[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, ALA., LA., OHIO

[Rick Halperin]

August 15



TEXAS----stay of impending execution

Federal court stops execution of Dexter Johnson within 24 hours of his 
scheduled death----In his recent appeals, Johnson has claimed he is 
intellectually disabled and therefore ineligible for the death penalty. He was 
convicted of a double murder in Harris County that took place in 2006.



A federal appellate court halted the execution of Texas inmate Dexter Johnson 
on Wednesday evening, less than 24 hours before he was set to die.

The court stayed his execution and sent the case back to the district court to 
look into newly raised claims of intellectual disability.

Johnson, 31, was sentenced to death for his role in a double murder in 2006 
days after he turned 18. Johnson and 4 other teens carjacked and robbed Maria 
Aparece, 23, and Huy Ngo, 17, while they sat in her car outside Ngo's house. 
According to court records, Johnson and the others took the young couple to a 
secluded area where Johnson raped Aparece before he and another teen shot them 
both, killing them.

The murders were part of what Harris County prosecutors have described as a 
25-day crime spree by Johnson and others that also included 3 other slayings. 
Johnson has been on death row since his conviction in 2007.

In recent appeals, Johnson has argued that he is intellectually disabled and 
therefore ineligible for the death penalty under U.S. Supreme Court precedent. 
Intellectual disability has become a main focus of Texas death penalty law 
after years of back and forth between the U.S. Supreme Court and the Texas 
Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of Bobby Moore. Ultimately, the high 
court invalidated Texas’ method of determining the disability, and then, after 
the state court still ruled Moore was not intellectually disabled, overruled 
that decision in February and said he has shown that he is.

Johnson had already argued he was intellectually disabled in an April appeal 
rejected by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, shortly before a May execution 
date that a federal judge later postponed in an unrelated filing. But a new 
attorney raised a similar claim this month in both state and federal court, 
mentioning recent IQ and neuropsychological tests that put Johnson's IQ below 
the threshold of intellectual disability. The attorney also noted severe 
limitations in language skills and a “pronounced stutter.”

His attorney argued that the disability could be raised under new evidence 
because medical standards on intellectual disability have changed since his 
trial.

The state court again dismissed Johnson’s appeal Tuesday, but the federal 
appellate court issued a stay of execution Wednesday evening. He was set to be 
executed after 6 p.m. Thursday.

In deciding to stop the execution, the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals listed 
numerous deficits Johnson had, such as struggling to articulate words and not 
being able to follow bus directions or manage money. The judges also noted that 
an expert witness at trial who claimed Johnson was not intellectually disabled 
said he would no longer testify to that.

But the stay of execution doesn't state that Johnson is ineligible for the 
death penalty. The case goes back to the district court, which will look 
further into the appeal.

Harris County, which argued for the Court of Criminal Appeals to lessen Moore’s 
sentence, fought against Johnson’s claim of intellectual disability in recent 
filings. Prosecutors said that at trial, Johnson raised not the issue of 
intellectual disability, but of low intellectual functioning caused by 
traumatic brain injury or mental illness, according to their filing. They also 
cited slightly higher IQ scores from the time of his trial and stated Johnson 
is "a man deserving of the ultimate punishment."

Johnson was set to be the 4th execution in Texas this year. A dozen more are 
scheduled through December.

(source: Texas Tribune)

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

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. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------562

45---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------563

46---------Sept. 10---------------Mark Anthony Soliz------564

47---------Sept. 25---------------Robert Sparks-----------565

48---------Oct. 2-----------------Stephen Barbee----------566

49---------oct. 10----------------Randy Halprin-----------567

50---------Oct. 16----------------Randall Mays------------568

51---------Oct. 30----------------Ruben Gutierrez---------569

52---------Nov. 6-----------------Justen Hall-------------570

53---------Nov. 20----------------Rodney Reed-------------571

54---------Dec. 11---------------Travis Runnels-----------572

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

Death penalty sought in Oklahoma double murder case



Prosecutors in Texas say they will seek the death penalty for a professional 
MMA fighter accused in the deaths of 2.

Bell County District Attorney Henry Garza said Monday his office has filed 
formal notice to seek the death penalty against 45-year-old Cedric Marks.Marks 
was indicted for the slayings of 28-year-old Jenna Scott and 32-year-old 
Michael Swearingin.

The bodies were found in a shallow grace in Clearview, Oklahoma.

Investigators say the two friends were killed Jan. 3 at a residence in Killeen, 
Texas.

Marks, Scott's ex-boyfriend, has pleaded not guilty.

His current girlfriend, Maya Maxwell, also faces charges in the case.

(source: KRMG news)








ALABAMA:

Alabama AG’s office silent on new execution method



Attorney General Steve Marshall has denied AL.com’s request to see a contract 
Marshall’s office entered related to the development of a new method of 
execution using nitrogen gas, the latest move in a policy of secrecy regarding 
how the state puts prisoners to death.

In July, Marshall’s office hired a Tennessee company, FDR Safety, and Joseph 
Wolfsberger, an industrial hygienist for the firm.

Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, who chairs the contract review committee, said 
it was his understanding that the contract was to provide expert testimony in 
case of litigation over the new execution method, which has never been used in 
any state.

FDR Safety declined to say what the contract involved, citing client 
confidentiality. The company’s website says providing expert witnesses is one 
of the services it offers.

AL.com requested a copy of the contract in July, when the contract went before 
the Legislature’s contract review committee. On Tuesday, Marshall’s office 
notified AL.com that it would not provide the contract.

The state’s open records law requires state agencies to make contracts and 
other records available to the public. Marshall’s office said it does not have 
to disclose the contract with FDR Safety because it falls under exceptions in 
the open records law regarding security and the best interests of the public.

The contract will pay FDR Safety at the rate of $300 an hour up to an amount of 
$25,000. The contract runs through June 2021.

That’s a relatively small state contract. But the denial follows the refusal of 
Marshall’s office to provide any information about the development of the 
nitrogen execution method. His office declined to respond to a series of 
questions, including how the method might work, whether it would involve a gas 
mask or gas chamber, whether Alabama is collaborating with other states, and 
what was the purpose of the FDR Safety contract.

The Alabama Legislature passed a bill allowing inmates to opt for execution by 
nitrogen hypoxia last year. The method would be an alternative to lethal 
injection.

The concept for nitrogen executions is believed to be that the inmate would die 
by breathing only nitrogen, with no oxygen.

Oklahoma and Mississippi have also passed laws authorizing the method.

Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, 
which tracks state execution methods and policies, said the states that 
intended to offer nitrogen executions are encountering problems they did not 
anticipate. For example, he said Oklahoma has indicated it was having 
difficulty finding companies to sell the state any materials that would be 
needed. States had previously run into the same problems obtaining the drugs 
used in lethal injections.

“There’s still a lot we don’t know about executions with nitrogen,” Dunham 
said. “And I think the amount of time it’s taking states to come up with 
protocols shows us just how little we knew. It’s never been done before. It’s 
experimental. And we still don’t know how it’s going to work or if it’s going 
to work.”

The lack of public information on development of the nitrogen execution method 
follows a battle between Alabama officials and news organizations over access 
to the state’s lethal injection protocol.

The protocol became an issue in a lawsuit filed by death row inmate Doyle Lee 
Hamm. The state attempted to execute Hamm in February 2018 but called the 
procedure off after medical personnel were unable to find a usable vein.

Alabama Media Group, which includes AL.com, along with the Associated Press and 
The Montgomery Advertiser, filed a motion in Hamm’s case seeking release of the 
protocol.

U.S. Chief District Judge Karon O. Bowdre ruled in favor of the news 
organizations, citing the public’s "common law right of access to the sealed 
records relating to Alabama’s lethal injection protocol.” The U.S. 11th Circuit 
Court of Appeals upheld Bowdre’s decision.

It’s unclear whether the state will appeal.

(source: al.com)








LOUISIANA:

Louisiana seeks death penalty for mom accused in baby’s burning death



Louisiana is seeking the death penalty for a woman charged with 1st-degree 
murder in the death of her 6-month-old son.

The Alexandria Town Talk reports the state has filed notice to seek death for 
Hanna Nicole Barker over the July death of Levi Cole Ellerbe.

Barker was arrested last month about a week after she reported Levi had been 
kidnapped by men who pepper-sprayed her. A motorist reported a fire nearby 
Barker’s home about an hour later and Levi was found at scene with 3rd- and 
2nd-degree burns covering 90% of his body. He died the next day.

Authorities say Barker asked her girlfriend Felicia Marie-Nicole Smith to kill 
Levi. Smith is also charged with first-degree murder and has a hearing later 
this month.

Barker’s trial is set for January.

(source: Associated Press)








OHIO:

Parma Heights man convicted in prison pen-pal murders sentenced to death vows 
‘it’s not over’



A Cuyahoga County Judge on Tuesday imposed the death sentence on a man who 
stabbed 2 people in their Parma Heights home and then tried to hire a man to 
burn their bodies in a failed cover-up in 2017.

Common Pleas Court Judge Deena Calabrese announced her sentence of Thomas Knuff 
Jr., convicted in the May 2017 killings of John Mann and Regina Copabianco.

Jurors recommended last month that Knuff be executed, and Calabrese accepted 
their recommendation.

“As a defendant in my courtroom, I’ve never seen someone with as little remorse 
as you,” she told Knuff.

Knuff, dressed in slacks and a dress shirt with rolled-up sleeves exposing his 
tattooed forearms, vowed that his case was not over.

“When you show emotion and say you’re sorry, they say you’re lying. When you 
don’t, you’re a psychopath," Knuff said.

Knuff said Cuyahoga County Prosecutors and Parma Heights police officers lied 
during his trial to secure his conviction, and vowed that they would one day 
have to answer to those lies.

“I’m going to pursue every avenue to get the truth out,” Knuff said.

Knuff later shook his head and stared at Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor 
Anna Faraglia as she told Calabrese that the prosecutor’s office does not 
“railroad people."

Faraglia began to tell Knuff that he could stare at her, just like he did 
during the eight weeks of trial in May, June and July.

Knuff blurted out “because you lied for 8 weeks."

Knuff, who also broke into two hair salons before his arrest and plotting a 
jailbreak after he was taken into custody, became the third person this year to 
be condemned to death row from a Cuyahoga County courtroom.

Mann’s son Jonathan Mann, who lives in Columbus and did not attend the trial, 
spoke after Calabrese announced the death sentence. He said he personally had 
wanted Knuff to die for what he did to his father, and that he deserved no 
mercy from the court. But the younger Mann told Calabrese he did not want Knuff 
to be executed, citing the high cost of death-penalty appeals.

“I want you all to hear it from a man who wanted him dead,” he said.

Capobianco’s sister, Toni Bender, told Calabrese that she was glad Knuff was 
sentenced to the death penalty.

“I hope you die in prison a lonely, lonely man,” she said. “Your death cannot 
come soon enough for me.”

Knuff befriended Capobianco through an inmate-to-inmate pen-pal program in the 
2000s and moved in with her and Mann on Nelwood Road in Parma Heights in April 
2017 when he was released on parole, after serving 15 years for an aggravated 
robbery conviction.

Capobianco’s and Knuff’s convictions meant they could not live with each other 
while on parole. An argument over which one was going to stay with Mann ensued 
and escalated until Knuff stabbed them both, prosecutors said.

Capobianco was stabbed 6 times, and Mann was stabbed 15 times, a pathologist 
from the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office testified.

Knuff left the pair’s bodies in the bedroom for more than 2 months, as he 
concocted a series of lies to conceal his deeds. He then solicited the help of 
his girlfriend, a former social worker at the state prison where Knuff was 
housed, and a man named Robert DeLugo to dispose of the bodies.

After police arrested Knuff in break-ins at two beauty salons, Knuff penned a 
letter from jail to DeLugo asking him to burn the bodies. He directed DeLugo in 
the letter to go to the bedroom, where “the most incriminating s--t" was, a 
reference to Mann’s and Capobianco’s bodies, and to use kerosene because it 
“burns hotter."

DeLugo did not carry out the deed.

Capobianco’s family reported her missing in the days after the killings and 
police visited the home, but did not try to go inside.

Officers eventually went back into the house on June 21 and a detective 
discovered Capobianco’s skull buried under debris in the bedroom, prosecutors 
said. Authorities then found Mann’s body within minutes, and launched a 
homicide investigation.

Knuff’s lawyers maintained at trial that Knuff walked into the house and 
discovered Capobianco fatally stabbing Mann, and stabbed her in self-defense 
when she turned the knife on him. They criticized Parma Heights police’s 
investigation of the crime.

Knuff sought to cover up the killings because he feared he would go back to 
prison for a parole violation, even though he acted in self-defense, his 
lawyers said.

Knuff will be shipped to death row at the at a time when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine 
has halted executions statewide after a federal judge questioned whether the 
state’s lethal injection process was constitutional. DeWine ordered a review of 
the execution process and asked legislators to research a possible alternative 
method.

(source: cleveland.com)

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

Jury recommends death penalty for man who killed 4-year-old daughter, her 
mother



A jury has recommended the death penalty for a man who stabbed to death his 
ex-girlfriend and their 4-year-old daughter.

The Franklin County jury began deliberating the fate of Kristofer Garrett 
Tuesday afternoon.

Garrett stabbed to death his 4-year-old daughter Christina Duckson and her 
mother, Nicole Duckson.

Garrett waited outside the Southeast Columbus home of Nicole Duckson and 
attacked her as she left the morning of January 5, 2018.

Family shares memories of mother & 4-year-old girl murdered in southeast 
Columbus

Then he chased down and stabbed their 4-year-old daughter to death. He told 
detectives he killed her because she witnessed him kill her mother.

Tuesday his attorneys argued Garrett was mentally ill, and the product of an 
abusive, neglectful childhood.

Several witnesses testified that he had never been in trouble before, and aside 
from these crimes, had never been violent.

"I did it and I'm sorry,” Garrett said. “I want to say I'm sorry to the family, 
to Mr. Duckson, especially to the parents and to the Duckson family. And I'm 
sorry to my family because they lost a family member as well. This is going to 
live with me for the rest of my life."

"The only appropriate sentence, in this case, is a death sentence,” said 
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien.

“You have the ability- each and every one of you- you have the ability to take 
away Kristofer's life- to take it away- without taking his life,” said defense 
attorney Mark Hunt. “You can take away his life without taking his life."

The jury had a range of possible sentences:

>From life with no chance of parole for 25 years to life with no possibility of 
parole ever, to the death penalty.

Judge Chris Brown will make the final decision based on their recommendation.

He will impose sentence in a separate hearing set for Aug. 22.

(source: WBNS news)

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

Prosecutors pursue death penalty in case of Parma father accused of stabbing 
infant son to death to spite boy’s mother



A Parma father charged last year in the stabbing death of his infant son amid a 
custody dispute with the boy’s mother is now eligible to face the death penalty 
if he is convicted.

A county grand jury on Wednesday handed up an indictment charging Jason Shorter 
with multiple counts of aggravated murder that carry a potential death sentence 
in the killing of his 1-year-old son, Nicholas.

Shorter, who has pleaded not guilty, has been held in Cuyahoga County Jail on 
$1 million bond since his May 2018 arrest. He is set for an Aug. 20 arraignment 
on the new charges.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said last summer that Shorter 
stabbed the boy “apparently to spite his mother,” and that his office was 
considering pursuing the death penalty. A spokesman did not immediately respond 
to questions asking why prosecutors are pursuing the charges now.

Court records show Shorter was found competent to stand trial in May, and his 
attorneys and prosecutors accepted the findings at a July 24 pretrial.

Shorter showed up at the Parma Police Department on May 12, 2018. He was 
bleeding from cuts on his wrists and said he wanted to turn himself in for 
attempted murder and suicide, according to prosecutors. He also told officers 
he had hurt his son, who was outside in his car, prosecutors said.

Officers searched the inside the car but did not find the boy, prosecutors 
said. Shorter told them the boy was in the trunk, and police popped the trunk 
and found Nicholas’s body lying face-up with two stab wounds to his chest, 
prosecutors said. The boy was not breathing and had no pulse, prosecutors said.

The incident came 5 days after Shorter and the boy’s mother reached a custody 
agreement in Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court.

Shorter petitioned for custody of his son months after his 2016 birth, 
according to court records. The case dragged on for over a year before a 
settlement gave Nicholas’ mother custody of the boy 6 days a week.

Shorter was supposed to pick up Nicholas at the mother’s home in Euclid at 6 
p.m. each Friday night and return the boy by 7:30 p.m. every Saturday night, 
the agreement says.

The day the boy died was Shorter’s 1st day of custody under the new 
arrangement, police said. His mother called police when Shorter did not return 
home on time, and officers showed up at Shorter’s house after he left to go to 
the Parma police department, police said.

(source: cleveland.com)