[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., ALA., NEB.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 25



GEORGIA:

Atlanta Man Faces Death Penalty for 2009 Murder of Boxing Champ --- Vernon 
Forrest was shot 5 times in the back by robber, says DA.


A jury began hearing testimony Tuesday to determine whether an Atlanta man 
should face the death penalty for the 2009 murder of boxing champion Vernon 
Forrest.

On Monday, the jury found Charmon Sinkfield guilty of murder, felony murder, 
armed robbery, aggravated assault and related gun charges, Fulton County 
District Attorney Paul L. Howard Jr. said in a statement. Fulton County Deputy 
Chief Judge Alford Dempsey Jr. is presiding over Sinkfield's trial.

In his statement, Howard described how the crime occurred:

On July 25, 2009, Vernon Forrest was driving a car accompanied by his 
10-year-old godson when he pulled his vehicle into a Southwest Atlanta gas 
station to put air in his tire. After Forrest stepped out of his vehicle, he 
was robbed by 3 men.

One of the men, Demario Ware, stole Forrest's championship ring and watch at 
gunpoint. Forrest gave chase, but lost sight of Ware as he escaped into a 
nearby apartment complex on McDaniel Street.

The 2nd assailant, Jquante Crews, drove Ware away from the scene.

Forrest then encountered the 3rd robber, Charmon Sinkfield. "As he turned to 
walk away, Sinkfield shot Forrest 7 times," Howard said. "A number of the shots 
were fired as Sinkfield stood over the victim's body."

(source: patch.com)






ALABAMA:

Next to die, death row inmate Tommy Arthur begs Alabama governor: 'Halt all 
executions'


Alabama death row inmate Tommy Arthur, spared execution 6 times since he was 
convicted in the 1982 contract killing of a man, is asking the governor to stay 
his Nov. 3 execution because he says he is an innocent man.

Meanwhile, his attorneys are seeking a stay of execution with a federal appeals 
court.

"Governor Bentley please immediately place a moratorium on all executions and 
contact United States Justice System and request they investigate Alabama's 
entire capital punishment procedure, arrests, trials, appeals," Arthur states 
in a handwritten letter to the governor last week.

The letter was first sent by Arthur to AL.com, which forwarded it -- along with 
a second earlier letter to a federal judge -- to Bentley's press secretary.

Bentley's chief legal adviser, David B. Byrne, Jr., stated in a letter Monday 
morning to AL.com that he had reviewed the letters and would bring them to 
Bentley's attention at his briefing on Friday. "The Governor has always felt 
that a clemency petition is the most difficult decision he makes as Governor," 
Byrne wrote.

Bentley has not stayed an execution during his 2 terms.

The Alabama Supreme Court set Tommy Arthur's execution (his seventh date) for 
Nov. 3 at Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore and Ronald Bert Smith's for 
Dec. 8.

Arthur, 74, has been convicted and sentenced to death 3 separate times for the 
1982 slaying of Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker. Prosecutors said that 
Wicker's wife, Judy Wicker, hired Arthur to kill her husband. She was convicted 
for her role and served 10 years of a life sentence in prison.

Arthur had been convicted previously in another murder and was on release to 
community corrections when the Wicker murder occurred. The victims in both 
murders were killed with a gunshot through the right eye, according to court 
records.

In his letter Arthur asks Bentley to use his executive power to not only stay 
his execution but to order a full Rule 32 hearing "in a court room where my 
attorneys can put witnesses under oath in front of a judge."

A Rule 32 petition is a way for a defendant to ask a trial judge to set aside 
his or her conviction.

"I've never in 33 plus years on death row never had a full state Rule 32 
hearing in court," Arthur claims in his letter.

Arthur, however, did have a Rule 32 hearing to consider his claims that another 
Holman Correctional Facility inmate, Bobby Ray Gilbert, had committed the crime 
and to have DNA testing of evidence.

After a hearing in 2008 with multiple witnesses and DNA evidence, Jefferson 
County Circuit Judge Teresa Pulliam wrote that the evidence showed Arthur 
collaborated with Gilbert to make up the story and that the two men "have 
defrauded this Court."

The DNA evidence didn't establish that Judy Wicker had any sexual relations 
with Gilbert, which was a claim made by Arthur and Gilbert, the judge ruled. 
Arthur, in a recent interview with Al.com maintains he and Gilbert did not make 
up the story.

Among his other statements in his letter to Bentley, Arthur claims that:

--Setting his execution date less than a week before the national election is 
an attempt to hide his "murder."

--Testimony from Judy Wicker was inconsistent on whether he was involved in the 
killing.

--"Governor Bentley there is no time limit in charging a person with a capital 
crime. How on earth can there be a time limit on proving innocence and a fair 
trial?," Arthur writes.

Arthur had 6 previous execution dates set by the Alabama Supreme Court: 2001, 
twice in 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2015. Several were stayed within days or hours of 
the executions.

Arthur writes that the Attorney General's office "hollars" that he has had 
three trials. But he says his trial lawyers were low paid, he had no detectives 
to locate witnesses and evidence, and there was no testing of evidence by his 
defense team at the time of the 1st trial.

Arthur wants testing on all evidence still in possession of the state. He 
claims that prosecutors have misplaced or destroyed evidence and that a hair 
from a black man was never tested. He says Judy Wicker originally claimed a 
black man had beat and raped her and killed her husband.

"Please Governor Bentley sir grant my humble pleas afore stated. I am not 
asking you to set me free nor a pardon nor a lesser sentence. All Im begging 
you for is plain justice. The opportunity in court to prove my innocence," 
Arthur writes.

If the Alabama Supreme Court agrees to set an execution date, it would the 
seventh time Tommy Arthur has faced execution.

Arthur's attorneys have filed an appeal and stay of execution request to the 
11th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeal is of U.S. District Court Judge Keith Watkin's ruling that dismissed 
Arthur's lawsuit over Alabama's new lethal injection method. The appeal 
challenges Watkins' interpretation of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 ruling in 
Glossip v. Gross out of Oklahoma, which affirmed that a death row inmate must 
present and prove the availability of a feasible alternative to challenge their 
method of execution on the basis of the Eighth Amendment protecting against 
cruel and unusual punishment.

Arthur had suggested several alternative methods of execution, including the 
firing squad and a drug the state says it can't get. Arthur's appeal states 
Watkins erred in his interpretation of Glossip's available-alternative 
provision.

Arthur's attorney, Suhana S. Han, on Friday filed a motion asking U.S. District 
Court Judge Keith Watkins to reconsider his Oct. 5 order that denied Arthur the 
chance to argue the firing squad as a feasible alternative to the state's 
3-drug lethal injection method.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office, however, believes the judge got it right 
and is asking the appeals court to throw out Arthur's appeal and let the 7th 
planned execution proceed.

"As for the 6 previous settings, Arthur has manipulated the State and federal 
court systems to escape the imposition of justice, even going so far as to use 
perjured testimony to seek a reprieve," the Attorney General's Office argues. 
"Arthur's abusive litigation tactics have harmed already the public's interest, 
and granting a stay would only add insult to injury."

(source: al.com)






NEBRASKA:

Beatrice 6 victim speaks out against death penalty


"I was threatened with the death penalty and told I'd be the 1st woman on death 
row in Nebraska"

The woman who was told she would be the 1st female on Nebraska's death row, and 
served nearly 20 years in prison for a crime she was later proved to have 
nothing to do with, said Tuesday she is speaking out against the death penalty.

"I spent 19 years, 7 months, and 26 days in prison for a murder I did not 
commit. After my arrest, I was threatened with the death penalty and told I'd 
be the 1st woman on death row in Nebraska nearly every day that I was in the 
Gage County jail until I agreed to plead guilty," said JoAnn Taylor.

"I want to share my story so Nebraskans understand that wrongful convictions 
happen here. I'm proof of that fact. An innocent person can be executed. Using 
the threat of execution to coerce a confession happens in Nebraska and it is 
wrong. The threat of the death penalty increases the odds that innocent people 
will end up in prison," she said.

"I am speaking out to Retain the end of executions in Nebraska because I want 
to make sure that what happened to me doesn't happen to anyone else," Taylor 
said.

Also appearing at Tuesday's news conference were Lincoln attorneys Jeffry 
Patterson, Bob Bartle and Herb Friedman, who represented 5 of the individuals 
collectively known as the Beatrice 6.

"Our clients were convicted of a murder they did not commit. This past June, a 
jury heard evidence about what caused our clients to be wrongly convicted, and 
heard about everything our clients lost when they were sent to prison. This 
evidence lead the jury to award our clients over $28.1 million dollars," 
Patterson said.

"It was compensation to right the wrong of the worst miscarriage of justice in 
Nebraska history. But even that much money can't replace the human cost of 
their wrongful convictions," he said.

"Imagine your life between the ages of 25 and 45 being ripped away from you. 
During those years, you start careers, get married, buy a home, have children 
and watch your kids grow into adults, help your kids go through school, see 
them graduate high school, go on to college, and even marry and start their own 
families. All of that was stolen from Joseph White, Tom Winslow and JoAnn 
Taylor when they were sentenced to no less than 40 years in prison for a crime 
they did not commit," Patterson said.

"I also want to share my story because I want Nebraskans to see the human cost 
of the death penalty. I lost everything when I was convicted of a crime I did 
not commit. I was taken away from my 14-month old baby in the middle of the 
night," Taylor said.

"When I was convicted, I was forced to give my baby son up for adoption. I 
didn't see my son again until last December, when we finally met in Omaha -- 
26 years after I was taken away from him in the middle of the night," Taylor 
said.

"If law enforcement tells you the threat of the death penalty helps to obtain 
guilty pleas, ask yourself, is what happened with JoAnn the kind of guilty plea 
we want to have? Threatening suspects with execution may resolve cases, but is 
it the kind of resolution we can afford? A resolution where 6 innocent people 
serve 77 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit," Patterson asked.

"Money cannot possibly make up for the human costs of a wrongful conviction. 
This is why it is so important for us as a society to do everything possible to 
avoid putting anyone in prison for a crime they did not commit," he said.

"I want Nebraskans to know what the human costs are of wrongful convictions. 
It's a mother losing her son. I can never get back my son's 1st day of school - 
his 1st bike - his 1st prom date - all of that was lost for both of us. The 
human cost of using the threat of execution to coerce a guilty plea is a 
grandmother who has never seen her grandchildren. This price is too high to 
pay. Nebraska is better off without the death penalty," Taylor said.

(source: 1011now.com)