[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., FLA., MO., OKLA., NEV., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 25



PENNSYLVANIA:

Judge to hear arguments in convicted murderer's appeal


A Washington County judge will decide whether blacks were excluded from the 
jury pool before the 2015 death-penalty trial of Jordan Clemons in the killing 
of his ex-girlfriend.

That Clemons, 27, "was entitled to a jury of his peers and the jury was 
comprised of all Caucasian individuals and (Clemons) is African-American" was 
one of the assertions lodged by Deputy Public Defender Charles Carpinelli in a 
motion asking Judge Gary Gilman to vacate Clemons' sentence and acquit him on 
the charges.

Gilman issued an order last week scheduling a hearing on that question for Dec. 
16.

Authorities said Clemons slit 21-year-old Karissa Kunco's throat and dumped her 
naked body in a wooded area in Mt. Pleasant Township in January 2012.

Clemons, formerly of Canonsburg and living in Pittsburgh's Mt. Washington 
neighborhood at the time, was found guilty of 1st-degree murder and sentenced 
to death in May 2015. He is now imprisoned at the State Correctional 
Institution-Greene.

Along with pushing for an acquittal, Carpinelli alternatively asks Gilman to 
vacate Clemons' sentence and order a new trial.

In arguing for the acquittal, Carpinelli also wrote the prosecution didn't 
provide sufficient evidence to show Clemons had fully formed intent to kill and 
"had willfully, deliberately and premeditatedly killed, with malice" - 
necessary for the 1st-degree murder conviction. In a subsequent filing, 
Carpinelli wrote that there was "enough evidence to reasonably support that the 
defendant was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol and had done so in a 
state of diminished capacity," including from state troopers who said he 
smelled of alcohol when he turned himself in.

Carpinelli argued the judge should have instructed jurors about the diminished 
capacity defense, which could have resulted in a lesser conviction for 
3rd-degree murder.

Deputy District Attorney Jerry Moschetta countered in court papers that there 
was sufficient evidence for a conviction on the charge.

"Aside from the nature and severity of the 4 separate wounds to Ms. Kunco's 
neck, there was additional evidence presented from which the jury based its 
verdict that the defendant killed Ms. Kunco willfully, deliberately and with 
premediation."

Among other details, Moschetta noted a protection-from-abuse order the Baldwin 
woman sought against Clemons 23 days before the homicide after he physically 
attacked her. Despite the order, Facebook messages showed Clemons "coercing Ms. 
Kunco into meeting him by threatening suicide."

He also disputed Carpinelli's claim that there was sufficient evidence for a 
diminished capacity defense, noting state troopers who spoke to Clemons 12 
hours after the discovery of Kunco's body said he smelled like alcohol but 
appeared in control of his faculties.

Among the arguments Carpinelli offered in requesting a new trial was that the 
court should have allowed Clemons to be tried in a different county because of 
local publicity for the case. He also asked the court to reconsider Clemons' 
sentence, arguing the jury shouldn't have imposed the death penalty.

(source: Observer-Reporter)






FLORIDA:

Another setback for Florida's death penalty


It's another setback for Florida's death penalty.

In a new ruling the State Supreme Court just gave a death row inmate a 2nd 
chance at life.

Attorney Anthony Rickman, who reviewed the opinion for Fox 13, says the 8th 
Amendment protects the mentally disabled from being executed. "He gets a 2nd 
chance to prove to the court that he's intellectually disabled, " said Rickman.

Inmate Frank Walls, convicted of 2 murders in 1987 in Okaloosa County, 
challenged his death sentence because he says he's intellectually disabled and 
ineligible for the death penalty.

The justices agreed.

So, now Walls gets a hearing to determine his mental capacity." This ruling 
does not absolve him from death what it does it give him a chance to present 
that mitigation," explained Rickman.

Florida's death penalty has been under assault since January.

That's when the U.S. Supreme Court determined Florida's death penalty 
sentencing procedures were unconstitutional, ruling a jury not a judge should 
have the ultimate say on life or death.

Months later, the high court piled on when they rejected Florida's rigid "IQ" 
testing to determine whether defendants should be protected from the death 
chamber when they're mentally handicapped.

If your IQ was 70 or higher, you could be executed, but not anymore.

The high court said other factors must be looked at. "His background, his 
history, his childhood, his upbringing other factors as opposed to just looking 
at his IQ alone, " said Rickman.

This ruling now opens the flood gates to other inmates hoping to dodge death.

(source: Fox News)

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

Metro PCS murder suspect's hearing postponed due to Florida death penalty limbo


A Duval County judge allowed a status hearing to be continued in James Rhodes 
murder case.

Rhodes has been charged with killing 20-year-old Shelby Farah in 2013 while she 
worked at a Metro PCS store. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty and say 
surveillance video shows Rhodes shooting Farah after she turned over the money 
he demanded at gunpoint.

An Oct. 14 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court in another case has defense 
attorneys and prosecutors wanting to wait for more clarification from the 
court.

In State v. Hurst, the Florida Supreme Court decided juries must unanimously 
agree on the death penalty, otherwise the sentence is unconstitutional.

Farah's mother, Darlene Farah, attended Rhodes' status hearing on Monday and 
again spoke out against the death penalty in the case of her daughter's accused 
killer.

"There's another option. We see everything that's going on with the death 
penalty, eventually they're probably going to abolish the death penalty," said 
Farah after the court proceeding. "Just take [Rhodes'] offer, give him 2 life 
sentences plus 20 years, I'm good with that."

Farah said a proposed lengthy death penalty trial would take too much of a toll 
on her family.

"We feel like no one's listening to us, when we're the ones having to go 
through this," she said. "All it's doing is causing more harm."

The Florida Supreme Court has not yet clarified whether their death penalty 
ruling should be retroactive. In March, the Florida legislature passed a 
statute requiring at least a 10-2 vote for a death sentence, however last 
Friday's ruling calls the statute unconstitutional.

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, as of October 24, 386 
Florida inmates are on death row - 72 are Duval county cases. The majority were 
put there by jury votes less than unanimous, meaning the Hurst ruling could 
affect past or pending death penalty cases.

Donald Smith, accused of raping and murdering 8 year old Cherish Perrywinkle in 
2013, has had several trial delays due to the death penalty law changes.

The most recent Duval County murder convict to get the death penalty was 
Randall Deviney in October 2015 by a jury vote of 8 to 4. Deviney sliced his 
victim's throat, 65-year old Delores Futrell, in 2008.

Rhodes next hearing date is set for January 24.

(source: firstcoastnews.com)






MISSOURI:

Missouri Says Reporter Doesn't Have Right to See Executions


A reporter suing over Missouri's refusal to allow him to witness an execution 
isn't constitutionally guaranteed a right to see someone put to death, the 
state argued in asking a federal judge to throw out the case.

The state, in a court filing last week, also said that it has legal immunity 
from lawsuits such as Buzzfeed News reporter Christopher McDaniel's case filed 
in August against George Lombardi, overseer of Missouri's prison system.

McDaniel countered that someone volunteers to witness an execution, and courts 
have acknowledged it's unconstitutional to deprive someone from volunteering, 
saying they're exercising their free-speech rights.

McDaniel, a former St. Louis public radio reporter whose stories have been 
critical of Missouri's death penalty procedures, applied in January 2014 to be 
a witness "to ensure that executions are carried out in a constitutional 
manner." But McDaniel never got a response, and 17 executions have been carried 
out since by the state, where 26 inmates are on death row. The next scheduled 
execution is Jan. 31.

The state, in response to McDaniel's lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties 
Union, said that "McDaniel is asking this court to go where no court has gone 
before: declare that watching an execution is a 'benefit' from the government." 
There's no authority for that "or that McDaniel has a property interest or a 
liberty interest in watching Missouri carry out an execution," the dismissal 
motion read.

"McDaniel has failed to demonstrate that he has a legally-protected interest in 
witnessing an execution," the state argued.

McDaniel's lawsuit alleges Lombardi has "unfettered discretion" in deciding who 
may be among the at least "8 reputable citizens" to witness an execution.

McDaniel casts as discriminatory the prison system's application he said 
requires would-be witnesses to explain their reason for wanting to see the 
execution and report any affiliation with a group for or against capital 
punishment. McDaniel's stories since December 2013 have called into question 
such matters as how the state obtains its execution drugs and the method of 
giving condemned inmates pre-execution sedatives.

"This volunteer opportunity is closely related to McDaniel's profession of 
reporting on the death penalty, and courts have long recognized the importance 
of public access to, and understanding of, executions," McDaniel's filing 
Friday asserted.

The lawsuit asks a judge to block anyone other than Missouri's attorney general 
from serving as an execution witness until McDaniel's claims are decided.

No hearing has been scheduled.

(source: Associated Press)






OKLAHOMA:

SQ776 puts death penalty in constitution


The botched execution of Clayton Lockett in April 2014 sent shock waves 
throughout death penalty states and forced the state of Oklahoma to halt all 
executions.

"It was a terrible thing that happened and they needed to fix that," said 
former state Rep. Dennis Johnson (R-Duncan).

Johnson said pharmaceutical companies have been withholding drugs previously 
used for executions and medical licensing boards have been forbidding doctors 
to take part in executions. For that reason, he said, the state needs the 
ability to react quickly to change the method of execution. State Question 776 
does that.

"It would put it into the state Constitution that the death penalty is 
constitutional under Oklahoma law," Johnson said, "and give the Legislature the 
authority to establish the means of execution."

Johnson said the need for 776 arises due to the changing nature of methods of 
execution.

(source: swoknews.com)






NEVADA:

Man won't get to cover neo-Nazi tattoos during murder trial ---- A Las Vegas 
man who was allowed to use makeup to cover his neo-Nazi tattoos during his 
trial and conviction in a robbery case in August will not get to hide them 
during an upcoming death penalty trial


A Las Vegas man who was allowed to use makeup to cover his neo-Nazi tattoos 
during his robbery trial and conviction in in August will not get to hide them 
during his upcoming murder trial punishable by the death penalty, a judge has 
ruled.

Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt last week denied a defense 
lawyer's request to order makeup for Bayzle Dylan Morgan, saying she believes 
fair and impartial jurors can be found who will disregard Morgan's tattoos even 
if they don't like them, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported 
(http://bit.ly/2eqk2lq ).

Morgan has a swastika within a clover permanently etched under his left eye, 
the words "Most Wanted" on his forehead, "Baby Nazi" on his neck and white 
supremacist tattoos instead of eyebrows.

He gained media attention when a different judge ordered the tattoos covered 
with makeup during a trial at which Morgan was found guilty of threatening a 
man and stealing his motorcycle.

Morgan is charged in the murder case with breaking Jean Main's home in 
northwest Las Vegas, hitting the 75-year-old woman with a pistol so hard that 
the trigger guard broke into pieces and shooting her in the back of the head. 
Main was found dead in a 1st-floor bathroom.

The judge has postponed Morgan's trial until at least next month.

Morgan, 25, is in prison awaiting sentencing in the case involving the 
motorcycle. That conviction can be cited to a jury that would consider the 
death penalty if Morgan is convicted of killing Main.

Defense attorney Dayvid Figler said Morgan got the tattoos in prison after he 
was sentenced in 2010, at age 18, to up to 4 years for possession of a stolen 
vehicle.

Jurors are by law supposed to consider only the facts of a case, not a 
defendant's appearance.

The jurors who decided Morgan's guilt in the robbery trial without seeing his 
tattoos told the Review-Journal that they did not feel deceived that his tatoos 
were covered up.

Prosecutors say Main's slaying happened days after the robbery, and Chief 
Deputy District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci said none of the evidence in the 
murder case relates to Morgan's tattoos.

A 49-year-old getaway driver, Keith Smith, was sentenced this month to 4 to 10 
years in prison on burglary charges.

Prosecutors said left when he heard gunshots but returned and saw Morgan with a 
suitcase of items taken from the Main's house.

(source: Associated Press)






CALIFORNIA:

Former Death Row Inmate Gary Tyler Backing California Anti-Death Penalty 
Measure


Gary Tyler has a new lease on life after serving 41 years in Louisiana State 
Penitentiary, including two years on death row, for a crime he did not commit. 
In his "Live at Truthdig" interview on Oct. 13, Tyler described how he is 
navigating adulthood after a lifetime in the prison system with the help of a 
support network that spans the United States. Tyler explained to Truthdig 
Publisher Zuade Kaufman, Editor in Chief Robert Scheer and Deputy Editor Kasia 
Anderson why he is advocating to abolish the death penalty during this election 
cycle.

"I realized that even though I escaped the death penalty, even after having a 
date [for execution], that it left a profound impact on me," Tyler told the 
Truthdig team. "I always told myself that if [I was] ever been put in a 
position where I can advocate against the death penalty, then I would do it. 
And when I heard about Proposition 62, I felt that that was my calling."

He talked about how becoming acquainted with other death row prisoners changed 
Tyler's life. Even after being taken off death row, he continued to visit the 
prisoners there:

I have gotten to know those individuals ... that they were putting on death row 
because, mind you, even after I was removed off death row, I was not removed 
from the facility itself. They kept me in the same building, in which case I 
was in CCR [closed cell restricted, or solitary confinement], so I came in 
contact with the death row prisoners, and I've gotten to know many of them who 
became friends, especially the ones who [were] raised hearing about my case. 
Robert Williams is one of them, in particular, and he was the 1st execution in 
the state of Louisiana after 22 years. I'll never forget that face when I 
encountered him. ... You could see a dead man - a man who was resigned to the 
fact that he was going to die.

(source: truthdig.com)