[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA., OHIO, MO., KAN.

[Rick Halperin]

May 11



ALABAMA----impending execution

Stay of Execution denied for death row cop killer


A Mobile County Circuit Judge denied a stay of execution for Vernon Madison. 
He's one of Alabama's longest serving death row inmates.

Madison was convicted of the 1985 killing of Mobile Police Officer Julius 
Schulte. He's set to be executed Thursday at Holman Prison, near Atmore.

Madison's attorneys argue several strokes have caused significant damage and 
mental decline to the extent he no longer understands why the state intends to 
execute him, which they say violates his 8th Amendment right.

It's been 31 years since Madison pulled the trigger, shooting officer Schulte 
in his patrol car from behind.

"It's getting down to the point, where now is justice finally going to be 
served," said Matt Green, attorney.

Green, a former Baldwin County Assistant District Attorney, has followed the 
case and says if the death penalty was ever justified -- this is the case.

"His nickname was 'The Peacemaker.' He was responding to a runaway call and 
over the well-being of a child and that's what this is all about. Madison gets 
there and thinks somebody called police on him and for no reason... No reason 
goes and shoots and kills him," said Green.

Convicted in 3 trials for capital murder and countless appeals later, Green 
says it's time justice be served.

However, the group "Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty" is speaking out. 
The group's chairman and board members are on death row. The group's executive 
director spoke to us by phone and says its members plan to hold candlelight 
vigils across the state Thursday in the hours leading up to the execution.

"I have to say I'm sorry for the State of Alabama... More blood, more blood on 
its hands," said Esther Brown, Project Hope to Abolish the Death Penalty. "I 
would say what the state does is in cold blood it's pre-meditated murder. 
Closure does not come from another injustice ... Because to kill anybody, 
whether it is an individual who does or the state, is an injustice."

Now in the 11th hour, Madison has almost exhausted all of his appeals.

"I think it is time justice be served. If the sentence of law that's been 
imposed by the court and the federal court system and the state judiciary... 
That it be followed. And I think that is what the family wants and maybe that 
will happen," said Green.

Madison is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m.

(source: WALA news)






OHIO:

Ohio Supreme Court upholds death sentence of Cincinnati killer Anthony 
Kirkland----5 victims included Esme Kenney, Casonya Crawford


The Ohio Supreme Court voted 4-3 to uphold Anthony Kirkland's death sentence 
for murdering an SCPA seventh-grader and another Cincinnati teen - the last of 
his 5 victims.

The court ruled that a prosecutor's comments implying that without a death 
sentence, the killings of 13-year-old Esme Kenney in 2009 and 14-year-old 
Casonya Crawford in 2006 would go unpunished, were improper but not enough to 
resentence him.

Kirkland was found guilty in 2010 of aggravated murder, attempted rape and 
other charges in the Kenney and Crawford deaths. Before his trial, Kirkland 
also pleaded guilty to the slayings of 2 other Cincinnati women, 45-year-old 
Mary Jo Newton and 25-year-old Kimya Rolison, and received life sentences. He 
previously served a 16-year sentence for killing his girlfriend.

Kirkland kidnapped Kenney, a cello player at the School for Creative and 
Performing Arts,, as she jogged alone around the Winton Hills reservoir close 
to her home on Saturday afternoon, March 7, 2009. Her parents had called police 
when she didn't come right home, and police were already out looking for her 
when they came upon Kirkland in the woods. He had Kenney's iPod and her watch. 
They found her body nearby.

At the sentencing phase, the prosecutor questioned whether the killings of the 
Kenney and Crawford were "just freebies for him," because Kirkland was already 
going to prison for life, according to Tuesday's ruling.

The prosecutor said the jury should not even consider life in prison for 
Kirkland for the girls' deaths. "He's going to jail on those other 2 for the 
rest of his life," he said.

The message to the jury was plain, said Justice Judith French, writing for the 
majority: "If you do not return a recommendation of death, Kirkland will 
receive no punishment for 2 murders." However, French also said the court's 
independent review of the sentence could overcome the prosecutor's remarks.

Prosecutors argued in a 2011 filing with the court that the prosecutor's 
comment was appropriate because part of the death penalty case against Kirkland 
was that the girls' killings was part of a "course of conduct" involving 4 
victims.

"The significance is that one of the reasons death was appropriate was the 
number of victims," William Breyer, Hamilton County chief assistant prosecuting 
attorney, said in the filing.

Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger said Kirkland deserved to be resentenced because 
of the prosecutor's remarks.

"Although the crimes Kirkland is alleged to have committed are horrific, due 
process requires that a jury be free from prejudice before recommending the 
death penalty," she wrote.

Justice Paul Pfeifer agreed that Kirkland should be resentenced because of the 
prosecutor's remarks. He also said Kirkland's conviction of attempted rape in 
the case of Crawford should be overturned for lack of evidence.

Justice William O'Neill also dissented, saying capital punishment is 
unconstitutional.

Kirkland's attorney, Herbert Freeman, said he would appeal the decision in the 
federal courts.

(source: WCPO news)






MISSOURI----clemency denied for impending execution

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has denied clemency for condemned killer Earl Forrest, 
hours before Forrest's scheduled execution


Forrest is scheduled to die by injection Wednesday at the state prison in Bonne 
Terre. He was convicted of the 2002 killings of Harriett Smith and Michael 
Wells in a drug dispute and Dent County Sheriff's Deputy Joann Barnes in a 
subsequent shootout at Forrest's home.

An appeal is still pending before the U.S. Supreme Court on the claim that the 
death penalty amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.

Missouri has executed 18 men since November 2013, including 6 last year. 
Forrest would be the 1st in 2016.

The pace of executions is expected to slow because most of the remaining death 
row inmates have pending appeals or have been declared unfit for execution.

(source: Associated Press)






KANSAS:

Capital murder charge filed in death of Kansas City, Kan., detective


Wyandotte County prosecutors on Wednesday charged a Tonganoxie man with capital 
murder in the fatal shooting of a police detective.

If convicted, Curtis Rand Ayers potentially faces the death penalty for the 
killing of Kansas City, Kan., Police Detective Brad Lancaster.

Lancaster, the 39-year-old father of 2 girls, was shot just after noon Monday 
near the Kansas Speedway. He died Monday at a hospital.

Ayers, 28, was arrested later Monday and taken to a hospital after he was shot 
by a Kansas City police officer at Bannister Road and Bruce R. Watkins Drive.

He remained hospitalized Wednesday.

Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said Wednesday that Ayers was 
also charged for the string of crimes he allegedly committed after shooting 
Lancaster. Those charges are 2 counts each of aggravated robbery, aggravated 
burglary and kidnapping, aggravated battery and criminal possession of a 
firearm.

Ayers is a convicted felon, who was paroled from a Kansas prison in January.

After Lancaster was shot, Ayers allegedly fled in the detective's unmarked 
police car before he got in a wreck with another vehicle near 118th Street and 
State Avenue.

There, he allegedly carjacked another vehicle with 2 small children in the back 
seat.

That car was later driven into the open garage attached to a home in Basehor. 
Ayers allegedly confronted the homeowner inside and stole his car at gunpoint.

He was driving that car about 2:30 p.m. Monday on Bruce R. Watkins Drive when 
Kansas City police spotted it and began a pursuit.

After exiting at Bannister Road, Ayers crashed into a bridge pillar.

Basehor resident Shelly Essary said it's unbelievable Curtis Ayers stole a 
neighbor's car at gunpoint Monday after he allegedly shot Kansas City, Kan., 
police Detective Brad Lancaster. Lancaster later died. Essary said she and her 
son were outside playing

He then ran up an embankment to Watkins Drive where he allegedly shot a woman 
while trying to steal her car. The woman suffered non-life threatening injuries 
and also remained hospitalized Wednesday, police said.

A shot was fired into another driver's vehicle, but he was not hit. Ayers was 
taken into custody after he was shot by a Kansas City officer.

On Tuesday, Jackson County prosecutors charged Ayers with multiple felonies as 
a result of the Bannister Road incident.

He is charged in Jackson County with 1st-degree assault, resisting arrest, and 
2 counts each of unlawful discharge of a firearm and armed criminal action. His 
bond in Jackson County is set at $250,000.

(source: Kansas City Star)