[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----ALA., OKLA., NEB., CALIF., WASH.

[Rick Halperin]

June 17



ALABAMA:

High court says no to Doster case



The Alabama Supreme Court has declined to review the death penalty case of 
Oscar Roy Doster, who is on the state's death row in Holman Prison for a 2002 
Covington County murder.

According to its weekly order list issued Friday, the Alabama Supreme Court has 
denied Doster's writ of certiorari, a request to review the case.

Doster was convicted of the 2002 murder of Paul LeMaster in Covington County, 
which happened while he and 3 other men were on the run after escaping the 
county jail. He was arrested, but broke out again and killed a man in Texas in 
2005, court records show. He pleaded guilty in the Texas case, and was 
sentenced to life in prison.

Forgotten the details? Here's a recap of the case.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Doster's conviction in 2010.

In 2011, the Alabama Supreme Court quashed a motion for a new trial filed by 
the Equal Justice Initiative in Doster's behalf.

The state's high court also on Friday declined to review the cases of James Ben 
Brownfield, convicted of killing his sister, brother-in-law and 3-year-old 
great-nephew on Christmas Eve in 2001, and Nicholas Bernard Acklin and 2 other 
men were convicted in the fatal shootings of 4 people in Huntsville in 1996.

(source: The Andalusia Star-News)








OKLAHOMA:

Hunter the clear choice in Oklahoma AG primary



During his 16 months as attorney general, Mike Hunter has worked capably on 
Oklahomans' behalf, most notably leading efforts to ease the state's 
considerable opioid problem. Republican primary voters should mark the box next 
to Hunter's name on their June 26 primary ballot.

Hunter, 61, is 1 of 3 GOP candidates. The others are Gentner Drummond, 54, of 
Hominy, and Angela Bonilla, 41, of Glenpool. If none of the 3 receives more 
than 50 % of the vote, the top 2 will meet in a runoff Aug. 28.

Hunter was appointed attorney general in February 2017 after Scott Pruitt was 
named administrator of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Hunter had 
been Pruitt's top assistant for more than a year prior to his appointment by 
Gov. Mary Fallin.

He has stayed busy since taking over. He filed suit in June 2017 against 
several pharmaceutical companies, alleging they hid the addictive nature of 
their products. Hunter has noted that opioid overdoses claimed the lives of 
2,700 Oklahomans in the past 3 years, and that addiction has cost billions of 
dollars in state money for health care, rehabilitation, law enforcement and 
corrections.

Hunter spent the 2nd half of last year leading a commission that studied the 
impact of opioids on Oklahoma - drug overdose deaths had increased by 91 % in 
the past 15 years, the panel noted - and produced 31 recommendations for 
slowing the problem. They included seven pieces of legislation that wound up 
being approved during the 2018 session.

Earlier this year, Hunter announced a change in the state's execution protocol 
-0 the use of nitrogen in the death chamber. This followed problems with recent 
Oklahoma executions and the increased difficulty in securing the drugs used in 
lethal injections. Death penalty opponents criticized the decision, but 
Oklahomans support the death penalty, and Hunter said nitrogen provides the 
safest and most-effective method.

In May, the state's multicounty grand jury, which is guided by the attorney 
general's office, concluded 6 months of work by issuing a scathing report on 
the state Health Department. The agency didn't need the $30 million it had 
received from lawmakers during a ???financial crisis??? last fall, grand jurors 
said, and didn't need to lay off 198 employees.

Just last week, the attorney general's office announced a settlement in a rate 
case that will result in lower monthly bills for residential customers of 
Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co.

The Republican primary campaign has been caustic from the outset. Drummond 
initially challenging Hunter's legal residency, then criticized him for 
accepting campaign donations from lobbyists and special interests, and the 
mud-slinging hasn't stopped. The two campaigns have traded ads portraying the 
other candidate in the harshest possible light. That's politics.

One of our chief concerns about Drummond is his apparent disrespect for the 
First Amendment, as seen in his law firm's effort last month to keep The 
Oklahoman from publishing a story that was critical of Drummond. Especially 
considering he's seeking the state's top law enforcement job, that's troubling.

Hunter is clearly the best choice in the Republican field and has earned the 
chance to seek a full 4-year term.

(source: Editorial, The Oklahoman Editorial Board)








NEBRASKA:

Nebraska senators refuse offer to settle fight over lethal injection testimony



More than Nebraska's execution protocol will be at stake Monday when 2 branches 
of state government square off in what's been called "a constitutional turf 
war."

A group of 16 senators on Friday rejected a settlement offer by Attorney 
General Doug Peterson that would have required them to drop their subpoena of a 
top prison official. Now the attorney general will ask a judge to declare the 
senators in violation of state law and quash a subpoena intended to obtain 
information about the state's new lethal injection procedures.

"Subpoena power is not a license for a small subset of the Legislature to 
violate Nebraska law, their own rules, and bypass the entire Legislature with 
impunity," Assistant Attorney General Ryan Post said in a legal brief filed 
this week.

Sen. Dan Watermeier of Syracuse, chairman of the Executive Board and one of the 
sued lawmakers, said he believes senators "absolutely did it right" in 
exercising their subpoena authority. Now they are obligated to defend 
themselves in a fight they didn't pick.

"It's always been about our role as a Legislature to do our job," he said. 
"Disconnect it from the issue. I realize the death penalty, the protocol, the 
drugs are a hot topic, but ... I would be doing the same thing if we were 
talking about inspecting the dog catcher."

The decision not to settle the lawsuit sets up an unprecedented clash between 
the executive and legislative branches that will be decided by the judicial 
branch. Monday's hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. before Lancaster County 
District Judge Lori Maret.

Peterson has sued members of the Executive Board and Judiciary Committee, who 
he said illegally authorized the subpoena of Scott Frakes, director of the 
Department of Correctional Services. The subpoena would compel Frakes to appear 
at a legislative hearing about a new lethal injection procedure the department 
intends to use to resume executions.

Last week, the attorney general offered to avoid the court battle and 
associated legal fees by allowing Frakes to respond in writing to questions by 
lawmakers. The offer also said senators could issue another subpoena as long as 
they followed the law.

William Connolly, a former judge on the Nebraska Supreme Court hired to defend 
the Legislature, called key provisions of the settlement a "non-offer" in a 
letter to his clients. He argued that the lawsuit represents a "constitutional 
turf war" in which the attorney general wants the courts to tell senators how 
to run their legislative committees.

That represents a clear violation of the separation of powers clause in the 
Nebraska Constitution, Connolly said.

"We believe the attorney general is wrong on the facts and the law in this 
case, and that the committee has the legal high ground," he told them.

In the recent brief, the assistant attorney general said he is not challenging 
the Legislature's subpoena power. But senators must follow the law, which he 
said requires a vote by the full 49-member Legislature before a subpoena can be 
issued.

The assistant attorney general argued that the Legislature is asserting 
"unbridled power" to subpoena any executive or judicial branch officer for 
virtually any purpose.

"Such an interpretation would cast a chilling effect upon the independence of 
those branches of government," Post said in the brief.

Additionally, he argued, the senators who authorized the subpoena of Frakes did 
not show how it relates to any current legislative purpose.

The dispute surfaced after Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha filed a complaint in 
the Legislature raising questions about the state's new 4-drug protocol. 
Watermeier said he assigned the complaint the Judiciary Committee, which set it 
aside after a discussion.

During the discussion, however, committee members raised related questions 
about the protocol. So the committee chairwoman asked the Executive Board for 
subpoena authority, which is required under the law. The board voted 5-3 to 
grant the authority on April 18, the final day of the legislative session.

Sen. Laura Ebke of Crete, chairwoman of the Judiciary Committee, asked Frakes 
to appear voluntarily. After he said he was advised by legal counsel not to 
answer questions, the subpoena was issued.

The Legislature rarely uses subpoenas to compel testimony at oversight 
hearings. Lawmakers used the authority in 2014 to question prison officials 
about a sentence miscalculation scandal and mistakes in the management of 
inmate Nikko Jenkins, who went on a killing rampage after he was released 
despite his repeated warnings that he needed mental health treatment.

Watermeier said Friday that a majority of the senators named in the lawsuit 
favored taking the issue to court. He acknowledged there is a risk the judge 
could rule in the attorney general's favor.

"I think the greater risk lies in not standing up for what the Legislature does 
and has done for years," he said.

(source: nptelegraph.com)








CALIFORNIA:

Kim Kardashian is now supporting a 'wrongly-convicted' death row inmate



After successfully seeing 63-year-old grandmother Alice Johnson's sentence 
commuted, Kim Kardashian has turned her sights on helping another prisoner she 
believes may have been wrongfully convicted.

The reality queen took to Twitter on Saturday to question the incarceration of 
Kevin Cooper, who has been behind bars for 33 years and will face the death 
penalty for the murders of 4 people, including 2 10-year-old children.

The California man has been fighting to have evidence in his case re-examined 
for years, as he, his legal team and 5 judges believe he was wrongly convicted, 
reports Daily Mail.

David Alexander - the person who saved Cooper from the death penalty in 2014 
just three hours and 20 minutes before he was to be executed and has been 
working on his behalf ever since - has asked Governor Jerry Brown to order a 
review of his case, with no success.

He and Cooper want new DNA testing to be performed on evidence they believe was 
tampered with.

Alexander has made it clear they are not asking for a pardon or commutation of 
Cooper's sentence, just new testing they believe will exonerate the 60-year-old 
and hopefully implicate the real killers.

"All we're asking for is testing, [we're] not rushing to demand release," 
Alexander told DailyMail.com on Saturday.

He said he and Cooper's legal team had approached then-Governor Arnold 
Schwarzenegger for help, and Alexander said he expressed concern about the 
evidence presented against Cooper, but referred it on to incoming Governor 
Jerry Brown.

Brown is yet to act on requests for retesting of evidence in Cooper's case, 
labelling it a "complicated" situation.

"It is inexplicable to everyone who is familiar with the case why Governor 
Brown will not order the retesting be done," Alexander said.

"It is not a complicated case - it is a case with lots of instances of law 
enforcement misconduct.

"We've already proven the blood on the t-shirt was planted, then the person who 
did the testing withdrew the results, claiming contamination, and we could not 
get copies of the report."

Kevin Cooper was sentenced to death in 1985 for the brutal slaying of Douglas 
and Peggy Ryen, their 10-year-old daughter Jessica, and 10-year-old Chris 
Hughes, who was staying at their house in the Los Angeles suburb of Chino 
Hills.

Their 8-year-old son Josh was the only survivor, even though he had his throat 
slit, and his account of that night would be the key to the prosecution's case.

Initially, police were looking for 3 white or Mexican men, based on Josh's 
recollection of the horrific killings and evidence which suggested there were 
multiple people involved in the crime.

Witnesses also said they had seen 3 white men driving a station wagon, believed 
to be the family car, away from the home - but police continued to focus on 
Cooper.

Cooper had recently escaped from a minimum security prison, and was hiding out 
at a home nearby, The New York Times reported.

Prosecutors said a footprint of a prison issued shoe was at the home, as were 
cigarette butts with Cooper's DNA on them, and Josh eventually changed his 
story to say he saw a black man at the scene, not 3 white men.

Cooper was sentenced to death in 1985, but during his appeal, retesting of 
evidence, including a t-shirt believed to have belonged to the killer, was 
found to have Cooper's blood - and test tube preservative on it.

This indicated the blood on the shirt had been put there from inside a test 
tube of Cooper's blood, not splattered on during the quadruple murder.

The test tube containing Cooper's blood had DNA of at least two people inside, 
suggesting someone may have taken blood out of it and topped it up to cover up 
their actions.

Evidence of another man being involved in the killing is overwhelming - 
Jessica, the 10-year-old girl who was murdered, died with a chunk of light hair 
in her hand, and the ex-wife of a convicted murderer who lived nearby said the 
man had come to her home covered in blood and there was a hatchet missing from 
her home.

Alexander told DailyMail.com his client is 'innocent' and had been both 
'wrongfully incarcerated for 33 years and wrongfully convicted'.

He says he and Cooper would be "happy to speak or meet with Ms Kardashian", and 
said "of course" her efforts would make a difference.

"I think support from any people who are interested in justice is important," 
he said.

"I don't know her from Adam, but I believe her speaking out and gathering other 
people in Hollywood to speak out, or anyone who is interested in criminal 
justice - speaking out and telling this Governor to have moral leadership - to 
have courage - to be better than his best excuses - [is a positive thing]."

Kardashian made headlines earlier this month after meeting with President 
Donald Trump following months of campaigning for the release of Alice Johnson - 
a 63-year-old woman who was sentenced to life behind bars for her minor role in 
a drug trafficking syndicate.

Johnson, who had been behind bars for 20 years, had her sentence commuted 
earlier this month - and Kardashian was widely credited for her release.

DailyMail.com have contacted Kim Kardashian for comment, but did not receive a 
response before publication.

(source: nzherald.co.nz)








WASHINGTON:

2nd murder charge added in 1987 cold case



William Earl Talbott II was charged Friday in Snohomish County Superior Court 
with 2 counts of aggravated 1st-degree murder for the November 1987 deaths of 2 
young Canadians in Skagit and Snohomish counties.

He was arrested May 18 and charged in Skagit County District Court for the 
murder of 18-year-old Tanya Van Cuylenborg, whose body was found Nov. 24, 1987, 
in a ditch off Parson Creek Road near Alger.

At the time of his arrest, Talbott was not charged with the death of Van 
Cuylenborg's 21-year-old boyfriend Jay Cook because his body was found in 
Snohomish County.

The Superior Court charges were required to be filed 30 days after the District 
Court charges for the case to proceed.

Since his arrest, Talbott has been held in the Skagit County Community Justice 
Center on $2 million bail.

However, a Snohomish County judge issued an arrest warrant Friday for Talbott 
and after a request from the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office denied 
Talbott bail.

"Defendant has no felony history," Snohomish County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney 
Craig S. Matheson wrote in an affidavit of probable cause. "However, he is 
charged with 2 brutal murders that leave him eligible for the death penalty. 
Given the potential ramifications for defendant flight is obviously a risk."

Skagit County Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Rosemary Kaholokula told the 
Skagit Valley Herald on Friday that she would be co-prosecuting the case 
against Talbott in Snohomish County.

His arraignment, she said, is set for Tuesday.

In November 1987, Cook and Van Cuylenborg left British Columbia in the Cook 
family van for a trip to Seattle. They were supposed to return home the next 
day.

Their bodies were discovered about a week later, about the same time the van 
was found in Bellingham.

Over the years, investigators gathered a list of about 350 potential suspects, 
but none were Talbott.

A break in the 30-year-old cold case came in May after investigators from the 
Skagit and Snohomish county sheriff's offices used cutting-edge technology to 
create composite images of the couples' likely killer.

A private company, Parabon NanoLabs in Virginia, then used "reverse genealogy" 
to link DNA evidence found at the scene of Van Cuylenborg's death to Talbott.

At the time of his arrest, Talbott, of SeaTac, was working as a commercial 
truck driver for a business in Seattle. Using a discarded coffee cup, 
investigators were able to confirm a match between Talbott and the evidence 
left at the Van Cuylenborg scene.

(source: goskagit.com)