[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., COLO., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 16



TEXAS----execution date re-set

Steven Long's execution date has been re-set for August 30; it should be 
considered serious.


Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----24

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

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

25---------July 19-----------------Kosoul Chanthakoummane---543

26---------July 27-----------------Taichin Preyor---------544

27---------Aug. 30-----------------Steven Long------------545

28---------Sept.7------------------Juan Castillo----------546

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)






ALABAMA:

House to Debate Death Penalty Legislation


The Alabama House of Representatives is headed toward contentious debate on a 
bill to shorten death penalty appeals. Representatives on Tuesday evening will 
debate the bill to require inmates to raise claims such as ineffective counsel 
at the same time as direct appeal claiming trial errors.

Sen. Cam Ward, the bill's sponsor, says the current process can take decades 
and is often abused. Ward says the bill is based on Texas procedures and would 
shorten the time that appeals take from 18 to 9 years.

American Bar Association President Linda Klein sent lawmakers a letter opposing 
the bill, saying it increases the likelihood that an innocent person will be 
executed.

Opposed lawmakers are expected to mention the case of an Alabama inmate freed 
after nearly 30 years on death row.

(source: Associated Press)






COLORADO:

Judge denies new trial in Sir Mario Owens murder case----Order concerns 2004 
murder in Aurora's Lowry Park


A judge in Arapahoe County has denied a defense request to grant death row 
inmate Sir Mario Owens a new trial in a murder case that prosecutors later used 
to win the capital sentence against Owens.

Senior Judge Christopher Munch concluded in an order issued Tuesday that Owens' 
attorneys in the trial represented him adequately, the information prosecutors 
did not disclose to his defense attorneys did not taint the trial, and that a 
juror who later said she recognized several witnesses who testified during the 
case did not commit misconduct.

"Owens is 'entitled to a fair trial, but not a perfect trial,'" Munch wrote, 
quoting partly from a well-known Colorado Supreme Court ruling. "A fair trial 
is a trial whose result is reliable. Owens received a fair trial, and its 
result is reliable."


Owens was convicted of 3 murders tried in 2 separate cases. In the 1st, jurors 
found him guilty of murdering a man named Gregory Vann in Aurora's Lowry Park 
in 2004 and also of trying to kill Vann's friend Javad Marshall-Fields.

In 2005, Marshall-Fields had been scheduled to testify against another man, 
Robert Ray, who had been charged as an accessory to murder in the Lowry Park 
case. But Marshall-Fields and his fiancee, Vivian Wolfe, were killed before he 
could. Owens was also charged and convicted for those murders, and he was 
sentenced to death. Prosecutors used Owens' conviction in the Lowry Park case 
to provide a legal basis for the death sentence.

Owens' attorneys appealed both cases. Munch's ruling on Tuesday deals with the 
defense's request for a new trial in the Lowry Park case. The appeal of the 
death penalty case is still pending.

In a statement issued shortly after Munch's ruling was released, Owens' defense 
attorney James Castle offered thoughts and prayers for the family members of 
the murder victims.

"As the defenders of Mr. Owens we are saddened and disappointed in the decision 
of the court but it does not weaken our unflinching resolve to seek a just 
result," he wrote.

(source: Denver Post)






USA:

Report: Dylann Roof said white nationalists would save him from death row


Convicted mass murderer Dylann Roof told a psychologist working for his defense 
team that his death penalty wouldn't be carried out because he'd "be rescued by 
white nationalists after they took over the government."

That's according to a November report composed amid Roof's trial for killing 
nine parishioners in 2015 at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal 
Church. The report also says Roof was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder 
"based on the presence of social-communication challenges and atypical 
behaviors."

It goes on to say Roof was suffering or had suffered from "psychiatric symptoms 
that are not explained by autism spectrum disorder, including anxiety, 
depression, suicidal ideation, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, disordered 
thinking, and psychosis (including delusions of grandeur and somatic 
delusions)."

Roof's somatic delusions -- which are defined as false beliefs that something 
is grossly wrong with one's body -- include unfounded complaints of hair loss 
and thyroid disease, according to reports.

"It is my impression that it is too early to predict his psychiatric 
trajectory," Dr. Rachel Loftin wrote in one report, "but his symptoms appear to 
me to be consistent with the schizophrenia spectrum."

Document dump

The revelations came after US District Judge Richard Gergel unsealed 19 
documents from competency hearings that help paint a picture of the 
23-year-old's mental state both as a teen and while he was being held in prison 
after the church massacre.

In November, a judge halted jury selection in the case to allow time for Roof 
to undergo a competency evaluation. Roof was ruled competent to stand trial, 
represent himself and be sentenced. (In January, Roof became the first person 
to receive the death penalty for a federal hate crime. He pleaded guilty to a 
slew of state charges last month.)

Gergel also allowed journalists to view four videos, captured in November and 
January, but would not permit the footage to be publicly released. CNN's 
reporter is expected to finish viewing the videos early Tuesday afternoon. It's 
not clear what the tapes contain.

Some of the information about Roof's mental state was contained in a December 
document, released in February, that showed defense attorneys sought special 
accommodations for their client after competency hearings indicated Roof 
suffered from a range of disorders.

'A very anxious man'

But the documents released this week go deeper and also delve into his 
childhood, which was marked by normal maladies such as colds, fevers, sore 
throats and the like.

As a teen, however, Roof visited a family doctor who called him "a very anxious 
man."

In 2009, as Roof was entering high school at age 13, his mother took him to 
Lexington County Community Mental Health Center because he was defying her, 
using drugs, skipping school and engaging in "oppositional behavior." His 
mother told a doctor that at school, Roof's As had become Fs, according to 
court documents.

He also experienced anxiety in social situations, with one report saying that 
he "worries about it all the time" and at one point threatened to run away and 
kill himself because his mother had made him go to school. He later told his 
mom the threat was a bluff.

The report suggests Roof self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. He told doctors 
he had no intention of quitting his use of marijuana, the documents say. Roof 
was prescribed an antidepressant.

Roof maintains he doesn't need care

Psychological and medical records from the county jail where he was held after 
the church massacre show Roof was removed from suicide watch in August 2015, 
two months after the killings.

He spent most of his time in his room sitting or lying on his cot, only coming 
out when "he had something to do," according to jail logs. A jail counselor 
reported that Roof was "doing well in general" and had stated he didn't need 
mental health care.

During his federal trial, Roof requested that the judge reinstate his legal 
team for the guilt phase of the trial. He asked to represent himself again 
during sentencing.

"There's nothing wrong with me psychologically," Roof told jurors ahead of 
sentencing. "Anything you heard from my lawyers in the last phase, I ask you to 
forget it."

(source: CNN)