[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----FLA., ALA., OHIO, ILL., OKLA., NEB., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

May 26


FLORIDA:

State of Florida to seek death penalty in Riverview double murder



The State of Florida will seek the death penalty for a double homicide that 
occurred in Riverview.

The state is seeking the death penalty in the case of Ronnie Oneal, 29, who is 
accused in the murders of Kenyatta Barron, 33, and Ron'Niveya O'Neal, 9.

The murders occurred March 20.

Barron was found dead outside of a home. Ron'Niveya was found dead of stab 
wounds inside the home.

A 2nd child was hospitalized with serious injuries after the attack.

(source: WFLA news)

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

Death Sentence Upheld for Local Murderer



The death sentence for a local murderer was upheld by the Florida Supreme Court 
this week.

Paul Everett sexually assaulted, beat and killed Kelli Bailey in her Panama 
City Beach home in November of 2001. He was sentenced to death by a unanimous 
jury at a subsequent trial.

However, Everett's and dozens of other death row inmates appealed the death 
sentence after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Florida's death sentencing laws 
unconstitutional.

In particular, the court noted that the jury should unanimously agree when the 
death penalty is warranted.

In their ruling, the Florida Supreme Court denied a new sentencing phase for 
Everett because in his previous sentencing the jury unanimously agreed on the 
death penalty.

(source: mypanhandle.com)








ALABAMA:

Man Sentenced to Death in Alabama for Teen's Fatal Shooting



A man has been sentenced to death by lethal injection in Alabama for shooting 
and killing a teenager 2 years ago.

News outlets report 24-year-old Peter Capote was sentenced Thursday by Colbert 
County Circuit Judge Hal Hughston Jr. in the death of 19-year-old Ki-Jana 
Freeman. Capote was found guilty April 24 of capital murder and 1st-degree 
assault in the March 1, 2016, shooting. The jury voted 10-2 to recommend the 
death penalty.

Capote declined to speak when Hughston gave him an opportunity during 
sentencing. His defense attorneys are Robert Graham and Bill Marthaler.

Freeman was shot while sitting in a Ford Mustang with his friend 
then-17-year-old Tyler Blythe outside an apartment building in Tuscumbia. 
Blythe was wounded in the parking lot shooting. Capote received a 20-year 
sentence in Blythe's shooting.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO:

2 men arraigned on capital murder charges



2 Lorain County men were arraigned on capital murder charges Thursday in 
connection to the brutal killing of Linda Wisniewski in March.

Lorenzo Garcia, 31, of Elyria, and Antonio Martinez, 24, of Lorain, were 
arraigned on 38-count and 36-count indictments, respectively, filed in 
connection with the aggravated murder of Wisniewski, 67, of Lorain.

The cases for both men were assigned to Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Mark 
Betleski after Betleski's number was drawn from the rust-colored plastic 
billiard pill bottle used by the county to randomly draw judges for death 
penalty cases.

Due to Garcia and Martinez each facing the possibility of a death sentence, the 
indictments were read in court in their entirety. The reading of each 
indictment, which contained multiple specifications on many of the counts, took 
about an hour.

Garcia's defense attorney, Dan Wightman, tried to waive the reading of his 
client's indictment, but the judge handling the arraignments, Common Pleas 
Judge James Miraldi, denied the motion on the grounds that an appeals court 
later may take issue.

Police have said that about 10 p.m. March 27, officers responded to a "burglary 
in progress" call at 3625 Amherst Ave. in Lorain. Officer found Wisniewski dead 
when they arrived.

Lorain County Coroner Dr. Stephen Evans said Wisniewski suffered multiple stab 
wounds to the head, trunk and extremities and the cause of death was a gunshot 
wound to the head.

During a hearing at Lorain Municipal Court, the prosecutor said Wisniewski had 
been duct taped and stabbed multiple times.

Additionally, Kenneth "Chip" Williams, 28, who relatives described as a close 
family friend of Wisniewski, was found with serious injuries at the home and 
was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

During the arraignment in Lorain Municipal Court, authorities said Williams was 
shot in the back of the head.

Police arrested Garcia and Martinez later that week in connection with the 
incident, charging them with aggravated murder.

On Thursday, Wightman was appointed to serve as lead attorney for Garcia's 
defense. Wightman replaces J. Anthony Rich, who was appointed at the lower 
court to defend Garcia. Rich withdrew from the case after the capital murder 
charges came down.

The court said it would appoint an attorney to sit second chair with Wightman.

Martinez is represented by attorney Kreig Brusnahan, who was appointed by the 
court to sit first chair on the case. Denise Wilms, who was appointed by the 
lower court, will sit second chair.

Garcia was indicted on 8 counts of aggravated murder, 5 counts of murder, 2 
counts of aggravated burglary, 4 counts of aggravated robbery, 1 count of 
attempted murder, 6 counts of kidnapping, 4 counts of felonious assault, two 
counts of theft, 4 counts tampering with evidence, 1 count grand theft of a 
motor vehicle and a count of having weapons under disability.

Martinez also faces 8 counts of aggravated murder, 5 counts of murder, 2 counts 
of aggravated burglary, 5 counts of aggravated robbery, 6 counts of kidnapping, 
4 counts of felonious assault, a count of attempted murder, 2 counts of theft, 
2 counts of tampering with evidence, 1 count having weapons under disability 
and grand theft of a motor vehicle.

They both are scheduled to appear before Betleski on Tuesday morning.

(source: The Chronicle Telegram)








ILLINOIS:

Some Illinois Lawmakers Introduce Legislation To Reinstate Death Penalty

Illinois lawmakers are not saying when, or even if, they expect to vote to 
reinstate a portion of the death penalty, but a group of some bi-partisan 
legislators have proposed alternative death penalty legislation.

State Rep. Jerry Costello on Thursday said his proposal would only deal with 
the death penalty for those who kill law enforcement officials, and not the gun 
control proposals that Governor Rauner also pitched.

Costello and some of his fellow supporters said they believe Rauner's 
amendatory veto places "overreaching restrictions on law-abiding gun owners."

Costello says he wants to be able to hold cop killers accountable.

Rauner's legislation had also proposed the death penalty for murderers 
convicted, "beyond all doubt" for killing 2 or more people.

(source: WSPY news)








OKLAHOMA:

n Oklahoma, a death penalty case to test tribal sovereignty----The Supreme 
Court will now decide whether the reservations of 5 tribes still exist.



Indian Country News is a weekly note from High Country News, as we continue to 
broaden our coverage of tribal affairs across the West.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take a death penalty case that 
could significantly change the legal definition of Indian Country in Oklahoma.

In 2000, Patrick Murphy, a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, was convicted 
for murdering his girlfriend's ex-husband, also a Creek Nation member, and 
leaving his mutilated body on the side of a road in McIntosh County, Oklahoma. 
The murder itself has little to do with why this case is important to tribes. 
Murphy's public defenders lost in a lower court, but successfully argued to 
have the case tried in federal court, because the crime took place within the 
Muscogee (Creek) Nation's tribal district and was between 2 tribal members.

All murder cases on tribal reservations are prosecuted in federal court. But 
Oklahoma does not have reservations. When Oklahoma became a state, in 1907, it 
absorbed tribal territories, which meant taking back the land recently given to 
the "Five Civilized Tribes": the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and 
Seminole. In August, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that language 
dissolving those tribal lands for statehood was unclear, and thus the Creek 
Nation reservation still exists in some form.

If the Supreme Court sides with Murphy, it could have a huge impact on how 
state and federal prosecutors operate within the 5 tribes' districts, which 
constitutes most of eastern Oklahoma, including the state's 2nd largest 
metropolis, Tulsa. If the court doesn't side with Murphy, tribes worry it could 
be yet another blow to tribal sovereignty, the power of tribes to govern 
themselves. Also discouraging is the fact that Neil Gorsuch, the only sitting 
Supreme Court justice well-versed in Indian law, has recused himself from the 
case because he worked on it as a judge in the 10th Circuit Court.

The case was previously heard in the 10th Circuit Court in Denver, Colorado.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter said in a statement he was pleased the 
court is taking up the case. "Our team is looking forward to presenting our 
side and providing clarity for the state, tribal sovereigns and the 1.8 million 
Oklahomans who live in the area at issue," Hunter wrote. He argues that the 
language dissolving the tribal reservations is clear, and to rule otherwise 
would overwhelm local prosecutors and disrupt the criminal justice system.

The energy industry is worried a change could have major ripple effects. The 
Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Agency, for example, filed a motion opposing the 
10th Circuit ruling, expressing concern it "will upend Oklahoma's unified, 
statewide oil and gas regulatory regime and throw all economic activity in 
eastern Oklahoma - including the oil and gas industry - into turmoil, resulting 
in overlapping and duplicative regulation and severe uncertainty."

Conversely, in a similar case still pending before the Supreme Court, Eastern 
Shoshone Tribe v. Wyoming, the 10th Circuit ruled against the tribe. If the 
Supreme Court accepts that case, the court could potentially decide whether 
Congress "clearly intended in 1905 to diminish the Wind River Reservation in 
Wyoming, home to the Eastern Shoshone Tribe."

The Supreme Court affirmed tribal sovereignty over land in Indian Country as 
recently as 2015, when it declined to hear a challenge to the boundaries of the 
Omaha Tribe's reservation by a town that sought to challenge a tribal tax on 
the sale of alcohol. No matter the outcome of Murphy's challenge to his murder 
conviction, the implications could spread outside of Oklahoma. Whether that 
means tribal sovereignty will be strengthened or take another blow remains to 
be seen.

(source: Graham Lee Brewer is a contributing editor at High Country News and a 
member of the Cherokee Nation)








NEBRASKA:

Nebraska seeks July 10 date for state's 1st execution since 1997



Attorney General Doug Peterson wants the Nebraska Supreme Court to speed up its 
consideration of an execution warrant for condemned prisoner Carey Dean Moore, 
and to set the execution date for July 10.

Peterson filed a motion with the court Friday to speed up the warrant, saying 
that if July 10 doesn't work, he wants the court to consider setting it for 
sometime in mid-July.

He cites several reasons. One of the execution drugs to be used is set to 
expire by the end of August. The date of execution, according to state law, 
must be set no later than 60 days following the court's issuance of a warrant, 
he said.

Expiration dates of the 4 lethal injection drugs are: potassium chloride, Aug. 
31; cisatracurium besylate, Oct. 31; fentanyl citrate, Aug. 31, 2019; diazepam, 
Sept. 1, 2019.

An affidavit from Corrections Director Scott Frakes accompanying the motion 
says a prison team will be ready to carry out the execution within 30 days of 
receiving the death warrant.

On May 9, Corrections spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith told the Journal Star the 
execution team was in compliance with the requirements for training specified 
in the department's execution protocol.

The protocol calls for the execution team to meet every 6 months when no 
execution warrant has been issued, and weekly once a date has been set. 
Training must be documented, noting the date and duration, who supervised the 
training and the activities undertaken.

The execution warrant has been pending with the Supreme Court more than 7 
weeks, since April. Moore's death sentences have been final for 21 years, 
Peterson's motion said. Moore's four previous death warrants issued by the 
court were stayed or withdrawn for various reasons.

In addition, no stays of execution have been issued by a federal court.

Pending lawsuits and complaints are challenging the state's proposed 
executions, the department's lethal injection protocol and the 
constitutionality of the four-drug cocktail. The Lincoln Journal Star, Omaha 
World-Herald and ACLU of Nebraska have asked a Lancaster County district judge 
to direct the Department of Correctional Services to release information on 
lethal injection drugs, which the department has so far refused to do. A ruling 
on those lawsuits is pending.

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.

On Thursday, Moore asked the state Supreme Court to dismiss his attorneys in a 
case in which the state is seeking to carry out the death penalty against him.

Danielle Conrad, executive director of the ACLU of Nebraska, said Friday that 
while it appears Moore has decided to stop fighting his execution, "it is 
precisely for this reason that our institutions bear extra responsibility to 
check themselves by ensuring that the laws are followed.

"It is undisputed that there are still multiple legal questions and actions 
pending that are related to the state's decision to rush toward an execution in 
secrecy," Conrad said.

Earlier this month, 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 request for an execution warrant for Moore.

Peterson said there's no reason to further delay issuing the requested death 
warrant.

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. He has been on death row 38 years.

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, and the 1st time in the country this particular 4-drug 
cocktail would be used.

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

Nebraska Corrections Department offers scant information on execution team 
training



Records maintained by the Nebraska Department of Corrections reveal that its 
execution team trained on 5 dates since the beginning of last year, and a 
specialized execution escort team trained on 4 dates.

ACLU of Nebraska filed a public-records request to find out what training 
members of the team have had in preparation for carrying out an execution.

Amy Miller, ACLU legal director, asked for documents generated between Jan. 1, 
2017, and April 6 of this year, related to team training sessions, the IV 
team's performance of vein puncture and catheter placement, and communications 
among Director Scott Frakes, execution team members and doctors or medical 
experts about lethal injection.

The department provided dates and duration of training for the escort team and 
the general execution team. The execution team trained on 5 dates for a total 
of 10 hours, 40 minutes. The specialized escort team trained 4 days for a total 
of 5 hours, 35 minutes. It sent no records of training for a specialized IV 
team nor acknowledged that such a team exists.

Prisons spokeswoman Dawn-Renee Smith, who responded to the records request, 
told the ACLU the department would not supply certificates, confidential 
training rosters or memos. There were no records of communications with doctors 
or medical experts about lethal injection, she said.

"The recently produced documents about training gives no adequate assurance 
that we would be looking at a smooth, well-conducted execution," Miller said.

Attorney General Doug Peterson on Friday asked the Nebraska Supreme Court to 
speed up its consideration of an execution warrant for condemned prisoner Carey 
Dean Moore, and to set the execution date for July 10.

An affidavit sent to the Supreme Court by Frakes said the execution team will 
be ready and able to carry out an execution within 30 days of the court's 
issuance of a death warrant. The team has been appointed and is qualified and 
trained as required, it said.

When asked for training information, Smith told the Journal Star simply that 
the department is in compliance with the protocol directives on training.

The protocol calls for the execution team to meet every 6 months when no 
execution warrant has been issued, and weekly when a date has been set. 
Training must be documented, noting the date and duration, who supervised the 
training and the activities undertaken.

ACLU Executive Director Danielle Conrad reaffirmed that the public interest in 
getting training records is not, as the attorney general's office has 
suggested, in identifying members of the execution team, but rather ensuring 
the law and best practices are being followed, at a minimum, as government 
seeks to carry out an execution.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, at least 39 executions by 
lethal injection have been "botched," the latest in February. Executioners in 
Alabama worked 2 1/2 hours trying to find a vein for condemned prisoner Doyle 
Lee Hamm in the lower parts of his body, and finally had to call off the 
execution. Hamm had injuries, pain and symptoms of post-traumatic stress in the 
days following.

Miller said many of the botched executions have been the indirect result of 
inadequate training or personnel without adequate experience.

Most notably, she said, trying to lay an intravenous line without a lot of 
prior experience can end in injecting the lethal drugs into a muscle, rather 
than a vein, making the execution prolonged and painful.

"The Supreme Court has said we can have executions as long as they are humane. 
They are not supposed to be painful or cause undue suffering," Miller said.

Without the Corrections Department being willing to produce more information, 
especially about the IV team, there is a concern about whether or not the 
execution team is ready to carry it out successfully and constitutionally, she 
said.

Miller said whether or not Nebraskans favor or oppose the death penalty, they 
have a right to know what the state is doing related to the execution, and if 
it will be carried out in a professional manner.

"The veil of secrecy that has dropped on all matters relating to the death 
penalty is very concerning," Miller said.

(source for both: Lincoln Journal Star)








CALIFORNIA----female may face death penalty

Woman Charged With Bludgeoning Triple Murder----Investigators say a the 
houseguest of a disabled Leimert Park man bludgeoned him and his parents to 
death. She could face the death penalty.



A woman was charged Friday with 3 counts of murder for killing a disabled man, 
his mother and his stepfather at a home in Leimert Park.

Nancy Amelia Jackson, 55, faces murder charges and a special circumstance 
allegation of multiple murders, according to the Los Angeles County District 
Attorney's Office. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death 
penalty against Jackson.

The charges stem from Monday's killings of Phillip White, 65; his mother, Orsie 
Carter, 82; and his stepfather, William Carter, 83, authorities said.

The bodies were discovered around 8:20 p.m. Tuesday inside White's home in the 
3900 block of South Bronson Avenue, according to the Los Angeles Police 
Department.

"Without being too vivid, it's a case where you have 3 bodies piled on each 
other," LAPD Capt. Peter Whittingham said. "... It's just a sad way to spend 
your last days or your last breath."

According to police, all 3 victims suffered blunt force trauma to the head, 
while White and his mother also had been shot.

Prior to the murders, investigators believe Jackson had been staying at White's 
home for 3 to 6 weeks and that she was taking advantage of the man, Whittingham 
said.

"(She) found someone kindhearted, a giving person to provide help and support 
to give her a chance to get off the street," Wittingham said. "She used that 
opportunity to manipulate Mr. Phillip White, who as we know was disabled, and 
take advantage of his kindness."

Investigators said White's mother and stepfather tried to evict Jackson.

"Phillip's mother is designated legal caretaker ... and was clearly aware of 
what (Jackson) was trying to do, and insisted that she leave," Wittingham said. 
"As we now know ... nobody was going to get between her and a good thing."

He called the innocent family's murder a "senseless" act and added, "What I saw 
was pure evil ... that's what she (Jackson) is."

Police apprehended Jackson in Culver City Tuesday without incident. Whittingham 
said investigators had identified enough evidence to conclusively identify 
Jackson as the only suspect responsible in the case, and the matter has now 
been handed over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

"Justice will take its course," he said.

Friday's scheduled arraignment has been postponed until July 11.

(source: patch.com)








USA:

The Constitutional case against the Death Penalty----Any society that respects 
the dignity of human life must outlaw capital punishment



Joseph Wood - a convicted double-murderer - received 15 injections of midazolam 
and hydromorphone in 2014 in an effort to complete his botched execution. The 
inmate reportedly gasped and snorted nearly 2 hours before dying. In addition 
to Wood's painful and drawn-out death, several more recent examples of 
unsuccessful lethal injections exist.

In the same year, Dennis McGuire died an excruciating 25 minutes after his 
initial injection - with witnesses reporting his visible and audible struggle 
on the gurney. Making this case even more horrific was Ohio's use of an 
untested and unregulated drug cocktail, despite public protest and doctors' 
warnings. The effective use of human guinea pigs by state governments warrants 
condemnations of capital punishment as cruel and unusual punishment outlawed in 
the Eighth Amendment. Moreover, staggering and abundant evidence of racial and 
socioeconomic discrimination in death sentences points to a violation of the 
Fourteenth Amendment's equal protection clause. Ignoring its compelling 
logistical errors - such as its ineffectuality as a deterrent, high price tag 
and frequent missentencing - capital punishment is just simply 
unconstitutional. The 1972 Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia temporarily 
outlawed the death penalty nationwide, denouncing the practice as "harsh, 
freakish, and arbitrary." Additionally, it criticized the systematic racial 
violence inherent in capital punishment, as evidenced by the disproportional 
number of black Americans sentenced to death over white Americans and its 
institutional roots in slavery. However, the court's decision applied more to 
the practical application of lethal injections rather than the theoretical idea 
of the death penalty. By creating new laws and principals, including a 2-stage 
trial procedure, states could resume their use of capital punishment.

In 1976, the death penalty was reaffirmed as constitutional in the landmark 
case Gregg v. Georgia. The newly-issued decision claimed that state legislative 
reforms would lead to greater objectivity and deliberation in the sentencing 
and application of the death penalty. In theory, the statues would create 
safeguards to prevent further bias in death row convictions. Since Gregg v. 
Georgia, however, the reality of capital punishment has deviated acutely from 
the justices vision for an objective sentencing process and humane executions. 
The death penalty remains grossly inhumane and undeniably prejudice, and thus 
should be abolished by the federal judiciary.

The applications of capital punishment following 1976 provide ample evidence 
that lethal injection can aptly be deemed cruel and unusual. There has been a 
severe shortage of drugs used for lethal injection due to its general 
unacceptability in the medical world. Up until 2011, states typically used 
sodium thiopental, but its use was halted due to the drug provider Hospira's 
opposition to the practice. Subsequently, the death penalty began to be 
administered with pentobarbital - a practice which also stopped because the 
manufacturer ceased production. Several other drug corporations also countered 
capital punishment by refusing to sell their products to state governments. In 
response, individual states began the production of untested and unregulated 
synthetic drugs.

Consequently, lethal injections have one of the highest rates of mishap of any 
form of execution. Roughly 7 % of executions via drug cocktails are botched - 
among those are the horrific cases of Dennis McGuire, Joseph Wood and Clayton 
D. Lockett. Rather than exploiting inmates to tweak and streamline their 
killing capacities, states should outlaw the potentially torturous practice.

Clear evidence of discrimination against minorities and people of lower 
socio-economic background further proves the death penalty's incompatibility 
with the United States Constitution. In states where capital punishment is 
legal that have conducted studies into racial patterns and sentencing, 96 % 
have reported explicit discrimination against minorities groups. The chosen 
victim of crimes also bears weight in death penalty sentencing - with 76 % of 
death row inmates condemned for murdering a white person, even though black 
Americans makeup over half of homicide victims. Moreover, inmates of 
lower-incomes are far more likely to be charged with the death penalty.

Many death row inmates' reliance on court-appointed attorneys often leads to 
inadequate representation in the most dire of cases. A study in Texas revealed 
that a quarter of inmates sentenced to death had public attorneys who had been 
punished for professional misconduct. The irreversible nature of capital 
punishment leads no room for unfair sentencing due to poor representation. A 
denial of continual patterns of discrimination in death penalty states is the 
denial of a history of the systemic oppression of minority groups and people of 
a lower socioeconomic status in the United States.

Ultimately, the reform of capital punishment will never be enough to prove its 
constitutionality - regardless of assertions from Gregg v. Georgia. Despite the 
best efforts of the United States judicial system, juries can never reach a 
level of perfection sufficient to determine who lives and who dies. Attempts in 
the past have produced little more than arbitrary and often-discriminatory 
sentences. In application, the death penalty via lethal injection can result in 
horrific and drawn-out deaths, which provides more than adequate grounds for 
being considered cruel and unusual. Any society with a basic respect for human 
life should outlaw the death penalty, but the United States has a legal 
obligation to do so under the Constitution.

(source: Charlotte Lawson is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily)

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

Fell lawyers continue to challenge retrial



Lawyers representing Donald Fell, who faces the death penalty for the killing 
of a North Clarendon woman in 2005, claim Fell's rights will be violated 
because of a lack of black jurors in Vermont, as part of a motion to dismiss 
the case.

A 2nd motion seeks evidence of malfeasance from federal prosecutors who pursue 
death penalty cases.

Fell is facing a 2nd trial on federal charges of carjacking and kidnapping 
53-year-0ld Terry King. Fell and a childhood friend, Robert Lee, were accused 
of kidnapping King from the Rutland Shopping Plaza. Police said Fell was 
fleeing because he had killed his mother, Debra Fell and her friend, Charles 
Conway, in Rutland.

King was taken over the border to New York before she was killed, prosecutors 
say.

Fell was convicted and sentenced to the death penalty in 2006. But after a 
juror investigated the death on his own and shared what he learned with other 
jurors, the conviction was overturned and prosecutors sought a retrial.

The U.S. attorney's office in Vermont has already told the court it intends to 
seek the death penalty again.

That potential penalty is a key factor in the defense filing Thursday, which 
argues "constitutional violations in jury composition and substantial failures 
to comply with the jury selection and service act."

The motion said Fell's Fifth Amendment rights for equal protection could be 
violated by "statistically significant under-representation of 
African-Americans."

According to the motion, the qualified jury pool from which Fell???s jury was 
expected to be drawn in August had more than 1,400 people. From that group, 3 
were black.

One of the arguments made was the importance of the possible outcome.

"The United States Supreme Court has explained that precautions should be taken 
in a capital case because of 'the broad discretion given the jury at the 
death-penalty hearing' and the 'special seriousness of the risk of improper 
sentencing,'" the motion said.

The 75-page motion argues that death penalty cases already tend to eliminate 
the potential for black jurors.

"Indeed, it has been observed that high proportions of otherwise eligible 
women, African-Americans and individuals from certain religions who tend to 
oppose use of the death penalty will be excluded from death penalty cases," the 
motion said.

The motion acknowledges the lack of diversity in Vermont.

"Here in the district of Vermont, there is an under-representation of a 
cognizable group, racially, ethnically and culturally identified in a district 
in which whites are a dominant majority. Blacks ... would bring a presence and 
viewpoints to the jury process that are unique," the motion said.

Another motion filed on Thursday demands the production of reports, complaints 
or interviews that allege federal prosecutors who have worked on the Fell case 
???conducted themselves unethically and/or improperly."

Part of the argument involves an attorney, Bruce Hegyi, who resigned from the 
capital case division with a letter that said he believed women in the unit had 
been mistreated.

Hegyi wrote "the vast majority of the high-profile and more desirable cases 
were assigned to male trial attorneys" while "problematic" cases were assigned 
to women.

The controversy about the behavior of Department of Justice attorneys has 
mostly been argued in a death-penalty case in Indiana.

The motion filed by Fell's attorneys said they believed there was a connection.

"It is clear from the content of the statements made by lawyers who worked in 
the Capital Case Section of the United States Department of Justice in various 
sworn declarations and in pleadings filed that claims of serious misconduct in 
the handling of pending federal capital cases have been made by lawyers working 
for the government. Some of those claims have been made by at least 1 DOJ 
lawyer who had some involvement in Mr. Fell's case between roughly 2011 and 
some point in 2017," the motion said.

According to the Associated Press, another recent motion by Fell's attorneys is 
a challenge to the death penalty, which had been challenged in previous motions 
for other reasons.

(source: Rutland Herald)