[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., N.C., GA., ALA., LA., KY.

[Rick Halperin]

February 7



PENNSYLVANIA:

Execution date set for York County man who murdered friend's ex-wife during 
burglary



Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary John Wetzel has signed a notice of execution 
for Timothy Jacoby, a man who fatally shot his friend's ex-wife when he 
burglarized her home in York County.

Wetzel signed the notice on Monday, which set the date of the execution for 
March 8, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. But it’s 
unlikely that will happen.

In an interview, Jeff Marshall, Jacoby’s attorney, said he’s going to file a 
motion to stay the execution. He said his client has filed a post-conviction 
relief act petition — and, under the law, the death penalty can’t be carried 
out while that or any resulting appeals are pending.

Gov. Tom Wolf has also placed a moratorium on executions, describing the system 
for capital punishment as “riddled with flaws, making it error prone, 
expensive, and anything but infallible.” In Pennsylvania, no one has been put 
to death since 1999.

In 2014, Jacoby, 45, of West Manchester Township, was found guilty of 
1st-degree murder and related offenses and sentenced to death. He killed Monica 
Schmeyer, 55, of West Manheim Township, on March 31, 2010.

Jacoby was a member of an informal group that met at a Hooters on Route 30 
called the Orange Shorts Society. It was named after the color of the shorts 
that the waitresses wore at the restaurant.

Schmeyer’s ex-wife, Jon, was part of the group. He talked about his divorce and 
noted that he paid her $1,700 in alimony each month in cash. She had a habit of 
keeping money in white envelopes throughout her home.

On the day of the murder, Jacoby didn’t show up for a meeting of the Orange 
Shorts Society. Law enforcement conducted a years-long investigation and 
charged him in the killing.

(source: York Daily Record)








NORTH CAROLINA:

NC public opinion on the death penalty appears to have reached a tipping point



There is powerful new polling data today on the public attitudes of North 
Carolinians toward the death penalty.

A press release from the good people at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation 
explains:

New poll shows death penalty supporters now in the minority among N.C. 
voters----Public concerns grow over racial bias and the execution of innocent 
people

North Carolina has long been considered a solidly pro-death penalty state, but 
a new poll finds that N.C. voters overwhelmingly believe the death penalty is 
error-prone and racially biased – and a majority believe it should be replaced 
with alternative punishments.

The poll of 501 voters across the state, conducted last week by Public Policy 
Polling, comes as a capital trial begins in Wake County. It is the 1st 
comprehensive statewide survey of death penalty views in North Carolina.

It reveals that a steep decline in new death sentences – North Carolina juries 
have sent only a single person to death row since 2014 – is the result of a sea 
change in public opinion about the death penalty that reaches across political 
divides. Of those polled, 47 percent voted for Donald Trump and 45 percent for 
Hillary Clinton.

“I was stunned when I saw these numbers,” said David Weiss, a capital defense 
attorney at the Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham. “70 % of people 
believe an innocent person has likely been executed in North Carolina. Almost 
60 % believe that racial bias affects who is sentenced to death in our state. 
With these kinds of serious concerns about the death penalty, it’s 
inconceivable that North Carolina could execute anyone or even continue to 
sentence people to death.”

The poll found that voters have concerns about the death penalty’s fairness on 
several fronts: More than 70 % said defendants should have the right to bring 
forward evidence of racial discrimination in capital trials and jury selection.

70 % believe it is likely that an innocent person has been executed in North 
Carolina.

68 % said they support the creation of a new law to exempt people with severe 
mental illness from the death penalty.

61 % said they believe the courts should reexamine the death sentences of 
prisoners who were tried before a series of legal reforms were enacted to 
protect defendants’ rights and ensure fair trials. More than 3/4 of North 
Carolina’s death row prisoners were sentenced before these reforms.

57 % said it is likely that racial bias influences who is sentenced to death.

The poll also showed that voters are willing to consider a range of 
alternatives to the death penalty:

When given a choice between the death penalty and a maximum sentence of life 
without parole, more than 50 % of voters said they favor life without parole, 
while only 44 % leaned toward keeping the death penalty. The rest were unsure.

When offered a larger range of alternatives, including requirements that 
offenders work and pay restitution to victims’ families, only 25 percent of 
those polled favored the death penalty.

58 % said they would prefer to eliminate the death penalty if the millions of 
dollars spent on it each year were redirected to investigating and prosecuting 
unsolved rapes and murders.

59 % said they would support a decision by Gov. Roy Cooper to investigate 
unfairness in the death penalty and, if necessary, replace it with life without 
parole.

57 % said they would support a decision by their local district attorney to 
stop seeking the death penalty because of concerns about fairness, wrongful 
convictions, and cost.

North Carolina has not executed anyone since 2006. In the years since, 5 people 
who were sentenced to death in North Carolina have been exonerated, more than 2 
dozen others have been removed from death row after the courts found serious 
errors in their cases, and a statewide study found that black jurors are 
systematically removed from capital juries, violating defendants’ right to be 
judged by a fair cross section of the community. Meanwhile, murder rates have 
declined.

Also, in fall 2018, a new report revealed that more than 3/4 of North 
Carolina’s 140 death row prisoners were sentenced before a series of reforms 
that are now considered essential to fair trials. Among other things, the 
reforms ensured qualified capital defense lawyers, allowed defendants access to 
all evidence in the prosecution’s files, created protocols to prevent false 
confessions and mistaken identifications, and protected people with serious 
intellectual disabilities from execution.

Executions are currently barred in North Carolina by court order in a case that 
challenges the state’s lethal injection procedures. However, that case is on 
hold while the courts address other systemic questions of fairness in the 
state’s capital punishment system. First among those are cases filed under the 
state’s Racial Justice Act, which uncovered evidence of statewide race 
discrimination in capital cases. Those cases are currently before the N.C. 
Supreme Court and are expected to be argued later this year.

“The capital punishment system has so many problems that the public has lost 
faith in it,” said Weiss, who is among several attorneys spearheading statewide 
litigation about racial bias and the lethal injection process. “And after 12 
years without executions, North Carolinians have seen that we can maintain 
public safety without the death penalty. When there is this level of mistrust 
in the system, we can no longer have a death penalty in North Carolina.”

(source: Commentary; Rob Schofield, NC Policy Watch)

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

Death to the death penalty in North Carolina



For the 1st time since 2016, the state of North Carolina has sentenced another 
person to the death penalty. The latest indictment of Chauncy Askew reinforces 
our state’s position as having the 6th-largest death row in the nation. 
Although no executions have been performed in the state since 2006, this 
position is a moral blemish on our state.

North Carolina has a long history of capital punishment, going all the way back 
to 1910 when the power to execute criminals was placed in the hands of the 
state. All executions in the state have taken place right underneath our noses, 
just 2 miles away at the Central Prison in Raleigh.

The death penalty itself is inherently flawed because it offers no recourse in 
the case of a false positive. A grim, yet illuminating 2013 study released by 
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S. (PNAS) found 
that conservative estimates would suggest that at least 1 in 25 (4.1 %) of 
death-sentenced defendants between 1973 and 2004 were innocent.

On the contrary, the rate at which death-sentenced defendants were exonerated 
was found to lag behind, at 1.6 percent. The only logical conclusion of what 
happens to the leftover 2.5 % is the reason why the death penalty should be 
abolished: a number of potentially innocent people may have been wrongfully 
executed.

North Carolina has exonerated nine innocent men that the state placed on death 
row. Between the nine of them, they had served a total of 112 years in prison 
for crimes they were wrongfully accused of.

Each of them has a harrowing story about the haphazard nature of their due 
process and the sheer luck of their exonerations coming before the execution. 
The tales of these survivors leads one to wonder just how many innocent 
people’s stories end on the opposite side.

Take the latest case of Askew, for example. Askew has been charged with an 
utterly heinous and unforgivable crime in the shooting of State Trooper Kevin 
Conner. With this being said, Askew’s attorney has argued that his client is 
incompetent to stand trial. Askew scored a 52 on an IQ test he took earlier in 
January and a 56 on a test he took in 2015. Both scores are well within the 
range of how an intellectual disability is defined.

This brings up yet another problem of the death penalty: Is our criminal 
justice system properly equipped to determine if someone is eligible to live? 
Our current justice system has a number of flaws within it, including the 
mishandling of mentally ill patients and the over-prosecution of people of 
color. Because of this, these 2 groups disproportionately make up our 
incarcerated population and thus, our death row population as well.

The Washington Post reports that 43 % of inmates executed between 2000 and 2015 
had been diagnosed with some type of mental illness, and estimates that around 
20 % had a personality disorder. Many of these mental illnesses are 
debilitating disorders that co-occur with patterns of impairment and brain 
dysfunction.

In North Carolina, about 53 % of the 144 people on death row are black, despite 
only composing 22 % of our state’s population. The way in which sentencing 
occurs is also racially biased, with the race of both the victim and 
perpetrator greatly influencing the likelihood of death penalty sentencing. 22 
% of black defendants who killed white victims are given the death sentence, 
while only a mere 3 % of white defendants who killed black victims are 
sentenced.

None of this is meant to be interpreted as a vindication for perpetrators of 
some of the most serious crimes; however, it should serve as an indictment on a 
system that executes some of its most vulnerable people. The people who are 
guilty of such vile crimes should face punishment, but it should take into 
consideration the social contexts of these people.

Raleigh cannot and should not stand idly by as people undeserving of death are 
still being sentenced to executions. Although we greatly need comprehensive 
criminal justice reform, lawmakers should at least strive to abolish the death 
penalty. The difference, in this case, is quite literally a life-or-death 
matter for those who are innocent.

(source: Opinion, Kevin Moye, Technician)








GEORGIA:

Federal judge orders new trial for Eric Alexander Perkinson----Death sentence 
vacated for man found guilty of 1998 Bartow murder



A United States district judge has overturned the death sentence of a 
Cartersville man found guilty of murdering a 16-year-old in Bartow County 
almost 21 years ago.

Judge Amy Totenberg of the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of Georgia issued the ruling Jan. 31, in turn ordering current death 
row inmate Eric Alexander Perkinson, 40, to receive a new trial within 120 
days.

Perkinson was found guilty of killing Louis G. Nava on June 6, 1998.

He and an accomplice carjacked Nava and 17-year-old Dakarai Sloley in DeKalb 
County. Nava was then taken to a wooded area near Paga Mine Road, where 
Perkinson fatally shot the 16-year-old victim in the head. Perkinson attempted 
to execute Sloley in a similar fashion, only for the Sloley to flee, wave down 
a passing motorist and escape.

Perkinson’s fingerprints were found on the vehicle stolen from Sloley and the 
murder weapon was recovered from the same automobile.

On Aug. 27, 1999, a Bartow County Superior Court jury found Perkinson guilty of 
1 count of malice murder, 3 counts of felony murder, 2 counts of aggravated 
assault, 1 count of aggravated battery, 2 counts of false imprisonment, theft 
by taking, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony and 
possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

In her order from late last month, Judge Totenberg said Perkinson’s attorney — 
Alan Medof, who died last year — did not provide the defendant adequate 
representation during the 1999 trial.

“At minimum, the history of [Perkinson’s] legal representation leading up to 
and during his trial is troubling,” Totenberg wrote. “In fact, during the 
motion for a new trial hearing, the trial judge commented ‘the court would find 
as a matter of fact that not only was Mr. Medof ineffective, but he was 
incompetent.’”

According to court documents, not only had Medof never tried a murder case 
before Perkinson’s trial, he admitted to falling asleep during portions of the 
court proceedings. He was previously suspended by the state bar of Florida due 
to a substance abuse problem and during Perkinson’s trial, he was arrested in 
Florida for attempting to solicit a prostitute.

Furthermore, Totenberg said Perkinson’s subsequent attorney, Christopher G. 
Paul, was not afforded enough time to prepare for the trial, nor was he 
allotted enough time to “properly develop his case with regard to the adaptive 
functioning prong of his mental retardation defense.”

Had jurors heard evidence presented in a state habeas corpus hearing regarding 
Perkinson's possible intellectual disabilities, Totenberg suggested they may 
have found him ineligible to receive the death sentence.

The State of Georgia has had a statute prohibiting the execution of prisoners 
with intellectual disabilities since 1988. The 2002 Supreme Court ruling in 
Atkins v. Virginia determined execution of the mentally retarded to constitute 
a violation of the Eighth Amendment, barring the death sentence for individuals 
with intellectual disabilities nationwide — albeit, with a provision allowing 
states to legally determine what constitutes an "intellectually disabled" 
individual. The 2014 Supreme Court ruling in Hall v. Florida further barred the 
use of “bright-line cutoffs” in IQ testing to determine whether an individual 
is eligible for a death sentence.

The Supreme Court of Georgia upheld the death penalty for Perkinson in 2005.

“Although mental retardation, unlike insanity, is not a defense to guilt, the 
jury would logically understand that some benefit must accrue to Perkinson if 
found to be guilty but mentally retarded because he vigorously attempted to 
prove his mental retardation at trial and the State’s experts opined that he 
malingered on IQ testing in an attempt to portray himself as mentally 
retarded,” wrote Georgia Supreme Court Justice Carol W. Hunstein in the 
majority opinion. “The prosecutor did not inform the jury that Perkinson could 
not receive a death sentence if found to be guilty but mentally retarded, and 
the trial court correctly charged the jury on the sentencing consequences of 
such a verdict.”

The new trial ordered by Totenberg would focus on whether or not Perkinson is 
intellectually disabled and whether or not he should be resentenced to life in 
prison.

“The best outcome is to avoid being executed,” Perkinson's attorney, 
Atlanta-based Douglas A. Bennett, told The Daily Tribune News. "We certainly 
feel for the victims in this case, but also we think because of the 
overwhelming evidence that could’ve been presented that wasn’t because of what 
happened, that perhaps a better outcome for everybody would be a different 
result.”

Continuing, Bennett said the retrial would likely be held in Bartow, but a 
change of venue may be requested.

"We expect the Attorney General's Office to file an appeal, and if that 
happens, that will certainly delay the retrial for a significant period of 
time," he said. “We hope that the district attorney would see the overwhelming 
evidence of his intellectual disability, and we would like to resolve this 
without trial."

(source: The Daily Tribune News)








ALABAMA----stay of impending execution

Stay of execution granted for Alabama inmate; appeals court says state violated 
First Amendment



An Alabama death row inmate scheduled to be executed Thursday night has been 
granted an emergency stay.

Domineque Ray’s execution is set for 6 p.m. Thursday at Holman Correctional 
Facility in Atmore, nearly 20 years after he was convicted of killing 
15-year-old Tiffany Harville in Selma. On Wednesday afternoon, the 11th Circuit 
Court of Appeals granted Ray’s request for an emergency stay regarding an 
appeal centering on Ray’s religious freedom.

Ray’s lawyers filed a lawsuit last month claiming Ray’s religious freedom was 
being violated because the Alabama Department of Corrections would not allow 
his Muslim spiritual adviser to be in the execution chamber. Officials told the 
inmate he would be allowed to meet with his imam up until being prepared for 
execution, the lawsuit claims, but the imam would have to watch the execution 
in a witness room with 2-way glass.

The appeals court’s ruling states, “We do not doubt that Alabama has a powerful 
interest in the secure and orderly administration of the death penalty… And the 
prison’s concerns may be at their apex during the most consequential act of 
carrying out an execution. As a general matter and at least at first blush, 
this seems as obvious to us as it did to the district court. Moreover, we can 
imagine many practical reasons as well why Alabama may wish to provide 
religious support and pastoral comfort of this kind to a condemned prisoner.”

Last week, a federal court in the Middle District of Alabama denied Ray’s 
request for a stay of execution and also denied his request to have his Muslim 
spiritual adviser, or imam, in the execution chamber during the lethal 
injection procedure. The court did order the ADOC to remove the Christian 
chaplain, who is typically in the execution chamber, from the room and ensure 
Ray cannot see the chaplain.

Bob Horton, spokesperson for the ADOC, said the department follows protocol 
“regardless of the chaplain’s spiritual belief or that of the inmate.” Horton 
said the ADOC protocol “only allows approved correctional officials, that 
includes the prison’s chaplain, to be inside the chamber where executions are 
lawfully carried out. The inmate’s spiritual advisor may visit the inmate 
beforehand and witness the execution from a designated witness room that has a 
2-way window.”

The appeals court said, “Notably, Alabama did not provide the Court with any 
affidavit from the Warden or from any other prison official addressing in any 
way why there were not lesser measures available to protect its interests and 
provide the same faith-based benefits to Christians and non-Christians alike. 
Nor did Alabama offer anything from its Chaplain or from anyone else about the 
perceived risks or the things that a cleric might need to learn in order to 
undertake this solemn and sensitive task. Alabama has presented us with nothing 
in support of its claims.”

The appeals court noted in its order that the clerk should “expedite” the 
appeal “so that we may promptly resolve these claims.”

“Nevertheless, in the face of this limited record, it looks substantially 
likely to us that Alabama has run afoul of the Establishment Clause of the 
First Amendment,” the appeals court said. “What is central to Establishment 
Clause jurisprudence is the fundamental principle that at a minimum neither the 
states nor the federal government may pass laws or adopt policies that aid one 
religion or prefer one religion over another. And that, it appears to us, is 
what the Alabama Department of Corrections has done here. Alabama’s policy 
facially furthers a denominational preference.”

Harville was fatally stabbed in 1995 and her body was found by a farmer off a 
country road in Selma. Ray was convicted of raping the teen and robbing her of 
approximately $6 she had in her purse.

(source: al.com)

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

Jury recommends life without parole for Huntsville man who murdered wife, 
son----Marc Stone killed his family members inside their south Huntsville home 
in 2013



A Madison County jury says the Huntsville man who brutally killed his wife and 
son in their home should spend the rest of his life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

9 of the 12 jurors recommended that punishment for Marc Stone over the death 
penalty on Wednesday after hours of deliberations. Madison County Circuit Judge 
Donna Pate will take that recommendation into consideration and will issue a 
final order on Stone’s sentence in the coming weeks.

The victims’ relatives spoke to the media after hearing the outcome of the 
case.

“The term I use is bittersweet. It’s a relief to have it finished. It’s a 
verdict I thought they should have reached but it’s tough to see the man you 
once entrusted to take care of your daughter be convicted as well,” said David 
Kowalsky, the father and grandfather of the victims.

The prosecution and defense also provided comments to reports coming out of the 
courtroom.

“Obviously, we’re saddened by the verdict this week. After 6 years, it’s hard 
to come to a conclusion like that. But with the verdict this afternoon, with 
his life being spared, we feel fortunate in that aspect for our client,” said 
Brian Clark, one of Stone’s defense attorneys.

“With what he did, that man never needs to walk the streets again and he won’t 
and justice has been served,” said Madison County District Attorney Rob 
Broussard.

(source: WAFF news)








LOUISIANA:

Death penalty prosecution is murky in case of Dakota Theriot, accused of 
killing 5 people



On its face, the man who authorities say admitted to killing 5 people, 
including his own parents, in a 2-parish shooting rampage last month would be a 
clear candidate for the death penalty.

But the top prosecutor in Ascension Parish has not come to a decision on the 
matter. And the district attorney in Livingston Parish said he is giving it a 
hard look, citing in particular reports that Dakota Theriot has struggled with 
mental illness.

"I think it's just prudent to get as much information as we can, especially in 
light of the reports that he might have had a mental health issue," District 
Attorney Scott Perrilloux said.

Perrilloux is taking the case to a Livingston Parish grand jury Thursday 
morning, seeking formal charges against Dakota Theriot on three counts of 
1st-degree murder in the deaths of his girlfriend, Summer Ernest; her brother, 
Tanner Ernest; and her father, Billy Ernest.

1st-degree murder opens up the possibility of the death penalty. But a 
mitigating issue like mental illness is just one of a number of factors, from 
the opinion of the victims’ families to the cost of a years-long appeal 
process.

Authorities have said Theriot was staying with the Ernests in a trailer 
outsider Walker when on the morning of Jan. 27 he took a handgun stolen from 
his father and shot 3 residents inside, killing each with a single bullet to 
the head. Shortly thereafter, authorities said, he jumped in Billy Ernest’s car 
and drove down to Ascension Parish, where he killed his parents in the same 
fashion before fleeing to Virginia.

Theriot confessed to killing all 5 people but did not offer a motive, law 
enforcement authorities have said.

In the years before the shooting rampage, Theriot had had repeated run-ins with 
the police and involuntary mental health holds, law enforcement records show. 
He threatened to burn down the family house with his parents inside, 
hallucinated and beat his ex-wife, who told Kenner Police that Theriot was 
schizophrenic.

Ascension Parish Ricky Babin has not presented his case to a grand jury in that 
parish, said office spokesman Tyler Cavalier.

Should grand juries in either Ascension or Livingston return an indictment for 
first-degree murder, the prosecutors could seek the death penalty. But if they 
did so, they would be bucking a national trend away from the punishment. The 
number of death sentences given each year across the U.S. has fallen from a 
high of 315 in 1996 to 42 in 2018, according to the Death Penalty Information 
Center, a nonprofit that studies the issue.

(source: theadvocate.com)








KENTUCKY:

4 plead guilty in death of pregnant woman shot during theft



4 men have pleaded guilty in the 2016 death of a pregnant Kentucky woman who 
was fatally hit by a stray bullet during a robbery.

The Lexington Herald-Leader reports 22-year-old Demetrioun Boaz pleaded guilty 
to charges including murder Tuesday. 21-year-olds Joseph Fain and Saquan 
Freeman and 23-year-old Skylar Stigall pleaded guilty that day to charges 
including manslaughter.

22-year-old Maryiah Coleman was 8-months pregnant when fatally shot while 
walking her family’s dog in September 2016. Her fetus also died. Authorities 
have said the men were trying to rob someone nearby when the victim ran and 
shots were fired.

Sentencing for the men is set for March 14. The 4 sought to have the death 
penalty excluded, but a judge overruled that motion in December.

(source: Associated Press)