[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., FLA., ALA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

March 23



TEXAS----impending execution

Federal judge in Lubbock rejects Rodriguez death penalty appeal



A federal judge in Lubbock on Thursday denied a motion to stop the March 27 
execution of Rosendo Rodriguez, who was convicted of the 2005 killing of 
29-year-old Summer Baldwin who was stuffed in a suitcase found in a city 
landfill.

Rodriguez also confessed to killing a 16-year-old Lubbock girl who'd been 
missing for more than a year.

U.S. Senior District Court Judge Sam Cummings said he found no extraordinary 
circumstances necessary to grant Rodriguez's request.

The ruling came 3 days after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed 
Rodriguez's appeal, which contained similar claims.

Attorneys contended a medical examiner improperly testified at Rodriguez's 
trial, that a recent settlement of a lawsuit involving the examiner wasn't 
disclosed to them, that prosecutors engaged in misconduct and that Rodriguez is 
innocent.

Rodriguez's attorneys have filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of 
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

(source: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

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

San Antonio man 1 of 2 more Texas killers given execution dates



2 more Texas killers, including a San Antonio man behind the 2004 slaying of a 
convenience store owner, now have dates with death.

Christopher Young, who was on probation when he committed the string of crimes 
in Bexar County that landed him on death row, is now set to die on July 17, 
according to Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel.

In addition to abducting, raping and robbing a woman, Young was convicted in 
the killing of 53-year-old store owner Hasmukh "Hash" Patel.

Last year, Young's case sparked pushback from religious leaders who said he 
deserved a new trial in light of alleged religious discrimination during jury 
selection.

The U.S. Supreme Court turned down his latest appeal in January and Texas 
prisons received notification of an impending death date earlier this month, 
Desel said. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Tuesday, TDCJ also received notice that Clifton Williams, an East Texas man 
convicted of robbing a 93-year-old woman before strangling her and setting her 
body on fire, was given a June 21 execution date.

News of the upcoming executions comes just a day after a Harris County judge 
signed off on an execution warrant for Danny Bible, a serial rapist and 
murderer whose string of rapes, robberies and slayings crossed multiple states.

On appeal, his attorney argued the 66-year-old is no longer a future danger as 
he is in a wheelchair as the result of a 2003 car crash.

3 Texas killers have already been executed this year, and now 6 more executions 
are on the calendar.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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

Houston Ice Pick Killer And Serial Rapist Gets June Execution Date----Danny 
Bible, the infamous 'Ice Pick Killer,' will be put to death on June 27, 2018.



Danny Bible, a serial murderer and rapist, has been in jail for over 40 years. 
Now, a judge has set a date for the convicted criminal's execution.

On March 19, a Harris County judge signed a death warrant for Bible. The 
wheelchair-bound murderer will be put to death on June 27, according to 
Chron.com.

Josh Reiss, the head of the Post-Conviction Writs Division at the Harris County 
District Attorney's Office, described the infamous murderer.

"He was the 'Ice Pick Killer.' He was a serial killer. A serial rapist and 
we're going to pursue justice for these victims," said Reiss, according to ABC 
13.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg offered her take on the situation.

"Some criminals' actions are so heinous, they earn the label 'worst of the 
worst,'" Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement Monday, 
according to Chron.com. "The jury who listened to the facts and saw the 
evidence of the crimes Danny Bible committed clearly reached that conclusion by 
sentencing him to death."

Bible's attorney, Margaret Schmucker, was unsurprised by this most recent 
development.

"It was not an unexpected event today," Schumucker said, according to 
Chron.com. "I do think it's unfortunate that the state of Texas is going to 
execute someone who is so little future danger that he can't even get out of a 
wheelchair."

Bible's known crimes began in 1979, when the body of Inez Deaton was found near 
the Houston bayou. Deaton had been stabbed with an ice pick 11 times. Deaton's 
murder remained unsolved for 20 years.

Between the murder and his eventual incarceration, Bible was involved with a 
handful of violent incidents, including several beatings of a girlfriend in 
Montana. He eventually returned to Texas, where he murdered his sister-in-law 
Tracy Powers, her infant son Justin, and a roommate of Powers' named Pam 
Hudgens.

Bible was caught in 1984 and pled guilty to the killing of Hudgens, for which 
he was sentenced to 25 years in prison (and another 20 for an unrelated 
robbery). He was released on parole 8 years later.

Bible was not reformed by his time in prison and sexually abused 5 younger 
relatives, including a 5-year-old.

Tera Robinson, a Louisiana woman, would be Bible's next victim. In 1998, Bible 
broke into her motel room and attempted to rape her. When he could not finish 
the act, he bound and gagged her. Robinson managed to escape and alert police, 
but not before Bible fled to Florida.

Bible was caught and brought back to Louisiana, where he confessed to a handful 
of crimes. Police, however, suspect he may have been involved in much more than 
he was admitting to.

West Baton Rouge Parish detective Randall Walker reflected on Bible's 
proclivities.

"There's no telling what we've got here," Walker said, according to Chron.com. 
"A serial killer can't kill 3 or 4 people and then just quit."

In 2003, Bible was sentenced to death.

Curiously, 1 attempt at putting Bible to death has already been botched. The 
car driving Bible to his execution in July of 2003 was involved in a crash. 
Officer John Bennett died in the wreck. Bible recovered for months at a 
hospital and now requires a wheelchair as a result of the crash. The injuries 
incurred led to a series of appeals in which lawyers argued that Bible was no 
longer a danger due to his deteriorated physical condition.

Appeals continued for over a decade, with lawyers arguing the constitutionality 
of the death penalty and discussing concerns about jury biases. In 2016, 
Bible's appeals were rejected.

There are currently no pending appeals for Bible.

3 executions have already ocurred in Texas in 2018, and 3 more executions are 
currently scheduled.

(source: oxygen.com)








VIRGINIA:

At Book Festival, John Grisham Explores Issues of Fractured Justice----John 
Grisham moderated Thursday's discussion that featured UVA law professor Brandon 
Garrett and fellow authors Radley Balko, Tucker Carrington and



The 30th anniversary of the publication of John Grisham's "A Time to Kill" is 
next year.

The best-selling book, which became a movie starring Matthew McConaughey, 
Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Spacey, is about an 
African-American father's quest for a fair trial in a segregated Southern town.

These days, Grisham is still pursuing what he perceives as fractures in the 
American criminal justice system.

As part of the Virginia Festival of the Book on Thursday, the former lawyer 
moderated a roundtable discussion "Criminal Injustice: Bias, Incompetence and 
Excess," which also featured University of Virginia law professor Brandon 
Garrett.

Taking place at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center in 
downtown Charlottesville, the event also included authors Radley Balko, Tucker 
Carrington and Bill Sizemore.

Garrett's new book, "End of Its Rope: How Killing the Death Penalty Can Revive 
Criminal Justice," aims to illustrate how poor legal representation, 
overzealous prosecution and racial discrimination, among other factors, 
undermine the pursuit of justice.

Garrett, the Justice Thurgood Marshall Distinguished Professor of Law, said 
defense lawyers have "changed the game" in Virginia, which hasn't handed out a 
death sentence since 2011.

"When you compare trials starting in 2005 in Virginia with ones in the '90s, 
all of a sudden the defense starts calling more experts than the prosecutors," 
Garrett said. "All of a sudden, the sentencing trials about whether to exercise 
mercy becomes twice as long as the part of the trial where you're talking about 
guilt."

Garrett found the trend happening across the country.

"The good news is that on its own, without the courts doing it, without 
lawmakers doing it, the death penalty has run into the ground," Garrett said. 
"It's a sinking ship. And it's because of people - jurors turning away from the 
death penalty when they hear the full story of even a murderer's life. And I 
think that says something really powerful about our capacity for mercy in this 
country."

Carrington and Balko's book, "The Cadaver King and The Country Dentist" - for 
which Grisham wrote the foreword - is about 2 men who were wrongly convicted of 
the rape and murder of 2 children in rural Mississippi.

"It's depressing," Grisham said, "but a lot of good books are."

Balko called the book an "indictment" of Mississippi's and Louisiana's criminal 
justice systems over a 20-year period.

"We kind of looked at the broader picture of how bad science, bad forensics 
gets into the courtroom in the first place," Balko said, "and how our court 
system just isn't equipped to deal with that over the last couple of 
generations."

Grisham, who served as the commencement speaker at UVA???s 2007 Final 
Exercises, said a lot has changed in America since he wrote "A Time to Kill" in 
the mid-1980s. But for the most part, he believes the story stands the test of 
time.

"There are some differences now," he said. "For example, the Klan was not that 
active back then, but they were still around. They were a factor in that trial 
[within the book], but it wouldn"t be the same now.

"The issues of retribution are still pretty huge," he said, referencing the 
recent example of a father of three molestation victims who attempted to attack 
the disgraced former sports doctor Larry Nassar during court proceedings. 
"Those feelings are still pretty strong. Race relations are better, but still 
complicated ... so I think it holds up as a story."

(source: virginia.edu)








FLORIDA:

Death penalty for drug dealers unrealistic and wrong



President Donald Trump is advocating for new sentencing laws applying capital 
punishment to drug dealers. Bad idea. Here's why.

True, drug traffickers are among the scum of the earth, directly and indirectly 
contributing to addictions that affect millions of human beings, particularly 
youth. I would agree that they deserve the harshest of penalties, but not 
death.

It is only a matter of time before the death penalty is be out the door. 
Capital punishment is now banned in most all advanced and industrialized 
countries of the world. Only 1/4 of nearly 200 nations still retain the death 
penalty, which mostly include countries in Africa and the Middle East, thus 
putting the U.S. in such company as Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iran and Afghanistan.

Most polls, including Gallup and Pew Research reveal the popularity for 
executing criminals has waned to below 50 %, the lowest in 45 years. Close to 
100 executions per year took place in the late 1990s. Those numbers have 
declined significantly to under 30 each year nationwide.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), 2817 prisoners 
currently occupy cells on death row, i.e. solitary confinement. There are far 
more drugs dealers arrested each year than murderers, which suggests we could 
expect double or triple death row confinements if drug trafficking were to 
warrant capital punishment.

The expenditures alone would be prohibitive. Every study conducted has shown 
that death penalty cases ramps up taxpayer costs significantly. A recent 
Oklahoma study puts death cases at 3.2 times the cost of other cases. A Palm 
Beach Post report showed death penalty cases cost $51 million per year above 
that of life sentences. North Carolina found that death penalties cost $2.16 
million more per execution.

Add to that, the issue of solitary confinement and aging. In Florida, the 
average time served before execution is 20-plus years. Gary Alvord, a 
60-year-old Florida inmate, died of natural causes on death row after serving 
40 years. One more recent execution took 25 years from courtroom to needle. We 
can criticize the sluggish pace of the justice system, but that's not going to 
change. Inmates who live long in their cells cost taxpayers even more with 
accelerating illnesses and medical treatment. Solitary confinement also 
requires many more guards per inmate.

Then, there is the risk of executing the innocent. While the vast majority of 
convicts were certainly guilty of dastardly crimes, there are a few who were 
not. Is it worth the risk the killing of one innocent person? Thus far, 161 
inmates have been released from death row as innocent since 1973, many via DNA 
testing. Among states, Florida tops that list with 27.

Brevard County's own William Dillon and Wilton Dedge served 27 and 22 years 
respectively for murders they did not commit. They were ultimately released as 
innocent because of DNA testing, and other issues with faulty prosecutions. Had 
they been sentenced to death, they would likely be long gone by now.

I worked in Miami-Dade Homicide for 16 of my 30 years on the job. I'm no 
softie. I've seen the worst of killers and drug traffickers by the hundreds. I 
was glad to have put many behind bars, or helped other cops do the same. But I 
cannot comprehend calling ourselves a just society while we carry out the very 
act we condemn, premeditated killing.

In truth, it's not the death which serves as punishment, but instilling the 
fear of death. When it's over, we have awarded murderers eternal sleep. Should 
we being doing that for drug traffickers as well?

We put little doggies and kitties to sleep as an act of humanity. Somehow that 
does not resonate as "punishment."

I think the president has good intentions: getting really tough on criminals. 
But he needs to rethink supporting an act of humanity for drug traffickers.

(source: Opinion; Marshall Frank is a retired Miami-Dade police detective and 
frequent contributor to Florida Today)








ALABAMA:

Alabama 3rd state to allow execution by nitrogen gas



Alabama will become the third state to authorize the untested use of nitrogen 
gas to execute prisoners under legislation signed by Gov. Kay Ivey.

Ivey signed the bill Thursday, 2 days after it was approved by lawmakers.

Alabama currently carries out executions by lethal injection. The bill would 
allow execution by nitrogen hypoxia if lethal injection drugs are unavailable 
or ruled unconstitutional. Breathing the inert gas causes oxygen depletion in 
the blood stream.

The Death Penalty Information Center says Oklahoma and Mississippi allow 
execution by nitrogen gas, but no state has used the method. Oklahoma announced 
last week it will begin using nitrogen because of difficulty obtaining lethal 
injection drugs.

Alabama lawmakers argued that the method could be humane. Opponents noted that 
it has never been tested.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Gov. Kay Ivey signs bill authorizing nitrogen executions



Gov. Kay Ivey Thursday quietly signed legislation that would allow a condemned 
inmate to choose death by nitrogen hypoxia, a method never used in an 
execution.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, received final approval 
from the Alabama Legislature Tuesday night. Alabama becomes the third state to 
make execution by nitrogen a method of execution, though lethal injection will 
remain the primary method of capital punishment.

Supporters say nitrogen hypoxia - in which oxygen is removed from a sealed area 
- could provide a more peaceful method of execution. But how that would be 
accomplished is unknown. Nitrogen hypoxia has never been used in capital 
punishment in the United States, and the state would have to determine the 
method of how the sentence would be carried out.

The bill goes into effect this summer. Oklahoma recently made nitrogen hypoxia 
its primary method of execution. Mississippi offers it as an alternative.

Nitrogen hypoxia is used in animal euthanasia, though the American Veterinary 
Medical Association only recommends the use of nitrogen hypoxia on small 
creatures like birds, recommends the use of a sedative when the method is used 
on larger animals.

Alabama has used lethal injection as its primary method of execution since 
2002. Inmates have the option to choose death in the electric chair, though in 
the last 16 years no condemned inmate has done so.

Like other states employing lethal injection, Alabama has faced struggles in 
recent years obtaining the drugs used in the executions. Pharmaceutical 
companies have grown increasingly reluctant to allow the use of their products 
in capital punishment in some cases have stopped the production of drugs used 
in lethal injections.

Legal challenges have also emerged over how executions are conducted, in 
particular Alabama's use of midazolam, a sedative that has been present in 
botched executions around the country. While the drug has been used in several 
executions in Alabama without visible incident, Ronald Bert Smith gasped and 
coughed for 13 minutes of his 34-minute execution in December 2016.

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)

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

Battling the death penalty with Baldwin



If you're thirsting to understand our increasingly cold, jaundiced, at times 
carcinogenic society, James Baldwin's singular insight about America and his 
dizzying, divine command of the English language are as refreshing as an icy 
elixir on the hottest day in hell.

Moreover, for death penalty abolitionists, Baldwin's writing is particularly 
poignant in the wake of: (1) the Supreme Court'srecent refusal to reconsider 
the constitutionality of the death penalty, and, "wipe the stain of capital 
punishment clean" (In the aftermath, Reuter's Andrew Chung soberly observed 
that "[t]he Supreme Court has not seriously debated the constitutionality of 
the death penalty since the 1970s"); (2) the Trump administration's doubling 
down on a harebrained, ass-backward plan to put drug dealers to death; (3) the 
abominable push by legislators in several states to kill death row inmates by 
electrocution or even nitrogen gas - an unconscionable, ungodly, untested 
method (harkening back to atrocities like the gassing of the Jews, including my 
great-grandmother, during the Holocaust) - a method so gruesome and likely to 
cause pain and suffering, it's not even accepted by the World Society for the 
Protection of Animals as a form of euthanasia; and last, but certainly not 
least, (4), the ignominious fact that Alabama has been consistently torturing 
poor death row inmates for a very long time, and currently, is primed to pump 
its nasty chemical cocktail into a long-incarcerated octogenarian (on April 
19th).

In his magnificent essay, "The Artist's Struggle for Integrity," Baldwin made 
sense of such dastardly developments, writing: "There is such a thing as 
integrity. Some people are noble. There is such a thing as courage. The 
terrible thing is that the reality behind these words depends ultimately on 
what the human being (meaning every single one of us) believes to be real. The 
terrible thing is that the reality behind all these words depends on choices 
one has got to make, for ever and ever and ever, every day."

Of course, Baldwin's right (was he ever wrong?). Noble, courageous people exist 
in America - people with integrity who know it's morally wrong to gas or 
electrocute other human beings to death. Yes, noble, courageous people exist in 
America, people with integrity, people who're willing to call lethal injection 
the vile torture it is; good people exist in America, people who know killing 
is wrong under any circumstance, no matter how it's done, or, most critically, 
who's doing it.

It is these and all good people whom Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was 
addressing in his 1954 sermon on "Rediscovering Lost Values," when he 
proclaimed: "The thing that we need in the world today is a group of men and 
women who will stand up for right and be opposed to wrong, wherever it is." But 
almost as if issuing a direct rejoinder to King, here again comes Baldwin with 
his blistering, bare-knuckled truth, its percipient glare so white-hot that it 
threatens - if we do not learn from it - to burn down all we claim makes 
America great, if it has not already.

In "The Uses of the Blues," Baldwin explained that "[p]eople who've had no 
experience suppose that if a man is a thief, he is a thief; but . . . . [t]he 
most important thing about him is that he is a man and . . . if he's a thief or 
a murderer or whatever he is, you could also be and you would know this, anyone 
would know this who had really dared to live."

And so, if we who have dared to live - and while less blameworthy, even those 
who have not - continue to deny this truth, if we continue to deny our 
collective identity, and that this means that each and every one of us, no 
matter how damaged, how defective, how depraved, how guilty, are nevertheless 
human, if we don't reverse course on this damnable death penalty and fast, not 
in some meandering, interminably slow, plodding fashion, Baldwin's diagnosis of 
America will be as incurable as it is inescapable: "The failure on our part to 
accept the reality of pain, of anguish, of ambiguity, of death has turned us 
into a very peculiar and sometimes monstrous people."

Reinforcing this sentiment in a brilliant piece included in last year's 
blockbuster collection of criminal justice reform essays called "Policing the 
Black Man," Marc Mauer, executive director of the sentencing project, wrote: 
"The United States is one of the only industrialized nations that still 
maintains the death penalty; this both casts a stain on our moral standing and 
exerts an upward pressure on the severity of punishment across the board." Only 
we, fellow citizens, through our mighty electoral power, can change this. No 
longer can we rely on our feckless Supreme Court to do it for us. And, as it 
has from time immemorial, history will judge.

(source: Opinion; Stephen Cooper is a former D.C. public defender who worked as 
an assistant federal public defender in Alabama between 2012 and 
2015----Alabama Political Reporter)








OHIO:

Death sentences on the decline across Ohio



There is still a lot of controversy over the Brian Golsby sentencing. Experts 
said the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst. An Ohio AP study 
showed only 5-percent of death penalty cases in Franklin County end in a death 
sentence. When it comes death penalty cases in Ohio, a jury has to decide if a 
prisoner will die by lethal injection or die in prison by serving a life 
sentence. Studies show capital punishment is on the decline not only in 
Franklin County but across the state.

"The death sentences throughout the state of Ohio are on the decline. You use 
to having 6 or 7 every year, now you may get 1 or 2 every year," said Golsby's 
defense attorney Kort Gatterdam.

According to a 2005 Associate Press Study socioeconomic backgrounds of a jury 
pool play a huge role on death sentences. The study points out that Franklin 
County is made up of "white collar workforce' so only 5 % of capital punishment 
cases actually ended with a death sentence. In Hamilton County, however, it's 
more conservative and sentenced 43 % of its death penalty defendants to die 
over this same period. Gatterdam, explains the downfall in death sentences.

"Since the advent of life without parole, I think that was in 1995, death 
sentences have gone down in Ohio," said Gatterdam. "I think the public doesn't 
like the death penalty as much as they used to, it's not a deterrent, and it 
costs a lot to enforce."

But some lawmakers are trying to make the death penalty more appealing to 
jurors by cutting the wait times and costs when someone is on death row.

"I think myself and my colleagues who do support the death penalty I think it's 
something we've thought about, what can we do to stream line the process and 
make it a process that they can get through the appeals faster," said 
Republican State Representative Andrew Brenner of Powell.

The last time someone in Franklin County received a death sentence was in 2003. 
Gatterdam said it costs about $3-million to house a death row inmate because of 
the lengthy appeals and the state pays for those appeals. But for a person who 
spends life in prison it costs about a million dollars.

We also reached out to the Franklin County Prosecutor's Office for comment 
about the death penalty in detail but was unavailable.

(source: WTTE news)

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

Jury recommends life in prison for Brian Lee Golsby



Brian Lee Golsby faces 3 consecutive life sentences without any hope of ever 
being released for last year's brutal slaying of a former Monclova Township 
woman who prosecutors said did everything asked of her in hopes of surviving 
her ordeal.

A Franklin County jury deadlocked 8-4 on the question of whether Golsby, 30, 
should be put to death and ultimately returned a unanimous life verdict for the 
murder of Reagan Tokes, and Common Pleas Judge Mark Serrott then added 2 more 
for the kidnapping and rape that preceded it on the night of Feb. 8, 2017.

"It doesn't change anything for us," said Reagan's mother, Lisa McCrary-Tokes, 
as she stood with her husband Toby. "We still walk away from here a family that 
has lost a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a niece, a grandchild. What it does 
give us today is closure from this portion. We can walk away knowing this is 
not looming over our heads."

The Tokes family and friends wore ribbons of tiffany blue, Reagan's favorite 
color.

Golsby showed no emotion as the verdict was read.

"No, your honor. Thank you," he simply said when Judge Serrott asked if he 
wanted to comment before official sentencing.

The jury deliberated for more than 6 hours over 2 days.

A female juror who asked not to be identified said the jury decided to "sleep 
on it" Tuesday night when it became apparent they were stuck on the death 
sentence. She said she favored life from the beginning.

Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said he understood that the deadlock was 8 in favor of 
the death penalty, 2 against, and 2 others were undecided.

After deliberating for 7 hours over 2 days, a jury decided that Brian 
Golsby???s life should be spared in the murder of Reagan Tokes. It recommended 
life in prison without parole. Tokes' mother, Lisa McCrary-Tokes, listens to 
questions from the media after sentencing on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.

Another female juror said she initially favored a life sentence, changed her 
mind to favor death, and then ultimately settled for life to get a unanimous 
verdict.

Defense attorneys made no effort to try to convince the jury to recommend 
lesser sentencing options available to them - as low as life in prison with a 
chance for parole after 25 years.

Attorney Diane Menashe said there were efforts to have Golsby plead guilty to 
the criminal charges early on as long as the death penalty would have been 
taken off the table.

"For the 1st time in his life, in particular the last 3 days, Brian has seen 2 
individuals fight for him like no one's ever fought for him before," she said. 
"And I see a change in him... Each one of us needs someone in this world to 
stand up and fight for them."

Ms. Tokes, 21, a graduate of Anthony Wayne High School and an Ohio State 
University senior 3 months from getting her psychology degree, was apparently 
selected at random by Golsby as she left work at a restaurant south of campus.

A registered sex offender recently released from prison after completing a 
nearly 6-year sentence for attempted rape, Golsby was equipped with an ankle 
GPS monitor that kept track of everywhere he went.

The device was not monitored in real time. But once a DNA sample put Golsby on 
their radar, police used the data to retrace his steps and place him at or near 
Ms. Tokes' known locations - from the Columbus street where she was abducted to 
the Grove City park where her nude body was discovered the next day.

She had been shot twice in the head.

All doubt had been erased as to whether Golsby pulled the trigger. After his 
conviction, Golsby and his attorneys admitted his guilt and turned to what had 
been their goal from the start, sparing him from Ohio's lethal injection 
gurney.

"We tried this as a death penalty case... We're left with life without parole," 
Mr. O'Brien said. "The good news, I think for us, is Golsby will die in prison. 
Secondly, we won't be mired in 20 years of post-conviction litigation that 
sometimes borders on the frivolous."

In addition to the 3 consecutive life without parole sentences, Judge Serrott 
added decades more - all to be served consecutively - for tampering with 
evidence, aggravated robbery, weapons, and repeat offender charges. The loading 
on was designed to ensure Golsby will never again see the outside of a prison.

"Your life got spared because of your childhood, and yet Reagan did nothing 
wrong whatsoever," the judge said. "And I find it ironic that she forfeited her 
life because of your background. You get spared because of your background, and 
yet she forfeited her life. She did nothing wrong except be at work."

The defense attorneys argued that a multi-generational history in his family of 
domestic violence, mental health problems, and addiction; his rape at the hands 
of a stranger at the age of 12 or 13; and brain injuries that affected him 
intellectually set the stage for the choices he made that night that ended with 
Ms. Tokes' death.

The prosecution, however, argued that Golsby made the choices that led that 
night to "every woman's nightmare."

Despite his higher-risk and registered sex offender status, the Ohio Parole 
Authority did not track his GPS monitor in real time nor did it act quickly to 
take him back into custody when Golsby repeatedly violated minor restrictions 
placed on his release.

Judge Serrott praised the Tokeses' effort to get the General Assembly to change 
Ohio sentencing parole supervision law.

Golsby still faces a separate trial for a series of robberies he committed in 
the Columbus neighborhood of German Village in the days immediately preceding 
Ms. Tokes' murder.

"He had an ankle monitor on him, and his behavior did what? It escalated," 
Judge Serrott said. "He beat some elderly women and robbed them. Had he been 
monitored this may never have happened."

(source: Toledo Blade)