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

[Rick Halperin]

July 28




TEXAS----execution

S.A. man executed after Supreme Court rejects bid for stay



A San Antonio man was executed Thursday night for killing a woman in 2004 after 
a last-minute request for a stay to the Supreme Court was rejected.

TaiChin Preyor, 46, had been on death row for 13 years after a Bexar County 
jury convicted him of killing Jami Tackett, 24, in a drug-related attack.

Preyor was pronounced dead at 9:22 p.m., about 20 minutes after a lethal dose 
of Pentobarbital was sent through the veins of both of his arms.

In a brief final statement, Preyor said, "First and foremost, I'd like to say, 
'Justice has never advanced by taking a human life,' by Coretta Scott King. 
Lastly, to my wife and to my kids, I love y'all forever and always. That's it."

Neither Preyor's nor Tackett's relatives were present for the execution, just 4 
journalists and some corrections officers.

Preyor is the 5th inmate to be executed in Texas this year, and the 16th 
nationally, according to data provided by the Texas Department of Criminal 
Justice.

Earlier Thursday, Cate Stetson, an attorney representing Preyor said via email 
that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied an appeal and stay for her 
client, just hours before he was to be executed.

Preyor's lawyers had argued that his appeals should be reviewed more fairly 
because poor legal representation had tainted his case.

After that bid was rejected, Stetson then filed a petition seeking a stay from 
the nation's highest court. That request to Justice Samuel Alito was denied 
some time after 8 p.m.

On Feb. 26, 2004, Preyor said he went to Tackett's Southeast Side apartment to 
buy drugs and that he defended himself when attacked by Tackett and her friend, 
Jason Garza, 20. Preyor told police he "poked" Tackett with a knife to defend 
himself.

Preyor was arrested in the parking lot of the Grove Park Apartments in the 2500 
block of Goliad Road near Interstate 37 South after he returned to the scene to 
look for his car keys, according to court documents. He had been covered in 
Tackett's blood.

Tackett, whose throat was slashed, was found when her neighbors heard her 
screams.

Prosecutors told the Bexar County jury that heard the case that Tackett also 
suffered defensive wounds to her hand and forearm and had cuts on her face and 
abdomen.

Defense attorneys argued that Preyor went to Tackett's house to buy drugs from 
her and that she and Garza attacked Preyor when he arrived, and intended to rob 
him. He told police that he pulled a knife and "poked" Tackett with the weapon 
in an attempt to defend himself.

Witnesses testified during the trial that Tackett's throat and windpipe were 
severed, and that she bled to death in her apartment. Neighbors heard the 
screams, and Garza, who was wounded in the attack, managed to escape and call 
911. Preyor left the scene. He was arrested when he returned to get his keys.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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

Texas executes man who claimed his lawyers committed fraud----Texas carried out 
its 5th execution of the year Thursday evening, putting to death TaiChin Preyor 
in the 2004 murder of a San Antonio woman.



After more than 12 years on death row, a San Antonio man convicted in a fatal 
stabbing was executed Thursday night. It was Texas' 5th execution of the year.

TaiChin Preyor, 46, had filed a flurry of appeals in the weeks leading up to 
his execution date, claiming his trial lawyer never looked into evidence of an 
abusive childhood and his previous appellate counsel - a disbarred attorney 
paired with a real estate and probate lawyer who relied on Wikipedia in her 
legal research - committed fraud on the court.

But he lost all of the appeals, with the U.S. Supreme Court issuing a final 
ruling in the case more than 2 hours after his execution was originally set to 
begin. At 9:03 p.m., he was injected with a lethal dose of pentobarbital in 
Texas' death chamber and pronounced dead 19 minutes later, according to the 
Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

In his final words, he mentioned his love for his wife and kids and cited a 
Coretta Scott King quote, saying, "Justice has never advanced by taking a 
life," according to TDCJ.

Preyor was accused of breaking into 20-year-old Jami Tackett's apartment in 
February 2004 and stabbing her to death. He was found at the scene by police 
covered in her blood. Preyor claimed the killing was done in self-defense after 
a drug deal gone bad, but the jury was unconvinced. He was convicted and 
sentenced to death in March 2005.

No witnesses for Preyor or Tackett attended the execution, according to TDCJ 
spokesman Robert Hurst.

During his latest appeals, Preyor's attorneys argued that his trial lawyer, 
Michael Gross, was inadequate because he didn't present evidence of a 
physically and sexually abusive childhood that could have swayed a jury to hand 
down the alternate sentence of life in prison.

"[The jury] did not learn that Preyor jumped from a 4th floor balcony as a 
teenager, breaking both his ankles in the fall, to escape his mother as she 
chased him with a knife," attorneys Hilary Sheard and Cate Stetson wrote in a 
filing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. "... Any competent counsel would 
have recognized the importance of uncovering these harrowing details and 
presenting them to the jury responsible for recommending a life sentence or a 
death sentence."

Gross countered in an affidavit to the court that he interviewed many family 
members, friends and even Preyor himself and was never told of any abuse.

Preyor's latest appeals also slammed his previous appellate lawyers, saying 
they committed fraud on the court by hiding the involvement of a disbarred 
attorney and asking for payment from the court when the family had already paid 
them. Preyor accused the disbarred (and now deceased) Philip Jefferson of 
misrepresenting himself as "retired" when Preyor's mother approached him to 
take the case. They said Jefferson orchestrated the defense and recommended 
Brandy Estelle, a real estate and probate attorney, to file documents to the 
court. Estelle didn't respond to requests for comment in the case.

"In an extraordinary fraudulent scheme, 1 lawyer who had been disbarred more 
than 20 years earlier and another lawyer who had never handled a death penalty 
case and relied on Wikipedia charged Mr. Preyor's mother and the courts 
duplicative payments, while providing astonishingly incompetent 
'representation,'" Sheard and Stetson wrote in a statement Thursday afternoon.

Texas and Bexar County denied the fraud allegations and said the delays in 
Preyor's case have been made "at the expense" of Tackett's family. The courts 
agreed.

"The only fraud on the court alleged is that neither Preyor nor the court was 
aware that Jefferson was disbarred. To the point, the alleged fraud on the 
court is not that someone other than Estelle was orchestrating the case; it is 
not even that the case was poorly orchestrated. Instead, the alleged fraud on 
the court is the specific concealment of Jefferson's disbarment from the court. 
It is difficult to see how this form of concealment affected the judgment of 
the district court," said the denial from the 5th U.S. Circuit of Appeals 
issued Thursday.

The appellate court also criticized Preyor for filing his latest appeals in 
federal court 10 days before his scheduled execution even though his current 
attorney has been on the case since 2015. The court wrote that the "claim could 
have been brought at such a time as to allow consideration of the merits 
without requiring entry of a stay."

(source: Texas Tribune)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----25

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----543

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

26---------Aug. 30-----------------Steven Long------------544

27---------Sept.7------------------Juan Castillo----------545

28---------Oct. 12-----------------Robert Pruett----------546

29---------Oct. 18-----------------Anthony Shore----------547

30---------Oct. 26-----------------Clinton Young----------548

31---------Jan. 30-----------------William Rayford--------549

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








FLORIDA:

Expert: Murder charges, death penalty could be option for those accused in 
Duval veteran's attack



Melvin Clark died Wednesday night, 3 months after he was attacked and left for 
dead. The Navy veteran's family is opening up about his life and unexpected 
death.

When talking to Clark's family, it's evident how much they truly loved this 
man. Clark had been fighting for his life since the April attack. His family 
members shared with Action News Jax their heartbreak and hope for justice.

"I remember kissing his forehead because he was tired and I thought I'd let him 
sleep crying. I didn't know it was going to be the last time I saw him," 
granddaughter Nicole Dehn said.

Clark's family planned to bring him home next week. Instead, they're planning 
his funeral and reflecting on the last few months.

"I'm thankful he didn't die in that ditch and he died in a bed," Rivera said.

In April, Clark, a decorated U.S. Navy and Air Force veteran, was attacked 
senselessly. His car and money were stolen and his throat was slashed.

Police say Douglas Cercy, Jennifer Schulte and Ray Jones hurt Clark, then left 
Clark to die alone on the side of the road

Clark's family said he was a fighter until the very end.

"We got a phone call that he passed. It came out of nowhere. No one expected 
that," granddaughter Shannon Rivera said.

Action News Jax law and safety expert Dale Carson said the heartless nature of 
the crime could set the three up for not only murder charges but the death 
penalty upon a conviction.

"Their intent is fairly clear. They left him on the side of the road. They 
robbed him. They stole his car. Those are the kinds of factors the state 
attorney's office will consider," Carson said.

Clark's family members know the legal battle they face and hope they can soon 
find some peace.

"Honestly, there is no amount of justice that can be done, even at the highest 
sentence," Clark's stepdaughter Tamara Damico said.

Now we will wait to see if an indictment on murder charges is returned on the 3 
accused of attacking Clark.

(source: actionnewsjax.com)








ALABAMA:

2 charged with capital murder in Lawrence County double shooting----Cash and 
drugs involved in robbery of Lawrence County double homicide victims, sheriff 
says



Men from Decatur and Muscle Shoals are jailed without bail on capital murder 
charges in connection with the deaths of 2 men in Lawrence County.

Kevin Deshaunn Deloney Jr., 19, of Decatur, and Tamorris Oneil Bolding, 23, of 
Muscle Shoals are accused of gunning down 2 men in North Courtland, 
investigators announced today.

Jimmy Lee Bolding, 34, of North Courtland, James Lemark Madden, 41, of Muscle 
Shoals, were shot to death in Lawrence County earlier this month. The mens' 
bodies were found on Bolding's property on Rosa Parks Street around midnight 
July 7. Bolding's body was in the front yard, and Madden was found inside a 
trailer on the property, Sheriff Gene Mitchell said.

"Deloney and Bolding, who were both persons of interest since early in the 
investigation, were found to be a strong suspects last week after investigators 
conducted several interviews," the sheriff said in a news release.

On Wednesday, investigators received information and evidence to get warrants 
for the arrests, Mitchell said.

"(The) investigation is still ongoing and at this time no details surrounding 
the murders are being released," according to the news release. Additional 
arrests are expected.

Deloney and Bolding are held in the Lawrence County Jail without bail.

The relationships between the suspects and victims haven't been released.

If convicted of capital murder, Deloney and Bolding face life in prison without 
parole or the death penalty.

(source: al.com)








OHIO:

Ohio bishops: Replace death penalty with mercy, conversion



Catholic leaders in Ohio stressed the need to replace the death penalty with 
mercy and spiritual conversion, following the execution of convicted child 
murderer Ronald Phillips.

"The Catholic Church believes that the death penalty is an unnecessary and 
systemically flawed form of punishment," the Ohio Catholic Conference said in a 
statement. "The Catholic bishops of Ohio sought mercy for Mr. Phillips because 
of the belief that spiritual conversion is possible and that all life - even 
that of the worst offender - has value and dignity." "May his soul, through the 
mercy of God, rest in peace," the conference said.

The July 26 execution was the first in Ohio since a botched 2014 execution. 
Phillips, 43, was executed by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio 
Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio, the Associated Press reports. He was 
convicted for the 1993 rape and killing of 3-year-old Sheila Marie Evans, his 
girlfriend's daughter. He gave his final statement 10 minutes before his death.

"Sheila Marie didn't deserve what I did to her," Phillips said, telling the 
girl's family "I'm sorry you had to live so long with my actions." Phillips had 
spent much of the morning praying, kneeling and reading the Bible. Ohio Gov. 
John Kasich had rejected clemency in 2016, citing "the extremely brutal nature 
of the offense committed against an innocent 3-year-old child."

The Ohio Catholic Conference previously cited Pope Francis' address to Congress 
in which he had called for an end to the death penalty. Karen Clifton, 
executive director of Catholic Mobilizing Network, said her organization was 
"deeply saddened" by the resumption of the executions. "Our prayers are with 
the victim, her family and all those who were asked to participate in Ronald 
Phillips' execution," she said. "Ronald Phillips committed a horrific crime, 
but through the grace of God's transformational love became a person who asked 
for forgiveness and journeyed with others from anger and hate to repentance," 
Clifton continued.

"Today's execution highlights the need for mercy and reconciliation in our 
justice system." She called on Ohio to reconsider the 26 other scheduled 
executions. Other opponents include the group Ohioans to Stop Executions, which 
had delivered over 27,500 signatures to Gov. Kasich asking him to postpone the 
state's executions, including that of Phillips.

The group sought better safeguards to prevent sentencing innocent people to 
death and endorsed 56 recommendations the Ohio Supreme Court's death penalty 
task force made to the state legislature, Cleveland.com reports.

European pharmaceutical companies have barred the sale of their drugs for the 
purpose of executions, causing difficulties for Ohio state officials in charge 
of executions. Officials say they have enough of the drugs to carry out 3 
executions. Executions had been halted following the January 2014 execution of 
Dennis McGuire, in which he was seen clenching his fists, trying to sit up, 
gasping for breath and choking as the drugs took a record 26 minutes to kill 
him.

The execution used an untested drug cocktail that included the sedative 
midazolam and the morphine derivative hydromorphone. In a letter to Gov. 
Kasich, 17 former corrections officials and administrators had warned of 
possible errors in the use of midazolam, warning that a disturbing execution 
could traumatize corrections officials.

McGuire was condemned for the 1989 murder of a woman and her unborn child. In 
the months before his execution, he had returned to the Sacrament of 
Reconciliation and was an attendee at the prison's weekly Masses for inmates. 
At the Mass before his execution, he was a recipient of the anointing of the 
sick and dying, and received spiritual direction.

Since capital punishment resumed in Ohio in 1999, 54 people have been executed.

(source: angelusnews.com)

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

Akron man tied to 3 fires in his neighborhood, 2 that claimed 9 lives; 
prosecutors seek death penalty for Stanley Ford



An Akron man has been tied to 3 fires in his neighborhood, 2 that claimed 9 
lives.

Summit County prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Stanley Ford, 
investigators announced in a press conference Thursday morning.

Ford, 58, was arrested in May for a deadly house fire at 693 Fultz St. 
Investigators have since tied him to another fatal fire at 714 Fultz St. and a 
car fire on Russell Avenue in which no one was injured. All 3 fires were in the 
same block as Ford's home on Hilcrest Street.

Ford has pleaded not guilty to 7 counts of aggravated murder and 1 count of 
aggravated arson for the 693 Fultz fire and is being held at the Summit County 
Jail.

A Summit County grand jury has now indicted Ford on numerous charges related to 
all 3 fires. Prosecutors, after hearing evidence about Ford from his defense 
attorneys, have decided to pursue the death penalty.

7 people, including 5 children, were killed in a May 15 fire at 693 Fultz.

2 senior citizens died in an April 2016 fire at 714 Fultz. Neighbors wondered 
if Ford might have been behind this fire after his arrest for the other fire on 
Fultz.

The car fire happened about 2 a.m. Jan. 23 - in between the 2 Fultz fires. A 
resident in the 700 block of Russell Avenue told police that someone removed 
the gas cap from a vehicle parked in her driveway, stuffed a wick in the fuel 
filler neck, and lit it ablaze. The fire damaged the vehicle, but no one was 
harmed, according to an incident report.

Dennis Huggins, 35, and Angela Boggs, 38, and their 5 children: Cameron 
Huggins, 1; Alivia Huggins, 3; Kyle Huggins, 5; Daisia Huggins, 6; and Jared 
Boggs, 14, were killed in the May fire.

Lindell Lewis, 65, and Gloria Jean Hart, 66, died in the other fire last year.

(source: Beacon Journal)








MISSOURI:

Judge in Hailey Owens murder case hears death penalty arguments



Defense attorneys for Craig Wood and Greene County prosecutors sparred in court 
on Thursday over Missouri's death penalty law. Defense attorneys are trying to 
spare Wood from a possible execution if he's convicted of kidnapping, raping, 
and killing 10-year-old Hailey Owens in February 2014 in Springfield.

Defense attorneys last month filed a motion asking Circuit Judge Tom Mountjoy 
to declare Missouri's death penalty law to be unconstitutional because they say 
it doesn't satisfy rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Defense attorney Jeff Stephens on Thursday called expert witness Wanda Foglia, 
a professor of law and justice studies at Rowan University in New Jersey, and a 
Capital Jury Project investigator. Foglia was on a team that surveyed nearly 
1,200 jurors who had served in hundreds of capital murder cases.

Foglia's research found jurors often prematurely make decisions about 
punishment. It also found jury selection doesn't keep out automatic death 
penalty jurors. Her research found, with so many questions about the death 
penalty, the jury selection process often gives jurors the impression that the 
defendant is guilty.

Foglia argued the jury selection process creates a bias for a death penalty. 
She said, in Missouri, 48 % of jurors surveyed thought the death penalty was 
required if the defendant's actions were vile, heinous or depraved.

Foglia also argued jurors don't trust the system and think a sentence of life 
without chance of parole doesn't really mean what it says, and defendants will 
end up with a shorter sentence.

Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson said the defense team's 
attempt to have Mountjoy declare the death penalty to be unconstitutional is 
merely laying a record for whatever appeal they might want to make.

"The defense motion to dismiss the death penalty has been filed over and over 
again in death penalty cases. They argue based on social science," Patterson 
told the judge in the hearing on Thursday. "That's always the goal of capital 
public defenders and defense lawyers representing clients in death penalty 
cases: to not just defend their client, but have the death penalty declared 
unconstitutional, because that would benefit their client to do so, obviously."

He also said the research on the jury selection process is based on interviews 
of a limited number of jurors, one to five years after cases ended.

"Just common sense tells you, think back about something in your life that 
lasted a long period of time, where you had to make decisions. When you think 
back on that and try to reconstruct exactly what you were thinking or exactly 
what you were doing, it's simply not possible to do," Patterson said as he 
asked the judge to deny the motion like most other judges and courts have done.

"They're given copies of the judge's instructions so that, when they're 
deliberating, they can look at it. If they have a question about what the 
definition of something is or what they're supposed to find, they have those 
instructions right there," Patterson said. "We know jurors look at those 
instructions because, many times, they ask questions about them during the 
course of deliberations in a jury trial. But when you ask someone 2 to 5 years 
later about those things, and they don't have the benefit of those 
instructions, it makes sense they wouldn't necessarily recall all those 
instructions or the details of what it was they were supposed to do."

David Ransin, an attorney for Hailey's parents, Stacey Barfield and Ryan Owens, 
spoke for them on Thursday after the hearing.

"They're trying to lay the predicate to change the system. The system is in 
place based upon our Supreme Court and legislators. They (defense attorneys) 
don't like that, which is their prerogative, but they're going through the 
process of laying the foundation to challenge the system as not being fair to 
Mr. Wood," said Ransin.

Ransin said defense attorneys should direct their challenges toward the 
Legislature.

"Hailey's parents are very definitely looking forward to the end of the 
criminal proceedings. They remain patient and quite confident in the 
prosecution. They're basic wish would be for Mr. Wood to step up, confess his 
crimes, accept his responsibility, which also means accepting accountability. 
Hailey did not get a chance to choose her fate. Mr. Wood did that for her. Mr. 
Wood needs to surrender his fate to a judge or jurors to decide that and get 
this case over to avoid a trial for Hailey's parents, as well as our 
community," said Ransin.

Hailey's parents support Wood in his effort to get prosecutors to drop their 
bid for a death penalty because they want to get the case over and avoid a 
lengthy and "very ugly trial," said Ransin, who said their stance is based on 
their desire to "buy peace."

"We all have our own opinions about the circumstances. The unifying thing is 
the evidence is clear, and we believe Mr. Wood acknowledges that, but he's 
continuing to bargain and try to play a role in deciding his fate rather just 
stepping up and accepting it and moving on," said Ransin.

Mountjoy took the issue under advisement. He scheduled another pretrial hearing 
for Aug. 30 at 8:30.

Wood's trial is set to start on Oct. 23. He's offered to plead guilty to 
1st-degree murder in exchange for Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan 
Patterson dropping his attempt to obtain a death penalty, which requires a 
trial and a recommendation from a jury.

(source: KSPR news)








NEVADA----new execution date/volunteer

Nevada judge grants killer Dozier's request for execution date



A convicted murderer who has been on death row since 2007 asked for an 
execution date Thursday, and a Las Vegas judge granted his request.

Scott Dozier, 46, stood up in a Las Vegas courtroom and informed Clark County 
District Judge Jennifer Togliatti that he was fully aware of his request, as 
well as some of the risks associated with lethal injection drugs.

"My outlook on that is that, personally, I think once they start with it, 
they're gonna get it done one way or another," Dozier said about reports of 
botched executions from expired drugs, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 
"Ideally, it will not be terrible or painful, but if it is, I'm kind of 
committed at that point."

He added: "Quite frankly, your honor, all those people ended up dead, and 
that's my goal here."

Moments later, Togliatti signed Dozier's death warrant. His execution date is 
set for Oct. 16.

Dozier told his attorneys in October to stop his appeals and allow him to 
pursue an execution date. At the time, he asked for execution by firing squad, 
but Nevada only uses lethal injection to execute prisoners.

Earlier this month, Togliatti ordered a mental evaluation of Dozier.

There were "no grounds -- health, mental, psychological or otherwise -- that 
would impede the defendant choosing to negate his rights to post-conviction and 
have the death sentence imposed," the evaluation read.

Dozier was sentenced to death in 2007 for the 2002 murder of 22-year-old 
Jeremiah Miller. A Nevada court found him guilty of shooting Miller in the 
head, draining his body of blood in a bathtub, cutting him into pieces and 
discarding his remains in an effort to steal $12,000 in a supposed drug deal.

At the time of the trial, Dozier was already serving a 22 year sentence in 
Arizona for killing and dismembering 26-year-old Jasen Green in another 
drug-related murder.

During his time in prison, Dozier became an artist and posted several of his 
paintings on a Facebook page. He also made attempts to be a columnist for 
Vice.com in 2012.

For the past few months, he has been pursuing his execution.

"It's been a long time coming and I finally just got fed up with it," he said 
in a recent phone call to a friend. "I'm so over the scene."

(source: United Press Internatnional)

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

Las Vegas judge grants killer his wish, orders execution



A judge on Thursday ordered the execution of Scott Dozier, securing a path to 
imminent death for the 2-time convicted murderer who has spent the last year 
trying to persuade the state to kill him.

"It's been a long time, your honor. I'm ready to go," Dozier, 46, said during a 
brief court hearing. The warrant of execution, signed Thursday by Clark County 
District Judge Jennifer Togliatti, requires that Dozier be put to death during 
the week of Oct. 16.

Dozier was composed - even cheerful at times - Thursday, sporting a 
high-and-tight haircut and stylish glasses with wide-rimmed frames. His 
execution is scheduled to be the 1st in Nevada since 2006.

The roughly 80-day countdown triggered by Togliatti's signature marks a legal 
victory for Dozier, who was sentenced to death in 2007. He used blunt 
statements and gallows humor to assure the judge of his desire to die, no 
matter how painful the process.

"Once they start, they're going to get it done one way or another," he said. 
"Ideally it will not be terrible or painful, but if it is, I'm kind of 
committed at that point."

Dozier was convicted of the 2002 murder and mutilation of 22-year-old Arizona 
resident Jeremiah Miller, whose torso was found in a suitcase. Miller's 
extremities never were recovered. The 2007 conviction followed a 2005 Arizona 
conviction of 2nd-degree murder.

State law requires executions to be carried out by lethal injection. Citing 
cases of botched lethal injections elsewhere, Togliatti grilled Dozier before 
she agreed to sign the execution order.

"There's nothing that occurred in the last year, including discussions about 
the drug, the efficacy of the drug ... whether the drugs used in other states 
have problematic, perhaps painful or protracted executions?" the judge asked. 
"That has not dissuaded you from asking me to sign this warrant?"

"Quite frankly, your honor, all those people ended up dead, and that's my goal 
here," Dozier said.

Rejecting the advice of his attorney, Dozier agreed to waive his 
post-conviction rights to appeal his sentence. Those rights will be reinstated 
if the execution is not done as scheduled.

Access to drug cocktail

The certainty with which Dozier declared his death wish offered a sharp 
contrast to the mass uncertainty surrounding the state's access to drugs used 
in lethal injections. Nevada's stockpile of at least 1 of those drugs expired 
recently, and Department of Corrections officials have been unsuccessful in 
efforts to replace it.

"The Department says that if there's a warrant, they can get it," Clark County 
Assistant District Attorney Giancarlo Pesci told the judge. "I can't tell you 
which drug or drugs."

The Nevada DOC said in a statement that it is "seeking guidance from the 
Attorney General's Office and will follow all appropriate and legal protocol to 
ensure state law is followed."

The office of Attorney General Adam Laxalt referred all questions to the 
Department of Corrections. Gov. Brian Sandoval's office did not provide a 
comment.

>From what was disclosed in court, there are concerns about both use of and 
access to certain lethal injection drugs.

"As you know, there has been great concern about drugs not working properly. 
There have been cases in other states where executions really have been 
botched," Pesci said. "I think it is very important to make sure that we don't 
have a situation that has happened in other states."

State law does not establish a protocol for drugs used in lethal injections, 
but prison officials said in 2015 they planned to use midazolam and 
hydromorphone to carry out future executions. They could, however, decide to 
use a different combination of drugs for Dozier's execution.

Midazolam, an anti-anxiety sedative, was scrutinized following Oklahoma's use 
of the drug in a botched 2014 execution that lasted 43 minutes. A divided U.S. 
Supreme Court later upheld the use of midazolam in lethal injections, with a 
razor-thin majority ruling that it did not violate Eighth Amendment protections 
against cruel and unusual punishment.

Pfizer, which manufactures both midazolam and hydromorphone, announced last 
year it would block the use of its products for executions. Nevada since has 
failed to secure bids from pharmaceutical companies to restock the drug. Last 
year, 247 requests by the state yielded zero responses.

Defense attorney Tom Ericsson told the judge he heard a television interview 
with Nevada Director of Prisons James Dzurenda, who said officials might seek 
to obtain the drug from other states.

"We don't have a clear picture, even with this execution warrant, for exactly 
what the protocol is going to be for this execution and where the drugs are 
going to come from," said Clark County Deputy Public Defender Scott Coffee, an 
expert on death penalty cases.

Dozier, however, did not seem concerned with the details of his execution that 
have state officials scrambling. He caused a disruption in the courtroom when 
he asked the judge a final question at the end of his hearing.

"Can you fix that picture?! It's driving me crazy," he said.

"What picture?"

"The one on the wall that's hanging sideways," Dozier said, pointing to a 
photograph angled in its frame. "Do you not notice that?"

He turned to the other people in the courtroom, gesturing as if to seek 
confirmation, and smiled as the laughter of defendants and spectators drowned 
out attorneys' comments.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)








USA:

"She would not stop laughing at me": Affidavit reveals new details in cruise 
ship killing



Cruise ship security personnel who found a man in his cabin near his wife's 
bloodied body said he told witnesses, "She would not stop laughing at me," 
court documents reveal.

A federal criminal complaint released Thursday charges Kenneth Manzanares with 
murder in the killing aboard the Emerald Princess in U.S. waters off Alaska 
Tuesday night. Princess Cruises says Kristy Manzanares, a 39-year-old Utah 
woman, died in the attack that's believed to have resulted from a domestic 
dispute. Passengers told CBS News' Jamie Yuccas that the couple involved was 
traveling with a large group that included their children.

A federal search warrant affidavit says Emerald Princess security and medical 
personnel responded just after 9 p.m. to an incident in cabin D726, registered 
to guests Kenneth Manzanares and the victim. The affidavit described Kenneth 
Manzanares as the husband of the victim, but refers to the woman only as "K.M." 
Anchorage FBI spokeswoman Staci Feger-Pellessier confirmed to CBS Alaska 
affiliate KTVA-TV that the victim has been identified as Kristy Manzanares.

Kristy Manzanares was found in the cabin dead with a severe head wound, and 
"blood was spread throughout the room on multiple surfaces," the affidavit 
said. Kenneth Manzanares was in the cabin with blood on his hands and clothing, 
a responding security officer told the FBI agent who signed the affidavit.

The security officer handcuffed Kenneth Manzanares and secured him in an 
adjoining cabin. Witnesses who entered the room before the officer arrived told 
the officer they found Kenneth Manzanares with blood on his hands and clothing, 
according to the affidavit. One witness told the officer he saw the woman lying 
on the floor covered in blood, and when he asked Kenneth Manzanares what had 
happened, Manzanares replied, "She would not stop laughing at me."

The witness said Kenneth Manzanares then grabbed the victim's body and dragged 
her towards the cabin's balcony, the affidavit says. The witness then grabbed 
then victim's ankles and pulled her back inside the cabin. Security arrived 
shortly afterward.

Later, when Kenneth Manzanares was being processed during an FBI evidence 
search, "he spontaneously stated, 'My life is over,'" the affidavit said.

The ship was carrying 3,400 passengers and 1,100 crew members. It departed 
Seattle on Sunday for a seven-day round-trip cruise. It had left Ketchikan, 
Alaska, on Tuesday around 3 p.m. The death forced the crew to divert the ship 
to Juneau, where it arrived just before 8 a.m. on Wednesday -- about 6 1/2 
hours ahead of schedule.

Thousands of passengers were kept on board for hours while the FBI 
investigated.

The Emerald Princess spans the length of nearly 3 football fields and has 19 
decks. Passenger Chris Ceman told Yuccas he was on the 9th level in a room 
across from where it happened.

The Emerald Princess cruise ship docked in Juneau on Wed., July 26, 2017, after 
officials said a Utah woman was killed in a domestic dispute on Tuesday 
evening.

"One of the little girls from that room came running out, calling for help, 
that her parents had been in a fight. She sounded pretty desperate, but the 
crew came up as quickly as they could," Ceman said.

Passengers said that a "murder mystery" theme dinner was taking place when the 
situation started to unfold. Some thought it was a hoax at first, but after the 
initial confusion they realized the severity of the situation.

Passenger Charles Rowlen told KTVA he and his wife were in a room 2 floors 
above where the incident took place Tuesday night.

"It was evening for us, I had turned in and my wife was taking a shower and I 
heard terrible screaming, I mean you knew it wasn't normal," Rowlen said. "And 
it sounded like 2 or 3 ladies or girls, definitely women screaming."

Rowlen said his wife looked over the balcony and saw a man, bruised, cut and 
covered in blood.

"My wife's a registered nurse, she thought he was going to jump over the rail, 
and at one point he put his hand on the rail and set his rear on it, but she 
started yelling get back in and the ship announced, get a security team to that 
area," he said.

Nicole and Brice Beckstrom used to live across the street from the family 
involved. They told Yuccas the couple was celebrating an anniversary.

"To find out that it was her was shocking," Nicole said.

The U.S. attorney's office held a news conference with representatives of the 
FBI and Coast Guard Thursday in Anchorage to announce the filing of federal 
charges in the case.

The maximum punishment Kenneth Manzanares faces if found guilty of federal 
murder charge is life in prison or the death penalty, according to CBS 
affiliate KTVA-TV.

(source: CBS News)