[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., GA., FLA., MISS., OHIO, KY.

[Rick Halperin]

July 18



TEXAS----impending execution

Court papers: 'Utterly unqualified' attorney used Wikipedia to defend death 
penalty inmate----Lawyers for death row inmate file last-minute motions days 
before scheduled execution


With just days left till the next scheduled execution in the Lone Star state, 
lawyers for convicted Bexar County killer TaiChin Preyor on Friday filed a 
flurry of last-minute paperwork seeking to halt the condemned man's death.

The pair of motions - in the Western District of Texas - claim one of Preyor's 
former attorneys on the case, Brandy Estelle, was "utterly unqualified" and may 
have even resorted to the popular crowdsourcing site Wikipedia for research in 
the case.

Preyor, who murdered a woman who sold him drugs more than a decade ago, is 
scheduled to meet his fate in Huntsville on July 27.

The 46-year-old was convicted in the 2004 slaying when he repeatedly stabbed 
Jami Tackett before cutting her throat. Neighbors found the dying woman after 
hearing her screams - and police caught Preyor after he came back to retrieve 
his car keys, the San Antonio Express-News previously reported.

The San Antonio man has been on death row since 2005 fighting his case. At 
issue now is the allegedly subpar defense counsel who represented Preyor during 
parts of the federal appeals process.

"It appears she relied on Wikipedia, of all things, to learn the complex ins 
and outs of Texas capital-punishment," Preyor's attorneys wrote of their 
client's former counsel, noting that Estelle's case files included a print-out 
of the Wikipedia page "Capital punishment in Texas" with a Post-It note 
labelled "Research."

In addition, court papers contend Estelle was getting help on the case from an 
attorney disbarred for showing a "gargantuan indifference to the interests of 
his clients," a federal court wrote in a published decision.

"No doubt fearing repercussions, Estelle never disclosed her disbarred 
co-counsel's lead role in the case to this Court," claims the convicted man's 
legal team, which includes Catherine Stetson, Preyor's pro bono attorney and a 
partner at Hogan Lovells.

The dozens of pages of motions and exhibits filed Friday call Jefferson and 
Estelle's work "shocking conduct" and "exactly the kind of extraordinary 
circumstance that warrants this Court's intervention."

The motions for stay of execution and relief from judgment ask the court to 
halt Preyor's death date and reopen his federal appeal, this time with 
"licensed and qualified counsel."

Last-minute stays of execution are more the exception than the rule - but 
they're certainly not unheard of.

In 2011, Harris County death row inmate Duane Edward Buck was granted a 
last-minute reprieve amid questions of racially tainted expert testimony. He's 
still on death row as the appeals process continues to play out.

(source: Houston Chronicle)






PENNSYLVANIA:

Pennsylvania execution notices are 'not worth the paper they're written 
on'----The death warrants have been around since 1995, a strain on court time 
and resources.


The news rolled in earlier this month, for the 460th time since 1985: A 
Pennsylvania death row inmate had received an execution notice or warrant. This 
time it was for Philadelphia murderer Omar Sharif Cash, and like 457 men who've 
come before him he will almost certainly never be put to death.

Cash could get a reprieve for several reasons, the best-known likely being Gov. 
Tom Wolf's death penalty moratorium. Should any death penalty case go the 
distance, Wolf has said he will halt the execution. But long before it comes to 
that, the execution notice signed for Cash will likely be stayed, amounting to 
what one of the country's foremost death penalty opponents considers a waste of 
time. And since 1995, 350-plus other notices and warrants could be classified 
in the same category.

"They're legally premature," said Robert Dunham, executive director of the 
Death Penalty Information Center, "meaning they're not worth the paper they're 
written on."

Pennsylvania elected officials created the execution warrant system still used 
today in 1995, during the beginning of Gov. Tom Ridge's 1st term. At the time, 
he and many legislators - Republican and Democrat - were pushing a 
tough-on-crime stance. Ridge even held a special session focused on 
crime-related legislation. The bill, proposed by Rep. Ron Marsico (R-105th), 
mandated the governor sign an execution warrant for a death row inmate by at 
least 90 days after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision of the inmate's 
direct appeal. If the governor didn't sign the warrant, then the Department of 
Corrections would have to issue a notice of execution within 30 days of the 
previous deadline.

"Despite the law, there was no death penalty in Pennsylvania," Ridge said in 
1995. "When you kill in cold blood, you deserve to pay the highest penalty."

The thought behind the bill was inmates had no motivation for pushing through 
with the appeals process because governors had not been signing warrants in a 
timely manner. An execution warrant or notice would get the inmate continuing 
on with the appeals.

Any inmate sentenced to death gets 3 avenues of appeal: The direct appeal, 
which consists of matter related entirely to the criminal trial. The indirect 
appeal, which is also run through Pennsylvania's courts and formally known as 
the Post Conviction Relief Act appeal. And then habeas corpus, a federal 
appeal.

But by November 1995, a few months after the bill went into effect, an 
important change had been made in Pennsylvania law. Anyone applying for the 
Post Conviction Relief Act appeal had to do so within 1 year after failure of 
the direct appeal, which was already under a time constraint. The clock that 
supporters of the warrants bill said needed to be started was now being started 
by another law.

And yet the execution warrants and notices were still signed in a timeframe 
when sometimes all 3 avenues of appeal were on the table and most of the time 
the indirect appeal and habeas corpus appeals were left. Almost every time, the 
courts responded by staying the warrants because the inmate had those appeals.

This is why Dunham considers the warrants legally premature. By signing the 
warrants and the notices in the middle of the appeals process the court has 
basically no choice but to offer a stay so long as the appeal is legitimate. As 
Dunham says, "they are bound to be stopped."

"There have been well over 350 occasions," he said, "in which courts have had 
to unnecessarily take the time to consider stays of execution that the law 
would require them to grant."

Between 1995 and 2014, just over 350 execution warrants were signed by 
governors. Of that total, all but 4 were signed when the prisoner had at least 
the federal habeas corpus appeal left. Most of the warrants were signed when 
the indirect appeal and habeas corpus appeal remained.

"If you're going to have an automatic warrant," Dunham said, "the only place 
that serves a legitimate purpose would be after the habeas corpus process is 
done or (the inmate has) failed to enact according to the deadlines."

The warrants and notices just require a signature from the governor or the head 
of the corrections department. That's not a legitimate strain on time or 
resources. But once signed, a process begins that requires attorneys and the 
courts to act, taking time away from employees of the AG's office or local DA's 
offices and judges.

When an execution notice was signed for inmate Patrick Haney earlier this year, 
for instance, the notice was challenged to the Pennsylvania Western District 
Court. 17 court filings later, the Court granted a stay at least until Haney's 
indirect appeal process had been exhausted.

"You're talking about the time for prosecutors and for defense lawyers, and the 
time for court personnel in filing the petitions, and court personnel in 
arranging for hearings," Dunham said. "You're talking about the judges' time. 
Some would say they're salaried. But that misses the point. Those people could 
be doing other things."

Marsico declined an interview request about the subject but passed the message 
onto a legal counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, Mike Kane, who briefly 
discussed it. He said, "The bottom line of it all is there's a point where no 
appeal is quote 'pending.' That is my understanding of when these warrants get 
issued." A higher-up in the AG's office whose focuses include the death penalty 
did not respond to a request for comment.

State Sen. Daylin Leach (D-17), who wants the death penalty abolished, admits 
of this warrants topic, "it's just never come up." Leach is on the state 
committee that was formed to study the death penalty during Gov. Tom Corbett's 
tenure. About 3 years after its report was due, it has been recently finalized 
and will soon be disseminated, according to committee member Gary Zajac (he 
declined to provide a specific date). The committee has been more focused on 
whether it is applied fairly, rather than the process by which it is applied.

So the topic of execution notices and warrants is hardly on anyone's radar, 
save for Dunham. He's crunched data and given presentations on it over the 
years and can rattle off dozens of statistics. He can't understand why these 
warrants keep coming, prematurely, and the court costs must follow.

(source: billypenn.com)

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

Philly DA's office needs a change, but not this kind----Lynne Abraham, who 
served 18 years as Philadelphia's district attorney, wants to return to the 
post for the rest of 2017.


The selection of a new district attorney in Philadelphia - albeit an interim DA 
who will serve until the end of 2017, when the winner of the November election 
(in which Democrat Lawrence Krasner is heavily favored) starts a 4-year term - 
should be a cause for celebration. It's the next big step for moving past the 
era of disgraced ex-DA Seth Williams, who pleaded guilty last month to selling 
out his office. In a perfect world, the interim DA will serve as a bridge 
between finally putting the dim past of the office in the rear view era and a 
bold new age of reform, which is coming under either Krasner or, to a lesser 
extent, underdog GOP rival Beth Grossman.

But this is Philadelphia, and we have a long history of snatching defeat from 
the jaws of victory (and not just in sports.) It doesn't help matters that - in 
classic Philly fashion - the process for picking Williams' successor on 
Thursday is about as undemocratic as it gets. The interim DA will be picked by 
88 judges, barely accountable to the public, who will hold multiple ballots 
until one of the 14 interested candidates gets a majority. The system for 
electing a new Pope feels more transparent - at least they pump out that cool 
white smoke.

But here's 2 important things to know going into the vote later this week.

Under no circumstances - let me repeat that in big annoying capital letters ... 
NO CIRCUMSTANCES - can the job go to the former district attorney who has 
tossed her hat into the ring, Lynne Abraham. Honestly, I'd rather see a return 
of the grifter Williams than a throwback Thursday for the bad old days of 
Abraham, whose zeal for the death penalty, decimation of Philadelphia 
neighborhoods through mass incarceration policies, and role in wrongly 
convicting some city residents of murder makes her completely unsuitable. 
Here's what I wrote about Abraham's DA politicking earlier this year:

[Abraham ran an] an office that relied in too many big cases on questionable 
high-pressure police confessions and hardball witness coercion, that pursued 
the death penalty with draconian glee, and made Philly a mass incarceration 
capital of the world.

Last year, a report by the Harvard Law School's Fair Punishment Project 
lambasted Abraham as one of America's "5 deadliest DAs" who, collectively, have 
been responsible for 1 out of every 7 people still on death row in America. It 
argues that the 108 death sentences won by Abraham - who branded herself 
famously as "One Tough Cookie" - are a grim example of "personality-driven 
capital sentencing." A top assistant who tried many of those cases, the late 
Roger King, had plastered his wall with pictures from the capital cases he'd 
prosecuted, with a circle-slash around the face of suspects and "death" written 
on every one.

2. I'm not big on making endorsements, and some of the candidates like retired 
Common Pleas Court Judge Ben Lerner, said to be a front-runner, have 
distinguished track records. But from everything I've seen in the months since 
Williams was first indicted earlier this year, his 1st assistant Kathleen 
Martin has done a perfectly fine job managing the office. Why rock the boat - 
whether it's for a reformer like Lerner or a regressive like Abraham - for 5 
months? As they like to say on TV, winter is coming - and so is a long-awaited 
radical makeover for criminal justice in Philadelphia. Judges, don't muck this 
up.

(source: Will Bunch, philly.com)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Campbell double murder trial enters 2nd week


The 1st day of the 2nd week of testimony in the trial for a man arrested in 
West Virginia on New Year's Day 2015, bringing to an end a multi-state crime 
spree, was dominated by testimony about what was found in the truck that was 
located near Lewisburg.

Monday, the 6th day of the Eric Campbell double murder trial in Granville 
County, North Carolina, was dominated by the introduction of evidence found in 
the 2 vehicles that Eric and his father, Edward Campbell, used to travel from 
North Carolina to West Virginia after they allegedly robbed and murdered Dora 
and Jerome Faulkner at the couple's North Carolina home on New Year's Eve 2014.

The prosecuting attorney called Detective Doug McPhee of the Granville County 
Police Department, who handled and took pictures of all the evidence presented, 
to the stand Monday to testify about the evidence found in the vehicles that 
stopped on Interstate 64 near the Lewisburg exit.

Eric Campbell, now 23, was driving a stolen white suburban through Greenbrier 
County when he was pulled over by police. His father Edward then pulled over in 
the red pick up truck that was stolen from the Faulkners, and opened fire on 
officers. After the shootout with police in which 2 officers were wounded, the 
Campbell's crime spree that started in Texas came to an end. The officers 
eventually recovered from the shooting.

Eric Campbell was in court Monday for the sixth day of his trial. If convicted 
he would face the death penalty.

According to McPhee's testimony Monday, among the items found in the 2 vehicles 
were shoes and prescription pills that belonged to the Faulkners and a loaded 
weapon. A chemical sprayer and bleach were found in the back of the Faulkner's 
truck, which was used to try and clean DNA evidence and blood from the truck.

After the Campbell's arrest West Virginia Police discovered the bodies of Dora, 
62 and Jerome, 73 covered by a chained down mattress in the back of their 
stolen pick up truck. Sheets used to wrap their bodies stolen from their North 
Carolina home and bloody latex gloves purchased at Walmart by the Campbells a 
few days before the murders were the most substantial pieces of evidence 
presented on day 6.

Eric Campbell faces the death penalty in North Carolina for those crimes. 
Edward Campbell committed suicide in jail 2 years ago before a trial could 
commence.

Eric Campbell claims that he didn't want to harm anyone and only thought his 
father was planning on robbing the elderly couple. He said he believed his 
father to be dangerous and was not sure he would survive.

Earlier in the trial the prosecutor told the jury Campbell was with his father 
before the murders when he purchased chemicals, gasoline, and other items that 
were used to destroy the Faulkners home. The prosecutor also said Eric Campbell 
should have known there was something more going on, and that he made a 
concious decision to be involved in the crime.

Campbell is being tried under the death penalty in North Carolina.

The trial is expected to continue for most of the week.

(source;: wvmetronews.com)






GEORGIA:

Man indicted in July 2016 torture death of Marietta resident


A Cobb man has been indicted in connection to the July 2016 murder of a 58-year 
old man at Windcliff Drive near Terrell Mill Road in Marietta. But metro 
Atlanta authorities believe 29-year-old Rickey Earl Taylor may be responsible 
for 2 other deaths in a similar fashion in another metro Atlanta county.

Taylor is accused of tying up Richard Olen Bell's wrists and ankles with 
clothing, shoelaces and cords, and inflicting "lethal blunt force injuries" to 
his head, according to an indictment handed down by a Cobb grand jury last 
month. He was indicted on 2 counts of felony murder and 1 count each of malice 
murder, false imprisonment and aggravated assault in connection to the death of 
Bell, who according to Cobb Police resided at the Lincoln Hills Apartments, now 
known as The Grandstand.

An arrest warrant on Taylor for the crime was issued mid-February by Cobb 
Police, accusing the man of striking Bell in the head with a "heavy linear 
object." The Cobb warrant came months after he was arrested on charges that he 
killed a mother and son in Norcross in Gwinnett County.

Gwinnett authorities on Aug. 7, 2016, found 29-year-old James Sramek dead with 
his hands bound and hanging in a closet, while the body of 61-year-old Nicola 
Sramek was covered with sheets, the Gwinnett Daily Post previously reported. 
The 2 had been tortured with a hammer and knife before their deaths, police 
said.

According to the newspaper, the Srameks were believed to have been killed 3 
days earlier, with Taylor linked to the crime scene through video surveillance 
and physical evidence.

He was arrested the day before the 2 bodies were discovered, according to a 
Gwinnett County Police news release, initially for his possible involvement in 
a string of armed robberies over the course of about two days. In a preliminary 
hearing in August, a Gwinnett Police detective testified that police found 
Taylor less than a mile away from the Srameks' apartment, with the man having 
on him several belongings of the 2 victims, according to the newspaper.

Police days after Taylor's arrest said robbery was believed to have been the 
motive of the murders, and that Taylor had known the younger Sramek.

The Gwinnett District Attorney's Office last week filed notice that it would 
seek the death penalty against Taylor, the newspaper reported, though a trial 
date was not set at the time.

Taylor's case in Cobb has been assigned to Superior Court Judge Gregory Poole, 
though no arraignment date had been set as of Monday.

Cobb court documents list Taylor as having a Mount Pisgah Lane address in 
Austell, though the February warrant stated that he resided in the 2300 block 
of Cobb Parkway in Smyrna. Other media outlets have reported him as being from 
Norcross.

(source: Marietta Daily Journal)






FLORIDA:

Florida prosecutors seeking 1st-degree murder indictment against Dartmouth 
woman


Florida prosecutors will seek a 1st-degree murder indictment against Desiree 
Jean Tedder, a 23-year-old Dartmouth woman who could face the death penalty, if 
convicted.

Meanwhile, Florida's rendition package to return her from Massachusetts has 
been completed and sent to Bay State officials. The prosecutor in charge says, 
if all goes well, he expects she will be returned in the next several weeks or 
by the end of August.

Tedder is currently charged with second-degree murder in Florida for the 
gruesome killing of Drulmauert Mims, a 23-year-old drug dealer in Penascola, 
Fla., area. According to Florida court documents, she repeatedly struck Mims in 
the face with a crowbar while he slept, stabbed him with a kitchen knife and 
suffocated him with a pillow as he choked on his own blood.

The case against Tedder revolves around a statement given police by Lizmary 
Rodriguez, her 23-year-old former roommate, who said she was lying in bed with 
Mims when Tedder killed the drug dealer.

According to court documents, Tedder rolled Mims' body in a carpet or a tarp 
and pushed the victim into a trash can. Later, Tedder used a shovel to dig 
6-foot hole and buried Mims' body, still inside the trash can, in the yard of 
her grandmother's Penascola home on the same property she was killed.

According to court documents, Tedder was tired of being broke and killed Mims 
for his money and drugs.

Police located the body of Mims, who was last seen March 29, on June 28, court 
documents said.

Tedder, who came to New Bedford after she and Rodriguez were shot in Penascola 
on April 3, was arrested June 28 at her mother's home in Dartmouth as a 
fugitive from justice. She is currently being held without bail at the Bristol 
County House of Corrections in Dartmouth. Her next court date on the fugitive 
from justice complaint is Aug. 7 in New Bedford District Court.

Prosecutors completed their rendition package to return Tedder to Florida and 
it has been reviewed by the Governor's office and sent to Gov. Charlie Baker's 
office on Friday, said Greg Marcille, a prosecutor in the State Attorney's 
Office for Escambia, Okaloosa, Walton and Santa Rosa counties in Florida. It 
still has to be reviewed by Baker's office and state Attorney General Maura 
Healey's office.

State prosecutors are preparing their case for a Escambia County, Fla., Grand 
Jury, where they will seek a 1st-degree indictment against Tedder, he said.

The case remains under investigation, but Tedder is "the only one who has been 
charged with the crime at this time."

"We do feel we have sufficient evidence to move forward on this case," he said.

Florida has the death penalty and has until 45 days after Tedder's arraignment 
on the murder charge, if prosecutors plan to seek it.

"That decision has not been made at this time," Marcille said.

(source: southcoasttoday.com)

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

Penalty phase underway for St. Cloud man convicted of killing baby----Larry 
Perry was convicted of violently attacking his 3-month-old son when the infant 
wouldn't stop crying, telling a 911 operator he "went crazy," according to 
court documents.


The death penalty sentencing phase is underway for a man convicted of killing 
his baby.

The state has now rested in the death penalty case of Larry Perry.

Larry Perry was convicted of violently attacking his 3-month-old son when the 
infant wouldn't stop crying, telling a 911 operator he "went crazy," according 
to court documents.

Back in 2013, Perry told police that while home alone with the 3-month-old, he 
picked up the child and, in a fit of anger, threw the baby against the wall, 
court documents show.

The child's mother, Kathy Barnes, had been arrested at the time, and Perry was 
left to care for Ayden.

(source: WESH news)






MISSISSIPPI:

Police: Mississippi girl dies after beating over math lesson


A Mississippi man who fatally beat a 3-year-old girl because she couldn't 
correctly answer questions about numbers told investigators that "this was a 
tough world and she had to be tough if she wanted to survive," Meridian Police 
Chief Benny Dubose said Monday.

Joshua Salovich was charged with capital murder, meaning he could face the 
death penalty, and held without bail. Detectives testified in an initial court 
appearance that the 25-year-old boxer-in-training beat toddler Bailey Salovich 
at maximum force with a bamboo rod, a cellphone cord and his hands.

Salovich's court-appointed lawyer didn???t immediately respond to a phone 
message and an email seeking comment Monday evening.

Dubose said it isn't clear whether Salovich is the child's biological father.

Police were called Friday afternoon after the child arrived at a local 
emergency room with bruises and cuts all over her body, and at least 1 head 
wound, Dubose said.

(source: Associated Press)






OHIO----impending execution

Ohio moves forward with plans to execute Ronald Phillips in one week----State 
released its execution policy in-place to carry out the death sentence.


Ohio is set to execute 43-year-old #Ronald Phillips on July 26. Phillips 
received the death sentence following his conviction for raping and murdering 
the 3-year-old daughter of his girlfriend in 1993. He is scheduled for the 
state's 1st execution since January 16, 2014, when it took 26 minutes to 
execute Dennis McQuire as he struggled for life - gasping, seizing, and 
snorting.

Shortly before McQuire's scheduled execution date, drug manufacturers banned 
Pentobarbital for administering in the process of carrying out the looming 
death penalty. As an effect and as a different drug in the mix for execution, 
Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections (DRC) administered a cocktail 
using #Midazolam instead of Pentobarbital.

The lethal injection of McQuire included a barbiturate, short-acting, of 
course, to ensure he was unconscious before injecting him with a 
heart-stopping, paralytic combination of the sedative Midazolam and 
Hydromorphone, an opioid pain medication. Phillips is slated to have the same 
drug-cocktail administered as McQuire encountered.

Death penalty opponents want to stop Phillips' execution

Reverend Lynda Smith, retired United Church of Christ pastor, is among 
approximately 12 people who converged outside the building housing Ohio 
Governor John Kasich's office. They held signs to effect giving him their 
message to end executions in the state.

According to Smith, Caucasians who are wealthy end up on death row far less 
than other races with less economic stature.

If the United States Supreme Court does not halt the execution process, 
Phillips will die in a week.

He will be transferred to Ohio's death house at Southern Ohio Correctional 
Facility 24 hours before his execution. A 3-member execution team will monitor 
him. The condemned inmate will have an opportunity to visit with spiritual 
advisers and with family members. Additionally, there is the formality of 
medical professionals evaluating his veins in preparation for inserting lines 
intravenously so that the lethal injection cocktail can be administered and 
kill him.

Phillips is begging for mercy, according to the Portsmouth Daily Times. He's 
hoping that his date with death is, once again, delayed while the challenge of 
the lethal injection protocol continues. July 26 marks the 7th time Phillips 
has been scheduled to die.

Ohio plans more executions for 2017

After Phillips' death penalty is exacted, 3 additional executions are on Ohio's 
calendar for 2017 - in September, October, and November. JoEllen Smith, 
spokeswoman for the DRC assured that all the steps, mandated for Ohio's 
execution protocol, have been "complied with" as the state prepares for 
Phillips' execution.

If his death sentence is achieved, Ohio will be 2nd to Arkansas in resuming 
executions this year following a lull. In April, Arkansas attracted attention 
internationally by successfully executing its 1st inmate since 2005.

Rather than commence executions in the cloak of darkness compared to most, 
which happens in isolation and at night, Arkansas created a tight execution 
schedule, planning 8 deaths over 11 days. Some of the execution drugs were 
about to expire without a guarantee that more would be available. The state 
said its scheduling was "necessary." 4 of the 8 executions were completed. The 
additional 4 were delayed.

Of the 6 states that have executed inmates to date this year, Arkansas accounts 
for more than 25 %. With Phillips' execution on the horizon, Ohio is set to 
become the 7th state to carry out executions. In 2016, only 5 states executed 
20 condemned inmates.

(source: blastingnews.com)






KENTUCKY:

Attorney: Exclude Death Penalty In Murder Case


The attorney for 2 co-defendents charged with killing UK student Jonathan 
Krueger made their case to exclude the death penalty in the case Monday.

Efrain Diaz, Justin Smith and Roman Gonzalez Jr. are charged with robbing and 
killing Krueger back in April of 2015.

Last month, lawyers for Diaz and Smith lobbied the court to take capital 
punishment off the table.

It's reported that Diaz's attorney argued that his client's young brains 
weren't fully developed since they were both under the age of 21 during events 
that led up to Krueger's death.

All 3 are scheduled to go to trial in October.

(source: The Herald-Leader)

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

Attorneys hope testimony over brain development could remove death penalty 
option----Efrain Diaz, Justin D. Smith and a 17-year-old have been charged with 
fatally shooting Jonathan Krueger, a junior at the University of Kentucky, on 
April 17.


A hearing on Monday in a high-profile murder case in Lexington centered around 
scientific research on brains. The defense team in the case is hoping that 
research may lead to the judge taking the death penalty off the table for their 
clients.

Defendant Efrain Diaz was 20-years-old back in 2015 when Lexington Police 
arrested him for the slaying of 22-year-old Jonathan Krueger. Justin Smith was 
18-years-old. Police also charged him with the robbery and murder that claimed 
the UK student's life.

A prior federal ruling takes the death penalty off the table for defendants who 
commit a crime at age 17 or younger. While both men were older than that at the 
time of their arrests, their attorneys brought in a psychology professor and 
expert in hopes of proving that their brains were still in an immature state.

Ph.D. Laurence Steinberg, a psychologist at Temple University, says brains of 
18- and 20-year-olds typically function more like young teens than adults. 
However, Dr. Steinberg said there is no way to evaluate brain maturity on an 
individual level.

"Even though adolescence is a time of relatively more risky behavior, that 
manifests itself in different ways in different people," Steinberg testified.

That professor is set to send the court additional research to back his 
testimony.

A 3rd suspect charged in the murder, Roman Gonzalez, was 17 at the time of the 
crime. He will not face the death penalty when his case goes to trial.

(source: WKYT news)