[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, VA., FLA., CALIF., USA

[Rick Halperin]

January 2



TEXAS----impending executions

Texas Prepares for Execution of Blaine Milam, Scheduled for January 15


Blaine Keith Milam's execution is scheduled for 6 pm CST, on Tuesday, January 
15, 2019, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, 
Texas. 29-year-old Blaine is convicted of the murder of 13-month old Amora 
Carson in Rusk County, Texas, in December 2008. Blaine has been on death row in 
Texas for the past 8 years.

Blaine did not have a prior prison record. He dropped out of school after the 
4th grade and was not working at the time of his arrest, although he had worked 
previously. According to Blaine’s mother, Blaine stopped maturing emotionally 
at the age of 12 and used methamphetamine off-and-on. Blaine took the death of 
his father hard, twice trying to commit suicide. At the time of the murder, 
Blaine was on probation for solicitation of aggravated sexual assault of a 
child under the age of 14.

Blaine Milam and Jessica Carson met in January 2008, and became engaged on prom 
night. When they met, Jessica had recently had a child, Amora, with another 
man. Shortly after becoming engaged, Carson moved in with Milam.

At 10:37 am, on December 2, 2008, police received an emergency call from Milam. 
His first words were “My name is Blaine Milam, and my daughter, I just found 
her dead.” By the time police arrived 20 minutes later, 2 ambulances were 
already at the scene. Police found EMTs standing in the doorway of the master 
bedroom, in which Milam and Carson were kneeling over an infant on the floor.

The first responding police officer observed that the baby was bruised and not 
breathing of moving. Another police officer arrived and Milam and Carson were 
separated for questioning. Milam told the police that the couple had left the 
child sleeping in order to walk up the road to talk to a man about clearing 
some land for them. Upon their return, approximately 1-hour later, Milam stated 
that they “found the baby in that condition.” Milam was cooperative with the 
police, giving consent for the search of his car and home.

Milam was then interviewed by a Texas Ranger, where he claimed that they had 
found Amora in a hole in the bathroom floor, which was being remodeled, and 
that Amora was still alive when he called the police. Milam later changed his 
story, saying that Carson called the police before they had found the baby, and 
that when they found her, she was dead. Milam denied any involvement in the 
death of Amora. By the end of their conversation, the Texas Ranger considered 
Milam a suspect.

The Ranger also interviewed Carson, who was at first “crying and acting very 
distraught,” before drastically changing her demeanor. She started referring to 
Amora as “that baby,” and told the Ranger a story he described as “extremely 
bizarre.”

When police talked to the man Milam and Carson said they had met with that 
morning, he denied any meeting with them on December 2. Further, video 
surveillance showed that the couple had visited a pawn shop, and pawned 2 
items.  Milam’s sister received a phone call from around 9:30 am, in which 
Milam said he had “found Amora dead.”

A search of the trailer revealed extensive DNA evidence, making it highly 
unlikely that Amora was killed anywhere else. Additionally, police received a 
tip from Milam’s family, after his sister visited him in jail, that there was 
more evidence under the trailer. Police obtained a search warrant and 
discovered more evidence that matched previously discovered evidence.

The medical examiner in the case testified that the injuries to Amora were 
extensive, making it impossible to determine an exact cause of death. Many of 
the injuries would have been fatal on their own. Numerous bite marks were also 
discovered on Amora’s body. An expert was able to testify with “reasonable 
degree of dental certainty” that a number of the bite marks were from Milam. 
Carson was excluded from all but 1 of the bite marks. Milam’s brother was also 
tested. He did not match any of the bite marks.

During Milam’s trial, his attorneys focused on Carson as the murderer. Milam’s 
trial had to be moved from Rusk County, where the murder occurred, to 
Montgomery County, due to the notoriety of the case. In May 2010, Milam was 
found guilty of capital murder and sentenced him to death.
1 year later, Carson was also found guilty and sentenced to life in prison 
without the possibility of parole.

During Carson’s trial, she alleged that Milam was controlling and violent. 
Additionally, she alleged that at the time of Amora’s death, Milam was 
performing an exorcism on the girl.

Please pray for peace for the family of Amora. Please pray for strength for the 
family of Blaine Milam. Please pray that if Blaine is innocent, lacks the 
mental competency, or should not be executed for any other reason that evidence 
will be presented prior to his execution. Please pray that Blaine may come to 
find peace through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, if he has not 
already.




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


Texas Inmate Robert Jennings Receives Execution Date of January 30

Robert Mitchell Jennings is scheduled to be executed at 6 pm CST, on Wednesday, 
January 30, 2019, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in 
Huntsville, Texas. 61-year-old Robert is convicted of murdering Houston Police 
Department Vice Officer Elston Howard on July 19,1988 in Houston, Texas. Robert 
has spent the last 29 years on Texas’ death row.

Robert was conceived as a result of rape and his mother frequently blamed 
Robert for her failing to complete her education. Robert changed places of 
resident frequently as a child and had no lasting, positive adult influence in 
his life. He did not graduate from high school, dropping out of school in the 
9th grade when he began using drugs, however he obtained
his GED (general equivalency diploma) while in prison. He also completed over 
forty hours of college credit. Robert entered the juvenile justice system at 
the age of 10. As an adult, Robert had served time for aggravated robbery and 
burglary with intent to commit theft.

On July 19, 1988, 2 months after being released from prison, Robert Jennings 
robbed an adult movie theater. He then entered an adult bookstore, planning to 
also rob it. Upon entering the bookstore, Jennings saw that the clerk was being 
arrested by a Houston Police Officer, later identified as Elston Howard. 
Jennings shot Officer Howard 4 times, including twice while he was on the 
floor. Jennings proceeded to rob the store and escape. Officer Howard died from 
his wounds.

Jennings escaped in a vehicle with getaway driver David Lee Harvell. When 
Jennings told Harvell that he had shot a security guard, Harvell ordered 
Jennings out of the car. When Jennings refused, Harvell shot Jennings in the 
hand. Jennings was arrested later that day at the hospital.

Jennings was convicted and sentenced to death. Harvell was also arrested. He 
was sentenced to 55 years in prison.

Jennings had been given a previous execution date in 2016, however that date 
was stayed for unspecified reasons.

Please pray for the peace and healing for the family of Elston Howard. Please 
pray for strength for the family of Robert Jennings. Please pray that if Robert 
is innocent, lacks to competency to be executed, or should not be executed for 
any other reason, that evidence will be presented prior to his execution. 
Please pray that Robert may come to find peace through a personal relationship 
with Jesus Christ, if he has not already.

(source for both: thefirgivenessfoundation.org)




VIRGINIA:

Upstart candidates for prosecutor hope to bring reform wave to Northern 
Virginia


Parisa Tafti became a lawyer because a college friend was wrongly found guilty 
of rape, a conviction that was overturned five years later. Over the past two 
decades she has sought to get other innocent people out of prison by 
challenging the work of prosecutors. Now she wants to become one.

Tafti has launched a Democratic primary campaign to unseat Arlington County 
Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos, a prosecutor for the past 30 years.

The clash is part of a national criminal justice reform movement that has come 
to Northern Virginia and could radically reshape law and order in Arlington, 
Fairfax and Loudoun. In all three counties, liberal challengers are taking on 
prosecutors whose views they see as retrograde and excessively punitive.

“I think there’s a lot of frustration with the lack of progress on criminal 
justice reform both in the country and in the commonwealth,” said state Sen. 
Scott D. Surovell (D-Fairfax). “A lot of people in the reform community think 
prosecutors should exercise their discretion in cases more.”

Unlike the incumbents, the challengers are promising to stop prosecuting simple 
marijuana possession, to refuse to request cash bond for defendants awaiting 
trial and to not seek the death penalty.

Parisa Tafti (D), a defense lawyer who works on wrongful convictions, is 
running to become Arlington's top prosecutor. (Tafti campaign)

“The American criminal justice system is now a mass incarceration machine set 
on auto-pilot,” Tafti said in a statement announcing her run. “As a public 
defender, I know all too well how this machine dismantles communities, destroys 
families, uses bad science, and wastes money.”

She pointed to statistics showing black people make up less than 10 %
of Arlington’s population but 2/3 of its jail inmates.

In neighboring Fairfax County, incumbent top prosecutor Raymond F. Morrogh (D), 
who ran unopposed in the past 2 elections, faces a challenge from a former 
federal prosecutor and Army helicopter pilot. Steve Descano calls his run a 
“values campaign.”

“The most important thing is we have to bring Fairfax County values to office,” 
Descano said. “I don’t think we have that in Fairfax County right now.”

Like Tafti, he criticized his opponent for signing on to a 2016 brief that 
criticized the move by then-Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) to restore voting rights 
to more than 200,000 felons as too broad. Both challengers want to expand 
alternatives to prosecution for drug addicts, the mentally ill and teens.

Morrogh and Stamos say they are reformers — within a complex system where 
victims also have rights.

“It’s interesting that she describes herself as an ‘Innocence Protection 
Attorney,’ as that is what I’ve been engaged in for more than 30 years,” Stamos 
said of Tafti in a statement.

While Stamos recently announced that she will no longer seek cash bail for most 
minor misdemeanors, Stamos argued that it is an important tool to ensure people 
show up for court in more-serious cases. On that and other issues, she argued 
that state law prevents the kind of dramatic change Tafti and other challengers 
seek.

“If she wants to decriminalize marijuana, she should go to Richmond,” Stamos 
said in an interview. “Unless and until these laws on the books are repealed, I 
don’t think it’s the appropriate exercise of prosecutorial discretion to usurp 
the will of the legislature.”

Morrogh, who has also been a prosecutor for over 30 years, said he was 
“progressive before progressive was cool.” He noted that he worked to help 
establish a veterans court, drug court and mental-health court in Fairfax 
County, as well as efforts to divert the mentally ill charged with crimes into 
treatment instead of jail.

He said he heavily uses a program that places defendants in pretrial 
supervision rather than asking for bond. But he also said those concerns should 
be balanced with victims’ rights.

“I have a vast amount of experience trying the most complicated criminal 
cases,” Morrogh said.

The race for commonwealth’s attorney in Loudoun County will pit incumbent 
Republican Jim Plowman against a Democratic challenger in November. Buta 
Biberaj is the only Democrat to have entered the race.

Plowman, who is in his 4th term, swept into office in 2003 promising a 
traditional tough-on-crime approach. He said crime in Loudoun County has 
dropped each of the past 5 years, making it one of the safest communities in 
the area.

“During my tenure we’ve continued to hold violent and repeat offenders 
accountable, seeking fair and just resolutions for victims and the community,” 
Plowman wrote in an email.

Biberaj, a 25-year trial lawyer and former substitute judge, said on her 
campaign website that she would take the office in a different direction, 
focusing on bond reform and pushing treatment for the addicted and mentally ill 
instead of jail. She did not respond to requests for comment.

Lawyers and political watchers are also waiting to hear whether Prince William 
County Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert (D) runs again. Ebert, who has 
held office for 50 years and has sent more people to death row than any 
prosecutor in Virginia’s history, would be seeking his 14th term.

Ebert is an institution in Prince William but has faced criticism in recent 
years after a federal judge overturned one of his high-profile capital 
convictions and death-penalty sentences, saying his office had withheld key 
evidence from the defense.

Ebert is expected to face a challenger if he runs. He did not respond to 
requests for comment.

Rick Conway, Ebert’s chief deputy, said his boss and other incumbents are “open 
to discussion concerning criminal justice reform” and have advocated for some 
changes. But “when you’re talking about your head prosecutor of your 
jurisdiction,” he said, “you want somebody who believes in law and order and 
understands that we don’t make the laws — we’re charged with enforcing them.”

It is too early to say whether the challengers will be competitive, but they 
may take heart from the surprise November victory of Democrat Scott Miles, who 
unseated the incumbent Republican prosecutor in Chesterfield County by 
promising to end his “War on Drugs” approach to crime.

Across the country, groups associated with George Soros, the liberal 
philanthropist, and members of the Black Lives Matter movement have spent 
millions in dozens of local races, helping elect progressive prosecutors in 
Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis and other cities.

Tafti and Descano said they had not received similar funding to date.

(source: Washington Post)





FLORIDA:

Mascotte killer cop’s death penalty appeal denied


The Florida Supreme Court has rejected the resentencing plea of
James Duckett, the rookie Mascotte cop who was sentenced to death in the 1987 
rape and murder of 11-year-old Teresa Mae McAbee.

Duckett was seeking relief based on recent U.S. and Florida Supreme Court 
rulings that say that juries — not judges — should impose death sentences, and 
that they must be unanimous decisions.

The jury recommended death at his 1988 trial in an 8-4 vote. But Florida 
Supreme rulings say death case resentencing appeals only apply to cases where 
the conviction and appeals are completed after June 24, 2002.

That’s when the U.S. Supreme Court made its landmark decision about juries 
making death decisions in an Arizona case.

“After reviewing Duckett’s response to the order to show cause, as well as the 
state’s arguments in reply, we conclude that Duckett is not entitled to 
relief,” the justices wrote in their opinion Friday.

The state high court last year rejected Duckett’s appeal attacking the 
credibility of an FBI hair analyst who testified that a public hair found in 
Teresa’s underpants was consistent with Duckett’s. Her body was discovered in a 
lake by a fisherman.

A Department of Justice study was critical of some of the hair expert’s work in 
other cases, saying he overstated the significance of some findings.

″... the hair evidence was by no means the only evidence supporting the 
conviction in this case,” justices noted in the opinion.

“Significantly, the victim was last seen at the convenience store in Duckett’s 
patrol car, and the unusual tire tracks at the lake where the victim’s body was 
found matched those of Duckett’s patrol car. ... In addition, although Duckett 
had stated that the victim never sat on the hood of his car, both Duckett’s and 
Teresa’s fingerprints were discovered on the hood of Duckett’s patrol car.”

“In fact, Duckett’s prints were commingled with the victim’s, whose prints 
indicated that she had been sitting backwards on the hood and had scooted up 
the car.”

(source: Daily Commercial)





CALIFORNIA:

Will Kevin Cooper finally get a fair hearing?

Cameron Sturdevant provides the backdrop to last month’s order for new DNA 
testing in the case of wrongfully convicted California death row prisoner Kevin 
Cooper.

ON DECEMBER 24, exiting California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered new DNA tests of 
physical evidence in the case of Kevin Cooper, whose high-profile conviction 3 
decades ago in a quadruple murder has been consistently challenged by Cooper, 
his attorneys and anti-death penalty activists.

Brown called for “limited retesting of certain physical evidence in the case 
and appointing a retired judge as a special master to oversee this testing, its 
scope and protocols,” according to the order.

There were many serious problems in the police investigation and the subsequent 
prosecution of Cooper, including failing to pursue other possible suspects, and 
the foundation of racism upon which the case against Cooper was built. But the 
mishandling or destruction of evidence has been a single, unbroken thread 
across the more than three decades of this case.

Today, 33 years after the murder of Doug and Peggy Ryen, their daughter Jessica 
and houseguest Christopher Hughes, there remain large holes in the case against 
Kevin Cooper.

For one, law enforcement experts and others who have reviewed reports from the 
crime scene believe multiple attackers would have had to subdue all 4 victims. 
Additionally, blond hairs were found clutched in the hands of 1 victim, which 
couldn’t have come from Kevin, who is African American.

Several witnesses had seen 3 white men near the scene of the crime.

But there were other problems in the state’s case — including the fact that 
prosecutors originally claimed a shoe print at the scene could only have come 
from a tennis shoe worn by a prisoner. This supposedly implicated Kevin, who 
had escaped from a minimum-security prison two days before the murders.

Even as they made this claim, however, prosecutors knew that the shoes issued 
to prisoners were also widely available to the public.

KEVIN COOPER has consistently maintained his innocence and has never received a 
fair hearing of his claims. Commenting on post-conviction legal proceedings, 
five federal appellate judges wrote:

     There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide 
Cooper a fair hearing...The district court impeded and obstructed Cooper’s 
attorneys at every turn. [T]he court imposed unreasonable conditions...refused 
discovery that should have been available as a matter of course; limited 
testimony that should not have been limited; and found facts unreasonably, 
based on a truncated and distorted record.

Just weeks before leaving office, Brown has ordered limited testing as a result 
of public pressure.

That pressure is coming, in part, from the New York Times. On December 13, 6 
former governors wrote an op-ed calling on Brown to follow in their footsteps 
and grant clemency to the more than 740 people on California’s death row, 
including Cooper.

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof also has written several high-profile 
articles supporting Kevin Cooper’s claims of innocence and highlighting the 
shoddy police and prosecution of the case.

The additional testing is welcomed by Kevin Cooper’s legal team and those who 
have been part of the decades-long effort to free Cooper. But it is also the 
case that Brown, a 4-term governor and a Democrat, has taken the minimal action 
he could in response to this pressure.

Kevin’s execution has been scheduled multiple times. In 2004, he came within 
eight hours of being murdered by the state, only to have an appeals court step 
in at the last minute in the face of a tide of activism on his behalf, 
including protests across the state of California and the U.S.

“There can be a vigil for me after I am dead,” Kevin wrote in a widely 
distributed statement at the time, “but while I am alive, we must protest 
against my murder and this crime against humanity!”

This new ruling is another opportunity to raise our voices for an innocent man 
and take on the racism and inhumanity that is embedded in the death penalty.

Even as the testing proceeds, in the face of decades of naked evidence 
tampering, it will take a reignited movement of a new generation of activists 
to get justice for Kevin Cooper and see him walk out of San Quentin State 
Prison.

As Kevin himself explained in an article written for the New Abolitionist, the 
newsletter of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, in 1999:

     I am an activist and an abolitionist, and my work speaks to this. I know 
that the death penalty is not only about me, Kevin Cooper, but is much, much 
bigger. In my mind and through my eyes, this is about a system that has 
historically and systematically executed men, women and children who look just 
like me, whether from the standpoint of the color of their skin or from the 
standpoint of their class and background.

     I am a part of the machine that we are building to put an end to this crime 
against humanity that this government uses. I am no more, and no less, than 
that.

(source: socialistworker.org)





USA:

Editor,

The death penalty is not to cruel for the United States. The death penalty is 
not to harsh for criminals who deserve it. Criminals who have committed heinous 
crimes such as murder, rape, and other such crimes should have to pay for their 
crimes in the way of death. I do not believe that we should have to support 
cold blooded killers with our tax dollars when they deserve the death penalty.

We should give the death penalty not only to make a crucial pay for their 
crimes but to also give peace to mourning families of people who had to suffer 
form the person who did. If criminals know that if the commit certain crimes 
then they will be sentenced to death then it might deter them from doing it so 
the crime might go down.

We should not incarcerate someone who deserves the death penalty because 
prisons cost the taxpayers 56 billion dollars. 30,000 dollars per person that 
we have to support when would could almost cut it in half if we would start to 
give the death penalty to people who deserved it. Every state that offers the 
death penalty also offers life without parole which means if someone gets life 
without parole instead of the death penalty it will cost the taxpayers millions 
of dollars annually. Me along with 62% of the American population agree that we 
should give the death penalty to people who deserve it while only 26% are 
opposed to it.

JT Reece,

Desloge

(source: Letter to the Editor, Daily Journal Online)