[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., ALA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

May 23



TEXAS:

Dallas DA Will Seek Death Penalty in Home Depot Cop Shooting Case



A Dallas County grand jury has indicted Armando Juarez, the man suspected of 
killing Dallas police Officer Rogelio Santander, on a bevy of felony charges 
related to the shooting of Santander; Santander's partner, Crystal Almeida; and 
Home Depot loss prevention officer Scott Painter on April 24. Dallas County 
will seek the death penalty for Juarez, District Attorney Faith Johnson said 
Tuesday afternoon.

The grand jury indicted Juarez on 5 felony charges - capital murder of a peace 
officer, attempted murder of peace officer, 2 counts of aggravated assault with 
a deadly weapon against a public servant and another count of aggravated 
assault.

Both aggravated assault against a public servant charges stem from the chase on 
which Juarez led police after the shooting, Johnson said Tuesday.

"We considered not only the offense itself. We considered his history. We 
considered everything [that led up to the shooting]," Johnson said about her 
decision to ask that Juarez be put to death.

Santander and Almeida responded to a call for backup from an off-duty officer 
at the Home Depot just after 4 p.m. April 24. As Santander and Almeida 
attempted to arrest Juarez, police allege, he shot the 2 officers and Painter. 
The off-duty cop was not harmed. Santander died the next day. Both Almeida and 
Painter have recovered from their injuries well enough to be released from the 
hospital.

Paramedics rushed the 3 victims to Texas Health Presbyterian, but Juarez got 
away from the scene in a white Ford F-150. About 5 hours later, police arrested 
Juarez after a brief chase near Love Field. He's been in Dallas County jail 
ever since.

Johnson estimated Tuesday that it could be 2 years before Juarez came to trial. 
At that point, it could be up to John Creuzot, Johnson's Democratic opponent in 
November's election, to try the case.

(source: Dallas Observer)

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

Prosecutors seek death penalty in killing of Dallas officer



A prosecutor says a man accused of killing a Dallas police officer at a Home 
Depot store and seriously injuring 2 others should be sentenced to death.

Armando Luis Juarez was indicted Tuesday on capital murder, attempted capital 
murder and other charges in the April 24 shooting. Dallas County District 
Attorney Faith Johnson subsequently announced she would seek the death penalty.

Authorities say Juarez was being detained as a shoplifting suspect when he 
pulled a handgun and shot 2 police officers and a store security officer.

Officer Rogelio Santander died April 25.

The 2nd officer, Crystal Almeida, and Home Depot employee Scott Painter were 
wounded.

Juarez is also charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

An attorney for Juarez hasn't returned a call for comment Tuesday.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Judge booted from death row case after racial comments



On the heels of a number of racially charged comments about African-American 
defendants, Harris County Judge Michael McSpadden has been removed from the 
appeal of a black death row prisoner.

Defense lawyers in March asked the jurist to recuse himself from the case of 
George Curry, who was sentenced to die in 2009 after he was convicted of 
killing a teen during a restaurant robbery.

But McSpadden refused, prompting a hearing this month in front of another judge 
who agreed to step in and handle the matter.

During the May 1 court appearance, prosecutors did not oppose the request to 
remove McSpadden from the case.

"The Harris County District Attorney's Office does not agree with Judge 
McSpadden's comments and we will not defend them," spokesman Dane Schiller told 
the Houston Chronicle.

"Race has no place in the courtroom."

McSpadden did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The removal comes months after the long-time jurist sparked outcry with a 
controversial explanation of his reasons for not allowing magistrates to grant 
cash-free bail bonds. Most defendants, he said, are "tainted" with extensive 
criminal histories.

"The young black men - and it's primarily young black men rather than young 
black women - charged with felony offenses, they're not getting good advice 
from their parents," he told the Houston Chronicle.

"Who do they get advice from? Rag-tag organizations like Black Lives Matter, 
which tell you, 'Resist police,' which is the worst thing in the world you 
could tell a young black man ... They teach contempt for the police, for the 
whole justice system."

Those comments, defense lawyers argued, were enough to raise the appearance of 
bias in a case already fraught with racial issues, including claims of jurors 
who searched for a hanging tree in downtown Houston during a trial break and a 
family history of "racial terror and trauma," according to court filings 
earlier this year.

"Although Mr. Curry does not contend that Judge McSpadden harbors actual bias 
or prejudice concerning any party, the specific circumstances at issue here 
require recusal," the lawyers wrote. "And, because this is a death penalty 
case, special caution should be taken to ensure that Mr. Curry's claims are 
adjudicated before a tribunal that is, and has the appearance of being, 
impartial."

>From a legal standpoint, the appearance of partiality is key, and defense 
lawyers pointed to the flurry of news coverage surrounding McSpadden's remarks, 
as well as internet comments as evidence of the public perception of bias.

But McSpadden wouldn't agree to remove himself from the case, so the matter 
fell to Judge Susan Brown, presiding judge for a 6-county administrative 
judicial region.

Brown had the option to grant or deny the recusal motion, hold a hearing, or 
assign someone else to hold a hearing, she said. So she called in Judge Sid 
Harle from Bexar County to handle it.

Harle approved the recusal, noting that prosecutors didn't oppose it, and that 
McSpadden was not the judge who oversaw Curry's original trial, records show.

That judge - Judge Frank Price - could not be handed the case, as he was no 
longer on the bench and died last week.

Instead, records show, on May 11 Visiting Judge Leslie Brock Yates was assigned 
to the case.

Defense lawyers with the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, which is 
currently handling Curry's appeals, did not offer comment on the case or the 
judge's recusal.

The Houston man was convicted in a 2009 Popeye's robbery, when the former fast 
food worker strolled in at closing time, wearing a business suit and holding a 
gun. Although 2 teenage employees survived the hold-up, 19-year-old Edward 
Virappen was killed.

On appeal, Curry's lawyers raised a number of race-related claims, including 
arguments that his death sentence was unconstitutional because it was imposed 
on the basis of race, and that black defendants are more likely to face 
execution. Earlier court filings also claim that the jurors who sentenced Curry 
"demonstrated racial animus when they searched for a hanging tree in downtown 
Houston during a trial break."

(source: Houston Chronicle)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Support the repeal of the death penalty



With all the toxic partisanship, it's encouraging to see bipartisan support in 
New Hampshire for a bill to abolish the death penalty.

In both the Senate and the House, Democrats joined with Republicans to vote for 
repeal. There are strong reasons to support the repeal:

1. Overwhelming evidence suggests the death penalty is not a deterrent.

2. The death penalty is much more expensive than life without parole because of 
long and costly court battles.

3. The death penalty is applied inconsistently and with a strong racial and 
economic bias, and worst of all. ...

4. It is a matter of record that innocent people have been executed.

Yet despite this and despite the bipartisan support for repeal, Gov. Chris 
Sununu intends to veto the bill and, as you read this, may already have done 
so. Call, write or email the governor and urge him to reconsider.

(source: Letter to the Editor, Richard Backus----Nashua Telegraph)








ALABAMA:

Motion requesting unanimous vote for death penalty denied by judge



A Houston County Judge denied a motion to request prohibition of the death 
penalty without a unanimous jury vote.

Defense attorneys David Hogg and Robert Aaron Gartlan filed the motion May 3 
for their client, Michael Allen Tharp. State's Attorney Mark Jones filed a 
motion stating the Code of Alabama 1975 13A-5-46 (f) clearly sets forth that a 
jury recommendation of death must be based on a vote of at least 10 jurors and 
the verdict must be in writing specify the vote.

Judge Kevin Moulton denied the motion request for a unanimous vote for the 
death penalty Monday. Tharp's jury trial is set to begin Aug. 27.

Tharp previously pleaded not guilty by mental disease. A mental evaluation was 
ordered, and in November 2017 Moulton issued an order finding Tharp competent 
to stand trial.

Houston County Sheriff's investigators arrested Michael Allen Tharp on Dec. 14, 
2012, two days after the slaying and robbery of his stepfather, 68-year-old 
Joseph Bernard Hendley.

The shooting happened at a mobile home in the 500 block of North Broad Street 
in Cowarts near an intersection with Jordan Avenue, not far from Tharp's home. 
According to Houston County Coroner Robert Byrd, Hendley died from multiple 
gunshot wounds.

(source: Dothan Eagle)








OHIO:

Lawyers seek review of death sentence for 23-year-old Clayton man



The lawyers fighting the death penalty ordered for a former Northmont High 
School student want the Ohio Supreme Court to reconsider its affirmation of the 
sentence and scheduling of the execution.

Austin Myers' lawyers said in a motion filed this morning that they want the 
state's highest court to overturn the conviction and call a new trial "or in 
the alternative that his sentence be modified to life without parole."

Myers, 23, is still apparently the 2nd youngest on Ohio's death row 3 1/2 years 
after being sentenced for the murder of childhood friend Justin Back, 18, of 
Wayne Twp., Warren County.

Last Thursday, the court affirmed the death penalty for Myers, for the stabbing 
death of Back at his home outside Waynesville in January 2014.

The execution was scheduled for July 20, 2022 in the decision.

Warren County prosecutor David Fornshell was pleased with the 7-0 ruling by the 
state's highest court.

"The 7-0 decision is always something you like to see," said Fornshell, who 
handled the appeal with Assistant County Prosecutor Kirsten Brandt. "That 
should give the public some confidence that Mr. Myers received a fair trial and 
a just punishment."

Myers, of Clayton, was sentenced to death on Oct. 16, 2014, for Back's murder 
during a robbery. Another Clayton man, Timothy Mosley, actually stabbed Back to 
death. Myers and Mosley both were 19 years old then.

Mosley received a sentence of life without parole.

Back, a 2013 Waynesville High School graduate, was about to enter the U.S. 
Navy.

Fornshell said he anticipated the defense to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, 
rather than seek reconsideration by the Ohio Supreme Court, as a result of the 
ruling.

But the motion for reconsideration filed by lawyers Timothy McKenna and Roger 
Kirk again pointed out Myers got the death penalty, although Mosley -who 
actually stabbed Back to death - was sentenced to life without parole in 
exchange for his testimony against Myers.

The motion also urged reconsideration, claiming Myers' Miranda warnings against 
self incrimination were incomplete and that he received ineffective 
representation during the trial.

"Taken as a whole, Myers' conviction should be vacated and his case remanded 
for a new trial. In the alternative, he should be given a life sentence in lieu 
of the death penalty as he was not the main offender, was a teenager, and had 
mental issues," McKenna and Kirk said in their motion for reconsideration.

Testimony showed that Myers planned the deadly crime, although Mosley 
ultimately stabbed Back to death during a struggle with Mosley and Myers on the 
floor of the kitchen after a garrote designed to choke Back to death caught on 
his chin.

Myers and Back were friends until the 6th grade, when Myers moved to Clayton 
and attended Northmont. Testimony indicated Myers was the one who decided they 
should target Back's home, unaware the family safe contained only $70 at the 
time.

Myers took various steps during 2 days of preparation, including acquiring 
septic chemicals he expected would help decompose Back's body, and shot the 
body before he and Mosley disposed of it in woods in Preble County.

Last October, when the Ohio Supreme Court scheduled a hearing on Myers' appeal 
of the death sentence, he was the second youngest facing the death penalty in 
Ohio to Damantae Graham, 20, sentenced to die in a Portage County case.

In their 60-page decision, the justices and Judge Cynthia Rice of the Eleventh 
District Court of Appeals, sitting for Justice William O'Neill, rejected 
arguments - including questions based on Myers' relative youth - brought by 
McKenna and co-counsel Roger Kirk.

(source: Dayton Daily News)

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

Ohio death row inmate wants retrial, claiming innocence in slaying of 3



>From the day of his arrest in 1994 for fatally shooting 3 people, Kevin Keith 
has proclaimed his innocence. He pointed to alibi witnesses who placed him 
elsewhere, an alternative suspect and a host of inconsistencies in the evidence 
against him.

Keith's arguments did not stop his conviction and death sentence for killing 2 
women and a 4-year-old girl in what prosecutors said was retaliation for his 
arrest in a northern Ohio drug sweep. In 2010, then-Gov. Ted Strickland 
commuted Keith's sentence to life without parole, citing questions about the 
evidence and a "troubling" failure to investigate other suspects.

Still fighting, Keith, now 54, has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant him a 
new trial based on evidence never heard by a jury. Keith's lawyers say the 
personnel file of a state forensics investigator who worked on his case 
contains allegations she had a habit of providing police departments answers 
they wanted in cases.

Attorneys for Keith, who is black, also say the file shows the investigator was 
mentally unstable and used racial slurs against co-workers.

This evidence, attorneys argue, is among several allegations uncovered years 
later that a jury never heard, including:

An alternative suspect's statement he was paid to "cripple" the informant 
responsible for the drug raid just weeks before the shootings.

Documents showing the same suspect was known during crimes to wear a mask 
similar to the one Keith was alleged to have worn that night.

The location of a bullet casing used to implicate Keith may have been wrong.

"There is no way what he got in 1994 is anything close to a fair trial," said 
Rachel Troutman, supervising attorney of the State Public Defender Office's 
death penalty division.

Killed in the shootings were Marichell Chatman, 24; her 4-year-old daughter, 
Marchae; and Marichell's 39-year-old aunt, Linda Chatman.

Richard Warren, Marichell Chatman's boyfriend, survived his injuries and 
fingered Keith as the shooter. Keith's attorneys say he was led by 
investigators to improperly identify Keith.

2 children survived: Linda Chatman's niece, 6-year-old Quanita Reeves, and 
nephew, 4-year-old Quinton Reeves.

The prosecution says a jury already heard much of the information and came to 
its own conclusion, one upheld by dozens of courts over the years.

"There is overwhelming evidence of guilt in this case," said Matthew Crall, the 
elected prosecutor for Crawford County, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north 
of Columbus.

The Supreme Court is expected to decide on Thursday whether they will hear 
Keith's arguments, with an announcement next week. Both sides know it is a long 
shot: the court takes a fraction of such petitions. Keith also has cases 
pending in lower courts.

At the heart of Keith's latest arguments is the personnel file of Michele 
Yezzo, a now-retired forensics analyst with the state Bureau of Criminal 
Identification. Keith's attorneys first learned of the file 2 years ago.

Yezzo's "findings and conclusions regarding evidence may be suspect. She will 
stretch the truth to satisfy a department," according to a 1989 memo in the 
file. Yezzo also had a reputation of giving police answers if they "stroke 
her," according to an investigator's handwritten notes elsewhere in the file.

Prosecutors say lower courts properly ruled nothing in Yezzo's personnel file 
would have made a difference in the outcome. They also say Yezzo was placed on 
administrative leave until she met with a counselor about her interactions with 
colleagues, but that was unrelated to her proficiency as an analyst.

They also say Yezzo provided key evidence favoring Keith, that footprints from 
the scene did not match his shoes.

Strickland, a Democrat, stopped short in a recent interview of saying Keith is 
innocent. But there is no question he deserves a new trial based on problems 
with the defense, prosecution and investigation, the former governor said.

"Certainly the way I view this case now, it would have been tragic if Ohio had 
taken this man's life," Strickland said.

(source: Associated Press)