[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----MO., NEB., NEV., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 11



MISSOURI:

Denham still faces death penalty in murder case



Grayden Denham sported a new look but walked out of the courtroom facing the 
same potential punishment Thursday in a Platte County 1st-degree murder case.

Denham stands charged with 4 counts of 1st-degree murder and 4 more for armed 
criminal action, as well as felonies for arson and tampering with physical 
evidence. He's also charged with misdemeanor animal abuse. He appeared for a 
hearing Thursday with his hair cut short and beard trimmed, which was a change 
from photos taken after his arrest.

Denham is charged with killing his grandfather, Russell Denham, 82, 
grandmother, Shirley Denham, 81, and family members Heather Ager, 32, and 
3-month-old Mason Schavoni in February, 2016. Law enforcement also accused 
Denham of setting fire and destroying the family home.

He was going to have a trial in October, 2016, it didn't happen. Then there was 
a trial set for June, 2017, it didn't happen. Now, Judge James Van Amburg has 
set a jury trial to begin Monday, Sept. 30, 2019. The trial is expected to last 
2 weeks.

Defense attorney John O'Connor announced he'd be filing a motion for a change 
of venue with cause, which could mean yet another change in the trial date for 
this case.

Eric Zahnd, the Platte County prosecutor, asked for and got permission to 
record the plea bargain offer for the case in open court. He said, the state 
offered to drop the death penalty if the defendant pleaded guilty to all 
charges.

That offer expired March 21.

O'Connor made it clear he had informed his client about all offers and Denham 
declined this offer.

Denham said nothing as his attorney spoke.

Zahnd said he was making the offer again even though it expired. He also said 
the state doesn't plan to re-offer leniency.

Earlier, O'Connor asked to make a public record about the Platte County 
Prosecutor's office bar complaints against him. O'Connor said he'd hired an 
attorney and been exonerated on all complaints. He said, Circuit Judge John 
Torrence issued a judicial finding stating the defense attorney was protecting 
his client. O'Connor also said he wouldn't be bullied and would protect his 
client.

Zahnd stood to say, "the state strongly disagrees with his (O'Connor's) 
characterizations."

Following the hearing, a Platte County Sheriff's Deputy escorted Denham back to 
jail.

(source: News-Press Now)








NEBRASKA:

Attorneys for death row inmate Carey Dean Moore given time to respond



The Nebraska Supreme Court has given Carey Dean Moore's attorneys a deadline to 
respond to the attorney general's request for an execution warrant.

In an order Wednesday, Chief Justice Michael Heavican, who leads the state's 
high court, gave the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy until May 29 to 
file a response to the state's motion by May 29.

The state office provides legal representation to indigent defendants charged 
with 1st-degree murder and serious violent or drug-related felonies and was 
created to provide property tax relief to counties.

There was some confusion about whether the commission, led by Jeff Pickens, was 
out of the case as a result of Moore filing a motion Dec. 8, 2011, saying he 
wished to represent himself.

But a week later, Moore asked to withdraw the motion, so the office still is 
counsel on record, according to Heavican's order.

Moore doesn't have any appeals pending, hasn't joined lawsuits over 
death-penalty protocols and is largely believed to be not fighting the 
sentence.

He has been on death row for 38 years.

Moore, 60, was sentenced to death on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder in Douglas 
County in the 1979 deaths of 2 Omaha cab drivers, Reuel Van Ness Jr. and 
Maynard Helgeland.

If he is put to death, it would be Nebraska's 1st time carrying out capital 
punishment in 21 years. It also would be the 1st time the state would use 
lethal injection.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)








NEVADA:

Nevada court OKs execution, rejects challenges on procedure



Nevada prison officials got the go-ahead Thursday to execute the state's 1st 
death-row inmate in 12 years, after the state Supreme Court ruled that defense 
lawyers and a rights group used the wrong process to try to stop the lethal 
injection.

Justices sidestepped the question of whether the state should use a 
never-before-tried combination of drugs that prison officials drew up for the 
execution of Scott Raymond Dozier.

The protocol includes a powerful painkiller that is fueling much of the 
nation's opioid epidemic and a paralyzing drug that could mask any signs of 
trouble.

The American Civil Liberties Union argued the drug is not legal to use for 
euthanizing pets in Nevada.

"Although we recognize the importance of this matter, both to Dozier and the 
citizens of the State of Nevada, the fact that this case has serious 
implications was all the more reason to follow established rules and 
procedures," the court said.

The blunt and unanimous order came just 2 days after the 7 justices heard oral 
arguments in Carson City.

The ruling sends the case back to a state court judge in Las Vegas who blocked 
the execution last November and orders her to issue a new warrant for Dozier's 
execution.

Dozier, 47, has been on death row since 2007 for convictions in separate 
murders in Phoenix and Las Vegas. He has said repeatedly that he wants to be 
put to death as soon as possible and doesn't care what drugs are used.

However, Dozier allowed federal public defenders David Anthony and Lori Teicher 
in Las Vegas to challenge the 3-drug protocol developed for his execution by 
the state's top doctor and prison officials.

None of the drugs the state was able to obtain - the sedative diazepam, the 
painkiller fentanyl and the paralytic cisatracurium - has been used for lethal 
injections in any executions before. Diazepam is commonly known as Valium. 
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that has been blamed for overdose deaths 
nationwide.

Many states have struggled in recent years to find drugs that pass 
constitutional hurdles after pharmaceutical companies and distributors banned 
their use in executions.

Anthony and Teicher did not immediately respond to telephone and email messages 
about the court ruling.

Dozier would become the 1st person put to death in Nevada since 2006, when 
Daryl Mack asked to die after his conviction in a 1988 rape and murder in Reno.

The high court said Thursday that state Judge Jennifer Togliatti abused her 
discretion by considering a challenge of execution-protocol in the Dozier case 
that had not been properly lodged before the court.

Jonathan VanBoskerck, a chief deputy Clark County district attorney who argued 
the case for prosecutors, said additional legal challenges could still be filed 
in state or federal courts using different procedural grounds.

ACLU of Nevada Legal Director Amy Rose said she stands by her arguments that it 
would be unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment to use cisatracurium 
in Dozier's execution.

Dozier also used the name Chad Wyatt. His death would mark the 1st lethal 
injection since a new execution chamber was completed in 2016 at Ely State 
Prison, 250 miles north of Las Vegas.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Nevada Supreme Court overturns lower court ban on using a paralytic in Scott 
Dozier execution, citing procedural issues



Nevada's Supreme Court has ordered a lower court to vacate its decision 
blocking part of the state's proposed 3-drug lethal injection combination, 
although 1 of the drugs it needs to carry out an impending execution has 
expired and it's uncertain if and when the state can replace it.

The unanimous ruling comes 2 days after oral arguments were held in the case of 
47-year-old Scott Dozier, whose execution was scheduled for November 2017 but 
has been indefinitely delayed. Dozier, who was convicted of 2 murders in Nevada 
and Arizona, voluntarily gave up his appeals and says he wants to be put to 
death.

While a federal public defender raised the prospect that including the 3rd drug 
and final drug in the protocol, a paralytic, could lead to a torturous 
execution that would violate prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment, the 
justices focused their ruling on the procedural elements of the case.

The justices rebuked both the District Court judge and federal public defenders 
representing Dozier, saying the challenge to the execution protocol was 
"procedurally improper" and led to confusion and a failure to follow the 
correct procedures for appealing a death penalty case.

The decision said the federal public defender didn't file a 1983 action or 
another appropriate mechanism to challenge the execution method, and instead 
raised the challenge as part of a "Motion for Determination Whether Scott 
Dozier's Execution Will Proceed in a Lawful Manner" in a post-conviction 
proceeding that had already been suspended.

Justices said they were presented with no legal authority suggesting the 
execution could be challenged that way, and they rejected the reasoning that 
Eighth District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti had "inherent authority" to ask 
questions about the execution protocol because she'd signed the execution 
warrant and had a responsibility to ensure the procedure was carried out 
lawfully.

"The district court therefore exceeded its authority and manifestly abused its 
discretion when it considered the challenge," the justices wrote.

Togliatti ruled in November that the state's proposed drug combination to carry 
out the execution presented a "substantial risk of harm" to Dozier as the 
method had never been tested and because prison officials presented little 
evidence in court. The court found that the inclusion of the paralytic could 
mask symptoms that the first 2 drugs were not working, leading to the 
possibility that Dozier would be aware but unable to communicate as he 
suffocated.

Justices noted in a footnote that the federal public defender's actions 
appeared to "be at odds" with Dozier's directive that his counsel not take any 
actions to delay the execution.

A representative of the attorney general's office told justices this week that 
the state's supply of diazepam - the 1st of the 3 drugs proposed to be used in 
the execution - had expired on May 1, but said it might be possible to replace 
the drug. Pharmaceutical companies that have barred the use of their drugs for 
executions have made it difficult for states to carry out the killings.

Lawyers for Dozier didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday 
on what their next steps would be.

A spokeswoman for the Nevada Department of Corrections said the agency was 
waiting for the issuance of a warrant of execution before they could get 
started setting a date for Dozier to be put to death.

Dozier's execution would be the 1st to take place in the state in more than 11 
years, and would be the 1st carried out in a new execution chamber in Ely State 
Prison.

(source: The Nevada Independent)








CALIFORNIA:

Suspected Golden State Killer charged with 4 more counts of murder



The former police officer accused of being the Golden State Killer is now 
facing 4 more counts of murder in Southern California.

These new charges stem from the deaths of Cheri Domingo and Greg Sanchez on 
October 27, 1981 and Dr. Barbara Manning and Dr. Robert Offerman on December 
30, 1979.

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney also announced that Joseph James 
DeAngelo could face a sentence of life without parole or the death penalty if 
convicted in the cases her office has filed.

DeAngelo remains in jail in Sacramento, where he is already facing multiple 
murder charges.

He is suspected of at least a dozen murders and more than 50 rapes during the 
1970's and 80's.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department, other sheriff departments and 
the FBI are looking at the evidence and speaking with witnesses to determine if 
any other crimes can be connected to DeAngelo.

(source: ABC News)








USA:

Can Catholics Support the Death Penalty?



Does the Catholic Church teach the death penalty is wrong? According to the 
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) a person would think that is, 
indeed, the teaching.

The USCCB maintains the Church has taught conclusively on the matter while 
using much of its own opinions to support its premise: "The Church's Anti-Death 
Penalty Position."

Throughout history, however, popes have maintained that it is a just part of a 
functioning society.

In 1955, Pope Pius XII instructed Catholic lawyers that capital punishment is 
morally defensible in every age regardless of culture because "the coercive 
power of legitimate human authority" is based on "sources of revelation and 
traditional doctrine" and that no one can "say that the aforementioned sources 
contain only thoughts which correspond to the historic circumstances and to the 
culture of the time."

While Pope John Paul II and more recently Pope Francis have made comments 
calling for the abolition of the death penalty, they are not binding on 
Catholic faithful and reflect their personal opinions.

In fact, as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Cdl. 
Joseph Ratzinger said in 2004:

If a Catholic were to be at odds with the Holy Father on the application of 
capital punishment or on the decision to wage war, he would not for that reason 
be considered unworthy to present himself to receive Holy Communion. ... There 
may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war 
and applying the death penalty.

More recently in October 2017, Pope Francis spoke out against capital 
punishment, saying it is "contrary to the Gospel." Doctor Edward Feser, a 
Catholic philosopher and author, counters that the Holy Father's words must be 
clarified, arguing "the legitimacy of capital punishment is irreformable 
Catholic teaching."

(source: Commentary, Rodney Pelletier, ChurchMilitant.com)