[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., UTAH

[Rick Halperin]

May 16



OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma trial set in death of 'Cathouse' HBO star, 3 others


It's been almost 7 years since the bodies of a prostitute featured on the HBO 
reality series "Cathouse" and 3 other people were discovered inside a burning 
1-story brick Oklahoma City home that authorities later said was the center of 
a drug distribution and prostitution ring.

Come Monday, jury selection begins in the trial of 2 men who prosecutors say 
were involved in the Nov. 9, 2009, deaths of TV celebrity Brooke Phillips, 
Milagros Barrera, Jennifer Lynn Ermey and Casey Mark Barrientos.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Denny Edward Phillips and Russell 
Lee Hogshooter on 6 counts of 1st-degree murder - Brooke Phillips and Barrera 
were both 22 and pregnant - and 1 count of conspiracy. The men have pleaded not 
guilty.

Brooke Phillips, who wasn't related to Denny Phillips, was among the employees 
featured on the cable network's show about the Moonlite BunnyRanch, a legal 
brothel near Carson City, Nevada.

"There's lasting memory," business owner Dennis Hof said. "We just loved this 
girl. This was a girl with no drugs, didn't drink hardly at all. It's totally 
mindboggling. This girl who didn't do any drugs got killed because she was in a 
drug house."

All of the victims were repeatedly shot and their bodies were set on fire. 
Phillips and 25-year-old Ermey were also repeatedly stabbed. Prosecutors allege 
that Barrientos, 32, was the target of the attack and that the women were 
killed to eliminate witnesses.

2 other men entered guilty pleas and are serving prison time for their roles in 
the deaths. Denny Phillips' defense attorney, Bill Smith, said he expects the 
trial to last up to 6 weeks but declined further comment. Defense attorneys for 
38-year-old Hogshooter did not return telephone calls seeking comment.

Hof and others who worked with Brooke Phillips at the Moonlite BunnyRanch said 
the upcoming trial revives memories of her and the shock they felt when they 
learned of her violent death.

"It's the saddest day in BunnyRanch history," he said. "That sad day just keeps 
going on. It just doesn't go away."

Phillips, known professionally as Hayden Brooks, was "very outgoing," Hof said, 
and "loved to have fun."

A co-worker, professionally known as Caressa Kisses, said she trained Phillips 
and worked alongside her the entire time she worked at the Moonlite BunnyRanch. 
Phillips was at the legal brothel for about 2 years and left about 2 months 
before she died.

"She just glowed beauty and radiated love," said Caressa, 29, who became 
emotional as she remembered Phillips' life. "She was a very beautiful girl. She 
was absolutely passionate about life."

Caressa said she "got sick" when she learned how Phillips had died. "She left a 
safe place where she was loved," she added.

Testimony during earlier hearings revealed that Denny Phillips, 37, and one of 
the men who pleaded guilty were allegedly involved in illegal drug sales with 
Barrientos. Denny Phillips' former girlfriend, Karine Sanders, testified the 
men became upset with the amount of money they were receiving for their work 
and came up with a scheme to kill him.

Phillips was already serving a 7-year federal prison sentence on charges 
related to a 2010 shootout when he was charged in the deaths.

(source: Associated Press)






UTAH:

Utah May be Forced to Use the Firing Squad in Future Executions


Utah is one step closer to returning to the firing squad as its only realistic 
form of capital punishment.

The Pfizer drug company has announced that it will no longer make available 
several of its drugs for use in state-sanctioned executions. Pfizer was the 
only U.S. firm still making, and allowing, drugs used in executions.

18 months ago Utah Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, got his HB11 passed into law. It 
specifically says if lethal drugs aren't available at the time a death warrant 
is to be imposed, then the form of execution shall be a firing squad.

In the 2016 Legislature retiring Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, had SB189, 
which would have done away with the death penalty in Utah from this time 
forward.

Those already sentenced to death could still be executed.

SB189 passed in the Senate, but never got a vote by the whole House.

An anti-death penalty group estimates that it costs $1.6 million for Utah to go 
through all the of court appeals in a capital case, much more than it would 
cost to keep a convicted murderer in prison for life.

Urquhart and others argued that the death penalty is archaic and that modern 
DNA and other criminal high-tech detection shows some people are convicted of, 
and executed for, crimes they did not commit.

Since 1975, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, Utah has 
executed 7 murderers and have 9 currently on death row awaiting execution.

With the international drug firm's decision over the weekend, it now appears 
those Utah murderers, if they are finally executed, will be killed by firing 
squad.

(source: utahpolicy.com)