[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----GA., IND., KY., UTAH, NEV., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

January 4



GEORGIA:

Carter homicide case to be reviewed in death penalty decision



The July death of a Thomasville woman and hostage situations involving a 
Thomasville woman and an Ochlocknee family paralyzed the community with fear 
until the suspect in the crimes was found hiding under a log in Little 
Ochlockonee River on a humid, sweltering Sunday afternoon.

Robert Carter, 47 at the time of his arrest on July 8, 2018, is charged with 
murder, among other offenses, in the death of 70-year-old Deanna Shirey, whose 
body was found in a shallow grave at Carter’s 428 Colton Ave. residence. The 
remains were wrapped in a comforter believed to be taken from Shirey’s bed at 
her Glenwood Drive home.

Local, state and federal law enforcement officers converged on the community 
and conducted an around-the-clock manhunt that led to Carter’s capture. Thomas 
County residents lined highways and applauded law enforcement as they 
transported the captured fugitive to jail.

Brad Shealy, Southern Judicial Circuit district attorney, said his office will 
not decide whether the death penalty will be sought on Carter until the case 
file is complete and reviewed by him and assistant district attorneys.

“That’s something we’ll have to decide when he we get all the facts,” Shealy 
said.

Items in the case file will include lab reports, physical evidence and witness 
statements.

Certain statutory requirements must be met if the death penalty is sought. 
Aggravated circumstances, a law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty, 
a murder victim tortured before death and killing for money are among 
requirements in a death penalty case, the district attorney said.

Shealy said he prosecuted several Lowndes County death penalty cases that 
required years of preparation. Defendants eventually entered guilty pleas. A 
death penalty defendant who enters a guilty plea is eligible for a sentence of 
life in prison or life without parole.

Shealy hopes the Carter case can be heard by a February Thomas County grand 
jury.

“When it goes to grand jury, we probably would know if we will ask for the 
death penalty,” the district attorney said, “Hopefully, we can get it to the 
February grand jury.”

Shealy said the Shirey case will be considered separately from other cases with 
which Carter is charged.

(source: Thomasville Times-Enterprise)








INDIANA:

Debra Denise Brown was Indiana's last woman on death row. She will no longer be 
executed.



A 56-year-old woman who was Indiana's sole female death row inmate will not be 
executed for her role in the murder of a 7-year-old girl in Gary in 1984.

Last month, the Lake County prosecutor and the Indiana Attorney General’s 
Office signed an agreement withdrawing a demand for the execution Debra Denise 
Brown because of mental disability.

It is an appeal Brown's attorneys have made multiple times since she was 
sentenced to death in June 1986 alongside co-defendant Alton Coleman. Together, 
the couple was convicted of carrying out a 53-day crime spree across multiple 
Midwestern states that resulted in 8 killings, 7 rapes, 3 kidnappings and 14 
armed robberies.

It is still unlikely that Brown will ever be freed from prison. She faces 2 
consecutive life sentences in Ohio, plus an additional 140 years in Indiana.

The crimes

According to IndyStar archives, 7-year-old TamikaTurks was walking home from a 
candy store on June 18, 1984 with her 9-year-old aunt, Annie, when Brown and 
Coleman persuaded them to walk into the woods to play a game.

Once there, Coleman and Brown removed Tamika's shirt and tore it into small 
strips which were used to bind and gag the children. Tamika was suffocated and 
stomped when she began to cry, and Annie was raped.

Annie survived, but Tamika was killed.

The attack happened in the midst of the couple's crime spree that took them 
through Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Kentucky. They were finally 
captured in Illinois on July 20, 1984.

Sentenced to death

In the wake of her arrest, attorneys for Brown argued that the 21-year-old 
woman was borderline mentally disabled and acting under Coleman's domination at 
the time of the killings.

But Brown and Coleman were both sentenced to death, and each made multiple 
unsuccessful appeals to have the sentences overturned. Coleman was executed 
April 26, 2002 in Ohio, and Brown was awaiting an execution date. She was 
slated to be the 1st woman executed in Indiana since the U.S. Supreme Court 
reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

A statement provided to IndyStar by Indiana Attorney General Spokeswoman 
Melissa Gustafson said the recent sentence modification was required by 
constitutional law and based on evidence developed throughout the case that 
Brown is likely intellectually disabled.

"Under the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the 2003 decision of 
the U.S. Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia, a death sentence cannot be given 
to persons who are intellectually disabled," said the statement from Gustafson.

Victim's family wasn't notified

Tamika Turks' family wasn't initially informed of the decision to alter the 
sentence.

The Indiana Attorney General's Office expressed regret at how the notification 
was handled.

"The ultimate decision to agree to the sentence modification was the 
Prosecutor’s Office because Indiana law gives prosecutors that authority," 
Gustafson said in a statement. "It was our understanding that the victims and 
family members were contacted by that office, but it now appears that a mistake 
was made.

"The OAG deeply regrets that they were not notified in advance because we take 
seriously the dignity of victims of all crime and our responsibility to ensure 
that dignity within the criminal justice system."

The Lake County Prosecutors Office did not respond to requests for comment.

The Times of Northwest Indiana reports that Tamika Turks' family was notified 
of the agreement on Thanksgiving by Thomas Vanes, the attorney who won Brown's 
death sentence conviction in 1986.

LaVerne Turks, Tamika Turks' mother, said she's angry and hurt she wasn't 
notified about the decision.

"Debra Brown was right there with (Coleman), committing the same crimes. She 
bears the same responsibility for them, and she should share his punishment," 
LaVerne Turks said.

IndyStar's attempts to reach Turks and Vanes for comment were unsuccessful.

Brown's punishment now

Gustafson explained that because Brown committed her crimes before life without 
parole was an option in Indiana, it is illegal to give her a life sentence in 
the Indiana case.

Instead, she was given the maximum sentence for murder, short of the death 
penalty, in addition to her other Indiana sentences. That totals 140 years, to 
be served consecutively with 2 sentences of life without parole in Ohio.

The Ohio sentences are for murders committed during the same 1984 crime spree 
and were originally death sentences reduced to life by former Ohio Gov. Dick 
Celeste.

"But this 140-year sentence, which will only begin to be served if her 2 Ohio 
sentences are somehow reduced and completed, is assuredly a life sentence on 
its own given Brown’s age and other sentences," said the statement from 
Gustafson.

"Additionally, Brown has agreed to give up all legal challenges to her Indiana 
convictions, including the petition for a writ of habeas corpus that has been 
pending in an Ohio federal court since 1999; that concession ensures her 
convictions will remain intact and we can bring this case to final resolution 
in the courts."

(source: Indianapolis Star)








KENTUCKY:

Prosecutors file paperwork to seek death penalty in Martin County triple murder 
case



Thursday, prosecutors filed paperwork to seek the death penalty in a Martin 
County triple murder case.

Police said Lance Ward killed Derek James, Amber Lockard and Micah Sammons in 
March of last year.

They were found shot along a road near KY 292.

Ward will be back in court February 21. We might learn a trial date that day.

(source: WYMT news)








UTAH:

6 of Utah's most infamous and horrible murderers



Although Utah has a relatively small population, the state is a leader in 
categories such as business climate, low unemployment, population growth — and 
vicious murderers.

Using the serial killer database compiled by Radford University and Florida 
Gulf Coast University, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the states with the highest 
numbers of documented victims of serial killers since 1900, adjusted for 
population. Utah ranked 9th.

Of course, that ranking doesn’t include spree killers or other murderers whose 
horrific crimes don’t fit the FBI classification of serial killers. Utah has 
seen more than its share of killers whose dastardly deeds have drawn national 
attention.

While this is not a complete list, here are some of the Beehive State’s most 
heinous murderers.

Josh Powell

Although it’s been more than 9 years since Susan Powell disappeared, interest 
in the closed case remains high, renewed recently with the release of the 
“Cold” podcasts, which have provided new insights.

Although Susan’s husband, Josh Powell, was always the prime suspect, he was 
never charged. Even so, Josh became a confirmed murderer in February 2012, when 
he hacked his 2 young sons with a hatchet before burning them and himself to 
death in an explosive home fire he intentionally set.

Josh sent several emails moments before he started the blaze, according to a 
Deseret News article. Other details showed the horrific act was carefully 
planned.

Gary Ridgway

Ridgway was the most prolific serial killer in the United States, convicted of 
49 murders and suspected of as many as double that number. Dubbed the “Green 
River killer,” he was quoted by fandom.com as saying, “I killed so many women I 
have a hard time keeping them straight.”

Although Ridgway’s murders occurred in Washington and Oregon, he was born in 
Utah and lived here until his family moved to the Seattle area when he was 11. 
It’s safe to assume many of the mental issues that set him on the path to 
becoming a monster were established while in Utah. He was just 14 when he 
attempted his first murder by stabbing a 6-year-old boy.

Ridgway’s murders spanned 3 decades. His 1st confirmed kill was in 1973, 
although he alluded to earlier murders. He was finally arrested in 2001 when 
DNA evidence connected him to some of the murders. Ridgway received a life 
sentence and remains in a federal penitentiary in Colorado.

Sulejman Talovic

An 18-year-old refugee from Bosnia, Sulejman Talovic shot 9 people at Trolley 
Square Mall in Salt Lake City on Feb. 12, 2007. 5 of the victims died.

Talovic had 2 guns and plenty of ammunition. His rampage could have been more 
devastating, but an off-duty police officer engaged him in a shootout. That 
kept him occupied until more police officers arrived. They shot and killed 
Talovic.

The motive for the shootings is a mystery. The FBI concluded he was not a 
terrorist. A Deseret News article about his possible motivations noted that on 
the day of the tragedy, he completed his normal workday. His family said he 
came home and took a shower before he left the house and went to the mall.

Gary Gilmore

Gary Gilmore became more famous for his death than his crimes. He was the 1st 
person executed after the U.S. reinstated the death penalty. He opted for death 
by firing squad at the Utah State Penitentiary.

Gilmore came to Provo in 1976 after more than 2 decades of incarcerations in 
various Oregon prisons for crimes ranging from drunk driving to armed robbery. 
4 months after arriving in Utah, he killed 2 people in separate robberies.

The justice process moved swiftly for Gilmore. Britannica.com noted he had a 
3-day trial just 11 weeks after the murders. He was convicted on Oct. 7 and his 
original execution date was set for Nov. 15. His mother filed for a stay, but 
in December, the state Supreme Court ruled the sentence was valid.

The sentence was carried out Jan. 17, 1977 — nine months after his arrival in 
Utah and just 6 months after the murders.

Ted Bundy

University of Utah law school student Ted Bundy did not look like someone 
capable of being a serial killer. In fact, in 1978 as he stood trial in Utah 
for kidnapping, the headline for a New York Times article was “All-American boy 
on trial.”

Between 1974 and 1978, Bundy killed women in Utah, Washington, Oregon, Colorado 
and Florida. He eventually admitted to 30 murders, but the final toll was 
likely higher. Bundy was convicted and sent to prison for the Utah kidnapping 
case but was transferred to Colorado to face murder charges. He escaped (the 
1st of 2 times) and continued his murderous rampage.

Florida police caught Bundy four weeks later. He was convicted of murder and 
executed by electrocution in 1989. An article in allthatsinteresting.com quoted 
a defense investigator as saying, “I would describe him being as close to being 
like the devil as anyone I ever met.”

Arthur Gary Bishop

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Arthur Gary Bishop was an Eagle Scout and 
high school honor student. After graduation, he served as a missionary for The 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Philippines.

By 1978, he’d been convicted of embezzlement and excommunicated from his 
church. He changed his name, joined the Big Brother program and began molesting 
and killing boys.

Bishop claimed 5 victims ages 4-13 between 1979 and 1983. Bishop was found 
guilty of 5 counts of aggravated murder, 5 counts of aggravated kidnapping and 
1 count of sexually abusing a minor. He was executed by lethal injection on 
June 10, 1988.

A Deseret News article reported he was calm and cooperative as he entered the 
death chamber. He was quoted as saying, “I am merely accepting my just 
punishment as my conscience dictates I must. Though perhaps too little too 
late, I am doing the right thing now."

Other notable Utah killers — in no particular order — include:

? Ron Lafferty

Dan Lafferty

Mark Hofman

Ronnie Lee Gardner

Barton Kay Kirkham

Pierre Dale Selby

William Andrews

Myron Lance

Walter Kelbach

Frances Schreuder

Marc Schreuder

Michael Archuleta

Douglas Carter

Taberon Dave Honie

Troy Kell

Douglas Anderson Lovell

Floyd Eugene Maestas

Von Taylor.

Since 2000, Utah has averaged 54 homicides each year, according to data from 
the Utah Department of Public Safety and disastercenter.com.

(source: ksl.com)








NEVADA:

Las Vegas Strip Killer Ammar Harris Death Penalty Upheld by Nevada Court, But 
State Still Wrestles with Lethal Injection



In 2016, Ammar Harris was sentenced to death for a drive-by shooting 3 years 
earlier on the Las Vegas Strip that resulted in the deaths of three people. 
Last week, the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed his appeal in a state where the 
death penalty — though last carried out in 2006 — has lately garnered national 
attention through the Scott Dozier case.

In February 2013, self-proclaimed pimp Harris, then 26, shot and killed 
aspiring rapper Kenneth Cherry Jr. in a case of mistaken identity.

Believing him to be a man Harris had argued with earlier that night at the Haze 
nightclub at Aria, he pulled up alongside Cherry’s Maserati and fired 3 shots 
through the driver’s window, killing Cherry and injuring a passenger.

The Maserati then careened into a cab, which burst into flames, causing the 
deaths of both taxi driver Michael Boldon and his passenger Sandra 
Sutton-Wasmund, a mother of 3.

Inflamed Passions

Harris’ defense lawyer, Robert Langford, argued during appeal proceedings that 
prosecutors in the original trial should not have been permitted to show jurors 
photographs of Boldon’s and Sutton-Wasmund’s bodies. He said it “inflamed their 
passions,” resulting in a conviction of 3-counts of 1st-degree murder.

Langford further argued that District Judge Kathleen Delaney had OK’d the 
pictures as trial evidence without issuing an explanation of how she had 
arrived at her decision.

But a panel of Silver State judges ruled 5-2 that the photos did not 
irreversibly taint Harris’ trial as they upheld the death sentence.

Harris is expected to appeal to the federal courts.

Scott Dozier Precedent

While there are around 80 people on death row in Nevada, the state has not 
executed anyone in more than 12 years, largely due to the protracted legal 
wrangling involved in appeals.

Prior to that — from 1979 to 2006 — 11 out of 12 Nevada Death Row inmates were 
killed without filing any appeals, and all but 1 of those were killed by lethal 
injection. The 1st of those executions was carried out in the subsequently 
dismantled state gas chamber in Carson City, which had been in use since 1924 
and was used a total of 31 times.

Attempting to buck the current trend is Scott Dozier, a drug dealer who was 
convicted in 2006 of the murder and dismemberment of a fellow methamphetamine 
pusher at the now-demolished La Concha Motel on the Las Vegas Strip. Dozier has 
repeatedly waived his right to appeal and expressed his wish to die.

Dozier’s execution by lethal injection was scheduled to be carried out at the 
state prison in Ely, Nevada on July 11, 2018, but was halted by court order 
just hours before it was due to take place because of a legal challenge by New 
Jersey-based drug company Alvogen.

The drugmaker said it did not want its generic midazolam product — 1 of several 
drugs used in the lethal injection procedure — associated with what it 
anticipated to be a “botched execution,” based on its use as part of a 
three-drug killing cocktail in other states, including Oklahoma, Alabama, and 
Arkansas.

In September, the state AG’s office applied to the Supreme Court of Nevada for 
the right to use midazolam — along with 2 other drugs — when carrying out the 
death penalty. Dozier’s execution has been on hold since then.

The state’s new attorney general-elect, Democrat Aaron Ford, has said he is 
opposed to the death penalty.

Meanwhile, the 48-year-old Dozier has been moved to solitary confinement in 
Ely, where he remains on suicide watch.

(source: casino.org)








CALIFORNIA:

Rex Krebs attorney to defend man accused in murder of Paso Robles womanM



The body of missing Paso Robles resident Nancy Woodrum has been recovered and 
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff-Coroner Ian Parkinson announced an arrest of a 
suspect.

A San Luis Obispo attorney with experience representing defendants facing the 
death penalty was appointed Thursday to join the legal team representing the 
man accused of raping and murdering Paso Robles resident Nancy Woodrum.

William McLennan, who worked on the capital cases of notorious killer Rex Krebs 
and of Dystiny Myers’ murderer Ty Hill, will represent Carlo Alberto Fuentes 
Flores along with the San Luis Obispo County Public Defender’s Office.

Fuentes Flores, 42, accused of killing Woodrum after allegedly confessing and 
leading authorities to her body, pleaded not guilty Thursday to a single charge 
of premeditated murder.

The District Attorney’s Office in its criminal complaint filed last week also 
lists two special circumstances alleging Woodrum’s murder occurred during the 
commission of rape and residential burglary, meaning that prosecutors could 
request the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole 
at a later date, Assistant District Attorney Eric Dobroth said last week.

Following Thursday’s hearing, Steven Rice and Jason Dufurrena, attorneys with 
the San Luis Obispo County Public Defender’s Office already representing 
Fuentes Flores, said state law requires defense counsel to treat the case as if 
prosecutors are seeking the death penalty until they formally declare 
otherwise.

Under the law, they said, their client is entitled to request an attorney with 
significant experience in a case in which the death penalty is on the table.

Superior Court Judge Ginger Garrett on Thursday granted Rice and Dufurrena’s 
motion to appoint McLennan, who submitted a declaration stating he’s served as 
2nd or lead defense counsel in 9 capital cases since being admitted to the bar 
in 1977.

According to McLennan’s declaration, he served as a secondary counsel in the 
trial for Krebs, in which he worked on trial preparation, drafting legal briefs 
and appellate writs, including a writ filed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Krebs, who murdered college students Rachel Newhouse and Aundria Crawford, was 
found guilty by a jury in 2001 and remains on death row in San Quentin State 
Prison.

Despite that verdict, McLennan has a record of representing defendants in which 
the accused was spared the death penalty.

In 2011, McLennan was appointed to represent Hill, 1 of 5 South San Luis Obispo 
County residents accused of the kidnapping, torture and murder of Santa Maria 
teenager Dystiny Myers.

Hill — the only defendant to face the death penalty in the case — accepted a 
plea deal before his trial began in 2013, agreeing to a life prison term 
without the possibility of parole or appeal.

McLennan also worked as an associate defense counsel in other high-profile San 
Luis Obispo County cases including for Terry Crothers, who bludgeoned 
31-year-old Cindy Pinto to death in Paso Robles in 1994; and Peter Dirks, who 
was convicted in 2005 of raping and murdering Cal Poly student Mary Catherine 
Waterbury at Montana de Oro in 1985. The Dirks case was the 1st cold case 
solved in San Luis Obispo County using DNA evidence.

Authorities say Fuentes Flores killed Woodrum, 62, who had been missing for 7 
months when her body was recovered last month in a remote spot off Highway 58.

The Sheriff’s Office says Fuentes Flores led detectives to Woodrum’s body on 
the same day as their 1st interview with him.

Neighbors last saw her alive on the afternoon of May 4, according to the 
Sheriff’s Office.

Woodrum, a hair stylist, owned The Strand Salon in downtown Paso Robles with 
her daughter and had worked in the beauty industry since the late 1990s, 
according to a May Tribune story.

Sheriff Ian Parkinson said at a news conference that Woodrum and Fuentes Flores 
became acquainted after he did painting work on her property.

Fuentes Flores is scheduled to be back in court for pre-preliminary hearing 
Monday.

(source: sanluisobispo.com)