[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., FLA., OHIO, ARK., NEV

[Rick Halperin]

July 14




TEXAS:

Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles rejects clemency for SA man facing 
execution----Christopher Anthony Young scheduled for execution Tuesday

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Friday unanimously voted to reject 
clemency for Christopher Young, a San Antonio man scheduled for execution 
Tuesday.

The rejection by the Board is the 2nd setback for Young this week.

On Wednesday, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals refused an appeal to stop the 
pending execution of Young, who was found guilty of fatally shooting San 
Antonio convenience store owner Hasmukh Patel nearly 14 years ago.

"We are devastated," said David Dow and Jeff Newberry, attorneys for Young, 
said in a statement. "Christopher Anthony Young is not the same reckless young 
man who took the life of Hasmukh Patel.

"Killing Chris on July 17, 2018, will not benefit anyone: Not his two daughters 
and other family members who love him. Not Mitesh Patel, the son of Hasmukh, 
who does not want Chris to be executed, and not the adolescents desperately in 
need of his mentorship."

In response to the board's denial, Young filed a complaint in federal court 
Friday afternoon, claiming the board violated the Equal Protection Clause of 
the Fourteenth Amendment.

The complaint cited the board giving a unanimous recommendation for clemency in 
February to Thomas Whitaker, claiming his case is similar to Young's, but the 2 
men differ in race.

"Young is entitled to a stay of execution so that his lawyers have the 
opportunity to examine the Board members under oath, and ascertain whether what 
appears to be the driving force in this case was in fact the driving force -- 
to determine whether Whitaker received clemency because he is white, while 
Young did not because he is black," the complaint said.

Gov. Greg Abbott has the authority to grant a 1-time, 30-day reprieve.

Sister Helen Prejean, who is known for her tireless work against the death 
penalty and her bestselling book, "Dead Man Walking," urged Abbott to grant the 
reprieve.

"Governor, please demonstrate your support for the families of murder victims 
by granting a reprieve to Chris Young and asking the Pardon Board to reconsider 
his case," she said in a statement.

(source: KSAT news)

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

Spare Christopher Young's life



In 12 years on death row, Christopher Young has become a loving father, a 
mentor to kids caught up in gang violence as he was, and a person who takes 
responsibility for the pain he has caused. His execution would only create more 
broken lives.

In summer 2014, I began a friendship with a man I would only ever meet through 
a plate-glass window.

Christopher Young has been incarcerated since he was 21 years old. Since his 
conviction of capital murder in 2006, he has spent 23 hours a day in solitary 
confinement on Texas' death row. He now faces execution by the state of Texas 
on Tuesday.

About a year into our correspondence, Chris shared the story of a recent visit 
he had with his 11-year-old daughter. Despite his incarceration, he has played 
an active role in his daughters' lives, redefining what it means to be a parent 
when your child has to visit you in a prison - when that child will never know 
your touch.

He had decided it was time to explain to her that he was sentenced to death, 
not to life as she had believed.

A priest has told the young sons of a Chicago Fire Department diver that their 
father lived his life in service and was willing to risk his life for others.

After he broke the news, Chris recalled, "I felt myself choking up, but I was 
trying my best to hold it in and be strong for my little girl. I wasn't able to 
continue. My daughter broke down crying, placing the phone on the table, and 
falling into her mother's arms. This was the 1st time (I'd) seen my daughter 
cry since she was a baby. I was broken."

As I reread these words, with Chris' execution date looming, I'm struck by just 
how much has been "broken" in this tragic story.

A father - whose own father was murdered when he was 8 years old - breaking 
under the weight of his daughter's pain; a daughter broken by the possibility 
of losing the father she has loved across a prison phone line; the surviving 
loved ones of Hasmukbhai Patel broken by Chris' terrible actions in 2004; a 
broken justice system that denies the possibility of redemption.

Early in our friendship, Chris described how the world sees people like him: 
"We are placed in these cages (with) the notion that we have nothing to offer 
the world and we are virtually these broken things that we as a society just 
need to scrap."

Yet, over the years, Chris has shown what a "broken" person has to offer. In 
his 12 years on death row he has matured into a loving father, a mentor to kids 
caught up in the same gang violence as he was, and a person who takes 
responsibility for the pain he has caused.

His sincere remorse has resonated with Mitesh Panel, the son of the immigrant 
Chris killed, who does not want this execution to occur.

Today, Chris credits death row with saving his life, his solitary confinement 
offering a respite from the negative influences that had surrounded him since 
childhood. It has provided him the opportunity for an inner reckoning that can 
lead to a more restorative vision of justice.

That is, if the state of Texas doesn't kill him on Tuesday.

In my 4 years of friendship with Chris, I've seen his great potential for 
repairing the brokenness in himself and in others. I pray that those with the 
power to change his fate haven't lost their faith in redemption. I pray that we 
stop adding broken lives on top of broken lives. I pray that we're finally 
ready for a justice system that rebuilds and restores. And I pray that we save 
Chris Young from execution so that we can save more young men like him in the 
future.

Chris Young's petition for commutation to a lesser penalty or at least a 
120-day reprieve is pending before the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, 
which has the authority to recommend clemency to Gov. Greg Abbott.

(source: Commentary; The Rev. Larry James is the chief executive officer of 
CitySquare in Dallas----San Antonio Express-News)

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

Rushed justice is no justice



Capital murder suspect Brian Flores, right, talks in the courtroom July 5 with 
his second chair attorney David Woodward, after a mistrial was declared in 
Flores' case. Visiting Judge Susan Reed caused this when she made the second 
chair attorney proceed with jury selection though the first chair was unable to 
work because of a concussion.

In the end, Visiting Judge Susan Reed did the right thing, albeit reluctantly, 
in granting a mistrial in the death penalty case of Brian Flores.

It doesn't matter if the mistrial pushes a new trial into the administration of 
the next district attorney, as prosecutor Jason Goss argued at a recent 
hearing. By going forward with jury selection when Flores' lead attorney, Ed 
Camara, was out with a concussion, Reed had set up what would have been an 
unusually strong appeal for someone charged with murdering 2 teenagers.

It also doesn't matter that attorneys with Texas Defender Services, a nonprofit 
focused on death penalty cases, are assisting Flores' counsel in this case. 
Bexar County did not appoint Texas Defender Services to represent Flores. The 
county is not paying attorneys with the nonprofit. The county appointed Camara 
as lead counsel and David Woodard as second chair.

Those are his attorneys, regardless of outside assistance. State law requires 2 
appointed attorneys in death penalty cases, including a qualified lead. Not 
only this, but standards for the State Bar of Texas and the American Bar 
Association call for 2 attorneys.

A second chair is not like a backup quarterback who fills in when the starter 
goes down. A second chair is a qualified attorney but is also learning from the 
lead.

With Camara out with a concussion during jury selection, Flores had one 
attorney, the second chair. That's not enough, which is why Reed had to grant 
the mistrial.

>From the bench, Reed acknowledged "the scrutiny that is given to capital murder 
cases, and the Texas statute that requires first chair designation and all of 
that. ... It is concerning."

But she seemed more concerned about the requirement of having 2 attorneys since 
Texas Defender Services is assisting with the case.

"I think the Legislature needs to take another look at that based on Texas 
Defender Service, who is essentially working with you, and I think it would be 
disingenuous to say they are not. Because they are."

Immaterial.

Reed's hands were tied - but only because she tied her own hands. On June 20, 
Camara blacked out in the shower (due to a change in blood pressure medicine), 
hit his head and suffered a concussion.

Jury selection was continued until June 25, but according to court filings, 
when the trial resumed, Camara was unsteady and lightheaded. A motion was filed 
to continue the trial, but Reed denied it.

During jury selection, Camara felt nauseous and worried he would collapse. 
Under advice of his doctor, he went home at lunch.

That left Woodard as the sole attorney. He asked for a continuance, which Reed 
rejected. She pointed at 2 attorneys with Texas Defender Services and said 
Flores had 3 attorneys, the motion for mistrial says.

Even though Woodard said he was not qualified to lead jury selection, Reed 
ordered him to proceed. In doing so, she basically gift-wrapped an appeal if 
the trial continued.

Don Flanary, president of the San Antonio Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, 
was aghast. Reed's initial actions, he said, violated Flores' Sixth Amendment 
rights to effective counsel.

It's a point that Camara's doctor, Burton G. Shaw, raised at the recent 
mistrial hearing.

"In the case that someone's life is at issue, I would want my attorney to be 
completely competent," Shaw said. "And I am not sure that (Camara) is."

But more was at play than the rights of Flores. Let's not lose sight of the 
victims and their families.

"Let's say this guy is guilty," Flanary said. "This (would have) caused an 
error."

And an error would have meant a potential reversal. But a mistrial during jury 
selection only means a do-over, which is a hassle, but not an injustice.

"No court should be conducting trial proceedings with impaired counsel," said 
Amanda Marzullo, executive director of Texas Defender Services.

Much like tolerating hate speech as a consequence of (true) free speech, it's 
crucial to hold the line in death penalty cases. The stakes are so high, and 
there have been wrongful convictions. But also, in the most horrific crimes, 
it's essential proper practices are followed. In other words, it's a reflection 
of us, not the defendant.

In this case, rushed justice would have only expedited a very strong appeal.

(source: Opinion; Josh Brodesky, San Antonio Expess-News)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

End the death penalty



There is absolutely no reason for New Hampshire to have the death penalty.

I was extremely disappointed when the governor vetoed the repeal. The death 
penalty is inhumane and does not deter crime.

It's embarrassing to live in a state that still has it on the books.

Legislature, override the veto!

LAURA CRAWFORD

New London

(source: Letter to the Editor, Concord Monitor)








FLORIDA:

Slain deputy's killers deserve to die, prosecutor tells Broward jury----Trial 
of 3 men accused of murdering Broward Deputy Brian Tephford in 2006



A jury's life or death decision in the case of 3 men convicted of murdering 
Broward Sheriff's Deputy Brian Tephford could come as early as Monday.

When Andre Delancy, Bernard Forbes and Eloyn Ingraham killed Tephford in an 
ambush in 2006, they did not care about the details of his life, prosecutor 
Mike Satz said Thursday.

They didn't care that he had a family or even that he was trying to help the 
woman whose car he pulled over at a Tamarac apartment complex.

They killed him because he was a law enforcement officer, and for that, Satz 
said, they deserve to die.

The men were convicted in March.

Satz gave his closing argument in the penalty phase of the trial late Thursday 
morning. "There is no question their design was to eliminate these officers," 
Satz said, referring to the slaying of Tephford and the attempted murder of his 
backup, Broward Sheriff's Deputy Corey Carbocci. "The 1st degree murder of 
Brian Tephford was done in a cold and calculated manner, without any moral or 
legal pretense."

Wife of slain deputy made him promise not to make her a widow

Jurors also heard from 2 of the 3 defense lawyers asking them to show mercy.

Without the jury's unanimous recommendation for death, a life sentence would be 
mandatory for all 3 defendants.

Mitch Polay, pleading for Delancy's life, said there was no evidence presented 
that his client fired the shots that ended Tephford's life.

Polay also portrayed the ambush was sudden and impulsive, not "cold, calculated 
and premeditated" as alleged by prosecutors.

Satz said Ingraham, a passenger in the vehicle Tephford had pulled over late on 
Nov. 6, 2006 at the Versailles Gardens condominium complex, called his friends 
to have them come over with guns blazing.

A motive was not established at trial - Ingraham and Forbes were later accused 
in a kidnapping and robbery that took place weeks before the shooting, but they 
were acquitted of those charges at a trial in 2015.

Attorney Edward Salantrie delivered his closing argument Thursday afternoon on 
behalf of Forbes, portraying him as a residual victim of his mother's 
depression, still traumatized by a beating he suffered at the hands of multiple 
assailants 5 years before the Tephford shooting.

Like Polay, Salantrie reminded the jurors that any one of them could take the 
death penalty off the table by voting for life in prison.

"Each of you has the power to save or to take a life," he said.

Samuel Halpern is scheduled to offer his final arguments for Ingraham's life 
Friday morning.

Broward Circuit Judge Paul Backman said he will charge the jury on Monday 
morning. Once deliberations begin, the jury will be sequestered. There is no 
deadline for jurors to reach a decision.

The defendants also face a maximum sentence of life in prison for the attempted 
murder of Deputy Corey Carbocci, who showed up to assist Tephford during the 
traffic stop. Carbocci was injured but survived because he was wearing a 
bulletproof vest, Satz said.

(source: Sun-Sentinel)








OHIO:

Prosecutor Calls For Firing Squads Because Execution is 'Not Supposed to be a 
Pleasant Experience'



Hamilton County sends more prisoners to death row than any other county in 
Ohio. And the prosecutor there is fed up with complaints from human rights 
activists about lethal injection being inhumane. Joe Deters, the county 
prosecutor, told a local TV station that Ohio needs to bring back firing 
squads.

"We had an electric chair. They said that was too cruel, which the courts have 
found is not, by the way. Then we went to the lethal injection. Now they say 
that's cruel," Deters told WLWT-TV yesterday.

"So, as far as I'm concerned, bring back the firing squad. It's constitutional 
and just end it right now."

Shockingly, some prisoners who are waiting to die might agree with Deters. A 
death row inmate in Georgia famously asked for the firing squad last year after 
a string of botched executions in the United States. His request was denied.

The use of lethal injection has become difficult in the United States in recent 
years due to a lack of available drugs. Pharmaceutical companies around the 
world don't want to be associated with killing people, which means that states 
with the death penalty have had to look overseas for suppliers. But those 
suppliers have dried up.

Ohio briefly stopped executing people by lethal injection in 2014 after its new 
two-drug execution method took 25 minutes to kill an inmate. One of the drugs 
in the mix, midazolam, causes paralysis and was accused of being cruel and 
unusual punishment, in violation of the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. 
Ohio resumed lethal injection in 2017 with a 3-drug mix.

Oklahoma and Utah are the only states that still permit prisoners to be 
executed by firing squad, though the idea has become much more popular in state 
legislatures during the past 2 years. Ronnie Lee Gardner was the last person to 
be executed by firing squad in the U.S. when he was shot in Utah in 2010.

The United States and Japan are the only 2 wealthy nations that still have 
capital punishment. Japan executed 63-year-old cult leader Shoko Asahara and 6 
of his followers last week for 2 Sarin gas attacks, including one on a Tokyo 
subway in 1995 that killed 13 people and left roughly 600 more injured. The 
cult members and their leader were all hanged.

Ohio is slated to execute Robert Van Hook next week for the February 18, 1985 
murder of 25-year-old David Self. Hook is scheduled to die using Ohio's 3-drug 
execution method. Prosecutor Deters says that the appeals "take too damn long."

"Stop this 'we don't have the drugs, we don't have the proper facility, we 
can't buy the drugs'... well, buy a rifle," Deters said.

"We are killing someone, okay. This is not supposed to be a pleasant 
experience. They are being executed."

(source: gizmodo.com)








ARKANSAS:

Van Buren father charged with capital murder in infant's death



The Van Buren man accused of killing his 2-month-old daughter could be facing 
the death penalty.

Tyler Eugene Buchanan, 19, was charged Monday in the 21st Judicial Circuit of 
Arkansas with capital murder in connection with the June 12 death of his 
daughter. Circuit Prosecuting Attorney Marc McCune charged Buchanan, who 
allegedly kept his daughter from breathing, on grounds that he manifested 
"extreme indifference to the value of human life" toward his daughter, 
according to court documents.

Capital murder in Arkansas is punishable by the death penalty or life 
imprisonment without parole, according to Arkansas code #5-10-101. The grounds 
on which McCune gave Buchanan the charge are listed in the statute.

Officials as of Wednesday had not set court dates for this charge.

According to the probable cause affidavit for his arrest, Buchanan allegedly 
told Van Buren police he held his daughter's head against his shoulder to keep 
her from breathing in the early hours of June 12. He told police he kept her 
from breathing to get her to stop screaming so he could go to sleep.

Buchanan allegedly knew the child stopped breathing around 2 a.m. June 12 and 
knew what he was doing was wrong, the affidavit states.

Buchanan waited until 9 a.m. to call for help, according to a June 12 news 
release from the Police Department. He also did not tell the child's mother, 
who lives in his residence in the 1100 block of Baldwin Street, that the child 
had stopped breathing, the affidavit states.

The child was pronounced dead at Sparks Medical Center in Van Buren after 
police responded to the residence that morning, the release states.

Buchanan first told police his daughter woke up around 5:30 a.m. that morning 
and he discovered she wasn't breathing after he fed her a bottle and put her to 
sleep. He said he tried resuscitating her by shocking her heart with a cut 
extension cord, the affidavit states.

Van Buren police on the afternoon of June 12 arrested Buchanan on suspicion of 
first-degree murder. His current charge is an upgrade from his suspected 
offense.

"Through the interview, the crime scene and the hospital, we were able to 
determine our suspect," Jonathan Wear with the Police Department said following 
the arrest.

In addition to the allegations that he was indifferent to the value of his 
daughter's life, he was also charged on grounds that he was over 18 and his 
daughter was under 14 when the murder was committed, according to documents.

Buchanan remained in custody on Wednesday in the Crawford County Detention 
Center in lieu of a $1 million bond, according to jail records.

(source: Booneville Democrat)








NEVADA----death row inmate dies

Convict dies in Nevada prison 34 years after landing on death row



A 4-time convicted murderer died inside of a Nevada prison Friday, more than 30 
years after he was first sentenced to die for strangling an escort.

Although Thomas Wayne Crump, 78, confessed to the killings of 7 people, 
attempted killings of 7 others and numerous robberies, assaults and 
kidnappings, he never felt any remorse.

"I'm not making any excuses. I don't feel compassion for the victims or 
anything that I've ever done," Crump told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in a May 
1984 jailhouse interview shortly after his sentencing. "Why? I don't know. I 
have no idea. I've searched for that 'why' for so many years."

And for those he attempted to kill, the newspaper reported, he would have 
"finished the job" if he had known they survived his attacks.

On May 2, 1984, he was sentenced to death. He told Review-Journal reporter Kent 
Lauer that he had hoped death by lethal injection would put an end to his rage. 
But he was granted multiple stays of execution and survived another 34 years, 1 
month and 13 days until 5:15 a.m. Friday, when he died at a medical facility 
inside Northern Nevada Correction Center in Carson City.

He was on death row for 3 decades after a jury of 7 women and 5 men convicted 
him of 1st-degree murder on April 26, 1984, for the death of 26-year-old Jodie 
Jameson.

Although he spent several years appealing his sentence, he had asked to be 
executed while confessing in an Oct. 5, 1983, videotape provided to 
authorities, the Review-Journal reported at the time. The convicted killer was 
concerned he would probably kill again.

Video of his confession was played in court. He admitted to strangling Jameson, 
whose body was found Oct. 4, 1980, in a room at what was then known as the 
Sunshine Motel, 2200 Las Vegas Blvd. South.

Jameson, who worked for an escort service, was found tied and strangled with 
pantyhose and a torn pillowcase.

In the confession video, Crump said he got mad at her because somebody entered 
the room and took his money while he and Jameson were cleaning up in the 
bathtub. He thought she was trick-rolling him by unlocking the motel door.

"I told her she could take it to hell with her, and I drowned her," he said in 
the confession, this newspaper previously reported.

The jury found him guilty after less than an hour of deliberation. A hearing to 
determine whether he would be executed was moved to a different courtroom 
because he had threatened to kill somebody, according to a story at the time.

During a Nevada Supreme Court review of his execution sentencing, Justice 
Charles Springer remarked: "If you want a death penalty candidate, this guy is 
a 10."

The state's high court upheld Crump's sentencing. He unsuccessfully appealed 
multiple times to the high court, and even attempted to take his case to the 
U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear his case in 1986.

When a Metropolitan Police Department homicide detective first arrested Crump 
at New Mexico State Prison in 1983, he was already serving 2 life sentences for 
shooting and killing his wife, Rhonda, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, this 
newspaper reported in 1984.

He was also convicted in the robberies and fatal shootings of a Minnesota man 
driving through Albuquerque in 1980 and an Albuquerque cab driver in 1982. The 
Minnesotan had given a ride to Crump, who had fled to Albuquerque after the Las 
Vegas strangling, a detective testified at a hearing to determine whether he 
would receive the death penalty.

Crump, who grew up in Muncie, Indiana, attributed his cold-blooded ways to 
landing behind bars at an early age, the convicted killer told the 
Review-Journal.

An autopsy will be scheduled.

(source: Brookeville Times)