[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., N.C., FLA., ALA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 23



PENNSYLVANIA:

Death penalty sought in police officer's shooting death



Prosecutors will seek the death penalty against a Pennsylvania man accused of 
killing a police officer and then leading law enforcement on a 4-day manhunt 
with the help of his mother.

The Westmoreland County district attorney's office has filed a notice of intent 
to seek capital punishment if 29-year-old Rahmael Holt is convicted of 
1st-degree murder.

Holt is charged with shooting 25-year-old New Kensington officer Brian Shaw as 
the officer chased him on foot after an attempted traffic stop Nov. 17.

Holt was arrested 4 days later in Pittsburgh. Defense attorney Justin Ketchel 
has called the evidence against his client "scant."

Prosecutors say the manhunt was prolonged by conflicting narratives told by the 
suspect's mother about when she had last seen her son. She has been charged 
with hindering apprehension.

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

Prosecutors drop bid for 1 trial for 2 charged in teen death



Prosecutors have withdrawn a request to try a man and woman together in the 
rape and killing of her 14-year-old adopted daughter in Pennsylvania.

An attorney for 43-year-old Sara Packer says prosecutors' decision Monday means 
that, absent a guilty plea, there will be 2 homicide trials in the death of 
Grace Packer.

The judge will rule later on a defense request to bar prosecutors from using 
statements by 44-year-old co-defendant Jacob Sullivan.

Bucks County prosecutors allege Packer watched Sullivan act out a rape-murder 
fantasy in July 2016. They say the couple stored the girl's body in cat litter 
for months, then dumped it in a remote area where hunters found it.

Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty against Sullivan and 
possibly Packer as well.

(source for both: Associated Press)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Man accused of killing Winston-Salem woman and attempting to kill her mother 
may face death penalty



A Statesville man charged with fatally shooting a 23-year-old Winston-Salem 
woman and trying to kill her mother made his 1st appearance in Forsyth District 
Court on Monday as Winston-Salem police continue to investigate the killing.

Willie Darnell Martin, 40, of Cline Street in Statesville, is charged with 
felony murder and attempted 1st-degree murder. Winston-Salem police said he 
fired a handgun numerous times at Amanda Delores Lindsay and her mother, Angela 
Hood Lindsay, inside an apartment on Charleston Court in Winston-Salem around 
12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Amanda Lindsay was struck at least once and died at the scene. Angela Hood 
Lindsay and a small child in the apartment were not injured. Martin drove away 
in Amanda Lindsay's 2015 Dodge Charger but later turned himself in at the 
Forsyth County Jail after police issued warrants for his arrest.

Winston-Salem police haven't identified the child or described the child's 
relationship to Amanda Lindsay and Angela Lindsay. According to court 
documents, Amanda Lindsay had a 4-year-old daughter. Winston-Salem police also 
have not said why Martin was at the apartment or how Martin knew Amanda Lindsay 
and her mother. Police have not said whether Martin and Amanda Lindsay were 
dating.

Martin is not the father of Amanda Lindsay's daughter, according to court 
documents.

Winston-Salem police have said that Martin fired a handgun during an argument 
but have not said what the argument was about.

Martin was in an orange jumpsuit Monday afternoon in Forsyth District Court. 
Paul James, Forsyth County's public defender, appeared on his behalf. James 
said that the Capital Defender's Office had appointed an attorney in the case. 
Forsyth District Judge David Sipprell explained the charges to Martin and told 
Martin what kind of prison sentence he might face if convicted.

Sipprell said Martin could face either the death penalty or life in prison if 
Forsyth County prosecutors decided to charge Martin with 1st-degree murder. 
Martin also could face a life sentence if convicted on attempted 1st-degree 
murder, Sipprell said.

A group of Martin's family and friends sat on the front row on the right-hand 
side of the courtroom. One woman appeared emotional. They quickly left after 
the hearing.

Martin's next court date is Feb. 8. He is being held in the Forsyth County Jail 
with no bond allowed.

On Monday, there was no sign of gunshots from outside of the Lindsays' 
2nd-floor apartment, which is tucked away behind Forsyth Technical Community 
College, off Silas Creek Parkway. The apartment had a large purple and black 
wreath made out of ribbons on the front door.

Amanda Lindsay's death was the 2nd fatal shooting on Saturday. Winston-Salem 
State University student Najee Ali Baker was killed at Wake Forest University 
on Saturday morning during a party at The Barn. No one has been arrested in 
Baker's killing.

Winston-Salem police are also investigating the death of 40-year-old Curtis 
Jermaine Farrow. Farrow's body was found in a dumpster outside the Ivy 
Apartments on Ivy Avenue near East 30th Street. Winston-Salem police have ruled 
Farrow's death suspicious.

Lt. Mike Cardwell of the Winston-Salem Police Department declined to comment 
Monday about any of the cases from this weekend.

"We are actively investigating these cases," Cardwell said. "With that said, 
our focus is on investigating the cases. No additional information pertaining 
to the investigations will be released at this time."

(source: Winston-Salem Journal)








FLORIDA:

Florida Supreme Court rejects 10 death row appeals, including in Duval and Clay



The Florida Supreme Court on Monday rejected appeals by 10 death row inmates, 
including 3 in Duval County and 1 in Clay County.

The Supreme Court's release of 10 nearly identical rulings at the same time was 
a somewhat-unusual move. But each of the cases involved inmates challenging 
their death sentences because juries did not unanimously recommend execution.

The appeals were rooted in a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case known as 
Hurst v. Florida and a subsequent Florida Supreme Court decision. The 2016 
ruling found Florida's death-penalty sentencing system was unconstitutional 
because it gave too much authority to judges, instead of juries. The subsequent 
Florida Supreme Court ruling said juries must unanimously agree on critical 
findings before judges can impose death sentences and must unanimously 
recommend the death penalty.

But the Florida Supreme Court made the new sentencing requirements apply to 
cases since 2002. That is when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling known as 
Ring v. Arizona that was a premise for striking down Florida's death-penalty 
sentencing system in 2016.

In each of the cases Monday, the death row inmates had been sentenced to death 
before the Ring decision and argued that the jury-unanimity requirements should 
also apply to their cases.

The Jacksonville cases were Marvin Burnett Jones, Pressley Bernard Alston and 
Jason Demetrius Stephens. In Clay County, Donald Bradley's appeal was denied.

The others were Eric Scott Branch in Escambia County, Kayle Barrington Bates in 
Bay County, Daniel Jon Peterka in Okaloosa County, Harry Franklin Phillips in 
Miami-Dade County, Ernest D. Suggs in Walton County and Frank A. Walls in 
Okaloosa County.


(source: Florida Times-Union)

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

Death penalty decision expected in Florida serial killings



Authorities are expected to announce a decision on whether prosecutors will 
seek the death penalty against a 24-year-old man suspected of randomly killing 
4 people and terrorizing a Florida neighbourhood for several months.

Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren has called a 10:30 a.m. news 
conference Tuesday to reveal his decision in the case against Howell Emanuel 
Donaldson III.

Donaldson was arrested Nov. 28 after police said he gave a bag containing a 
handgun to a co-worker at a McDonald's restaurant. She turned it over to a 
police officer who was in the restaurant.

The Seminole Heights neighbourhood stopped many outdoor activities as the 
string of shootings stretched through October and into November. The victims 
ranged in age from 22 to 60.

(source: nationalpost.com)



ALABAMA----impending execution

Alabama death row inmate's lawyers: Court-appointed expert's opinion invalid 
because of drug arrest



Attorneys for an Alabama death row inmate who is scheduled to die by lethal 
injection Thursday are seeking another stay of execution.

The attorneys for the inmate say he is incompetent and shouldn't be executed. 
They also claim the opinion of the court-appointed expert, who said the inmate 
was competent, is no longer valid because the psychologist has since been 
arrested on drug charges.

Vernon Madison, 67, has been on death row for over 30 years after being 
convicted in 1985 of killing a Mobile police officer.

Madison was first scheduled to die in May 2016, but there was a temporary 
delay. Hours after that execution's scheduled time, the U.S. Supreme Court 
issued a ruling upholding the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals stay of execution.

In November 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed that decision, 
meaning Madison can be executed.

The Alabama Attorney General's Office then set an execution date for Madison. 
He is set to die Thursday at 6 p.m. at Holman Prison in Atmore.

Last month, Madison's attorneys from the Equal Justice Initiative filed a 
petition in Mobile County court to stay Madison's execution, stating that an 
expert evaluation--which said Madison was competent to be executed-- is no 
longer valid.

"Since April, 2016, when Mr. Madison was previously before this Court 
requesting that his execution be stayed due to his inability to rationally 
understand why he was being executed as a result of multiple severe strokes, 
new evidence has emerged that the court-appointed expert, Dr. Karl Kirkland... 
has been suspended from the practice of psychology after being arrested and 
charged with four (4) felony counts of possession or receipt of a controlled 
substance, one of which occurred just four days after the competency hearing in 
this case," the petition states.

The petition says Kirkland's evaluation is no longer valid and, "...The 
evidence in this case establishes that Mr. Madison suffers from significant 
physical and mental impairments and that his cognitive and bodily functioning 
continues to decline."

Mobile County Circuit Judge Robert Smith held a hearing on Jan. 16, and denied 
the request for a stay of execution.

Bryan Stevenson, founder of the EJI and 1 of Madison's attorneys, then filed 2 
new petitions to the U.S. Supreme Court: 1 for a stay of execution, and 1 
asking the court to review the case.

The motion asking for a stay of execution states that the nation's highest 
court should call off Thursday's execution and decide whether executing Madison 
violates the Eighth Amendment against cruel and unusual punishment. Stevenson 
argues Madison suffers from cognitive dysfunction and does not remember the 
crimes that he is on death row for committing.

The Alabama AG's Office filed a response to the Supreme Court regarding 
Madison's motions. "Madison's attack on the court-appointed expert adds nothing 
to his petition, serving only as a red herring," it states.

"The only new factual averments contained in Madison's most recent petition for 
a stay of execution involved the arrest of the court-appointed psychiatric 
expert on drug-related charges... Madison cannot point to any error or 
deficiency in the court-appointed expert's professional services in this case," 
it states.

The state's reponse says Madison's retained expert actually agreeed with the 
court-appointed expert's evaluation, and "did not identify any errors or 
deficiencies in Dr. Kirkland's methodology, report, or testimony."

"Additional expenditure of judicial resources is not warranted to review a 
legal decision based on facts that have not changed, especially in light of the 
expense and vexation that would be imposed on the state of Alabama," the 
state's response says.

The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on Madison's latest petition.

(source: al.com)

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

Supreme Court Rejects Madison Appeal



The Supreme Court has paved the way for a death row inmate to be put to death 
on Thursday, despite his lawyers pleading he doesn't currently remember his 
crime or even understand his looming execution.

Attorneys for Vernon Madison petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday asking 
them to review his case and whether executing him would constitute cruel and 
unusual punishment. Justices rejected that request this morning without issuing 
a written explanation.

Attorney Bryan Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative argues multiple 
strokes and dementia have left Madison legally blind, unable to walk 
independently and with "no memory of the commission of the offense for which 
the state seeks to execute him".

Courts have been split as to whether Madison is competent to be executed. In 
May 2016, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals halted Madison's execution 
just 7 hours before he was scheduled to die.

Madison was convicted of the 1985 killing of Mobile police officer Julius 
Schulte, who had responded to a domestic call involving Madison. Prosecutors 
say Madison shot Schulte as he sat in his police car.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO:

Ohio Supreme Court Hears Challenge of Death Penalty Law



The Ohio Supreme Court is weighing arguments from an ex-death row inmate that 
the state's capital punishment law is unconstitutional because judges and not 
juries hand down death sentences.

Convicted killer Maurice Mason says the U.S. Constitution requires juries to 
impose death sentences. Mason argues a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring 
Florida's death penalty law unconstitutional should apply in Ohio.

If Ohio juries recommend capital punishment, judges impose the sentence. Ohio 
judges can reject death sentences, but can't impose them if juries don't 
recommend them.

Justices have scheduled a hearing for Tuesday morning.

The 54-year-old Mason was sentenced to die for raping and killing a woman in 
Marion County in 1993. A federal appeals court overturned his death sentence 
and he's challenging a new sentencing hearing.

(source: Associated Press)