[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----OKLA., COLO.

[Rick Halperin]

Dec. 4



OKLAHOMA:

Oklahoma Executions Still on Hold



A court reprieve that halted the scheduled December lethal injection of a Texas 
prisoner means 2017 will come to an end with 23 inmates executed in the U.S.

Texas inmate Juan Castillo's scheduled Dec. 14 execution was the last execution 
scheduled for 2017 in the 31 states that still impose the death penalty. It was 
halted by Texas' top criminal court.

The number of executions carried out in 2017 is slightly higher than the 20 
carried out in the U.S. in 2016.

Texas has carried out 7 executions this year, making it the nation's most 
active death penalty state. Arkansas carried out 4 executions, followed by 
Alabama and Florida with 3, Ohio and Virginia with 2, and Georgia and Missouri 
with 1. No executions have been carried out in Oklahoma.

(source: Associated Press)








COLORADO:

Colorado Independent fighting to unseal secret records in death penalty 
case----The records document misconduct prosecuting Sir Mario Owens under the 
leadership of former DA Carol Chambers and her successor, George Brauchler



Colorado's judicial system is shrouding in secrecy documents about 
prosecutorial misconduct in the case against Sir Mario Owens, a death row 
inmate convicted of murdering a state lawmaker's son.

The Colorado Independent is fighting in court to unseal records showing that 
the 18th Judicial District Attorney's office suppressed evidence under the 
leadership of former DA Carol Chambers and her successor, George Brauchler.

Brauchler's office is opposing the unsealing of the court papers that discussed 
its misconduct.

"The People object to Colorado Independent's current request," Brauchler's 
staff wrote in a Nov. 17 court filing. The office has until Thursday to file a 
legal response outlining its objections in Arapahoe County District Court.

In an email to The Independent's counsel, Steven Zansberg, Brauchler's office 
likened allegations of prosecutorial misconduct to salacious and unproven 
allegations in a private divorce case. "The District Attorney believes that the 
court in this case has, and can continue to, limit access to portions of its 
file that may become the vehicle for an improper purpose, namely for the court 
file to improperly serve as a reservoir of libelous statements for press 
consumption," Brauchler???s deputy, Rich Orman, wrote.

Orman failed to acknowledge that a judge has ruled that the misconduct 
allegations are founded.

District Court Judge Christopher Munch issued a 1,500-page order in September 
that upheld Owens' death sentence, but found a pattern of prosecutorial 
misconduct, including the withholding of evidence that might have helped Owens' 
case.

"A man???s life is on the line here," says The Independent editor Susan Greene. 
"The public has a right to know in detail how, as a judge has ruled, these 
public officials mishandled a death penalty prosecution. This is exactly the 
kind of case that warrants the most public scrutiny."

Owens, 32, was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death in 2008 for the 2005 
killings of Vivian Wolfe and her fiancee, Javad Marshall-Fields - son of Rhonda 
Fields, now a state senator from Aurora. Marshall-Fields was scheduled to 
testify against a suspect in a different murder case for which Owens ultimately 
was convicted.

Owens is 1 of 3 inmates on Colorado's death row. The 2 others are Robert Ray, 
his co-defendant in Wolfe's and Marshall-Fields' killings, and convicted Chuck 
E. Cheese killer Nathan Dunlap, whose execution Gov. John Hickenlooper has 
reprieved temporarily, citing concerns over how death sentences are meted out 
in Colorado.

In a state whose population is 4 % African-American, all 3 death row inmates 
are black. And all 3 were prosecuted by the same District Attorney's office in 
Arapahoe County south of Denver, long Colorado's death penalty epicenter.

Under Chambers' control, that office was reported by The Denver Post to have 
handed out bonuses to prosecutors who hit target goals for convictions - a 
practice Owens' lawyers have claimed amounted to an improper bounty system. The 
office suppressed key evidence in other cases, including those in which it was 
seeking the death penalty. When Brauchler was elected DA, he kept the 2 lawyers 
who led the Owens prosecution on the case and, as a court ruling shows, didn't 
disclose evidence to Owens' lawyers, as required. The rules of criminal conduct 
say withholding evidence that could have swayed a jury against a guilty verdict 
amounts to prosecutorial misconduct. Under Colorado's death penalty law, it's 
one of several reasons to disqualify a case for death penalty eligibility.

Much of the evidence-withholding by the DA's office took place under Chambers' 
watch. But, according to public records, even well into his tenure, Brauchler's 
office kept secret witness protection files, which judge Munch and the judge 
presiding over the case before him found should have been disclosed to Owens' 
defense counsel.

There is no physical evidence, no confession, and no eyewitness who identified 
Owens in a case prosecutors built almost entirely on the testimony of informant 
witnesses to whom the DA's office gave funds, plea bargains, or both in return 
for their cooperation against Owens.

Court records show that one of those witnesses was promised and later given a 
DA's office car. Some were given gift cards for local businesses. One received 
$3,400 in benefits, including cash for Christmas presents in the months prior 
to testifying for the prosecution.

If he didn't cooperate, court records show, one of the main prosecution 
witnesses was threatened with being charged for the murders Owens was accused 
of and with receiving 2 life sentences. Another witness received a suspension 
of his jail sentence on the condition that he help prosecutors in Owens' case. 
People working for the prosecution would appear at informant witnesses' court 
hearings and ask for lesser sentences on the condition that they testify 
against Owens, records indicate. Records also show that informants who had been 
convicted of crimes were allowed to violate probation and commit future crimes 
without consequences so long as they cooperated.

Owens' appeal argued that by failing to disclose these deals to Owens' lawyers 
before trial, the prosecution rendered them unable to cast doubt on those 
witnesses' testimonies and put their credibility in dispute. As a result, 
Owens' appeals counsel argued, Owens was denied a fair trial.

Owens' appeals process went haywire last year when the Colorado Judicial system 
fired District Judge Gerald Rafferty after he had presided over more than 2 
years of appeals hearings and worked on his written appeals decision for about 
11 months. Before he was able to finish his ruling, Rafferty, who had made 
several comments about government misconduct in the Owens' case, was fired over 
what judicial officials have said was a contract dispute.

In September, Rafferty's replacement, District Judge Munch, issued a lengthy 
order denying Owens' appeal, yet the judge found several examples of misconduct 
by prosecutors for having failed to disclose or actively suppressed evidence 
that would have been favorable to Owens' defense. Prosecutors defended their 
handling of the case, saying there was no deliberate attempt to quash or hide 
evidence.

Although Munch chastised the DA's office for its missteps, he ruled that they 
weren't grounds to overturn Owens' death sentence.

Defense lawyers and death penalty abolitionists nationwide say it's rare, and 
possibly unprecedented, for a death sentence to be upheld when a judge has 
found prosecutors cut professional and ethical corners.

Munch's order prodded The Independent to seek specific court records detailing 
DAs misconduct. Judicial records typically are open to the public. Remarkably 
there is no publicly available docket identifying Owens' motion to oust 
Braucher's office from the case for its failure to disclose or suppressing 
exculpatory evidence. Nor is there mention of the court order denying Owens' 
request. They've been put under seal, prohibiting public review.

So The Independent took legal action to obtain them.

Representing The Independent pro-bono, First Amendment attorneys Steve Zansberg 
and Gregory Szewczyk of Ballard Spahr LLP filed a motion with the state Supreme 
Court on Oct. 27. The court ruled Nov. 6 to transfer jurisdiction to the 
District Court in Arapahoe County, where Owens was tried and where his appeal 
was heard.

State law allows courts to seal records only when "necessary to protect a 
governmental interest of the highest order," when "any sealing order is 
narrowly tailored," and when "no reasonably available alternatives can 
adequately protect the compelling state interest." In The Independent's 
unsealing motion (read full motion here), Zansberg and Szewczyk argue that 
those requirements cannot be satisfied in a case that was publicly tried almost 
a decade ago and in which there is lengthy court order that finds a pattern of 
withholding evidence that would have helped Owens' defense. The U.S. 
Constitution, the Colorado Constitution and common law, they assert, "protect 
the right of the people to receive information about the criminal justice 
system through the news media, and the right of the news media to gather and 
report that information."

Access to public records, they argue, is fundamental to a democracy and 
necessary to ensure accountability and promote confidence in the criminal 
justice system.

Legal scholars and civil rights advocates argue that public records access in a 
death penalty case is especially important, ensuring some measure of public 
scrutiny before the state executes someone in the people's name.

The Independent was one of several media outlets Zansberg previously 
represented in fighting for access to other documents in Owens' case. The 
outlets won that legal battle in 2014.

Brauchler, a Republican, recently dropped his bid for governor, and is now 
running for state Attorney General. That office has a special section that 
helps local prosecutors seek the death penalty. Earlier this summer, Jack Roth, 
one of the AG's top lawyers on capital cases, lost his job after having made 
public comments that overstepped his authority to seek the death penalty death 
in a Crowley County murder prosecution.

Brauchler started eyeing statewide elected office after prosecuting Aurora 
Theater shooter James Holmes, whom the jury spared from death. He remains 
staunchly pro-capital punishment and is Colorado's most vocal advocate for 
keeping the death penalty.

(source: coloradoindependent.com)