[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ARK., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

August 20



FLORIDA:

Scott takes Kissimmee police deaths cases from anti-death penalty state 
attorney



Gov. Rick Scott has reassigned the homicide cases of 2 Kissimmee police 
officers from a state attorney who has said she would never seek the death 
penalty.

Scott signed an executive order taking the cases of Officers Matthew Baxter and 
Sam Howard from Aramiz Ayala and giving them to fellow state attorney Brad 
King.

"Fridan night's violence against our law enforcement community is reprehensible 
and has no place in our state," Scott said. "In Florida, we have zero tolerance 
for violence and those who attack our law enforcement. Today, I am using my 
executive authority to reassign this case to State Attorney Brad King to ensure 
the victims of Friday night's attack and their families receive the justice 
they deserve."

In March, Ayala stirred controversy when she said she would not seek the death 
penalty for Markeith Loyd, who is accused of killing Orlando police Lt. Debra 
Clayton and his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon.

Ayala said then that she would not pursue the death penalty for any accused 
criminal.

"By choosing to seek life sentences over death, we can assure that violent 
offenders will never be released. They will never continue to drain resources 
from this state with decades of appeals," she said at the time.

Scott then took her off the Loyd case and assigned it to King.

Ayala appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court, saying the governor 
could not reassign the case because she is an elected official. The court has 
yet to issue a ruling.

(source: WTSP news)








ARKANSAS:

Echols says he suffered brain injuries on death row, his wife calls for end to 
executions



6 years ago Saturday (Aug. 19), Damien Echols woke for the last time on the 
wrong side of a set of jail bars. He spent 18 years in prison, convicted of the 
murders of 3 8-year-old boys in West Memphis in 1993. He, along with Jason 
Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., denied any involvement and there were 
question about the evidence against them.

Echols told Talk Business & Politics the scars from his incarceration are still 
real. Each day he copes with physical and psychological damage he suffered 
while in prison.,P> "I spent 18 years in prison under abject conditions," he 
said. "10 years was spent in solitary torture. The brain injury I sustained 
will always plague me."

The specific injury was not disclosed. Echols wife, Lorri Davis Echols told 
Talk Business & Politics her husband suffers from post traumatic stress 
disorder (PTSD). He has had bouts of depression, and has spent years 
acclimating to life outside of prison.

"It's been a roller coaster, but we've worked really hard to build a new life. 
It was and is like starting new," she said.

The couple lives in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and have traveled 
the world, giving lectures at universities and other venues about a broad range 
of subjects including false convictions, the death penalty, and Echols' 
spiritual views. He wrote a New York best-selling autobiography, "Life after 
Death," and he and his wife helped to produce the critically acclaimed Showtime 
documentary, West of Memphis. One place he visited early this spring terrified 
him - Arkansas.

In April 8 men on Arkansasd death row were slated for execution. Echols, had he 
not been released, would have been included. He journeyed to Little Rock with 
his friend, and avid supporter, actor Johnny Depp. The trip terrified him, and 
he suffered from a high level of anxiety while he was still in the Natural 
State.

"They tried to kill me," he told TB&P at the time.

uring the last 5 years there have been virtually no new leads discovered by 
Echols or the army of attorneys, private investigators, forensic scientists, 
and others who worked to secure his freedom.

THE WEST MEMPHIS KILLINGS

Echols, along with Baldwin, and Misskelley Jr., were convicted of the 1993 
slayings of three West Memphis 8-year-olds, Stevie Branch, Christopher Byers, 
and Michael Moore. The boys were riding bikes in their West Memphis 
neighborhood when they vanished around sunset. Prosecutors claim the boys 
entered a patch of woods near their homes, dubbed "Robin Hood Hills," by 
locals. The 3 boys were bludgeoned during an attack prosecutors claimed was 
inspired by Satanism or a belief in the occult.

1 month later the 3 teens, all from Marion, were charged with the murders after 
Misskelley confessed to the crime and implicated the others. The confession 
contained inaccuracies including the time and place of the murders, the manner 
in which they were performed, and he told police 2 of the boys were sexually 
assaulted when autopsy results showed no sexual assault took place.

Despite the inaccuracies, and no physical of forensic evidence tying the teens 
to the crimes, 2 juries found them guilty. Echols was sentenced to death while 
the other 2 received life terms.

The 3 teens dubbed "The West Memphis 3" languished in obscurity until the 1996 
documentary "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" was released 
by HBO. Doubts surfaced whether the teens, dubbed "The West Memphis 3" 
committed the crimes.

The documentary saved Echols life, he said during a 2010 interview. The 
circumstantial case and the lack of evidence raised doubts among a burgeoning 
support group that included Depp, Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder, Dixie 
Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines, and the director Sr. Peter Jackson. Millions 
of dollars was raised in an attempt the free the men.

NEW EVIDENCE, FALSE STATEMENTS

By 2011 Arkansas officials were under pressure to release the men. A new trial 
was about to be ordered in the case. New DNA evidence had been discovered 
implicating Stevie Branch's stepfather, Terry Hobbs. A hair found in the 
ligatures that bound Michael Moore was a virtual genetic match for him, and a 
hair found on a tree stump next to where the bodies were dumped was a genetic 
match for his alibi witness at the time of the murders, David Jacoby. Hobbs and 
Jacoby have denied involvement in the murders.

One witness who testified during Misskelley's trial, Victoria Hutcheson, signed 
a sworn affidavit saying she lied at the trial. During an interview in 2009 she 
told a TB&P reporter she was under pressure from police to provide evidence and 
was facing a credit card fraud charge. Her son, Aaron, was friends with the 
victims, and he claimed for a time to have witnessed the murders, but his 
statements proved false. She told jurors she attended a "witches gathering" or 
esbat with Echols and Misskelley. Testimony from another witness who claimed to 
have heard Echols and Baldwin talking about the murders at a softball game 
would have likely been disproved during a new trial, prosecutors admitted.

Prosecutor Scott Ellington agreed to release them under the terms of an Alford 
Plea. This unique legal mechanism allowed them to profess innocence while at 
the same time acknowledging the state might have enough evidence to convict 
them. It's essentially a no contest plea. Ellington has said numerous times if 
new trials had been ordered, the men would have been freed because of the 
changing witness statements, new scientific evidence, and "stale evidence."

'ARKANSAS MAKES MISTAKES'

Echols has had no contact with officials who worked to imprison him, he said. 
Lorri Echols said the state of Arkansas is not only culpable in her husband's 
wrongful incarceration, but it has been negligent in not finding and 
prosecuting the person or persons who killed the 3 boys. A new investigation 
needs to be opened, and the killer or killers need to be brought to justice, 
she said. Occasionally, Echols will encounter a troll on social media networks 
who believes he's guilty, but most people he interacts with believe in his 
innocence, she said.

"In our day to day life in New York, people tend to have done their homework," 
she said.

The couple has several creative projects they are working on. Echols is writing 
a book that will be published by Sounds True in 2018. Lorri will participate in 
an art show later this year in Chicago.

Arkansas officials announced Friday they plan to restart executions. Lorri 
Echols advises against it.

"Once again, Damien's case is proof that Arkansas makes mistakes. How many 
innocent men have they executed? Is there anything else that needs to be said?"

(source: KATV news)








CALIFORNIA:

OC District Attorney responds to judge blocking death penalty in Dekraai case



The Orange County District Attorney's Office (OCDA) is disappointed that Judge 
Goethals made this unprecedented ruling and has denied the California Attorney 
General (AG) the ability to pursue the death penalty against convicted murderer 
Scott Dekraai. Given the pattern and tenor of his previous rulings, Judge 
Goethals' decision does not come as a surprise.

In 2014, the OCDA obtained a guilty plea, ensuring Dekraai would at a minimum 
be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. The only question 
remaining was whether he should receive the death penalty for his repugnant, 
callous, and despicable acts committed while exacting revenge against his 
ex-wife.

Dekraai planned and murdered 8, nearly 9 innocent people, at the salon where 
his ex-wife worked, so she would experience the terror and horror of seeing her 
friends and clients murdered. Whether some members of the Orange County 
Sheriff's Department failed to produce tangential information in a timely 
manner has nothing to do with what Dekraai did and the fact that Dekraai 
deserves the death penalty. The AG made an independent decision to seek the 
death penalty when the OCDA was recused and should be able to proceed forward 
because Dekraai would have received a fair trial.

The article above was released by the Orange County District Attorney. Orange 
County Supervisor Todd Spitzer also released a statement - one that sounded 
more like a campaign speech, since he's running to replace OCDA Tony 
Rackauckas.

(source: oc-breeze.com)