[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., LA., ARK., KAN., NEB., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 28




TEXAS----new execution date

Steven Long has been given an execution date for June 28, 2017; it should be 
considered serious.

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----20

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----538

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

21---------December 7---------------John Battaglia--------539

22---------January 11---------------Christoper Wilkins----540

23---------January 25---------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane----541

24---------January 26---------------Terry Edwards---------542

25---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------543

26---------April 12-----------------Paul Storey-----------544

27---------June 28-------------------Steven Long----------545

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






GEORGIA----impending execution//volunteer

8th Georgia execution this year to be of a man who says he did it


Georgia on Thursday scheduled the lethal injection of Steven Frederick Spears, 
who thus far has chosen not to fight his death sentence for murdering his 
girlfriend in 2001.

If he dies by lethal injection on Nov. 16 as scheduled, Spears, 54, will be the 
8th person Georgia has executed this year, which is more than any other state.

Last week, Georgia executed Gregory Lawler for murdering an Atlanta police 
officer in 1997. His lethal injection was Georgia's 7th since Feb. 3, more than 
any other year since the death penatly was reinstated nationwide in 1976.

Spears, now 54, readily admitted he murdered his ex-girlfriend, Sherri Holland, 
in the early-morning hours of August 25, 2001, in Lumpkin County.

"I loved her that much. I told her I wasn't letting her go, and I didn't," 
Spears said in his confession. "(If) I had to do it again, I'd do it."

Spears told friends and detectives that he had warned Holland whey they started 
dating that if he "caught her or found out she was (with) somebody else," he 
would "choke her ... to death."

When he began suspecting Holland was romantically involved with someone else, 
Spears made 4 plans to kill her.

Following 1 plan, Spears connected electrical wiring to the plumbing in the 
crawlspace under Holland's house so she would be electrocuted in the shower 
during a lightening storm. According to court records, Spears boasted, "Pretty 
creative, ain't it?"

He also left a bat under a canoe at Holland's house in case he decided to beat 
her to death.

Spears also crawled into Holland's house throught an air conditioner vent to 
leave a loaded shotgun for later. "If she brought somebody else in there I was 
just gonna shoot him,", Spears said.

His 4th plan - which he used - was to choke her, bind her with duct tape, and 
suffocate her with a plastic bag.

On the night of Aug. 24, 2001, Spears hid in Holland's son's closet for several 
hours. Around 2:30 a.m. or 3 a.m. the next day, he went into her bedroom and 
woke her.

As Holland tried to run, Spears hit her several times in the head, then 
followed through with his 4th plan.

"Last thing she said was she loved me," Spears told investigators.

Holland's ex-husband found her body when be brought their son home after a 
visit.

By then, Spears was hiding in the woods, sleeping in a deer stand.

10 days after the murder, Spears came out of hiding and was picked up as he 
walked along a highway. He said he was going to turn himself in.

Even though Spears declined to challenge his conviction or sentence, death 
penalty cases are automatically appealed to the Georgin Supreme Court. On Feb. 
16, 2015, the Georgia Supreme Court rejected the automatic appeal, and the 
Spears case was not voluntarily submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court for review, 
which is usually the next step.

Unless he changes his mind, Spears will be the 1st person to go to his death in 
Gerogia without contesting his sentence.

20 years ago, Larry Lonchar was electrocuted for a DeKalb Country triple murder 
after he gave up his appeals, but only after he twice allowed his lawyers to 
file challenges hours before he was scheduled to die.

(source: Atlanta Journal Constitution)






LOUISIANA:

DA to seek death penalty against suspect in stabbing death


A Jefferson Parish grand jury has indicted a man accused of stabbing a 
restaurant manager to death during a June robbery on 1st-degree murder charges 
and the district attorney's office says it will seek the death penalty.

District Attorney Paul Connick, in a statement Thursday, said he came to that 
decision regarding 23-year-old Joshua Every after meeting with the victim's 
family and consulting with staff.

Every and 3 others are charged in the death of 21-year-old Taylor Friloux, who 
managed a Raising Cane's restaurant in Kenner.

24-year-old Mark Crocklen Jr. and 18-year-old Gregory Donald Jr. face charges 
of 2nd-degree murder. A 4th defendant, 22-year-old Ariana Runner, was indicted 
on charges of conspiracy to commit armed robbery and obstruction of justice.

(source: Associated Press)






ARKANSAS:

Death penalty in play for Chumley trial in Fayetteville


Washington County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against 1 of 6 people 
accused of killing a woman last year.

Mark Edward Chumley, 46, is charged with accomplice to capital murder in the 
killing of Victoria Annabeth Davis on Aug. 19, 2015. Police said Davis, 24, of 
433 S. Hill Ave., was held captive at her house for hours and beaten by her 
husband, John Davis, and 4 other defendants, including Chumley.

Pretrial motions

After the preliminary hearing and before a trial, the prosecutor and the 
defense team appear before the criminal court judge and make pretrial motions. 
These motions can be for varied reasons, such as whether certain evidence 
should be kept out of the trial or that certain persons must or cannot testify, 
or that the case should be dismissed altogether.

Prosecutor Matt Durrett told Circuit Judge Joanna Taylor at a motion hearing 
Thursday he filed formal notice the state is seeking the death penalty against 
Chumley. Grounds for the request are because the killing was done to prevent an 
arrest and in an especially depraved or cruel manner, according to the notice.

Durrett was asked during the hearing to specify the behavior the state believes 
manifested a disregard for the value of human life, which is a requirement in 
capital cases.

"She was beaten repeatedly. She was hooked up to a battery charger. She 
essentially bled to death from the beating she took. She was beaten with a 
baseball bat. She was raped with a baseball bat," Durrett said. "Those are the 
acts we allege constitute evidence of disregard for human life."

Durrett said he hasn't yet decided whether to seek the death penalty against 
the remaining defendants.

Lawyers for Chumley filed more than a dozen court motions in August. On 
Thursday, Taylor denied motions to declare the death penalty unconstitutional 
and to prohibit a death-qualified jury.

Taylor agreed to allow a supplemental juror questionnaire and said she may 
allow sequestered questioning of potential jurors.

Capital murder is punishable by either life in prison or the death penalty. 
Trial is set for Jan. 29. A hearing on motions to suppress evidence in the case 
is set for Nov. 30.

The other defendants include Rebecca Lloyd, 37, and John Christopher Davis, 28, 
of 433 S. Hill Ave., and Christopher Lee Treat and Desire Treat, both 30, of 
315 S. Block St., Apt. 15. Are all charged with accomplice to capital murder.

The 5 are being held without bond at the Washington County Detention Center.

Chumley called police at 12:39 p.m. and gave his phone to John Davis, according 
to a police call log. Davis told police he killed his wife because she wanted a 
divorce. Davis told police he "shot her up with dope" and told police his wife 
was "in the living room on the floor," the log says.

Davis told detectives he and other people kept his wife captive and beat her 
for several hours before destroying evidence at the crime scene, according to 
police.

Chumley and Christopher Treat admitted to taking part in the slaying, police 
said in preliminary reports. Davis, Chumley and Treat said Desire Treat also 
was involved. Several of those arrested said Lloyd was involved, according to 
an arrest report. Lloyd told police she participated in beating Davis, 
according to police records.

(source: nwaonline.com)






KANSAS:

Man originally sentenced to death row backing out of plea


The Kansas Supreme Court is reviewing a plea deal in a Topeka double-homicide.

The court heard oral arguments today in the latest appeal from King Phillip 
Amman Reu-El, who was previously named Phillip Cheatham, Jr.

He was initially sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 2 women in 
Southeast Topeka, and shooting another women 19 times who survived.

The Supreme Court overturned the conviction based on ineffective defense 
counsel.

During the jury selection for the 2nd trial, Amman Reu-El reached a plea 
agreement which took the death penalty off the table. He was sentenced to a 
total of 38 years in prison.

Amman Reu-El now wants to back out of his no contest plea, arguing the District 
Court misinformed him of the consequences it would have on his right to appeal.

(source: WIBW news)






NEBRASKA:

Law students hear death penalty supporters, opponents debate


Lincoln attorney Bob Evnen has become a volunteer on the campaign to keep the 
death penalty in Nebraska. He said people exercise choice about how they behave 
and they should be held accountable.

Former Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood hasn't been publicly speaking 
about specific legislative issues since he left his elected job at the Capitol 
in 2013.

But on Thursday, the death penalty referendum and his alma mater drew him out 
to debate the issue with 3 others in front of about 125 students at the 
University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law.

As he did when he introduced legislation in 2009 to adopt lethal injection for 
state executions, and when he debated proposed repeals of the death penalty in 
the Legislature, Flood recalled the 2002 bank robbery in his hometown of 
Norfolk that left 5 people dead and 3 men on death row.

"I hated this time in the Legislature, because it's an awful topic to have to 
discuss," he said.

Reasonable people can differ on the death penalty, he said. He wasn't there to 
try to change minds about it. He's not against due process and not against 
mercy.

But he believes it to be an appropriate sanction for unconscionable behavior, 
he said.

4 bank employees and a customer were killed within 40 seconds that Sept. 26 
morning.

Flood told the students he was at the U.S. Bank branch in Norfolk within 10 
minutes after the incident.

"I saw the gun smoke coming out of that place. ... I saw a victim who had been 
shot in the back as she ran out. I saw where the bullet hole landed in the 
Burger King drive-thru across the street. And I watched as first responders 
came out of that bank, that I know, horrified," he said.

One thing that's hard to talk about, but is relevant, he said, is that the 
public's horror over what happened in the bank was expressed through the court 
system.

Pastors, farm women, school teachers, bank tellers, sat on the juries that sent 
3 men to death row.

Flood joined Lincoln attorney Bob Evnen speaking for the death penalty and 
Lincoln Sen. Colby Coash and UNL political philosophy professor Ari Kohen 
speaking against it.

Kohen told those gathered the death penalty is on its way out, both in the 
United States and in the international community.

31 states, the federal government, the military and Washington, D.C., have 
either abolished it or haven't carried out an execution in at least a decade. 
If you narrow the range to 5 years, the number grows to 36, Kohen said.

Last year, only 6 states carried out executions, 90 % of those in three states. 
28 executions took place last year and 15 so far this year, 12 in Texas and 
Georgia.

"We're not seeing a desperate public safety problem," he said.

The death penalty has made the United States out-of-step with the rest of the 
world, Kohen said.

The top 5 executing countries last year were China, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi 
Arabia and the United States, he said.

Evnen responded that Kohen had just noted the death penalty was on its way out, 
as if it were a fashion statement.

"It is not," he said. "It's a just punishment for the most heinous crimes that 
are committed by the most depraved criminals."

Evnen said law enforcement supports the death penalty, and he believes it to be 
a deterrent.

Coash countered that when he asks law enforcement and those who work in prisons 
what tools they need to be safe and do their jobs effectively, resources and 
pay are top among them.

"They won't tell you that they need the death penalty to do their job well," he 
said.

Later in the afternoon, the Lincoln Unitarian Church of Lincoln held a small 
anti-death penalty rally on the north Capitol steps, with signs and T-shirts 
saying "Standing on the Side of Love."

About 20 people gathered to face the drive-time traffic promoting a vote to 
retain the law passed by the Legislature in 2015 that would put an end to the 
death penalty.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)






CALIFORNIA:

Arraignment scheduled for Modoc County man accused of killing Deputy


The man accused of shooting and killing a Modoc County Sheriff's Deputy is 
scheduled to be arraigned Friday on death penalty charges.

Jack Lee Breiner will be charged with 'willful, deliberate, and premeditated 
murder', as well as attempted murder.

Breiner is accused of shooting and killing Deputy Jack Hopkins on Wednesday of 
last week at a home south of Alturas.

At a press conference following the shooting, Modoc County D.A. Jordan Funk 
said Breiner could face the death penalty if convicted: "The killing of a peace 
officer in the course of performance of his duties, the intentional killing of 
a peace officer, is a capital crime in California."

Breiner is also accused of shooting and wounding Modoc County Sheriff Mike 
Poindexter during an exchange of gunfire during the incident.

Memorial services for Deputy Hopkins will be held November 5th in Yreka.

(source: KOBI news)

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

No more fixes; time to abolish death penalty


40 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Gregg v. Georgia, effectively 
lifting a de facto moratorium it had placed on capital unishment four years 
earlier in Furman v. Georgia. The majority of the members of the high court 
rationalized the death penalty not because it was satisfied the punishment 
deterred murder but solely on the ground that "vengeance" legitimizes society's 
outrage at the "worst of the worst" kinds of murders and offenders. In 1977, 
California decided to retool the death penalty with the Briggs Initiative in 
the effort to comply with federal constitutional guidelines to ensure 
reliability and uniformity in sentencing.

By 1994, Associate Justice Harry Blackmun, who concurred in Furman and Gregg, 
had become so exasperated with the arbitrary ways in which the death penalty 
continued to be imposed that he declared "moral and intellectual" futility and 
expressed his frustration with reforms: "From this day forward, I no longer 
shall tinker with the machinery of death." He became an advocate for abolition 
to the end of his days.

In 2008, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice 
(CCFJ), a bipartisan group of elected officials, respected judges, lawyers, and 
legal scholars, gathered to study the death penalty and concluded that the 
machinery was so "dysfunctional" that it recommended scrapping the death 
penalty and replacing it with life imprisonment without possibility of parole. 
Gov. Pete Wilson had proclaimed in 1998 that his "reforms" would solve the 
problems, and an influential group of prosecutors, law enforcement agencies and 
correctional officers continues - with Wilson's support - to plead for more 
"reforms" to again make the death penalty effective. The California Death 
Penalty Reform and Savings Act of 2016, Proposition 66, is the latest "fix" 
proffered to keep alive an admittedly "broken" death penalty machine.

We would be wise to consider the history of capital punishment in California in 
order to place bad proposals like Prop 66 in context. It offers nothing new in 
the way of viable "reforms," and independent auditors point to the costs 
implementation will engender. Aside from the rise in expenses to us all, Prop 
66 is a muddled and confusing, and if it passes it will become the subject of 
intense litigation and judicial scrutiny.

Proponents of Prop 66 do not explain how the proposal will overcome the 
California's constitutional mandate of automatic review by the Supreme Court, 
but, apparently, they think redirecting authority to trial judges to find 
qualified counsel for a condemned inmate for post-conviction review - when they 
haven't been able to find qualified lawyers for capital trials - will solve the 
shortage problem. The current shortage of lawyers qualified to handle complex 
capital case litigation, which requires experience with state and federal 
constitutional law, is well established as a leading cause for reversal of 
death judgments. Within Tulare County alone, several cases have been reversed 
in the past decade because of ineffective representation at trial.

Costs will increase under Prop 66, not decrease.

Moreover, the goal of Prop 66, that "a capital case can be fully and fairly 
reviewed by both state and federal courts within 10 years," is as at best 
naive; at worst misleading.

California courts do not dictate timetables for federal judges. Most of the 
time spent to fully review the constitutionality of death penalty sentences is 
spent in federal court, and federal judges are not bound by state law, do not 
take orders from state courts, and do not place time limits on seeing that 
justice prevails where the ultimate punishment is concerned.

Every state has a well-documented record of convicting innocent people. In 
capital cases, a few examples - 1 is enough - of cases of wrongful death 
penalty convictions in California are cited by the national Death Penalty 
Information Center as reversed on innocence claims by death row inmates: Ernest 
Graham (1981); Troy Lee Jones (1996); and Oscar Lee Morris (2000). Each case 
took more than a decade to unravel the injustice of convicting the innocent. 
The bottom line is that Prop 66 amounts to another poorly designed fix on an 
archaic machine and, if passed, it will saddle more costs on local courts and 
taxpayers.

Proposition 62, on the other hand, provides a clear solution. Abolish the death 
penalty and automatically sentence those convicted of "special circumstance" 
murder - and those currently on death row - to life imprisonment without 
possibility of parole. The result is an enormous savings - estimated at $3 
billion by the CCFJ - to taxpayers, lifts economic and psychological burdens of 
months-long trials off the backs of our local judges, jurors, court personnel, 
public prosecutors and defenders, for other more pressing needs in the criminal 
justice system. It also puts us in touch with the better part of our nature and 
in step with our civilized partners. At present, 19 states have either 
abolished or shelved the death penalty, joining the United Kingdom, the 
28-state European Union, Canada and Mexico, to name but a few of the 110-nation 
members who are part of the World Coalition Against the Death Penalty.

If vengeance is for you, then reforms will continue to fuel the cycle of 
violence; it starts with malice and feeds on itself. As a matter of conscience, 
and as matter of dollars and cents, don't be fooled by Prop 66, or vote "Yes" 
on both propositions. If both pass, we will be guaranteed litigation for years 
to come. Vote "No" on 66, and "Yes" on 62. Enough with the fixes! It is time to 
abolish the death penalty in California.

(source: Op-Ed; Phillip Cheney is a local/national capital case attorney----The 
Californian)

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

The death penalty's persistence


You'd think Proposition 62, a referendum to abolish California's death penalty 
and replace it with life without parole, including for the 749 current 
occupants of death row, would win easily on Nov. 8.

Democrats dominate this state; their 2016 national platform advocated an end to 
capital punishment. Former president Jimmy Carter, left-populist icon Sen. 
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., the state's major labor unions and 38 newspaper 
editorial boards are urging a "yes" vote.

California's death row costs millions to maintain but the state has only 
executed 13 people since restoring capital punishment in 1978, mainly due to 
lengthy appeals processes, including recent successful challenges to its 
lethal-injection protocol.

"Replace the Costly, Failed Death Penalty," read the yellow-and-black "Yes on 
62" sign I saw planted in a well-kept Brentwood yard.

And yet, 12 days before Election Day, Prop 62's prospects are uncertain. Of 5 
statewide polls since Sept. 1, only 1, a Field Poll, showed Prop 62 ahead, 48 % 
to 37 %. Measures that poll below 50 % tend not to win, even if they are 
leading, according to Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.

Meanwhile, 4 other polls showed "no" up by an average of 50 to 37. Survey USA, 
which has polled on Prop 62 twice, predicts flatly that it is "headed for 
defeat" - just like a similar anti-death-penalty measure that lost 52 to 48 in 
the state in 2012.

Prop 62 faces various local political headwinds - including competition for 
financial resources, and public attention, from more than a dozen other ballot 
measures, such as marijuana legalization and Gov. Jerry Brown's pet project, 
parole reform.

Given Prop 62's potential impact - in one stroke, it would reduce America's 
total death-row population of 2,905 by 26 % - the debate about it is remarkably 
low-profile. There are next to no ads on TV; the Brentwood yard sign was the 
only one I saw in 3 days on the West Coast.

The main lesson, though, has to do with public opinion about the death penalty, 
which is much more nuanced than media coverage generally reflects.

Consider this Oct. 4 New York Times headline: "Death Penalty Loses Majority 
Support for First Time in 45 years."

The article concerned a new Pew Research Center survey showing that 49 % of the 
public favors the death penalty for murder, while 42 % oppose it. Pew has asked 
its question only since 1994, so the Times headline came from combining Pew 
data with pre-1994 Gallup polls.

However, this spliced 2 polls that use different methodologies, including 
differently worded questions. A few days after the Times article, in fact, a 
new Gallup poll found 60 % support for the death penalty - a smaller majority 
than in previous years, to be sure, but still large, and about the same as 
Gallup found in its 1st poll 80 years ago.

Long-term Gallup trends suggest that the very high support for the death 
penalty of the mid-1990s - up to 80 % 1 year - was an anomaly, probably a 
reaction to the soaring violent crime rates of the time.

Now that crime has fallen, Gallup's pro-death-penalty majority is reverting to 
historical norms; it may go lower still, unless this year's spike in violent 
crime turns into a wave. Another new Gallup survey intriguingly shows 
decreasing punitive sentiment: 45 % say the justice system is "not tough 
enough" on crime, down 20 points since 2003.

Meanwhile, 50 % believe the death penalty is applied "fairly," and 67 % say it 
is imposed either "the right amount" or "not often enough."

Gallup asks about capital punishment for "murder." In 2013 and 2015 Quinnipiac 
interestingly asked whether "murder during acts of terrorism" should be 
punished by life without parole or death.

Both times, about 3/5 said "death" - remarkably high, given that offering life 
without parole as an alternative usually reduces the number of poll respondents 
opting for capital punishment.

A rough summary of most Americans' views of the death penalty might be: "Yes, 
though it depends." It depends on what's going on in society. It depends on the 
specific crime. It depends on whether you're asking me in the abstract, as a 
juror or as a voter.

The very fact the Prop 62 campaign focused on what spokesman Jacob Hay calls a 
"cost-effectiveness message" implies that categorical moral opposition cannot 
command a majority, even in a deep-blue state.

And 2 can play at the cost- effectiveness game. California's pro-death-penalty 
forces, led by prosecutors and police unions, are promoting Proposition 66, 
which would deal with the system's notorious backlog not by abolishing 
executions but by facilitating them, through streamlining the appeals process.

Both conflicting measures might lose, essentially perpetuating the status quo; 
California would continue having whatever satisfaction comes with sentencing 
people to death, without whatever risks come from actually executing them.

Also, both might get a majority - Californians could vote yes and no on the 
death penalty - in which case the one with the most votes becomes law, and the 
nation's largest death row would start shrinking, one way or the other.

(source: Charles Lane, Washington Post)

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

Scott Peterson deserves death for '02 double murder, mother-in-law says


With misty eyes and firm resolve, Laci Peterson's mother stood before news 
cameras in Modesto once again to remind people what it means to lose loved ones 
at the hands of a killer.

"I support the death penalty because some crimes just warrant the death 
penalty," Sharon Rocha said Thursday, less than 2 weeks before a statewide 
election that could decide whether capital punishment is abolished or expedited 
in California. She and a roomful of authorities hope voters reject Proposition 
62 and embrace Proposition 66.

"Scott Peterson murdered my daughter and his unborn child," Rocha, 64, said of 
her son-in-law, who's on death row. "He is there for a reason."

3 days before Thursday's press conference, Scott Peterson turned 44. He arrived 
at San Quentin 11 years ago, after a blockbuster trial that convinced jurors he 
killed his pregnant wife just before Christmas 2002 and dumped her in San 
Francisco Bay, where the bodies of mother and fetus washed up 4 months later.

As with all of California's 749 death row inmates, Peterson has appealed and 
awaits his turn before the state Supreme Court. But challenges of 
lethal-injection protocol have stalled executions in this state, where no 
inmate has been put to death since 2006.

The ineffectiveness has polarized opinions and prompted the rival initiatives. 
Proposition 62 supporters say commuting death sentences to life in prison is 
more humane, less costly and eliminates the risk of executing innocent people 
accused in error, while Proposition 66 advocates say the death penalty is a 
deterrent and faster executions would save taxpayer money.

If both pass, the one with more votes will prevail.

The latest Field Poll suggests both are struggling to capture majority support 
among likely voters. With only days left to sway large numbers of undecideds, 
both sides are pouring big money into ad campaigns.

Proposition 66 supporters on Thursday brought out Rocha as well as Laci 
Peterson's close friend, Stacey Boyers, flanked by sheriffs and district 
attorneys from 4 counties - Stanislaus, Merced, San Joaquin and Tuolumne.

"We will always stand with victims of crime," Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam 
Christianson said. "It's time to stand up for justice."

Birgit Fladager led the team that prosecuted Scott Peterson before being 
elected Stanislaus County's district attorney in 2006. Since then, her office 
three times has secured life-sentence pleas, without going through costly 
trials: Columbus Allen Jr. II, who murdered California Highway Patrol Officer 
Earl Scott in 2006; Jesse Frost, who knifed to death his mother, sister and 
brother-in-law in Riverbank in 2009; and Cameron Terhune, who shot his parents 
in Del Rio in 2010. None would have bargained, Fladager said, without the 
threat of a possible death penalty hanging over their heads.

In 1999, Jim Mele - now Tuolumne County sheriff - helped investigate the 
slayings of 3 Yosemite sightseers in another crime that captured headlines 
across the United States and beyond, ending with a death sentence for Cary 
Stayner.

"We're talking about a man who is evil, who needs to be put to death," Mele 
said.

Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke urged voters to "have faith that what we're 
talking about is the right thing to do."

Of anywhere in California, support for Proposition 66 is strongest in the 
conservative-leaning Central Valley, said the mid-September Field Poll 
conducted by Field Research Corp. and the Institute of Governmental Studies at 
UC Berkeley. And nowhere was there less support for Proposition 62 than here, 
the poll found.

But the reverse was true for voters throughout all of California, where the 
poll found only 35 % inclined to vote for Proposition 66 compared to 48 % who 
liked Proposition 62.

Latest disclosures show $5 million raised in support of Proposition 66, and 
$7.3 million for Proposition 62, according to The Sacramento Bee. Opponents of 
the measures had collected $1.5 million to fight Proposition 66, and $13.7 
million to oppose Proposition 62.

4 years ago, California voters narrowly rejected a similar drive to abolish the 
death penalty, but polls suggest support has eroded in recent years.

"It's about justice, a local jury saying, 'This is appropriate for this 
person,'" said Mike Harden, former police chief in Modesto and Oakdale.

In the first few years after her daughter's murder, Rocha advocated for 
victims' rights and stiff penalties for killers, and was an invited guest when 
President George W. Bush signed related legislation in 2004. With the passage 
of time, she's still willing to make appearances for the right cause, but it 
can be difficult, she said after cameras were turned off Thursday.

"Going back to 2002, to bring it all up again, is not an easy thing to do," 
Rocha said.

"Before all of this, I never spoke in public," she continued. "Laci probably 
would be saying, 'My mother is doing what?' It makes a difference when you have 
a purpose."

(source: Modesto Bee)

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

Campaign irregularity: Anti-death penalty forces speak at high school, 
apparently without permission


Foul play is called after high school students in East L.A. were lectured as to 
why their parents should vote to abolish the state's death penalty.

Exonerated death row inmate Juan Melendez was invited to Garfield High School 
last Friday by the Yes on 62 campaign.

"To encourage their parents to vote for Proposition 62 yes and no on 
Proposition 66."

LA Unified School District policy prohibits campaigning or advocating for or 
against propositions in schools. Kent Scheidegger is with the Criminal Justice 
Legal Foundation and endorses No on 62.

"Getting a one-sided presentation to the parents, through the students, is a 
misleading thing to do."

The Yes on 62 campaign has not responded for comment.

(source: KABC news)