[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.H., PENN., FLA., MONT., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 8




NEW HAMPSHIRE:

NH House committee hears testimony on bill proposing death penalty for killing 
children


A house committee debated a bill that would send those who knowingly cause the 
death of a child to death row.

"When you see a little casket like that, and he's laying in there with his 
little teddy bear because someone can rape him and break his neck and break his 
skull and video tape it and that doesn't deserve a death penalty?" said Jane 
Sylvestre, an aunt to a baby who was murdered.

It was an intense and emotional testimony from Sylvestre, the aunt of Baby SJ. 
Officials said Tommy Page crushed the boy's skull while sexually assaulting 
him.

A House committee began to weigh whether to categorize crimes like this one 
against children as capital murder on Tuesday. They heard powerful testimony 
from both sides.

"I wish it was for women, I wish it was for disabled," said one man who 
supported the bill. "Anyone that commits murder should get the death penalty."

Barbara Keshen, a former homicide prosecutor for the New Hampshire Attorney 
General's office, says mistakes are made when investigating crimes.

She spoke of 6-year-old Elizabeth Knapp of Hopkinton who was raped and murdered 
in her bed. The boyfriend of the girl's mother was one of the prime suspects 
until DNA linked another man to the case.

"If James Dale had worn a condom - I as I sit here today - I feel virtually 
certain that Richard Buchanan would have been found guilty and would likely had 
been sentenced to death," she said.

Sabrina Butler Porter, of Mississippi gave a first-hand account after being 
sentenced to death when her 9-month-old son died. Porter was later exonerated.

"I sit on death row 2 years, 9 months waiting to die - my son had heart 
problems, kidney problems and chronic bowl syndrome," she said. "This system 
doesn't work for everybody they made a mistake."

The committee recommended to wait to move forward because the Senate is also 
drafting a similar bill.

(source: nh1.com)

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

Don't expand the death penalty


To the Editor:

Expanding the death penalty is not what New Hampshire wants or needs. HB 351 is 
just an attempt to keep ineffective government policy in law. Why create 
another opportunity to squander millions of taxpayers' dollars?

The state has already spent more than $5 million on a single death penalty 
case. Just one case. Why? Because it is extremely expensive to prosecute and 
investigate a single death penalty case. Not to mention, the state has not 
executed a person since 1939, therefore, we clearly can live without the death 
penalty.

Attempting to expand the death penalty is foolish. Why attempt to create 
another opportunity to waste resources (financial and human,) when we're trying 
so desperately to eliminate wasteful spending habits? Just say no to HB 351! 
Besides, it is time for us to start looking for ways to get rid of useless laws 
and policies, like the death penalty law.

SELINA TAYLOR

Belmont Street

Manchester

(source: Letter to the editor, Union Leader)

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

NH should abolish death penalty


On Tuesday, February 7th the NH House Criminal Justice and Public Safety 
Committee will be holding public hearings on HB 351-FN to discuss expanding the 
offenses eligible for the death penalty to include knowingly causing death of a 
child.

A man I help was convicted of murdering a child under six, which was a capital 
crime in Texas. He has been on death row since 1999. However, the science 
around pediatric head injuries has evolved and his execution was stayed in 2015 
with the Court of Criminal Appeals sending his case back to the trial court. It 
is our hope that with the multiple experts willing to testify pro bono on his 
behalf he will be given the opportunity to have another trial - a more fair 
one.

Science is always evolving. We know that many people were wrongfully imprisoned 
before the use of DNA evidence. Some were executed. As Time magazine said, "the 
modern death penalty remains slow, costly and uncertain". Death penalty 
expansion is a major reason why innocent people are convicted and executed. The 
more people on death row increase the odds of mistakes happening.

New Hampshire needs to abolish the death penalty, not expand it. It is clearly 
not a deterrent and the costs of a capital trial far exceed non-capital murder 
trials (in California they found capital crimes are 6 times more expensive). 
Call or email your State Representative and ask them to reject any expansion of 
the death penalty here in New Hampshire.

Ann Wright

Lee

(source: Letter to the Editor, fosters.com)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Knoble case proves senselessness of death penalty


It has now been more than a week since the death penalty trial of Jeffrey 
Knoble was front-page news and he was instead sentenced to life in prison.

I am personally relieved that I am no longer reminded every day that we live in 
a state that continues to believe the cold-blooded, deliberate and premeditated 
killing of a person is an appropriate form of punishment.

I am personally relieved as a taxpayer that my tax dollars will not be wasted 
on imposing a punishment that is much more expensive and yet no more effective 
than life in prison.

I am personally relieved that the family of the victim will not need to relive 
their loss every time the death sentence is appealed and that the mother of 
Knoble will not need to plead for her son's life in the penalty phase of the 
trial.

I am personally relieved that Knoble will no longer have the courtroom stage to 
act the part of an arrogant, violent psychopath. If someone who acted as 
despicable and nonredeemable as Knoble does not get the death penalty, how can 
District Attorney John Morganelli believe it is still necessary to keep it for 
the worst of the worst?

David Rose

Easton

(source: Letter to the Editor, Express-Times)






FLORIDA:

Death Penalty Fix Moves Forward In Florida Senate


Then Rep. Randolph Bracy (D-Ocoee) debating on the House floor. Now as a 
senator, Bracy chairs the Criminal Justice Committee.

Senate Criminal Justice Chairman Randolph Bracy (D-Ocoee) wants a more 
permanent death penalty fix. But his committee has little interest in 
revisiting such a contentious issue.

The Florida Legislature seems ready to require unanimous sentences for the 
death penalty. But even with that fix, Florida's procedures remain in a dubious 
position. Sen. Randolph Bracy filed, but quickly withdrew, an amendment pushing 
the courts to offer new hearings for more people on death row.

"My sense is that the majority of the Legislature just wants to deal with the 
12-0 verdict of a jury," Bracy said after the hearing, "and I don't think 
there's an appetite to go past that."

Florida's high court took the unusual step of establishing a cut off for new 
penalty hearings tied to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. Defense attorneys 
are bringing well over a hundred appeals for clients who didn't make the cut 
off.

(source: WFSU news)






MONTANA:

Should Montana abolish the death penalty? see: 
http://www.greatfallstribune.com/story/opinion/2017/02/06/weeks-question-feb-6/97573656/

(source: Great Falls Tribune)






CALIFORNIA----foreign national may face death penalty

Aspiring Kiwi rapper could face US death sentence


An aspiring Auckland rapper may be executed in the US after being charged with 
1st-degree murder.

29-year-old Clinton Thinn was arrested in California after allegedly trying to 
rob a bank.

He is reported to have gone into the Chula Vista bank and used a flare gun and 
a hammer in the stick-up. He was captured during his attempt.

Fairfax reports a friend of Thinn as saying after being taken into custody he 
was involved in an incident at a prison, which allegedly led to another 
person's death.

Thinn has been charged with murder in the first degree, attempted robbery, 
assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a loaded firearm.

Thinn has not entered any plea and he isn't eligible for bail. If convicted he 
could face the death penalty.

Fairfax reports his friend, Chris Sims, as saying he's worried for Thinn, who's 
only a "Grammar boy from Parnell".

"I'm just afraid he's going to be in prison for the rest of his life, on death 
row," he says.

"I can't really believe it. I may never see Clinton again."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it is working with Thinn.

(source: newshub.co.nz)