[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CONN., GA., FLA., ALA., OHIO, MICH.

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 16



CONNECTICUT:

3 Lawmakers File Bills To Repeal Death Penalty


Lawmakers sometimes propose legislation even when there is little to no hope of 
getting it passed, which is what 3 Republican legislators are doing this year 
with death penalty revival bills.

The state Supreme Court in 2015 ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, and 
issued a similar judgment in 2016. Legislative leaders say they have no 
intention of debating the death penalty again this year and the issue is not 
expected to have a public hearing. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has vowed to veto any 
death penalty bill in the extremely unlikely event reaches his desk.

None of that has stopped Reps. Kevin Skulczyck, Kurt Vail and Rob Sampson from 
trying to keep the death penalty issue from being buried, legislatively 
speaking.

"I don't find it to be a waste of time," said Skulczyck, a Griswold resident 
who also represents 4 other eastern Connecticut communities. Skulczyck 
explained he felt compelled to submit a death penalty bill because of requests 
from people in his district, an area still haunted by the memories of serial 
killer Michael Ross.

Ross was executed in 2005 for the murders of 6 women. He was the last 
individual put to death under Connecticut's capital punishment law.

"In my district, there is still a legacy of Michael Ross there," said 
Skulczyck, who is serving his first term in the General Assembly. "I believe 
the most heinous of crimes should have capital punishment."

Sampson is a four-term lawmaker from Wolcott who is also chairman of the 
General Assembly's Republican Conservative Caucus. He said he repeatedly 
introduced bills to reinstate the death penalty ever since the legislature 
voted in 2012 to repeal capital punishment, but to keep it for those already on 
death row. That law was ruled unconstitutional by the courts.

Sampson said he keeps putting in death penalty bills "as a reminder that some 
of us are not over that. ... The death penalty has overwhelming support among 
our constituents."

But a 2015 Quinnipiac University Poll found that 48 % of Americans preferred 
life without parole for people convicted of murder, while 43 % of those 
surveyed still backed the death penalty.

In last year's 4-3 decision, Connecticut's high court found the death penalty 
"would violate the state constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual 
punishment" and that the ultimate sanction against convicted killers "no longer 
comports with contemporary standards of decency."

Sampson believes that life in prison is too good for killers like Joshua 
Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes, who were convicted of the Cheshire murders of 
the Petit family. "Those 2 were just animals," said Sampson.

William Petit, who survived that attack and was elected as a GOP representative 
last year, has said he doesn't intend to campaign for reinstatement of the 
death penalty even though he disagrees with its repeal.

Vail failed to respond to requests for comment.

Most lawmakers would probably agree with the House chairman of the judiciary 
committee, Rep. William Tong, that the death penalty is not on the state's 
agenda.

"It doesn't make sense to consider that issue," said Tong, a Stamford Democrat 
whose committee has jurisdiction over criminal punishment matters. "We went 
through a huge debate on this a few years ago. At the end of the day, there's 
really nothing more to be said once the Supreme Court has spoken."

Outside Connecticut, the death penalty debate is going strong. 31 states have 
capital punishment on their books, while 19 have outlawed it. 8 states are 
reportedly seeking to abolish the death penalty, while 4 - Rhode Island, New 
Jersey, New Hampshire and New Mexico - have legislation pending to either 
expand or restore capital punishment.

(source: Hartford Courant)






GEORGIA:

DA Seeks Death Penalty in Butts County Cold Case Murder ---- After nearly 20 
years, Butts County officials say they're pursuing the death penalty against a 
man they say killed a woman in 1999.


Towalida Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jonathan Adams tells WGXA-TV 
(http://bit.ly/2kTedAo ) that Fuquah Cashaw beat and strangled Heather Davidson 
to death. Her body was found in October 1999, her larynx was fractured and she 
suffered blunt force injuries to her head.

In 2005, a Combined DNA Index System match of DNA found in Davidson's mouth 
came back to Cashaw, who was being held at the Cook County Adult Probation 
Center on unrelated charges. Cashaw was arrested in Davidson's slaying in 2015 
and was indicted on counts of malice murder, felony murder and kidnapping with 
bodily injury.

Tuesday, Adams said he will pursue the death penalty against Cashaw.

(source: Associated Press)






FLORIDA:

House panel approves death penalty fix


Florida is 1 step closer to being able to sentence people to death.

The House Criminal Justice Subcommittee on Wednesday unanimously passed a bill 
that would require unanimous jury recommendations before defendants could be 
sentenced to death. A similar bill in a Senate committee passed last week.

Legislation this year is necessary to reinstate Florida's death penalty.

The Florida Supreme Court last year found unconstitutional a law that would 
have required at least 10 of 12 jurors to recommend death.

That short-lived law was in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that struck 
down the previous law, which required only a majority decision from a jury in 
order to recommend the death penalty. That decision came in the middle of last 
year's legislative session, so legislators tried a quick fix.

Right now, Florida technically does not have the death penalty. This has caused 
a backlog of cases as prosecutors try to delay trials until the death penalty 
in Florida is fixed.

"We have 50 cases ready to be tried in the state of Florida," said Buddy 
Jacobs, a lobbyist who works for state prosecutors. "This is a real crisis."

In South Florida, the death penalty snafu most recently surfaced in the ongoing 
murder trial of Fidel Lopez, a Sunrise man accused of disemboweling his 
girlfriend in 2015. Because of the current status of the law, the judge in that 
case barred prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. An appeals court 
allowed prosecutors to at least make an argument for the death penalty, putting 
the trial on hold temporarily.

The House bill, filed by Rep. Chris Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, would make the jury 
recommendation portion of Florida???s death penalty law the same as the other 
27 states that require a unanimous jury recommendation of death to impose the 
death penalty. 3 other states have death penalties imposed by judges without 
jury recommendations. The other 19 states have no death penalty.

Both the Senate and House versions of the bill face one more committee hearing 
next week. Assuming they pass, which is likely given the unanimous votes in the 
1st Senate and House committee hearings, the bills will then be ready for floor 
votes when the legislative session begins on March 7.

Although House Democrats on the Criminal Justice Subcommittee voted for the 
bill, they expressed some reservations. According to anti-death penalty 
advocates who spoke before the committee, multiple studies that have shown the 
death penalty is generally imposed more often for minorities who commit the 
same offense under similar circumstances as white criminals.

"I would hope some of the comments that have been made, such as [a Florida 
legislative policy] study ... would be in place by the time the bill comes to 
the floor," said state Rep. Sharon Prichett, D-Miami Gardens.

Without a study weighing any inherent bias in Florida's death penalty, 
Pritchett said she would probably not support the bill when it is up for a vote 
before the full House, where the bill is likely to pass.

(source: Sun Sentinel)






ALABAMA:

House Judiciary to debate death penalty bill


A legislative committee will debate a bill to prevent judges from imposing a 
death sentence when a jury has recommended life imprisonment.

The House Judiciary Committee will hold a public hearing Wednesday afternoon on 
the legislation to do away with judicial override in capital murder cases. 
Currently in Alabama, a jury recommends a sentence of death or life 
imprisonment in capital murder cases, but the judge hands down the final 
decision.

The bill by Tuscaloosa Rep. Chris England would prevent a judge from overriding 
the jury's wishes. It would also require all 12 jurors to agree to impose the 
death penalty.

The Senate Judiciary Committee last week narrowly passed a similar bill.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Jury would have final say on death penalty under House bill


A bill that would change Alabama law to give juries the final word on whether 
to impose a death sentence or life in prison won approval today in the House 
Judiciary Committee.

Under current law, judges can override the sentence recommendations of juries 
in capital cases. No other state allows that.

A bill by Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, would say that juries determine the 
sentences in capital cases, which are either death or life in prison without 
the possibility of parole.

England's bill would also require all 12 jurors to hand down a death sentence.

Current law requires 10 of 12 jurors to recommend death.

"To me, it never really made sense that we require unanimity when we're 
convicting a person, but we don't require unanimity when we're putting that 
person to death," said England, who is a lawyer.

The committee approved England's bill on a 10-2 vote, sending it to the full 
House.

The committee rejected an amendment by Rep. Jim Hill, R-Moody, that would have 
retained the threshold of 10 jurors for a death sentence.

Hill, a retired circuit judge, voted in favor of England's bill.

Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a similar bill by Sen. Dick 
Brewbaker, R-Montgomery.

Brewbaker's bill does not change the threshold of 10 jurors to recommend death.

A report released in 2011 by the Equal Justice Initiative found that Alabama 
judges had overridden jury recommendations in capital cases 107 times since 
1976.

In 92 % of those cases, judges had overridden jury verdicts of life 
imprisonment to impose death sentences.

Judges are elected in Alabama. England did not say judges issue death sentences 
for political reasons. But he said said ending the authority of judges to 
override juries and requiring unanimous jury agreement on death sentences would 
improve public confidence in the judicial system.

Voting in favor of England's bill were Reps. Mike Jones, R-Andalusia; Hill; 
Thad McClammy, D-Montgomery; Paul Beckman, R-Prattville; Merika Coleman, 
D-Pleasant Grove; Dickie Drake, R-Leeds; Allen Farley, R-McCalla; Juandalynn 
Givan, D-Birmingham; and Mike Holmes, R-Wetumpka.

Voting against it were Reps. Matt Fridy, R-Montevallo and Phillip Pettus, 
R-Killen.

Rep. David Faulkner, R-Mountain Brook, abstained.

(source: al.com)






OHIO:

Man who faces death penalty in death of Cleveland teen Alianna DeFreeze to 
appear in court


The man accused of abducting and slaying 14-year-old Alianna DeFreeze is set to 
make his 1st court appearance since a grand jury indicted him on aggravated 
murder and other charges.

Christopher Whitaker faces the death penalty if convicted in the Jan. 26 
killing. Officials have said he abducted Alianna from a bus stop near Kinsman 
Road and East 93rd Street in Cleveland. He's also charged with rape, 
kidnapping, aggravated burglary, abuse of a corpse and other charges.

He is being held in jail on $3 million bond.

His Thursday court appearance is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Cleveland.com 
will will stream the hearing on Facebook Live.

Whitaker raped, beat and stabbed Alianna before she died, according to court 
records. He was arrested Feb. 2 after the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner 
identified him through DNA evidence, police said.

Alianna, who suffered from mental health issues, was reported missing last 
month after she did not show up to school on Jan. 26.

Police say Whitaker kidnapped her at East 93rd Street and Carton Avenue, then 
took her to a vacant house around the corner on Fuller Avenue. Police officers 
found her dead days later inside the home.

(source: cleveland.com)






MICHIGAN----new book

Fighting the Death Penalty: A Fifty-Year Journey of Argument and Persuasion, by 
Eugene G. Wanger


Michigan is the only state in the country that has a death penalty prohibition 
in its constitution - Eugene G. Wanger's compelling arguments against capital 
punishment is a large reason it is there. The 40 pieces in this volume are 
writings created or used by the author, who penned the prohibition clause, 
during his 50 years as a death penalty abolitionist. His extraordinary 
background in forensics, law, and political activity as constitutional 
convention delegate and co-chairman of the Michigan Committee Against Capital 
Punishment has produced a remarkable collection.

It is not only a 50-year history of the anti-death penalty argument in America, 
it also is a detailed and challenging example of how the argument against 
capital punishment may be successfully made.

(source: James R. Acker, Distinguished Teaching Professor, School of Criminal 
Justice, State University of New York at Albany, and coeditor, America's 
Experiment with Capital Punishment)