[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----N.C., GA., FLA., OHIO, ARK., MO., NEB., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 1




NORTH CAROLINA:

NC child killer asks NC high court to overturn death penalty


One of North Carolina's most infamous killers is asking the state's highest 
court to overturn his convictions because his attorneys shouldn't have told 
police where they could find his 5-year-old victim.

The state Supreme Court hears arguments on Jan. 9 from Mario Andrette McNeill's 
lawyers. They're asking the court to throw out McNeill's convictions and death 
sentence for murder and other crimes.

A Cumberland County jury deliberated for less than an hour in May 2013 before 
deciding that he should die for the 2009 death of 5-year-old Shaniya Davis.

Shaniya's body was found 6 days after her mother reported her missing from 
their Fayetteville mobile home in a remote kudzu patch. Searchers failed to 
find the girl's body until McNeill's lawyers told police where to look.

(source: Associated Press)






GEORGIA:

Georgia led nation in number of executions in 2016


Georgia led the nation in the number of executions carried out in 2016 by 
putting 9 men to death.

But as the number of executions has been high in Georgia in the past 2 years, 
the number of people on death row has shrunk and no new death sentences were 
imposed last year.

The last person sentenced to death in Georgia was Augusta resident Adrian 
Hargrove, 39, in March 2014. 6 years earlier, Hargrove stabbed to death 
pregnant teen Allyson Pederson and her mother and stepfather, Sharon and Andrew 
Hartley.

Fewer prosecutors seek death sentences now, District Attorney Ashley Wright 
said. When she filed notice of her intention to seek a death sentence if Steven 
Murray is convicted of murder for the slaying of a 71-year-old priest this 
year, it was only the 2nd death penalty notice filed in Georgia in 2016, Wright 
said.

2 changes in the law account for some of the decline - since 1993, jurors in 
death penalty cases have the option of imposing a sentence of life in prison 
without the possibility of parole, and since 2010, prosecutors could seek a 
sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole without first 
seeking a death sentence.

A look at the sentencing dates for the 58 men on Georgia's death row currently 
shows the effects. 27 of the inmates were sentenced to death in the 1990s and 
18 were sentenced in the 2000s. But only 5 death row inmates were sentenced 
since 2010.

When a prosecutor seeks to prosecute a homicide as a death penalty case, time 
slows to a crawl. It is not uncommon for cases to take several years to make it 
to trial, and if there is a conviction and death sentence, decades can pass 
before appeals are completed. And over the years, more death row inmates have 
had their sentences vacated and re-sentenced to life in prison than executed.

Of the men executed in 2016, the years spent on death row ran from nine years 
by Steven Spears, who waived his appeals, to 36 years for Brandon Jones, who 
was 72 years old when executed Feb. 3.

While few people have received death sentences in the past decade, the majority 
of Georgia's death row inmates are in the final stage of their appeal process, 
the federal habeas corpus. 30 of the 58 inmates are in the final rounds, 
although the final round can take years to litigate. Virgil Presnell has been 
on death row since 1976 for the rape and murder of a Cobb County child.

Another inmate with a pending federal habeas corpus petition is Reinaldo 
Rivera, a self-confessed serial killer sentenced to death in Richmond County 
Superior Court in 2004. His case is before U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall.

A 3rd death row inmate from Augusta, Robert Arrington, was denied relief in his 
state habeas petition in December. He can appeal through the federal habeas 
corpus next. Arrington was sentenced to death in 2004 for the slaying of 
46-year-old Kathy Hutchens in 2001. Arrington had previously served time in 
prison for killing his wife.

(source: The Augusta Chronicle)






FLORIDA:

Palm Beach County's homicide rate drops sharply in 2016


Palm Beach County saw a sharp decrease in homicides in 2016 after experiencing 
one of it deadliest years in 2015.

The county saw 87 confirmed homicides in 2016, down from 109 in 2015, according 
to a Palm Beach Post database. It was the 2nd-lowest total in the last 5 years, 
behind 2011, when there were 84 homicides.

Officials called the reduction encouraging, but cautioned that the numbers do 
not necessarily indicate a specific trend toward fewer violent crimes.

"It's cyclical, and anybody who says there's any 1 reason (for the decrease) 
would probably be wrong," said Mike Edmondson, spokesman for the Palm Beach 
County State Attorney's Office.

The final day of the year brought an early-morning Palm Beach County Sheriff's 
deputy-involved shooting that led to the final homicide of 2016. The Florida 
Department of Law Enforcement is investigating that incident, which was the 3rd 
fatal deputy-involved shooting in Palm Beach County for the year.

The decrease in homicides included a double-digit drop for West Palm Beach, 
where there were 10 homicides in 2016, compared with 23 in 2015.

City police officials focused on changes in how neighborhoods were patrolled, 
particularly during the summer months after 10 people were killed during the 
summer of 2015.

"We believe the decrease in homicides is a direct correlation to increased 
patrols, (undercover) activity/arrests, community programs and resources, and 
our partnerships with federal task forces," said Detective Lori Colombino, 
spokeswoman for West Palm Beach police.

Of the city's 10 homicides, 8 cases remain open. However, detectives believe 
suspects arrested in unrelated crimes may have been involved in homicides this 
year and last, Colombino said.

Among the unsolved cases is the murder of former American Heritage School 
football star Greg Bryant Jr. Bryant, 21, died after being shot early the 
morning of May 7 while driving along southbound Interstate 95.

Police say Bryant and a friend, Maurice Grover, 25, were returning to Delray 
Beach from a night at Sugar Daddy's Adult Cabaret in suburban West Palm Beach 
when they were targeted by an unknown gunman near the southbound Forest Hill 
Boulevard exit. Investigators are still trying to interview witnesses, 
Colombino said.

More than 80 % of those killed in 2016 fell victim to gun violence. More than 
1/2 - 47 - of the 87 victims were between the ages of 18 and 30. 13 were 
between ages 13 and 19.

3 victims were under the age of 5, the youngest being 11-month-old Kalobe 
Williams, who died Christmas Eve after falling off a couch in a home in Boynton 
Beach, according to authorities.

The parents of 1-year-old Tayla Aleman were charged in October after 
investigators alleged that the couple alleged allowed the child to starve to 
death. Alejandro Aleman and Kristen Meyer Aleman have been charged them with 
1st-degree murder. The State Attorney's Office is seeking the death penalty in 
both of their cases.

In August, 3-year-old Martavious Carn and a 24-year-old man were shot to death 
in the parking lot of Mystic Woods Apartment complex in Riviera Beach.

The deaths were among 11 across Riviera Beach in 2016, down from 13. However, a 
recent wave of shootings that included the murder of a 15-year-old girl 
prompted Mayor Thomas Masters to issue calls for checkpoints and curfews in the 
city.

There were 11 female victims, including 6 who were killed in acts of a domestic 
violence. In one case, Palm Beach Gardens police alleged in April that David 
Arthur killed his wife, 57-year-old Kathleen Dunleavy, then set the couple's 
residence on fire.

Mary Huhta, the year's oldest murder victim at age 79, was killed in May in her 
Singer Island apartment. Her husband, James Huhta, confessed to the crime, 
according to Riviera Beach.

Edmondson said domestic cases are among the most difficult for law enforcement 
to predict and curtail.

"There you have crimes of passion," he said.

Edmondson said that State Attorney's Office investigators have worked closely 
with local and federal agencies to address violent crimes. But cooperation from 
the public remains one of the biggest challenges in solving and prosecuting 
murder cases, he said.

"1 issue that remains a challenge is victim witness intimidation and the 
reluctance of the community to come forward in a murder case," he said.

"(For) law enforcement, that's the most frustrating aspect is knowing there is 
a witness to a murder and they don't come forward for a range of reasons."

(source: Palm Beach Post)






OHIO:

Ohio Can Keep Execution Drug Supplier Secret From Death Row Inmates


A federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Ohio can keep information about 
its execution drug supplier a secret in litigation challenging the state's 
execution procedures.

In the 2-1 ruling from the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Judge 
Eugene Siler wrote that a district court judge had not abused his discretion in 
shielding the state from having to turn over information about its execution 
drug suppliers to the death row inmates who are challenging the state's lethal 
injection process. Judge Alan Norris joined Siler's opinion for the court.

The ruling comes as Ohio is attempting to restart executions in the coming year 
after a several-year gap. Ohio has not held an execution since it put Dennis 
McGuire to death in January 2014. One witness to the execution described how 
McGuire "struggled and gasped audibly for air" even after the procedure began.

Ohio has since changed its protocol - although it will continue to use the 
controversial sedative, midazolam, that has been the subject of litigation - 
and is aiming to hold an execution in the first months of 2017. (A hearing on 
that new protocol is set for Jan. 3.)

Siler wrote that the district court was not wrong to grant the order protecting 
the identity of drug suppliers after finding there would be a "particularized 
harm to the drug manufacturers and Ohio's capability to perform executions" if 
the information was turned over to the inmates as part of their lawsuit.

"As the district court's findings support, but for the protective order, 
Defendants will suffer an undue burden and prejudice in effectuating Ohio's 
execution protocol and practices," he continued.

The appeals court in November had upheld a constitutional challenge to Ohio's 
execution secrecy law itself. The question before the court in Friday's ruling 
was whether the state could avoid having to turn over such information in 
federal court litigation.

"Although knowledge of the facilities and handlers of the drugs could inform 
Plaintiffs' testing methodologies, the harm presented by identification of 
those intimately involved in an execution outweighs the speculative benefit of 
complete understanding of an industry already heavily regulated," the court 
concluded, upholding the validity of the protective order.

Judge Jane Stranch dissented, writing that the district court had not properly 
followed the federal rules regarding when evidence must be turned over to 
opposing parties in litigation. She found the alleged harm the state and 
anonymous drug suppliers presented to the court regarding risk of harassment 
and violence to be "too speculative to validate this protective order."

In detailing the claims presented by the state, Stranch took particular aim at 
the state's "threat assessment" expert, Lawrence Cunningham, who was the 
subject of a BuzzFeed News investigation earlier this year.

"Cunningham's testimony was undoubtedly speculative. His methods for 
determining whether there was a security risk consisted mainly of surfing the 
internet, and attempting to extrapolate the existence of potential threats in 
the death penalty arena by looking at advocacy regarding other issues: 
abortion, animal rights, and the morning-after pill," she wrote. "Cunningham 
himself stated that he was unaware of any known threat against anyone involved 
in implementation of the death penalty in Ohio, and unaware of threats against 
any compounding pharmacy that supplies Ohio."

(source: techfeatured.com)






ARKANSAS:

State says it hasn't found new execution-drug seller


An Arkansas prison system spokesman said Friday that the state doesn't have a 
replacement for a lethal injection drug that's set to expire today, the latest 
obstacle in the state's effort to resume executions after more than 11 years.

Department of Correction spokesman Solomon Graves confirmed that the state's 
supply of potassium chloride - 1 of 3 drugs used in lethal injections - expires 
Sunday. Graves declined to say whether officials are working to find a 
replacement. "Our current supply remains unchanged," Graves said.

Arkansas hasn't put an inmate to death since 2005, and executions are on hold 
while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a request to weigh in on a ruling 
upholding the state's death penalty law.

The state Supreme Court in June reversed a lower court's decision against the 
state's execution secrecy law, which requires the Department of Correction to 
conceal the maker, seller and other information about the execution drugs. 
Justices have stayed that ruling while the inmates appeal to the nation's high 
court.

Death row inmates challenging the law say using the drugs could lead to cruel 
and unusual punishment and that the state reneged on an earlier pledge to share 
information about the drugs.

Arkansas has 35 inmates on death row. Gov. Asa Hutchinson set execution dates 
in 2015 for the 8 inmates involved in the lawsuit before the executions were 
put on hold by the state Supreme Court during the challenge to the secrecy law.

(source: Associated Press)






MISSOURI:

Bobby Bourne's attorneys file more challenges to death penalty ----Trial for 
man accused of killing Adriaunna Horton set to begin in July


Attorneys for the accused killer of a Golden City girl have filed motions 
seeking to force prosecutors to drop their intent to seek the death penalty and 
challenging the constitutionality of Missouri's sentencing scheme in capital 
murder cases.

Bobby D. Bourne Jr., 37, of Lockwood, is accused of abducting 12-year-old 
Adriaunna Horton on Aug. 19, 2013, from a park in Golden City and strangling 
her. He is scheduled to be tried in July on charges of first-degree murder and 
child kidnapping. The state filed notice of its intent to seek the death 
penalty in January 2014.

Defense attorneys Thomas Jacquinot and Patrick Berrigan have been laying the 
groundwork for appeals should their client be convicted of 1st-degree murder 
and sentenced to die.

Circuit Judge James Journey heard arguments in February 2016 on a more general 
defense motion challenging the constitutionality of the state's death penalty 
law. The judge had indicated prior to that hearing that he does not believe he 
has the authority as trial judge to be overturning what higher courts have 
determined is the law but agreed to hear some testimony and arguments on the 
issue.

A new defense motion filed in December specifically challenges the state's 
sentencing procedure in death penalty cases, arguing that it violates 
principles established by U.S. Supreme Court decisions in cases originating in 
Maryland, Arizona, North Carolina and Florida.

For example, in the Maryland case, the nation's high court struck down an 
instruction governing the sentencing phase of a death-penalty trial that might 
be interpreted as limiting jurors to consideration of only those mitigating 
circumstances that all 12 jurors agreed were present in a case. The court found 
it to be "the height of arbitrariness" if 1 juror's belief that a particular 
mitigating circumstance was not present could prevent the entire jury from 
weighing that circumstance in their deliberations as to whether a defendant 
should receive the death penalty or a life sentence.

Bourne's attorneys argue that Missouri's sentencing procedure "suffers from the 
same defect."

While state law provides for a sentence of life without parole if jurors 
conclude that mitigating circumstances outweigh the aggravating circumstances 
in a case, the Missouri Supreme Court has ruled that the statute requires 
unanimity of jurors for that to happen. Otherwise, jury deadlock is declared, 
and the decision is passed to the trial judge, effectively bypassing a 
defendant's right to trial by jury, Bourne's attorneys argue in their motion.

In a separate motion filed last month, the defense asked the judge to compel 
the prosecution to choose between proceeding with the intent to seek the death 
penalty at trial and having the court instruct jurors at that trial on the 
statute regarding voluntary intoxication.

The defense maintains that Bourne was on "a severe hydrocodone and 
methamphetamine binge" at the time of the girl's abduction and slaying.

The motion reads: "In the preceding weeks, he was restless, angry and difficult 
to calm down. His behavior had become increasingly more erratic. His drug use 
was so extensive that he had not slept for 3 nights leading up to (Adriaunna 
Horton's) disappearance.1 or 2 nights before the incident, Mr. Bourne 
experienced hallucinations due to drug use."

The state's pattern jury instruction on voluntary intoxication as a factor in 
criminal cases allows jurors to convict the accused of offenses committed while 
under the influence of drugs or alcohol if presence of the required intent and 
mental deliberation might be inferred from the same acts committed by a sober 
person.

The motion argues that the U.S. Constitution requires that before a defendant 
can be sentenced to death, he must be shown to have acted "in a knowing and 
deliberate mental state" in taking the life of another. In the estimation of 
the defense, the jury instruction weakens that required finding by creating 
"the legal fiction that a drunk man is a sober man unless someone forced the 
liquor down him."

Trial dates

Jury selection in Bobby Bourne Jr.'s trial on murder charges is currently set 
to begin July 10 in Buchanan County. The jurors chosen there will be brought to 
Barton County for the trial with testimony to begin July 17 in Lamar.

(source: Joplin Globe)



NEBRASKA:

Nebraska's new lethal injection protocol comes under fire at hearing


Opponents of the death penalty predicted Friday that a new lethal injection 
protocol being sought by Gov. Pete Ricketts will mire the state in more 
lawsuits rather than revive capital punishment.

"This is only going to trigger more litigation that the state will not win," 
said Spike Eickholt of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska. Eickholt 
was among 20 people who testified during a public hearing Friday concerning a 
new execution protocol drawn up by the Ricketts administration to make it 
easier to obtain the necessary drugs for an execution.

All but 2 of those testifying criticized the proposal. It was lambasted as 
violating Nebraska's public meeting laws, allowing unlicensed "pharmaceutical 
chemists" to participate and permitting the purchase of drugs from secret and 
shady sources.

"It looks to me that a (Corrections Department) director could buy drugs in a 
back alley," said Dr. Gregg Wright of Lincoln, a former state health director.

Friday's hearing was the 1st step in reviving Nebraska's stalled death penalty. 
The state hasn't carried out an execution in 19 years, and it has not been able 
to obtain the necessary drugs to carry out a lethal injection execution.

2 people testified in support of the new lethal injection protocol, and both 
were leaders in the campaign that overturned at the ballot box in November the 
2015 repeal of capital punishment by the Nebraska Legislature.

1 supporter, Pierce County Sheriff Rick Eberhardt, who gathered hundreds of 
signatures for the successful referendum drive, said that voters last month 
delivered a "work order" to state leaders.

"They are instructing our leaders to find a workable way to carry out a death 
sentence," Eberhardt said.

Ricketts, in a statement after the hearing, called Friday's session "1 step 
toward enacting the will of the people of Nebraska on the death penalty."

He added that his administration would review comments from the hearing before 
finalizing the proposed regulation.

The new protocol would give the state corrections director wide latitude to 
choose the type and source of drugs being used, and to keep that information 
confidential.

The secrecy provisions brought objections from a variety of groups and 
individuals, including Media of Nebraska, the ACLU, the state's Tea Party and 
Nebraska's most ardent opponent of the death penalty, State Sen. Ernie Chambers 
of Omaha.

"Anything that the government does on behalf of the people should be done in 
plain sight," Chambers said.

He vowed to introduce another bill to repeal the death penalty when the State 
Legislature begins its 2017 session next week, and promised it would be better 
drafted than the "slapdash, loosey-goosey" proposal for the new lethal 
injection protocol.

Nebraska's current protocol was adopted in 2009 after the state switched from 
the electric chair to lethal injection. It calls for the use of 3 drugs.

But the state has been thwarted in its attempt to obtain them, contributing to 
the Legislature's vote in 2015 to repeal the death penalty.

Shawn Renner of Media of Nebraska, which represents the state's major 
newspapers and broadcasters, said the new protocol was directly contrary to the 
state's public records laws by allowing the state corrections director to pick 
and choose what records will be released and which ones will be withheld.

Renner called the proposal "illegal" and predicted it would be overturned in 
court.

Others said that the lack of transparency could lead to the use of impure and 
suspect drugs, which could result in botched executions or courts tossing out 
lethal injection as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

There have been 47 botched executions since 1982, according to a study by 
University of Colorado professor Michael Radelet, and 35 of those involved 
lethal injection.

More than one testifier pointed out that an open process was needed, given 
Nebraska's track record in obtaining lethal injection drugs. In 2015 the state 
lost $54,000 when it purchased 2 lethal injection drugs from a broker in India, 
then was blocked from importing the drugs.

Joni Cover of the Nebraska Pharmacists Association said that while the 
association was not taking a position supporting or opposing capital 
punishment, it was opposing the new protocol as having multiple flaws.

She asked that a requirement to have a "pharmaceutical chemist' as part of the 
execution team be stricken. Such chemists are unlicensed and lack the education 
or legal authority to prepare, compound or administer drugs, Cover said. In 
addition, the state corrections director lacks the authority to write a medical 
order for lethal injection drugs, she said, and the secrecy surrounding the 
drugs could put Nebraska in violation of state and federal laws about how such 
drugs should be handled.

10 inmates sit on Nebraska's death row.

It may take several weeks before state corrections officials decide if the 
proposed protocol should be approved or revised.

The attorney general must also review and OK the rules, and the governor must 
sign them, before they take effect.

(source: The Smithville Herald)






WASHINGTON----stay of impending execution

Child killer's execution put on hold


A man who raped and murdered a child 21 years ago will not face execution later 
this month, Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday.

Clark Richard Elmore, 65, incarcerated at Washington State Penitentiary in 
Walla Walla, was given a reprieve by Inslee, who exercised his authority under 
the state constitution to halt Elmore's execution on Jan. 19.

The action will stay Elmore's execution until the reprieve is lifted by Inslee 
or his successor.

Inslee, who was re-elected to a second term in November, pledged 2 years ago to 
halt executions in Washington state while he is in office. Elmore is 1 of 9 men 
death row at the penitentiary, where inmates sentenced to death are confined 
and executions are carried out.

In the warrant of reprieve for Elmore, Inslee cited "serious concerns about the 
use of capital punishment in the state of Washington. Unequal application 
across the state, lack of clear deterrent value, high frequency of sentence 
reversal on appeal and rising costs are some of the troubling factors."

"The State's 2 most important responsibilities in addressing criminal justice 
issues are to protect the public and to ensure equal justice under the law, and 
I do not believe the use of capital punishment effectively satifies these 
reponsibilities," the warrant said.

In a release, Inslee called on the Legislature to end the state's death penalty 
"once and for all."

Elmore pleaded guilty on July 6, 1995 to 1 count of aggravated 1st-degree 
murder and 1 count 2nd-degree rape for the rape and murder of Kristy Lynn 
Ohnstad, the 14-year old daughter of his live-in girlfriend in Whatcom County 
on April 17, 1995.

He is the 2nd-longest-serving inmate on death row at Washington State 
Penitentiary. Jonathan Lee Gentry, 60, is the longest serving, convicted in 
1991 of fatally bludgeoning 12-year-old Cassie Holden near Bremerton in Kitsap 
County on June 13, 1988.

The last person to be executed in Washington was Cal Coburn Brown, who was put 
to death by lethal injection Sept. 10, 2010 for the rape, torture and murder of 
21-year-old Holly Washa of Burien.

(source: Union-Bulletin)

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

Governor's quiet reprieve of death-row murderer draws ire from many directions


Gov. Jay Inslee signed his first reprieve of a death-row convict Thursday, part 
of his moratorium on Washington's death penalty.

Inslee signed the reprieve for Clark Richard Elmore, who had been convicted of 
raping and killing his girlfriend's 14-year-old daughter, Kristy Ohnstad, in 
Bellingham in 1995. Elmore will remain in prison for life.

But how the reprieve became public Thursday drew scrutiny from open-government 
advocates and others.

The governor announced the moratorium in 2014, saying the way the death penalty 
is applied is too flawed to let more executions go forward. Since executions 
are still part of state law, any reprieves require that Inslee exercise his 
authority as governor.

On Thursday, the governor's office issued no news release about Elmore's 
reprieve and posted nothing on social media. Nor did Inslee's office notify 
members of the Capitol press corps.

The governor's office instead gave a statement to The Bellingham Herald, which 
posted a story at about 4 p.m. Thursday. Elmore's execution had been scheduled 
for Jan. 19. Inslee had the options of granting the reprieve, commuting 
Elmore's sentence to life without parole or allowing the execution.

While an Inslee spokeswoman said the governor's office didn't hide anything, 
the move looked to others like a way to bury potentially unpopular news.

"It's certainly not illegal, what he did," said David Domke, chairman of the 
University of Washington's Department of Communication. "But it is 
intentionally managing the news environment."

"It smacks more of a Friday-night news dump by a president than it does of a 
governor in a state where we're supposed to take government transparency pretty 
seriously," added Domke.

The governor's office has issued news releases in recent months ranging from 
serious topics such as national health-care policy and the fatal shooting of a 
Tacoma police officer, to lighter items, like an invitation to a 
Ghostbusters-themed Halloween party at the Capitol building. The office decided 
not to issue a news release on Elmore's reprieve because the action was "right 
in line with what the governor was talking about for the last couple of years" 
on the death penalty, said Inslee spokeswoman Tara Lee.

"It's not like we were hiding anything," said Lee, adding later that a 
statement was available for any reporter who asked for it.

Lee described her office's decision not to notify the Olympia press corps - 
which covers the governor and state Legislature - as an oversight.

On high-interest subjects such as the death penalty, it's a good idea for 
elected officials to err on the side of public disclosure, according to Toby 
Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government.

"There's no law that requires that; it's just a fundamental principle of good 
governance," said Nixon, a member of the Kirkland City Council.

Last week, Inslee met with Whatcom County Prosecutor Dave McEachran, who had 
asked to meet with the governor when Elmore's appeals ran out. The U.S. Supreme 
Court in October declined to hear his appeal.

For about a half-hour, McEachran said, he implored the governor to focus on how 
the teenage girl suffered and to allow Elmore's execution.

(source: Seattle Times)






USA:

Appeals court upholds gang member's conviction


A federal appeals court has upheld the racketeering, conspiracy, murder and 
attempted murder convictions for street gang kingpin Juan "Tito" Briseno.

A U.S. District Court jury found Briseno, 25, of Hammond, guilty last year of 
participating in the shooting deaths of5 men: Luis Ortiz, Miguel A. Colon, 
Michael Sessum, Miguel Mejias and Latroy Howard between 2007 and 2010.

Briseno faced the death penalty because the government alleged the homicides 
were part of the gang's racketeering activity, which included selling marijuana 
and cocaine.

But the jury recommended after a 3-week trial that Briseno be sentenced to life 
in prison without the possibility of release. U.S. District Court Chief Judge 
Philip P. Simon sentenced Briseno to life.

Briseno appealed his conviction on grounds that inappropriate arguments by an 
assistant U.S. attorney and the judge's inappropriate instructions to the jury 
denied him a fair trial.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled Briseno received a fair 
trial.

Briseno was one of 24 members of the Imperial Gangsters, who primarily operated 
out of East Chicago and were instructed to shoot gang rivals on sight during a 
campaign of intimidation. 22 gang members entered guilty pleas. Another, 
Richard Reyes, was found guilty at trial.

(source: nwitimes.com)

**********

Sixth Circuit allows lethal injection drug makers to remain anonymous


The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] on Friday 
ruled [opinion, PDF] that manufacturers of drugs used for lethal injections may 
remain anonymous in Ohio. The lawsuit, Fears v. Kasich, was brought by death 
row inmates who claimed that barring discovery that would lead to the identity 
of such manufacturers unlawfully prevented prosecution against those who 
administer lethal injections in the state, including Ohio Governor John Kasich. 
The inmates claimed that a protective order barring such discovery allowed for 
"unknown laboratories using unknown testing protocols to evaluate drugs 
manufactured or compounded by an anonymous source," thereby preventing a 
demonstration of potential harm caused by the use of such drugs. In a 2-1 
decision, the justices disagreed and affirmed the lower court's ruling that the 
state's interest in protecting the drug manufacturers from anti-death 
penalty-related violence outweighed the inmates' concerns. In a dissenting 
opinion, Justice Jane Stranch noted that the evidence that such a threat 
existed was limited to a single email sent to a pharmacy from an anti-death 
penalty advocate in Oklahoma.

Capital punishment remains a controversial issue in the US and worldwide. In 
November the legal status of the death penalty was upheld by state referendum 
in Oklahoma, Nebraska and California. In September executions in Oklahoma were 
put on a 2-year hiatus so Oklahoma can reevaluate its lethal injection 
procedures following a botched execution and several drug mix-ups in the past 2 
years. In May the US Supreme Court upheld a stay of execution for Alabama 
inmate Vernon Madison. A few days before that a Miami judge ruled that 
Florida's revamped death penalty law is unconstitutional because it does not 
require a unanimous agreement among jurors to approve executions. In April 
Virginia's General Assembly voted to keep secret the identities of suppliers of 
lethal injection drugs.

(source: jurist.org)