[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, CONN., N.C., MISS.

[Rick Halperin]

December 7



TEXAS----new execution date

'I can't forgive till you're dead': Execution set for brain-damaged Texas man 
behind 4 killings



It was a warm summer night when Dexter Johnson killed Maria Aparece and Huy 
Ngo.

Along with 4 friends, the brain-damaged, schizophrenic 18-year-old had 
carjacked the young couple hours earlier, driving them around town to get money 
before eventually leading them out into the woods and shooting them both in the 
head - just one of the many brutal crimes prosecutors say Johnson pulled off 
during his monthlong spree of violence.

That was all 12 years ago. On Thursday, on a cool winter morning - over 
Johnson's angry protestations of his innocence - the now-30-year-old got a date 
with death.

With one appeal still pending in the courts, Judge Denise Collins signed off on 
a May 2 execution, while the victims' families - who'd filled the benches in 
the 208th District Court - sobbed and Johnson's family looked to the heavens.

"You changed all of our lives for the worse," said Jose Olivares, whose father 
Jose was killed in Johnson's string of violence. "I know they say you're 
supposed to forgive, but I can't forgive till you're dead."

Ngo's sister wept as she addressed the court, while one of Aparece's family 
members raised his voice, almost shouting as he promised no pity.

Afterward, Johnson - mumbling over the sobs behind him - apologized to the 
families, even while denying his own guilt.

"I do understand their hate, I do understand," he said. "But I never killed 
nobody."

The emotionally-charged court appearance drew prosecutors from earlier in the 
case, including attorney Brian Wice who served as an appointed pro tem earlier 
in the appeals process.

"This was my 1st experience as a special prosecutor," he said. "I'd handled 
over a dozen death penalty appeals and writs and until today I never really had 
a sense of what the families of the victims are going through and how they may 
never obtain closure for a loss that can only be described as unspeakable."

In the years since he was sent to death row, Johnson has fought his sentence 
with appeals based on bad lawyering, racial bias, intellectual disability and 
his long history of schizophrenia and psychotic breaks.

"Mr. Johnson has significant brain damage that is at the root of this tragedy, 
and that same damage has made him unable to help his defense throughout this 
process," defense attorney Pat McCann said last year. "He has an actual hole in 
his brain where functional brain matter ought to exist."

Thursday's court setting was significantly calmer than the trial that put him 
on death row more than 10 years ago. Then, two of his relatives collapsed in 
the hallway, while the mother of his child lay on the floor moaning and 
breathless after hearing the verdict. At one point he'd refused to come to his 
own court dates. Later, he hurled a chair across the courtroom.

"My son is no murderer," Renee Johnson told the Chronicle at the time. "He 
didn't have it in his blood."

But it took a Harris County jury only 2 hours to find him guilty of the 
carjacking, rape, robbery and murder. The night of the June 2006 crimes, 
Johnson and 4 accomplices came across the young couple sitting in Aparece's 
Toyota, where they were chatting outside Ngo's home. Johnson and 2 others 
threatened them with a pistol and a shotgun, according to testimony at trial.

Then, 3 of the attackers drove the young couple around Houston in Aparece's 
car, stealing her cash and credit cards and trying to get money from her bank 
accounts. Behind them, 2 other accomplices followed in their own car.

Eventually, the violent crew pulled over and, according to trial testimony, 
Johnson raped Aparece in the backseat. Her boyfriend was forced to listen to it 
all on his knees as the other attackers taunted him.

Then, Johnson shot Ngo in the head before slaughtering Aparece. At trial, 
Johnson's defense team argued that it was someone else who walked the couple 
into the woods and fired the fatal shot.

It took investigators 5 days to figure out what happened.

After a quick guilty verdict, jurors heard testimony about the monthlong crime 
spree before and after the double slaying. That May, prosecutors said, Johnson 
killed a 60-year-old man washing his barbecue pit at a local car wash.

A few weeks later - the day before the slayings that put him on death row - 
Johnson and a partner in crime robbed 2 men standing at a pay phone, killing 
one after he offered them only a roll of quarters, prosecutors said.

In the days that followed, Johnson and his confederates pulled off a string of 
other robberies,. Then, according to trial testimony, he was potentially 
involved in the murder of a man inside his car on Annunciation Street.

In his appeals since then, Johnson's attorney has focused on arguments alleging 
that his client lacked the brain functioning to be held to the same standard as 
adults. Instead, he drew parallels to past court decisions that ban executing 
juveniles and the intellectually disabled, saying similar reasoning should be 
applied to Johnson's brain damage.

"If you have an actual hole in your brain that you could basically run water 
through at that point you have to recognize that this is a person who's not 
fully responsible for what they're doing," McCann said earlier this year.

The Lone Star State has executed 12 men this year, and another is scheduled to 
die next week. Including Johnson, there are 5 executions scheduled so far for 
2019.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

*********************----impending execution

Texas Prepares for Execution of Alvin Braziel, Jr. Scheduled for December 11, 
2018

Alvin Avon Braziel, Jr., is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CST, on Tuesday, 
December 11, 2018, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in 
Huntsville, Texas. Alvin is convicted of the murder of 27-year-old Douglas 
White on September 21, 1993, in Dallas, Texas. Alvin has spent the last 17 
years on death row in Texas.

Alvin was born in Texas. He dropped out of school following the 8th grade. 
Alvin allegedly grew up in an abusive home and his family had a history of 
mental illness. Alvin also sustained a head injury as a child, which could have 
affected his brain function. Alvin worked as a laborer prior to his arrest. On 
September 21, 1993, Douglas and Lora White were walking along a jogging trail 
at Eastfield College. The newlyweds had been married for 11 days. While 
walking, a man, later identified as Alvin Braziel, stepped out from behind some 
bushes and pointed a gun at them. He demand money. The couple had no money with 
them and Braziel then shot Douglas twice. Braziel then dragged Lora behind some 
bushes and sexually assaulted her before running off. Douglas died from his 
injuries. Lora reported the incident to the police and was able to provide the 
police with a description. She also worked with a sketch artist to create a 
drawing, however, no match was made.

Some years after the murder and attack of Douglas and Lora White, Braziel was 
arrested and sentenced to 5 years in prison for the sexual assault of a child.

In February 2001, Lora was contacted by police saying the DNA collected from 
her assault was matched to an offender currently incarcerated. Lora was able to 
identify her attacker when viewing a photo line-up. She was also willing and 
able to testify and identify him in court.

Braziel was convicted and sentenced to death on August 9, 2001.

Please pray for peace and healing for Lora and for the family of Douglas White. 
Please pray for strength for the family of Alvin Braziel. Please pray that if 
Alvin 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 Alvin may come to find peace through a personal 
relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has not already.

(source: theforgivenessfoundation.org)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----39

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----557

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

40---------Dec. 11----------------Alvin Braziel, Jr.------558

41---------Jan. 15----------------Blaine Milam------------559

42---------Jan. 30----------------Robert Jennings---------560

43---------Feb. 28----------------Billy Wayne Coble-------561

44---------Apr. 11----------------Mark Robertson----------562

45---------May 2------------------Dexter Johnson----------563

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Border Patrol agent charged with capital murder, prosecutors will seek death 
penalty



A U.S. Border Patrol agent who confessed to shooting four women in the head and 
leaving their bodies on rural Texas roadsides has been indicted on a capital 
murder charge, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

A grand jury decided to upgrade the charge against Juan David Ortiz , Webb 
County District Attorney Isidro Alaniz said at a news conference. Alaniz said 
prosecutors will seek the death penalty.

Ortiz, 35, was initially charged with 4 counts of murder, as well as aggravated 
assault and unlawful restraint. He has been held in Webb County jail on a $2.5 
million bond since his Sept. 15 arrest in the border town of Laredo.

The Border Patrol intel supervisor and Navy veteran seemed to be living a 
typical suburban life with his wife and 2 children when the killings occurred. 
After the 1st slaying, he continued going to work as usual. He was eventually 
arrested after he pulled a gun on a woman who was able to escape and asked a 
state trooper for help.

Authorities have said the victims were sex workers whom Ortiz knew and targeted 
for their vulnerability. Melissa Ramirez, 29, was slain on Sept. 3, and 
42-year-old Claudine Luera was killed on Sept. 13.

On Sept. 14, he picked up another woman, Erika Pena, who told investigators 
that Ortiz acted oddly when she brought up Ramirez’s slaying and later pointed 
a gun at her in a gas station, according to court documents. Pena said Ortiz 
grabbed her shirt as she tried to get out of his truck, but she pulled it off 
and ran, finding a state trooper who was refueling his vehicle.

Ortiz fled and, he later told investigators, he then picked up and killed his 
last 2 victims — 35-year-old Guiselda Alicia Cantu and 28-year-old Janelle 
Ortiz, a transgender woman whose birth name was Humberto Ortiz.

With Pena’s help, authorities were able to track Ortiz to a hotel parking 
garage where he was arrested.

According to court documents, Ortiz confessed to investigators that he had 
killed 4 people.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Border Patrol agent accused of killings could face execution, but victims' 
families rebuke death penalty



Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for Juan David Ortiz, a U.S. Border 
Patrol agent charged with killing 4 women around Laredo this year.

Ask Patricia Ortiz, an aunt to Nikki Enriquez, 1 of the victims, and she'd be 
OK if he just spent the rest of his life in prison.

“I’m a good believer in God, and I know God will take care of this situation,” 
she said. “I can’t say I want to see him die."

Wednesday's announcement that prosecutors will seek the death penalty for 
Ortiz, 35, split families and friends over whether the alleged killer should 
die or spend a lifetime in prison.,P> Texas by far leads the nation in putting 
convicted criminals to death, with 511 executions, according to the Death 
Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based group that advocates against the 
death penalty. Virginia is in far-off 2nd, with 113 executions, followed by 
Oklahoma with 112.

[MY NOTE----Texas has executed 557 individuals, not 511, since the state 
resumed capital punishment on December 7, 1982]

The Texas borderlands – largely Hispanic, Catholic and generally 
anti-death-penalty – see things differently.

Cristina Benavides, mother of Melissa Ramirez, another victim, said she suffers 
from crying bouts when she thinks of her daughter’s slaying and has barely 
slept in the 3 months since her death. She said she wants to see Ortiz suffer 
the same way her family has but doesn’t think the death penalty is the right 
choice.

“Let God apply justice,” she said. “God is knowing. He’s watching him."

Authorities allege that Ortiz, a 10-year veteran of the Border Patrol, picked 
up 4 women – Ramirez, 29; Claudine Luera, 42; Guiselda Alicia Cantu, 35; and 
Enriquez, 28 – on different occasions from Sept. 3 to 14, drove them to remote 
locations and killed each with gunshots to the head. All the women were sex 
workers who congregated around San Bernardo Avenue in Laredo, known for its sex 
and drug trade.

Ortiz, 35, was arrested after a f5h woman fled from his truck and alerted 
police. He was charged with 4 counts of murder and has been held at the Webb 
County Jail on $2.5 million bond. Officials described him as a "serial" killer. 
Cristina Benavides, mother of Laredo murder victim Melissa Ramirez, is still 
trying to raise enough money to inter her daughter's remains in a nearby 
Catholic cemetery. "I cry a lot," she says.

Isidro Alaniz, district attorney for Webb and Zapata Counties, said at a news 
conference Wednesday that Ortiz, who was indicted on one count of capital 
murder, showed a consistent "scheme" in the killings. All the women except 
Ramirez knew they were going to die soon after entering his truck, he said.

It's only the 2nd time in 25 years that Webb County prosecutors will seek the 
death penalty, Alaniz said.

"Ortiz preyed on the weak, the sick, the vulnerable," he said. "San Bernardo 
was his hunting ground. What does that make him? That makes him a predator."

Texas law mandates a trial in death penalty cases. An arraignment is expected 
in the next 30 days, Alaniz said.

In a tearful statement after the indictment was read, Colette Mireles, Luera's 
sister, said she was "leaning on faith" to get through this difficult time and 
the emotional days before a protracted trial.

"God has the last word, and God is what gives us the strength to move forward," 
she said.

She said, "In my heart, I just want what's right. We're no one to wish death on 
anybody. But we know God has the last word. Whatever the outcome, justice will 
prevail."

Karina Ramos and Kristian Montemayor, Luera's nieces, said they were split on 
their desire of punishment for Ortiz, if he's convicted: Ramos wants him to 
spend the rest of his life in prison; Montemayor would prefer to see him 
executed.

Ramos, 29, said Ortiz was suicidal as police caught up to him and probably 
wants to die. A long prison sentence thinking of his alleged acts is worse 
punishment, she said.

Montemayor, 24, said he deserves to die for the pain he brought to her family 
and other families. "He'll be in jail, comfortable, eating three times a day," 
she said. "He doesn't deserve to be alive."

(source: USA Today)








CONNECTICUT:

State's last death row inmate resentenced to life in prison



The last man sentenced to death in Connecticut has been resentenced to life in 
prison for the killings of a woman, her 9-year-old daughter and a Good 
Samaritan.

The Connecticut Post reports 51-year-old Richard Roszkowski said during his 
Thursday hearing he is remorseful for what happened that day.

His sentence was converted as a result of a 2015 state Supreme Court decision 
that declared the death penalty unconstitutional.

Roszkowski was convicted in 2009 of felony murder charges for fatally shooting 
39-year-old Holly Flannery, her daughter, Kylie, and 38-year-old Thomas Gaudet 
in Bridgeport in 2006.

Police said Roszkowski stalked Flannery after she broke up with him and falsely 
believed she and Gaudet were romantically involved.

(source: Associated Press)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Should I Have Let My Friend on Death Row Kill Himself?----“We don’t live on 
death row; we wait to die."



As count time neared, I went to the janitor’s closet here on death row to get 
some hot water to make a coffee. But it was closed. Someone passing by told me 
that one of my friends had locked himself in there.

This was alarming. We all use the closet at different times, usually to get 
water. But no one locks himself in.

Life Inside

Perspectives from those who work and live in the criminal justice system.

I knocked a few times and called my friend’s name. There was no response. My 
spirit began to sink. I alerted the officer in the control booth, and asked her 
to send another guard with a key to open the door.

One arrived quickly, inserted the key into the lock, and pulled the door open…

My friend had just hanged himself. His body dangled limply. The tips of his 
sneakers faced away from the chair he’d used to reach the overhead pipe that 
connected a twisted bedsheet to his neck. His eyes were closed. His body was 
still. He’d succumbed.

The guard went into shock upon seeing the body. He turned away, bent slightly, 
buried his head in his hands, and wept.

I had to shout at him, “Cut him down! Cut him down!”

The guard gathered himself and ran off to get a knife, while the officer in the 
control booth started yelling frantically at us over the intercom, “Lock down! 
Return to your cells! Lock down! Lock down!”

But we were the only ones there to help. Big Mac, a muscular prisoner with 
massive strength and an even bigger heart, wrapped my friend’s body in a bear 
hug and held it up to relieve the pressure on his neck until the guard 
returned.

“He’s still breathing!” Mac yelled. “Hurry! He’s still breathing!”

My spirit lifted.

More officers and medical staff arrived. They administered CPR, put an oxygen 
mask over his face, and started an IV drip. A nurse tried to talk to him: “Can 
you hear me? Do you know what happened?”

My friend seemed responsive as they wheeled him out on a stretcher. His eyes 
were open. He looked disoriented but alert.

As we were finally locked into our individual cells, I was left alone with my 
thoughts.

Apparently, my friend had been locked in the closet for nearly 30 minutes. 
Others knew he was in there, probably with an idea of what he was going to do, 
and were either indifferent or wanted him to kill himself.

I ran their comments back in my mind, while it was all happening. In monotones, 
they’d said, “Yeah, he locked in the closet.” “He been in there ’bout 30 or 40 
minutes.”

I realized I hadn’t been paying attention.

Then I thought of the hooded glances I’d gotten as I went to alert the guards 
about my friend—as if I were spoiling the fun. When he was responsive after 
being cut down, they were disappointed. They were like vultures, circling for 
death.

Living on death row is a contradiction. Some become overwhelmed by the 
perpetual thought of death looming over our heads, the denial of all physical 
contact with loved ones or any other human beings, and the daily indignities to 
our personhood. Others fight like hell and cling to the tiniest semblances of 
life: a letter, a visit, a handshake, a smile.

It’s easier to succumb. There is no disappointment when there are no 
expectations. We don’t live on death row; we wait to die.

Death is constantly reinforced. From our clothing (red jumpsuits) to the walls 
of the unit (also painted blood red), every day is a crime scene. When we go 
outside, we’re surrounded by guards on high platforms with high-powered rifles 
pointed at us.

Suicide attempts should be expected here, perhaps even welcomed.

Now I’m questioning myself. Were the other prisoners right? Was I wrong to 
alert the authorities? Should I have just let him die? Isn’t that what he 
wanted? Is death preferable to death row?

When later asked why I did what I did, I paused. “I didn’t think,” I said, 
defensively. “I just responded…”

But this was my friend, as much as there can be friends here. When he finds 
something funny, his laugh is rich, joyous, from the gut. I remember the day he 
cried when he found out his mom died. I told him not to worry and promised to 
always be on hand for him if he needed.

I meant what I said. He’s always been kind and shared whatever he got and never 
asked for anything in return. He’s my friend.

I had just talked to him, that day. I don’t even remember about what. But I’m 
praying he lives as much as I hope that he forgives me.

Paul Brown, 53, is incarcerated at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina, 
where he is serving a death sentence for a 1st-degree double murder he 
committed in 1996.

The North Carolina Department of Public Safety declined to confirm or deny any 
details of the suicide attempt described in this essay.

(source: themarshallproject.org)

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

North Carolina Murder Suspect Faces The Death Penalty Over Killing Of Hearing 
Impaired Coworker With 'Trusting Soul'----Grand jurors allege in a new 
indictment that Derek Shawn Pendergraft killed fellow inn employee Sara Ellis 
"willfully, deliberately, maliciously, and with premeditation."



An inn employee turned murder suspect from North Carolina could be put to death 
over the killing of a coworker after federal prosecutors announced new charges 
in the case.

Initially charged with 2nd-degree murder, Derek Shawn Pendergraft, 21, now 
faces a 1st-degree murder charge, as well as 2 counts of aggravated sexual 
abuse resulting in death of his co-worker Sara Ellis, 29, according to a 
Thursday release by the U.S. Department of Justice.

While each of the charges he faces carry a maximum penalty of death, the DOJ 
has not yet said whether it would seek out the death penalty for Pendergraft.

Pendergraft allegedly killed Ellis "willfully, deliberately, maliciously, and 
with premeditation," according to a new grand jury indictment cited by the 
Asheville Citizen Times.

Ellis' body was discovered on July 24 just off a path near a staff dormitory on 
the property of the Pisgah Inn in Canton, North Carolina after Ellis and 
Pendergraft had reportedly taken an after-work hike together.

Pendergraft, who worked as a housekeeper at the inn, initially told 
investigators he and Ellis opted to hit the trails after work at around 4 p.m. 
However, he said that Ellis decided to turn back after it started to rain while 
he continued onward, prosecutors said.

He claimed that he found Ellis' umbrella and hat lying on the ground on his way 
back, and he alerted the inn’s staff that she could be missing.

"Rangers and first responders searched the area and located the victim’s body 
lying off an embankment, near a trail, within the boundary of the Blue Ridge 
Parkway, in Transylvania County, in the Western District of North Carolina," 
the DOJ statement said.

Pisgah Inn owner Bruce O'Connell told the Citizen Times on July 26 that an 
employee allegedly confessed to killing Ellis the next night, reportedly 
informing the inn’s general manager.

Authorities arrived at the manager’s office to interview Pendergraft before 
placing him under arrest, according to prosecutors.

Ellis reportedly had severe issues with her hearing — just like her identical 
twin and her two other sisters, making her more vulnerable to a possible 
attack, the Citizen Times reports.

The grand jury considered this impairment as well as other special sentencing 
factors in its indictment.

Shortly after her death, friends and family members described Ellis, who had 
three sisters including an identical twin, to the Citizen Times as a “trusting 
soul” who had a "sweetness" and "innocence" about her.

"She would run up to a stranger and give them a high-5 just to make their day 
better," Carrie Ellis, one of Sara’s older sisters, told the paper, adding that 
she was almost “kind to a fault.”

Uncle Phillip Ellis said he wondered if Sara’s “tragic” death could partly be 
attributed to her trustful innocence.

"That might have been her downfall, and that's what angers me," he told the 
paper. "I hope whoever did this gets the justice deserved."

(source: oxygen.com)








MISSISSIPPI:

Mississippi justices reject challenges over execution drug



Mississippi's state Supreme Court on Thursday denied appeals from 2 death row 
inmates over Mississippi's plans to execute them using a sedative called 
midazolam.

In a pair of 7-2 rulings Thursday, justices found that Thomas Edwin Loden Jr. 
and Richard Gerald Jordan hadn't presented enough scientific evidence about the 
drug to justify a hearing on whether inmates executed using it would feel pain. 
A state law calls for an inmate to be unconscious when executed, and the 
inmates say the drug isn't powerful enough to guarantee unconsciousness.

However, a federal court challenge involving both Loden and Jordan continues, 
making it unlikely either will be executed soon. Mississippi hasn't executed 
anyone since 2012, amid efforts by death penalty opponents to cut off supplies 
of execution drugs and legal challenges to new procedures to get around the 
resulting shortages of older drugs.

The use of midazolam has been repeatedly challenged nationwide because 
prisoners have coughed, gasped and moved for extended periods during 
executions. Mississippi plans to follow the sedative with a second drug to 
paralyze an inmate and third drug to stop an inmate's heart.

Jordan has served 41 years on death row for kidnapping and killing Edwina Marta 
in Harrison County in 1976. Loden pleaded guilty in 2001 to kidnapping, raping 
and murdering Leesa Marie Gray in Itawamba County.

The separate cases were parallel, with prisoners and the state relying on sworn 
statements from the same experts and judges giving similar reasons for their 
rulings.

Presiding Justice Michael Randolph wrote for the majority in Loden's case , 
describing a sworn statement from Oklahoma State University pharmacology 
professor Craig W. Stevens questioning midazolam as offering so little 
scientific proof that it was a "sham." Under Mississippi law, that means 
justices could rule in favor of the state's arguments without ordering a 
lower-court judge to conduct a hearing weighing from Stevens and the state's 
expert.

"Loden has not carried his burden of proof in presenting a substantial showing 
of the denial of a state or federal right," Randolph wrote.

Randolph also said the U.S. Supreme Court's 2015 rejection of a challenge to 
midazolam in an Oklahoma case "dictates the outcome in this case," saying 
Stevens "failed to present any new argument that was not already considered and 
rejected by the United States Supreme Court."

Chief Justice William Waller Jr. used similar reasoning but more reserved 
language in Jordan's case , writing that midazolam is "likely to render the 
condemned inmate unconscious, so that the execution process should not entail a 
substantial risk of severe pain."

"Jordan has failed to provide credible evidence to support the contention that 
midazolam does not meet the statutory requirements," Waller wrote.

In both cases, justices Leslie King and James Kitchens dissented, arguing 
Stevens presented enough proof on behalf of the inmates to justify a further 
hearing.

"The majority's conclusion, which is essentially that any scientist who 
disagrees with the majority's unscientific opinion on midazolam is a sham, is 
simply not supported," King wrote of Loden's case.

Both said Mississippi's court needs to consider separately whether midazolam 
meets Mississippi's state law requirement that a prisoner be unconscious. They 
noted that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Oklahoma case turned on the 
separate legal issue of whether the use of midazolam violated the U.S. 
Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

Jordan and Loden are among plaintiffs in a separate federal court challenge to 
Mississippi's use of midazolam. That case has been stayed pending a decision by 
the U.S. Supreme Court in a challenge to Missouri's lethal injection methods. 
The high court is scheduled to hear the case in November.

(source: Associated Press)