[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., OHIO, NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

May 19



FLORIDA:

Lawyers in Sievers, Rodgers cases: Trial long way off, no death penalty 
decision


Lawyers involved in the Lee County murder cases of Mark Sievers and Jimmy 
Rodgers said Wednesday that they're a long way from trial, with thousands of 
pages of records still to be shared between the sides.

At a case management conference for the 2 defendants, prosecutors also said 
they haven't made a decision about whether to seek the death penalty in the 
case of Rodgers. They didn't speak to whether a decision has been made in 
Sievers' case, but no filing has been made.

"I can tell you the state is right now considering all options," Assistant 
State Attorney Hamid Hunter said. Prosecutors have until mid-June to make a 
decision.

Sievers is accused of coordinating the killing of his 46-year-old wife, Bonita 
Springs Dr. Teresa Sievers, with his lifelong friend, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. 
Investigators believe Wright and Rodgers traveled from their home state of 
Missouri and bludgeoned Teresa Sievers to death in her home in June 2015 while 
Mark Sievers was in Connecticut.

Wright has pleaded guilty to a 2nd-degree murder charge and agreed to cooperate 
with prosecutors in exchange for a 25-year prison sentence. Mark Sievers and 
Rodgers have pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder charges.

Hunter said more than 43,000 pages of evidence have been shared with lawyers 
for Rodgers and Sievers, with another large set of cell phone and tower records 
expected in the coming weeks.

"It's taking a lot of time," Hunter said.

Chief Assistant Public Defender Kathleen Fitzgeorge, who's representing 
Rodgers, said it's been "slow going" as prosecutors gather and share evidence. 
The 2 sides are "not even close" to starting depositions, she said.

"There are no forensic reports. There is a very basic, basic crime scene 
report. In my opinion, in my experience, there is a lot missing," Fitzgeorge 
said.

Rodgers hasn't waived his right to a speedy trial. If Rodgers doesn't waive 
that right, prosecutors could be required to take the case to trial by late 
August.

Mark Sievers has waived his speedy trial rights.

The next scheduled court dates are June 21 for Rodgers and July 27 for Mark 
Sievers.

(source: Naples News)

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

Death penalty uncertain in another Tampa murder case


Prosecutors said an ice cream truck driver - seeking revenge and armed with a 
gun - killed 2 and injured 4 back in 2010. But the death penalty may not be on 
the table for defendant Michael Keetley based on the ongoing controversy with 
Florida's death penalty sentencing guidelines.

The U.S Supreme Court said Florida's death penalty sentencing procedure was 
unconstitutional, because it gave too much power to a judge, and not the jury.

Attorney Anthony Rickman explained why lawmakers still haven't solved the 
confusion.

"What the Supreme Court didn't do is address whether the jury's decision should 
be unanimous or some sort of super majority," explained Rickman.

Lawmakers scrambling to fix the law, chose a super-majority. Under the new 
guidelines, a 10 to 2 vote is all a jury needs to hand down a death sentence 
and the jury's decision is final.

In its latest motion, Keetley's attorney said the new law is still 
unconstitutional, adding, the vote should be unanimous, as all verdicts are.

Rickman reviewed the motion for FOX 13 News and said, "it's either a unanimous 
decision or it's not, and if it's not, they have the opportunity to sentence 
that person to life in prison."

Last week, a Miami judge rejected the new death penalty guidelines based on his 
analysis of social norms and the constitution, Rickman said.

In his ruling, Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch wrote, "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."

Rickman added, "in a petty theft case, like taking a Kit Kat from from a Kash 
and Karry, you need a unanimous verdict. You need all six jurors, because its a 
misdemeanor. Why, then, on a murder case where you are sentencing someone to 
death, do you need less than that?"

A Tampa judge is expected to hear arguments on Keetley's motion May 20.

(source: Fox news)






ALABAMA:

Teaser's shooting trial delayed again amid questions about capital punishment


Death row inmates and those awaiting trial on capital murder charges in Alabama 
could be impacted by an ongoing Florida court case recently ruled on by the 
U.S. Supreme Court.

Houston County Circuit Judge Brad Mendheim this month delayed indefinitely the 
trial of Ryan Clark Petersen who is accused of gunning down 3 people in 2012 at 
Teasers, a Wicksburg strip club.

In his order, Mendeim cites Hurst vs. Florida, an ongoing case involving death 
row inmate Timothy Hurst. Mendeim - and defense attorneys and prosecutors 
agreed---inferred the Hurst case could potentially impact death sentences in 
Alabama.

In the Hurst case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor reaffirmed the Sixth Amendment's 
requirement that juries, not judges, must decide the sentence for those 
convicted of captial murder.

The sentencing scheme in Alabama and Florida allows a jury to recommend - not 
necessarily on a unanimous vote - whether convicted defendants should receive 
the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. The 
judge is not bound by the recommendation.

Florida now must re-sentence Hurst - convicted of killing and robbing a 
restaurant manager before placing her body in a large freezer-- by allowing a 
jury to determine whether the facts of his case merit the death penalty.

Another issue to Mendheim is a case involving an Alabama inmate whose appeal is 
based upon the Hurst case. The U.S. Supreme Court, on May 2, tossed an Alabama 
appeals court judgment against Bart Johnson.

The state Court of Criminal Appeals must now reconsider the case of Johnson who 
was sentenced to death in the 2009 killing of a Pelham police officer.

"This ruling implicates all (capital) cases in Alabama," said Bryan Stevenson, 
founder and executive director of Equal Justice Initiative. "We have argued 
that Alabama's statute no longer conforms to current constitutional 
requirements."

The basis for the Hurst case stems from a ruling involving Ring vs. Arizona. 
That western state has traditionally sentenced in the same fashion as Alabama 
and Florida.

For the death penalty to be an option certain criteria must be met. In 
Petersen's case, he was charged with capital murder because 2 or more people 
were killed.

His attorney, Ben Freeman, favors the delay because the Hurst case must be 
resolved before Petersen is tried. It's unknown at this time when that will 
happen.

It's also not known what effect the ruling will have on the 185 inmates---13 
sentenced in Houston County - who are on death row.

(source: WTVY news)






OHIO:

Hamilton County prosecutor wants Ohio Supreme Court justice to recuse himself 
on death penalty case----Jeffrey Wogenstahl was set for execution in 2017


Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said he's "extremely troubled" by recent 
decisions from the Ohio Supreme Court that could let 2 convicted killers escape 
the death penalty.

So troubled, in fact, that he's asking one of Ohio's top judges to recuse 
himself from 1 of those cases.

Jeffrey Wogenstahl was convicted in 1993 of murdering Amber Garrett 2 years 
earlier. She was 10 when Wogenstahl kidnapped her, killed her and dumped her 
body in a field near Bright, Indiana, prosecutors alleged.

Martin Pinales, a legal expert, said the Ohio Supreme Court's new ruling to 
grant a new briefing is extremely uncommon. He said the court might be "very 
troubled" about some evidence in the case, perhaps hair analysis evidence.

"At that time, a person was able to take a microscope and look at 2 pieces of 
hair samples and say, 'Ah, they look alike, so it must have been from the same 
person,'" he said. "That is all way past, and hair analysis samples are 
absolutely junk science now."

The court also suspended Wogenstahl's execution date, which was set for Sept. 
13, 2017.

"The Supreme Court is saying, 'Hey, wait a minute. We are going to allow you to 
restart this case,'" Pinales said. "It is rejuvenated. Now you can go back to 
the Supreme Court on a direct appeal on facts."

Deters filed a request for Justice William O'Neill to recuse himself from the 
Wogenstahl case, "given his repeated comments in the Wogenstahl decision and 
numerous other cases that he will not follow Ohio law and will never impose the 
death penalty."

Pinales' take: "It's not going to happen."

Deters has also filed a motion asking the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider its 
decision to grant Anthony Kirkland a resentencing hearing. Kirkland was 
sentenced to death in 2010 for murdering an SCPA 7th-grader and another 
Cincinnati teen -- the last of his 5 victims. He was found guilty of aggravated 
murder, attempted rape and other charges in the girls' deaths.

Before his trial, Kirkland also pleaded guilty to the slayings of 2 other 
Cincinnati women and received life sentences. He previously served a 16-year 
sentence for killing his girlfriend.

At the sentencing phase, the prosecutor wondered whether the girls' killings 
were "just freebies for him," raising questions of whether that may have 
prejudiced the jury. 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.

If the Ohio Supreme Court won't reconsider, Deters has asked the justices to at 
least provide a written explanation on why they feel Kirkland should get 
another sentencing hearing.

(source: WCPO news)






NEBRASKA:

Capital punishment foes step up efforts to persuade voters to keep death 
penalty repeal


Opponents of the death penalty stepped up efforts Wednesday to sway voters to 
retain Nebraska's repeal of capital punishment.

2 state senators and a retired judge who once sentenced a killer to die in the 
electric chair spoke at a press conference arranged by the group Retain a Just 
Nebraska.

They said they wanted to counter an argument by pro-death penalty advocates 
that convicted murderers will be released from prison unless voters restore 
capital punishment.

If the repeal stands, those convicted of 1st-degree murder would face a 
sentence of life in prison. In Nebraska, inmates sentenced to life have no 
chance of parole, unless their sentences are later commuted by the Nebraska 
Board of Pardons. The board - made up of the governor, attorney general and 
secretary of state - has rarely awarded such commutations in Nebraska.

"Life imprisonment means life in prison, no chance of parole," said retired 
Sarpy County District Judge Ronald Reagan. "Anything else is political 
posturing and has no grounding in the legal realities."

Reagan served on a 3-judge panel that gave a death sentence to child rapist and 
killer John Joubert, who was executed in the electric chair in 1996.

Reagan personally opposed the death penalty because, in his view, it is applied 
unfairly and doesn't deter crime. But as a judge, he was compelled to apply the 
law as written.

Reagan was joined at Wednesday's event by State Sens. Colby Coash and Adam 
Morfeld, both of Lincoln. The senators were among those who voted to repeal the 
death penalty in 2015.

The Legislature also overrode the veto of Gov. Pete Ricketts. The governor then 
joined other death penalty supporters to back a voter petition drive to restore 
capital punishment.

Voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to keep the death penalty, which was switched 
to lethal injection in 2008.

(source: omaha.com)

***********

Pro-Death penalty campaign says opponents are confusing voters


Republican and Democratic state senators met with death penalty opponents, both 
in Lincoln and Omaha Wednesday, claiming a pro-death penalty movement is 
confusing voters, leading them to believe murderers could be released without 
the death penalty.

Leading the meeting, were senators Colby Coash and Adam Morfeld, along with 
retired District Court Judge Ronald Reagan, who sentenced death row inmate, 
John Joubert to death for 3 murders back in 1997.

In unison with Retain a Just Nebraska, a campaign urging the retention of LB 
268, the Nebraska Legislature's vote to end the death penalty, the senators had 
one message for voters: "Life in prison, means life in prison."

"If voters are concerned that without the death penalty those currently on 
death row will ever be paroled, they should simply ask the Governor or Attorney 
General which of the 10 men on death row he is going to commute to a sentence 
less than life," says Morfeld.

The Nebraska Board of Pardons, which consists of the Governor, the Attorney 
General, and the Secretary of State, is the only exception and can commute a 
life sentence to something lesser.

"I don't think it takes a political scientist or a seasoned politician to know 
that that's not likely and that's not going to happen for somebody who 
committed that heinous of a crime," says Morfeld.

Robert Evnen, a lawyer and co-founder of the Nebraskans for the Death Penalty 
disagrees.

"The Pardons Board is a very powerful body - no court can review its decision. 
It can do whatever it wants and three years ago, it decided to commute the 
sentence from somebody who had been sentenced to life in prison. It happens," 
says Evnen.

He says opposing advocates are quickly dismissing the reality of murderers 
being released on parole.

"Opponents of the death penalty say 'well, take a look at whose on the Pardons 
Board, they'd never do such a thing' But who would've suspected that the people 
who were on the Pardons Board then would have done it. It's something that 
could happen. And they want to deny it. But they're wrong and they're 
misleading people about that," says Evnen.

Both organizations said they will be campaigning hard from now until November 
and work to clear some of the confusion amongst voters.

(source: KMTV news)