[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., NEB., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

August 20



MISSOURI:

Death penalty sought for man accused in 3 St. Louis killings


Prosecutors say they will seek the death penalty for a St. Louis man charged 
with killing 3 people in 2 separate shootings last year.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Friday that prosecutors have filed notice 
that they will seek to have 26-year-old Ollie Lynch Jr. put to death if he's 
convicted.

Lynch is charged with 3 counts of 1st-degree murder. He's accused in the May 
2017 shooting death of 31-year-old Jeramee Ramey and June 2017 shooting deaths 
of 17-year-old Jalen Woods and 25-year-old Amber Green.

Police say Ramey was shot with a AK-47 during an argument over a dice game. 
Woods and Green were among 5 people inside a car at a gas station ambushed by 
masked men. 2 other people were injured in that shooting.

(source: Associated Press)






NEBRASKA:

UNL students, faculty respond to Carey Dean Moore's execution


The state of Nebraska executed Carey Dean Moore on Aug. 14, 2018 - the 1st use 
of capital punishment in Nebraska in 21 years.

Moore was convicted for the 1979 killings of Omaha cab drivers Reuel Van Ness 
and Maynard Helgeland when he was 22. Following his conviction, he remained a 
death row inmate for 38 years.

Moore's execution was the 1st since 1997 and the 1st since voters reinstated 
the death penalty in the 2016 referendum.

Nebraska, having exclusively used the electric chair until now, executed Moore 
on Tuesday with diazepam, cisatracurium besylate, potassium chloride and 
fentanyl - an intense opioid never before used in the US for execution 
purposes.

Specifically used to reduce breathing in those condemned to death, fentanyl has 
made many death penalty opposers question the ethics of using an untested 
opioid on an inmate, especially in a country that has a rising opioid epidemic.

"The capital punishment system in the U.S. is terribly broken and problematic," 
Eric Berger, assistant dean of faculty and professor of law at University of 
Nebraska-Lincoln, said in an email. "It is not easy to end a human life 
humanely. Most recently, numerous botched lethal injection executions have 
helped shed light on the fact that this supposedly serene, sterile procedure 
can in fact inflict excruciating pain on the condemned."

The Omaha World-Herald reported, "Moore's face became red and then purple ... 
and at one point his abdomen heaved and his breathing became faster."

The Vice President of the UNL College Republicans issued a statement regarding 
the issue:

"If you believe in democracy and the democratic process, than you must respect 
the will of the people, and Nebraska voted overwhelmingly to reinstate capital 
punishment. The government is only a vehicle for the execution of the will of 
the people, and the people of Nebraska spoke."

The Daily Nebraskan reached out to the UNL Young Democrats, but they did not 
respond at the time of publication.

In his final statement, Moore, who claimed that while he is guilty, there are 
"at least 4" death row inmates "who are innocent."

When asked about Moore's statement, Berger fervently said, "There are almost 
certainly innocent people on death row in the United States. Error, 
unfortunately, is simply part of the criminal justice system.:

(source: Daily Nebraskan)






CALIFORNIA:

Triple-murder case could be affected by improper Orange County jail phone 
recordings


A triple-murder case - involving 2 children missing since 2012 and presumed 
dead - could be affected by the improper recording of telephone calls between 
Orange County jail inmates and their attorneys.

About 34 recorded calls by defendant Shazer Fernando Limas to his lawyer were 
accessed by law enforcement, attorney Joel Garson said Sunday. Garson's 
prodding as part of another felony case led to the discovery that 1,079 calls 
between inmates and lawyers had been recorded since January 2015.

It is a crime to record attorney-client calls from the jail, as well as a 
violation of one of the most sacrosanct tenets of the law.

The sheriff's telephone contractor acknowledged in a July 27 letter to Sheriff 
Sandra Hutchens that 87 recordings were accessed. Among those were calls 
involving Limas' case as well as Garson's case representing Joshua Waring, the 
son of former "Real Wives of Orange County" cast member Lauri Peterson. Waring 
faces attempted murder charges for a Costa Mesa shooting, but Garson is 
attempting to get the case dismissed by the court because of "outrageous 
government conduct."

Limas is accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death and killing their 2 young 
sons in their apartment in Orange. The body of their mother, Arlet Hernandez 
Contreras, 31, was found in 2012 under a tarp in a gutter in Los Angeles 
County. The bodies of the children - ages 1 and 3 at the time - have not been 
found.

Revelations that telephone carrier GTL Corp. apparently recorded the 
confidential conversations because of a technical glitch rocked Orange County's 
justice community last week, with estimates that more than 50 high-profile 
cases could be affected.

The gaffe comes on the heels of Orange County's snitch scandal and the misuse 
by deputies and prosecutors of jailhouse informants to secure convictions. That 
practice led to the removal of the District Attorney's Office from prosecuting 
Scott Dekraai, who killed 8 people in a 2011 shooting spree in Seal Beach. 
Dekraai also was given life imprisonment instead of the death penalty because 
of the informant problem.

In the latest breach, Hutchens as well as the District Attorney's Office said 
they would take whatever steps are necessary to investigate the problem and 
handle the fallout with cases.

Garson said GTL maintains a list of 1,300 attorneys whose calls are not to be 
recorded. But all but 72 attorneys fell off the list when GTL did a software 
upgrade in January 2015. A representative from GTL is expected to testify in 
the Waring case on Thursday. Garson said at least 2 calls between Waring and 
his alternate public defender were recorded and accessed.

Meanwhile, a hearing is set for Monday to determine whether an outside judge 
should be appointed to review the recordings and determine which defense 
attorneys should be sent copies. If approved, the Sheriff's Department and 
District Attorney's Office would be barred from listening to the tapes.

(source: Tony Saavedra is an investigative reporter specializing in legal 
affairs for the Orange County Register)