[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., ALA.

[Rick Halperin]

Nov. 8



TEXAS:

Dallas man on death row loses appeal for a 2nd time


A Dallas man on death row lost an appeal Monday to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court 
of Appeals for the 2nd time.

Ivan Cantu was sentenced to death in Collin County in the killing of his cousin 
in 2001. The federal appeals court rejected Cantu's argument that his legal 
help was deficient for failing to investigate and present evidence that he was 
innocent.

Cantu was convicted of capital murder in the death of 27-year-old James 
Mosqueda and indicted in the death of his cousin's girlfriend, 22-year-old Amy 
Kitchen, according to the Dallas Morning News archives.

A former girlfriend testified that Cantu told her he planned to kill Mosqueda 
and that he showed her the bodies, which were found at the couple's home in Far 
North Dallas.

(source: Dallas Morning News)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Attorneys for alleged Pa. CO killer file multiple motions ---- Attorneys for 
Jessie Con-ui filed motions seeking to bar a judge from allowing evidence in 
the murder trial


With less than 6 months until reputed gang member and convicted killer Jessie 
Con-ui is scheduled to face trial on charges he murdered a local corrections 
officer, attorneys on Monday filed multiple motions seeking to bar a judge from 
allowing evidence.

Con-ui, 39, could face the death penalty if convicted next year for the murder 
of 34-year-old Corrections Officer Eric Williams. Prosecutors allege Con-ui 
brutally murdered the Nanticoke native inside U.S. Penitentiary Canaan in Wayne 
County in 2013.

Con-ui, allegedly angered over a cell search, blindsided the unarmed Williams 
and kicked him down a prison stairwell before stabbing him to death, 
prosecutors say. President Barack Obama in March signed into law a bill named 
after Williams that armed federal corrections officers with pepper spray.

Prosecutors first announced their intent to seek the death penalty against 
Con-ui on Oct. 2, 2014.

The motion claimed Con-ui, an alleged member of the New Mexican Mafia and 
convicted first-degree murderer, presents a future danger "because of low 
potential for rehabilitation and lack of remorse." Additionally, Con-ui should 
be sentenced to death because of his participation in additional acts of 
violence that went uncharged, prosecutors said.

Four motions, filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Francis P. Sempa, seek to 
prohibit certain evidence should a jury convict Con-ui and be required to 
consider the death penalty, while Con-ui???s attorneys seek to quash evidence 
as well.

Federal prosecutors' motions ask to:

Preclude execution impact evidence

Prosecutors are seeking to limit what evidence Con-ui can enter regarding the 
effect his death would have on his loved ones. They say testimony that he is 
beloved by family and friends, the negative impact the death penalty would have 
on them and any pleas for mercy "are not relevant to (Con-ui's) character or 
his personal culpability for the charged murders."

"Just as victim impact witnesses are not permitted to cry out for death, 
execution impact witnesses must not be allowed to cry out for life," 
prosecutors wrote.

Preclude comparative proportionality evidence and arguments

Prosecutors are seeking to prevent Con-ui from comparing the facts of his case 
to other similar cases, including capital punishment cases.

Preclude prison culture evidence and Bureau of Prisons (BOP) contributory 
negligence claim

Presenting evidence Con-ui was treated unfairly in prison or the BOP failed to 
respond to the murder scene in a timely manner is not relevant to a mitigating 
factor and would confuse and prejudice a jury, prosecutors say. They ask a 
judge to ban such evidence.

Preclude unsworn allocution

Prosecutors ask a judge to prohibit an unsworn statement to the jury in which 
the defendant can ask for mercy, explain his or her conduct, apologize for the 
crime, or say anything else in an effort to lessen the impending sentence, 
according to the motion. Prosecutors argue Con-ui does not have the 
constitutional or statutory right to make such statements.

Defense motions

Con-ui's attorneys, meanwhile, seek to prevent prosecutors from showing video 
of Williams" murder "as well as emotionally-fraught and unfairly prejudicial 
post-mortem photographs of (Williams') body" during the guilt and penalty 
phases of his trial.

Additionally, attorneys David A. Ruhnke, James A. Swetz and Mark F. Fleming 
request a judge prohibit evidence regarding Con-ui's other alleged acts of 
violence, including an assault on a fellow inmate inside another prison and an 
alleged 2003 plan to participate in multiple murders.

Con-ui's trial is slated to begin April 24.

(source: correctonsone.com)






ALABAMA:

What's next for Tommy Arthur after escaping execution 7th time?


As the clock ticked towards 6 p.m. last Thursday, death row inmate Tommy Arthur 
began to think he wouldn't survive the seventh time Alabama was set to execute 
him.

"To say the very least I was concerned," Arthur said in an interview Monday 
with Al.com. "At 5 o'clock I had reconciled that they were going to kill me."

But shortly before 5:30 p.m. Thursday, minutes before reporters were to be 
loaded onto a van to be taken over to the death chamber at Holman Correctional 
Facility to witness Arthur's execution, a prison spokesman announced a two-hour 
delay. The U.S. Supreme Court wanted more time to review Arthur's appeal and 
the prison commissioner agreed, the spokesman said.

That time passed and by 9:30 p.m. the U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary 
stay, followed at 10:55 p.m. by a stay until further notice. The execution was 
off for that day anyway.

"I was so elated that the justices saw fit to put it on hold," Arthur said.

What was the first thing Arthur did when he finally found out that he wouldn't 
be executed that night?

"I thanked God," Arthur said.

Arthur, 74, said he also thanks his volunteer team of lawyers (the state 
doesn't pay for death row appeals), particularly Suhana Han who has represented 
him since 2003. He said they have worked hard and into the nights trying to 
save him.

For the 7th time in his 33 years on death row he had been in the holding cell 
next to the death chamber waiting for his execution, Arthur said. He did no eat 
last Thursday and had refused a final meal.

"I was pumping too much adrenaline. I wasn't hungry," Arthur said.

Arthur was convicted at 3 trials and sentenced to death each time for the 1982 
murder-for-hire shooting death of Troy Wicker.

What's next for Arthur?

The U.S. Supreme Court in its order Thursday stated its stay of execution will 
remain in place pending Arthur's request for the court to review his appeals. 
If the court refuses to review his appeals, the stay would automatically go 
away.

If the court does grant a review then the stay would continue until a final 
decision is made on his case, according to the SCOTUS order.

Conference

On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court stated Arthur's request for a writ of 
certiorari - or review - would be distributed for the court's conference on 
Nov. 22.

At that conference the court will decide whether to consider Arthur's appeal of 
the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals denial of his challenge to Alabama's lethal 
injection method of execution. It also will consider whether to review his 
appeal of the Alabama Supreme Court's denial of his appeal that Alabama's death 
sentence law is like the one in Florida that SCOTUS struck down in January.

The decision on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will review either of Arthur's 
appeals, or none at all, will likely be issued the following Monday, Nov. 28.

In order to review a case, at least four justices must agree, said Robert 
Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

If SCOTUS doesn't review

If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't grant a review on either one then the Alabama 
Attorney General's Office could go back to the Alabama Supreme Court to get 
Arthur's 8th execution date set. The Alabama Supreme Court sets an execution 
date no earlier than 30 days from the date of its order.

But not granting a review doesn't mean the appeal doesn't lack merit, Dunham 
said. There is also a possibility that another similar appeal, with similar 
issues, could come along and the court decides to hold Arthur's case pending a 
decision in the other one.

If SCOTUS does review

But if the U.S. Supreme Court does grant a review of Arthur's appeals, then any 
execution would likely be stayed off until later next year - or never depending 
on its decision.

SCOTUS might have time for briefings, arguments, and possibly a decision in the 
case by the end of its term on June 30, Dunham said. But it's also possible it 
wouldn't be heard until the following term, which begins Oct. 1, 2017, he said.

The U.S. Supreme Court also could wait until a ninth justice is on board after 
the death earlier this year of Justice Antonin Scalia, Dunham said.

"Four votes are enough to grant review, but not enough to grant relief," Dunham 
said. "I think what he (Arthur) needs to hope for is that whoever is on the 
court at the time thinks his claims are meritorious," and he can get five of an 
eight or nine-member court to agree, he said.

"It's not necessarily a liberal or conservative issue," Dunham said.

Split?

Based on the SCOTUS order for the stay of execution it isn't entirely clear 
whether Arthur might have the votes to win an appeal. He did get the needed 5 
votes for a stay, but one of those votes was a "courtesy."

Chief Justice John Roberts stated in the order staying Arthur's execution that 
while he didn't believe that Arthur's appeal "meets our ordinary criteria for a 
stay. This case does not merit the Court's review: the claims set out in the 
application are purely fact-specific, dependent on contested interpretations of 
state law, insulated from our review by alternative holdings below, or some 
combination of the 3."

"Four Justices have, however, voted to grant a stay. To afford them the 
opportunity to more fully consider the suitability of this case for review, 
including these circumstances, I vote to grant the stay as a courtesy," Roberts 
stated. "Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would deny the application."

Roberts only discusses the leanings of seven of the eight members of the 
current court. It's unclear which ones he is referring to other than his, Alito 
and Thomas' votes.

Method of execution

One of the issues Arthur is appealing is Alabama's lethal injection method of 
execution.

A federal judge tossed out Arthur's lawsuit challenging the state's new lethal 
injection drug combination as cruel and unusual punishment.

In a 2-1 decision last week a panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed 
with the lower court judge and also refused Arthur's request for a stay. In 
making challenges to a method of execution, inmates must present alternatives 
they believe would be a more humane way of execution.

11th Circuit Judge Charles Wilson, who was the lone dissenter, said the 
execution should have been stayed in order for Arthur's appeals on his lethal 
injection challenge. "Due to the scarcity of and secrecy surrounding lethal 
injection drugs, it is all but impossible for a prisoner to set forth a viable 
lethal-injection-based alternative," Wilson wrote in his dissent in Wednesday's 
opinion. "The Majority's decision therefore checkmates countless Alabama and 
Florida prisoners, nullifying their constitutional right to a humane 
execution."

Wilson also stated that the majority in the ruling determined that Arthur's 
suggestion of a firing squad was not feasible and readily implemented because 
Alabama law does not authorize the firing squad.

"Arthur should be permitted to amend his complaint to include the firing squad 
as an execution alternative to Alabama's lethal injection protocol. The firing 
squad is a potentially viable alternative, and Arthur may be entitled to relief 
under Baze and Glossip (U.S. Supreme Court ruling) based on that method of 
execution," Wilson wrote.

Pittman said the Tommy Arthur case prompted him to introduce the bill.

In response to Arthur's stay, state Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, announced on 
Friday that he was filing a bill that would authorize Alabama to carry out 
executions by firing squad.

2 other states - Utah and Oklahoma - have the firing squad as a backup to 
lethal injection.

States, including Alabama, have had to turn to different drug combinations for 
their lethal injections as pharmaceutical companies have refused to have their 
drugs used in executions.

Arthur's other appeal to SCOTUS involves his claim challenging Alabama's death 
penalty sentencing law as being like the one in Florida that SCOTUS struck down 
in January. Alabama's Attorney General, however, have argued that the state's 
law has already been declared constitutional by the Alabama Supreme Court this 
year and SCOTUS in 1994.

But a few justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have noted in opinions that it 
might be time to take another look at the Alabama law. SCOTUS also sent back 3 
Alabama death row inmate cases to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals earlier 
this year to review in light of its Florida decision.

Stupid/temper/alcohol

Arthur admits he hasn't led the best life and blames stupidity, a bad temper, 
and alcohol for his troubles. But he says he didn't kill the man whose death 
landed him on death row.

Arthur admits he killed his sister in law in 1977 and pleaded guilty to it. But 
he says it was an accident - that he was going to shoot over her head when she 
stood up.

He also admits he shot a prison guard, escaped, and robbed a bank in Knoxville, 
Tenn., in 1986 while awaiting his 2nd capital murder trial in the 1982 shooting 
death of Troy Wicker.

Arthur's daughter also recently told the Times Daily newspaper in Florence that 
her dad was abusive. "He beat and shot my 1st stepmother. He beat my 2nd 
stepmother, and shot and killed her sister and almost killed her cousin," 
Sherrie Arthur Stone told the Times Daily.

Arthur refused to contradict his children on that point. "I love my children 
... I do have a bad temper," he said.

But Arthur repeatedly denied having killed Troy Wicker.

"I promise you I did not kill Troy Wicker. And if they kill me it will be 
outright murder," Arthur told the reporter.

Besides his appeals, Arthur most of all wants a court to look at his claims of 
innocence.

Arthur and his lawyers have argued that there is no physical evidence - such as 
fingerprints or DNA - that points to him.

Wicker's wife, after testifying a burglar had raped her and killed her husband 
at her trial, later testified at one of Arthur's trials that she had paid 
Arthur $10,000 of insurance money to kill her husband. Wicker was in a romantic 
relationship with Arthur, who was out on work release from the killing of his 
sister-in-law when Troy Wicker was killed.

Arthur said he wants a full hearing on his innocence claims, including DNA 
testing on evidence that hasn't been tested yet. "What are they scared of?" he 
said.

Prosecutors also have lost evidence, including the rape kit on Judy Wicker, 
Arthur said.

Dunham wasn't sure if Arthur holds the record for number of executions that 
have been stayed. But, he said, "it is very unusual to have had that many 
execution dates that have been halted."

(source: al.com)