[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, S.C., LA., OHIO, TENN.

[Rick Halperin]

March 5



TEXAS:

Former Texas Prosecutor Withheld Email that Could Have Prevented Innocent Man 
from Landing on Death Row: Report



In an announcement late Friday, Harris County, Texas, District Attorney Kim Ogg 
revealed that a former prosecutor had withheld a key email that could have 
prevented Alfred Dewayne Brown from receiving the death penalty.

As the Houston Chronicle writes, the email helped establish "a clear alibi" for 
Brown, who was convicted in a high-profile murder case in 2005 that landed him 
a death sentence.

Brown always maintained his innocence, and spent nearly 10 years on death row 
before his case was dismissed in 2015 and his conviction overturned. According 
the Chronicle, the 36-year-old Brown later sued a slew of Harris County 
officials, including the DA's office, the prosecutor and police officer who 
handled the murder case, accusing them of hiding and falsifying evidence 
against him and violating his constitutional rights to due process and a fair 
trial.

The new e-mail, which came to light because of Brown's lawsuit, backs up his 
claims, showing that the prosecutor at the time, Dan Rizzo, was aware of 
evidence that could exculpate Brown.

Some necessary context: Brown was accused and convicted of killing a Houston 
police officer and a store clerk during a robbery at a check-cashing store. But 
Brown maintained that there was no way he could have done the crime since he 
was at his girlfriend's house at the time of the murders.

And he could prove that he was at his girlfriend's house, Brown said, because 
he had placed a call to her at work from her house phone during the time of the 
murders. But as the Chronicle reports, for years, officials claimed they had no 
record of such a call.

That changed in 2014, when an investigator, Breck McDaniel found phone records 
in his garage that supported Brown's alibi. The discovery was enough to 
overturn Brown's death row conviction. At the time, the Chronicle writes, the 
DA claimed the phone records had simply been "inadvertently misplaced."

The newly released e-mail refutes that claim. A day after Brown's girlfriend 
testified before a grand jury that Brown had called her from her apartment, 
McDaniel wrote to then-prosecutor Rizzo about the phone records.

>From the Chronicle:

"I was hoping that it would clearly refute Erica's claim that she received a 
call at work," McDaniel wrote, later continuing: "But, it looks like the call 
detail records from the apartment shows that the home phone dialed Erica's 
place of employment on Hartwick Street at about 8:30 a.m. and again at 10:08 
a.m."

Rizzo didn't share the evidence with Brown's legal team or the jury - a clear 
Brady violation.

In light of the evidence, Brown's lawyers want the current Harris County DA, 
Ogg, to formally declare their client "actually innocent" - a label that would 
allow Brown to get compensation from the state for his wrongful conviction.

Following his overturned sentence in 2015, Brown petitioned the state for 
nearly $2 million in compensation for the years he spent on death row, but the 
request was denied by state officials because he hadn't met the eligibility 
requirement since Brown was never found "actually innocent."

That phrase ended up pushing Brown to sue Harris County officials for their 
denial of his due process rights. The civil lawsuit has born certainly borne 
fruit, without it, the email would have never come out, and the public wouldn't 
know that not only was Brown actually telling the truth the whole time, but 
that the real criminals may actually be the Harris County DA's office.

"Vindication," tweeted Brian Stolarz, one of Brown's attorneys when he appealed 
his criminal case.

"Only now, after a civil lawsuit, does the whole truth finally come out," 
Stolarz added in a statement, according to the Chronicle. "I am sickened and 
disheartened, but encouraged that Dewayne is vindicated and his long journey to 
justice is near the end."

(source: The Root)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

South Carolina's death row dilemma



Without access to lethal-injection drugs, the state has been unable to execute 
convicted killers since 2013. That leaves the Legislature with 3 choices, none 
of them good. Do lawmakers revive the electric chair, a relic that fell out of 
favor nationwide after numerous botched and gruesome executions? What about 
firing squads, an archaic and particularly violent method of execution that 
failed to garner support here 3 years ago? Or should the state make secret 
deals to obtain lethal-injection drugs from unidentified drug-makers?

Prosecutors such as 1st Circuit Solicitor David Pascoe are fed up with waiting 
for an answer. From their perspective, a jury found these men guilty of heinous 
crimes, they were sentenced and the state must find a way to carry out the 
sentences. If not, what's the point of being a capital punishment state?

The questions are complicated by the excruciatingly slow legal process of 
carrying out death sentences, which also is unfair to the victims' families 
even when the drugs are available. All but 3 death row inmates in South 
Carolina have been awaiting their turn for at least a decade. No one has been 
executed since 2011. The number of death-row inmates has declined from 51 in 
2013, when the state's drug supply ran out, to 36 today.

In a grim war of attrition, the inmates are either dying or getting their 
sentences converted to life faster than the state can find a way to execute 
them.

Drug-makers stopped selling the necessary drugs to states because of the 
potential backlash of being associated with capital punishment. Fewer states 
and countries have the death penalty today but support remains strong in South 
Carolina, where 65 % of respondents to the Winthrop Poll released Wednesday 
said they want to keep it. Just over 1/2 of them, however, agreed that it's not 
applied fairly nationwide.

Bills in the House and the Senate would make the electric chair the default 
method for killing death row inmates if the state can't get lethal injection 
drugs. The Legislature should resist the urge to approve these measures. 
Electrocution dates back to the 1880s when it was used to kill animals, but it 
soon found favor as an alternative to hanging criminals. It hasn't always 
worked as planned, leading to death-chamber horror stories and executions 
lasting a grueling 20 minutes or more.

Many would say these killers got what they deserved and that they didn't give 
their victims a choice, which always brings up the question: Is the purpose of 
capital punishment to dispense justice or to inflict pain and suffering?

Mr. Pascoe recently mentioned the firing squad idea after reluctantly agreeing 
to a life sentence for a convicted murderer who had won a new sentencing 
hearing. The prosecutor didn't want to put the victim's family through that 
ordeal again.

The firing squad, while a strange ritual to most people, does have the 
advantage of bringing about death faster than electrocution or lethal 
injection, which at times also has resulted in long, painful deaths. Even so, 
it might be difficult for citizens to get behind the idea of the state shooting 
people to death. Rep. Joshua Putnam proposed a firing squad bill in 2015 that 
failed to catch on. After hearing of Mr. Pascoe's frustration, Rep. Putnam, 
R-Piedmont, is taking another swing at it. Oklahoma, Mississippi and Utah are 
the only states that permit firing squads, though they have been used rarely 
over the years.

Lethal injection is the most acceptable of the 3 execution options. And South 
Carolina should be able to obtain the necessary drugs without having to keep 
the names of drug providers secret, a proposal endorsed by Gov. Henry McMaster 
and Corrections Director Bryan Stirling. While this would give companies the 
anonymity they desire and allow executions to resume, the state shouldn't have 
to resort to secret deals to carry out a judicial mandate supported by a large 
majority of South Carolinians.

(source: Editorial, The Post and Courier)








LOUISIANA:

Murder-for-hire defendant 'impoverished' after 3 years in jail, seeks funds for 
death penalty case



Nearly 3 years behind bars has left Baton Rouge automobile dealer Hamid 
Ghassemi financially unable to hire investigators and experts to help him 
defend against capital murder charges that he paid $10,000 to have his ex-wife 
killed in 2015, his attorneys claim.

East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutors announced in January they'll seek the death 
penalty if Ghassemi, 66, is convicted of 1st-degree murder in the alleged 
murder-for-hire of 54-year-old Taherah Ghassemi.

Prosecutors said Tuesday they'll pursue the death penalty against Baton Rouge 
automobile dealer Hamid Ghassemi if he is found guilty of 1st degree murder.

Now, Hamid Ghassemi's lawyers, who were hired by him, have filed motions asking 
state District Judge Lou Daniel to declare Ghassemi indigent.

"Hamid Ghassemi is indigent, and therefore his counsel must petition the Court 
for the funds necessary to obtain the investigative and expert witness 
assistance required," Brent Stockstill, one of Ghassemi's attorneys, wrote in a 
motion filed Feb. 14.

Ghassemi, who owned Import One and Import One Elite on Airline Highway at the 
time of the killing, also is represented by Tommy Damico. Stockstill is 
Damico's law partner.

Damico said Wednesday that if Daniel finds Ghassemi indigent, the funds for 
experts would have to come from the Louisiana Public Defender Board.

The "motion to determine indigency status" that Stockstill filed says Ghassemi 
has been in jail since his May 17, 2015, arrest and made no income in 2016 or 
2017.

"Hamid Ghassemi does not have access to funds sufficient to allow him the 
experts necessary to adequately defend a death penalty case," Stockstill wrote. 
A mitigation expert and other experts are needed, he said.

Damico said Ghassemi no longer owns Import One and Import One Elite.

"He lost everything when he went to jail," Damico said.

Last year, the son of Hamid and Taherah Ghassemi sued his father and his 3 
alleged accomplices in the slaying. Hamed Ghassemi is seeking damages from his 
father; Daniel Humberto Richter, 36, of Walker; and Tyler Lee Ashpaugh, 23, and 
Skyler Williams, 20, both of Denham Springs. Williams was 17 at the time of the 
incident. Prosecutors have said they will seek a sentence of life without 
parole for him.

Ashpaugh told detectives he went with Richter, who once worked at one of Hamid 
Ghassemi's auto dealerships, and Williams to Taherah Ghassemi's North Laurel 
Creek home and kidnapped her, authorities have said. She was put in the trunk 
of her car and driven to a heavily wooded area near Pine Grove in St. Helena 
Parish.

Her body was found May 16, 2015, in a shallow grave in that area. She had been 
shot in the head. Her burned car was found in Baton Rouge.

Doctor says Taherah Ghassemi was alive, but probably unconscious when shot in 
2015 murder-for-hire case

Stockstill also has filed a motion asking that Hamid Ghassemi's attorneys be 
allowed to file all applications for investigative and expert assistance under 
seal to prevent prosecutors from eavesdropping on the defense.

"Unless such defense motions are filed under seal ... the District Attorney, in 
effect, will be permitted to 'eavesdrop' on the defense preparation of its case 
and learn the information it would not otherwise be privy to, were the 
defendant not indigent," Stockstill argued.

In yet another motion, Stockstill wants the judge to order prosecutors to 
disclose any victim impact evidence it intends to use if the capital case 
proceeds to a penalty phase.

Stockstill, a former East Baton Rouge Parish prosecutor, cautioned that there 
is a "dark and distasteful side of this sort of evidence."

"The defense finds all of this quite distasteful but it will be the 
prosecution's choice to present victim impact evidence," he stated. "If it 
chooses to do so, it must disclose to the defense any 'degrading evidence' 
about the victim.

"The defense reiterates that it finds this request to be distasteful, but no 
more so than the notion that a given capital defendant should live or die based 
on whether the prosecution views a given murder victim to be more or less 
'worthy' than another murder victim," Stockstill wrote.

The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office has not yet filed its 
responses to the motions.

Ghassemi and Ashpaugh do not have trial dates. Richter and Williams are 
scheduled to stand trial June 11 and Aug. 27, respectively. All 4 men are being 
held without bond on 1st-degree murder charges.

So far, prosecutors have announced their intention to seek the death penalty 
only against Ghassemi.

(source: The Advocate)








OHIO:

Ohio man could face death penalty in rape, murder case



An Ohio man charged with raping, torturing and killing a 24-year-old woman 
could face the death penalty if convicted.

A prosecutor announced a capital indictment Thursday against 53-year-old 
Anthony Pardon. He faces charges including aggravated murder, rape and 
kidnapping in the death of Rachael Anderson.

Anderson was found dead inside a closet at her Columbus home on Jan. 29, the 
day after her 24th birthday. Police have declined to release details of the 
attack but described it as torture.

Investigators say Pardon's DNA was found at the crime scene.

Pardon previously served 24 years in prison for a 1982 rape and attempted 
murder conviction. He is a registered sex offender.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Convicted of murder in 1986, Toledo killer on death row is fighting for a new 
trial



William Montgomery has been sitting on Ohio's death row for 31 years after 
being convicted in Lucas County Common Pleas Court of committing 2 murders.

To this day, Montgomery maintains his innocence.

This week Montgomery finds out if he lives or dies.

Montgomery's case was the focus Sunday of a public forum to discuss the death 
penalty in Ohio.

The group Toledoans for Prison Awareness is fighting to end executions in the 
state.

"To me, it's a matter of fairness and seeing some people can change over time 
and can be rehabilitated," said Jim Prager.

Montgomery was found guilty of killing Debra Ogle and Cynthia Tincher in 1986.

For the Ogle case, Montgomery was sentenced to death.

This Thursday he goes before the Ohio Parole Board asking for clemency and a 
new trial.

Montgomery claims evidence withheld from his defense team at trial raises 
serious doubts about his guilt.

"I think it's more likely the parole board, if they have an open mind and look 
at all the facts of this case, there's too many inconsistencies, too many 
pieces of withheld evidence," said Kevin Werner, Executive Director of Ohioans 
to Stop Executions.

Also at the forum was Joe D'Ambrosio of Cleveland.

He sat on death row for 22 years for a murder he didn't commit.

He walked out a free man after the real killer stepped forward and confessed.

"They cannot release you from the grave and it's bad. When there's a chance 
that an innocent person dies for something they didn't do we shouldn't be doing 
it at all," said D'Ambrosio.

That's why William Montgomery's hearing is a life or death situation.

If he's denied clemency, Montgomery is scheduled to die by lethal injection on 
April 11th.

(source: WTOL news)








TENNESSEE----new death sentence

Urshawn Miller sentenced to death in murder of convenience store employee



A jury has unanimously decided the man convicted of killing a convenience store 
employee should be sentenced to death.

It was an emotional moment as family members of Urshawn Miller said their final 
goodbyes in court.

The jury deliberated around 4 hours before sentencing him to death on felony 
murder charges.

"The Dhalai family has suffered a great loss, and while nothing we do here will 
ever change that, we do think justice was served by this jury today," District 
Attorney Gen. Jody Pickens said.

Investigators say when Miller attempted to rob Bull Market on Hollywood drive 
in Jackson, he shot and killed 24 year old Ahmad Dhalai who was working at the 
store.

After intense days of witness testimony and arguments from both sides, 
attorneys spoke to the jury for a final time before they went into their 
deliberations.

"He chose to pull the trigger once, he chose to pull the trigger the 2nd time, 
striking the victim in the back of the head," Pickens said.

Pickens brought up Miller was previously convicted on an aggravated robbery 
charge, and argued the death penalty was the only punishment to give peace to 
the Dhalai family.

But district public defender George Googe argued Miller was victimized before 
birth, saying results from forensic psychologists show he was abused and 
neglected growing up.

"He has mental disorders, there's no question about it," Googe said.

Googe said he will be filing a mandatory death penalty appeal.

"I've always felt symphany for both families, both families suffer in this kind 
of case," he said.

Through the tears, Millers family they told the victim's family they are sorry 
for their loss before walking out the door.

Urshawn Miller will be back in court on April 16 for a 2nd sentencing on his 
remaining charges.

(source: WBBJ news)