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

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 6



TEXAS:

Officials: Austin might be without local DNA lab for at least 2 years


The Austin Police Department's troubled DNA lab could easily be closed until 
summer 2018 by the time city and county officials implement a new way to 
analyze locally DNA evidence collected from Austin crime scenes, an Austin 
advisory commission estimated Tuesday.

Austin police Assistant Chief Troy Gay agreed the delay was possible, though he 
hoped a solution would be implemented sooner. The city's Public Safety 
Commission unanimously passed a resolution Tuesday urging the Austin City 
Council to find a temporary solution within 6 months.

Since June, Austin police have been sending some of their DNA evidence to the 
Texas Department of Public Safety to be tested, and since December, they have 
also been sending some of it to Dallas County.

Still, DNA evidence is not being tested as often as it comes in, Gay said. A 
backlog existed even before police closed the lab in June.

The crisis at the police department's DNA lab reached a climax last month. On 
Dec. 12 DPS officials, who were re-training the Austin Police Department's 6 
DNA analysts, told police they had lost confidence in four of the technicians 
and refused to continue working with them.

4 days later, Austin's interim Police Chief Brian Manley said the lab would not 
reopen as previously planned.

All of the DNA lab's analysts are still being paid to do administrative work, 
Gay said. Now that the lab won't reopen, Scott Milne, a former official with 
the Arizona Department of Public Safety who was recently hired to be the Austin 
lab's new chief forensic officer, is currently on administrative leave.

"We are looking at what the future is for those employees in our lab," Gay 
said.

Austin police officials will now rely on outside experts to help them figure 
out what form a future DNA lab should take, Gay said. A few ideas that Austin 
and Travis County officials have floated include putting the lab under the 
supervision of the Travis County medical examiner's office or creating a 
government lab that works separately from any current branch of the criminal 
justice system.

On Jan. 26, the Austin City Council will likely vote on whether to negotiate 
and execute a contract with a firm that can assess the situation and determine 
the best way forward. However, that firm???s report could take up to 6 months 
to complete, Gay said.

Austin police have been discussing the issue with a few different firms, Gay 
said. Austin will not be issuing a request for proposals because only a few 
firms exist that offer the service the Austin Police Department is seeking, he 
said.

"Then, there will be commissions and meetings and panels to discuss the 
findings, and there won't be a decision made for at least another year," 
Commissioner Kim Rossmo said, predicting how long it could take to implement 
the report's recommendations.

Rossmo said the process could take until 2020, "unless the city and the police 
department see this as something of urgency."

The police department shut down the DNA section of its forensic lab after a 
state audit was highly critical of some of the lab analysts' techniques. A 
Texas Forensic Science Commission report released over the summer concluded 
that one of the lab's DNA testing practices raised "concerns about the APD DNA 
lab's understanding of foundational issues in DNA analysis."

Commissioners also asked Gay whether Austin police have opened an internal 
investigation regarding how the DNA lab got to this point. According to some 
estimates, retesting the evidence in cases that led to convictions could cost 
Travis County taxpayers $14 million.

"We all know what has happened here has been a colossal management failure. ... 
There's lots of examples of labs having problems, but I don't think there's too 
many where the lab completely collapses," Rossmo said. "It's obvious there were 
some issues here that were incredibly significant in terms of the cost. If some 
patrol officer on the street gets into trouble, he'll be punished. Are you 
doing any sort of internal investigation as to who was just asleep at the 
wheel, costing the taxpayers probably millions of dollars?"

Gay said officials plan to rely on the outside firm to help them conduct that 
investigation.

"I don't disagree with you," Gay said. "We believe the look-back will help us 
identify where the challenges were and if there were mistakes made. If those 
mistakes were made and they were negligent, then we will attempt to hold those 
individuals accountable."

(source: Austin American-Statesman)

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

Texas sues feds over death penalty drug


Texas is suing the federal Food and Drug Administration over a months-long 
delay in access to drugs the state uses in lethal injections.

State Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) said Wednesday his office filed suit to 
gain access to hundreds of doses of thiopental sodium, which the FDA 
intercepted more than 17 months ago. The FDA said at the time that the drug was 
not approved for use in humans, and therefore the shipment the state ordered 
could not be imported.

The FDA has not issued a final decision on whether Texas's purchase of 
thiopental sodium fell under a law enforcement exemption for new drug 
approvals. Paxton said the delay has gone on too long.

"There are only 2 reasons why the FDA would take 17 months to make a final 
decision on Texas's importation of thiopental sodium: gross incompetence or 
willful obstruction," Paxton said in a statement. "My office will not allow the 
FDA to sit on its hands and thereby impair Texas's responsibility to carry out 
its law enforcement duties."

States that still implement the death penalty have had trouble finding drugs 
necessary to carry out lethal injections in recent years. American 
pharmaceutical companies have largely stopped making drugs used in lethal 
injections, and European pharmaceutical companies have refused to sell drugs 
for use in executions after the European Union banned exports in 2011.

An overdose of thiopental sodium, a barbiturate, paralyzes muscles and stops 
the heart. It had once been used as part of a 3-drug cocktail to carry out 
executions, but states have increasingly used the drug alone as the other 2 
elements have become unavailable.

The FDA intercepted separate shipments of the drug, purchased by Texas and 
Arizona, at airports in Houston and Phoenix in 2015. The agency said it was 
acting on a court-ordered injunction against importing the drug.

After the Supreme Court once again allowed the death penalty to be implemented 
in 1976, Texas became the 1st state to kill a condemned prisoner by lethal 
injection. Since then, Texas has executed 538 people, more than any other 
state. More than 250 people are still on death row in Texas, according to the 
Death Penalty Information Center.

(source: thehill.com)

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

Death Penalty Opponents Support FDA Drug Seizure


The State of Texas is suing the Food and Drug Administration over execution 
drugs imported from India. The lawsuit comes more than 1 year after the FDA 
seized 1,000 vials of sodium thipental.

The FDA said it looked like the drugs were misbranded and unapproved, which 
stopped the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from getting their hands on 
them.

One El Pasoan says this might be a good thing.

Pat Delgado is a coordinator for El Pasoans Against Death Penalty. She says 
many of the people sentenced did the crime when they were too young and didn't 
have enough representation in court.

"You know, you hear the prosecutors saying 'This is justice for the victim's 
family', but really, the victims family is just being used, I think in that 
case because it really considered a crime against the state." Delgado said.

She says being behind bars gives many prisoners more time to repent for their 
crimes. "Really not be on a fast track to execute so much, because it's not 
like we're safer after the execution. These guys are 15 or 20 years than they 
were then and they're not gonna get out."

Meanwhile, The State of Texas urges the FDA to make a decision on approving 
Sodium Thiopental. The agency says they're looking into extending the use of 
Pentobarbital - the other drug used for the lethal injection process.

In Texas, there are ten men from El Paso County sitting on death row including 
serial killer David Leonard Wood and David Renteria who was sentenced for 
kidnapping and murdering 5-year-old Alexandra Flores from a Lower Valley El 
Paso Walmart in 2001. None of them have been assigned execution dates.

(source: elpasoproud.com)






FLORIDA:

Fla.'s high court takes puzzling turn on death penalty----The Supreme Court by 
a 5-2 vote forbid the state from imposing the death penalty in pending 
prosecutions, only to withdraw the order hours later as "prematurely issued"


Possibly showing its hand on the future of capital punishment in Florida, the 
state Supreme Court by a 5-2 vote on Wednesday forbid the state from imposing 
the death penalty in pending prosecutions, only to withdraw the order hours 
later as "prematurely issued."

The highly unusual move was made necessary by an "internal error," according to 
a statement issued by court spokesman Craig Waters.

But it leaves prosecutors in a troubling limbo, signaling that they may be 
taking a risk if they pursue the death penalty in murder cases at this time. 
One prosecutor said the Florida Legislature needs to act quickly to craft a 
death penalty law that passes constitutional scrutiny.

"These are the most serious cases we handle, and are incredibly emotional in 
the best of circumstances," said State Attorney Jack Campbell, who this week 
took over as the lead prosecutor for several north Florida counties. 
"Uncertainty in the law is terrible for the victim's families, for the 
defendants. It's very important to me they get this sorted out as quickly as 
possible, as definitively as possible."

Florida's death penalty law was upended as a result of a case involving Timothy 
Lee Hurst, who was convicted using a box-cutter to kill a co-worker at a 
Pensacola Popeye's restaurant in 1998. A jury had divided 7-5 over whether 
Hurst deserved to die, but a judge imposed the death sentence.

The state Supreme Court initially upheld that sentence, but the U.S. Supreme 
Court in January 2016 declared the state's death penalty sentencing law 
unconstitutional because it gave too much power to judges to make the ultimate 
decision.

The Legislature responded by overhauling the law, but rejected calls to require 
a unanimous jury decision in future cases, instead allowing the death penalty 
to be imposed by a 10-2 jury vote.

In October, however, the state Supreme Court voted 5-2 to strike down the new 
law and require unanimous jury decisions for capital punishment.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi promptly asked the court to reconsider, with 
one of her senior attorneys arguing in court filings that clarity is needed to 
"avoid any potential miscarriage of justice." Bondi's office also asserted that 
pending death penalty cases could move ahead as long as their juries 
unanimously agreed to the punishment.

Then in December, the state justices upended another set of capital 
punishments, citing a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that only juries, not 
judges, can determine whether evidence justifies the death penalty. That ruling 
made a group of inmates sentenced after 2002 eligible for new sentencing 
hearings, and could lead to them being released from death row.

On Wednesday morning, the high court rejected Bondi's request, and said the 
entire sentencing law "cannot be applied to pending prosecutions." But only 
hours later, this firm conclusion was withdrawn.

Lawyers for death row inmates and opponents of capital punishment have warned 
prosecutors for years that Florida's death sentencing law was unconstitutional.

Attorney Martin McClain, a veteran of death penalty cases, asserted that as of 
right now, there "is not a valid process in place" for death penalty cases to 
proceed in Florida.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Abolish 'barbaric' death penalty


Editor's note: The following letter is in response to Friday's editorial 
soliciting opinions on capital punishment.

Nay to the "death penalty," yea to abolishing it. Our legal system is imperfect 
so we make mistakes finding innocent people guilty, then later find out we were 
wrong. So we make ourselves murderers when that happens if we continue 
executing people.

We will never become perfect, so our sins of murdering innocent people will 
continue as long as we execute people. This debases us as a culture as well as 
individuals who support that.

Executing people, in addition to being an avoidable and heinous sin, costs us 
each more than keeping them in prison for life. Because we pay all the legal 
costs in trying to get people executed according to the law, we spend more 
taxpayers' money to kill them than to keep them alive.

Are we crazy? Are we so committed to "an eye for an eye" that we will spend 
enormous amounts of money to kill people when we don't need to?

Morally, the "death sentence" is not justice at all. It is barbaric revenge. 
The executed learn nothing. The rest of us are made killers.

It is not a deterrent because psychopaths, which all murderers are, do not 
believe they will ever suffer the consequences of their actions. It is part of 
their psychopathy.

We need to stop being stupid barbarians and end the "death sentence."

William Anderson, LMHC

Bradenton

(source: Letter to the Editor, Bradenton Herald)






ALABAMA:

Jury recommends death penalty in Wicksburg nightclub murders


A Houston County jury has recommended that Ryan Clark Petersen be put to death 
for the murders of 3 people at a Wicksburg nightclub in 2012.

The jury voted 10-2 to recommend the death penalty after about 2 hours of 
deliberation.

The recommendation comes more than a week after the jury convicted Petersen of 
capital murder in the shooting of three people at Teasers Nightclub. Another 
person was wounded in the incident.

Bri Wilkerson, a friend of Tiffani Grissett, one of the victims, attended the 
trial each day.

"Well, I don't feel the relief that I imagined I would," she said. "I don't 
feel like celebrating. I do feel like it's a fair decision. But I don't cherish 
the thought of his death. I do, however, think he deserves it, along with all 
the treatment that goes along with being on death row."

Wilkerson said she owed it to Grissett to be there for the trial of her killer.

"I needed to be there to show that she was a person, not just a dancer, not 
just the anonymous victim of a tragic murder," she said. "She was a mother and 
a cherished friend, and her life mattered."

Circuit Judge Brad Mendheim will render the final sentencing in March. Mendheim 
can accept the jury's recommendation for death or impose a sentence of life in 
prison without parole.

Petersen spent most of an August evening in 2012 at Teasers, drinking alone and 
acting strangely, according to some who were at the club the night of the 
incident. According to court testimony, club security removed Petersen from the 
establishment after a dispute with an employee. He returned moments later armed 
with a handgun and opened fire. He was found by police a few hours later in the 
woods near the club.

Defense attorneys for Petersen argued during the guilt phase of the trial that 
Petersen was not responsible for his actions due to mental impairment and large 
consumption of alcohol. They argued during the sentencing phase that Petersen's 
life should be spared due to several mitigating factors including his mental 
condition.

District Attorney Doug Valeska, however, argued that Petersen's actions 
indicated he was able to differentiate between right and wrong and that the 
shooting was simply an act of revenge for being removed from the club.

According to police and court testimony, Petersen shot and killed Cameron Paul 
Eubanks, 20, the son of the club's owner, outside the club, shooting him 
several times in the pelvis and chest before shooting him in the head.

Petersen then re-entered the club and next shot Scotty Russell, a patron of the 
nightclub, wounding him. After shooting Russell, Petersen shot Tiffani 
Grissett, a dancer at the club, once and then chased her into the bathroom and 
shot her again. He then shot Thomas Robins Jr. and fled the club.

(source: Dothan Eagle)






OHIO----2, including female, fact death penalty

Pair faces death penalty in 89-year-old Northside man's slaying


Hamilton County prosecutors will seek the death penalty against 2 people 
indicted in an 89-year-old man's slaying.

Margaret Kinney, 41, and Michael Stumph, 43, are accused in the death of Otto 
Stewart, 89, who was found dead in his Northside home in December.

Officials said the pair killed Otto with a cord or rope and a knife. According 
to court documents, the 2 also stole his car, money and several other items.

Stewart's landlord, Doyle Spradlin, who was also a friend of the victim, said 
he contacted Stewart's family after Stewart hadn't paid his rent, which was 
unusual. He discovered Stewart's body in December.

"He was lying on the floor. He was covered with a blanket. I couldn't tell he 
was under there because it looked just like a stack of blankets," Spradlin 
said.

Despite nearly a half-century difference in age, friends said Stewart had a 
relationship with Kinney.

"He helped her a lot. He would take her in when she was having problems and 
this and that," said Laurel Tinsley, who has known Stewart for a decade.

Kinney and Stumph were arrested in the Lexington area and extradited back to 
Hamilton County.

(source: WLWT news)

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

Cleveland man accused of killing 5 in 1 home is mentally ineligible for death 
penalty, lawyers say


A 20-year-old man charged with killing 5 people inside the Cleveland home of 
his best friend's family is intellectually disabled and should not face the 
death penalty, his lawyers argue.

School records show James Sparks-Henderson's I.Q. was measured in the low 70s 
in 2010, years before prosecutors say he opened fire at an East 92nd Street 
house in Cleveland's Hough neighborhood, according to court records filed by 
his attorneys.

Judge John P. O'Donnell on Wednesday scheduled a March 10 hearing to decide if 
Sparks-Henderson's case should remain a death penalty case.

The issue is the latest in which prosecutors and defense attorneys have sparred 
since Sparks-Henderson's arrest in the November 2014 killings of Lemon Bryant, 
60, Shaylona Williams, 17 and Ja'rio Taylor, 18, who were inside the house.

Sparks-Henderson then shot and killed Sherita Johnson, 41, and wounded 
Johnson's 10-year-old daughter, when they pulled into the driveway as 
Sparks-Henderson burst from the home, prosecutors say.

Johnson was 26 to 28 weeks pregnant at the time of the shooting. Her baby, 
Juwan, was delivered at a hospital shortly after the shooting and died 16 
minutes later. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office said the child 
died of prematurity, and ruled the death a homicide.

Sparks-Henderson was charged in a capital indictment in April, 11 months after 
he was first arrested and charged in the killings. He has remained in jail on a 
$7.5 million bond since his arrest.

Sparks-Henderson's records from Cleveland Metropolitan School District show he 
was placed on an Individualized Education Plan, had an I.Q. of 73 and had 
registered as borderline deficient in several other cognitive tests, according 
to court records.

Sparks-Henderson graduated from Martin Luther King High School in 2014, his 
lawyers said.

The U.S. Supreme Court has outlawed the execution of mentally disabled 
defendants. The Court went further in a 2014 opinion that barred courts from 
using a defendant's I.Q. alone to determine if the defendant is eligible to 
face the death penalty.

Instead, the Court mandated that a host of tests must be used, including an 
examination by a mental psychiatrist.

Sparks-Henderson's lawyers found a mental health expert to examine him last 
year, and the doctor's report was filed under seal in November, court records 
say.

Prosecutors said that DNA evidence from bullet casings collected at the scene 
matched Sparks-Henderson's, and that he was carrying a 9mm pistol when he was 
arrested. Ballistics tests matched the gun to the casings, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors are also inspecting Sparks-Henderson's cellphone records.

Henderson told investigators that Taylor was one of his "best friends," police 
said.

Then-Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty said at a news conference 
announcing the arrest that he had taken the death penalty off the table because 
Sparks-Henderson had confessed to the crime.

But Sparks-Henderson's attorneys quickly fought to suppress his statements to 
police, arguing that homicide detectives had denied Sparks-Henderson access to 
a lawyer during his interrogation and that his statements were coerced.

Prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in April to include capital charges 
that Sparks-Henderson committed the killings while committing aggravated 
burglary and that they were part of a course of conduct.

Prosecutors agreed to only play a portion of the interrogation during the 
trial.

(source: cleveland.com

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

Ohio Supreme Court delays serial killer's execution date


The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to delay the execution date for a Cleveland 
man convicted of killing 11 women and hiding the remains in and around his 
home.

The Court on Thursday granted the request from attorneys for serial killer 
Anthony Sowell.

The execution had been set for Nov. 18, 2020. The court said the execution 
would be delayed until Sowell had exhausted all his appeals, most liely through 
the federal courts.

The court's action was similar to its approach to other death penalty cases. It 
regularly sets initial execution dates after upholding death sentences, then 
delays them on request.

Jurors found Sowell guilty of killing 11 women from June 2007 to July 2009.

(source: Associated Press)