[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ARIZ., CALIF., WASH., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 20




ARIZONA:

Phoenix police: Serial killing suspect tied to 9 attacks



A serial killing suspect shot and killed 9 people, including his own mother, 
and used a victim's gun in some of the slayings that unfolded in a 3-week span 
late last year, authorities said Thursday.

Shell casings, DNA, stolen jewelry and a cellphone taken from a victim were 
among the pieces of evidence that investigators used to tie Cleophus Cooksey 
Jr., 35, to the killings, according to court documents.

"It should appall every one of us in the room that he managed to kill 9 people 
period, let alone in such a short period of 3 weeks," said Sgt. Jonathan 
Howard, a Phoenix police spokesman.

The 7 men and 2 women were shot between Nov. 27 and Dec. 17 in their homes, 
suburban apartment complexes, in a parked car or while outside, the documents 
state.

Cooksey, described by police as an aspiring musician, knew some of the victims 
but investigators were still trying to determine motives in a few of the 
attacks, according to police officials in Phoenix, Glendale and Avondale.

"We have witnesses that are identifying relationships between the suspect and 
his victims but we have yet to discover what kind of started this entire 
spree," Howard said.

A number of details were withheld by police who cited the ongoing 
investigation.

Authorities were not discounting the possibility that Cooksey could be linked 
to other crimes. Howard encouraged anyone who has information about his 
relationships or activities to call police.

The victims included Jesus Real, 25, the brother of Cooksey's ex-girlfriend. 
Real was asleep in his Avondale home on Dec. 11 when he was shot twice in the 
face. Avondale police say Real's sister and Cooksey had broken up the night 
before.

Another victim, 43-year-old Maria Villanueva, was seen on surveillance video 
arriving at a Glendale apartment complex on Dec. 15 and then leaving with an 
unknown man in the driver's seat.

Her partially nude body was found the next morning in a Phoenix alley and her 
car was found abandoned at another complex in Glendale.

Investigators found a cellphone and a bloody men's shirt inside. DNA on the 
shirt matched Cooksey's, court documents said. The cellphone was also confirmed 
to be his.

Cooksey was arrested Dec. 17 for the shooting deaths of his mother and 
stepfather in their home and has been jailed since then on 2 counts of 
1st-degree murder and 1 count of being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Gary Beren, an attorney who represents Cooksey, didn't immediately return a 
phone call and email seeking comment.

Cooksey was rebooked into jail Thursday in the 7 additional homicide cases, 
Howard said. He was being held on a $5 million bond, according to a court 
document.

"I'm just proud as heck that he's off the street," said Glendale police Chief 
Rick St. John.

Cooksey previously served 16 years in prison for manslaughter and armed robbery 
and had been free for 18 months, authorities said.

It's the 2nd time in the past few years that Phoenix has dealt with serial 
killings. Aaron Juan Saucedo has been charged with 1st-degree murder and other 
crimes in drive-by shootings in 2015 and 2016 that left 9 people dead and 2 
others wounded.

Saucedo has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Prosecutors have said they 
intend to seek the death penalty.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Arizona Supreme Court tosses 4th death sentence for misleading statements



For the 4th time in 18 months, a high court has thrown out a death penalty from 
Maricopa County because a Superior Court judge did not instruct juries there 
was no possibility the defendant would someday be released on parole if they 
did not sentence him to death.

And in each of those cases, a Maricopa County prosecutor implied or argued 
"future dangerousness," as it is referred to in the courts, suggesting the 
defendant could someday be free to kill again if the jurors came back with a 
life sentence.

Bryan Wayne Hulsey, 44, was convicted of 1st-degree murder and sentenced to 
death for killing Glendale police Officer Anthony Holly in 2007 after a routine 
traffic stop.

On Thursday, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld Hulsey's conviction, but vacated 
his death sentence and sent the case back to Maricopa County Superior Court for 
a new sentencing trial.

According to the high court's opinion, during the final stages of the trial, 
Hulsey's defense attorneys objected when the judge told the jury "that a life 
sentence might leave (Hulsey) eligible for release, and refused to allow Hulsey 
(his attorneys) to discuss his parole ineligibility."

Parole was abolished in Arizona in 1993, and life sentences with a chance of 
parole were replaced by a vaguer sentence of life with chance of release, which 
requires a gubernatorial pardon. The defense was then not allowed to explain 
that parole was not an option in Hulsey's case.

The high court cited a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision in which killer Shawn 
Lynch's death sentence was thrown out on the same grounds. Both Lynch and 
Hulsey were prosecuted by Deputy Maricopa County Attorney Juan Martinez.

Since the Lynch decision, the Arizona Supreme Court has thrown out two other 
death sentences on the same grounds, those of Jasper Rushing and Joel Escalante 
Orozco.

In those three cases, prosecutors more aggressively argued that if the 
defendant were released, he could present "future dangerousness," when in fact, 
Arizona law left little chance of any release.

Arizona Supreme Court throws out death sentence for Joel Escalante-Orozco

Hulsey killed Holly on Feb. 19, 2007.

He was a passenger in the front seat of a car pulled over in Glendale. Officers 
determined the driver and another passenger had outstanding arrest warrants.

When Hulsey was questioned about his ID documents, he became agitated. And when 
an officer asked him to get out of the car, he pulled a gun and started 
shooting. Holly was caught in the cross fire and was shot in the head.

Hulsey was convicted in 2014.

(source: Arizona Republic)








CALIFORNIA:

The Death Penalty makes redemption impossible----by Steve Champion - 
incarcerated on death row San Quentin since 1982



The public, with its hunger for revenge, does not want to hear about personal 
acts of atonement by people who have been sentenced for a crime. Acts of 
atonement by the condemned are usually viewed as a ploy to save his or her own 
life - not as a genuine act of redemption.

People on death row are deemed the lowest of the low. Many people believe 
death-row prisoners cannot be "reformed" because they are "unformed" as human 
beings. Executing the condemned is not viewed the same as killing a human - it 
is chalked up to society's attempt to rid itself of its toxic waste.

Proponents of capital punishment freeze condemned-to-die criminals at the worst 
moments of their lives; to justify their execution, they must be barred from 
redemption. But history is full of individuals who have made major mistakes but 
manage to turn their lives around and make significant contributions to 
humanity.

Many religious people have mixed emotions about whether a murderer can be 
redeemed. But when it comes to biblical figures like Moses, King David and 
Saint Paul, they are quick to make exemptions. In fact, these figures are 
highly revered around the world precisely because society has determined that 
their contributions to humanity outweigh their crimes.

Why are some people worthy of redemption while others are denied it? Why are 
death-row prisoners damned as unrepentant criminals incapable of transforming 
their lives?

Redemption is not reserved for some. Redemption is a road map for reconnecting 
to one's humanity. If redemption is not meant for people who have lost their 
way and hit rock bottom, then the word ought to be stricken from every 
dictionary.

Proponents of capital punishment freeze condemned-to-die criminals at the worst 
moments of their lives; to justify their execution, they must be barred from 
redemption. But history is full of individuals who have made major mistakes but 
manage to turn their lives around and make significant contributions to 
humanity.

Redemption means regaining something you have lost through improving your life. 
Many people, in and out of prison, never atone for anything; they go to their 
graves defiant and unrepentant. A person who has the courage to look within 
himself and decide to transform his life ought to be encouraged, if not 
applauded.

Some recent recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize were not always seen as 
champions of peace. In 2001, both Nelson Mandela and Frederik de Klerk became 
Nobel Peace Prize laureates. De Klerk was the head of an apartheid government 
that openly oppressed, discriminated against and murdered Blacks and considered 
Mandela a terrorist. Mandela once headed the guerrilla wing of the African 
National Congress, which believed in armed violence.

In 1994, both Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat were awarded the Nobel Peace 
Prize for their efforts to create peace in the Middle East. Prior to receiving 
the Nobel Prize, Arafat was labeled a terrorist. Yitzhak Rabin was prime 
minister of Israel and sanctioned violence against the Palestinians. All of 
these people were viewed unfavorably in their lifetimes, but were able to 
transcend their mistakes - because society accepted the fact that they were not 
the sum total of their mistakes.

No one is.

The transformative power of redemption can change anyone who is sincere about 
changing. It makes no difference if a person lives in a temple in Tibet, an 
ashram in India or a prison cell on death row. Your location should not 
diminish the value of your redemption.

(source: Steven Champion has been on California's death row for 36 years, since 
he was 18 years old. Send our brother some love and light: Steve Champion, 
C-58001, San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin CA 94974----sfbayview.com)








WASHINGTON:

King County's prosecuting attorney: 'We don't need the death penalty'----Our 
death penalty process is too slow, too uncertain, too costly and ultimately, by 
any measure, it cannot be said to work.



It is time for a frank discussion about the death penalty in Washington state. 
As chief of staff and then elected leader of the state's largest prosecuting 
attorney's office for the past 27 years, I have had a direct responsibility to 
administer our state's death penalty law. I have met with scores of families of 
murder victims, struggled with the legal and financial issues surrounding 
capital punishment and witnessed the execution of the last man to be put to 
death in our state more than 7 years ago.

It is my duty to report that the death penalty law in our state is broken and 
cannot be fixed. It no longer serves the interests of public safety, criminal 
justice, or the needs of victims. I call on the Legislature to repeal the law 
and make the punishment for aggravated murder a sentence of life without the 
possibility of parole by supporting legislation like Senate Bill 6052 this 
session to abolish the death penalty.

Washington voters approved the death penalty by initiative in 1980. Since that 
vote, our state has carried out only 2 contested executions. 3 men were 
executed as "volunteers" after instructing their attorneys not to appeal the 
jury verdicts. 8 men currently sit in prison with their death sentences at 
various stages of appeals in the state and federal courts. A 9th man died last 
year of natural causes, a fate much more likely than execution in this state, 
especially given the moratorium imposed by Gov. Jay Inslee on the carrying out 
of any finalized death penalty sentences.

Dan Satterberg is King County's prosecuting attorney.

We don't need the death penalty because we already have the equivalent penalty 
in a true life sentence without possibility of release. A person serving life 
without possibility of parole will die in prison, unless granted clemency by 
the governor. The fight over the death penalty is in reality an elaborate 
effort to hasten the date of the inmate's death, and to permit a state employee 
to eventually administer a lethal dose of drugs. The uncertain path to 
execution in our state may take 20 years, and consume millions of dollars in 
tax resources to pay for teams of lawyers to litigate in the state and federal 
courts. This fight is simply not worth the time, the money, nor the delay in 
the delivery of justice.

The national debate over the death penalty sometimes reveals deep flaws in the 
fairness of the criminal-justice system, but that is not our experience in 
Washington state, where prosecutors have done a good job of ensuring the fair 
administration of the law. There are no innocent men among the 8 on death row 
or among the 5 who have been killed since 1980. Horror stories from other parts 
of the country about abuses of the death penalty, unqualified defense counsel, 
and unfair leverage for plea bargaining are deeply concerning but are not our 
story.

In Washington, our flaws aren't found in the underfunding of criminal defense 
but rather in the soaring and uncontrollable costs of capital litigation. The 
specter of the death penalty threatens to bankrupt smaller counties and divert 
dwindling resources for other priorities within the county government. The 
truth is that smaller counties are not able to pursue the death penalty even if 
they wanted to. Only 5 counties out of 39 have sought and obtained a death 
sentence.

Then there is the issue of delay. The 2 defendants who executed 6 family 
members in Carnation in 2007 faced the death penalty, but it took nearly 8 
years and 3 trips to the Supreme Court to clear the way for trial and for the 
jury to even consider the death penalty option for the man who shot 2 children, 
their parents and grandparents. King County spent nearly $5 million in costs 
for his defense team. In the end, the jury deliberated for less than a day and 
could not reach a unanimous decision in favor of death. He, and his 
co-defendant, are now serving life-without-parole sentences and will certainly 
die in prison.

I am also convinced that the death penalty as presently administered does not 
serve the interests of family members of murder victims. Families 
understandably want the maximum punishment for the killer of their loved one, 
but the issue of the death penalty sometimes divides families. When we explain 
that it takes on average 20 years to finally exhaust appeals and then the case 
faces the roadblock of an indefinite moratorium, most families say "no thank 
you."

In 2010, I sat with the family of Holly Washa to witness the execution of the 
man who kidnapped, raped, tortured and killed the 21-year-old woman. It was the 
2nd time they had traveled from their hometown in Nebraska to Walla Walla to 
monitor the proceedings - the 1st time they drove all the way only to learn in 
the prison parking lot that the Supreme Court granted a last-minute delay. 
During the 2 decades of appeals following the murder, the family feared that 
some court would eventually release Washa's killer. After it was finally over, 
her sister said to the press, "Now we won't have to think about him anymore." 
That same relief for victim families is available with a life-without-parole 
sentence, with a much quicker resolution, less cost to taxpayers and more legal 
certainty.

Our death penalty process is too slow, too uncertain, too costly and 
ultimately, by any measure, it cannot be said to work. It is time to move on 
from this 4-decades-long failed experiment, and focus our time and resources on 
more rational responses to violent crime. The 2 men currently on death row from 
King County committed atrocious crimes, killing a total of 7 women and 
children. 1 has been in custody for 18 years, the other for nearly 12, and they 
will both certainly die in prison, one way or the other.

It can certainly be argued from a moral standpoint that these men do not 
deserve to live. The more important question is, however, not what they 
deserve, but rather what do we deserve as citizens of Washington state.

(source: Dan Satterberg, Seattle Times)








USA:

Prosecutors to seek death penalty in missing scholar case



U.S. prosecutors told a judge Friday they will seek the death penalty for a 
28-year-old man charged with the kidnapping and killing of a University of 
Illinois scholar from China, also broaching new allegations that he choked and 
sexually assaulted someone 5 years ago.

Federal prosecutors filed a notice Friday with the U.S. District Court in 
central Illinois. It cites, among other factors, that Brendt Christensen's 
alleged killing of 26-year-old Yingying Zhang involved torture.

In a new revelation, the filing accuses Christensen of other serious acts of 
violence in the past, saying he "choked and sexually assaulted" someone in 
central Illinois in 2013. The filing adds that he "expressed (a) desire to be 
known as a killer."

Christensen is charged in the kidnapping and death of Zhang, who disappeared 
June 9 on her way to sign an apartment lease. Federal prosecutors claim that 
Zhang, who arrived on campus last April, had missed a bus when Christensen 
lured her into his car. Surveillance video showed her getting into the front 
seat of a black Saturn Astra the FBI alleges was cleaned in a way to conceal 
evidence. Zhang's body hasn't been found, but authorities say that have 
evidence she's dead.

Christensen's trial is slated to begin Feb. 27. He has pleaded not guilty.

Friday's 5-page filing also cites as factors in seeking capital punishment the 
"heinous, cruel, or depraved manner" of the crime and that it involved 
"planning and premeditation," as well as what the document says is 
Christensen's "lack of remorse."

'A message seeking comment from Christensen's attorney, Robert Tucker, wasn't 
immediately returned.

(source: ABC News)