[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----LA., OHIO, TENN., WASH.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 23



LOUISIANA:

Louisiana Supreme Court denies appeal by death row prisoner



Louisiana's Supreme Court has denied an appeal from a man sentenced to death 
for the slaying of 4-year-old girl in 2001.

The American Press in a Friday report quotes the court as saying 43-year-old 
Jason Manuel Reeves had claimed his attorneys provided ineffective counsel 
during the penalty phase of his trial. But the court said he was trying "to 
re-litigate an issue upon which he has already sought review."

The court says it's not clear that his lawyers failed to present evidence about 
his troubled upbringing because Reeves himself didn't disclose evidence to help 
explain his difficult childhood and the history of sexual abuse he suffered.

Reeves has been on death row since 2004 for the abduction, rape and killing of 
Mary Jean Thigpen from Moss Bluff.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO:

Warren County brother could face death penalty in sister's killing



The trial of a South Lebanon man who could face the death penalty if convicted 
of murdering his sister began Monday in Warren County Common Pleas Court.

Judges Joe Kirby, Donald Oda II and Robert Peeler, rather than a jury, will 
decide if Christopher Kirby, 38, should be sentenced to death for allegedly 
murdering his adoptive sister, Deborah Power, and badly beating her husband, 
Ronnie Power, at the home they shared with Kirby, his wife and children in 
South Lebanon.

"This is really a story about drugs," defense lawyer John Kaspar said during 
opening statements.

Kirby is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, murder, felonious 
assault, grand theft and tampering with evidence.

He is alleged to have committed these crimes in September 2017 to fund his and 
his wife's heroin habit after Deborah Power changed the password on her bank 
card.

In April, Jacqueline "Jackie" Kirby, 31, was sentenced to 3 years on probation 
for her part in the case and ordered her to enter the Women's Recovery Center, 
an outpatient substance abuse program in Xenia.

The trial, which is expected to last into next week, is scheduled to resume at 
9 a.m. today.

On Monday morning, Assistant County Prosecutor John Arnold said the extended 
family, all living in the South Lebanon home where the alleged crime occurred, 
relied on Social Security payments.

"The only source of income for the household was Social Security," Arnold said 
in his opening statement.

Arnold said prosecutors would show the 3-judge panel that Kirby should be 
sentenced to death for his crimes.

"While he presented part of the story, it's not the whole story," Kaspar told 
the judges in his opening statement.

Kaspar said the case would also demonstrate the poverty of their conditions and 
"the vital importance of a $290 check."

Prosecutors called the 911 operator who took the initial call from Kirby's 
8-year-old son after his parents had left in the Powers' truck, allegedly 
leaving Ronnie Power with a bad head wound and Deborah Power's body under 
blankets in a locked room.

A number of deputies were also called to begin to develop the chain of evidence 
designed to prove Kirby was guilty of the capital crime.

Testimony indicated that at the house, before being taken to the University of 
Cincinnati Hospital in West Chester, a bleeding Ronnie Power said he had fallen 
and hit his head.

The Kirbys were found later at the hospital in West Chester.

Testimony indicated they drove there after buying and using heroin in 
Cincinnati. Ronnie Power was initially treated at this hospital before being 
taken to another hospital.

The prosecutors also called a video expert to map the Kirbys' movements after 
leaving the house, and LCNB bank officials testified to show the bank card 
number had been changed after Deborah Power visited the bank about her 
overdrawn account.

Still, Deborah Power had not mounted a formal complaint or filed a police 
report against her adoptive brother or his wife.

"She was going to address it and I guess get back to me," Christina Harris, 
manager of the bank’s South Lebanon branch, said.

The trial is to resume this morning and continue into next week.

(source: Dayton Daily News)

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

Court hears case of inmate who killed girlfriend's parents



The Ohio Supreme Court has set oral arguments in the case of a man convicted of 
killing his ex-girlfriend's parents with a sledgehammer 10 days after stabbing 
their daughter.

Shawn Ford Jr. was convicted by a Summit County jury in 2015 of aggravated 
murder and other charges in the slayings of Margaret and Jeffrey Schobert 2 
years earlier.

That same jury recommended the 24-year-old Ford receive the death penalty for 
killing Margaret Schobert, and the judge agreed.

Death penalty cases in Ohio are automatically appealed to the state Supreme 
Court, which has set arguments for Jan. 8.

Defense attorneys unsuccessfully argued that Ford's low IQ should have 
prevented the judge from sentencing their client to death.

(source: Associated Press)

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

Warren County death penalty trial begins with focus on drugs, poverty



The trial of a South Lebanon man facing the death penalty if convicted of 
murdering his sister in September 2017 began this morning in Warren County 
Common Pleas Court.

Judges Joe Kirby, Donald Oda II and Robert Peeler, rather than a jury, will 
decide if Christopher Kirby, 38, should be sentenced to death for allegedly 
murdering his adoptive sister, Deborah Power, and badly beating her husband, 
Ronnie Power, at the home they shared with Kirby, his wife and children in 
South Lebanon.

"This is really a story about drugs," defense lawyer John Kaspar said during 
opening statements.

Kirby is charged with aggravated murder, aggravated robbery, murder, felonious 
assault, grand theft and tampering with evidence.

He is alleged to have committed these crimes to fund his and his wife's drug 
habit after Deborah Power changed the password on her bank card.

In April, Jacqueline "Jackie" Kirby, 31, was sentenced to 3 years on probation 
for her part in the case and ordered her to enter the Women's Recovery Center, 
an outpatient substance abuse program in Xenia.

This morning, Assistant County Prosecutor John Arnold said the extended family 
all living in the South Lebanon home where the alleged crime occurred relied on 
Social Security payments.

Kaspar said the case would also demonstrate the poverty of their conditions and 
"the vital importance of a $290 check."

(source: WHIO TV news)








TENNESSEE----new and impending execution date Edmund Zagorski Set to Die Nov. 1 
in the Electric Chair----Tennessee Supreme Court sets new execution date 
following temporary reprieve



After a reprieve from Gov. Bill Haslam delayed his execution, Edmund Zagorski's 
death has been rescheduled.

The Tennessee Supreme Court issued an order today setting Zagorski's execution 
for Nov. 1. He will be killed in the electric chair, according to the choice he 
made earlier this month.

Zagorski was sentenced to death in 1984 for the murders of John Dale Dotson and 
Jimmy Porter, 2 men he was said to have killed and robbed during a drug deal. 
But his case illustrates what researchers have called "Tennessee's Death 
Penalty Lottery." People convicted of killing 3, 4, 5 and even 6 people in 
drug-related homicides have received life sentences. Citing the fact that they 
did not have the option of sentencing Zagorski to life without the possibility 
of parole, 6 jurors from Zagorski's original trial have said they support 
clemency in his case. Death row and prison staffers, and even Marcia Dotson, 
the widow of one of the men Zagorski was convicted of killing, have also 
supported clemency.

Haslam, however, has said he will not intervene to stop the execution. His 
10-day reprieve granted earlier this month appears to have been intended to 
ensure that executioners could prepare to use the electric chair.

The last Tennessee inmate to be executed in the chair was Daryl Holton, who 
also chose the method, in 2007.

(source: nashvillescene.com)

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

ACAT to hold annual meeting in Pleasant Hill----Stacy Rector, director of 
Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, will be the speaker at the 
ACAT annual meeting to be held Oct. 28 in Pleasant Hill.



Action by Christians against Torture (ACAT) was founded in Cumberland County by 
late residents Charles and Gabby Hein, Len Stark, Charlie Lord and Roger 
Knight, among others. ACAT is affiliated with the International Federation of 
Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (FIACAT) based in Paris, is a 
body in association with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland and is the 
only U.S. chapter of that international organization. Their priorities include 
opposition to the death penalty, dismantling nuclear weapons, opposition to 
mass incarceration and private prisons, and torture in all of its forms.

The ACAT annual meeting will take place in Adshead Hall of Fletcher House, 40 
Fletcher Dr., Pleasant Hill, on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. Members are invited 
to come at 2 p.m. for a brief annual meeting and election of officers. Snacks 
will be served at 2:30 p.m. and the program will begin at 3 p.m.

Stacy Rector, director of Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty 
(TADP), will be the speaker. This is a timely issue as Tennessee has begun to 
execute people on death row after a hiatus of almost a decade.

Rector is a native of Dyersburg, TN, a graduate of Rhodes College and Columbia 
Theological Seminary and an ordained Presbyterian minister. She served as the 
associate pastor of Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville for 9 years.

During her time as a pastor, Rector served on the board of TADP, the 
Restorative Justice Coalition of Tennessee and was a founding member of the 
board for the Presbyterian Network to End Homelessness.

In October 2006, she became executive director of TADP, an organization whose 
mission is to honor life by abolishing the death penalty. She also currently 
serves on the peacemaking and outreach committees for the Presbytery of Middle 
Tennessee and on the board of People of Faith Against the Death Penalty.

Tennessee has executed 6 men since 2000, when the state resumed executions, and 
has released three wrongfully convicted men in the same time frame. Paul House 
and Michael McCormick spent more than 20 years each on Tennessee's death row 
fighting their wrongful convictions and were ultimately released; not because 
of the system but despite it.

Just recently, Governor Haslam gave Edmund Zagorski a 10-day reprieve just 
hours before he was to be executed. Haslam specifically referenced the electric 
chair suit in his reprieve, suggesting that a delay would give the state time 
to prepare to execute Mr. Zagorski using the electric chair.

In fact, over 155 people nationwide have now been exonerated from death row 
since 1973. TADP proclaims that the death penalty is costly, unfairly applied, 
creates more victims, ensnares the innocent and puts murder victims' families 
through a painfully, protracted process with an average of 20 years between 
sentencing and execution in Tennessee. TADP works toward fulfilling this 
mission through education, grassroots organizing and advocating a change in 
public policy.

TADP has more than 5,000 supporters and chapters across the state, including 
chapters in Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville. They conduct rallies and vigils, 
educational forums, speakers' bureaus, letter writing campaigns, as well as 
holding TADP's annual Justice Day on the Hill to speak directly to Tennessee 
legislators about this broken system. TADP partners with a variety of 
organizations such as Equal Justice USA, Murder Victims' Families for 
Reconciliation, Journey of Hope, Witness to Innocence, NAACP, National Alliance 
on Mental Illness, ACLU, Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, National 
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Catholic Mobilizing Network.

Email info at tennesseedeathpenalty.org to learn more. For more information about 
ACAT or this program, email Deborah Holbrook, president, at 
debholbrk1 at gmail.com.

(source: Crossville Chronicle)








WASHINGTON:

Good riddance to death penalty



Over 15 years ago, my wife and I participated in an AIDS vaccine fundraising 
bicycle ride from Amsterdam to Paris. We met Europeans along the way and one, 
in particular, made a lasting impression. My wife asked him what he thought of 
the politics in the U.S. One thing he said was "why do you still have the death 
penalty?" No member of the European Union has the death penalty. Ever since 
then I have been asking that same question.

On Oct. 12, I looked at The Columbian and there, on Page A1, was the headline: 
"State abolishes death penalty." To the empty room I exclaimed, "Oh, yea!"

(source: Letter to the Editor, Lyle Smith, Vancouver----The Columbian)