[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, TENN., NEB., ARIZ., IDAHO

[Rick Halperin]

October 7



TEXAS----stay of impending execution

Texas halts execution scheduled for man who raped and murdered Fort Worth girl, 
says he's intellectually disabled



A Fort Worth man whose execution was scheduled for Wednesday has been granted a 
stay after the Supreme Court ruled in a separate 2017 case that Texas' 
standards for determining intellectual disability in death-row inmates are 
outdated.

Juan Ramon Meza Segundo, 55, was set to die for the 1986 rape and murder of 
11-year-old Vanessa Villas, found strangled in her Fort Worth home.

He removed a box fan from the girl's window and slipped in through the gap 
while her three cousins slept and her mother ran errands, police said.

"I cried for about 10 years," Vanessa's mother, Rosa Maria Clarke, told The 
Dallas Morning News in 2005. "Always, I wondered what happened to my little 
girl."

DNA evidence at the scene linked the crime to Segundo, who was married to a 
family friend and attended Vanessa's funeral. He was tried in Tarrant County in 
2006.

Segundo was also linked to the rapes and strangling of 2 other local women in 
1994 and 1995.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a 2016 appeal that argued that 
Segundo's lawyers failed to develop evidence that he was intellectually 
disabled, and therefore ineligible for the death penalty.

Supreme Court justices also refused to review the case in 2017.

Old standards used to gauge intellectual disability included the subject's 
ability to lie convincingly, and their family's perception of their 
capabilities.

Segundo's IQ consistently measured around 75, and he was unable to read a clock 
or tell left from right, according to a Texas Tribune report.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----37

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----555

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

38---------Oct. 24----------------Kwame Rockwell----------556

39---------Nov. 7-----------------Emanuel Kemp, Jr.-------557

40---------Nov. 14----------------Robert Ramos------------558

41---------Dec. 4-----------------Joseph Garcia-----------559

42---------Dec. 11----------------Alvin Braziel-----------560

43---------Jan. 15----------------Blaine Milam------------561

44---------Jan. 30----------------Robert Jennings---------562

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








TENNESSEE----impending execution

Juror In Zagorski Case Pleads For Life Without Parole Ahead Of Execution



With days until his scheduled execution, a juror who condemned Edmund Zagorski 
to death says the convicted murderer's life should be spared.

Michael Poole served on the jury in 1986, before life without parole became an 
option in Tennessee capital murder cases in 1995.

"We were instructed that if we were assured beyond any doubt that Mr. Zagorski 
had done this crime, that he should be given the death penalty because that's 
what the prosecution was actually seeking in this case," Poole told WPLN 
Friday.

Poole says he had no doubt that Zagorski committed a double murder in 1983, 
shooting and slitting the throats of a Hickman County logger and a bar owner 
from Dickson. The men expected to buy 100 pounds of marijuana.

Poole says the jury's concern was making sure Zagorski could never be released 
and potentially commit the same crime again. The small business owner from 
Springfield says he's not entirely opposed to the death penalty but says 
Zagorski doesn't deserve an execution.

"I don't feel that taking Mr. Zagorski's life some 35 years later is going to 
really do anything to make this world a better place," he said.

Zagorski is set to be put to death by lethal injection on Thursday at Riverbend 
Maximum Security Prison. He asked Governor Bill Haslam for clemency based on 
good behavior while in prison.

But on Friday, Haslam denied the request.

"While Zagorski has exhibited good behavior during his incarceration, that does 
not undo the fact that he robbed and brutally murdered two men and attempted to 
kill a police officer while on the run. Further, while juries today have the 
option of imposing a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of 
parole in capital cases, the jury in Zagorski’s case heard the evidence at 
trial and rendered a unanimous verdict in accordance with the law at the time 
and their duty as jurors."

Haslam also noted the verdict in Zagorski's case has been upheld by 10 courts, 
including the Tennessee and U.S. Supreme Courts.

In August, Haslam also declined to intervene in the execution of Billy Ray 
Irick.

The Tennessee Supreme Court is expected to rule on an expedited case 
challenging the state's lethal injection protocol in the coming days, which 
could also have a bearing on Zagorski's fate. If not, his attorneys say they 
will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to issue a stay of execution.

(source: nashvillepublicradio.org)








NEBRASKA:

Nebraska county to seek state help paying $28.1M judgment



Residents of a small Nebraska county that owes $28.1 million to 6 people 
wrongfully convicted of a 1985 rape and murder will seek a bailout from the 
state now that their appeals are nearly exhausted, but some lawmakers aren't 
interested in helping them avoid a big property tax increase.

Community leaders in Gage County plan to ask lawmakers and Gov. Pete Ricketts 
for state funding or a loan to help pay the civil judgment owed to the former 
inmates, known as the Beatrice 6. They served a combined 70 years in prison for 
the slaying of 68-year-old Helen Wilson before being released a decade ago.

Gage County Supervisors voted last month to raise the county's property tax 
levy by 11.76 cents per $100 of valuation, the highest they can go without 
submitting the issue to voters. The higher tax will generate about $3.8 million 
next year.

For the owner of a $150,000 home, the increase amounts to an extra $177 in 
taxes annually. Land-rich farmers who have already seen their property taxes 
soar would pay substantially more at a time when low grain prices have squeezed 
their margins.

"If we continue on the path we're on with no assistance from the state, it will 
drive at least some farmers to bankruptcy," said Greg Lauby, a former attorney 
from Wymore who helped organize a group of residents to look for a solution. 
"We have homeowners who are struggling to put food on their table and clothe 
their children, and that's an amount that will make a difference."

The former inmates successfully sued Gage County after DNA evidence exonerated 
them in 2008, and a federal appeals court upheld the judgment in June and 
refused to postpone it for further appeals. That left county officials with few 
options other than a longshot request for the U.S. Supreme Court to consider 
the case or an uphill legal fight with their former insurer.

Jurors in the lawsuit found that some members of the group were coerced into 
false confessions by authorities, who convinced them they had repressed 
memories of the murder.

Some also struggled with mental illnesses and intellectual disabilities and 
agreed to plea deals after investigators told them they might face the death 
penalty. Only 1 of the 6 Joseph White, maintained his innocence and went to 
trial, but he was convicted based largely on the testimony of those who had 
struck plea deals in exchange for lesser charges and lighter sentences.

Sen. Roy Baker, whose district includes Gage County, introduced two bills last 
year that sought to address the problem - one that would have let the county 
seek direct state reimbursement and another that would allow it to get a 
low-interest state loan.

Neither bill advanced, in part because of their cost and the state's tax 
revenue shortfall. Baker, who isn't seeking re-election, said he asked to have 
the bills held in committee until the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals 
ruled on the case. By the time the appeals court ruled, lawmakers had adjourned 
for the year.

Baker said he doesn't think the reimbursement bill is likely to pass, but the 
one that would allow Gage County to borrow money has "a sporting chance."

He said he's concerned the higher property tax will make voters less likely to 
approve other measures, such as bond issues to build new schools.

Despite the push, any attempt to collect money from the state is likely to face 
opposition from some lawmakers who have criticized how local officials handled 
the case and the impact it had on those wrongfully convicted.

"This was strictly a county matter," said Sen. Ernie Chambers, of Omaha. "They 
made their bed, now they have to sleep in it."

Chambers noted that the Beatrice 6 defendants' false confessions came after 
they were threatened with the death penalty, yet Gage County voters 
overwhelmingly supported a 2016 ballot measure to reinstate capital punishment 
after the Legislature repealed it.

"They haven't learned a thing," Chambers said.

A spokesman for Ricketts did not answer emailed questions about whether the 
governor would support state assistance for Gage County but said in a statement 
that the administration "will continue to talk with the county about their 
plans." Ricketts has made property taxes a top issue in his re-election 
campaign.

Gage County Supervisor Myron Dorn said county officials approved the tax 
increase because if they didn't, attorneys for the Beatrice Six would have 
asked a federal judge to order it.

Dorn, who is running for Baker's seat in the Legislature, said the county board 
is "aggressively looking at other options" to pay the debt, but hasn't come up 
with concrete solutions. He said that, if elected, he'll introduce a bill next 
year that would allow for state assistance.

"It would definitely help relieve some of the burden," Dorn said.

(source: Associated Press)








ARIZONA:

Judge to allow death penalty in serial killing case



The judge in a serial killing case against a former bus driver in Phoenix has 
denied a request by his defense team to bar the death penalty because a 
jailhouse video of the suspect was released to news media.

Superior Court Judge David Cunanan says there is "no basis" for the request 
because anyone can ask for a public record, such as the video.

Aaron Juan Saucedo's defense lawyers have said in court papers that the release 
of the video to The Arizona Republic and other news organizations violated 
their client's constitutional right to bodily privacy.

Saucedo has pleaded not guilty to 1st-degree murder and other charges in 
attacks that killed 9 people and wounded 2 others. He did not attend Friday's 
hearing.

Cunanan scheduled a Dec. 3 status conference.

(source: Associated Press)








IDAHO:

Counsel: Age should halt death penalty



More irons are being added to the fire in a bid to remove the death penalty 
from the 1st-degree murder case against Jacob Corban Coleman, according to 1st 
District Court records.

Counsel for Coleman filed a 91-page motion Thursday arguing that he should not 
pay the ultimate penalty for stabbing a Spokane Valley cab driver to death in 
Kootenai due to his age. Coleman was 19 when he killed Gagandeep Singh inside 
his minivan taxicab.

Coleman’s capital defense counsel, Eagle attorney R. Keith Roark, contends that 
there is growing acceptance of scientific research here and abroad which holds 
that human brains aren't fully developed until at least the age of 21 and the 
8th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees someone of Coleman's age at 
the time of the crime cannot be executed or made to serve a life sentence 
without possibility of parole.

Roark points out in the motion to strike the death penalty that there is a 
national consensus which reflects that offenders under the age of 21 should not 
be put to death. 23 states, in addition to the District of Columbia and 5 U.S. 
territories, don’t execute offenders who are below that age. Roark said that 
position is rooted in scientific research involving the role and development in 
the brain's prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain which directs cognitive 
behavior, decision making and personality.

The research holds that it's the last part of the brain to fully develop and 
undergoes major neural reconstruction through the early 20s, according to 
Roark. That research is supported by U.S. laws and mores which are pegged 
around the age of 21 - alcohol consumption, gun ownership in some states and 
car rentals.

"The age of 18 is not, and has never been, a true age of maturity and 
adulthood. It was chosen for expedience. There is no principled reason to treat 
those who are still immature as if they are fully developed adults," Roark said 
in the motion.

The motion follows other motions to strike the death penalty. Those motions 
argued that Coleman should not be put to death by lethal injection because 
Idaho's methods would amount to cruel and unusual punishment and because 
Coleman was never indicted by a grand jury for Singh's killing.

Coleman, now 20, is being held at the Bonner County Jail. His trial is 
scheduled for this spring.

(source: Bonner County Daily Bee)