[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, GA., FLA., ALA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 3



TEXAS----impending executions

2 Texas inmates set to die this month lose at Supreme Court



The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused appeals from 2 convicted killers 
facing execution in Texas this month, including 1 inmate set to die next week.

The high court, without comment, declined to review appeals from death row 
inmates Robert Pruett and Anthony Shore.

Pruett, 38, is set to die Oct. 12 for the fatal 1999 stabbing of a corrections 
officer at a South Texas prison where he already was serving a 99-year sentence 
for his involvement in another killing. Shore, 55, is scheduled for lethal 
injection Oct. 18 for the 1992 slaying of a 21-year-old woman in Houston.

Pruett's attorneys have long questioned the evidence in his case. They have 
sought additional DNA testing of evidence used to convict him of the December 
1999 killing of Daniel Nagle, a 37-year-old officer at the Texas Department of 
Criminal Justice's McConnell Unit near Beeville, about 85 miles southeast of 
San Antonio.

Pruett was serving 99 years for murder at the prison for participating with his 
father and a brother in a neighbor's slaying. Evidence showed the killing of 
the corrections officer stemmed from a dispute over a peanut butter sandwich 
that Pruett wanted to take into a prison recreation yard in violation of rules. 
Pruett testified at his 2002 trial in Corpus Christi that he was innocent in 
Nagle's death.

His attorney, David Dow, a law professor at the University of Houston, did not 
immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment Monday.

In 2015, Pruett came within hours of execution before his punishment was 
stopped by a state judge.

Shore, who confessed to killing the 21-year-old woman, 2 teenage girls and a 
9-year-old girl, is known in Houston as the "Tourniquet Killer" because his 
victims were tortured and strangled with handmade tourniquets.

The slayings connected to Shore went unsolved for years until DNA evidence 
linked him to the sexual assault of 2 relatives who were juveniles. He 
subsequently confessed to the killings and was convicted in 2004 in the slaying 
of 21-year-old Maria del Carmen Estrada. Her body was found in 1992 in the 
drive-thru lane of a Dairy Queen.

Shore's lawyer, Knox Nunnally, had hoped his client's death sentence could be 
reduced to life in prison. He has said Shore suffered from traumatic brain 
injury.

Nunnally didn't immediately respond to a call for comment on the Supreme Court 
ruling.

The justices on Monday also refused the appeals of 3 other Texas death row 
inmates: Kwame Rockwell of Fort Worth; Jaime Cole, from Ecuador and convicted 
in Houston; and Garcia White of Houston. None of them has an execution date.

Rockwell, 41, received a death sentence for the 2010 killing of 22-year-old 
Fort Worth convenience store clerk Daniel Rojas during a robbery. A bread 
deliveryman also was killed in the holdup.

Cole, 47, was sent to death row for the fatal 2010 shootings of his estranged 
wife, Melissa Cole, 31, and her 15-year-old daughter, Alecia Castillo, at their 
apartment in Houston.

White, 54, was convicted in the fatal stabbings of twin 16-year-old sisters, 
Annette and Bernette Edwards, in 1989 in Houston. He was charged but not tried 
for killing their mother, and was linked to 2 other slayings.

(source: Associated Press)

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

U.S. Supreme Court denies Houston serial killer's appeal, execution date set



The U.S. Supreme Court slapped down a Houston serial killer's bid for life 
Monday, propelling "Tourniquet Killer" Anthony Shore 1 step closer to his Oct. 
18 date with death.

Now, the 55-year-old murderer's hope hangs on last-ditch efforts in the Texas 
Court of Criminal Appeals.

"We are disappointed," said Knox Nunnally, the Houston attorney representing 
Shore through the federal appeals process.

Currently the only Houston killer with a scheduled execution date, Shore was 
convicted of 1 count of capital murder in 2004 - even after he confessed to 3 
others.

His brutal killing streak started at least as far back as 1986, when he 
slaughtered 14-year-old Laurie Tremblay. 6 years later, he raped and murdered 
21-year-old Maria del Carmen Estrada then ditched her naked body outside a 
Spring Branch Dairy Queen.

In 1994, he killed his youngest victim, 9-year-old Diana Rebollar. A year 
later, he murdered 16-year-old Dana Sanchez, who disappeared while hitchhiking 
to her boyfriend's house in north Houston.

But the cases turned cold and the crimes went unsolved for nearly 2 decades, 
until Shore was arrested for molesting family members.

As a convicted sex offender, the former telephone technician's DNA went on file 
and eventually investigators matched it to the Estrada case.

When police confronted him, he calmly confessed to Estrada's brutal murder 
along with the 3 others.

After he was convicted the following year, he stunned onlookers in court by 
asking for the death penalty. But ever since then, his lawyers have filed 
appeal after appeal, hoping a deluge of paperwork can save their condemned 
client.

Court denies petitions

When state District Judge Maria T. Jackson in July gave a green light to 
prosecutors' request for an execution date, Nunnally had already filed a 
petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court. The filing, 
which rested on a claim that Shore suffered brain damage before the slayings, 
would have required a lower court to reconsider a request for appeal.

It was always a long shot.

"I would certainly say that the odds are not in our favor," Nunnally said at 
the time. The court refused the petition without comment.

The Court also denied without comment a petition for Robert Pruett, who is set 
for execution on Oct. 12. The 38-year-old has spent 15 years on death row for 
the 1999 slaying of a prison guard in Bee County, where he was already serving 
a 99-year sentence for a murder in Harris County.

'It's a long shot'

2 other prisoners with Houston ties lost out in their legal battles Monday as 
well. The Supreme Court denied petitions from Jaime Cole - an Ecuadorian 
immigrant who killed his estranged wife and her teenage daughter in 2010 - and 
Garcia White, a fry cook who fatally stabbed twin girls in 1989.

Meanwhile, Shore's counsel continues fighting his case.

There's a request for clemency pending with the Texas Board of Pardons and 
Paroles, which Nunnally described as "highly unlikely," as well as a final 
trial court appeal. As in previous filings, the September appeal in Harris 
County court hinges on a previously unrecognized brain injury that trial 
lawyers failed to identify.

"I think it's a long shot," Nunnally said. "However, we always try to keep a 
positive view."

(source: Houston Chronicle)








GEORGIA:

DA Heap discloses trial plans for each of 4 alleged gang members in Tatemville 
slaying



Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap wants to try the alleged gunman 1st 
in the gang-related slaying of Dominique Powell in Tatemville, followed by the 
alleged mastermind once all pre-trial defense issues are resolved.

Heap's intent to try Timothy Coleman Jr. first and then Arthur Newton would 
remove the 2 main defendants in the state's intent to seek the death penalty 
for all 4 men charged.

Trials for remaining defendants Artez Strain and Tyriek Walker would follow 
under Heap's roadmap disclosed Friday during pre-trial motions for Walker 
before Chatham County Superior Court Judge John E. Morse Jr.

But, Morse ruled, Heap's plan was "completely aspirational because it will 
depend on what case is ready. ... It all depends on where each of these cases 
will be at any point in time and then we'll go from there."

And the court process is not even close to setting trial dates. Morse is 
working with prosecutors and defense lawyers from the Georgia Capital 
Defender's office who specialize in death penalty defenses to get to that 
point.

Since all 4 defendants face the death penalty, Morse must try each defendant 
separately. Each has pleaded not guilty. All 4 remain in the Chatham County 
jail without bond.

Morse is hearing motions from each defense team. Hearings will resume Tuesday 
for Strain, 23, followed by Newton, 22.

Defendants Coleman, 22, and Walker, 22, were heard last week. And those 
involved only the 1st group of motions for each defendant. Defense lawyers for 
each defendant are expected to file voluminous motions in bids to either reduce 
the state's case or provide arguments for any appeals that may be necessary.

Newton is the lead defendant in the state's efforts to seek the death penalty 
for 4 alleged members of the Bloods, a criminal street gang, who are accused of 
murder and related offenses in the shooting death of Powell just 5 days after 
defending himself during an armed robbery.

Prosecutors contend that Coleman was the gunman and that Strain drove him to 
the slaying scene.

Each is charged with murder and related charges including multiple violations 
of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.

The shooting

Police responded to a shooting Sept. 12, 2016, in the 900 block of Garey Avenue 
in Tatemville, where they found Powell suffering from a fatal gunshot wound 
outside a residence.

Powell was the victim of an armed robbery on Sept. 8 in the neighborhood. 
During the robbery, Powell exchanged gunfire with would-be robbers Antwan 
Drayton and Newton, police said.

Investigators concluded that Powell shot Drayton and Newton in self-defense 
during the robbery. After being arrested, Newton ordered the death of Powell, 
Savannah-Chatham police Chief Joseph Lumpkin said.

Strain, Coleman and Walker carried out those orders and participated in 
Powell's death, Lumpkin said.

(source: savannahnow.com)

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

Death penalty sought for Polk officer's alleged killer, accomplice



Seth Spangler, 31, faces the death penalty if convicted of killing Polk County 
Police Det. Kristen Hearne.

On Monday, Trish Brewer was in the courtroom watching as her daughter's alleged 
killer and a female accomplice learned they could face the death penalty if 
convicted.

While Brewer applauded the decision, there would be little time for reflection. 
After court she headed to Victory Baptist Church in Rockmart to greet visitors 
mourning the death of her only daughter, a 29-year-old Polk County police 
detective, wife and mother.

On Tuesday, Kristen Hearne will be laid to rest, leaving behind a devastated 
family and a community struggling for answers.

"She was our hero," Brewer said.

According to the GBI, Seth Spangler, 31, pulled out a gun and shot Hearne and 
another officer at close range late Friday morning on a dirt road off Ga. 100, 
roughly 70 miles northwest of Atlanta.

Hearne died shortly thereafter; the other officer, David Goodrich, was wearing 
a bulletproof vest and survived unscathed.

The officers were questioning Spangler and 22-year-old Samantha Roof about a 
stolen vehicle out of Tennessee. The 2 suspects took off running - Roof was 
apprehended soon after while Spangler emerged from some nearby woods about 3 
hours later, naked and caked in mud.

Detective Kristen Hearne died Friday after investigators say she was acting as 
backup when she and a fellow officer were checking out a suspicious vehicle

They made their 1st court appearance Monday, when Jack Browning, District 
Attorney for the Tallapoosa Judicial Circuit, announced his intention to seek 
the death penalty if indictments are secured next month.

Spangler - charged with malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, 
felony obstruction, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and theft by 
receiving - avoided eye contact and spoke softly. He told the judge he had a 
9th-grade education.

He also has a long rap sheet, mostly for drugs, including a methamphetamine 
possession charge in 2015 in Georgia. At the time of his arrest Friday, 
Spangler had an outstanding warrant from Walker County for violating his 
probation.

Roof faces the same charges as Spangler, with the exception of the weapons 
violation.

A 3rd man, Michael Anthony Fossett Jr., 28, was also in court Monday, charged 
with hindering the apprehension of a criminal and methamphetamine possession. 
Browning said Fossett was tied to the case involving Hearne's alleged killers 
but did not elaborate.

Hearne's funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Victory Baptist.

(source: ajc.conm)








FLORIDA:

As he tries to get off of death row, convicted murderer Delmer Smith's abusive 
childhood detailed in court



For more than 2 hours, a neuropsychologist detailed convicted murderer Delmer 
Smith's abusive childhood and low intellectual level as his attorneys attempt 
to get him off Florida's death row.

Smith, 45, was found guilty on Aug. 9, 2012 of the 1st-degree murder of 
Kathleen Briles.

Smith bludgeoned Briles with her own cast iron antiques sewing machine inside 
her Terra Ceia home. Her husband, Dr. James Briles, found her bound and gagged 
in their living room.

It took the same jury that found Smith guilty in less than 2 hours, only 30 
minutes to recommend he be put to death. On May 28, 2013, Circuit Judge Peter 
Dubensky sentenced Smith to death.

Florida's law governing the imposition of the death penalty has since change 
after the Jan. 12, 2016, U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Hurst vs. Florida. 
The high court ruled it was unconstitutional that in Florida a judge, not a 
jury, had the ultimate say in whether to sentence someone to death.

Smith appeared in a Bradenton courtroom Monday morning, as his new defense team 
tries to win him a new punishment trial. Circuit Judge Diana Moreland granted 
the hearing after Smith made 7 claims for post-conviction relief, including 
that he had ineffective counsel during his trial.

Members of Briles' family, including her husband ,were in the courtroom.

Dr. Hyman Eisenstein, who also testified during the penalty phase of Smith's 
trial, summarized his initial findings about Smith, who he said had suffered 
academic failure, physical and mental abuse by both his parents and sexual 
abuse by his father.

Eisenstein said Smith had failed the 2nd and 3rd grades and had failed the 4th 
grade, twice. His IQ was later test at 75 and at age 14 he was placed in 
special education.

"The fact that someone would have to repeat so many grades, especially at such 
a young age, was certainly a serious indication of their compromised ability," 
Eisenstein said.

At trial, he testified Smith murdered Briles under extreme emotional and mental 
duress, and his ability to understand the criminality of his actions was 
impaired.

Smith's new defense attorney, Eric Pinkard, asked Eisenstein why he had never 
interviewed any of Smith's 4 siblings, and he said he had never been provided 
the opportunity by Smith's prior defense team, Daniel Hernandez and Bjorn 
Brunvand. On Monday morning, he detailed his findings and conclusions after 
meeting with 2 of Smith's siblings and visiting the family's home in Detroit.

"The trauma is severe ... the psychological effects are profound," Eisennstein 
said.

According to Smith's older half-sister, and younger sister, his father whipped 
Smith with sticks, cords and other items at the age of 5, Eisenstein said. His 
mother also would abuse him.

"It occurred until he was about 12 or 13 when he was able to stand up and say 
that's it," Eisenstein said.

His sisters said they were all abused, but that Smith received the worst of it. 
He would sleepwalk at night, and often punch the refrigerator.

"There was a code of secrecy ... that's why the authorities were never called," 
Eisenstein said.

Assistant State Attorney Suzanne O'Donnell questioned Eisenstein about his 
conversations with family prior to the trial, and he said he admitted to having 
spoken to Smith's other sister on the phone. He didn't attempt to speak to any 
other sibling on the phone because he wasn't provided their information, he 
said.

"Typically in an evaluation, I rely on other people to give me the sources," 
Eisenstein said.

O'Donnell asked if he was aware Smith had been refusing to have a 
neuro-psychological exam. He answered, no.

(source: bradenton.com)

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

Jury selection starts in trial of former gang member from Deltona accused of 
killing wife, 2 kids



Luis Toledo, the Deltona man accused of killing his wife and her 2 children, is 
about to find out if his jailhouse Santeria-style shrine had any effect.

Nearly 4 years after Toledo was cuffed and charged in the murders, the former 
Latin Kings gang-member will go on trial in St. Augustine. If convicted of 
killing either of the children, he could face the death penalty.

Jury selection begins at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Richard O. Watson Judicial 
Center before Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano. The trial was moved to St. Augustine 
because of the extensive publicity it has received in Volusia County.

Toledo, 35, is charged with 2nd-degree murder in the slaying of Yessenia 
Suarez, 28, and 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in the killings of her children, 
Michael Otto, 8, and Thalia Otto, 9. The 1st-degree murder counts are 
punishable by death.

Their bodies have never been found.

A key witness in the case against Toledo will be his neighbor, Tyshawn Jackson. 
Toledo asked Jackson to follow him when Toledo drove his wife's car to a 
shopping center in Lake Mary after investigators said Toledo killed the woman 
and children.

Toledo has admitted to killing his wife by striking her in the throat during a 
confrontation in the house. But Toledo has blamed Jackson for the murders of 
the children.

Assistant State Attorney Ryan Will, during a hearing Friday, opposed a defense 
motion to exclude from the trial a statement by Toledo that he could have 
killed Jackson with one hand. Will said the statement contrasts with Toledo's 
claims that Jackson was in control of killing the children and disposing of 
their bodies.

"He has these 2 contrasting statements, one where Ty is in complete control of 
everything, where he is scared of Ty," Will said.

But Toledo told investigators that he could have killed Jackson and warned them 
not to bring Jackson into the interview room.

"But this is the guy that Toledo was apparently under the direction of," Will 
said.

Jackson has not been charged with anything in the case.

Zambrano said Toledo's statement would be allowed.

Zambrano also rejected a defense request to exclude Toledo's nickname "Semi." 
Toledo was known as King Semi when he was 3rd-highest ranking member of the 
Latin Kings gang in Florida.

But everyone called Toledo "Semi" and the judge ruled that the nickname alone 
was not prejudicial, although there would be no discussion of how Toledo got 
the name, which is related to Toledo's boxing and martial arts training.

The trial had been delayed as Florida's death penalty underwent changes because 
of decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court. The 
most significant being that, when Toledo was arrested in 2013, only seven of 
the 12 jurors had to recommend death for a judge to be able to impose the death 
penalty. Now, all 12 jurors must recommend death.

Toledo's will be the 2nd death-penalty case since the law was changed earlier 
this year for the 7th Circuit, which covers Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns and 
Putnam counties. The 1st case was in St. Augustine, in which jurors in August 
unanimously recommended death for a man convicted of killing his wife.

Toledo appears to have appealed for help to someone other than his defense 
attorneys during his long stay at the Volusia County Branch Jail. His jailers 
discovered in March 2016 a shrine in his cell which included a newspaper 
clipping of Suarez and her 2 children. On each was a red dot, apparently made 
with blood, a correction's officer said in a deposition. The items were 
arranged in a ritualistic way, "possibly 'Santeria,' " according to a jail 
report. Another picture showed Toledo with a red dot on him. Still another had 
a red slash through Judge Zambrano's name.

Jailers carted the shrine away and there have been no reports of another. 
Toledo's defense will rest on his 3 attorneys, Jeff Deen, Michael Nielsen and 
Michael Nappi.

Toledo appears to have changed little in the nearly four years he has spent in 
the jail. He appears in court in the jail-issue orange jumpsuit, his dark hair 
a little longer at times than others and his beard narrows and widens. Toledo 
was studying to be a barber sometime before his arrest and his attorneys Friday 
said he wanted a haircut and grooming before the trial. The judge agreed to the 
request.

No bodies

Prosecutors Mark Johnson and Will are facing one significant disadvantage in 
the case. The bodies of the mother and children have never been found.

The 7th Circuit has had only 1 other case in Volusia County or Flagler County 
in which the victim's body was not found. That was the case of Michael Joseph 
Annicchiarico, who was charged with 1st-degree murder in the 2011 slaying of 
his ex-girlfriend Mandy Ciehanoski.

Annicchiarico pleaded no contest to a charge of 2nd-degree murder 2014 and was 
sentenced to life in prison. He pleaded to the lesser charge as part of a deal 
in which he agreed to show investigators where he had disposed of his 
girlfriend's body.

Annicchiarico led investigators into the woods along the Volusia-Flagler line 
on a search which did not turn up the body. While investigators never found her 
body, they did find her blood and DNA on items in Annicchiarico's trash.

Thomas A. DiBiase, a former federal prosecutor who keeps track of no-body 
cases, said in an interview with The News-Journal that the lack of a body gives 
a defendant an edge in the case. The body gives investigators information about 
the how, when and where of the murder, he said.

"When you don't have the body, you are missing out on all those critical facts, 
therefore the case becomes much more difficult to prove," DiBiase said.

DiBiase said in an email Saturday that since the early 1800s, there have been 
just under 500 no-body trials in the United States.

Blood spots

In the time leading up to the family's disappearance, Toledo had discovered 
that Suarez was having an affair with Kevin Dredden, a co-worker at American 
K-9 Detection Services in Lake Mary. On Oct. 22, 2013, Toledo stormed into 
Suarez's workplace and slapped her, according to reports. Someone called 9-1-1 
and Toledo drove away.

Dredden told investigators that he texted Suarez about 12:24 a.m. on Oct. 23 
and she called back about 12:49 a.m. Suarez apologized to Dredden, who told her 
nothing good would come of her being home that night with Toledo.

Suarez replied that "she thought being there would help smooth things out," a 
report said.

Toledo's neighbor, Jackson, said Toledo tapped on his bedroom window about 6:10 
a.m. Oct. 23, 2013, seeking his help. Jackson then followed in Toledo's Saturn 
as Toledo drove Suarez's Honda to a Publix in Seminole County. Toledo wiped 
down the car before getting behind the wheel of his Saturn and driving to an 
apartment complex, where he dumped some items in a trash container, authorities 
said.

Investigators would later find the trunk mat from Suarez's car in a dumpster at 
the Lake Jennie Apartments in Sanford. It was found along with a plastic bag 
containing a pair of black Timberland boots, rags, a towel and a Mean Green 
spray bottle. Investigators also found a garage door opener from Suarez's car.

Thalia Otto's blood was found on the trunk mat. And it was also found on the 
size 7 left boot.

Toledo drove back to Deltona and dropped Jackson off.

Suarez's mother, Felicita Perez, called deputies because her daughter had not 
called as customary and was not at her home at 317 Covent Gardens Place in 
Deltona. Toledo drove up in his Saturn while a deputy was at the scene and 
allowed him inside. He was arrested after that on a domestic violence charge 
out of Lake Mary and subsequently charged with the murders.

Investigators would later find 14 different spots of blood from 9-year-old 
Thalia around the master bathroom of her Deltona home, according to a DNA 
report.

No one else's blood was found.

(source: Orlando Sentinel)








ALABAMA:

Death row second thoughts



"When I was convicted of something I knew did not happen, I stopped and said a 
quiet prayer," former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman told The Star last week for an 
article on the death penalty. "I prayed that I had not made the same mistake 
when I was governor."

Siegelman, who was recently released from federal prison after serving time on 
corruption charges, isn't the first public official to express doubts about the 
death penalty after leaving office. Or, in the case of John Paul Stevens, 
someone on the verge of retiring from public service after a lengthy tenure.

In a 1976 death penalty case, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stevens voted with the 
majority to reinstate the death penalty. At the time, Stevens wrote that under 
the proper circumstances, he foresaw "evenhanded, rational and consistent 
imposition of death sentences under law."

In a 2008 when he was 2 years away from retirement, Stevens described capital 
punishment as "the pointless and needless extinction of life with only marginal 
contributions to any discernible social or public purposes. A penalty with such 
negligible returns to the state (is) patently excessive and cruel and unusual 
punishment violative of the Eighth Amendment."

On the eve of retirement, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun expressed a 
similar reversal on the death penalty. In a 1994 case, he wrote, "The 
death-penalty experiment has failed. I no longer shall tinker with the 
machinery of death."

Closer to home, Sam Monk upon his retirement as a Calhoun County circuit court 
judge in 2006, said of capital punishment that over time he had come "to the 
conclusion that the process probably dehumanizes everybody to some degree."

Former Texas Gov. Mark White wrote in 2014, "While I still believe that some 
crimes are so heinous that society is morally justified in demanding the 
perpetrator's life be forfeited, we now have incontrovertible evidence that 
America's criminal justice system does a poor job of determining who deserves 
the death penalty."

Second thoughts like these are a positive sign that these officeholders and 
others didn't shut down their ability to reason on a controversial topic that's 
loaded with nuance. After all, many death penalty cases involve brutal crimes 
carried out by remorseless murderers. A suitable punishment short of death can 
seem well short of justice.

In a state like Alabama, capital punishment remains popular. Politicians are 
rarely punished for a pro-death penalty stance. Yet, the process that decides 
which cases end up on death row and which ones don'tt is often flawed. A long 
list of former death row inmates who were exonerated by new evidence speaks to 
the holes in our criminal justice system. Mistakes made there can be fatal.

(source: Editorial Board, The Anniston Star)








OHIO:

Prosecutors Will Seek Death Penalty In Judy Malinowski Case



Franklin County's prosecutor says his office will pursue the death penalty 
against a Gahanna man convicted of setting his ex-girlfriend on fire nearly two 
years before she died.

Prosecutor Ron O'Brien says a grand jury on Monday indicted Michael Slager on 
aggravated murder and murder charges in 33-year-old Judy Malinowski's death. 
Slager previously was sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges including 
aggravated arson and felonious assault.

The aggravated murder indictment carries a death penalty specification.

Malinowski was doused in gasoline and set ablaze in August 2015. She died in 
June of this year.

She inspired Ohio legislation requiring 6 additional years in prison for crimes 
that permanently maim or disfigure victims. Her relatives were there as 
Republican Gov. John Kasich signed "Judy's Law" last month.

(source: Associated Press)

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

U.S. Supreme Court will not hear Cleveland mass murderer Anthony Sowell's 
appeal



The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday said it will not review Anthony Sowell's 
appeal, after the state's top court upheld the Cleveland mass murderer's 
convictions and death sentence.

The Supreme Court's denial of Sowell's case is just the latest in what will be 
a litany of challenges and court decisions in the years to come.

Sowell, 58, is on death row for killing 11 women and burying their bodies at 
his Imperial Avenue home on the city's southeast side.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled 5-2 in December and rejected Sowell's argument for 
a new trial on the grounds that the judge who presided over Sowell's 2011 trial 
had improperly closed a hearing. Ohio Justice Terrence O'Donnell wrote that 
while the judge did not correctly document all of the findings necessary to 
close the proceedings, that failure did not warrant a new hearing.

The Ohio Supreme Court also rejected arguments that said the jury should have 
been able to hear about Sowell's offer to plead guilty if prosecutors took the 
death penalty off the table.

Sowell is being held at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution. His execution 
date has not been set.

(source: cleveland.com)