[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.H., CALIF., ORE.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 19



NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Threat of death penalty will not stop drug dealers


Regarding the front-page article in about imposing the death penalty on 
individuals who sell what turns out to be lethal doses of heroin or related 
substances (Sunday Monitor front page, Sept. 11): I do not object to such a 
measure.

However, it will be an issue of justice, not an effective preventative. That 
is, the idea that someone would refrain from selling such substances out of 
fear of the death penalty, or any other sanction, is simply misguided.

Persons selling such substances are mostly addicts themselves, dealing/selling 
to sustain their addictive habit. To someone in the throes of such addiction, 
all potential consequences are subordinate to the compelling need to obtain the 
substance. That is the nature of the disease.

I cannot count the number of times, in my professional involvement with these 
issues, that the addicted individual has said, "I never would have believed I 
would ever (steal, neglect my kids, lie, inject substances, deal), but I ended 
up doing it."

Again, I am not saying it is wrong to impose such penalties for these serious 
crimes. I am saying that, to curb the current substance-misuse crises we face 
as a state, and a country, we will need a comprehensive program of prevention 
and treatment, costing us tremendously in treasure, time and effort. In the 
end, it will be worth the cost.

Mike Bradley

Hillsboro

(The writer is a master licensed alcohol and drug counselor.)

(source: Letter to the Editor, Concord Monitor)






CALIFORNIA:

Martinez: Death penalty jury breaks out in song


A capital murder case experienced a rare moment of levity Wednesday, arising 
from the dreariest of scenes.

Jurors in the trial for Darnell Washington - a jail escapee accused of 
murdering a retired Hercules teacher to steal her car - were forced to wait for 
2 hours in the windowless hallways of the A.F. Bray courthouse Wednesday 
morning, as attorneys inside discussed a legal issue involving witness 
testimony.

In these situations, things can get awkward for jurors; they're all strangers, 
having been plucked randomly out of society and given this immense 
responsibility. Though they've been together since the trial started, July 25, 
they're forbidden from discussing the one thing they all have in common: the 
case.

But apparently these jurors have 1 other mutual interest: music.

As the waiting approached the 2-hour mark, a juror pulled out a smart phone and 
began playing a recording of Johnny Nash's #1 Billboard Hit, "I can see clearly 
now."

One began singing along, then 2, and within seconds a chorus of jurors had 
erupted in song. Of course, a courtroom bailiff picked that moment to poke his 
head through the door and tell them they'd been called back inside.

"I think we're starting to lose it," 1 juror joked on his way back in.

(source: East Bay Times)






OREGON:

Seaside toddler death-penalty trial could last 2 months


Clatsop County's 1st death penalty trial in 15 years starts Tuesday in Circuit 
Court.

Randy Lee Roden, 28, is on trial for allegedly murdering his girlfriend's 
2-year-old daughter and abusing her 2 sons while they all lived together in a 
Seaside apartment. The gruesome scene discovered in December 2014 is described 
as among the worst child-abuse cases in the county.

The trial, in courtroom 300, will focus this week on jury selection. 
Prospective jurors will be screened in the courtroom in groups of 6 until the 
12-person jury is selected, with 2 to 4 alternates. The pool of available 
jurors will be asked about their attitudes toward capital punishment and 
whether they think they can be impartial.

Judge Paula Brownhill decided to have the jurors questioned in groups, rather 
than individually, after her experience presiding over the county's last death 
penalty case.

In 2001, Anthony Scott Garner was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison 
for fatally stabbing a woman on a motorboat in the Warrenton mooring basin and 
setting the boat on fire to cover up the crime.

"We questioned jurors individually in 15-minute segments, and it took over a 
week to select 12 jurors," Brownhill said. "In the Roden case, we will bring 
jurors into the courtroom in groups of 6 rather than 1 at a time."

Evidence

The District Attorney's Office believes it has enough physical evidence and 
expert opinion to connect the crimes to Roden. The state will present evidence 
showing the 2-year-old, Evangelina Wing, and her brothers were tortured, 
burned, bitten and caged in the Seaside apartment their mother, Dorothy Wing, 
shared with Roden.

Evangelina Wing apparently died of battered child syndrome with blunt force 
trauma to her head. Blood spatter was found in almost every corner of the 
apartment, staining holiday decorations and the wall behind a Christmas tree.

Roden's defense is that he did not commit the crimes. His lawyer, Conor Huseby, 
is adamant that someone else is to blame, possibly the children's mother.

Dorothy Wing, 26, pleaded guilty in January to 1st-degree manslaughter and 2 
counts of 1st-degree criminal mistreatment. She was sentenced to more than 15 
years in prison, contingent on her truthfully testifying at Roden's trial.

"Mr. Roden's defense will be what it has always been; he simply did not commit 
the crimes the state has accused him of," Husby wrote in a court document.

Witnesses

Roden's trial could last up to 2 months. Trial days will be Tuesday through 
Friday, with occasional time off of those days if a session finishes early or 
the court has an emergency hearing in another case.

Multiple witnesses for the prosecution and defense will testify. Many are 
traveling from Georgia, where Roden grew up.

Witnesses for Roden include his close friends, sister, half brother and 6th- 
and 3rd-grade teachers. The defense also plans to call Janice Ophoven, a 
pediatric forensic pathologist, who claims the toddler likely died from 
complications of a flesh-eating infection, rather than from blunt-force trauma.

The prosecution will call 2 of Roden's ex-girlfriends, who can detail a pattern 
of violence against women and children.

One ex-girlfriend, who dated Roden from March to July 2014, will say he did not 
like children, he abused her children both physically and emotionally and her 
children were fearful of him. She will testify that Roden was very controlling 
with her and the children, threatened to move out and warned he would commit 
suicide in order to control her behavior, according to court documents.

Roden is serving an 8-year prison sentence for violating probation from a 
domestic violence conviction in 2013 involving his other ex-girlfriend. The 
woman is traveling from Tennessee to testify against Roden.

"(She) is a past girlfriend and prior crime victim of Mr. Roden and has 
abundant information about his character," Chief Deputy District Attorney Ron 
Brown wrote in a court document.

(source: The Daily Astorian)