[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, LA., OHIO, MO. CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

January 13




TEXAS----impending execution

Texas prepares for 1st execution of 2019----Rusk County man scheduled to be put 
to death for baby's exorcism beating death



A man who was convicted of beating a child during an “exorcism” is scheduled to 
be the 1st Texas inmate executed in 2019.

Unless there is a stay, 29-year-old Blaine Milam will be put to death by lethal 
injection Tuesday evening at the Huntsville “Walls” Unit. He received the death 
sentence in 2010 for killing his girlfriend’s 13-month-old child Amora Carson.

According to court records, Milam’s attorneys have multiple appeals with the 
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in an attempt to halt the execution. One of the 
appeals focused on bite mark evidence, which was used as part of the 
prosecution. The appeal argued that the bite mark evidence has been 
discredited, calling it "junk science." Milam’s lawyer is also appealing his 
conviction under the law of parties and is arguing the defendant had a 
psychotic illness at the time of the murder.

Milam lost a United States Supreme Court appeal in August 2018.

Milam, a Rusk County native, was found guilty of beating Amora Carson to his 
December 2008 death in his trailer. Court testimony states that Milam and his 
girlfriend, Jessica Carson, were trying to perform an exorcism of the child 
seeking to “cast out the demons.” Carson received life in prison without the 
possibility of parole with a capital murder conviction in April 2011.

Both Milam and Carson were 18-years-old when the crime occured. Court records 
say that they told police that they left Amora in their trailer so they could 
walk up the road and speak with a man about clearing out some trees for them. 
The duo initially said when they came back to the trailer to notice that 
someone had broken in and attacked Amora.

When law enforcement arrived at the trailer, Amroa was entirely “stiff and in 
rigor.” The child’s death was ruled as a homicide by the medical examiner, due 
to multiple blunt-force injuries and possible strangulation.

Court records say that the child had facial abrasions and bruises, human bite 
marks along with scrapes, bruises and abrasions from head to toe. The medical 
examiner also stated that the child was bleeding underneath the scalp with 
fractures to the back of the skull and lacerations to the brain tissue. He also 
testified that the child had bleeding in the eyes and around the jugular vein 
along with rib fractures, a tear to the liver and extensive injuries to the 
genitals.

During her trial, Carson admitted that she was in the couples trailer when 
Milam performed an "exorcism" on the child to “rid the baby of the demons in 
her body.” As a result of the “exorcism” conducted by Milam, Amora suffered 
innumerable injuries that led to her death.

Millam was sentenced in Montgomery County, due to the notoriety of the case in 
Rusk County. During his trial, attorneys focused on Carson as the murderer. 
Carson is serving out her life sentence at the Crain Unit in Gatesville.

Unless a stay or the governor intervenes, Milam will be the 1st man put to 
death by the state of Texas this year, and the 559th inmate executed in Texas 
since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

(source: Huntsville Item)

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

>From the archive: the 1st American to be put to death by lethal injection----In 
January 1983 the Observer Magazine examined a deeply troubling death-row drama



In December 1982 Charlie Brooks Jnr, a 40-year-old black man convicted of the 
killing of a garage mechanic in 1976, ‘was the 1st American to be put to death 
by lethal injection’.

‘In the vernacular of death row,’ writes Robert Chesshyre, Brooks ‘had taken 
the “ultimate high”’.

Only the 6th American to be executed since 1967, Brooks had yet to exhaust a 
‘labyrinthine appeals procedure’; his plea for a stay of execution while his 
appeal was considered was rejected 7 times on the day a ‘lethal potion of 
drugs’ washed through his veins.

Fresh papers relating to his appeal appeared the next morning. ‘We had a live 
appeal and a dead plaintiff,’ commented one capital punishment abolitionist. 
Others feared his death heralded ‘an orgy of judicial killings’ for the 1,160 
people held on America’s death row in 37 states.

Neither Brooks nor his accomplice admitted firing the shot

Neither Brooks nor his accomplice (who, thanks to a technical error, got a 
retrial and plea-bargained for a 40-year sentence and possible parole after 6 
years) admitted firing the shot that killed the mechanic. There was ‘enough 
doubt to suppose that the “murderer”’ might relatively soon be back in society 
while the “accomplice” has been executed’.

There were 400-plus murders a week at the time, exposing the ‘arbitrary and 
capricious’ manner in which the death penalty is imposed.

Back in 1967 all executions were halted and in 1972 all death laws abolished, 
but the principle of capital punishment was not ruled out. Hence the ‘illogical 
chaos’ that sees men – invariably ‘our poor, our blacks’, according to veteran 
abolitionist the Rev Joe Ingle – condemned.

The ‘pioneering, high tech’ method of Brooks’s death is likened to ‘putting 
someone to sleep’, as one would a pet. But how far should doctors collaborate 
in killing, in apparent contravention of their Hippocratic Oath?

(source: The Guardian)








LOUISIANA:

Convicted killer in CarQuest double-murder wants new trial, claims confession 
coerced by threats



A man convicted in 2015 in the killing of two CarQuest Auto Parts workers 8 
years ago in Baton Rouge is arguing he's entitled to a new trial because, he 
claims, a detective used improper interrogation tactics to coerce him into 
confessing.

The Louisiana Supreme Court last month affirmed Lee Turner Jr.'s 1st-degree 
murder convictions in the deaths of Edward "Eddie" Gurtner III and Randy Chaney 
but threw out his death sentence, saying the trial judge made an error during 
jury selection that mandated a new sentencing hearing.

Now, Turner's appellate attorneys are asking the high court to reconsider its 
decision upholding his convictions.

The Supreme Court concluded in its Dec. 5 ruling that Turner's confession was 
the product of his voluntary waiver of his constitutional rights and that 
statements made by East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office Detective Leo Moore 
during the hours-long questioning of Turner were a permissible interrogation 
ploy.

Turner's attorneys disagree and argue in a rehearing application filed at the 
high court that Turner's confession the day after the killings was the result 
of "coercion, duress and threats."

Turner, formerly of New Orleans, was 21 at the time of the March 27, 2011, 
armed robbery and shooting at CarQuest's Airline Highway store near Siegen 
Lane. He began working for CarQuest in Baton Rouge at a different store just 11 
days before the slayings.

His attorneys complain that the detective threatened Turner with the death 
penalty — saying "they gonna stick a needle in your arm" — and promised to be 
his "lifeline" if Turner cooperated.

"This statement is a direct threat, and far more likely to incite fear and 
compliance in result of that fear," Capital Appeals Project lawyers Caroline 
Tillman and Shanita Farris, and New Orleans lawyer Timothy Yazbeck, argue in 
the rehearing petition.

"The (Supreme) Court ... disregarded the psychological effects of sitting 
through an 11-hour interrogation while being threatened with the death penalty 
by trained, seasoned detectives on a man in his early twenties who had never 
experienced a police interrogation," they add.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore III on Thursday said the 
seasoned detectives who interviewed Turner acted professionally.

"They, and all of the officers involved here, stayed within the confines of the 
law and their steadfast efforts ultimately led to Mr. Turner's confession to 
killing these 2 completely innocent victims," he said.

The district attorney added, as the Supreme Court noted, that Turner didn't 
fully confess until after being confronted with evidence found at his home and 
the gun he disposed of in the canal behind the CarQuest store.

A search warrant resulted in the discovery of bank bags and CarQuest deposit 
slips in a garbage can outside the Ritterman Avenue home where Turner was 
staying with an uncle.

Turner's attorneys contend he didn't confess immediately after being presented 
with evidence from his home.

"After realizing that the evidence was not enough to get Mr. Turner to confess, 
Detective Moore again turned back to the death penalty, promising to save Mr. 
Turner's life so his child could see him alive and be spared the pain of his 
father's execution," the attorneys argue.

It was only after the detective's additional references to the death penalty 
that Turner's will "was finally overborne," and he cried and admitted to the 
crime, they say.

"In actuality, the evidence presented to Mr. Turner was a straw on the heap — 
but the re-invoked threat of the death penalty, combined with the specter of 
his unborn child witnessing his execution was the straw that broke the camel's 
back," his attorneys maintain.

After initially denying any involvement, Turner admitted shooting Chaney, 55, 
of Greenwell Springs, first, then Gurtner, 43, of Denham Springs, after forcing 
him to open the store safe.

Gurtner, who managed the store, died with the store's keys, including one to 
the safe, in his hand. He was shot 12 times, including several times in the 
back as he tried to flee from Turner.

Chaney, who was the assistant manager of another CarQuest location but was 
helping out at the Airline Highway store that Sunday, was shot once in the back 
of the head.

Turner also told detectives he drove past the store with his pregnant 
girlfriend as investigators pored over the crime scene the evening of the 
killings.

(source: The Advocate)








OHIO:

Attorneys battle over discovery, other motions



At least regarding the perjury and obstructing justice charges pending against 
both women, what seems to primarily be at question is the testimony given in 
July 2018 to a Pike County grand jury investigating the infamous Rhoden 
massacre.

Prosecutors allege suspects Rita Newcomb, 65, and Fredericka Wagner, 76, lied 
to the grand jury in order to protect members of their family, including four 
persons now facing the death penalty, each of whom is charged with eight counts 
of aggravated murder, one for each member of the Rhoden family victims. Newcomb 
and Wagner were in front of Pike County Court of Common Pleas Judge Randy 
Deering Thursday for separate pretrial hearings. But some of the questions 
raised during those hearings were essentially the same.

Representing the state of Ohio and prosecuting the case, Pike County Prosecutor 
Rob Junk and Angie Canepa, a special prosecutor assigned to the case by the 
Ohio Attorney General’s office, contend defense teams, by statute, are not 
entitled to transcripts of the entire testimony given by either woman to the 
grand jury. Predictably, defense lawyers argue otherwise.

Canepa said she would provide the court a brief regarding the state’s argument 
against releasing the grand jury transcripts by the end of this month. Deering 
said the defense team will have one week to respond to that brief. He will then 
make a decision as to what parts of the grand jury testimony defense attorneys 
are entitled to obtain through pretrial discovery motions.

Essentially, discovery motions are requests for information held by the 
prosecution.

In the case of Wagner, the key bit of grand jury testimony seems to revolve 
around her comments regarding the purchase of 2 bulletproof vests that 
prosecutors said ended up in the home of her son, murder suspect and family 
patriarch George “Billy” Washington Wagner III. Fredericka Wagner’s attorney 
James Owen complained the state had not even compiled written transcripts of 
any of the grand jury testimony. Deering ordered transcripts of the testimony 
be prepared and stated Owen and his client at least are entitled to see 
transcripts of any testimony dealing with the bulletproof vests.

Both Fredericka Wagner and Newcomb have been out on bond but also subject to 
electronically monitored house arrest since their indictments in November. On 
Thursday, through their respective attorneys, both also asked the court to 
alter the conditions of their house arrest.

Wagner wants to be able to visit Crystal Springs, a nursing home in Piketon. 
Owen said Wagner would go to the business on an as-needed basis. She also 
requested the right to attend church services.

Canepa said Wagner had been employed as an administrator at Crystal Springs but 
it was her understanding that was several years ago. Junk specifically asked 
for the clarification of what Wagner would be doing at Crystal Springs. The 
prosecution team also suggested Wagner has not been a regular church-goer.

Owen offered no objection to the prosecution’s request Wagner be banned from 
any contact with any member of her family currently under indictment in 
connection with the murders. He did make a point of saying his client is an 
“honest, decent law-abiding citizen,” who has had no contact with the members 
of her family presently in trouble with the law.

At the request of prosecutors, at least in the instances of those members of 
the Wagner family directly charged with the Rhoden murders, Deering has imposed 
a gag order preventing anyone officially connected with the cases from speaking 
with the media.

On Thursday, prosecutors asked the gag orders to be extended to include persons 
connected with the cases against Fredericka Wagner and Newcomb. Owen 
immediately objected noting the state held a heavily attended and 
well-publicized press conference announcing the arrests in the Rhoden case. He 
stated at some point he may want to publicly respond to comments made during 
that press conference and prior to the imposition of the gag orders. Deering 
said he wants a written argument from prosecutors before making any decision on 
additional gag orders.

Newcomb’s attorney former Portsmouth Mayor Franklin Gerlach made some of the 
same contentions as Owen regarding transcripts of the grand jury proceedings. 
As already stated, he also sought modification of his client’s house arrest. 
Newcomb has been living at the home of her elderly mother in order to care for 
her. Gerlach requested she be allowed to visit her farm some 12 miles away in 
order to take care of the animals housed there, including up to four horses and 
eight dogs and puppies. Junk immediately objected. Gerlach told the court 
Newcomb’s son has been caring for the animals up until now.

“It starts to defeat the purpose of house arrest,” he told Deering, who made no 
immediate decision on the request but asked Gerlach to supply details as to why 
his client needed to visit the farm. He added the state would have a chance to 
reply to any claims the defense team made in such a statement.

Finally, over Gerlach’s objections, Deering agreed to a prosecution request 
banning Newcomb from any contact with other persons under indictment in the 
Rhoden case. Gerlach unsuccessfully argued his client had not been convicted of 
any crime and therefore should not be denied contact with the members of her 
family. He said there is simply no need for such a ban.

Although there has been a flurry of pretrials in the Rhoden case in the last 
few weeks, there will now be somewhat of a lull before any of the suspects are 
back in court. The next round of pretrials are not expected until March. Of 
course, both prosecutors and defense attorneys should be responding to 
Deering’s information requests long before then. Both sides also can be 
expected to file various pretrial motions prior to returning to court.

(source: Daily Call)








MISSOURI:

Inmates seek bill allowing chance for parole or death



Ben Terry is asking state lawmakers to give inmates sentenced to life without 
parole like himself a choice — offer some chance for release or allow them to 
die.

Dubbed the “Killing Time” bill, the legislation proposed by inmates Terry and 
Juane Kennel would put the ability to choose death as an alternative to 
incarceration in the hands of some Missouri prisoners. While Terry says the 
proposal likely does not have much of a chance, it raises a number of issues 
concerning the death penalty and what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.

“I don’t think it has much of a chance due to the nature of certain parts of 
the bill. We are hoping it finally raises the conscious of the public that this 
is an issue that we ultimately have to address,” Terry said Friday in a 
telephone interview. “If we are not good enough to let go, and we are not good 
enough to kill, then what are we good for?”

One of about 1,500 inmates in Missouri serving a life without parole sentence, 
Terry says there are many others who share his position on voluntary execution.

Terry has been serving his sentence in the Missouri Department of Corrections 
since his 2006 conviction for 1st-degree murder. He killed a man in Henry 
County in 2005 in a dispute over Terry’s vehicle being vandalized, according to 
court records. He says he is remorseful and that the bill is not a “poor me 
cry,” adding that a voluntary execution would also offer victims’ families 
justice.

“He is dead, and their (the victim’s) family’s hurt is real,” Terry said. “My 
family’s hurt is real and my community was affected by it. There is nothing I 
can do to change that. I think anybody who spends enough time in prison,? with 
the opportunity to stare at the wall like I have, can consider their life 
choices.”

Terry said he polled about 32 fellow inmates with similar sentences in 
Jefferson City Correctional Center where he is incarcerated and said almost 75 
percent of them share his position.

“Of those 32 people I talked to, 24 support the bill and their option to earn 
their release or at the very least earn their death,” Terry said. “Eight of the 
guys were against that. Their general explanations were based on religious 
grounds, that the state would manipulate the opportunity and make life even 
less tenable for us, that the legislation would not protect them from being 
revoked without earnest cause. Some just believe that any hope of trying to 
affect a positive change in this system is a waste of time.”

None of those in favor of the bill truly want to die, Terry says. He points out 
the language is two-fold. While offering inmates a chance of execution, it also 
proposes giving courts the ability to alter no-parole sentences. To qualify for 
an altered sentence under the bill, inmates would have to be over the age of 
25, exhausted all appeals, have no known additional offenses, earned a high 
school diploma and actively sought all available rehabilitative programs.

“I would like to point out that none of us want to die,” Terry said. “I think 
the desire to live is deeply ingrained on a cellular level. If somebody cuts 
their wrists or swallows a handful of pills, the body revolts by sending blood 
platelets to heal the gap or to organs to dispose of the toxins. So I think 
it’s at our very core to desire to live.”

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2012 banned life without parole sentences for 
juveniles. Many countries in South America and some in Europe, including Spain 
and Norway, have banned life sentences without parole. Supporters of such bans 
claim an indefinite sentence is inhumane and runs contrary to any claims 
correctional facilities offer rehabilitation.

Allowing an inmate to choose death would be legally complicated. Even in cases 
where a defendant pleads guilty, a jury must decide if the evidence is 
sufficient for a death penalty.

“The question remains, is a life devoid of hope and dignity truly a life at 
all?” Terry said. “At the end of the day, I think we all value a sense of 
purpose. Knowing right now I am never going home, I have no daylight, I am 
still expected to jump through all the hoops that everyone else is expected to 
jump through. I’m still asked what my rehabilitative goals are for the year, 
even though the question is, rehabilitating me for what? In that, so much of 
the cruelty lies.”

In a letter accompanying the proposed bill, Terry lays out a number of benefits 
to the state. Citing a cost of lifetime incarceration at $1 million per inmate, 
Terry says those funds could be transferred to education, which he says is the 
best deterrent for crime.

“Not only does it provide a degree of restitution, it allows taxpayer dollars 
to net a greater return on a far greater investment, in that education has 
statistically proven the most successful deterrent to recidivism and diversion 
mechanism to the flow of children entering the prison pipeline,” Terry writes.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann declined to comment on 
Terry’s proposal.

State Rep. Shane Roden, R-Cedar Hill, was the chairman of the House Corrections 
and Public Institutions Committee last year. When asked about Terry’s proposal, 
he said that as a former law enforcement officer, he admits he feels little 
sympathy for those convicted of violent crimes.

“Those individuals who have been sent up for life without parole have done some 
pretty heinous crimes,” he said. “I argued against releasing elderly inmates as 
well that are in prison for certain time frames. I feel obligated we have made 
a pact with the jury when they offer a life without parole sentence.”

Roden says he is willing to read Terry’s proposal and says that it is an 
interesting proposition, especially since many against the death penalty argue 
execution is more expensive than incarceration.

“That is a new one to me,” Roden said. “I have never heard that before. Usually 
the other argument from the anti-death penalty is that it costs more to put 
somebody to death than to give them life without parole. To me personally, we 
are housing them for 20 years, that’s part of the problem. When you’ve lost all 
your appeals in cut and dry cases like some of these are, there shouldn’t be a 
waiting line.

“I would be willing to take a look at it. I don’t think I would be willing to 
offer them an alternative at getting out of jail.”

For more information visit #thekillbillstate on Facebook.

(source: Columbia Daily Tribune)








CALIFORNIA:

Uncle loses Avalos custody fight----Appeal planned for slain boy’s siblings



A man who reported that his 10-year-old nephew was being abused before the 
Lancaster boy was allegedly tortured and murdered is planning to fight a 
decision by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services 
that denied him and his wife custody of 2 of the boy’s half-siblings, the 
couple’s attorney said Friday.

“They deprived this loving couple of 2 beautiful kids, who were also abused, of 
having a loving home. The sole reason why L.A. County DCFS did not allow this 
family to take in these 2 kids is because they posted a negative picture on 
social media that made DCFS look bad,” attorney Brian Claypool alleged. “That’s 
how evil and wicked this Department of Children and Family Services is.”

In a statement, the Department of Children and Family Services said, “Given the 
sensitivity of our work and the privacy of the children involved, we cannot 
comment on the particulars of any family. But in all cases, the Department of 
Children and Family Services makes every effort to place children with family 
whenever possible. Through a department-wide commitment to maintaining family 
connections there are often multiple relatives that come forward to care for 
the children. It is a comprehensive process that is guided by the best 
interests of the children. And ultimately, it is the court that determines the 
most appropriate placement.”

Claypool — who is plan­ning to file 2 lawsuits including a wrongful death 
complaint in connection with the June 2018 death of Anthony Avalos — told 
reporters at the downtown Los Angeles criminal courts building that he also 
intends to file a petition seeking a court reversal of the DCFS decision and to 
grant custody to the children’s aunt and uncle, Maria and David Barron.

Meanwhile, the boy’s mother, Heather Maxine Barron, 29, and her boyfriend, 
Kareem Leiva, 33, remain jailed without bail while awaiting trial on torture 
and murder charges, along with the special circumstance of murder involving the 
infliction of torture.

Prosecutors allege that Anthony was severely tortured during the last 5 or 6 
days of his life by his mother and Leiva. The alleged abuse included whipping 
the boy with a belt and a looped cord, pouring hot sauce on his face and mouth, 
holding him by his feet and dropping him on his head repeatedly, according to a 
prosecution court filing.

The Los Angeles County Dis­trict Attorney’s Office is expected to decide by 
April whether to seek the death penalty against the 2, who were indicted last 
Oct. 30.

Claypool contends that the DCFS “failed miserably in protecting this young 
boy,” telling reporters that photographs of the youngster — which remain under 
seal pending a Feb. 27 court hearing — show that he was “beaten from head to 
toe.” The boy’s uncle said he and his wife had done everything required to 
prepare for the arrival of the boy’s half-siblings, who are in temporary foster 
care, but that DCFS refused to turn the children over to them because of a 
Facebook posting of Anthony in the hospital.

“We were always their safe haven,” Maria Barron said. “It’s not just hurting 
us. It’s hurting them and our own kids. Our kids are looking forward to being 
with their cousins, reunited. It’s been years and it just like broke me all 
over again just to know that we’re not going to be able to be with them. It’s 
not fair.”

She said the couple made a decision to alert authorities about the alleged 
abuse and “took that chance, hoping, putting our faith in DCFS that they were 
going to take those kids out of that situation and leave them with us and it 
just backfired because we were not allowed to see them.”

Heather Barron subsequently refused to allow the couple to see the children, 
David Barron has said.

“We will fight this to the very end,” Claypool said of the DCFS decision. 
“Those 2 other children belong with Maria and David and we’re not giving up.”

The family’s attorney has also called for a criminal investigation into social 
workers who investigated allegations of abuse in the boy’s household.

In 2016, the District Attorney’s Office filed charges against 2 former social 
workers and their supervisors, who are awaiting trial on charges of child abuse 
and falsifying records for allegedly failing to protect another boy — 
8-year-old Gabriel Fernandez of Palmdale — from deadly abuse by his mother, 
Pearl Fernandez, and her then-boyfriend, Isauro Aguirre.

Aguirre was convicted in November 2017 of 1st-degree murder, and sentenced to 
death last June. The boy’s mother was sentenced to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole after pleading guilty to 1st-degree murder.

(source: Antelope Valley Press)