[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., TENN., COLO., ARIZ., WYO., CALIF., ORE., USA

[Rick Halperin]

August 16



TEXAS:

Texas to seek death penalty for MMA fighter accused of double homicide



Cedric Marks was indicted on 2 counts of capital murder earlier this year. He 
has plead not guilty to those charges.

According to USA Today prosecutors in Bell County, TX are planning to seek the 
death penalty for Cedric Marks, 45. A long-time MMA fighter, Marks was indicted 
in the killings of Jenna Scott, 28, and Michael Swearingin, 32, in March. Marks 
has plead not guilty to all charges.

The remains of Scott, Marks’ former girlfriend, and Swearingin, her friend, 
were discovered in shallow graves in Clearview, OK on January 3rd. Marks’ 
current girlfriend Maya Maxwell, who recently gave birth while incarcerated, is 
also facing charges in this case.

She has told authorities that Scott and Swearingin died after being alone in 
rooms with Marks. Maxwell has also confessed to moving Swearingin’s vehicle in 
an attempt to sidetrack the investigation into the killings.

Scott and Swearingin were declared missing in December. Around this time Marks 
was arrested in Grand Rapids, MI. He was arrested on a burglary charge after he 
was accused of robbing Scott’s Temple, TX home back in late 2018.

The reported break-in happened shortly after Scott had a request for a 2-year 
protective order against Marks turned down by Judge Paul LePak. During court 
proceedings Scott claimed that Marks had previously choked her unconscious and 
had threatened to kill her and her family. Scott also claimed that Marks had 
told her he had gotten away with murder in the past and he knew how to cover it 
up.

Police in Bloomington, MN consider Marks a person of interest in the 
disappearance of April Pease. Marks and Pease were involved in a reportedly 
bitter child custody battle in 2008. Pease was granted custody of her and 
Marks’ child, but she went missing a year later. Custody then reverted to 
Marks. However, the state took custody of the child soon after.

Marks has spent the last 20-years competing in professional mixed martial arts. 
His most notable career appearance came in 2010, in a loss to Andrew Chappelle 
at Bellator Fighting Championships 20.

(source: bloodyelbow.com)








FLORIDA----impending execution

Florida Supreme Court refuses to block death row inmate Gary Ray Bowles' 
execution



The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected appeals by death row inmate Gary 
Ray Bowles, who is scheduled to be executed next week for the 1994 murder of a 
Jacksonville man who was hit in the head with a concrete block and strangled.

Justices unanimously denied a request by Bowles’ attorneys for a stay of the 
Aug. 22 execution. The attorneys argued in a brief last month that the Supreme 
Court should order a hearing about whether Bowles is intellectually disabled 
and, as a result, should be shielded from execution.

But the Supreme Court said Bowles had failed to make a “timely” intellectual 
disability claim because he did not raise the issue until 2017.

“Bowles waited until October 19, 2017 to raise an intellectual disability claim 
for the first time,” the court’s 10-page main opinion said. “Therefore, the 
record conclusively shows that Bowles’ intellectual disability claim is 
untimely under our precedent.”

(source: news-press.com)








TENNESSEE----execution

Tennessee executes a double murderer by electric chair



A double murderer who chose to die by electrocution was executed Thursday 
night, the Tennessee Department of Correction said.

Stephen West was convicted in 1986 of fatally stabbing a mother and her 
15-year-old daughter, CNN affiliate WKRN reported.

He had several times escaped being put to death, including a scheduled 
execution in 2001 that was delayed when he began appealing his death sentence, 
according to several media reports.

Jack Campbell, whose uncle was the husband and father of the victims, lamented 
the legal system.

"Our family has suffered very deeply over the past 33 years through all the 
appeals that we think is very unfair for anyone to have to go through when all 
of the proof in the world was there for the case to be over within 24 hours, 
let alone 33 years," he said in a statement.

Witnesses to West's death in the electric chair said he sobbed before he died.

Reporters in the viewing area said his last words were, "In the beginning God 
created man."

He then began to weep. And then said, "Jesus wept. That's all."

He was pronounced dead at 7:27 p.m. CT (8:27 p.m. ET).

West had denied he killed the mother and daughter. He blamed their deaths on an 
accomplice, according to CNN affiliates WKRN and WSMV.

A statement from his legal team said: "We are deeply disappointed that the 
state of Tennessee has gone forward with the execution of a man whom the state 
had diagnosed with severe mental illness. A man of deep faith who has made a 
positive impact on those around him for decades and a man who by overwhelming 
evidence did not commit these murders but has never the less taken personal 
responsibility for his involvement in these crimes."

In Tennessee, a person who was on death row before 1999 can choose 
electrocution or lethal injection, which is used for other capital offense 
inmates. In 2018, Tennessee used the electric chair for 2 executions.

Tennessee has executed 5 people since August 9, 2018, when Billy Ray Irick 
became the 1st person put to death by the state since December 2009.

(source: CNN)

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


3 more death row executions scheduled through 2020----"When somebody's 
sentenced to death, trying to put a period at the end of the process is not 
realistic."



Following Stephen West's execution Thursday night, three more Tennessee death 
row inmates are scheduled to die in the next year and a half.

Lee Hall Jr., Nicky Todd Sutton, and Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman, formerly known as 
James Jones.

But a lot can change between now the next execution, scheduled for December.

"It's not at all unusual for legal proceedings to continue up to the actual 
moment of death," said Penny White.

White is a former state supreme court justice and current director of the 
Center for Advocacy and Dispute Resolution at UT's School of Law.

She said when an execution date is set, it is never final.

"When somebody's sentenced to death, trying to put a period at the end of the 
process is not realistic," White said.

That's because several appeals and lawsuits can be filed between setting a date 
and executing an inmate.

Death row inmates can be granted a stay of execution by a federal court, the 
state supreme court or the governor.

"When we're talking about taking a life, we really shouldn't be worrying about 
making it fast," White said. "We should be worrying about getting it right."

Tennessee's next scheduled execution is on Dec. 5.

Lee Hall Jr. was convicted of killing Chattanooga woman Traci Crozier in 1991.

He set her car on fire while she was still inside.

Crozier died from 2nd and 3rd-degree burns.

Hall Jr. was granted a stay of execution before his original execution date in 
2016.

"People are challenging the ways that we execute," White said. "They are saying 
that the method itself is cruel and that violates the constitution."

If Hall Jr. is not granted a stay this time, he will be the 2nd and final 
Tennessee death row inmate executed in 2019.

Nicky Todd Sutton will be the 1st execution of 2020, scheduled for Feb. 20.

He was convicted of his grandmother's murder in Morristown, and later the 
murder of a fellow inmate while serving time in Morgan County.

Abu-Ali Abdur’Rahman, formerly known as James Lee Jones, is set to die on April 
9, 2020.

He is convicted of the murder of Patrick Daniels in 1986 in Davidson County.

(source: WBIR news)



COLORADO:

District Attorney to host panel discussion with death row exonorees



The District Attorney’s Office for the 5th Judicial District will be hosting a 
panel discussion featuring death row exonerees on Tuesday, Aug. 20, at Colorado 
Mountain College in Breckenridge.

In an announcement for the event, District Attorney’s Office officials said the 
office does not take a position on the issue of abolishing the death penalty. 
Rather, the panel is being held to facilitate a discussion about the criminal 
justice system and to give the community an opportunity to hear perspectives of 
individuals who were convicted and later exonerated for heinous crimes.

The panel also will feature a facilitator from the Witness to Innocence, a 
nonprofit dedicated to abolishing the death penalty.

The panel discussion will take place from 5:30to 8 p.m. at 107 Denison Placer 
Road.

(source: Summit Daily News)








ARIZONA:

Arizona Court Rejects Death Penalty for Illegal Alien Accused of Murdering 
Grant Ronnebeck



An Arizona court made official this week that the illegal alien charged with 
murdering 21-year-old Grant Ronnebeck will not face the death penalty because 
of his alleged “intellectual disability.”

Last month, Judge Michael Kemp ruled that 34-year-old illegal alien Apolinar 
Altamirano was not eligible for the death penalty because he had a 5th-grade 
education and was unable to obtain special education because he grew up in 
rural Mexico. Last year, Kemp ruled that prosecutors in the case would not be 
allowed to mention that Altamirano was an illegal alien who had been living in 
the U.S. for more than 20 years.

This week, the Arizona Court of Appeals reinforced Kemp’s decision, telling 
prosecutors that they would not be allowed to seek the death penalty against 
Altamirano.

On January 22, 2015, Altamirano entered a QuickTrip convenience store in Mesa, 
Arizona, where Ronnebeck worked as a store clerk, and allegedly shot the young 
man to death after demanding a pack of cigarettes, Breitbart News reported at 
the time.

After shooting and killing Ronnebeck, prosecutors say Altamirano stepped over 
the body of the young man to grab a couple more packs of cigarettes before 
fleeing the scene. Following the alleged murder, the illegal alien sent police 
on a high-speed chase and was eventually arrested and taken into custody.

At the time of the alleged murder, Altamirano — an alleged self-proclaimed 
member of the Sinaloa Cartel — had been out of police custody on bond despite 
having orders to be deported from the U.S.

Prosecutors will continue seeking a 1st-degree murder conviction for 
Altamirano.

“Our children are worth … it’s blood on [the Democrats’] hands,” Angel Dad 
Steve Ronnebeck said during a press conference for Angel Families in June. ” … 
I made a promise right after Grant died that I was going to keep fighting for 
Grant and keep fighting for the American people. What the American people don’t 
understand is that it’s going to happen to them or somebody they know … with so 
many people coming across our border.”

(source: breitbart.com)








WYOMING:

Wyoming conservatives opposed to death penalty to attend national meeting



Wyoming members of a conservative group opposed to the death penalty will 
participate in a Sept. 6-8 national conference in New Orleans.

The group is called “Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.” The 
national meeting will be the organization’s first.

“Leaders from a dozen states, including Wyoming, will be gathering to discuss 
the growing movement of conservatives and Republican state legislators who 
believe the death penalty violates the basic tenets of their beliefs,” an 
announcement from the Wyoming chapter states.

Wyoming also has a new state coordinator for their chapter of the 
“Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty.” Her name is Kylie Taylor.

“’Ending the death penalty aligns perfectly with my conservative beliefs 
because it reduces costs to taxpayers, it is consistent with valuing life, and 
it eliminates the risk of executing innocent people,'” Taylor said.

Part of the group’s concern is the number of death row convictions that have 
been overturned.

“Across the country 166 individuals have been freed from state death rows due 
to wrongful convictions,” they said.

“‘These grassroots conservatives are the driving force behind a change in 
thinking that has been taking place in red state legislatures in recent years,’ 
said Hannah Cox, National Manager of Conservatives Concerned About the Death 
Penalty. ‘We will be discussing best practices in educating the public, as well 
as lawmakers, in their states.'”

The national meeting will take place at Le Pavillon Hotel, located at 833 
Poydras Street in New Orleans.

(source: Oil City News)








CALIFORNIA:

'Hollywood Ripper' faces death penalty for murdering two women including Ashton 
Kutcher date



A “stone-cold serial killer” could face execution after being killing 2 women, 
one of whom was stabbed to death on the night of a planned date with actor 
Ashton Kutcher.

Michael Gargiulo, 43, was also found guilty of the attempted murder of a third 
victim who fought back and later testified against him in court.

Kutcher also gave evidence during Gargiulo’s trial, having seen bloodstains on 
the floor of Ashley Ellerin’s Hollywood home as he arrived to collect her for 
drinks in February 2001.

The 22-year-old fashion student was later found dead with more than 47 stab 
wounds.

Gargiulo, a former aspiring actor, was found guilty of the 2005 murder of 
32-year old Maria Bruno in her El Monte, California, and the attempted murder 
of Michelle Murphy, who he stabbed in her Santa Monica apartment in 2008.

Gargiulo is eligible for the death penalty or life in prison with no 
possibility of parole.

He showed no reaction when the verdicts were read on Thursday following 3 hours 
of jury deliberations.

A final phase of his trial at Los Angeles Superior Court is set to start on 
Tuesday, when jurors will determine whether Gargiulo was sane at the time of 
the killings.

A Chicago native who moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s, Gargiulo worked as 
an air conditioning repairman and a Hollywood nightclub bouncer at the time of 
the attacks.

With little physical evidence tying him to the scenes of 2 killings, 
prosecutors urged jurors to look at the cases jointly, citing similar patterns 
in home-invasion attacks that all took place near where he was living at the 
time.

While some media outlets dubbed him the “Hollywood Ripper“, prosecutors called 
him the “Boy-next-door Killer“ and painted him as a “stone-cold serial killer”.

The prosecution was allowed to cite evidence from a 2nd alleged murder in 1993 
for which Gargiulo is awaiting trial in Illinois.

Jurors were told Gargiulo was a meticulous killer who studied the lives, homes 
and habits of the women he preyed on. All four victims were stabbed quickly, 
powerfully and repeatedly with a knife by their attacker, who studied ways to 
cover his tracks.

“Those similarities point to one man, one killer: Michael Gargiulo,“ deputy 
district attorney Garrett Dameron said during closing arguments.

Gargiulo’s defence lawyers relied heavily on the lack of forensic or witness 
evidence putting him at the scenes of the killings.

Kutcher, who in 2001 was a rising star of the sitcom That ‘70s Show, testified 
early in the trial that he and Ellerin were getting to know each other and had 
made plans to go out together for drinks.

He told the court he arrived at her Hollywood home several hours late and 
assumed she had gone out without him when she did not answer the door.

He recalled looking through the window and seeing what he believed to be were 
wine stains, but later proved to be Ellerin’s blood.

“I remember the next day, after I heard about what happened, I went to the 
detectives and said, ‘My fingerprints are on the door,“‘ Kutcher testified. “I 
was freaking out.“

The first and most important witness in the case was Ms Murphy, a fitness 
enthusiast who fought off the much larger Gargiulo and caused him to cut 
himself, leaving a trail of blood as he fled.

That evidence against him was so overwhelming that defence lawyers conceded he 
was Ms Murphy’s attacker, although they argued he suffered from a dissociative 
disorder which left him in a “fugue state“ and did know what he was doing.

(source: independent.co.uk)








OREGON:

Another day, another interpretation of Oregon’s new law limiting the death 
penalty



The former House majority leader who helped spearhead a new law limiting death 
penalty cases said Thursday the legislation was written as she intended and she 
doesn’t support a call for a special session to fix it.

Rep. Jennifer Williamson, D-Portland, told The Oregonian/OregonLive editorial 
board that while she said during the legislative session that Senate Bill 1013 
isn’t “retroactive,” she always meant for it to apply to previous aggravated 
murder convictions and death sentences that end up being reversed and sent back 
for new trials or sentencing hearings.

By “retroactive,” she meant the bill wouldn’t automatically overturn the 
convictions of people on Oregon’s death row.

And that remains the case, she told the editorial board.

Williamson’s remarks only seemed to deepen the confusion that’s emerged about 
the new law since the Oregon Department of Justice emailed prosecutors last 
week saying SB 1013 applies to death penalty convictions and sentences that 
have been overturned, as well as pending cases.

Gov. Kate Brown has remained silent since new controversy erupted.

It’s not unusual for aggravated murder convictions or death sentences to be 
overturned on appeal. In the past 21/2 years, seven cases have been reversed. 
None of the 31 people on Oregon’s death row have exhausted their court 
challenges.

The new law narrows the definition of aggravated murder, which is the only 
crime in Oregon eligible for a death sentence. Aggravated murder is now limited 
to defendants who kill two or more people as an act of organized terrorism; 
kill a child younger than 14 intentionally and with premeditation; kill another 
person while locked in jail or prison for a previous murder; or kill a police, 
correctional or probation officer.

On Wednesday, Sen. Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, who also championed the bill, 
said he planned to ask Brown to call a special session next month to address an 
issue raised by the Oregon Department of Justice.

Prozanski said he didn’t intend for SB 1013 to apply to cases sent back to 
lower courts for new sentences. He said he did, however, intend for it to apply 
to pending cases and aggravated murder convictions sent back to lower courts 
for new trials.

He characterized the issue as “an oversight” and “a mistake” that he hoped to 
fix in a 1-day session.

“It’s very unfortunate that this was made because most of us were under the 
belief as to how it was written was going to accomplish what our intent was,” 
he said.

On Thursday, Williamson seemed to disagree with Prozanski’s initial take and 
defended the law. Both lawmakers are attorneys.

“This is not a technical error,” Williamson told the editorial board. “It does 
what we said it was going to do.”

During a June 19 speech on the floor of the Oregon House, Williamson said the 
bill wasn’t retroactive and only “applies to aggravated murder cases going 
forward.”

On Thursday, she tried to clarify what she meant. “It’s confusing because 
‘retroactive’ in this sense is not necessarily the way you would use it in a 
non-legal way,” she said.

Williamson previously told The Oregonian/OregonLive that an unrelated bill, 
Senate Bill 1005, states that SB 1013 doesn’t apply to defendants who have 
previously been sentenced but have been granted reversals. Williamson said 
lawmakers wanted their intent to be clear so they added the language, on the 
advice of legislative lawyers, after Senate Bill 1013 had already passed both 
houses but Senate Bill 1005 had not yet passed.

On Thursday, however, she couldn’t explain why she had made those statements 
and acknowledged that her earlier explanations might have been unclear.

Meanwhile, the Oregon District Attorneys Association late Thursday sent a 
letter to Prozanski and Williamson, saying Oregonians were repeatedly assured 
the law wouldn’t be retroactive.

The organization asked for the law to be repealed or at least clarify to apply 
only to crimes committed on or after Sept. 29, when the law goes into effect.

“Anything less than that clear directive will not provide the certainty that 
our laws require,” wrote Beth Heckert, Jackson County District Attorney and 
president of the organization.

(source: oregonlive.com)








USA:

Lawyers Say man Facing Execution In Terre Haute Is Intellectually Disabled



Attorneys for a man being held on death row in Terre Haute want a judge to halt 
his execution and say their client can't legally be put to death because he's 
intellectually disabled.

Alfred Bourgeois' lawyers argue in court papers Thursday that a jury was 
unaware of Bourgeois' disability and a court never reviewed the evidence.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that executing people with intellectual 
disabilities is unconstitutional because it is cruel and unusual punishment.

Prosecutors say Bourgeois, of Louisiana, tortured, sexually molested, and then 
beat his 2½-year-old daughter to death.

Attorney General William Barr resumed the death penalty last month and 
scheduled executions for the 1st time since 2003.

Bourgeois is scheduled to be executed Jan. 13 at Terre Haute’s federal 
penitentiary.

(source: Associated Press)

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

U.S. federal death row inmate challenges January execution



Lawyers for 1 of 5 federal prisoners scheduled by President Donald Trump's 
administration for execution have launched a 2-pronged legal effort to prevent 
the government from carrying out the lethal injection slated for January.

The U.S. government has not carried out an execution since 2003 amid legal 
challenges to its lethal injection protocol, but Attorney General William Barr 
last month said it would resume capital punishment and scheduled the execution 
of 5 convicted murderers who were tried in federal rather than state courts.

In Washington, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan on Thursday allowed 1 of the 5 
men, Alfred Bourgeois, to have his federal lawsuit challenging the legality of 
the government's lethal injection procedures consolidated with a larger and 
long-running civil lawsuit brought by a group of other federal death row 
inmates. Alexander Kursman, a lawyer for Bourgeois, told Chutkan he plans by 
Monday to seek a stay of execution.

His lawyers also said they have filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in 
Indiana seeking to block his execution on the grounds that Bourgeois is 
"intellectually disabled and constitutionally ineligible for the death 
penalty." Under Supreme Court precedent, executing people with intellectual 
disabilities violates the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and 
unusual punishment.

Bourgeois, due to be executed on Jan. 13 at a federal prison in Indiana, was 
sentenced to death in Texas in 2004 after being convicted of sexually molesting 
and fatally beating his 2-1/2-year-old daughter.

"The jury that sentenced Mr. Bourgeois to death never learned that he was 
intellectually disabled," Victor Abreu, another lawyer for Bourgeois, said in a 
statement, adding that no court has ever used proper scientific standards to 
review his client's disability.

The hearing before Chutkan was the 1st time Justice Department lawyers had 
appeared in court since Barr's July 25 announcement that the Justice Department 
had adopted a new death penalty protocol using a single drug rather than the 
prior 3-drug cocktail. Barr scheduled 5 executions starting in December.

Barr's announcement jump-started a dormant lawsuit, first filed in 2005, that 
challenged the department's capital punishment procedures on several grounds, 
including violating the Eighth Amendment as well as a federal law on how 
regulations are enacted. The other death row inmates in that litigation were 
not among the five scheduled for execution.

Paul Enzinna, lead plaintiff lawyer in the case, told Chutkan his team needs to 
carry out depositions of government officials about how the single-drug 
protocol will work amid concerns it could cause a painful death or not be 
administered properly.

Lawyers for the inmates and Justice Department agreed to a timetable for 
carrying out preliminary depositions.

(source: Reuters)