[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., GA., FLA., ALA., MISS., TENN., ARK.

[Rick Halperin]

March 4




TEXAS----impending executions

Texas Prepares for Execution of Rolando Ruiz on March 7, 2017


Rolando Ruiz, Jr., is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CST, on Tuesday, March 
7, 2017, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, 
Texas. 44-year-old Rolando is convicted of murdering 29-year-old Theresa 
Rodriguez on July 14, 1992, in San Antonio, Texas. Rolando has spent the last 
21 years of his life on Texas' death row.

As a child, Rolando was allegedly abused, which led him to be addicted to drugs 
and alcohol. Rolando also claims that because of his excessive use of drugs and 
alcohol, he has difficulty distinguishing between fantasy and reality. Rolando 
dropped out of school following the 10th grade. He worked as a laborer prior to 
his arrest. Rolando has previously been arrested and served time for assaulting 
his ex-girlfriend and stealing her vehicle. While in prison, he assaulted a 
jailer.

In 1992, Rolando Ruiz was hired by Michael and Mark Rodriguez to kill Michael's 
wife, Theresa. Michael agreed to pay Ruiz $1,000 up front, with an additional 
$1,000 being paid once the job was completed. Prior to the hiring of Ruiz, 
Michael took out a $150,000 life insurance policy on his wife and himself, in 
addition to the $250,000 policy he already had.

Michael planned for Ruiz to rob and murder Theresa on July 10, 1992, when she 
arrived for work at a restaurant. Ruiz called off the attack when he spotted a 
security guard. Michael then asked Ruiz to kill Theresa when they were leaving 
the movies later that night. Michael and Theresa never showed up at the movies.

On July 14, 1992, Mark told Ruiz that he was to follow Michael and Theresa home 
from the movie theater and then kill her. When Michael pulled the car to stop 
at his home, Ruiz ran up to the passenger side door and shot Theresa once in 
the head as she attempted to exit the vehicle Without robbing her, Ruiz fled 
the scene and spent the rest of the evening playing basketball. 3 days later, 
Ruiz received his 2nd payment of $1,000.

Mark and Michael were sentenced to life in prison after accepting plea 
agreements, while Rolando received the death sentence. In December of 2000, 
Michael broke out of prison as a member of the Texas 7. During efforts to 
recapture the group, police officer Aubry Hawkins was killed. Michael was 
sentenced to death and executed on August 14, 2008.

2 other men, Joe Ramon and Robert Silva were also sentenced to life in prison 
for their part in the murder if Theresa. Joe accompanied Ruiz on the night of 
the murder, while Robert was responsible for putting the Rodriguez brothers in 
touch with Ruiz. Since in prison, Ruiz is believed to have joined the Texas 
Syndicate, a notorious prison gang that causes disturbances and assaults other 
inmates and officers.

Rolando Ruiz was twice scheduled to be executed in 2016. The reasons those 
executions were halted has not been stated.

Please pray for peace and healing for the family of Theresa Rodriguez. Please 
pray for strength for the family of Rolando. Please pray that if Rolando is 
innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for 
any other reason that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. Please 
pray that Rolando may come to find peace through a personal relationship with 
Jesus Christ, if he has not already.

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

Texas Prepares for Execution of James Bigby on March 14, 2017


James Eugene Bigby is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CDT, on Tuesday, March 
14, 2017, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, 
Texas. 61-year-old James is convicted of the murder of 26-year-old Michael 
Trekell, Michael's 4-month-old son Jayson Kehler, Calvin Wesley Crane, and 
Frank "Bubba" Johnson, on December 23-24, 1987, in Tarrant County, Texas. James 
has spent the last 25 years of his life on Texas' death row.

James had a difficult upbringing. His mother allegedly drank while pregnant 
with him and breastfed him until the age of 7. James' mother also gave away his 
siblings to be raised by other relatives. He grew up fearing that his mother 
would abandon him, as his father had. Additionally, his mother and siblings all 
suffer from mental health issues and have struggled to live successful lives. 
James had previously been hospitalized multiple times for schizo-affective 
disorder and depression. He had also received electroshock therapy during one 
of his stays. James had previously been arrested and served time for various 
robberies and a sexual assault charge. James dropped out of school following 
the 9th grade and worked at Frito-Lay prior to his arrest as an auto mechanic.

In late December 1987, James Bigby had a pending worker's compensation claim 
against his employer, Frito-Lay. Bigby was paranoid that several of his friends 
were conspiring against him to thwart his claim. On December 23, 1987, Bigby 
bought 2 steaks and took them to the home of his friend, Michael Trekell, who 
also had a 4-month-old son, Jayson, in Fort Worth, Texas. While Michael 
prepared the steaks, Bigby shot and killed him. Bigby then drowned Jayson in 
the sink.

Bigby left the murder scene and drove to the apartment of his friend Calvin 
Crane. Bigby and Calvin talked for a short time before Bigby asked Calvin to 
drive him to the store. Calvin agreed and on the way back from the store, Bigby 
forced Clavin, at gunpoint, to pull over and get out of the truck. Bigby shot 
Calvin in the head, killing him. Bigby left Calvin's body along side the road 
and drove the truck back to Calvin's apartment, retrieved several items from 
his car, and left again in Calvin's truck.

Bigby then drove to Arlington, Texas, and arrived at the home of Frank "Bubba" 
Johnson, around 3:20 am on December 24, 1987. Bigby rang to doorbell and Bubba 
answered. After a short discussion, Bigby shot Bubba 3 times, killing him. 
Bigby fled the scene in Calvin's truck.

A massive manhunt ensued, and Bigby was arrested on December 26, 1987, after a 
stand-off at a local motel. A police negotiator had to be called in to talk to 
Bigby and get him to surrender. While talking to the negotiator, Bigby 
confessed to the murders. He also later gave a written confession, after being 
arrested by police.

During Bigby's 1991 trial, Bigby seized a loaded revolver from the judge's 
bench during a recess. Bigby walked into the judge's chamber and pointed the 
gun at the judge saying, "Let's go, Judge." The judge was quickly able to 
disarm Bigby and he was subdued. Bigby's lawyers attempted to have the judge 
removed from the case and a mistrial declared, but they were unsuccessful. 
Bigby's lawyers attempted to mount an insanity defense for Bigby, but they were 
unsuccessful. The jury found Bigby guilty and he was sentenced to death.

Please pray for peace and healing for the families of the Michael Trekell, 
Jayson Kehler, Calvin Crane, and Frank Johnson. Please pray that if James Bigby 
is innocent, lacks the competency to be executed, or should not be executed for 
any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. 
Please pray that James may come to find peace through a personal relationship 
with Jesus Christ, if he has not already.

(source for both: theforgivenessfoundation.org)






NORTH CAROLINA:

Nathan Holden found guilty of murdering in-laws


A Wake County jury sentenced Nathan Holden to life in prison on Friday for 
killing his in-laws in 2014.

The jury that convicted Holden of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder on Monday 
considered more than 30 mitigating factors in deciding whether Holden should be 
put to death or spend the rest of his life in prison.

Holden's attorneys admitted that he shot and killed Angelia and Sylvester 
Taylor at their home in Wendell on April 9, 2014, then tried to kill their 
daughter, his former wife, LaTonya Holden, while her children were hiding in a 
bedroom closet. But they argued that he should not be convicted of 1st-degree 
murder, because the crimes were not premeditated.

The jury of 9 men and 3 women agreed about the premeditation, but convicted him 
of 1st-degree murder anyway, because the crimes were committed in connection 
with another felony, the attempt to kill his wife.

Holden and his father, Nathaniel Carroll, were silent after the jury read its 
decision, as were his former wife and her family and supporters. But that 
silence was later followed by an outpouring of emotion and relief outside the 
courtroom, where the Taylor family, members of Angelia's church and prosecutors 
and sheriff's investigators all hugged and consoled one another.

One of Sylvester Taylor's sons, Marktontio Royster, 44, of Henderson, told the 
court before sentencing that he did not get a chance to grow up with his 
father, but the 2 became the best of friends when he reached adulthood. He said 
it was his birthday the day his father died, 3 hours after they had talked on 
the phone.

Angelia Taylor was the pastor of the Zion Hill Holiness Church in Jonesville, 
near Rolesville. Her husband served as head deacon of the church. Even though 
Angelia Taylor was not his biological mother, Royster called her "Momma Angie."

"I remember 1 time he was real proud of Nate," Royster told the court about his 
father. "Nate had started videotaping the church services. I could hear the 
satisfaction in his voice."

The Taylors' 38-year-old son, Sylvester Taylor Jr. 38, of Monroe, La., said the 
verdict provided closure for both the Taylor and Holden families.

"Justice prevailed," he said. "And Nate, he's still the father of the kids. 
We're grateful that he has the opportunity to possibly reconcile with his kids. 
We have been praying for him as much as we've been praying for ourselves. 
Through all that's happened maybe some good can come of it."

Prosecutors argued for the death penalty, noting that Holden had an opportunity 
to stop the crimes after initially shooting Angelia Taylor once in the heart. 
Instead, Holden continued the attack, and then later fired at Wake County 
deputies who tracked him down to a field behind his home in Wendell.

"He shot Angelia. He shot Sylvester. He shot LaTonya, then he beat her up," 
assistant district attorney Jason Waller said to the jury during closing 
arguments Thursday. "Then he goes and drops his car off, gets a buddy to drop 
him at his house, to do what? Reload. That's violence."

But Holden's defense attorneys said he suffered from post-traumatic stress 
disorder from a rough childhood and asked the jury to take that into account. 
They said his parents fought frequently in a household riddled by alcohol and 
crack cocaine abuse.

Attorney Jonathan Broun told the jury that Holden's grim childhood did not 
excuse his crimes, but it did offer the jury insight into why he committed the 
acts. He said Holden tried to be different from his parents.

"He married. He tried to be a part of his children's lives," Broun said 
Thursday. "He was not a perfect father. He was not a perfect husband. But if 
you grow up in a home with a mom who has cognitive problems, it can leave 
scars. Where your father regularly beat your mother, it's going to leave scars, 
not only on the mother, but on the children. Nate never had professional help. 
He tried to do his best. But there were scars."

A Wake County jury has not sentenced anyone to death since 2007. The past 7 
capital cases have resulted in juries recommending sentences of life without 
parole instead of death penalties.

In February 2016, Wake District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said it might be time 
to rethink whether to pursue the death penalty in future cases after jurors 
recommended a life sentence for Travion Smith, the man convicted of killing 
Melissa Huggins-Jones inside her North Hills apartment while her daughter was 
in a bedroom down the hall.

North Carolina has not had an execution since 2006. A number of legal 
challenges pending in the courts have created a de facto moratorium.

During the past decade, there has been a sharp decline in the number of death 
penalty trials. Last year, in all of North Carolina, 5 people were tried with 
the death penalty as a possibility. Of those 5, only 1 was sent to death row.

150 inmates are on North Carolina's death row.

Over the past 5 years, an average of fewer than 2 people per year have been 
sent to death row in North Carolina, compared with 20 to 30 people per year in 
the 1990s. There were no new death sentences in 2012 and 2015.

(source: newsobserver.com)






GEORGIA:

Columbus inmates on Georgia's death row


These are the inmates from Columbus currently awaiting execution at Georgia???s 
death-row prison in Jackson.

Columbus' most notorious death-row inmate is convicted serial killer Carlton 
Michael Gary, the so-called "Stocking Strangler" who beat, raped and strangled 
older women here from September 1977 to April 1978.

His case, recently featured on the crime show "Vanity Fair Confidential," still 
is tied up in appeals 30 years after a jury convicted and sentenced him to 
death in 3 of the 7 horrific murders that terrorized the city.

Gary was arrested May 3, 1984. On Aug. 26, 1986, the jury found him guilty in 
these cases:

The Oct. 21, 1977, slaying of Florence Scheible, 89, of 1941 Dimon St., who was 
found raped and strangled with a stocking around her neck and a pillow over her 
face. She was partially blind and used a walker.

The Oct. 25, 1977, murder of Martha Thurmond, 69, of 2614 Marion St., who was 
found raped and strangled with a stocking around her neck, her body covered by 
a pillow, sheets and blanket.

The Dec. 28, 1977, homicide of Kathleen Woodruff, 74, of 1811 Buena Vista Road, 
who was found raped and strangled with a scarf around her neck, her body 
partially covered.

These are the other cases:

The Sept. 15, 1977, slaying of Ferne Jackson, 60, of 2505 17th St., Columbus, 
who was found raped and strangled in her bedroom, a stocking and dressing-gown 
sash wrapped around her neck. The killer left her body covered.

The Sept. 24, 1977, murder of Jean Dimenstein, 71, of 3027 21st St., who was 
found raped and strangled in her home, a stocking wrapped three times around 
her neck and her body covered.

The Feb. 12, 1978, slaying of Mildred Borom, 78, of 1612 Forest Ave., found 
raped and strangled in a hallway of her home, a Venetian blinds cord around her 
neck and her face covered.

The April 20, 1978, murder of Janet Cofer, 61, found strangled with a stocking 
and raped in her 3783 Steam Mill Road home. A pillow covered her face.

Gary was hours away from lethal injection Dec. 16, 2009, when the Georgia 
Supreme Court stayed the execution and ordered a Superior Court here to 
consider DNA-testing any stranglings evidence deemed suitable.

Johnnie Worsley

Johnnie Alfred Worsley raped and fatally stabbed his stepdaughter before 
smashing his wife's skull with a baseball bat during a drug-fueled rampage in 
1995.

He married wife Flora Worsley in 1984, but they separated 4 years later because 
of his cocaine addiction. They reconciled in January 1995, when he moved back 
in with her and her 17-year-old daughter Yameika Bell.

But his addiction persisted. In February 1995, his wife said she'd leave him if 
he kept using coke, and he said he'd kill her if she tried.

The following March 6, Bell noticed money missing from her purse and blamed 
Johnnie Worsley, who denied taking it, but gave her some back. About 2 a.m. the 
next day, he got a butcher knife from the kitchen, went into Bell's bedroom, 
raped and stabbed her.

Investigators found her naked under a pile of comforters on the bed. She had 11 
slashes to her neck and 9 stab wounds to her chest and upper abdomen.

Worsley left to buy crack cocaine, came back and smoked it. At 8 a.m., his wife 
came home after working a late shift. He crushed her skull with the "full-force 
swing" of a baseball bat and stabbed her in the neck. Authorities later found 
her under a comforter on the bedroom floor.

Relatives became worried when Flora Worsley didn't call her mother that morning 
like she usually did. Instead Johnnie Worsley called her and asked her 
forgiveness "for what I have done." Police summoned to the Worsley residence 
saw nothing suspicious, but did not go inside.

The next day, a friend entered and found the bodies amid rooms splattered with 
blood. That same day, Johnnie Worsley drove his Oldsmobile Cutlass to a Phenix 
City car dealership and took a blue Geo Metro for a test drive. He did not 
return, and left a note in the Cutlass in part saying, "I now must go to hell 
and pay for what I am."

He drove the Geo to a church in Twiggs County, where he met a deacon and asked 
forgiveness for killing 2 people. The deacon called the sheriff, who later saw 
the Geo on Interstate 16 and tried to stop it. For 4 miles the suspect led a 
chase at up to 95 mph before he finally gave up.

His trial began Nov. 12, 1998, and ended the following Nov. 14, when the jury 
found him guilty and recommended the death penalty.

Leon Tollette

A jury sentenced Leon Tollette to death after he pleaded guilty to gunning down 
Brinks security guard John Hamilton outside Columbus' downtown SunTrust bank on 
Dec. 21, 1995.

He approached Hamilton from behind and shot him 4 times, once in the head, and 
fled with the money bag Hamilton had.

Tollette later claimed he fired out of fear when Hamilton turned around and saw 
him coming. A flurry of gunfire ensued as other guards and police immediately 
tried to prevent his escape.

The truck's driver, Carl Crane, shot at Tollette, as did Cornell Christianson, 
who was driving a nearby Lummus Fargo truck. Toilette's accomplice Xavier 
Womack, who had been watching from across the street, started shooting at the 
guards to aid Tollette's escape.

Finally Robert Oliver, a police officer accompanied by a cadet, confronted 
Tollette, who tried to shoot at Oliver, too, but had emptied his revolver. He 
dropped the gun and surrendered. Womack and a getaway driver fled without him.

A former gang member and drug dealer, Tollette had come here from California at 
Womack's invitation. Womack planned the robbery after studying the Brinks 
schedule for collecting bank receipts.

Tollette pleaded guilty Nov. 3, 1997 to murder, armed robbery, being a 
convicted felon with a firearm, using a firearm to commit a crime and 2 counts 
of aggravated assault. He had only a sentencing trial to decide whether he 
should get life with parole, life without parole or death. On Nov. 11, 1997, 
jurors sentenced him to death.

Ward Brockman

Ward Anthony Brockman shot Forrest Road gas station manager Billy Lynn in a 
botched robbery attempt on June 26, 1990.

Brockman and 3 accomplices met at an apartment in Phenix City where Brockman's 
girlfriend lived. There they planned to rob several businesses while using as 
their getaway car a Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z that Brockman days earlier stole 
from a Columbus car dealer.

Brockman had a .38-caliber revolver. The next day he and his cohorts got a 
.22-caliber pistol and a sawed-off shotgun and went to a Kentucky Fried Chicken 
to rob the manager as she left to make a bank deposit.

But their timing was off, and they missed her. So they drove to the Premium Oil 
station Lynn managed, and Brockman some distance away dropped off 2 of his 
accomplices who feared Lynn might recognize them.

Brockman and his other cohort, Quenton Lewis, pulled up at the gas station 
about 5:30 p.m., when no customers were there. Armed with the shotgun, Lewis 
stayed in the car.

Brockman got out when Lynn asked if he could help them. Brockman told 
authorities he cocked the revolver, pointed it at Lynn and said, "Give me all 
the money." Lynn held his arms out and said, "You got it," but made no move to 
comply. Brockman demanded money again. Lynn, smiling, again said, "You got it."

Brockman said, "No, you got it," and shot Lynn in the gut, killing him.

Brockman later claimed the shooting was accidental. He said Lewis hit him on 
the shoulder and yelled, "Go!" when Brockman decided to abandon the robbery, 
and the revolver discharged.

But Lewis said Brockman never cocked the handgun, and had to have deliberately 
shot Lynn by fully depressing the trigger. Lewis said Brockman later told him 
he shot Lynn to keep Lynn from "laughing about it with his buddies, telling his 
buddies that we tried to rob him and didn't really get no money."

They really didn't get any money: Though Lynn had $70 on him, they fled so fast 
they never checked the victim's pockets.

They picked up their 2 accomplices and fled, with Brockman leaving the driving 
to Lewis. Police broadcast witnesses' description of the stolen car, and 
officers spotted it in Phenix City, initiating a chase that reached speeds of 
more than 100 mph.

The suspects got away, abandoned the car and returned to the apartment - to 
which police finally tracked Brockman. He climbed into the attic and tried to 
hide under insulation until officers threw in tear gas to flush him out. 
Investigators found the stolen car and, inside it, a criminal to-do list that 
included stealing a car and robbing the station Lynn managed.

Authorities discovered Brockman had been involved in 3 armed robberies that 
month, 2 of them within 48 hours of Lynn's death.

Brockman's trial began on Feb. 28, 1994. He was found guilty on March 11, 1994, 
and sentenced to death the following day.

(source: Ledger-Enquirer)






FLORIDA:

Trial opening nears in 2006 murder of Broward deputy


he trial of the 3 men accused of gunning down Broward Sheriff's Deputy Brian 
Tephford during a traffic stop in 2006 will finally begin with opening 
statements before this month is out.

Probably.

Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman has set schedules in the complex murder case 
before, only to watch circumstances change and dates get pushed back.

The case has already been stalled by the kinds of delays that can be expected 
when the death penalty is on the table and multiple defendants are each 
represented by multiple lawyers who have to coordinate their schedules and 
conduct witness interviews and hearings on dozens of complex legal issues.

The fluctuating status of Florida's death penalty over the past 14 months 
didn't help.

Last September, when the 1st phase of jury selection began, Backman told jurors 
to expect opening statements in January, with the presentation of evidence 
lasting until the beginning of summer.

Then the Florida Supreme Court stepped in and declared Florida's new death 
penalty law unconstitutional, complicating the jury selection process. 
Defendants Andre Delancy, 30, Bernard Forbes, 32, and Eloyn Ingraham, 39, face 
the death penalty if convicted, but without a legally enforceable death penalty 
process, it's been impossible for attorneys and Backman to vet jurors to make 
sure they can fairly decide a capital case.

The Florida Legislature is scheduled to vote on a new death penalty law as one 
of its first acts when it convenes this week, and Gov. Rick Scott is expected 
to sign it. Unlike the overturned law, the new law will require a jury's death 
penalty recommendation to be unanimous.

Broward State Attorney Mike Satz is personally handling the prosecution of 3 
men accused of murdering Broward Sheriff's Deputy Brian Tephford in 2006. 
Jurors may start hearing the case by the end of March.

Broward State Attorney Mike Satz is personally handling the prosecution in the 
Tephford murder, accompanied by his chief assistant, Jeff Marcus.

Tephford, a 6-year veteran of the sheriff's office, was gunned down on Nov. 11, 
2006, outside the Versailles Gardens apartment complex in Tamarac. Tephford had 
put in a call at 11 p.m. for backup during a traffic stop - he had pulled over 
the car on the 8000 block of North Colony Circle after finding it had the wrong 
tag.

The shooter emerged from the passenger seat of the stopped vehicle, authorities 
said at the time. Tephford was dead at the scene. Also injured in the shooting 
was Deputy Christopher Carbocci.

Detectives tracked the suspects down the following afternoon at a motel on the 
2400 block of State Road 84 in Dania Beach.

The accused men have been held without bond since their arrests.

Ingraham and Forbes went on trial in 2015 for robbery and armed kidnapping in a 
case that prosecutors became aware of during the investigation into the 
Tephford murder. The men were acquitted.

Trouble with Florida's death penalty scuttled Backman's hopes to start the 
murder trial in early 2016. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida's death 
penalty unconstitutional because it allowed a simple majority of jurors to 
recommend death and allowed jurors only an advisory role in the process.

The legislature responded in March 2016 with a law that gave jurors more power 
and required a minimum of 10 jurors to recommend death. That was the law 
overturned by the Florida Supreme Court in October, with the state justices 
concluding anything less than a unanimous recommendation surely be rejected by 
the U.S. Supreme Court.

Backman brought a total of about 2,000 potential jurors into court for a first 
round of vetting last fall. Jurors unable to sit for a lengthy trial were sent 
home.

Backman, Satz and defense lawyers are now in the 2nd round of about 150 juror 
interviews, weeding out those who cannot serve because of various conflicts of 
interest or biases. One potential juror was dismissed in January when she 
casually admitted that she had read about the case.

The last phase of jury selection will address the death penalty - assuming the 
legislature acts as quickly as expected in passing a new law.

Opening statements are scheduled - tentatively - for March 28.

(source: Sun Sentinel)

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

Judge finds John Jonchuck competent to stand trial in death of 5-year-old 
daughter Phoebe


After 2 years of receiving psychiatric treatment at a state hospital, the man 
charged with dropping his 5-year-old daughter, Phoebe Jonchuck, off the Dick 
Misener bridge in 2015 is ready to stand trial.

During a brief hearing Friday morning, Pinellas Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone 
ruled that John Jonchuck was competent after reading evaluation reports by 
doctors.

"I don't know how to put it into words," said Michelle Kerr, Phoebe's mother, 
after hearing the news. "I've been waiting for this day for a long time."

Jonchuck, 27, is charged with 1st-degree murder. Pinellas-Pasco Chief Assistant 
State Attorney Bruce Bartlett said prosecutors want the trial to take place "as 
soon as possible," likely in the fall.

"The concern for us is that he would become incompetent again," he said.

The Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender's Office, which is representing Jonchuck, 
declined to comment.

Jonchuck will remain at the state hospital in Gainesville until the case is 
closer to trial. The last time Jonchuck was brought to the Pinellas County jail 
for a hearing in April, he refused a psychiatrist's visit, would not take all 
of his medications and tried to grab a guard, according to Sheriff's Office 
records.

"The jail doesn't force them to take the medication," Bartlett said. "If they 
don't take it, then they slide back into that gray area."

Reached by phone Friday morning, surprise gripped Jonchuck's mother, Michele 
Jonchuck, when a reporter told her about the judge's decision.

"Oh my God," she said. "I hate what he did, but I still love him because he's 
my son. He took away something very dear to me, because Phoebe meant the world 
to me."

On Jan. 8, 2015, an off-duty St. Petersburg police officer saw a white PT 
Cruiser speeding south toward the Misener bridge just after midnight. The car 
pulled over and Jonchuck reached into the back seat for his 5-year-old 
daughter, Phoebe.

He carried her to the edge of the bridge, police said, and dropped her into the 
water. Within an hour, a rescue boat found her body.

During his interview with detectives, he said: "My name is God and you shall 
address me as such."

Police later learned that hours before Jonchuck took his daughter to the 
bridge, he went to a Tampa lawyer's office in pajamas with Phoebe. He called 
himself the Pope and demanded a DNA test. Jonchuck also asked the lawyer to 
read a Bible in Swedish. She called 911.

Hillsborough deputies later found Jonchuck at a church, but concluded he didn't 
exhibit any signs of mental illness.

Jonchuck was found incompetent in February 2015.

The state is seeking the death penalty, but Bartlett said that decision will 
ultimately be up to State Attorney Bernie McCabe.

"It depends if we re-evaluate the circumstances of all the mental issues that 
are presented in the case," he added.

Michele Jonchuck said she hopes they reconsider given her son's extensive 
mental health history. Before his arrest, Jonchuck had been committed 
involuntarily 27 times and struggled with drug addiction. Loved ones have said 
he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

"I think that would be too easy on him," Michele Jonchuck said of the death 
penalty. "My whole family and I have to deal with this every day, and I believe 
he should have to deal with it. But at the same time, I believe he needs help."

(source: Tampa Bay Times)






ALABAMA:

Why is Alabama the Only State Allowed to Impose the Death Penalty Despite 
Jury's Verdict?


Most people in the United States believe that the death penalty is a sentence 
imposed by 12 members of a jury. Some may be surprised to learn that in one 
state, and only one state, a jury's decision to impose a life sentence can be 
overridden by a trial judge, who then has the power to singlehandedly impose 
the death penalty. What may be less of a surprise is that the one state 
allowing this practice is U.S. Attorney General Jeff Session's sweet home 
Alabama.

The policy is commonly known as "judge override." According to the Equal 
Justice Initiative, an organization that addresses racial and economic 
injustice including mass incarceration and excessive punishment, "judge 
override is the primary reason why Alabama has the highest per capita death 
sentencing rate in the country."

Currently, in the Alabama legislature, there is a bipartisan effort to 
eliminate the judge override with a bill sponsored by a Republican in the state 
Senate and a similar bill sponsored by a Democrat in the state House. The 
primary difference between the 2 is that the House version goes the extra step 
of requiring a unanimous jury verdict to impose the death sentence. Currently, 
juries require only 10 votes for such a recommendation. The Senate version of 
the bill has already passed the Senate, and the House should vote on its 
version within the next few days.

Until last year, 2 other states, Florida and Delaware, also allowed judge 
overrides. Court rulings at the U.S. Supreme Court and the Delaware Supreme 
Court declared the policies unconstitutional in those states.

However, even before the practice was eliminated in the other states, Alabama 
judges utilized judge overrides far more frequently than anywhere else. "As of 
late 2013, Alabama judges were responsible for 26 of the 27 instances since 
2000 in which a judge in any state has overridden a jury's advisory sentencing 
verdict of life without parole," according to William Clark, the past president 
of both the Birmingham Bar Association and the Alabama State Bar Association. 
Clark, along with 100 other attorneys and law professors, submitted a petition 
to Alabama's governor seeking sentencing changes for 34 inmates on death row 
due to judge overrides.

Part of what drives the zealous use of judge override in Alabama is the fact 
that the state is 1 of just a handful that use partisan elections to select 
judges. The vast majority of states use either nonpartisan elections or some 
form of appointment system. As a result of Alabama's judicial election system 
and the motive to appear tough on crime, "life-to-death overrides in Alabama 
are more frequent in election years."

More importantly, in the United States in general, and Alabama and the South in 
particular, one cannot ignore the role of race and the historical connections 
between lynchings and the death penalty. According to EJI, "more than 8 in 10 
American lynchings between 1889 and 1918 occurred in the South, and more than 8 
in 10 of the more than 1400 executions carried out in this country since 1976 
have been in the South." Moreover, the impact of race is not only about the 
race of the alleged perpetrator, it is about the victim as well.

"There is evidence that elected judges override jury life verdicts in cases 
involving white victims much more frequently than in cases involving victims 
who are Black. 75 % of all death sentences imposed by override involve white 
victims, even though fewer than 35 % of all homicide victims in Alabama are 
white."

But the ills of Alabama's death penalty system are not limited to the judge 
override mechanism. The state's entire framework for capital punishment has the 
effect, whether intended or otherwise, of facilitating death sentences and 
perhaps no other state attorney general was as aggressive at taking advantage 
of that framework than Jeff Sessions.

The New York Times points out that during Sessions' tenure as Alabama attorney 
general from 1995-1997, "He worked to execute insane, mentally ill and 
intellectually disabled people, among others, who were convicted in trials 
riddled with instances of prosecutorial misconduct, racial discrimination and 
grossly inadequate defense lawyering."

Sessions was such a fan of the death penalty that he even supported a state 
bill that would have imposed mandatory death sentences on drug dealers, 
including those caught dealing marijuana.

Within the next few weeks, the Alabama legislature may, in fact, eliminate the 
most glaring example of the state's support of a racist, economically 
exploitative and ultimately counter-productive system of punishment. But, the 
cancer affecting its justice system runs far deeper.

(source: Atlanta Black Star)






MISSISSIPPI:

Mississippi Senate approves gas chamber and electrocution as execution options


The Mississippi Senate on Thursday voted in favor of adding more ways to carry 
out the death penalty. House Bill 638, which passed in the Mississippi House of 
Representatives on February 8, would expand Mississippi's methods of execution 
to include firing squad, gas chamber and electrocution in case the courts rule 
lethal injection unconstitutional. The Senate rejected the firing squad option 
but retained the options of gas chamber and electrocution. The amended bill has 
been sent back to the House.

The death penalty has been a pressing issue across the country. Last month the 
Supreme Court denied review in a death penalty case. A week earlier the Supreme 
Court ruled in favor of a death row inmate over racial bias. Also in February a 
judge for the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio refused to 
lift a preliminary injunction that delays executions in Ohio. In January Judge 
Michael Merz rejected Ohio's lethal injection protocol by deeming it 
unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment. Also in January the US Supreme 
Court refused to consider a challenge to Alabama's death penalty system. In 
December a report by the Death Penalty Information Center found that the use of 
capital punishment in the US is at a 20-year low.

(source: jurist.org)






TENNESSEE:

Freed from Death Row, Artist Creates Prison Exhibit Across from Supreme Court


Ndume Olatushani, 59, has every excuse to be bitter. But almost 5 years removed 
from a Tennessee prison, he doesn't dwell on the 27 years he spent behind bars 
- 20 on death row - serving time for a murder he didn't commit.

"I was in a 4 by 9 foot cell. I couldn't even stretch my damn arms out in the 
cell. I'm sitting in there 23 hours a day. I couldn't draw a crooked line 
straight ... but art found me. I taught myself how to paint," he says.

His artwork caught the attention of the United Methodist Church - so much so 
that the body commissioned him to present an exhibit to coincide with Lent, the 
40-day period each spring commemorating the days leading up to Jesus' 
crucifixion, and resurrection on Easter.

Starting today at The United Methodist building on Capitol Hill, which sits 
across the street from the Supreme Court, Olatushani's latest work will be 
unveiled. This piece, entitled "Disrupting the Cradle to Prison Pipeline," is 
the 1st stop in a total of 14 Stations of the Cross throughout D.C. 
Olatushani's piece is one of a few new works, while several are existing D.C. 
monuments and art pieces, each meant to represent one of the 14 images 
depicting Jesus' crucifixion day - a widely-used visual story central to many 
Christian denominations.

His piece features a cage with a man inside wearing a prison jump suit. Models 
of 3 more men in orange jumpsuits stand behind it. One man is in a praying 
position and another with his arms raised, as if obeying an order from an 
officer or gunman. The work also gives a nod to Trayvon Martin, as it includes 
a replica of a young man wearing a hooded sweatshirt.

"It's a prime location," Olatushani says, regarding its placement across from 
the Supreme Court. "The whole thing we're trying to achieve is to challenge 
people's perception of the justice system," he says. "The exhibit is exactly 
where it's supposed to be."

Olatushani also does art work with children through the Children's Defense Fund 
(CDF). He hopes to help black children avoid what he and others refer to as the 
"cradle to prison pipeline."

One of his recent exhibits involved giving school desks to groups of kids at 12 
different locations, including community centers, churches, and schools. 
Olatushani and the CDF gave the children tests to reveal what they knew about 
the justice system. He then introduced them to videos and documentaries about 
the system and spoke about his time in prison. Afterward, he separately told 
each group to create art using the desk. With Olatushani monitoring and 
providing supplies, one group painted its desk black and attached handcuffs and 
a bible to the desk. The bible, Olatushani says, represented the church's 
complicity in the justice system. The students thought churches were compliant 
by allowing injustices to happen within the justice system and not doing 
anything. Another group turned its desk into an electric chair, adding a switch 
for a light and attaching a headpiece. This was symbolic of Olatushani's time 
spent on death row.

Art, he says, in a lot of ways saved his life and helped him cope with his 
unjust sentence. Not only was his painting a minor escape from his prison-bound 
reality, but it also put him in position to meet a woman that he would later 
marry upon his release. "She was working for this anti-death penalty 
organization that used to host art shows for those of us on death row. Through 
my art, we developed a connection." The 2 waited to wed because they didn't 
want to hold their ceremony on prison grounds.

Based on Olatushani's prison stint, fighting for his release, and the way his 
trial played out, he is convinced that the prosecution never believed he was 
guilty. Olatushani says that the prison industry is a business, hell-bent on 
arresting young people of color in order to keep turning a profit. According to 
him, the prosecution did not care that he was innocent.

"I use art to try to engage young people to let them know that while you're 
running around playing - hell it's people looking at kids in the 2nd and 3rd 
grade based on their reading and test scores, projecting how many prison beds 
they're gonna need," says Olatushni.

Jeania Ree Moore, who helped plan his new Lent exhibit through her job at the 
General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, says she 
wants passersby to "get a reality of the issues at stake" that are deeply 
rooted in the criminal justice system. She is responsible for bringing 
Olatushani on-board, and she hopes people are ultimately moved to take action 
against the various layers of injustice in the justice system. Rev. Dr. Susan 
Henry-Crowe, of the same office, says: "This art, we hope, will help people 
understand more the effects of mass incarceration and some of the injustices 
that many times African American men and brown men face in our society."

Olatushani hopes his art will help youth avoid encounters like he has had with 
the justice system. "I would hope that people get in some dialogue, begin to 
talk about and learn about this particular issue," he says.

"Because the reality is that knowledge makes us responsible. Once you know 
something, you have no excuse."

(source: washingtoncitypaper.com)






ARKANSAS:

Death-penalty opponents outraged at Arkansas 'assembly line' of executions


For more than a decade, the state of Arkansas did not put to death a single 
condemned inmate. Next month, it will execute 8.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson moved this week to reactivate the state's death chamber 
after a request by Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge to go ahead with 
the sentences. The governor ordered the executions on Monday.

No inmate in the state of Arkansas has been put to death since convicted killer 
Eric Randall Nance died by lethal injection more than 11 years ago. Following 
his execution, the state's death chamber remained dormant amid legal and 
operational challenges.

The effective deactivation of capital punishment in Arkansas represented an 
abrupt halt in the state's practice, and followed a period in which nearly 30 
inmates were executed between 1990 and Nance's death in November 2005.

Aside from legal maneuvers that argued capital punishment is unconstitutional, 
the state's department of correction has also had difficulties obtaining the 
necessary drugs to carry out executions -- an obstacle several states have 
encountered in recent years.

Hutchinson's reasoning for ordering the executions of all 8 death row inmates 
before May appears to stem from the fact that the state's supply of midazolam 
-- 1 of 3 drugs used in the lethal mixtures -- expires at the end of April. The 
drug has received intense scrutiny over claims it is often ineffective and has 
directly contributed to multiple cruelly botched executions.

Most compound pharmacies that in the past sold midazolam to states for 
executions have stopped making it available, on ethical grounds, leaving most 
prisons departments without a source for the powerful sedative.

The men marked for death -- at an unprecedented rate of 2 per day for 4 days -- 
are Don Davis, Bruce Earl Ward, Ledelle Lee, Stacey Johnson, Marcell Williams, 
Jack Jones, Jr., Jason McGehee and Kenneth Williams. Davis and Ward are 
scheduled for April 17, Lee and Johnson on April 20, Williams and Jones on 
April 24 and McGehee and Williams on April 27.

"The Arkansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is outraged by ... plans 
to carry out 8 executions within the span of 10 days in April," the group said. 
"This planned mass execution is grotesque."

Attorneys for the men have so far unsuccessfully appealed to state and federal 
courts seeking a stay of execution. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court declined 
to hear the inmates' arguments that Arkansas' execution statutes, amended in 
2015, are unlawful. After that refusal, Arkansas' high court promptly ended a 
stay it granted last summer and Rutledge asked Hutchinson to schedule the death 
sentences.

"This action is necessary to fulfill the requirement of the law, but it is also 
important to bring closure to the victims' families who have lived with the 
court appeals and uncertainty for a very long time," Hutchinson said.

An amended challenge from the inmates' lawyers, filed last week, claims that 
states' uses of midazolam do not have the intended effect during executions, 
saying the drug masks "torture by paralyzing the subject as he is burned alive 
from the inside." It is intended to sedate the prisoner before 2 more drugs are 
introduced to paralyze and kill them. The 2nd drug, pancuronium bromide, 
paralyzes the inmate and the 3rd, potassium chloride, stops the heart.

"Unless the prisoner is unconscious, then drugs 2 and 3 will cause pain -- 
torturous punishment, in violation of the Eighth Amendment, and state 
guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment," Jeff Rosenzweig, an attorney 
for the prisoners, said.

The Supreme Court refused to hear the challenges because it previously 
stipulated that any legal challenge opposing a state's use of midazolam in 
lethal injections must identify other available chemicals that can be used 
instead.

Rosenzweig said there's a high probability that a botched execution will happen 
if Arkansas goes through with the sentences next month.

"The idea of killing that many people in that short a time period evokes an 
assembly line," he said.

(source: United Press Internatnional)