[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., FLA.

[Rick Halperin]

February 16



TEXAS----impending execution

Coble execution on for Feb. 28 after Texas high court denies stay----Billie 
Wayne Coble was sentenced to death in the 1989 killings of his wife’s parents 
and brother in Axtell.



Triple murderer Billie Wayne Coble is likely headed for the execution chamber 
at month’s end after the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals this week rejected his 
request for a stay of execution.

In a 3-page order issued Thursday, Texas’ highest criminal court found that 
Coble’s application was an abuse of the writ process and declined to halt his 
scheduled Feb. 28 execution.

Coble, 70, was convicted of capital murder and twice was sentenced to die in 
the 1989 slayings of his brother-in-law, Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha, and 
Vicha’s parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, at their homes in Axtell. He has had 
several stays of execution over the years.

The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Coble in October, which paved the 
way for 54th State District Judge Matt Johnson to set his execution date. Court 
officials say they expect a similar outcome should Coble file an 11th-hour 
request for a stay of execution through the federal court system.

Coble refused to leave the courtroom holding cell at a hearing in October at 
which Johnson set his death date, telling deputies he had a right not to leave 
his cell.

Upset at the failure of his 3rd marriage, Coble killed the Vichas, tied up four 
children and kidnapped his estranged wife, Karen Vicha Coble. He drove her to 
Bosque County, where he said he was going to rape and kill her, but before he 
could carry out the threat, he had a wreck during a high-speed chase with 
authorities.

J.R. Vicha, a Waco attorney and former prosecutor who was 11 at the time, was 
one of the children Coble tied up, along with three of Karen Vicha’s children. 
Vicha, Bobby Vicha’s son, and other family members have said they have grown 
impatient waiting almost 30 years for Coble’s execution.

“The Court of Criminal Appeals did the right thing denying the claims and not 
issuing a stay,” J.R. Vicha said. “These are the same issues that have already 
been ruled on many times. Hopefully, the federal courts will make the same 
determination and (Gov.) Greg Abbott will turn down his request for judicial 
clemency and we can get this done on the 28th.”

Coble spent 17 years on death row before his death sentence was overturned and 
he was awarded a new punishment trial because of changes in the special issues 
posed to jurors trying to determine whether the death penalty or a life 
sentence is more appropriate.

(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----41

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----559

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

42---------Feb. 28----------------Billy Wayne Coble-------560

43---------Mar. 28----------------Patrick Murphy----------561

44---------Apr. 11----------------Mark Robertson----------562

45---------Apr. 24----------------John King---------------563

46---------May 2------------------Dexter Johnson----------564

47---------Sept. 4-----------------Billy Crutsinger----------565

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

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

With the execution of Dominique Ray in Alabama on February 7, the USA has now 
executed 1,492 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.

1493-------Feb. 28------------Billy Coble----------------Texas

1494-------Mar. 28------------Patrick Murphy------------Texas

1495-------Apr. 11------------Mark Robertson------------Texas

1496-------Apr. 24------------John King------------------Texas

1497-------May 2--------------Dexter Johnson------------Texas

1498-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee

1499-------May 29-------------Cleveland Jackson--------Ohio

1500-------July 10--------------Kareem Jackson----------Ohio

1501-------Aug. 14-------------Gregory Lott---------------Ohio

(source: Rick Halperin)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Judge appoints Philadelphia attorney to represent Tharp in death penalty case



In her quest to avoid the death penalty for the starvation death of her 
7-year-old daughter, Michelle Tharp will now be represented by a Philadelphia 
lawyer.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of “Philadelphia lawyer” says the 
term “dates back to the colonial period, when our legal system was in its 
infancy and lawyers had to be especially astute.”

Washington County Judge John DiSalle appointed Michael Wiseman of Philadelphia, 
former member of the federal community defender office, capital habeas corpus 
unit to handle Tharp’s case.

Taxpayers will be responsible for a $150-per-hour fee to represent Tharp in the 
death penalty phase that the state Supreme Court ordered5 years ago.

In a conference call Friday afternoon in open court, Wiseman accepted the 
appointment and hourly fee, but balked at a $7,500 cap.

DiSalle said there are exceptions to the rule regarding the cap.

To give Wiseman the ability to familiarize himself with the case, DiSalle told 
him and Assistant District Attorney John Friedmann he expects to convene a 
status conference in May.

Tharp, 50, an inmate at SCI-Muncy, Lycoming County, was not present in 
Washington County Court Friday.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld Tharp’s 1st-degree murder conviction 
obtained in 2000, but ordered a new penalty phase because it found her public 
defender was ineffective.

James J. McHugh Jr., first assistant defender in the Defender Association of 
Philadelphia appealed a ruling last year in which President Judge Katherine B. 
Emery refused to unilaterally reduce Tharp’s death sentence to life 
imprisonment and ordered a jury to be empaneled to decide Tharp’s fate.

Tharp’s daughter, Tausha Lanham, lived for 7 years in Burgettstown and weighed 
less than 12 pounds when she died. Tharp and her boyfriend at the time, Douglas 
Bittinger, reported her missing April 18, 1998, at a Steubenville mall, but 
police said they dumped her body along a road in Follansbee, W.Va.

Tharp claimed to have fed Tausha the day before she died. A medical examiner 
testified the girl had not eaten for several days, suffered from malnutrition 
and her teeth were worn from grinding, common in juvenile starvation cases.

In argument before the president judge, Tharp’s lawyers pegged their client’s 
intelligence quotient of 71 on a scale where 100 is considered normal, as well 
as outlining the abuse and abandonment she had suffered. They said Tharp sought 
medical attention for the prematurely born Tausha, whose condition mystified 
doctors.

Bittinger, 46, the father of Tharp’s fourth child, was sentenced to 15 to 30 
years in prison after pleading guilty to criminal homicide, endangering the 
welfare of a child and abuse of a corpse. Prosecutors said Bittinger’s crime 
was failing to prevent Tharp’s abuse of Tausha, and he testified against Tharp 
at her trial.

Bittinger is no longer listed among Pennsylvania’s prison population and the 
last entry in a court database was the forwarding of a docket sheet July 9 by 
Washington County Clerk of Courts Frank Scandale at the request to the state 
Board of Probation and Parole.

(source: Observer-Reporter)

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

Jury convicts Carlisle man of American Legion murder, death penalty now on the 
table



After deliberating more than 13 hours Cumberland County jury Friday afternoon 
convicted Robert “Rocky” Anderson Jr. of 1st-degree murder for a fatal June 
2016 shooting inside the Haines-Stackfield American Legion post in Carlisle.

Starting Saturday morning, that same jury will hear arguments on whether 
Anderson, 41, should receive a death sentence for that crime.

Anderson’s murder conviction came despite defense attorney Heidi Eakin’s 
argument that Carlisle police didn’t prove Anderson killed Daniel “DJ” Harris.

Senior Assistant District Attorney Kimberly Metzger argued that Anderson killed 
Harris during a long-running and violent feud between their families.

The jurors, who looked drawn and tired after weighing Anderson’s guilt or 
innocence over a three-day span, also convicted him of illegally possessing a 
firearm and reckless endangerment.

The lead investigators in the case Detective Sergeant Daniel Freedman and 
Officer Jeffrey Kurtz, contended that Anderson walked into the legion on West 
Penn Street early on June 11, 2016 and shot Harris 8 times as Harris sat in a 
booth.

Witnesses were uncooperative, police said. The murder weapon was recovered 3 
month after the killing in the trunk of a car driven by a Philadelphia man. 
That gun had been stolen in Carlisle in 2015 by a cousin and nephew of 
Anderson, investigators said.

Eakin argued, unsuccessfully, that police focused on Anderson and ignored other 
possible suspects, including the Philly man.

Anderson smiled as sheriff’s deputies removed his handcuffs before the jury 
entered the courtroom to render its decision. He did the same after the 
verdicts were announced.

President Judge Edward E. Guido said the death penalty phase of the trial will 
commence Saturday morning. That phase, where the jury will determine only 
whether a death sentence should be applied, will be argued by Metzger and 
another of Anderson’s attorneys, Michael Palermo.

Metzger will argue regarding aggravating factors in support of executing 
Anderson. Palermo will argue for mitigating factors against putting his client 
to death.

(source: pennlive.com)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Poll: Death penalty less popular in North Carolina----Majority believe capital 
punishment flawed



A majority of North Carolinians would prefer a replacement for capital 
punishment, according to a poll by Public Policy Polling.

Attitudes about the death penalty are changing in North Carolina.

According to a poll by Public Policy Polling – the 1st large-scale survey on 
capital punishment in the state – a majority of residents believe the death 
penalty is prone to mistakes and should be replaced.

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.

Death penalty sentences are becoming rare in North Carolina as juries have sent 
just one defendant to death row since 2014. Of those polled, 47 % voted for 
President Donald Trump in 2016 and 45 % 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 results revealed:

• 57 % of respondents believe racial bias likely influences who is sentenced to 
death.

• More than 70 % said defendants should have the right to bring forward 
evidence of racial discrimination in capital trials and jury selection, the 
core premise of the Racial Justice Act, which allows defendants to use evidence 
of racial discrimination in capital cases to earn reduced sentences.

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

• 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 death row 
prisoners were sentenced before the reforms.

• 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 44 % favor the death penalty.

No one has been executed in North Carolina since 2006. Since then, 5 death row 
inmates have been exonerated, more than 2 dozen were 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.

“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.”

A 2018 report revealed that more than3/4 of the state’s 140 death row inmates 
were sentenced before a series of reforms that are now considered essential to 
fair trials, including qualified capital defense lawyers, defendants’ access to 
all evidence in the prosecution’s files and the creation of protocols to 
prevent false confessions and mistaken identification.

(source: Charlotte Post)








FLORIDA:

Walton County Death Row inmates.



DC Number: 135997

Name: COZZIE, STEVEN A

Race: WHITE

Sex: MALE

Birth Date: 06/26/1989

Initial Receipt Date: 10/18/2013

Current Facility: FLORIDA STATE PRISON

Current Custody: MAXIMUM

Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

Courtney Wilkes was a bright, happy high schooler in June 2011 when she arrived 
in Seagrove Beach to spend a week vacationing with her parents, sister and 
brother.

On June 16, Steven Cozzie, who the Wilkeses had seen hanging around Beachcrest 
condominium where they were staying, asked Courtney Wilkes to take a walk with 
him. Seeing the enthusiasm on Courtneyís face, her mother allowed her to go.<

At the secluded Cassine Gardens nature trail nearby, Cozzie turned on Wilkes, 
throwing his shirt around her neck and choking her. He then dragged her limp 
body 75 feet into the dry cypress swamp, where he raped her and then beat her 
to death with a heavy piece of lumber.

A Walton County jury decided on June 20, 2013, Cozzie should die for the murder 
of Wilkes.

----

DC Number: P29305

Name: DAVIS, BARRY T JR

Race: BLACK

Sex: MALE

Birth Date: 12/29/1985

Initial Receipt Date: 08/31/2015

Current Facility: FLORIDA STATE PRISON

Current Custody: MAXIMUM

Current Release Date: PENDING

Barry Davis never flinched when Circuit Court Judge Kelvin Wells sentenced him 
to die on Aug. 25, 2015 for the murders of John Gregory Hughes and Hiedi 
Rhodes.

He even smirked a little at the 40 or so who had come to see the sentencing as 
he left the courtroom. The crowd included Hughes and Rhodes family members, 
friends, law enforcement officers and even some of the jurors who had convicted 
Davis and recommended he be put to death.

Rhodes family members said they were ìvery satisfiedî with the judgeís 
decision.

"Even though that man is going to lose his life, it's not going to make up for 
everything he's done," said Cesaire Rhodes, Hiedi's mother. "He's ruined our 
family, he's ruined Gregís family, he's ruined his own family and it's all 
going to come to naught. Itís never going to be over for us."

Jurors found Davis guilty of the May 7, 2012, killing of Hughes and Rhodes on 
May 18 following a 3 week trial.

Prosecutor Bobby Elmore, who had no bodies with which to try his case for 
murder, relied on bank account records, cellphone records and lack of contact 
with friends and family to argue the fact that the very social Hughes and 
Rhodes had not simply run off. His case was bolstered by the sometimes spotty 
testimony of Tiffani Steward, Davisí girlfriend and the only witness to the 
killings.

After lying on a couple of occasions, Steward admitted she had returned from a 
trip to the store with Rhodes to find Hughes beaten and unconscious. She would 
testify in court that she saw Davis attack Rhodes and strangle her, then 
watched as he tied both Hughesí and Rhodesí hands and submerged their heads in 
a bathtub full of water.

At the death penalty phase of the trial, the 7 women and 5 men of the jury 
recommended by a 9-3 vote that Davis die.

----

DC Number: 324342

Name: GUARDADO, JESSE

Race: WHITE

Sex: MALE

Birth Date: 06/05/1962

Initial Receipt Date: 02/15/1991

Current Facility: UNION C.I.

Current Custody: MAXIMUM

Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

>From the Supreme Court of Florida:

Jesse Guardado was indicted on charges of murder in the first degree and 
robbery with a weapon based on events occurring on or about September 13, 2004, 
in Walton County, Florida.

Guardado had known the victim of the present crimes, 75-year-old Jackie Malone, 
since 2003, and had rented places to live from her. Guardado had been a guest 
in her home, including a few overnight stays when he was between rentals. He 
received assistance from Ms. Malone on numerous occasions including financial 
assistance, and she had assisted him in getting the job with the local water 
treatment plant which he held at the time of the crime. Guardado knew certain 
things about Ms. Malone, including the fact that she kept some money on hand in 
her wallet.

On the day in question, September 13, 2004, Guardado wanted to get high and 
continue his recent crack cocaine binge. Desperate for money to fix his truck 
and obtain drugs, Guardado decided to rob a local grocery store. His attempted 
robbery with a knife was thwarted by one of the employees. Still desperate for 
money, Guardado decided to rob and murder Ms. Malone that night because she 
lived in a secluded area and because she would open her home to him based on 
their prior trusting relationship.

Guardado arranged to drive his girlfriend’s vehicle to work for the night 
shift. He generally maintained a change of clothes in his girlfriend’s car 
because of the nature of his work at the treatment plant. On this occasion he 
made sure there were clothes in the car because a hurricane was due to make 
landfall in a few days. In addition to leaving clothes in the car, Guardado 
armed himself with a metal "breaker bar."

----

DC Number: D40377

Name: MCCOY, THOMAS F

Race: WHITE

Sex: MALE

Birth Date: 09/01/1966

Initial Receipt Date: 11/19/2010

Current Facility: OUT OF DEPT. CUSTODY BY COURT ORDER

Current Custody: MAXIMUM

Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

On April 10, 2009, Thomas Ford McCoy, bitter that he could not get his job back 
at the Coca-Cola Bottling Co. in Valparaiso, called in a report of a 
malfunctioning vending machine at Northwest Florida State College's Chautauqua 
Center in DeFuniak Springs. When repairman Curtis Brown arrived to fix the 
machine, he was gunned down by McCoy, who then went on the run and was arrested 
more than a week later in Tampa after a shootout with police at a hotel.

McCoy pleaded guilty to premeditated murder. He was sentenced to death.

"The human life at stake was considered in this decision, but based on the 
cruel, calculated manner of the premeditated murder of Curtis Brown, the 
defendant is sentenced to death," Walton County Circuit Court Judge Kelvin 
Wells said.

----

DC Number: 220267

Name: SUGGS, ERNEST D

Race: WHITE

Sex: MALE

Birth Date: 08/08/1955

Initial Receipt Date: 07/15/1992

Current Facility: UNION C.I.

Current Custody: MAXIMUM

Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

Ernest Suggs was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Pauline 
Casey.

Pauline Casey worked at the Teddy Bear Bar in Walton County. On 08/06/90, the 
bar was found unlocked and cash was missing. Furthermore, Caseyís purse, keys, 
and car were found at the bar, but the victim was not.

Ray Hamilton, a neighbor of Casey's, reported to police that Casey and a 
customer, who he did not recognize, were playing pool when he left. The police 
were put on alert looking for the man and the manís car that matched Hamilton's 
description.

Ernest Suggs was pulled over based on the description of the car. Suggs 
permitted police to search his home and car. They found $170 in small bills, 
hand and fingerprints belonging to Casey in Suggs' car, and blood that matched 
the victimís blood on a shirt belonging to Suggs.

In the bay behind Suggsí residence, the police also found a key to the bar and 
a beer mug similar to the beer mugs at the Teddy Bear Bar. The police matched 
Suggsí tire tracks from his automobile to tracks found on a local dirt road. In 
a search of this area, police found Caseyís body a short distance from the road 
on which the tire tracks were found. She was stabbed twice in the neck and once 
in the back. Suggs was arrested after the discovery of Casey's body. Ernest 
Suggs asserted that he had been framed for the murder of Casey.

----

DC Number: 936283

Name: WHITTON, GARY R

Race: WHITE

Sex: MALE

Birth Date: 02/04/1959

Initial Receipt Date: 09/10/1992

Current Facility: UNION C.I.

Current Custody: MAXIMUM

Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

Gary Whitton met his victim, James Mauldin, through an alcohol treatment 
program in Pensacola. After they were released they would sometimes bump into 
one another at AA meetings.

On Oct. 7, 1990 Mauldin spent the night at Whitton’s home after drinking. The 
next day they drove to a Destin bank so Mauldin withdraw money, but he needed 
his passbook, which he didn’t have. They returned the next day and Whitton 
helped Mauldin fill out a form to close his account and collect the money, as 
Mauldin was too druink to do it himself.

They checked into a hotel. A clerk noticed discrepancies in the information. 
The clerk also noticed Whitton’s car arriving at the hotel later that night, 
then leaving. The next day, Mauldin’s body was found.

He had numerous injuries, including a fractured skull and stab wounds to the 
shoulder, neck, cheek, scalp, back and heart.

Police were alerted to Whitton by the hotel clerk. While he was being 
questioned, lawmen searched his home and found incriminating evidence like 
bloody boots that matched Mauldin’t blood type. Bloodstains were also found in 
Whitton’s car.

2 inmates testified at Whitton’s trial that he confessed to killing Mauldin for 
his money and was afraid the other man would testify against him if he was 
arrested and put on trial.

(source: Northwest Florida Daily News)