[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., MISS., TENN, OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Feb . 2



TEXAS----impending execution

Death Watch: "An Intentional Smothering"----Tilon Carter says he never meant to 
kill James Tomlin


Tilon Carter faces execution on Tuesday, Feb. 7, after 10 years on death row. 
The 37-year-old was convicted of capital murder in a Tarrant County court in 
2006 for the capital murder of James Eldon Tomlin.

In April 2004, Carter and his girlfriend, Leketha Allen, robbed Tomlin, an 
89-year-old retired veteran with jars of cash stashed throughout his home. 
Carter taped Tomlin's hands and legs together and covered his mouth with duct 
tape before the couple ransacked the house and stole $6,000 and a shotgun. 
Tomlin's daughter discovered her father's body that day. An autopsy indicated 
Tomlin had been beaten and smothered, and died of positional asphyxiation.

Carter admitted before his trial that he planned to rob Tomlin, though he 
maintained that he did not mean to kill him. The Tarrant County medical 
examiner testified that it wasn't exactly clear how Tomlin suffocated. The 
position and restraints were "consistent" with positional asphyxiation, but 
marks on the victim's lips "indicated an intentional smothering." Carter's 
history of misdemeanors and armed robbery made it easy for prosecutors to 
convince the jury that he was a career criminal. Carter pleaded not guilty. 
Jurors disagreed and sentenced him to death. Allen accepted a plea for 25 years 
in prison. She's eligible for parole this year.

Carter's appeals have hinged on arguments that his trial attorneys failed to 
offer contradicting testimony regarding the cause and manner of Tomlin's death, 
thereby violating his Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel. Attorneys 
have also focused on the court's alleged failure to prove the death penalty was 
warranted (as opposed to life in prison), and that state law pertaining to a 
jury's right to know is in fact a violation of the Eighth and 14th amendments. 
Those appeals have all failed - most recently, last March, at the U.S. Supreme 
Court.

On Nov. 2, 2016, Carter's appellate attorney Robin Norris requested permission 
from a federal court to withdraw as Carter's attorney - at Carter's request. 
Norris wrote: "All judicial avenues for review of Mr. Carter's capital murder 
conviction and death sentence have been exhausted." What remained were 
procedural filings for clemency and commutation to the governor and state Board 
of Pardons and Paroles. Those, Norris suggested, could be taken over by new 
counsel. The court has not yet responded.

Carter is expected to be the 2rd Texan executed this year. John Ramirez's 
execution, scheduled for today (Feb. 2), was stayed in a Corpus Christi federal 
court on Tuesday. Attorney Gregory Gardner, who played a crucial role in the 
stay of Kosoul Chanthakoummane's execution last month, took over Ramirez's case 
Jan. 27. Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos wrote in her order that "the short time 
remaining before Ramirez's execution" meant that the substitution of counsel 
"could only be given effect through a stay."

Last week, despite newly discovered forensic evidence, and proof that Dallas 
County prosecutors falsified evidence to secure a conviction, the Supreme Court 
denied Terry Edwards' last-minute appeal. He was executed Jan. 26 at 10:17pm, 
nearly 4 hours after his scheduled court-ordered time of death.

(source: Austin Chronicle)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----22

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----540

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

23---------February 7---------------Tilon Carter----------541

24---------March 7------------------Rolando Ruiz----------542

25---------March 14-----------------James Bigby-----------543

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

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

28---------July 19-----------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane---546

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






FLORIDA:

Waffle House killer to get chance to get off death row


The death row inmate who marched 3 employees of a Davie Waffle House into a 
freezer, ordered them to their knees and shot them as they begged for their 
lives will get another chance to fight for his own, the Florida Supreme Court 
decided.

Gerhard Hojan, now 41, was found guilty in 2005 of murdering Christina 
Delarosa, 17, and Willie Absolu, 28, during a robbery at the restaurant. A 3rd 
employee, Barbara Nunn, survived a shot to the head.

The state's high court ruled that Hojan is entitled to a new sentencing hearing 
because Florida's process for implementing the death penalty at the time was 
unconstitutional. The jury that convicted Hojan recommended execution by a vote 
of 9 to 3. Last year, the court ruled that death penalty recommendations had to 
be unanimous.

Hojan's was 1 of more than 200 cases statewide where the Supreme Court ruled a 
defendant on death row could be entitled to a new sentencing hearing. Florida 
currently has no system in place for imposing a death sentence, so Broward 
prosecutors can either wait until a new law is passed and upheld or agree to 
sentence Hojan to life in prison.

Assistant Broward State Attorney Carolyn McCann, who is in charge of the 
office's special projects division, said prosecutors will continue to pursue 
the death penalty against Hojan.

"They haven't issued their final mandate in this case, and I have reason to 
believe the Florida Attorney General's Office will ask for a rehearing," she 
said. "This is a case that really, in my mind, cries out for the death penalty. 
It was an execution."

The sentencing judge in the case characterized Hojan's actions a deliberate 
ruthlessness.

"There can be no doubt that the victims suffered immeasurable fear and terror 
at the hands of Gerhard Hojan," Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman said while 
imposing the death sentence in August 2005.

Hojan and his roommate, Jimmy Mickel, had a 4 a.m. breakfast at the Waffle 
House on March 11, 2002, and followed it up by forcing the three employees to 
hand over their money, according to trial testimony. Mickel had worked at the 
restaurant before, as a cook, and knew his way around the floor.

"He's going to kill us," Nunn told Delarosa, her fellow waitress, and Absolu, 
the cook at the restaurant.

Absolu put his arm around the two women to reassure them it would all be OK. 
"No," Nunn insisted. "I know them by name."

Hojan ordered them into the freezer and told them to get on their knees. 
Delarosa, an aspiring nurse and mother of an infant child, was terrified, 
wondering aloud if she would ever see her baby again, Nunn testified.

When the shooting started, Delarosa tried to hide under a storage rack. Hojan 
found her and shot her twice as she screamed for her baby, Kyle.

Nunn managed to survive, crawling to a nearby gas station for help. She was 
able to identify the defendants and testify about the murders. Efforts to reach 
her Wednesday were unsuccessful.

Mickel is serving 5 life sentences for his role in the crimes, but he was 
acquitted of murder charges after jurors determined Hojan was solely 
responsible for the deaths.

(source: Sun-Sentinel)

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

Death Sentence Overturned for Convicted Murderer


The death sentence for a man convicted of a gruesome murder in Washington 
County has been overturned.

In 2015, Zachary Woods was convicted and sentenced to death in the killing of 
66-year-old James Shores in April of 2014.

Today, the Florida Supreme Court announced that, as a result of a lack of 
evidence, Wood is being taken off of death row and will serve life without 
parole instead.

In a statement responding to the announcement, State Attorney Glenn Hess says, 
"We thought we did an excellent job in this case establishing the aggravating 
factors that would warrant the imposition of the death penalty. The jury 
unanimously agreed and recommended a sentence of 12-0 for death. However, the 
Supreme Court has ruled otherwise."

(source: mypanhandle.com)






MISSISSIPPI:

Bill: Execution by gas, firing squad would be allowed


If Mississippi's current method of execution, lethal injection, is ruled 
unconstitutional, the state would have the further options of nitrogen gas, 
firing squad and electrocution to carry out the state's death penalty under 
House Bill 638.

The bill survived Tuesday's deadline to be reported out of committee. It awaits 
action in the full House.

House Judiciary B Chairman Andy Gipson, R-Braxton, said the bill has the 
support of Gov. Phil Bryant and Attorney General Jim Hood.

"It's a death penalty bill," Gipson said.

The bill says if the current method of execution is held unconstitutional by a 
court or is otherwise unavailable, then the sentence of death shall be carried 
out by nitrogen hypoxia.

If lethal injection and nitrogen hypoxia are ruled unconstitutional or are 
unavailable, then the sentence of death would be carried out by firing squad.

Then, if the other above methods are ruled unconstitutional or for some reason 
are unavailable, the final method of carrying out an execution would be done by 
electrocution.

Since Mississippi joined the Union in 1817, several forms of execution have 
been used. Hanging was the 1st form of execution used in Mississippi, according 
to the Mississippi Department of Corrections. The state continued to execute 
prisoners sentenced to die by hanging until Oct. 11, 1940, when Hilton 
Fortenberry, convicted of capital murder in Jefferson Davis County, became the 
1st prisoner to be executed in the electric chair. Between 1940 and Feb. 5, 
1952, the old oak electric chair was moved from county to county to conduct 
executions. During the 12-year span, 75 prisoners were executed in the Magnolia 
State for offenses punishable by death.

In 1954, the gas chamber was installed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, 
according to MDOC. It replaced the electric chair, which is on display at the 
Mississippi Law Enforcement Training Academy. Gearald A. Gallego became the 1st 
prisoner to be executed by lethal gas on March 3, 1955. During the course of 
the next 34 years, 35 death row inmates were executed in the gas chamber. Leo 
Edwards became the last person to be executed in the gas chamber at the 
Mississippi State Penitentiary on June 21, 1989.

On July 1, 1984, the Mississippi legislature partially amended lethal gas as 
the state's form of execution. The amendment provided that individuals who 
committed capital punishment crimes after the effective date of the new law and 
who were subsequently sentenced to death thereafter would be executed by lethal 
injection. On March 18, 1998, the Mississippi legislature amended the manner of 
execution by finally removing the provision of lethal gas as the alternate form 
of execution.

House Bill 638, filed by Rep. Robert Foster, R-Hernando, said it was requested 
by the attorney general's office.

The last time Mississippi executed a death row inmate was 2012. Since then, a 
federal lawsuit over the drug protocol used in executions, combined with 
motions before the state Supreme Court, have left a question mark as to when 
the next execution might occur in a state where 17 death row inmates have died 
by lethal injection since 2002.

Hood said recently he expects an execution could occur later this year in 
Mississippi.

If the bill passes and is signed into law, it would become effective 
immediately.

(source: Hattiesburg American)

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

Convicted killer asks MS Supreme Court to overturn death sentence


Timothy Evans was sentenced to death in 2013 for the capital murder of 
70-year-old Wenda Lafern Holling. Wednesday, the Mississippi Supreme Court will 
consider a request from Evans to overturn his death sentence.

Mobile users can watch the oral arguments live here: http://bit.ly/2khqD3f

Evans admitted to investigators he strangled Holling to death on the afternoon 
of Jan. 2, 2010. The next day, he loaded her body into the trunk of her car and 
drove to a wooded area in Harrison County. Evans said he dumped Holling's body 
in the woods and then went to the store to buy beer and cigarettes.

Attorneys representing Evans argued he was under the influence of drugs and 
alcohol when he killed Holling. Investigators said Evans had been renting a 
room in Holling's home in the Kiln at the time of her death.

During his trial, investigators played a confession tape Evans recorded shortly 
after his arrest. In the tape, Evans detailed how he sat on Holling's chest and 
strangled her to death.

(source: WLOX news)






TENNESSEE:

Death row inmate dies of natural causes in Nashville prison


A death row inmate and convicted murderer died of natural causes at the 
Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville Monday, according to the 
Tennessee Department of Corrections.

Walter L. Caruthers was convicted of Robbery with a Deadly Weapon, Aggravated 
Kidnapping, and Murder in Knox County.

He was sentenced to death on February 8, 1983.

On October 11, 1980, Caruthers and an accomplice, Reginald Watkins, picked up 
the victims, Wilhelmina Stahl and her brother, George Stahl, in Ohio.

They were hitchhiking to Georgia but Caruthers and Watkins drove the Stahls to 
a vacant lot in Knoxville, robbed them at gunpoint, then forced them into the 
trunk of the car.

Following that, Ms. Stahl was raped. The men then drove the Stahls to a remote 
lakeside location where Ms. Stahl was killed.

Mr. Stahl was hit in the head with a rock, and shot behind the left ear with a 
.32 caliber pistol, stabbed multiple times in the throat. Ruthers and Watkins 
attempted to throw him in the lake, but Mr. Stahl survived.

(source: WVLT news)






OHIO:

Jury selection begins Friday in death penalty trial of Robert Seman


The death penalty case of Robert Seman will begin in 2 days.

He's the man accused of setting the deadly fire that killed 10-year-old Corinne 
Gump and her grandparents William and Judith Schmidt at their Youngstown home 
in 2015.

There are currently 159 people who remain in the jury pool and Mahoning County 
Common Pleas Court Judge Maureen Sweeney says while jurors will begin filling 
out juror questionaires on Friday, the court will begin questioning individual 
jurors next Tuesday.

In late developments the defense wants to try and question a burn expert by 
Skype.

Also someone has now come forward with cell phone video from Walgreens that 
could allegedly shed new light on the case.

It's unclear what that video shows but you may remember Seman allegedly went to 
Walgreens to buy make-up to cover-up burns from the deadly fire shortly after 
it happened.

Sources say it could take 3 weeks to a month to select a jury and another month 
for the trial itself

(source: WFMJ news)