[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., ALA., OHIO, TENN., ARIZ., NEV., WASH.

[Rick Halperin]

October 16



TEXAS:

Judge to set death date for Coble



A judge has called a hearing to set an execution date for convicted triple 
murderer Billie Wayne Coble.

Judge Matt Johnson of Waco's 54th State District Court has set the hearing for 
1:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 days after the U.S. Supreme court rejected Coble’s 
appeal of his conviction in the 1989 deaths of his brother-in-law, Waco Sgt. 
Bobby Vicha, and Vicha's parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, at their homes in 
Axtell.

By statute, Johnson must set the execution date at least 91 days after 
Wednesday's hearing. Johnson will coordinate the date for Coble's execution, 
which will be carried out at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, with prison 
administrators and the Texas Attorney General's Office.

Johnson signed a warrant Monday to have Coble returned to Waco for Wednesday's 
hearing.

Coble, 70, one of the oldest on Texas' death row, has been on death row since 
1990, when he first was convicted in the Vichas' deaths. He won a new 
punishment trial in 2007 when the 5th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 
questions asked of jurors to return the death penalty were unconstitutional.

He was sentenced to death again following a punishment retrial 10 years ago.

Trial evidence showed Coble was upset over the failure of his 3rd marriage. 
After killing Karen Vicha's brother and parents, Coble kidnapped his estranged 
wife and threatened to rape and kill her. Coble was arrested after he and Karen 
Vicha were injured after a high-speed chase with police in Bosque County.

J.R. Vicha, a Waco attorney and former McLennan County prosecutor, was 11 at 
the time of the slayings. Coble tied him up, along with 2 cousins, and fled 
with his wife.

"I want to thank Judge Johnson for getting this done so quickly," Vicha said 
Monday. "I hope he sets the date as soon as possible after the 91 days so we 
can get this done."

Coble's attorney, A. Richard Ellis of Mill Valley, California, did not return a 
phone message Monday.

(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)

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

Inmate convicted of capital murder in death of Abilene corrections officer



An inmate has been found guilty of capital murder in the death of an Abilene 
corrections officer.

The jury found Dillion Gage Compton guilty after deliberating for less than 3 
hours.

Compton killed Marianne Johnson in July 2016 at the French Robertson Unit.

The punishment phase, which starts tomorrow at 10 a.m., will determine whether 
he will face the death penalty.

(source: KTXS news)








VIRGINIA:

Who will be the last person executed by Virginia?



On Oct. 11, the Washington state Supreme Court unanimously struck down that 
state's death penalty statute as unconstitutional ["State's high court rejects 
death penalty," national digest, Oct. 12]. The court wrote:

"The death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and 
racially biased manner. While this particular case provides an opportunity to 
specifically address racial disproportionality, the underlying issues that 
underpin our holding are rooted in the arbitrary manner in which the death 
penalty is generally administered."

Washington becomes the 20th state to end capital punishment. 10 more states 
have not put anyone to death in the past decade.

Unfortunately, Virginia is among the few remaining states that still carry out 
executions - 3 in the past 5 years.

However, no Virginia jury has sentenced an offender to death since 2011. There 
are only 3 men remaining on Virginia's death row. Who will be the last person 
executed by the commonwealth?

It is long past time that Virginia ends what the unanimous Washington Supreme 
Court called "an arbitrary and racially biased" punishment.

Michael E. Stone, Richmond

(source: The writer is executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the 
Death Penalty----Letter to the Editor, Washington Post)








ALABAMA:

Death penalty switched to life in prison for Alabama man who killed 4 children



A Bayou La Batre man who was given the death penalty after throwing his 4 
children off a bridge in 2008 had his sentenced reduced Monday to life without 
a parole after 2 independent psychologists said that his IQ did not meet the 
state minimum to be executed.

Lam Luong, 38, who born in Vietnam before moving to the United States as a 
teenager, was present in court when the new sentence was handed down.

District Attorney Ashley Rich, who was visibly shaken while reading a press 
release at Government Plaza late Monday afternoon, said that "no one deserves 
the death penalty more" than Lam Luong.

"Our hands are tied," she added, while citing state and federal laws that 
prohibit executing a person with an IQ of lower than 70 points. To do so would 
be considered cruel and unusual punishment, as outlined in the 8th Amendment.

DA Rich said that no member of the legal profession that interacted with Luong 
during his initial trial in April 2009 believed he had learning issues. "None 
of these very experienced members of the bar specializing in criminal law ever 
had any indication that the defendant might be below average intelligence."

Attorneys for Luong hired a licensed psychologist and developmental 
neuropsychologist to determine their clients IQ, which had never been done at 
the initial trial. His IQ was measured at 57, said Rich. An independent 
licensed psychologist hired by the Alabama Attorney General's Office, which 
sought to appeal the test's findings, measured Luong's IQ even lower, at 51.

Luong will now spend the remainder of his life in prison. He has no opportunity 
for parole.

(source: al.com)








OHIO:

Inmate faces death penalty after allegedly strangling cellmate to death



A former Warren County inmate strangled his cellmate to death in April, 
prosecutors said.

Jack Welninski was serving a nearly 70-year sentence when police said he killed 
Kevin Nill at the Lebanon Correctional Institution. But now, if convicted, 
Welninski could be sentenced to death.

The 33-year-old was indicted on a capital murder charge Monday, Warren County 
Prosecutor David Fornshell said.

In 2015, Welninski was convicted for the attempted murder of an Oregon, Ohio, 
police officer. He was sentenced to 69 years in prison.

On April 23, Welninski was placed in a cell with Kevin Nill, 40, of Piqua, 
Ohio. Nill was dead less than an hour later, the Warren County Prosecutors 
Office said.

"Investigators believe that Welninski murdered Nill to obtain a transfer to a 
different prison," officials said in a press release Monday.

The killing occurred in the Lebanon Correctional Institution. Welninski has 
since been sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Ohio.

Fornshell explained that death penalty is an option due to the alleged killing 
occurring while Welninski was incarcerated and prior violent offenses.

Welninski has not yet been arraigned on the murder charge. Trial dates will be 
scheduled later.

The victim, Nill, of Piqua was serving an 18-month sentence for attempted 
domestic violence. He scheduled to be released from prison on May 24, about a 
month after he was killed.

The death penalty in Warren County

There are 4 recent cases of the death penalty being brought to bear in Warren 
County.

Christopher Kirby is accused of killing his sister Debra Power in September 
2017. Prosecutors said Kirby and his wife was living with his sister and his 
sister was threatening to kick them out. Kirby's trial begins next week, and a 
jury will be asked to consider the death penalty in the case.

Terry Froman abducted his estranged girlfriend from Kentucky and killed her on 
Interstate 75 in Sept. 2014. A Warren County jury recommended the death penalty 
for Froman. His appeal is currently pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.

Austin Myers is scheduled to be put to death on July 20, 2022. Myers and 
another man killed Justin Back, an 18-year-old Navy recruiter, in Jan. 2014. 
Justin's Law was passed in Ohio as a response to the murder and increased 
penalties in murder cases.

James Hanna killed a fellow inmate, 18-year-old cellmate Peter Copas, with a 
paintbrush and a padlock at the Lebanon Correctional Institution in 1997. Hanna 
is scheduled to be put to death in Dec. 2019.

The last man to be executed from Warren County was Rocky Barton. He killed his 
wife in 2003 and was executed in July 2006. The short period between the murder 
and his death was due to Barton refusing to appeal his conviction or ask for 
clemency. He tried to kill himself with a shotgun blast to the head the day he 
killed his wife, who was attempting to leave him, and later said he deserved to 
die.

(source: cincinnati.com)








TENNESSEE----impending execution

State prepares electric chair, execution date unconfirmed



While the details of the execution are still up in the air, but the state is 
preparing to send a death row inmate in Tennessee to the electric chair.

A jury sentenced Edmund Zagorski to death back in 1984 for the slayings of two 
men during a drug deal.

Zagorski had been set to be executed at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 11, but that 
was halted after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a 
stay over concerns of inadequate representation.

As the state rushed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling 
and ensure the execution took place as scheduled, a separate federal judge 
barred the state from using lethal injection to kill Zagorski after it refused 
his request to die in the electric chair.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge of Tennessee's lethal injection 
protocol and lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of 
inadequate counsel.

The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski's 
execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted 
a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by 
electric chair.

"I am granting to Edmund Zagorski a reprieve of 10 days from execution of the 
sentence of death imposed upon by him by a jury in 1984 which was scheduled to 
be carried out later today," Haslam stated. "I take seriously the 
responsibility imposed upon the Tennessee Department of Correction and me by 
law, and given the federal court's decision to honor Zagorski's last-minute 
decision to choose electrocution as the method of execution, this brief 
reprieve will give all involved the time necessary to carry out the sentence in 
an orderly and careful manner."

Before the state can use the electric chair, it has to be tested four times a 
year, including two weeks before an execution. The state says it just tested 
the chair Wednesday.

The 10-day reprieve is set to run out October 21, but It's still not clear just 
when Zagorski's execution could happen.

(source: WATE news)

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

Last-Ditch Efforts to Save Death Row Inmate in Tennessee Rejected



The U.S. Supreme Court rejected 2 last-ditch efforts to save the life of 
Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski, apparently clearing the way for his 
execution despite a delay caused by legal wrangling.

The court rejected a challenge of Tennessee's lethal injection protocol and 
lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of inadequate 
counsel.

The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski's 
execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted 
a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by 
electric chair.

(source: governing.com)




ARIZONA:

Prosecutors considering death penalty against Christopher Clements



Prosecutors are considering the death penalty for the man accused of kidnapping 
and murdering 2 young girls.

Christopher Clements is accused of killing 6-year-old Isabel Celis and 
13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.

Prosecutors need to give notice of intention to seek the death penalty within 
60 days of the arraignment. Prosecuting and defense attorneys asked a judge to 
extend the deadline another 60 days "given the complexity of the case," 
according to court documents.

The Pima County Attorney's Office now has until January 24 to decide if it 
wants to seek the death penalty.

(source: KVOA news)








NEVADA:

Scott Dozier Still Wants to be Executed. And He's Still Waiting.----After 
forcing Nevada into a legal battle over its lethal injection drugs, an 
execution "volunteer" says the state is punishing him.



Last week, Nevada death row prisoner Scott Dozier called his family and friends 
and said they might not be hearing from him for a while. He had been placed, he 
said, in a form of solitary confinement so his mental health could be assessed, 
with just a few articles of clothing and an anti-suicide blanket.

Prison officials have not offered an explanation, but Dozier has speculated 
that they are punishing him for - or trying to get him to halt - his years-long 
effort to be executed. "I have never heard him sound so defeated," said Edgar 
Barens, a filmmaker who has regularly corresponded with Dozier.

Dozier's ongoing legal saga, which I wrote about in January, continues to 
illuminate the ambivalence and political turmoil surrounding the death penalty 
in the United States. Death row prisoners usually appeal their sentences, and 
many manage to hold off execution for decades. Many live in solitary 
confinement with few amenities, but Dozier was given access to an exercise 
yard, as well as a television, MP3 player and art supplies. Still, he did not 
feel that life in prison was a life worth living. 2 years ago, he announced 
that he would give up his appeals and agree to be killed. His request forced 
Nevada, which had not executed anyone in a decade, to come up with a new lethal 
injection cocktail and defend it in a number of court battles.

As of now, the state is losing those battles, and it appears Dozier will not be 
executed anytime soon. In late September, Las Vegas district judge Elizabeth 
Gonzalez barred officials from using their store of lethal injection drugs, 
based on opposition from the pharmaceutical companies that produced them. 
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is asking the state supreme court to 
overrule Gonzalez, but if that fails, officials will need to acquire new drugs 
- no company has offered to sell them - or else develop a new execution method, 
such as the firing squad.

After 2 previous stays of execution, Dozier was placed on suicide watch for 
several days. The prison agency said this was a temporary precaution until he 
could be given a psychological evaluation, but Dozier thought officials might 
be punishing him. "I can't fucking believe they can treat people like this," he 
told me by phone in July after the most recent stay. "It feels like they're 
fucking with me to get me to stop [pushing to be executed]." He wrote letters 
to the head of the prison agency and a state senator, but to no avail.

This time, family and friends said Dozier had been in good spirits until he was 
put in these conditions, which he described to Barens as "limbo inside of 
limbo." In an email sent on Oct. 3 to 1 of Dozier's lawyers, obtained by The 
Marshall Project, Ely State Prison warden William Gittere wrote that Dozier's 
placement was based on a "mental health provider's orders." "He is not on a 
suicide watch, but has been placed in an infirmary cell to be observed and 
assessed for the next few days to a week," Gittere wrote. "I cannot comment on 
the source of information that led to the provider's concern due to an ongoing 
investigation."

Last Friday, Dozier’s family sent a letter to Nevada Department of Corrections 
director James Dzurenda. "At this point there is little to no information 
supporting the idea that Mr. Dozier is a risk to himself or others," they 
wrote. "He has asked to speak with medical staff yet requests were left 
unanswered, denied, or met with apathy."

In an email, corrections department spokesperson Brooke Santina cited patient 
privacy in declining to provide details about Dozier's mental health treatment, 
but said prisoners are only placed in segregation when "we have a reason to 
believe that there is a threat to their safety or the safety of another.” Asked 
if Dozier was being punished, she responded, "With nearly 14,000 inmates in 18 
facilities across the state, it's imperative we follow the law and our policy 
to ensure each inmate is treated as any other inmate in his or her 
circumstances would be treated."

Dozier was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing and dismembering 22-year-old 
Jeremiah Miller, an associate in the methamphetamine trade. He was separately 
convicted in Arizona of killing 26-year-old Jasen Greene, and while in an 
Arizona jail, in 2005, he attempted suicide. He denies both murders, and began 
appealing his convictions, but in October 2016, he ended his appeals. Some have 
described his effort to be executed as akin to state-assisted suicide, but 
Dozier doesn't see it that way. "It's not that I think I deserve the sentence," 
he told me. "It's more that I'm resigned ... I'm not raging against the dying 
of the light."

His decision set off a chain reaction. Pharmaceutical companies, most of which 
have refused to sell drugs for use in lethal injection in recent years, 
declined to sell them to Nevada. The state announced a new cocktail featuring 
fentanyl, the opioid better known for causing overdoses across the country, and 
set an execution date in November 2017. When Dozier let his defense lawyers 
argue that death by the new drug combination might be painful, and therefore 
unconstitutional, a judge stayed his execution.

As the months passed, Dozier's frustration - with the state, with his lawyers, 
with himself - only grew. "I see this as a war right now, a battle, and I feel 
like sometimes I'm winning, and sometimes I feel like I'm losing," he told me 
by phone in February. He started wondering if state officials were dragging out 
the legal process, hoping he would change his mind and save them the hassle of 
killing him.

But he also maintained his caustic, nihilistic sense of humor. When President 
Trump said he wanted to give the death penalty to some drug dealers, Dozier 
said, "They can't even execute me! Get your shit together, people."

After state officials set a new execution date for last July, several drug 
companies accused them of purposefully obfuscating their intentions while 
buying their products. When a judge halted the execution, it was a benchmark 
moment: never before had a drug company stopped an execution in court.

Dozier was visiting with his family - for the last time, he thought - when an 
officer told them about the stay. "It is heartbreaking and stressful," Dozier's 
sister Bekki Patzer told me in an email. "I don't know for certain, but I 
imagine it is similar to someone having a terminally ill family member. We 
don't know how long we have with him, when will be the last time we see him, 
hug him, talk with him, or say our final goodbyes."

His family has continued to write letters to the department about Dozier's 
conditions but have not received a reply. Patzer told me she understands that 
the prison must take precautions, but does not understand why her brother has 
been deprived of his personal belongings, along with the ability to exercise in 
the yard, make calls and receive visitors. "His well-being is my primary 
concern," she said, "and I don't see how keeping him from those things can do 
anything but cause a deterioration in his mental and physical well-being."

(source: themarshallproject.org)








WASHINGTON:

Looking back at the only case to face the death penalty in Yakima County



Yakima County has seen its fair share of murders over the years, but there's 
only been 1 case where the death penalty was filed by prosecutor’s office.

The murder of Mike and Dorothy Nickoloff in 1988. Prosecuting Attorney Joe 
Brusic said it's one of the most gruesome crimes the county has ever seen.

"A couple residing here in Yakima County, and they're tragically killed by two 
individuals in their home and we filed the death penalty," he said.

Police said then 17-year-old Herbert Rice Jr. and Russell McNeil went into the 
Nickoloff's home, stabbed both people inside dozens of times and then stole 
their television.

McNeil pleaded guilty and Rice Jr. went to trial facing the death penalty.

The jury ended up voting 11-1 in favor of death but state law required it 
needed to be a unanimous vote for capital punishment.

Since then, Yakima County has seen a handful of cases considered for the death 
penalty.

The most recent being against Manuel Verduzco, who was found guilty on 2 
charges of 1st degree murder. After police said he went into a MoneyTree and 
shot 2 women in Yakima.

One reason Brusic said the death penalty isn't filed very often is because of 
how expensive it can be for the county to take someone to trial.

"The last 2 cases (King County) had, King County taxpayers spent millions of 
dollars on those cases to see them go through the system," he said.

Which means the county can spend millions of dollars to only have the jury vote 
against the death penalty.

The state supreme court ruled capital punishment was arbitrary and racially 
biased.

Brusic said he and prosecutors across the state don't agree with the ruling 
because it limits their options when dealing with crime.

"Under the right circumstances, which doesn't happen all that often, it is an 
option that could be sought. I think being taken away does affect our abilities 
at times," he said.

The death penalty is gone but the Nickoloff case still lives on today.

Brusic said Herbert Rice Jr. is set to be re-sentenced in March of next year 
for a murder that happened 30 years ago.

(source: KIMA news)