[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., GA., ALA., LA., OHIO, CALIF., WASH.

[Rick Halperin]

April 12




TEXAS:

Judge rules state can seek death penalty in capital murder trial for 
Zavala-Garcia, who is accused of killing 10-year-old



The judge who is presiding over Gustavo Zavala-Garcia's capital murder trial 
ruled Thursday the state can seek the death penalty.

Zavala-Garcia's lawyers previously asked the court to preclude the state from 
seeking the death penalty. They also asked for a change of venue for the trial 
and to suppress statements Zavala-Garcia made to law enforcement officers when 
he was arrested.

Judge Jack Skeen Jr. of the 241st District Court said the motion to change the 
venue and the motion to suppress custodial statements Zavala-Garcia made when 
he was arrested would be taken up at a later time.

Zavala-Garcia, 26, is accused of the November 2016 killing of 10-year-old Kayla 
Gomez-Orozco, and, if convicted on the capital murder charge, could be 
sentenced to death.

The defense also filed six constitutional motions regarding the death penalty. 
Skeen denied all of them.

Zavala-Garcia's defense attorney Jeff Haas said the motions are routinely 
presented, routinely denied and the court's rulings in the matters are affirmed 
by higher courts.

He said he filed them in case the Supreme Court changes its course on the death 
penalty.

Officials also are waiting on DNA evidence results to come back from the Texas 
Department of Public Safety and the University of North Texas labs, although 
this was not discussed at the hearing.

Zavala-Garcia was related to Kayla by marriage and he was among the last people 
to see her before she went missing Nov. 1, 2016, from the foyer of Bullard 
First Assembly on U.S. Highway 69.

Her body was found four days later in a well on the property where 
Zavala-Garcia lived, in the 22100 block of Farm-to-Market Road 2493 (Old 
Jacksonville Highway) in Bullard.

It is unclear what caused her death, and at the time the indictment was 
released, then-District Attorney Matt Bingham declined to comment, citing a 
restrictive and protective order in the case.

In the indictment, prosecutors contend Zavala-Garcia attacked Kayla and 
sexually assaulted or attempted to sexually assault her after her kidnapping.

Prosecutors also contend he struck Kayla with and against a blunt object, 
asphyxiated her and drowned her.

Zavala-Garcia's next pretrial hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

(source: Tyler Morning Telegraph)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

N.H. Senate passes death penalty repeal sending the bill to Sununu with 
veto-proof majorities



New Hampshire is on track to become the next state without the death penalty 
now that both the House and Senate have voted with veto-proof majorities to 
repeal its capital punishment law.

Republican Gov. Chris Sununu vetoed a death penalty repeal bill last June, and 
the Senate lacked the votes to override it in September. But momentum grew 
after Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in November, and an 
identical bill has passed both chambers with more than the necessary 2/3 
majority needed to override Sununu’s planned veto. The House vote 279-88 last 
month, while the Senate vote Thursday was 17-6, with 5 Republicans joining 12 
Democrats voting in favor of repeal.

“State-sanctioned killing is cruel, ineffective and inherently flawed,” said 
Sen. Martha Hennessey, D-Hanover. “It is time to abolish the death penalty in 
New Hampshire. Now is the time.”

Thirty states allow capital punishment, though in four of them, governors have 
issued moratoria on the death penalty, according to the Death Penalty 
Information Center. Twenty states have abolished or overturned it.

New Hampshire hasn’t executed anyone since 1939. The repeal bill would not 
apply retroactively to Michael Addison, who killed Manchester Police Officer 
Michael Briggs in 2006 and is the state’s only death row inmate. But supporters 
of capital punishment argue that courts will see it differently.

“The day that this passes and is signed into law, Mr. Addison’s sentence will 
be converted to life in prison,” said Sen. Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry. 
“Please talk to Mrs. Briggs about that, the wife of the police officer that was 
murdered in the line of duty. She will not be able to speak to her husband 
again, whereas Mr. Addison will be able to talk to his family and have them 
come up to visit him.”

Laura Briggs has largely stayed out of the debate over the death penalty bill 
over the years, but she spoke last month against a repeal in part because her 
son’s now working in law enforcement.

“The death penalty is about protecting society from evil. It’s not about an 
eye-for-an-eye or revenge. It’s about protecting our society from evil people 
that do evil things,” she said at the time.

Carson echoed those comments Thursday.

“We’re not talking about getting revenge or soothing the families soul or 
anything else like that,” she said. “This is about justice nothing more, 
nothing less.”

Other relatives of murder victims, however, testified against the bill, as did 
retired prosecutors, clergy and former death row inmates who were exonerated 
and released. Sen. Harold French, R-Franklin, said their comments helped 
solidify his previous opposition to the death penalty, which had been based 
mainly on the cost associated with lengthy appeals in capital murder cases.

“As I get older I realized for a fact we’re actually all on death row and it’s 
just a matter of time before our names get called. When my name gets called, 
I’m going to go before the Lord with a huge basket full of regrets and 
misdeeds, just like you will. But I tell you what won’t be in that basket of 
misdeeds,” he said. “What won’t be in there is that I did not turn a deaf ear 
to those who came and took the time to speak to us to get rid of the death 
penalty.”

Sen. Ruth Ward, R-Stoddard, kept her remarks short, explaining simply that her 
father was killed when she was 7 years old.

“He never saw us grow up. My mother forgave whoever it was, and I will vote in 
favor of this bill,” she said.

A spokesman for Sununu reiterated the governor’s opposition to the bill 
Thursday.

“Gov. Sununu continues to stand with crime victims, members of the law 
enforcement community and advocates for justice in opposing a repeal of the 
death penalty,” Ben Vihstadt said in a written statement.

Still, Thursday’s vote was comforting to a small crowd of death penalty 
opponents who lined the State House steps.

For Ruth Heath, her position against capital punishment is not a recent one. 
The Canterbury resident has been a Quaker for 40 years, and the prospect of 
killing is impossible to support.

“It’s morally wrong,” she said. “And it’s also wrong because it’s not equally 
distributed among all people.”

Heath and others waving signs Thursday morning said they noticed a shift in 
public attitudes in recent years, a major factor in the Senate’s vote.

David Keller, a pastor at the United Church of Christ in Concord, pointed to 
two changes in the last 20 years: a rising awareness of executions carried out 
against convicts who were later exonerated, and attention on the expenses 
incurred by states that have the punishment.

“Those 2 other pieces of insight I think have changed the conversation quite a 
bit,” he said. “The moral issue’s been around, but what’s new is the cost and 
the discovery through DNA evidence that people on death row were not guilty of 
the crimes they were convicted of.”

(source: Concord Monitor)

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

New Hampshire Lawmakers Pass Bill to Ban Death Penalty----Legislation has 
enough support to override possible veto

The New Hampshire state Senate voted to abolish the death penalty, sending the 
bill to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu with enough support to overcome a possible 
veto.

The state House passed the repeal bill with veto-proof numbers in March. Both 
chambers are controlled by Democrats and will have to vote again if Mr. Sununu 
vetoes, but supporters said they believed they had momentum to remove New 
England’s last capital-punishment law after years of trying.

(source: Wall Street Journal)








GEORGIA:

Facing the death penalty, Gwinnett woman chooses a lawyer — herself



‘It looks like a prolonged suicide’

She’s produced no list of witnesses she plans to call at trial. She has yet to 
look over the boxes of discovery turned over to her by the state. She brings no 
documents, not even a legal pad, with her into the courtroom.

Yet on Monday, Tiffany Moss will represent herself as Gwinnett County 
prosecutors seek the death penalty against her. Moss faces murder and child 
cruelty charges for allegedly starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter to death 
and then burning her body in 2013.

As described by law enforcement, the brutal death of 10-year-old Emani Moss is 
one of the most notorious cases of child abuse in Georgia history. The young 
girl weighed only 32 pounds when her charred body was found in a dumpster 
outside the apartment where she lived.

Moss has said she is leaving her fate in God’s hands, rather than the 2 
experienced public defenders who were initially assigned to represent her. They 
work for the state’s capital defender office, which is credited as a primary 
reason no one has received a death sentence in Georgia in more than 5 years.

It begs the question: With her life on the line, is Moss going to be able to 
put up a fair fight on her own behalf?

“It looks like a prolonged suicide,” said Atlanta attorney Jack Martin, who has 
defended a number of capital cases. “God may be an all-powerful and merciful 
force in nature, but he’s a lousy criminal defense lawyer.”

Will She Plead For Her Life?

During a pretrial hearing last Monday, Moss, 35, told Chief Superior Court 
Judge George Hutchinson III she was ready for her upcoming trial.

Over the course of the three-hour-long proceeding, Moss repeatedly gave the 
judge yes or no answers. The only subject on which she elaborated was the 
clothes her family has brought for her so she can change out of her jail 
jumpsuit. They’re not big enough, she told Hutchinson.

“I’ll need to switch some of them out,” Moss said, disclosing she’s now a size 
7.

Moss’s demeanor throughout the hearing was unfailingly pleasant. She often rose 
from her seat and grinned when she answered Hutchinson’s questions. But there’s 
no telling how she’ll be during the trial.

How will she react when the prosecution shows Emani’s autopsy and crime scene 
photos to the jury? Moss’s husband, Eman Moss, was also charged with his 
daughter’s murder. He pleaded guilty in 2015 and was sentenced to life in 
prison without the possibility of parole. He also agreed to testify against his 
wife.

So far, Tiffany Moss has given no indication she will actively defend herself. 
This provokes a number of other questions: Will she participate in jury 
selection? Will she make an opening statement? Will she cross-examine her 
husband?

Will she present any witnesses? Will she plead for her life?

University of Georgia law professor Alan Cook, a former district attorney, said 
no prosecutor wants to try a case against a pro se defendant.

“In theory, defendants who represent themselves should know the rules of 
evidence and the protocols of trying a case,” Cook said. “Of course, they 
don’t. So this means the prosecution will have to do its job and do the 
defendant’s job, too. That’s because you want a fair trial. You want the 
defendant to get due process.”

At Monday’s hearing, Judge Hutchinson told Moss how a death-penalty trial 
works. First, there’s the phase in which the jury will find you guilty or not 
guilty. If it finds you guilty, then it moves to the penalty phase, in which 
jurors will decide whether you live or die, the judge said. Hutchinson also 
told Moss about the rule of sequestration (making sure your witnesses aren’t in 
the courtroom listening to testimony before they take the stand) and 
stipulations (in which both sides agree to allow certain information into 
evidence without the need for testimony).

Hutchinson also reminded Moss she can take the stand and testify, essentially 
giving a statement to the jury. But if you choose to do so, that also means 
you’ll be subject to cross-examination by the prosecution, the judge said.

“I do want you to be thinking about it,” Hutchinson said.

In prior hearings, Hutchinson implored Moss to accept legal representation. 
After she refused, the judge presided over closed-door hearings before 
determining she was competent to stand trial and could represent herself.

Hutchinson’s decision was appealed before trial to the Georgia Supreme Court. 
The high court declined to hear the appeal, allowing Hutchinson’s ruling to 
stand and the trial to get underway.

>From Ted Bundy to Dylann Roof

In 1975, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that criminal defendants have a 
constitutional right to represent themselves at trial after being adequately 
warned of the dangers and disadvantages in doing so. Since then, a number of 
high-profile defendants chose to do just that.

Serial killer Ted Bundy, who attended law school, defended himself at trial in 
Florida. The jury sentenced him to death. Colin Ferguson, who killed six people 
on a Long Island commuter train in 1993, was convicted at trial and sentenced 
to 315 years in prison. More recently, Dylann Roof was sentenced to death for 
the 2015 massacre at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C.

Moss is not the first defendant in Georgia to act as her own lawyer at a 
death-penalty trial. In 2015, Jamie Hood represented himself when he was 
convicted of the shooting death of a police officer in Athens, the attempted 
murder of another officer and other offenses

. During the trial, Hood was an active participant. He cross-examined the 
officer he shot and testified from the witness stand. The jury ultimately 
spared him, sentencing Hood to life without the possibility parole instead of 
death by lethal injection.

District Attorney Ken Mauldin, who tried Hood, said pro se defendants pose 
unique challenges.

“You’ve almost got to walk on egg shells to make sure you’re doing everything 
correctly and making sure it doesn’t look like you’re taking advantage of 
someone,” he said. “The prosecutor’s job is to do what’s right and to seek 
justice. So there are times when you’ll have to make sure things are being done 
to protect the defendant’s rights.”

Mauldin said he’s wondered whether the jurors gave Hood life because they got 
to know him during the trial, making it more difficult to sentence him to 
death. “It’s also possible they thought life in prison without parole was a 
worse sentence than death,” the DA said.

Death Penalty Drought

The last time a death sentence was handed down by a Georgia jury was March 2014 
in Augusta against Adrian Hargrove, who committed a triple murder. When asked 
why death sentences have become so rare, prosecutors and defense attorneys 
agree with Mauldin’s assessment: the availability of a life-without-parole 
sentence is seen by many as more acceptable.

Without a skillful and cohesive defense, Moss could break the drought and 
receive Georgia’s 1st death sentence in years.

Nationally, views about the death penalty have also been changing. Over the 
past decade, 8 states abolished capital punishment through court rulings, 
moratoria issued by governors and repeals at the ballot box or in the 
legislature.

And there have even been some signals of shift in a law-and-order state like 
Georgia. Last month, a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill to 
abolish the death penalty here. It was introduced too late to move this session 
but will be up for consideration when lawmakers gather again next year.

But the death penalty still remains on the books in Georgia and this week it’s 
staring Moss in the face.

Brad Gardner and Emily Gilbert, the two capital defenders initially assigned to 
represent Moss, have said she stopped talking to them months ago. Hutchinson 
has assigned them to be “standby counsel,” and they sit in the courtroom 
gallery ready to assist Moss if she asks for help.

During trial, it’s possible the capital defenders could ask Hutchinston to 
reconsider his decision. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that defendants 
found competent to stand trial are not necessarily competent to represent 
themselves if they can’t conduct their own defense. The court said the trial 
judge should made such a decision in the interest of achieving a fair trial.

If Moss wants to end her case, she can do so now.

During Monday’s hearing, District Attorney Danny Porter said he’s offered Moss 
the same plea agreement he offered her husband. If she pleads guilty to Emani’s 
murder, Porter will withdraw the death penalty and allow her to be sentenced to 
life without parole. But that offer stands only until a jury is selected, 
expected sometime this week, he said.

Porter also told Hutchinson that the last time he broached such an agreement 
with Moss, “she emphatically stated she did not want to discuss a plea.”

(source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)








ALABAMA----stay of execution

Execution called off for Christopher Price, was set to die for 1991 slaying of 
minister



Christopher Price was set to be executed at 6 p.m. Thursday for the 1991 
killing of a minister in Fayette County, but the execution was called off about 
half an hour before Price’s death warrant expired at midnight.

The decision comes after hours of last appeals, beginning with Price’s 
attorneys filing an emergency motion for a preliminary injunction to a federal 
judge in Mobile asking her to halt the execution around 1 p.m. That motion 
states that despite the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeal’s rejection Wednesday 
of Price’s appeal, the court did confirm “Price had demonstrated a substantial 
likelihood of showing that nitrogen hypoxia is an ‘available’ method of 
execution that the State could use relatively easily and reasonably quickly on 
Mr. Price as an alternative to the midazolam lethal injection protocol ‘that 
will cause him severe pain and needless suffering ... The 11th Circuit held 
that the evidentiary record was insufficient on a single discrete factual 
issue—whether execution by nitrogen hypoxia would be essentially painless for 
Mr. Price.”

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a response with the court, but just 
before 4 p.m. U.S. Southern District Court Judge Kristi DuBose stayed the 
execution. DuBose wrote in her order that Price’s execution is stayed for 60 
days: “The State has until May 10, 2019, to submit evidence in contradiction to 
Price’s contention that 1) the 3-drug execution protocol will cause or is 
likely to cause him severe pain and 2) that execution by nitrogen hypoxia will 
significantly reduce the substantial risk of severe pain.”

The AG’s Office appealed the stay to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, which 
affirmed the lower court’s ruling and kept the stay in place. “In light of the 
jurisdictional questions raised by the parties’ motions, we stay Price’s 
execution until further order of this court," the court wrote.

The AG’s Office then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and Price’s attorneys 
also filed a brief with the court arguing the stay should not be lifted.

At 11:34 p.m.—when the nation’s highest court had yet to rule—the state called 
off the execution. A statement from the ADOC said, “As a practical matter, the 
time remaining before the expiration of the death warrant does not permit 
sufficient time to accomplish the execution in accordance with established 
procedures."

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall released a statement after the 
announcement was made. “Tonight, in the middle of National Crime Victims’ 
Rights Week, the family of Pastor Bill Lynn was deprived of justice. They were, 
in effect, re-victimized by a killer trying to evade his just punishment. This 
11th-hour stay for death row inmate Christopher Price will do nothing to serve 
the ends of justice. Indeed, it has inflicted the opposite—injustice, in the 
form of justice delayed."

Marshall said Price “has dodged his death sentence for the better part of three 
decades by employing much the same strategy he has pursued tonight—desperately 
clinging to legal maneuverings to avoid facing the consequences of his heinous 
crime. I can promise you this: Alabama will never forget victims. Justice will 
be had for Pastor Lynn and his family. As for Christopher Price, his day of 
justice will come.”

Samantha Banks, an ADOC spokesperson, said Price’s last request was to be 
married to his fiancée. He was married Wednesday in the visitation yard at 
Holman.

Price was visited by his wife, an aunt, and an uncle on Thursday. Wednesday, he 
made four phone calls to attorneys, one to his wife, and one to an aunt.

Price refused his breakfast but asked for and received 2 pints of turtle tracks 
ice cream for what he believed would be his final meal. Several people from 
Price’s family planned to witness his execution, including his wife, 2 aunts, 
an uncle, and a cousin.

6 witnesses from the victim, Bill Lynn’s, family, also were present to witness. 
Those witnesses would have been the victim’s wife Bessie Lynn, the couple’s 2 
daughters, 2 grandsons, and Bill Lynn’s brother.

Price had requested that no spiritual adviser be present in the execution 
chamber, so the spokesperson said the department’s Christian chaplain was not 
set be inside the chamber.

The 46-year-old inmate was denied a stay of execution by the 11th Circuit Court 
of Appeals on Wednesday, after appealing a lower court’s ruling that also 
denied him a stay based on his argument he wanted to be executed by Alabama’s 
newly approved method of nitrogen hypoxia. He appealed Thursday morning to the 
U.S. Supreme Court for a stay.

No Alabama inmates have been executed by the new method, and a state protocol 
for the nitrogen hypoxia executions has not been developed yet.

Price was set to die by lethal injection at Holman Correctional Facility in 
Atmore. He was convicted in the 1991 robbery and slaying of Lynn and was 
sentenced to death by a jury’s vote of 10-2. A judge upheld the jury’s 
recommendation and sent Price to death row.

Price had asked the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama in 
March for a stay of execution, arguing the Alabama Department of Corrections’ 
3-drug lethal injection cocktail could cause Price severe pain during his 
execution. The inmate also claimed the state’s refusal to allow him to elect 
the nitrogen hypoxia method denies him equal protection under the Constitution.

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office claimed in a response filing Price was 
given the forms necessary to elect a change of execution method from lethal 
injection to nitrogen hypoxia last summer, when all other inmates on death row 
were given the same opportunity. The state says Price neglected to make that 
election and called the current lawsuit a “meritless delay tactic.”

The state’s response states, "Price had timely notice, Price could have asked 
counsel if he wanted a legal consultation, and yet Price sat on his hands for 7 
months until the State moved to set his execution date.”

Early last year, Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill giving inmates the option to 
choose execution by nitrogen hypoxia. According to the state, inmates waiting 
to be executed were allowed to opt in the nitrogen method if they wished, but 
had to do so within a 30-day period in June 2018. Of the 177 inmates on 
Alabama’s Death Row, more than 50 inmates have chosen to die by the new method.

ADOC Commissioner Jeff Dunn said the department is working with the AG’s Office 
to develop a protocol for executions by nitrogen hypoxia, but has no timeline 
on when that protocol might be finalized and ready to implement.

One of Price’s attorneys argued in a filing the ADOC allowed some inmates to 
choose nitrogen hypoxia in a manner that was “completely arbitrary” and 
“created 2 classes of death row inmates.”

The state said in its response they were rational to set a timeline for the 
inmates to opt into the new method, because otherwise an inmate “could change 
his mind as to his method of execution up until the moment he entered the death 
chamber. In other words, conceivably, the ADOC could prepare for a lethal 
injection but be blindsided by an 11th-hour nitrogen election.”

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Kristi DuBose denied the stay of execution 
and noted Price did not elect to choose nitrogen hypoxia by the cutoff date and 
that the gas is not readily available since the state has not yet developed a 
protocol for those types of executions. She is the same judge who Thursday 
granted a 60-day stay.

Price’s attorneys appealed that ruling. Wednesday afternoon, the 11th Circuit 
Court of Appeals also denied the stay.

Price also was at the center of a lawsuit in 2014 with similar claims, which 
sought to block the state from setting his execution date because of what he 
called “prolonged, excruciating and needless pain” caused by the lethal 
injection drugs.

Lynn, a minister at Natural Springs Church of Christ, was fatally stabbed with 
a knife and sword outside his home in the Bazemore community 3 days before 
Christmas in 1991. Court records state Lynn was putting together Christmas 
presents for his grandchildren, when the power went out. He walked outside to 
check the power box when he was attacked.

Records state Lynn suffered 38 cuts, lacerations, and stab wounds, and one of 
his arms was almost severed. He died en route to a local hospital. His wife, 
Bessie Lynn, was wounded in the attack but survived her injuries.

Price, of Winfield, was 19 at the time and was arrested in Tennessee several 
days after the slaying. He was convicted in 1993.

(source: al.com)

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

Alabama execution called off after stay



As the clock ticked down Thursday night, Alabama prison officials announced 
they would not proceed with the lethal injection of Christopher Lee Price, even 
if the U.S. Supreme Court lifted an execution stay before midnight.

Price, who was scheduled to die on Thursday for the 1991 murder of Fayette 
County preacher Bill Lynn, received an 11th-hour stay of execution at about 
3:30 p.m. An appellate court upheld the decision at about 5:30 p.m.

Prison officials in Atmore were prepared to go forward with the execution, 
however, awaiting a final decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.

Shortly after 11:30 p.m., an Alabama Department of Corrections spokesperson 
said prison officials could not feasibly begin execution procedures before 
midnight, when Price's execution warrant expired.

"The State will not move forward with the execution of Christopher Price 
tonight," Samantha Banks said. "As a practical matter, the time remaining 
before the expiration of the death warrant does not permit sufficient time to 
accomplish the execution in accordance with established procedures. The United 
States Supreme Court has not acted to set aside the Stay of Execution."

Price had argued Alabama's lethal injection protocol has "botched" previous 
executions and could cause unconstitutional pain and suffering. Price instead 
asked to opt for death by nitrogen gas, a method Alabama approved last year but 
has yet to develop protocol for carrying out. The state argued Price failed to 
opt-in for the nitrogen method in 2018.

In the federal district order, Judge Kristi DuBose stayed Price's execution 60 
days. DuBose wrote Alabama has until May 10, 2019 to "submit evidence in 
contradiction to Price’s contention that 1) the three-drug execution protocol 
will cause or is likely to cause him severe pain and 2) that execution by 
nitrogen hypoxia will significantly reduce the substantial risk of severe 
pain.”

After the 60-day period, Alabama will likely have to seek a new date of 
execution from the Alabama Supreme Court.

“Tonight, in the middle of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, the family of 
Pastor Bill Lynn was deprived of justice," said Alabama Attorney General Steve 
Marshall in an emailed statement. Marshall's office had appealed to the Supreme 
Court to vacate Price's stay.

"They were, in effect, re-victimized by a killer trying to evade his just 
punishment. This 11th-hour stay for death row inmate Christopher Price will do 
nothing to serve the ends of justice. Indeed, it has inflicted the opposite — 
injustice, in the form of justice delayed."

Before the stay, Price prepared for the expected execution date with a number 
of visits and phone calls with his attorney, family and fiancée.

Alabama prison officials said his final request was to be married, which was 
granted. Price and his fiancée were married in the Holman Correctional Facility 
yard on April 10.

Price was convicted of the brutal slaying of Bill Lynn, a Fayette County 
preacher, during the course of a 1991 home robbery. Price was 19 at the time of 
the murder.

Lynn and his wife, Bessie, were at their Bazemore home 3 days before Christmas 
when the house's power went out. When Bill Lynn went outside to check the 
powerbox, he was attacked, according to court documents. Bessie Lynn later 
testified that two assailants then beat her before stealing jewelry and money 
from their home.

Bill Lynn, who prosecutors say was cut or stabbed 38 times with a sword and 
dagger, died at a hospital approximately 45 minutes after the attack.

Prison officials said Thursday that Bessie Lynn was prepared to witness Price's 
execution, along with Bill Lynn's 2 daughters, 2 grandsons and a nephew.

A Fayette County jury in 1993 sentenced Price to death by a vote of 10-2. Price 
later tried to contest his sentence, alleging his original trial attorney was 
unprepared for the penalty phase of his trial. Price argued the lawyer failed 
to offer evidence that the then-teenager was psychologically traumatized 
following years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of his mother's 
boyfriends. The Supreme Court declined to review his case in 2013.

Price's execution is the 2nd set by the state this year. Alabama in February 
executed Domineque Ray after an 11th-hour U.S. Supreme Court ruling vacated a 
stay of execution pending a religious rights claim. The court ruled by a narrow 
majority Ray had waited too late to bring the issue to light.

Ray, a Muslim, had argued Alabama's practice of including a Christian prison 
chaplain in the execution chamber was in violation of the First Amendment. Ray 
sought to have his imam present in the death chamber at the time of his death, 
but the state said it would only allow trained prison employees in the chamber.

The court's 5-4 decision to allow Alabama to execute Ray proved controversial 
across the country, provoking stinging criticism from both capital punishment 
opponents and conservative evangelicals, who viewed Ray's claim as a religious 
liberty issue.

(source: Montgomery Advertiser)

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

USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution

With the execution of Billie Wayne Coble in Texas on February 28, the USA has 
now executed 1,493 condemned individuals since the death penalty was 
relegalized on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. 
Gary Gilmore was the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below 
is a list of scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone 
of 1500 executions in the modern era.

NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution 
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.

1494-------Apr. 24------------John King------------------Texas

1495-------May 2--------------Dexter Johnson------------Texas

1496-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee

1497-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee

1498-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas

1499-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas

1500------Sept. 12------------Warren Henness-----------Ohio

(source: Rick Halperin)

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

Death penalty sought against woman charged with 89-year-old’s death



Prosecutors said Thursday at a court hearing they plan to pursue the death 
penalty against a woman charged in the 2013 stabbing death of an 89-year-old 
Wellborn woman.

Prosecutor Lynn Hammond said the state plans to seek the death penalty if 
Monica Marie Shively, 35, is convicted of capital murder during the course of a 
robbery or capital murder during the course of a burglary.

(source: The Anniston Star)








LOUISIANA:

Capitol Views: Death penalty on the docket



Lawmakers will debate Louisiana’s use of the death penalty this session, as a 
series of bills have been filed on the issue and appear poised to bring the 
Legislature into a contentious debate on capital punishment.

Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, who has unsuccessfully tried to abolish the 
state’s use of the death penalty in the past, has filed another bill to end 
executions. It is worth noting Claitor’s effort has picked up support in the 
House from Rep. Terry Landry, the New Iberia Democrat who served as 
superintendent of State Police from 2000-2004. “We’ve both been on different 
sides of law enforcement and see that it is not an effective deterrent,” said 
Claitor, a former prosecutor.

The Baton Rouge Republican readily admitted to supporting the death penalty 
earlier in his career but said that a visit to a Catholic school in his 
district changed his viewpoint. “It was quite literally from the mouth of 
babes,” Claitor said. “The more that I talked with these kids, it became clear 
that I was a hypocrite on the issue.”

While Claitor’s previous efforts and other similar bills have not received much 
traction in the past, the senator said he is receiving “plenty of quiet 
encouragement on the issue,” adding that even representatives of the French and 
British governments reached out to offer their support.

Opponents of the bill such as House Criminal Justice Chairman Sherman Mack, 
R-Albany, believe that Claitor’s measure is counterproductive and would cripple 
the efforts of prosecutors. “I don’t think that the district attorneys can do 
their jobs without this discretion,” Mack said.

Mack pointed to a recent string of homicides in his Livingston Parish district 
as crimes that would warrant capital punishment. “You have cases where it calls 
for the death penalty,” he said. “As the end of the day, this is about 
justice.”

Rep. Nicholas Muscarello, R-Hammond, has filed a bill that would make it easier 
for the state to perform executions by allowing the companies who provide the 
drugs for lethal injections to remain secret. Similar bills passed in Texas and 
Arkansas allowed corrections officials there to continue administering the 
death penalty after delays. “If the death penalty is on the books, we need to 
carry it out,” Muscarello said.

Muscarello’s sentiment was echoed by Mack. “Right now, the health penalty is 
the law of Louisiana,” Mack said. “Victims are asking why it is not being 
used.”

(source: businessreport.com)

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

How jury selection works in a Louisiana death penalty case



A criminal defendant’s right to trial by an impartial jury of his or her peers 
is a bedrock principle of American law, enshrined in both the United States and 
Louisiana Constitutions.

When a defendant is charged with first-degree murder and faces the death 
penalty in the Pelican State, the jury is composed of twelve people, all of 
whom must agree the defendant is guilty, before his or her execution can be 
ordered.

While there are other felonies in Louisiana that now require a jury to return a 
unanimous verdict, death penalty cases are unique, in that they are essentially 
two trials in one. The first being a legal test to determine the defendant’s 
guilt or innocence, and the second weighing the proper punishment, either the 
death penalty or life in prison at hard labor without the possibility of 
parole.

Since courts consider death the ultimate punishment, selecting a legally fair 
and proper jury takes on a heightened sense of importance in capital murder 
cases. So, like the trial themselves, jury selection in a death penalty case is 
procedurally different. Traditionally more expensive and time-consuming when 
compared to other criminal matters.

Put in the most basic sense, jury selection in a first-degree murder trial 
plays out in three phases: calling a jury pool, death qualifying potential 
jurors and seating the jury panel.

The process begins when a pool of people, called venires, show up at the parish 
courthouse for jury service, after being randomly chosen from a list of 
prospective jurors. Court officials get that list of names, sometimes referred 
to as the “jury wheel,” by combining parish voter registration rolls and driver 
licenses records.

While the typical venire or pool in a felony case is between 70 and 100 people, 
in death penalty cases the venire is much larger, usually a few hundred people.

Once the venire is chosen and assigned to the courtroom where the death penalty 
case is set to be tried, the judge presiding over the trial may excuse certain 
potential jurors from serving based on medical, financial or other hardship 
reasons or excuses. Because capital murder cases can last several weeks, 
Louisiana courts are more mindful of hardship pleas in these types of trials, 
but excusal from service is still rare.

At this point, defense attorneys, the prosecution and the judge, start asking 
potential jurors questions. Lawyers call this process “voir dire” and it is 
meant to weed out individuals from the jury pool who cannot keep an open and 
fair mind to both the defendant and the law.

This is where the greatest difference between a death penalty case and other 
felony trials is seen.

In Louisiana, juries must be “death qualified” when execution is a possible 
sentence. Therefore, during this 1st part of voir dire, potential jurors are 
asked about their views regarding capital punishment. Here, the court is trying 
to determine whether jurors will follow Louisiana law if called upon to 
sentence a defendant found guilty of 1st-degree murder.

Courts can eliminate “for cause” anyone who is absolutely opposed to voting for 
the death penalty. Prosecutors will generally move to “strike” any person who 
has doubts about execution, and defense attorneys usually try to exclude jurors 
who are so pro-death penalty they might ignore life in prison as a possible 
sentence.

Members of the venire that remain after this first phase of voir dire are 
“death qualified.”

This is when the 2nd part of voir dire begins, with lawyers asking questions 
geared towards the potential jurors’ background, including education, 
occupation, family life, criminal record, and religious beliefs. In this phase 
of the proceedings, the defense and prosecution are hoping to root out any 
hidden biases that might tilt the jury in favor of or against the defendant.

Both the defense team and prosecutors are given a limited number of “peremptory 
challenges,” which allow them to strike potential jurors without having to show 
bias or give a reason for their exclusion.

Once the venire is culled to 12 persons, plus alternates, the panel is sworn in 
and jury selection is complete. This is the point where “ legal jeopardy” 
attaches, meaning the defendant is now on trial, facing the possibility of 
conviction and punishment.

(source: KSLA news)

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

Former death row inmate calls for end of death penalty in Louisiana



On the steps of the Louisiana Capitol Building, the executive director of the 
ACLU in the state, Alanah Hebert, and a former death row inmate urged lawmakers 
to end the death penalty.

"We are here today because the death penalty is a broken process from start to 
finish,” Hebert said.

Standing next to Hebert was Shareef Cousin. He was sentenced to death for the 
murder of a New Orleans man who was coming out of a restaurant in the French 
Quarter back in the 90s. He was sentenced to death when he was 16-years-old.

"I was innocent. I was framed,” Cousin said. “While on death row, people could 
not imagine the mental anguish that I had to go through as a child.”

After being on death row for nearly three years, his case was dismissed by the 
Louisiana Supreme Court and he was exonerated.

"The likelihood of being sentenced to death doesn’t depend on someone’s account 
of the severity of the crime, but rather on their lack of adequate legal 
representation, the color of their skin, or the state where they happen to 
live,” Hebert said.

House Bill 215, filed by Terry Landry, D-New Iberia, would eliminate the death 
penalty in Louisiana for any offenses committed on or after Aug. 1.

Opponents like Special Assistant Attorney General John Sinquefield, who has 
prosecuted several death penalty cases, do not believe it should be repealed. 
He says he does not believe an innocent man could be put to death under the 
current system.

"Where we have DNA and all the modern forensics, death penalty cases and 
Louisiana reserved for people or there is an absolute certainty of guilt and 
then that’s reviewed,” Sinquefield said.

He says the death penalty is a necessary deterrent for the most serious 
offenders.

“It’s critical now,” he said. “It’s worse than ever. We have murder rates that 
to me are sad and astounding.”

For Cousin, the lack of protection was all too real for him while he was 
serving his time.

"In my case, it was no DNA evidence that would have exonerated me,” Cousin 
said.

According to the ACLU, Louisiana leads the nation in death row exonerations per 
capita, having released 11 men since the punishment was reinstated in the 
1970s.

(source: WASB news)




OHIO:

Judge upholds death penalty case----Man convicted in ’89 killing, attack on 
pair



A Trumbull County Common Pleas Court judge’s decision issued Thursday upholds 
the death penalty for a man convicted in 1989 of killing a man and attacking a 
woman in their home.

Andre Williams, 51, was sentenced to death for the Feb. 17, 1989, beating death 
of George Melnick, 65, of Warren, and the beating, blinding and attempted rape 
of Melnick’s wife, Katherine. He has lost a series of appeals in an effort to 
get off death row since the 1990s.

In 2003, his defense attorneys filed an Atkins petition, claiming he was too 
intellectually disabled to be sentenced to death. The U.S. Supreme Court has 
ruled it unconstitutional to execute someone who is intellectually disabled. 
The state dismissed the case at the request of prosecutors, without a hearing, 
because his defense team didn’t submit evidence showing an intellectual 
disability.

Williams’ expert reported his IQ was 75, putting him on the “borderline range 
of intelligence.” The 11th District Court of Appeals sent it back to the court 
to readdress the issues. In a revised judgment, the judge ruled against 
Williams again without a hearing.

The decision was appealed again and upheld by the appeals court, and the Ohio 
Supreme Court did not hear the case. Williams then field the petition with 
federal court, which was denied.

But, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision and sent 
the case back to the U.S. District Court to grant Williams a conditional writ 
of habeas corpus, protecting him from the death penalty until further 
proceedings.

Hearings were held in 2017 in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court before Judge 
W. Wyatt McKay.

Experts testified about variations in test scores Williams took over several 
years, including when he was a child, and went over evaluations conducted to 
determine his functional abilities.

In order to qualify to be spared the death penalty because of an intellectual 
disability, a defendant has to prove 3 things — “significantly subaverage 
intellectual functioning, significant limitation in 2 or more adaptive skills 
like communication, self care and self direction, and that the disability began 
before age 18.

Williams’ intellectual testing scores were “borderline,” a test of his adaptive 
functions revealed no “significant limitations” and although Williams required 
special classes while in school, that classification was not a diagnosis, but a 
decision made for education, Wyatt’s ruling states.

Williams is being held at Chillicothe Correctional Institution.

(source: Tribune Chronicle)








CALIFORNIA:

Poll: Nearly 50% of Californians favor life in prison over death penalty



District attorneys from across California criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom's 
moratorium on the death penalty Thursday.

The criticism came as a new poll shows Californians are divided over capital 
punishment.

"Death row killers have murdered over a thousand victims across California. 200 
+ of those victims are children, well over 40 are police officers," Sacramento 
County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said at a press conference.

While district attorneys were critical of the governor's executive order, 
family members of victims shared their painful stories, calling on the Newsom 
to rescind his executive order.

"I felt betrayed by Gov. Newsom," said Phyllis Loya, whose son was murdered. "I 
felt like he was a thief in the night who stole justice from us."

"The voters approved the death penalty in 2012 in this state," Orange County 
District Attorney Todd Spitzer said. "They re-approved it in 2016. In fact, in 
2016, they said they wanted the death penalty actually expedited."

A poll by Quinnipiac University released Thursday shows the opinion of 
California voters has changed: 41% favor capital punishment for people 
convicted of murder while 48% favor life in prison without the possibility of 
parole as a punishment.

As for the governor's moratorium, which halts the execution of more than 700 
inmates currently on death row, public opinion is virtually split, the poll 
shows: 44% agree with Newsom while 46% disapprove of the order.

The issue is more divided when looking at the political parties:

68% of Republicans prefer the death penalty as a punishment for people 
convicted of murder, while 22% favor life without parole.

69% of Democrats prefer life in prison without parole as a punishment for 
people convicted of murder, while 24% prefer the death penalty.

A spokesperson for the governor said Newsom sends his condolences to family 
members of the victims.

The spokesperson also said Newsom met with many victims’ families before making 
his decision. Schubert said he only met with 1.

(source: KCRA news)








WASHINGTON:

Legislature, abolish Washington’s death penalty



Washington’s death penalty has squandered millions in public resources and been 
applied unevenly, especially to people of color and those in urban areas.

The state House should follow the Senate in approving Senate Bill 5339. It’s 
time to take that ineffective and unconstitutional law off the books.

The Washington Supreme Court ruled in October that the way Washington 
administered the death penalty was unconstitutional, but the court’s action did 
not eliminate capital punishment in the state. To purge the penalty from state 
law, the Legislature must vote to repeal.

Use of Washington’s death penalty was racially biased and arbitrarily 
administered, the justices ruled. Opopponents have been saying that for years. 
Research quoted in the Supreme Court decision found that, in this state, “black 
defendants were four and a half times more likely to be sentenced to death than 
similarly situated white defendants.”

The Supreme Court acknowledged that the Legislature could “fix” the death 
penalty and make it more fair. But this Legislature and the lawmakers who will 
follow in its footsteps should not be allowed to do so.

Lawmakers have failed for years to pass laws similar to SB 5339. Now, with the 
court ruling affirming credible arguments against it, is the perfect time to 
end Washington’s death penalty.

Yes, some Washingtonians still believe the death penalty is a deterrent to 
crime. That is not the opinion of many government officials prosecuting crimes, 
including longtime King County prosecuting attorney Dan Satterberg, who has 
said on these pages: “It is my duty to report that the death penalty law in our 
state is broken and cannot be fixed. It no longer serves the interests of 
public safety, criminal justice, or the needs of victims.”

Since Washington reinstated the death penalty in 1981, 33 people were sentenced 
to die, although some had their sentences changed on appeal, and 5 have been 
executed. Gov. Jay Inslee declared a moratorium on executions in 2014. The 
Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling converted the sentences for the state’s 
remaining eight death-row inmates to life in prison without release.

In the past 15 years, seven states have ended their death penalties and 
Washington, Colorado and Oregon adopted moratoriums. Only a few states continue 
to execute prisoners, including Texas, Florida, Georgia and Oklahoma, and 
nationally death sentences have decreased dramatically.

The decrease is due, in part, because few municipalities can afford the cost of 
trial and death-penalty appeals. Seeking the death penalty adds at least $1 
million to the cost of prosecution in Washington state.

The death penalty squanders public resources, has been applied unevenly and is 
not a deterrent to crime. It should be abolished for good in Washington state.

(source: The Seattle Times editorial board members are editorial page editor 
Kate Riley, Frank A. Blethen, Donna Gordon Blankinship, Brier Dudley, Mark 
Higgins and William K. Blethen (emeritus))