[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., DEL., N.C., ALA., OHIO

Tue May 2 08:58:48 CDT 2017

May 2

TEXAS:

Man accused of killing Corpus Christi woman could face death penalty

A man accused of killing his girlfriend and leaving her body in a grassy ditch 
last summer is slated to stand trial in September, and could face death 
penalty.

Nigel Green is charged with capital murder in the death of Carina Castellanos, 
26. He also faces family violence assault charges related to a report she made 
to police about a month before she went missing.

Green has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors initially planned to pursue a murder charge but while interviewing 
a witness learned information they believe makes the crime capital murder, 
First Assistant Prosecutor Melissa Madrigal said a Nueces County grand jury 
re-indicted Green on the higher charge, which is punishable by either life in 
prison without parole or the death penalty. State District Judge Jack Pulcher 
gave prosecutors a deadline of May 8 to decide whether they'll seek the death 
penalty.

If prosecutors pursue the death penalty, the judge may have to appoint new 
lawyers and could delay the case, defense lawyer Deeann Torres said.

U.S. Marshals arrested Green, 31, in connection with an aggravated assault 
warrant related to a June 10 incident in which Castellanos called Corpus 
Christi police and described Green attacking her. The case had been originally 
closed after Castellanos left a message on a detective's answering machine 
saying she no longer wanted to pursue charges since Green was leaving Corpus 
Christi.

Castellanos' mother reported her missing on June 30. Before Green's arrest he 
told the Caller-Times he believed Castellanos was alive and pleaded for her to 
call her mom.

After his arrest in the assault case, Green admitted to killing Castellanos and 
led police to her body, according to an arrest affidavit.

(source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times)

PENNSYLVANIA:

Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds Indian national Raghunandan Yandamuri's 
death sentence

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday upheld the death sentence imposed on 
Raghunandan Yandamuri, convicted of killing an infant and her grandmother.

The 30-year-old Indian techie, of Upper Merion, was convicted by a Montgomery 
County Court jury of 1st-degree murder in connection with 2 murders. On Oct. 
22, 2012, Yandamuri killed 61-year-old Satyavathi Venna and her 10-month-old 
granddaughter Saanvi, after a botched kidnapping attempt, patch.com reported.

According to the report, Justice Max Baer reaffirmed that the evidences against 
Yandamuri was sufficient, and the court also rejected the convict's allegations 
of unfair treatment.

Yandamuri had earlier told investigators that he panicked and that the deaths 
were accidental. The prosecutors argued that he knew the baby's parents and 
planned the kidnapping plot to pay for a gambling habit.

The court found that the sentence was based on the evidence presented at the 
trial. The death sentence will now be sent to Gov. Tom Wolf, who declared a 
state-wide moratorium on death penalty in 2015.

(source: americanbazaaronline.com)

DELAWARE:

Death penalty bill gets 1st hearing this week

The controversial plan to bring back the death penalty gets its 1st committee 
hearing Wednesday.

Hearings and debates would rage for hours when advocates unsuccessfully tried 
to repeal Delaware's capital punishment program in 2013 and 2015. It took a 
court decision last year to dismantle the death penalty here.

But state Sen. Brian Pettyjohn (R-Georgetown), one of the bill's main sponsors, 
says he thinks momentum to revive it is on his side.

"I believe there is renewed interest in reestablishing this here in Delaware in 
a constitutional manner and having something that will hold these individuals 
accountable for the crimes that they commit," Pettyjohn.

Pettyjohn and others may have an ally in Gov. John Carney (D), too.

In a debate prior to the election, Carney said he would "probably" veto a bill 
like this. But when it was introduced in March, he said he wouldn't rule out 
supporting a death penalty for those who kill police or prison guards.

The proposal doesn't include a new method of execution - despite pharmaceutical 
companies refusing to resupply states with drugs used for lethal injections.

Pettyjohn says that's something they'll consider at a later date.

"I believe that we should leave all options on the table. Let's see where we 
stand right now with the existing stock of pharmaceuticals that we have," he 
said.

A 2014 Associated Press report showed 2 of the 3 drugs used during a lethal 
injection execution had expired.

The House Judiciary Committee will meet at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

(source: delawarepublic.org)

NORTH CAROLINA:

Death Penalty Sought Against Suspect In Hickory Triple-Murder Case, Awaiting 
Decision On Co-Defendant

The State has announced that they will seek the death penalty in the case 
against 23-year-old Dontray Cumberlander of 18th Street Place NW in Hickory. 
He's 1 of 2 suspects charged with 3 counts of murder in connection with the 
shooting deaths of Justin Aiken, Cody Bouphavong, and Quajuae Kennedy. No 
decision has been made yet on whether or not the death penalty will be pursued 
against the other suspect, 23-year-old Greydon Keith Hansen, also a resident of 
18th Street Place NW in Hickory.

The men are charged with shooting the victims outside J. McCroskey's Irish Pub 
and Grill at 1423 29th Avenue Drive NE. The incident occurred shortly after 2 
a.m. on Friday, April 7.

(source: WHKY news)

ALABAMA:

Jury selection begins in death penalty trial of Richard Burgin, charged with 
Huntsville church pantry double murder

Jury selection began today in the double-murder trial of Richard Burgin, who is 
accused of killing 2 elderly brothers working at a Huntsville church food bank 
in May 2013.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Burgin in the stabbing deaths of 
Terry and Anthony Jackson at West Huntsville United Methodist Church.

Because it is a death penalty case, the jury pool of 80 is larger than for most 
cases. The prospective jurors were given a questionnaire with 67 questions to 
fill out this morning.

Madison County Circuit Judge Karen Hall also asked the pool whether they had 
any issues of conscience in deciding a death penalty case, or if they'd been 
exposed to pre-trial coverage of the case.

The prospective jurors who answered "yes" to either of those questions were 
then questioned by Judge Hall about their ability to fairly decide the case.

Once jurors filled out their questionnaires they were released for the day.

The prosecution team of Madison County Chief Trial Attorney Tim Gann and 
Assistant DA Randy Dill and the defense team of Larry Marsili and Chad Morgan 
were expected to review the would-be jurors answers today.

Jury selection is expected to resume Tuesday. The trial is expected to last 
into next week.

(source: WHNT news)

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

Supreme Court orders Alabama appeals court to review case of death row inmate

The Supreme Court of the United States on Monday ordered the Alabama Court of 
Criminal Appeals to review the case of a death row inmate.

The court granted the writ of certiorari for Taurus Jermaine Carroll and 
ordered the state appeals court to review his case.

Carroll, 39, was convicted in 2012 for the murder of fellow St. Clair County 
inmate Michael Turner in Sept. 2009. Turner was stabbed 16 times in his head, 
neck and body, and died in the prison infirmary.

Carroll was sentenced to death.

In today's order, SCOTUS cited the decision in an earlier case this year, Moore 
vs. Texas, where the court ruled a man was not eligible for the death penalty 
because of an intellectual disability. The order showed a Texas appellate court 
did not apply proper medical standards for determining an intellectual 
disability, and used "wholly nonclinical" factors. Read that order here.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals had earlier rejected Carroll's arguments 
that the trial judge in his case erroneously found that he is not mentally 
retarded. Carroll claimed an intelligence quotient ("IQ") test performed by a 
doctor indicated Carroll has "a full-scale IQ score of 71, which, according to 
Carroll, falls within what the Supreme Court of the United States considers the 
range of mental retardation."

The Alabama appeals court also rejected Carroll's arguments that the judge was 
in error when he failed to consider certain factors that would have made his IQ 
score even lower.

Carroll was already in prison at the time of Turner's death, serving a sentence 
of life without parole for murdering a woman in Birmingham's Kingston 
neighborhood. Betty Long was shot in 1995 in front of her daughter at the 
family's laundry business. The daughter's necklace and $90 were taken in the 
holdup.

Carroll was 17 at the time of Long's slaying.

(source: al.com)

OHIO:

Ohio governor delays 9 executions - including Akron killer's - as court fight 
continues

Gov. John Kasich on Monday delayed 9 executions as a court fight continues over 
the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection process, including a 
contested sedative used in problematic executions in at least 3 states.

Kasich's announcement postponed next month's execution of child killer Ronald 
Phillips until July and pushed back 8 other procedures.

The Republican governor said the timing of arguments before a Cincinnati 
federal appeals court makes the delay necessary. The court is hearing Ohio's 
appeal of a federal judge's order finding the state's latest execution process 
unconstitutional.

The effectiveness of the sedative midazolam is expected to be front and center 
of those arguments. That's especially true given last week's execution in 
Arkansas of Kenneth Williams, a convicted killer who lurched and convulsed 20 
times during a lethal injection process Thursday that began with midazolam.

Midazolam was also used in Ohio in January 2014 when Dennis McGuire gasped and 
snorted during a 26-minute procedure, the state's longest. Executions in the 
state have been on hold since then.

In July 2014, Arizona inmate Joseph Wood gasped for air and snorted and his 
belly inflated and deflated during the nearly 2 hours it took for him to die 
when the state executed him.

Both Ohio and Arizona used a 2-drug method - starting with midazolam - that 
each state has since abandoned. Unlike Ohio, Arizona agreed not to use 
midazolam in future executions.

Attorneys for death row inmates challenging Ohio's use of midazolam say it 
doesn't render inmates fully unconscious, leading to an unconstitutionally high 
risk of harm.

The state argues that the massive dose planned in Ohio of 500 milligrams - 10 
times what it used on McGuire - is more than enough to ensure inmates don't 
feel pain. The state also says the U.S. Supreme Court permitted the drug's use 
in a 2015 ruling out of Oklahoma.

Kasich issued a similar delay in February to give a 3-judge panel of the 
appeals court time to hear similar arguments. That panel sided with the 
lower-court judge. In a rare move, the full court said it would hear the case 
and set arguments for June 14.

Monday's delay was another setback for death penalty supporters who hoped that 
new supplies of drugs obtained by Ohio last year would allow executions to move 
forward after a delay of more than 3 years.

The state has said it has enough drugs for 4 executions, but records obtained 
by The Associated Press indicate Ohio could have enough on hand to put dozens 
of killers to death.

Phillips, scheduled to die May 10 for raping and killing his girlfriend's 
3-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993, is now set for execution July 26.

NEW EXECUTION DATES

A look at the nine condemned Ohio killers who received new execution dates 
Monday based on an order by Gov. John Kasich. The governor says changing the 
dates was necessary because of the schedule recently set for June court 
arguments over the state's lethal injection process:

----

Ronald Phillips, sentenced to die for raping and killing his girlfriend's 
3-year-old daughter, Sheila Marie Evans, in Akron in 1993.

Previous execution date: May 10.

New date: July 26.

----

Gary Otte, sentenced to die for the Feb. 12, 1992, killing of Robert Wasikowski 
and the Feb. 13, 1992, killing of Sharon Kostura. Both slayings took place in 
an apartment building in Parma, in suburban Cleveland.

Previous execution date: June 13.

New date: Sept. 13.

----

Raymond Tibbetts, sentenced to die for stabbing Fred Hicks to death at Hicks' 
Cincinnati home in 1997. Tibbetts also received life imprisonment for fatally 
beating and stabbing his wife, 42-year-old Judith Crawford, during an argument 
over Tibbetts' crack cocaine habit.

Previous execution date: July 26.

New execution date: Oct. 18.

----

Alva Campbell Jr., sentenced to die for killing Charles Dials in 1997 in 
Columbus. Campbell shot Dials after taking him hostage following Campbell's 
assault of a court officer during a hearing.

Previous execution date: Sept. 13.

New execution date: Nov. 15.

----

William Montgomery, convicted of fatally shooting 20-year-old Debra Ogle and 
her 19-year-old roommate, Cynthia Tincher, in Toledo in 1986. Montgomery was 
convicted of murder for Tincher's killing and sentenced to 15 years to life. He 
was convicted of aggravated murder in Ogle's killing and received the death 
sentence.

Previous execution date: Oct. 18.

New execution date: Jan. 3, 2018.

----

Robert Van Hook, sentenced to die for fatally strangling and stabbing David 
Self, a man he met in a bar in Cincinnati in 1985.

Previous execution date: Nov. 15.

New execution date: Feb. 13.

----

John Stumpf, sentenced to die for fatally shooting 54-year-old Mary Jane Stout, 
in Guernsey County in 1984 during a robbery at her home. Stumpf was also 
convicted of attempted aggravated murder for shooting Stout's husband, Norman.

Previous execution date: Jan. 3, 2018.

New execution date: Nov. 14, 2018.

----

Warren Henness, sentenced to die for shooting and then robbing 51-year-old 
Richard Meyers in Columbus in 1992. Meyers, a substance abuse counselor, had 
been helping Henness seek drug counseling and treatment for Henness' wife.

Previous execution date: Feb. 13, 2018.

New execution date: March 14, 2018.

----

Douglas Coley, sentenced to die for the carjacking and fatal shooting of 
21-year-old Samar El-Okdi in Toledo in 1997.

Previous execution date: March 24, 2018.

New execution date: Sept. 18, 2019.

(source: Akron Beacon Journal)

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

Ohio governor delays 9 executions as court fight continues

Gov. John Kasich on Monday delayed 9 executions as a court fight continues over 
the constitutionality of the state's lethal injection process, including a 
contested sedative used in problematic executions in at least three states.