a story that he latched onto and then 
elaborated upon during an interview with Anderson County Sheriff's Department 
Detective Don Scuglia. They said Adams was an ailing 79-year-old who sometimes 
used a walker.

2 hours of taped interviews with Scuglia were "full of lies," said Tony 
Craighead, deputy district attorney general in the Seventh Judicial District.

"You heard lie after lie after lie," Assistant DA Emily Abbott told jurors. 
"He's making this up as he goes along."

The sentencing hearing for Follis begins at 8 a.m. Wednesday. The jury will 
participate in that hearing, and they will weigh aggravating factors submitted 
by the prosecution against mitigating factors submitted by the defense. If the 
aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors, the jury can choose the 
death penalty, Craighead said.

Besides 1st-degree murder, Follis was found guilty on Tuesday of one count of 
property theft of more than $1,000. Indictments filed in February 2014 alleged 
that Follis and Chapman obtained a 1997 Mercury Marquis owned by Adams, as well 
as the keys to his home, without his permission.

An autopsy said Adams died of strangulation. He was bruised on the right side 
of his neck, and part of his larynx was fractured on the left side.

During closing arguments on Tuesday morning, Stone said Follis hid his uncle's 
body in the closet because he was scared and didn't know what else to do.

Abbott called the couch the most damning piece of evidence. There had been 
testimony that the couch was either put in front of the closet door to conceal 
Adams or prevent him from getting out. The couch showed cool contemplation and 
not rage, Abbott said.

Chapman has also been charged with 1st-degree murder. Like Follis, she is 
facing the death penalty, and an August trial has been scheduled for her.

(source: Oak Ridge Today)

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

Jury to decide: Death or life in prison for Anderson man guilty of murder


Jurors took 90 minutes Tuesday afternoon to convict an Anderson County man of 
strangling his 79-year-old uncle.

Now, jurors must return early Wednesday morning to decide 52-year-old Norman 
Lee Follis Jr.'s fate: whether he spends the rest of his life behind bars, with 
or without the possibility of parole, or is sent to death row to await 
execution.

"We're very pleased with the jury's hard work on this case and the verdict," 
Anderson County Deputy District Attorney General Tony Craighead said.

The death penalty trial was the 1st in Anderson County since 1991.

Follis was convicted following a 2-day trial in the December 2011 death of 
Samuel J. "Sammie" Adams. His implanted pacemaker quit working at 9:43 a.m. 
Dec. 12, court records show.

Adams' decomposing body wasn't found until Jan. 24, 2012, stuffed in a closet 
of his Claxton area apartment home under a mound of blankets. Follis and 
co-defendant Tammy Sue Chapman lived nearby on Patt Lane.

A medical examiner concluded Adams died of strangulation. Follis, in a lengthy 
interview with an Anderson County investigator, admitted he used an extension 
cord as the murder weapon, but insisted it was during a self-defense scuffle 
while coming to his girlfriend's rescue.

Court-appointed defense attorneys Mart Cizek and Wesley Stone didn't present 
evidence. In a hearing with jurors absent, Follis testified he had earlier 
refused the state's plea bargain offer of life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

The defense case rested mainly on Follis' confession, made on Jan. 24, 2012, 
shortly after Detective Donald Scuglia took a statement from Chapman, 47, 
Follis' longtime girlfriend.

Follis told the detective he was going by Adams' home, peered in the front door 
window, and saw his uncle had pinned Chapman down on a couch and was groping 
her.

During an ensuing scuffle, Adams fell on top of him, Follis said. Follis said 
he grabbed an extension cord off a heater and "just put it around his throat."

Authorities, after searching for weeks for Adams, finally learned during 
Follis' admission that the body had been dragged into a closet and buried under 
a stack of 10 blankets.

"Lies came out of his (Follis') mouth like honey," prosecutor Emily Faye Abbott 
told jurors in closing statements.

Adams was known to carry a large amount of cash and wasn't hesitant to show it 
off, witnesses testified.

Follis was seen driving Adams' 1997 Mercury Marquis shortly after Adams 
disappeared and then forged Adams' name on the title when he later sold the car 
for $1,000 to a Knoxville man.

"It's a profit he (Follis) made off that murder," Abbott said of the motive.

Abbott called the killing "an act of extreme violence that was perpetrated on a 
vulnerable victim."

In the sentencing phase of the trial that begins Wednesday morning, defense 
attorneys will present mitigating factors in a bid to convince jurors that 
Follis doesn't deserve the death penalty.

The state will offer a list of aggravating factors that prosecutors contend 
show Follis deserves the death penalty.

Then, the panel returns to the jury room for its life-or-death decision.

Chapman, meanwhile, is also charged with 1st-degree murder and remains in the 
Anderson County jail in lieu of $1 million bond. No trial date has been set.

(source: Knoxville News Sentinel)

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

Social Work Grad's Degree to Strengthen Work with Death Row Inmates, Families


For many people, death row inmates represent the worst of society who deserve 
the punishment they are getting.

Dana Harrison knows that their stories are often more complex than the crimes 
they commit.

For the past twelve years, Harrison has worked with death row inmates, their 
families and attorneys as their cases wind through the federal appeals process. 
She is a mitigation investigator for the Federal Public Defender Office in the 
Eastern District of Arkansas. Harrison will receive a Doctor of Social Work 
from UT on Thursday.

Harrison said her research and studies at UT have made her "think more 
critically about how to help inmates and family members with issues that affect 
them during incarceration and the execution."

She completed her capstone project about the effects of grief on family members 
of executed death row inmates.

As a mitigation investigator, Harrison conducts biopsychosocial histories on 
death row inmates and their families to find information the courts should 
consider when deciding whether a death sentence should be changed to a sentence 
of life without parole.

"My background in mental health, as well as my social work skills, training, 
and experience, has prepared me to work on these very complex cases and 
recognize mitigating factors in my clients' lives - that do not excuse their 
crime, but provide an explanation as to how they got on the path of committing 
their crime," she said. "It is very rewarding work, and I especially love 
working with the inmates??? family members."

Harrison pursued her Doctor of Social Work "because of the long-standing strong 
history of research that UT is known for around the country." She chose to 
research families of death row inmates because there is very little information 
available in that area.

The online program was convenient as it allowed her to work full time and 
travel around the country regularly.

"I am probably the only person who's done homework in more than 1/2 of the 50 
states in a 3-year period," she quipped.

A native of Marion, Arkansas, Harrison overcame significant physical challenges 
to complete her education. At 6 months old, she was diagnosed with 
neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor on her spinal cord, at St. Jude Children's 
Research Hospital. After surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment, she 
survived the cancer, but the nerves and muscles in her legs were weakened. She 
walks with leg braces and forearm crutches. Throughout her childhood, her 
parents fostered Harrison's love of school and drove home the importance of 
education and independence regardless of her physical limitations.

"I was not treated any different than my 5 siblings, and I was expected to 
excel as they did," she said.

Harrison graduated from West Memphis High School. She earned undergraduate and 
master's degrees from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock before pursuing 
her doctorate at UT.

"I am the 1st person to graduate in my family with an undergraduate degree, a 
master's degree, and now a doctorate," she said.

In 2004, after 5 years of working in inpatient psychiatric treatment at a 
Little Rock facility, Harrison moved to the Federal Public Defender Office in 
the Eastern District of Arkansas. In 2012, the Arkansas Coalition to Abolish 
the Death Penalty gave her the Abolitionist of the Year award for her work with 
death row inmates and their families. She is the 1st non-attorney and the only 
social worker to receive the award.

Harrison said her studies at UT have given her greater insight about cultural 
considerations that must be taken into account, as well as evidence-based 
treatment, interventions, and programs that can help inmates' families. She has 
learned leadership skills that will be useful as she partners with prisons and 
courts to advocate for better programs and policies.

Her UT experience also has given her ideas for ways to help colleagues. For 
instance, she introduced mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) meditation 
at her agency.

"Working with life and death appeals is very stressful for the entire staff, so 
as a measure of self-care, MBSR mediation classes were made available with a 
certified trainer," she said. "Staff can practice MBSR meditation now while 
there are no executions pending, so if execution dates are set later the 
practice of MBSR will be familiar and helpful during stressful times."

Harrison said Rebecca Bolen, her UT capstone project chair, was a great 
influence on her work.

"I enjoyed my time with Dr. Bolen so much that we are continuing the research 
on families of inmates who have been executed, are on death row, or were 
condemned to life in prison," she said.

(source: Tennessee Today)






LOUISIANA:

Convicted murderer, Darrell James Robinson, could have death penalty sentence 
vacated


There are new developments in a major murder case from 2 decades ago.

News Channel 5 has learned that Darrell James Robinson, the man convicted of 
murdering 3 adults and an infant in Poland, Louisiana in 1996, could possibly 
have his death penalty sentence vacated.

3 attorneys for Robinson submitted a "motion to vacate" Robinson's conviction 
and sentence. That means that if Judge Koch signs off on that motion, 
Robinson's death penalty sentence would be overturned and a new trial could be 
granted.

Doris Foster, the woman who discovered her cousins billy lambert and Carol 
Hooper brutally shot to death, along with Hooper's daughter Maureen and 
Maureen's infant son, Nicholas, says she was blindsided by the news that their 
convicted killer, Darrell James Robinson, could potentially become a free man.

"No," said Foster. "I haven't talked to any of them."

Robinson was sentenced to death for the 1996 murders and has been in Angola 
ever since.

"What else can you say? He's not sorry," she said.

But, new developments could make Robinson a free man.

On Monday at a hearing before Judge Patricia Koch in Rapides Parish, his 
attorneys filed a motion to vacate his conviction and sentence.

It was a move that the district attorney's office never objected to.

"We certainly will oppose any action that releases him," said District Attorney 
Phillip Terrell.

Robinson's attorneys claim that a mistake was made back during the trial that 
prevented the defense from obtaining the evidence they needed. The case was 
prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Mike Shannon at the time.

Current DA Phillip Terrell explains: "That is the allegation, yes."

When asked by News Channel 5 if this was Mike Shannon's fault, Terrell 
vehemently denied it.

Now, that motion to vacate will go before Judge Koch and a decision will be 
made May 23.

Terrell says he'll fight it.

"I don't know really what's going to happen in the future, but it's the DA's 
office position that if a new trial is granted, and there's enough evidence to 
prosecute Mr. Robinson, that is what we'll do," he said.

But, when asked why the victims families weren't notified or the public that 
Robinson could walk free or have a new trial, he had this to say.

"I can tell Ms. Doris what we're about to call her," he said.

Foster says, if released, Robinson will kill again.

"He loves to kill," she said. "Anybody who shoots watermelons to watch the 
juice come out of them, they got a problem."

(source: KALB news)






OHIO:

Patsy Hudson bones identified, suspects charged


Patsy Hudson has been found.

Richland County Prosecutor Bambi Couch Page announced during a press conference 
Tuesday Hudson's bones were those authorities found earlier this year scattered 
at various sites across the northern part of the county.

The confirmation came after a DNA analysis from the Mansfield Police Department 
and a biological profile from Mercyhurst University was completed.

Both analyses were taken from skeletal remains authorities recovered shortly 
after arresting suspects Walter Renz and Linda Buckner at a campground in 
Hohenwald, Tenn. on Thursday, Feb. 4. The couple was arrested for receiving 
stolen property - a credit card - that belonged to Hudson.

Hudson, 62, of Mansfield, was last seen July 4, 2015.

Authorities recovered human remains Feb. 7, shortly after the couple's arrests. 
According to Page, Renz and Buckner led authorities to the locations where they 
found the skeletal remains.

Police searched 4 locations in northern Richland County for the skeletal 
remains and requested that Forensic and Biological Anthropology professor 
Dennis Dirkmaat from Mercyhurst University to process the bones.

Page said Renz faces charges for aggravated murder, murder, aggravated robbery, 
robbery, aggravated burglary, 2 counts of burglary, abuse of a corpse, 2 counts 
of tampering with evidence, receiving stolen property and misuse of a credit 
card.

Renz pleaded not guilty on April 28 and has a trial date set for July 21 in the 
Richland County Common Pleas Court to be heard by Judge James DeWeese at 9 a.m.

Buckner also faces charges. Her indictment shows charges for aggravated 
robbery, robbery, aggravated burglary, 2 counts of burglary, abuse of a corpse, 
2 counts of tampering with evidence, receiving stolen property and misuse of a 
credit card.

Buckner pleaded not guilty on May 3 and has a pretrial hearing set for May 17.

(source: richlandsource.com)






MISSOURI----impending execution

Missouri man scheduled to die for killing deputy, 2 others


A man convicted of killing 2 people in a drug dispute and a sheriff's deputy in 
a subsequent shootout is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday in what could 
be Missouri's last execution for some time.

Earl Forrest, 66, is set to die for the December 2002 deaths of Harriett Smith, 
Michael Wells and Dent County Sheriff's Deputy Joann Barnes.

Forrest's attorney, Kent Gipson, is seeking a stay of execution from the U.S. 
Supreme Court, arguing that the death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. 
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster countered that the Supreme Court has 
already resolved that debate. A clemency request also is pending before 
Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon.

According to court documents, Forrest had been drinking when he went to Smith's 
home in the southern Missouri town of Salem and demanded that she fulfil her 
promise to buy a lawn mower and mobile home for him in exchange for introducing 
her to a source for methamphetamine. Wells was visiting Smith at the time. An 
argument ensued, and Forrest shot Wells in the face. He shot Smith 6 times and 
took a lockbox full of meth valued at $25,000.

When police converged on Forrest's home, he shot Barnes and Dent County Sheriff 
Bob Wofford, according to court documents. Forrest was also shot in the 
exchange of gunfire, along with his girlfriend, Angela Gamblin. Wofford and 
Gamblin survived.

Missouri has been one of the most prolific states for executions in recent 
years, 2nd only to Texas. The state has executed 18 prisoners since November 
2013, including 6 last year. Forrest would be the 1st in 2016.

Missouri's death row population is dwindling. Robert Dunham, executive director 
of the Death Penalty Information Center in Washington, said juries today are 
less likely to opt for capital punishment, in part because of greater awareness 
of how mental illness sometimes factors in violent crime. Just 49 people were 
sentenced to death nationally last year, the fewest since U.S. Supreme Court 
reinstated the death penalty as a possible punishment in 1976. No one was 
sentenced to death in Missouri in 2014 or 2015, Dunham said.

"As these executions take place, fewer and fewer people are being sentenced to 
death, so the death penalty is withering on the other end," Dunham said.

None of the 25 other men on Missouri's death row face imminent execution.

16 have yet to exhaust court appeals and aren't likely to do so anytime soon. 
Execution is on hold for 9 others. 2 were declared mentally unfit for 
execution. 2 were granted stays because of medical conditions that could cause 
painful deaths during lethal injection. 2 had sentences set aside by the courts 
due to trial attorney errors. One inmate was granted a stay while his innocence 
claim is reviewed. One case was sent back to a lower court to consider an 
appeal.

And in one unusual case, inmate William Boliek was granted a stay by Democratic 
Gov. Mel Carnahan in 1997. The case wasn't resolved before Carnahan died in a 
2000 plane crash, and a court determined that only Carnahan could overturn the 
stay. Nixon's office has said Boliek will not be executed.

Executions nationally are on the decline. In 1999, 98 people were executed. 
That fell to just 28 in 2015 - a 24-year low - and 13 so far in 2016.

(source: news1130.com)

***********

Attorneys ask U.S. Supreme Court to block Missouri execution of Earl Forrest


It's up to the U.S. Supreme Court whether Missouri will carry out the execution 
of a man convicted of 13 years ago killing 3 people, including a Dent County 
Sheriff's Deputy.

Earl Forrest is scheduled to die by lethal injection at the state prison in 
Bonne Terre between 6 p.m. Wednesday and 5:59 p.m. Thursday. His attorneys, 
including Lance Sandage, have asked the Court to block the execution based on 
their argument that the death penalty is unconstitutional.

Forrest does not deny killing Chief Deputy Sharron Joann Barnes, Harriett Smith 
or Michael Wells in December 2002, but Sandage says the jury that sentenced him 
to die didn't hear information about a brain injury he suffered years before.

"PET scans that were conducted showed that. That has really been the thrust of 
Mr. Forrest's claim through post-conviction, was trial counsel's failure to 
properly litigate that in the penalty phase of his trial," Sandage told 
Missourinet.

The appeal to the Supreme Court, however, is solely that the death penalty 
violates the 8th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution. A request for 
clemency from Governor Jay Nixon (D) has also been filed. Other appeals for a 
stay have already been denied.

Prosecutors said Forrest had gone to home of Smith to demand she keep her end 
of a deal in which he introduced her to a source of methamphetamine. He killed 
her and Wells at her home and killed Deputy Barnes in a shootout with law 
enforcement at his own home. He also shot his then-girlfriend and then-Dent 
County Sheriff Bob Wofford, both of whom survived. He was sentenced to death 
for each of the 3 murders.

(source: missourinet.com)






ARKANSAS:

Allen to face capital murder charge, other charges may be filed as 
investigation continues


Cody Allen, 23, will now face a capital murder charge in connection with the 
death of 2-year-old Alithia Boyd, 14th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney 
David Ethredge announced Tuesday during a press conference at the Marion County 
Courthouse Annex.

Whether Allen will face the death penalty is something Ethredge said will be 
determined at a later date. The only other punishment for capital murder is 
life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Allen, of Mountain Home, had been in the Marion County jail. He is now being 
held by the Arkansas Department of Correction without bond on a parole 
violation charge.

The capital murder charge was filed Monday afternoon, Ethredge said.

Initially, Allen had faced the Class Y felony of 1st-degree battery. A Class Y 
felony is the most serious charge a person face in Arkansas, short of a capital 
murder charge. The charge stood while Alithia was alive. Alithia passed away at 
approximately 1:50 a.m. on May 6.

"Subsequent to the filing of these charges, unfortunately the victim in this 
matter passed away," Ethredge said during the Tuesday press conference. "As a 
result of the continuing efforts and investigation by the officers of the 
Marion County Sheriff's Office and the Flippin Police Department, on May 9, 
2016, my office amended the charge against Cody Allen to the charge of capital 
murder."

Ethredge said Allen's criminal history as an habitual offende,r and the facts 
of the case, allowed prosecutors to seek the capital murder charge. The 
prosecutor noted Allen has twice been convicted of felonies in the past 10 
years, qualifying him for habitual offender status.

The prosecutor discussed the potential as to whether charges may be filed 
against anyone else in connection with the case.

"There is a potential for other arrests and other additional charges being 
brought in this case," Ethredge said during the press conference.

Allen was arrested May 3 by Flippin police and Marion County Sheriff's Office 
personnel in connection with the girl's injuries following an intense, 48-hour 
investigation. On May 1, police began the investigation into the girl's 
injuries after they received a call about an unresponsive child at Hillside 
Apartments in Flippin. Once on scene, they were told the girl fell down a set 
of stairs.

However, authorities said the injuries appeared to be too severe for that 
explanation. Flippin police were joined by investigators from the Marion County 
Sheriff's Office in processing the scene of the incident.

Alithia was taken by Air Evac to Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mo. Several 
days later, she passed away as a result of her injuries.

(source: The Baxter Bulletin)



CALIFORNIA:

The drugs to execute criminals could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, 
California prison agency records show


Internal California prison agency records suggest the state might have to pay 
hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy execution drugs for lethal injection, 
according to documents released Tuesday by a civil liberties group.

Public records obtained by the ACLU of Northern California show that prison 
officials were busy in 2014 trying to find suppliers of execution drugs, which 
many manufacturers have refused to sell to authorities for the purpose of 
lethal injection.

At the time, court rulings had blocked executions, and the state planned to 
propose a new single-drug execution method. The last execution in California 
occurred in 2006.

A May 2014 email obtained in the public records by the ACLU said a compounding 
pharmacy agreed to provide pentobarbital, one of four proposed execution drugs, 
at an initial cost of $500,000 - and only if the company's name was not 
released to the public.

Another email said the state had found a different source for buying 
pentobarbital. That email noted that 18 inmates had exhausted their appeals and 
about 324 grams of the drug would be required to execute them all.

The email said the cost would be $1,109 for 500 milligrams in addition to fees 
to cover "service costs" and pay for lawyers.

"This is likely a 1-time window to acquire this drug because of 
pharmaceutical/anti-death penalty activity," wrote Kelly L. McClease, whom the 
emails identified as an attorney in the legal division of the California 
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

There was no indication that the state purchased the drug, which would have 
cost about $718,632 for the 18 executions, in addition to the unspecified fees. 
The email said the drug had a shelf life of 24 months.

A Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation spokeswoman said she could not 
comment on the documents because of "ongoing litigation." The protocol may be 
challenged in court if approved by the state.

California unveiled a new single-drug execution method in November. The ACLU 
sued the state to obtain internal records about how the new method was chosen. 
Public comment on the proposed lethal injection protocol, which was supposed to 
end in January, has been extended to July.

Ana Zamora, criminal justice policy director for the ACLU chapter, said the 
emails about the drug costs contradicted statements in the department's 
proposed lethal injection regulatory package. It estimated the drugs would cost 
about $4,193 for each execution, based on what the state spent during past 
executions, she said.

She said the documents suggest that drugs for a single execution could cost 
between $133,080 and $150,000.

Michael Rushford, president and CEO of the pro-death penalty Criminal Justice 
Legal Foundation, said the corrections department could obtain the drugs at 
even less than $4,000 for each execution if it used prison compounding 
pharmacies to make them.

(source: Los Angeles Times)






USA:

U.S. will not seek death penalty for accused ringleader in Benghazi attacks


The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it will not seek the death 
penalty against Ahmed Abu Khattala, 54, a U.S.-designated terrorist whom 
prosecutors accuse of leading the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed 
four Americans.

The announcement, contained in a notice to the federal trial court in 
Washington, clears the way for a major terrorism trial in the nation's capital, 
the 1st in the U.S. since 2015, barring a plea agreement by Abu Khattala.

The decision ended a lengthy review after President Obama aired concerns in 
October that while he supported capital punishment in theory, he found it 
"deeply troubling" in practice.

The move marked somewhat of a shift for the department, one year after federal 
prosecutors last May secured a death sentence in a capital terrorism case 
against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, for the 2013 Boston marathon bombings.

The department approved its 1st new capital prosecution in November under 
Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch -- who called the death penalty an "effective 
punishment" before her Senate confirmation in April 2015 - against Noe 
Aranda-Soto, an illegal immigrant accused of human trafficking and murder in 
Texas.

However, analysts said the government faced a difficult calculation in the 
Benghazi case, pointing to complex legal, political and national security 
concerns that have produced a mixed record in capital terrorism cases, and to a 
history in which no D.C. jury has ever imposed the death penalty.

"We do these on a case-by-case basis," a Justice Department official said, 
declining to elaborate. Legal observers noted challenges facing the U.S. 
government in bringing witnesses from Libya to testify in a U.S. courtroom amid 
sectarian conflict in the region.

A trial date before U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper of the District 
has not been set.

Abu Khattala commanded a brigade absorbed by the extremist, anti-Western group 
Ansar Al-Sharia, which committed the Sept. 11, 2012, attacks that killed U.S. 
Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and 3 others, according to U.S. 
investigators. The U.S. government in January 2014 designated Abu Khattala a 
terrorist and Ansar al-Sharia, an armed militia that seeks to establish Sharia 
law in Libya, a terrorist organization.

"The department is committed to ensuring that the defendant is held accountable 
for his alleged role in the terrorist attack on the U.S. Special Mission and 
annex in Benghazi that killed 4 Americans and seriously injured 2 others, and 
if convicted, he faces a sentence of up to life in prison," Justice Department 
spokeswoman Emily Pierce said in a statement Tuesday.

The Obama administration authorized Abu Khattala's capture in June 2014 U.S. 
Special Operations raid in Libya after luring him to a villa south of Benghazi.

He pleaded not guilty after being indicted on 18 counts, including 
death-eligible charges of murder of an internationally protected person, murder 
of an officer or employee of the United States, killing a person in an attack 
on a U.S. facility and providing material support to terrorists resulting in 
death.

In unsealing a July 2013 complaint with death-penalty eligible charges, 
then-attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. said an investigation was ongoing, and 
that the arrest "proves that the U.S. government will expend any effort 
necessary to pursue terrorists who harm our citizens."

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney for the District Channing D. Phillips referred 
questions about the decision by the attorney general's office to the Justice 
Department.

Federal Public Defender for the District A.J. Kramer declined to comment.

The decision returned focus at least briefly to the criminal prosecution for an 
attack that remains so politically charged that it was raised in Republican 
presidential debates and dramatized in a feature film released nationwide last 
winter.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, testifying in October 
before a House select committee investigating the attacks, repeated her 
categorical denials of the long-debunked charge that she impeded rescue 
attempts. However, a State Department review concluded that security was 
inadequate for Benghazi, and the issue has continued to spur partisan 
crossfire.

In the Abu Khattala case, it remains unclear what impact a decision not to seek 
the death penalty might have on plea talks, even as national security concerns 
surrounding the prosecution persist.

The situation is not unusual. The government's record in capital terrorism 
cases has been mixed, with more success in cases brought against "lone-wolves" 
acting on their own to kill on U.S. soil than in cases brought against 
foreign-based or foreign-trained fighters.

Libya is in the midst of a civil war, complicating the investigation and 
raising questions about how much prosecutors will rely on classified evidence 
and on how any such disclosures might affect U.S. interests in the region.

Prosecutors have already turned over about 20,000 pages of material to Abu 
Khattala's defense at last notice, most of it is classified, and much of the 
government's case remains secret.

The Libyan government has previously protested the U.S. seizure of Abu Khattala 
as a violation of Libyan sovereignty.

In court papers, U.S. authorities alleged that Abu Khattala told others he 
believed the American diplomatic presence in Benghazi was cover for a U.S. 
intelligence gathering facility, and vowed to "do something about this 
facility."

Abu Khattala drove with attackers to the U.S. Special Mission and participated 
in the assault that began about 9:45 p.m. that night, "coordinating the efforts 
of his conspirators and turning away emergency responders," prosecutors 
alleged. Stevens and State Department communications expert Sean Patrick Smith 
died of smoke inhalation after attackers set ablaze a villa containing a "safe 
room" at the compound.

Near midnight, Abu Khattala allegedly entered a mission office and oversaw the 
looting of data about a nearby CIA annex, which soon came under mortar fire, 
killing security contractors Tyrone S. Woods and Glen Doherty.

Last year, a lawyer for Abu Khattala, standing next to the defendant, dressed 
in a green prison jumpsuit and with a gray beard and swept-back hair, said in 
court that "everyone agrees what happened in September 2012 was a tragedy and 
Americans suffered a tragic loss." Defense attorney Jeffrey D. Robinson added, 
"Mr. Abu Khattala agrees it was a tragic loss but disagrees he is the person 
responsible for it."

Death penalty experts said they were not surprised at the government's move 
noting that terrorism prosecutions for the deaths of Americans remain extremely 
rare and highly case-specific.

Federal prosecutors have sought the death penalty for an accused terrorist at 
least 14 times since 1993, but only one was executed - Timothy McVeigh, the 
1995 Oklahoma City federal building bomber.

McVeigh is 1 of 3 people executed by the U.S. government since 1964.

Tsarnaev, the most recent addition to federal death row, also is a U.S. 
citizen, of Chechen heritage, who purportedly was inspired by Islamic 
radicalism but not in contact with any organized group.

Others who faced the death penalty but pleaded guilty and received life 
sentences include serial bomber Eric Rudolph, an avowed white supremacist 
convicted in 2005 for explosions at Atlanta's Olympic Park in 1996 and at an 
Alabama abortion clinic, and Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who was 
convicted in 1998 of leading an 18-year-long anti-technology and anarchist 
crusade from his remote Montana cabin that killed three and injured 28.

Since 2000, the U.S. government has failed to persuade federal juries to impose 
the death penalty in other high-profile cases.

A jury in Alexandria, Virginia, in 2006 rejected the U.S. government's 4-year 
long effort to obtain a death sentence against Al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias 
Moussaoui, a French citizen who received life in prison for conspiring in the 
2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Manhattan jurors in 2001 deadlocked in the al-Qaeda led bombings of 2 U.S. 
embassies in East Africa in 1998 that killed 214 people, resulting in life 
sentences for a Saudi and a Tanzanian man convicted in the attacks.

The Moussaoui prosecution in particular was criticized by some analysts from 
both the left and right. Conservative critics said the result highlighted the 
drawbacks of trying terrorists in civilian courts. Liberal experts said the 
government wasted years and millions of dollars seeking Moussaoui's execution 
when a plea deal and life sentence was an option from the outset.

Other observers questioned whether U.S. pursuit of the death penalty helps or 
hinders foreign government cooperation with U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

"There are tensions between public trials and national security," said Robert 
Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, including 
what kinds of evidence can be admitted in a capital case and the need not to 
compromise anti-terrorism efforts abroad. "This is a highly extraordinary 
case."

The prospect of a death penalty trial in Washington poses hurdles for both 
sides.

Trying a foreign terrorist accused of the overseas killing of a senior U.S. 
diplomat and other federal employees could be expected to draw a sympathetic 
jury in Washington, seat of the national government.

However since Congress reinstated the federal death penalty in 1988, only a 
handful of eligible cases have gone to federal trial in the District, and none 
resulted in a death sentence.

(source: Washington Post)