[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., FLA., ALA., TENN.

[Rick Halperin]

August 9



TEXAS----new execution date

Local death row inmate set with execution date



District Attorney Randall Sims came forward with an official execution date for 
the ongoing death penalty case for Travis Runnels.

Runnels has been on death row for 13 years for the murder of a prison 
supervisor of a shoe-making shop in Amarillo’s Clements unit.

Thursday, the 47th District Attorney announced the date of his execution is set 
for December 11, 2019.

Travis Runnels Criminal History Timeline:

Runnels criminal history started in 1993, where he was convicted of 2nd-degree 
felony of burglary. He would go on the accumulate 2 more felony charges.

His 2nd felony charge of aggravated robbery included carrying a deadly weapon. 
He was sentenced to 70 years in prison and would be eligible for parole in 
2025.

His final felony charge while in prison in Amarillo would later lead to his 
death penalty.

In 2003, Runnels was working on the cleaning staff in the Clements unit boot 
shop, and had disputes because he wanted to work in the prison’s barbershop. On 
the day of the murder, Runnels asked another inmate for his boot knife where he 
would later walk behind the shop’s supervisor, Stanley Wiley, and slit his 
throat.

He was charged with murder after pleading guilty.

In 2005, the charge then turned into a Capital murder conviction, and 2 days 
later he was sentenced with the death penalty.

After many appeals were denied, on August 8th 2019, the 47th District Attorney 
announced Runnels execution date is set for December 11, 2019.

At the news conference, NewsChannel10 asked the District Attorney why the 
courts decided to pursue the death penalty when many prosecutors have been 
shying away due to expense.

“I’m not going to let expense or politics ever interfere with the decision 
about what I’m going to do on that. I’ve got office policies, I’ve got 5 things 
in it, the very first one is always do the right thing,” explained 47th 
District Attorney Randall C. Sims.

The District Attorney also explained how inmates came forward with no reward on 
behalf of Wiley.

“There were 8 inmates that testified against Travis Runnels and the reason they 
did it, I’ll sum it up as 'he’s the nicest man out there, he treated us as 
equals and was very nice to everybody out there, including the inmates. The 
inmate that gave the boot knife to Mr. Runnels, while he was the stand, he 
cried just nearly the whole time,” said Sims.

There are 219 inmates currently on Texas’ death row. Texas, which reinstated 
the death penalty in 1976, has the most active execution chamber in the nation.

(source: KFDA news)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----43

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----561

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

44---------Aug. 15----------------Dexter Johnson----------562

45---------Aug. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------563

46---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------564

47---------Sept. 10---------------Mark Anthony Soliz------565

48---------Sept. 25---------------Robert Sparks-----------566

49---------Oct. 2-----------------Stephen Barbee----------567

50---------Oct. 10----------------Randy Halprin-----------568

51---------Oct. 16----------------Randall Mays------------569

52---------Oct. 30----------------Ruben Gutierrez---------570

53---------Nov. 6-----------------Justen Hall-------------571

54---------Nov. 20----------------Rodney Reed-------------572

55---------Dec. 11---------------Travis Runnels-----------573

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

USA----impending/scheduled executions

With the execution of Marion Wilson Jr. in Georgia on June 20, the USA has now 
executed 1,500 condemned individuals since the death penalty was re-legalized 
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 further scheduled executions as the nation continues its shameful 
practice of state-sponsored killings.

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

1501------Aug. 15-------------Dexter Johnson-----------Texas

1502-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee

1503-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas

1504-------Aug. 22------------Gary Ray Bowles----------Florida

1505-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas

1506-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas

1507-------Sept 25------------Robert Sparks------------Texas

1508-------Oct. 1-------------Russell Bucklew----------Missouri

1509-------Oct. 2-------------Stephen Barbee-----------Texas

1510-------Oct. 10------------Randy Halprin------------Texas

1511-------Oct. 16------------Randall Mays-------------Texas

1512-------Oct. 30------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas

1513-------Nov. 3-9-----------Charles Rhines-----------South Dakota

1514-------Nov. 6-------------Justen Hall--------------Texas

1515-------Nov. 20------------Rodney Reed--------------Texas

1516-------Dec. 5-------------Lee Hall Jr.-------------Tennessee

1517-------Dec. 9-------------Daniel Lewis Lee---------Federal - Ark.

1518-------Dec. 11------------James Hanna--------------Ohio

1519-------Dec. 11------------Travis Runnels-----------Texas

1519-------Dec. 11------------Lezmond Mitchell---------Federal - Ariz.

1529-------Dec. 13------------Wesley Purkey------------Federal - Mo.

1521-------Jan. 13-----------Alfred Bourgeois----------Federal - Tex.

1522-------Jan. 15-----------Dusten Honken-------------Federal - Iowa

1523-------Jan. 16-----------Kareem Jackson------------Ohio

(source: Rick Halperin)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Prosecutors Pursue Death Penalty For Murder Of Pregnant Bristol Twp. Woman



Prosecutors filed paperwork Thursday to pursue the death penalty against 
28-year-old Jaleel Lamar Loper.

Loper, a Philadelphia resident, is accused of killing 30-year-old Anna Angok, 
who was pregnant, inside her unit at the Glen Hollow Apartments off 
Newportville Road in Bristol Township’s Croydon section on September 26, 2018. 
The lifeless body of the 30-year-old woman was discovered with her 2-year-old 
daughter in tears sitting nearby.

The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office notice of aggravating circumstances 
requested the right to seek the death penalty is Loper is found guilty of 
1st-degree murder. Prosecutors listed 2 aggravating circumstances - a history 
of felony convictions and the fact Angok was in her 3rd trimester of pregnancy.

No date for trial has been set.

Angok died of strangulation. Her body was found with black and blue bruising 
around her neck and abrasions.

Loper told investigators after the death that he had been arguing with his 
ex-girlfriend Angok in the days leading up to her murder. He also said he knew 
she was pregnant.

As of August 1, 139 people are on Pennsylvania’s death row, but the governor 
has imposed a moratorium on executions. Those from Bucks County are: Robert 
Flor, Robert Diamond, Marcel Johnson, and Richard Laird.

(source: levittownnow.com)








FLORIDA:

Resentencing for convicted cop killer Paul Beasley Johnson delayed



Convicted cop killer Paul Beasley Johnson, who’s been on Florida’s death row 
for nearly 4 decades, will have to wait another 4 months before he’s 
resentenced for the 1981 killing rampage that left one Polk County Sheriff’s 
Office deputy dead.

Chief Circuit Judge Ellen Masters agreed to delay the hearing, which was 
scheduled to begin Monday, after lawyers for the state and for Johnson each 
sought to postpone the resentencing. The hearing, which is expected to take 3 
weeks, has been rescheduled to Dec. 2.

The postponement comes on the heels of a ruling last week to deny the state’s 
request to delay the trial.

In that motion, prosecutors had sought to delay the resentencing until the 
Florida Supreme Court ruled on a related pending case that, if decided in the 
state’s favor, likely would negate the need for Johnson to be resentenced.

Johnson is being resentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in January 2016 
that the state’s death penalty process was unconstitutional, forcing the 
Florida Legislature to change state laws regarding death sentence cases. The 
Florida Supreme Court ruled about a year later that the new laws, which require 
jurors, not judges, to determine whether the state has proven its aggravating 
factors supporting a death sentence, should be retroactive to June 2002. That 
date reflects a U.S. Supreme Court ruling mandating the change that Florida 
eventually imposed.

The new sentencing laws also call for a unanimous jury recommendation for 
death. The former law required only a simple majority.

Although Johnson was first convicted in 1981, he had been granted a new 
sentencing hearing that was held in 2013. Jurors recommended death for each of 
3 murders for which Johnson was convicted, and the judge followed that 
recommendation.

Since Johnson’s most recent sentencing came after 2002, he automatically became 
eligible for a resentencing hearing.

However, in January, 3 of the 7 Florida Supreme Court justices retired and new 
justices joined the bench, shifting the balance to a more conservative Supreme 
Court. The new court is considering a case that would overturn that 
retroactivity, and if granted, that action could halt the resentencings in an 
estimated 150 death penalty cases statewide, including 6 in Polk County.

Assistant State Attorney Paul Wallace made that argument, in part, to Circuit 
Judge Donald Jacobsen last week, but Jacobsen ruled that he had a mandate to 
hold a sentencing hearing for Johnson and he needed to proceed with that 
mandate. Jacobsen was on medical leave this week, so the joint request for a 
postponement went to Masters.

On Wednesday, Assistant Public Defender Peter Mills, who had argued against the 
state’s postponement request last week, came forward seeking to delay the 
hearing. He declined to comment Thursday on his reasons for seeking the delay 
Thursday.

Johnson, 70, was convicted of killing William Evans, a Winter Haven cab driver, 
during the early morning hours of Jan. 9, 1981, then hitching a ride in 
Lakeland with Darrell Ray Beasley and Amy Reid. When he asked them to stop 
along Drane Field Road so he could relieve himself, he held Beasley at gunpoint 
outside the car. Johnson fatally shot Beasley as Reid jumped behind the wheel 
to seek help. Deputy Theron Burnham responded to the call, and Johnson shot the 
deputy with his own service revolver. Johnson was taken into custody a day 
later.

In its most recent decision, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the murder 
convictions against Johnson, so only his sentence is before the Circuit Court 
now.

(source: newschief.com)

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

State calls for the death penalty for man accused of killing pregnant niece



On Thursday morning, Jonathan Quiles, the man accused of killing his pregnant 
teenage niece may face the death penalty.

Quiles pleaded not guilty, but the state said it plans to ask for the death 
penalty during his trial.

He is the sole suspect in the disappearance of Iyana Sawyer, and during his 
arraignment for 1st-degree murder charges, he walked into the courtroom with 
his hands shackled together. In July, Action News Jax news told you the State 
Attorney’s Office charged Quiles with 2 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 count 
of sexual battery.

On the other side of the room the prosecutor stood up and told the judge based 
on the evidence in the case the state would seek the death penalty.

4 months ago Action News Jax went through hours of interrogation video where 
they found evidence the 2 were in a relationship together.

They also said Sawyer wrote about her pregnancy in her diary and claims Quiles 
was upset about it, but he denied any inappropriate relationship with his 
niece.

The 16-year-old disappeared in December while she was 5 months pregnant.

Police she was last seen leaving Terry Parker High School.

Sources revealed in January that a landfill search off Otis Road was related to 
the teen’s case.

Sawyer’s body has never been found.

As soon as Quiles left the courtroom, Iyana Sawyer’s family stood up, all of 
them wearing T-shirts with the teen’s face, some with the words “We love and 
miss you Princess Ya-Ya."

We also asked Sawyer’s family if they had anything to say after the arraignment 
but they told us "no comment."

(source: WOKV news)








ALABAMA:

HELLISH DEATH -- Baby died in ‘horror and pain’ with 89 injuries on his 1st 
birthday after being ‘sexually tortured by monster mother and her boyfriend’



A BABY died in "horror and pain" on his first birthday having suffered horrific 
sexual abuse at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend, prosecutors said.

Hoss Wayne Benham was found to have 89 injuries across his body after being 
brought unresponsive to a hospital in Cullman, Alabama.

His mother, Crystal Ballenger, and her boyfriend, Jeffrey Hugh Brown, at first 
claimed he had died in the bath tub at their trailer home, the Cullman Times 
reported. An autopsy later revealed Hoss had 38 injuries to his head and neck 
inflicted by blunt-force trauma.

He had 4 injuries to each eye, 19 across on his arms and legs, 6 on his torso, 
and 7 to his genitalia and anus.

He died on March 11 2014, a year to the day after his birth.

Ballenger and Brown both face charges of capital murder and sexual torture, and 
could receive the death penalty or life in prison if found guilty.

Both reportedly tested positive for drugs including methamphetamine after 
Hoss's death.

Brown had been due to stand trial later this month, almost four years since he 
was indicted, but at a hearing on Tuesday a request by his attorney that the 
trial be adjourned was granted.

He will now stand trial no earlier than September, with no reason for the delay 
having been given.

It is not clear when Ballenger will stand trial.

'BEAUTIFUL SMILE'

Speaking after the couple were indicted in October 2015, prosecutor Wilson 
Blaylock said: "It’s really unbelievable and just hard to read what happened to 
this infant child.

"His last 36 hours were spent in horror and pain."

A woman identifying herself as Hoss's great grandmother on an online memorial 
to the one-year-old wrote: "He was my 1st great grand son and I miss him every 
single day and he is always on my mind.

"I look to heaven every night and tell him goodnight, because I know he is in 
heaven and he watches over us all.

"I Love You and miss you and I miss that beautiful smile that was always on 
your face.

"From your great nana."

(source: thesun.co.uk)








TENNESSEE:

Death Row Prisoners to Governor: Come Pray With Us ---- 'We understand you are 
a man of faith and we would like to ask you to please come pray with us'



With another execution scheduled for next week, death row visitors and death 
penalty opponents are increasing pressure on Gov. Bill Lee to respond to an 
invitation from 32 death row prisoners. The condemned men want the governor to 
come pray with them.

Dan Mann, who has been visiting death row with his wife since 2011, says the 
men first made the request after Don Johnson's execution in May but have gotten 
no response from the governor or his office.

The letter is short and simple.

"We understand you are a man of faith and we would like to ask you to please 
come pray with us."

With the Lee administration ignoring the death row prisoners, the people who 
visit them and others who oppose the death penalty are planning a march on 
Saturday from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution - which houses death row - 
to Legislative Plaza. Mann says they'll hold a vigil there until Monday 
morning, when they'll bring the letter to Lee's office.

At a press conference Thursday afternoon, Rev. Kevin Riggs of Franklin 
Community Church - in Williamson County, where Lee is from - noted that one of 
the men who signed the letter, Kevin Burns, was ordained as a pastor by his 
church.

Riggs said he was there "to ask my neighbor, my governor to honor this request. 
He's a man of faith and I believe that with all my heart. I admire his prison 
ministry, he's been involved in prison ministry most of his adult life."

On the campaign trail, Lee spoke often about his Christian faith and his work 
with the prison ministry Men of Valor. Nevertheless, he denied clemency for 
Johnson - himself a Christian and ordained elder in the Seventh Day Adventist 
Church - in May, clearing the way for the first execution during his tenure as 
governor.

A visit to death row would not be unprecedented for a Tennessee governor. Gov. 
Frank Clement famously visited condemned inmates, and in 1965 he commuted the 
sentences of every man on death row.

(source: nashvillescene.com)

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

Friends of current inmates facing the death penalty are demanding answers from 
the Governor of Tennessee in a "March 4 Mercy" on Thursday.



The friends gathered outside Legislative Plaza, asking why Governor Lee has not 
responded to a letter the inmates sent to him back in June.

They asked the Governor to pray with them.

Organizers said inmates on death row were hopeful for a response.

The group re-delivered the original letter to the Governor's Office on 
Thursday, hoping to hear back.

They attempted to speak with Governor Lee, but have only been able to talk to 
his staff.

(source: WSMV news)

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

Death penalty sought for Tennessee man accused of killing 8



The state says it will seek the death penalty in its case against a Tennessee 
man charged with killing 8 people.

Sumner County District Ray Whitley confirmed a grand jury returned a 12-count 
indictment Thursday against 25-year-old Michael Cummins. Whitley filed a notice 
to seek the death penalty.

Cummins is charged with killing his parents, uncle and a 12-year-old girl in 
rural Westmoreland in April. 6 bodies were found at one home, and 2 more 
elsewhere. Affidavits say the victims died from blunt-force head injuries.

At the time, Cummins was close to being arrested for probation violations. He 
was on probation after serving just 16 months of a 10-year sentence on a 
conviction for attempting to burn down a neighbor's house and assaulting her 
when she tried to put out the fire.

(source: Associated Press)