[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, PENN., N.C., FLA., OHIO, TENN., NEB., N.MEX., UTAH, ARIZ., USA

[Rick Halperin]

July 11






TEXAS:

San Antonio man facing death row in killing of 2 teens in 2015 takes plea



A San Antonio man facing death in the killings of two teenagers in 2015 entered 
a guilty plea Wednesday and was sentenced to life in prison without the 
possibility of parole.

It was about a year ago that proceedings in Brian Flores’ capital murder case 
ended in a mistrial because one of his lawyers was injured in a fall. The 
incident called into question whether the lawyer would be able to finish 
selecting a jury, which in death cases can take up to a month to seat.

Flores was 33 and already in jail on 2 other charges when he was arrested and 
charged with capital murder-multiple persons in the deaths of Joshua Rodriguez, 
18, and Victoria Dennis, 17. The homicides occurred at the Churchill Park 
complex in the 1200 block of Patricia Drive on the North Side on Sept. 29, 
2015.

(source: mysanantonio.com)








PENNSYLVANIA:

DA to seek death penalty in child stabbing



Lawrence County's district attorney said he intends to pursue the death penalty 
against Keith L. Burley Jr., who was arrested in Monday night's stabbing death 
of an 8-year-old boy in Union Township.

Burley was apprehended Tuesday morning in Youngstown following the fatal 
stabbing of Mark Edward Mason. The homicide took place in the presence of three 
other boys who were inside the house on High Street where the attack occurred. 
The other boys witnessed the stabbing but escaped the house.

"I can't get into specific details," Josh Lamancusa said Wednesday, "but I can 
share that this little boy died a hero, saving his brother and the other 
children in the house."

Lawrence County Deputy Coroner Rich Johnson, who attended the autopsy at 
Heritage Valley Health System in Beaver County, determined that Mark Mason died 
of multiple stab wounds to the neck, and that the manner of death was homicide.

Johnson would not say how many times the child had been stabbed, only that the 
information would be released at later court proceedings once Burley is brought 
to Lawrence County to face the charges.

An angry Lamancusa said that he has contacted the governor's office, demanding 
to know why Burley was released from state prison a couple of months ago after 
serving only the minimum sentence of a previous homicide conviction, when he 
also has a trail of convictions of other violent crimes, some involving guns.

Burley also has a conviction for having stabbed an inmate in the neck in the 
Lawrence County jail in 2002.

Burley had been released on parole from the March 19,1999, robbery shooting 
death of 36-year-old Randall Stewart in the Halco Drive area. According to a 
1999 police report provided by New Castle police chief Bobby Salem, Burley 
initially faced 90 different charges in the Stewart shooting, including 
homicide and robbery, but he entered a guilty plea to 1 count each of 
3rd-degree murder and having a gun without a license. He was sentenced to 20 to 
40 years in a state correctional institution as a result.

"The (state) parole board released a guy who is a repeat violent and dangerous 
offender," Lamancusa said. "That is ridiculous. I can't imagine what the parole 
board was considering when they released him at the minimum. I find it hard to 
believe anyone could have looked at his past record and determined that he's 
not a threat or danger to the community.

"Now we have the confirmation of the depth of his depravity, sadly."

"I will be pursuing the death penalty," Lamancusa declared of the Monday 
stabbing. "It's a horrific case.

To do so, he will have to sign a notice of aggravated circumstances and file it 
in the courts. The notice will set forth the reasons, including the aggravated 
circumstances, to justify it.

"I think Burley meets several of the requirements," Lamancusa said.

Burley remains in the Mahoning County jail, awaiting an extradition hearing 
that is scheduled for Thursday. It was unknown Wednesday when he would be 
returned to Lawrence County to face his charges.

According to a criminal complaint and reports from authorities, Burley had 
gotten into an argument that turned physical with his alleged girlfriend in the 
parking lot of the New Castle Fire Department on Monday night. He allegedly 
assaulted and injured the woman, and she was taken to the hospital for 
treatment.

In the course of their argument, he is accused of getting into her vehicle 
where her 2 sons — Mark Mason and his 7-year-old brother — were waiting, and 
driving off with them to the house at 60 High St., which was the home of 
another acquaintance.

2 other boys, ages 15 and 8, were upstairs playing video games when they heard 
someone entering downstairs, the complaint states, about half an hour after the 
dispute at the fire station. The boys went downstairs to see who was there and 
Burley was there with the two boys and was holding a gun, according to the 
account they gave the state police.

He directed the 2 boys to go and find the magazine for it, and when they came 
out of a bedroom, the older one described how he saw Burley stabbing Mark 
Mason. They ran out of the house to get help and call 911, according to the 
paperwork. No one else was home at the time.

(source: New Castle News)








NORTH CAROINA:

Death penalty off the table for Dixon; new sentencing hearing scheduled for 
next week



News 13 has learned convicted murderer Nathaniel Dixon no longer faces the 
death penalty.

We confirmed with defense attorney Vicki Jayne on Monday, July 8 that the 
Buncombe County District Attorney’s office took the death penalty option off 
the table.

One expert says it's an uncommon move at this point in the trial.

“It is unusual for death to be taken off the table that late in the game,” said 
Jeff Welty, a law professor at UNC’s School of Government. "Typically, a DA 
makes that decision to proceed capitally at the beginning of a case. It might 
be the victim’s family has decided they’re not interested in the death penalty. 
It might be a change of heart on what the prosecutor feels is just. It could be 
a lot of different factors.”

(source: WLOS news)








FLORIDA:

Death-penalty trial date set for Loxahatchee mother in starved infant case



Kristin Meyer will go on trial before her husband, Alejandro Aleman, in the 
death of their 13-month-old, Tayla, in April 2016.

The mother accused of starving her baby girl with her husband is set to start 
her death-penalty trial in September before a different judge, court records 
show.

Kristen Meyer, 45, is scheduled to appear before Circuit Judge Cheryl Caracuzzo 
on Sept. 20 to begin jury selection in her 1st-degree murder trial. According 
to the order signed by Circuit Judge Joseph Marx, three weeks have been 
reserved for the trial and the possible penalty phase if Meyer is found guilty 
of killing her daughter, Tayla Aleman.

Meyer and her husband, Alejandro Aleman, are accused of starving Tayla, the 
youngest of the couple’s 10 children at the time of her death on April 1, 2016. 
When she died, the 13-month-old weighed 7 pounds. Investigators said that was 2 
fewer pounds than when she was born. An emergency-room doctor called Tayla’s 
starvation death the worst he had ever seen.

Originally, the parents were set to be tried together before Marx, but Meyer’s 
attorney, Assistant Public Defender Stephen Arbuzow, and Aleman’s appointed 
attorney, Michael Salnick, agreed to sever the cases during a hearing June 28.

Though Meyer’s case has been added to Caracuzzo’s docket, Aleman’s case will 
remain before Marx, adding to a growing list of high-profile trials he’s 
handled this year.

The day before the Aleman and Meyer’s case was severed, Marx finished the 
nearly month-long death penalty trial of Christopher Vasata. Vasata was 
convicted of fatally shooting Sean Henry, Brandi El-Salhy and Kelli Doherty in 
Jupiter in February 2017, but was spared the death penalty by the jury.

This year, Marx also was the judge overseeing the trial of former Palm Beach 
Gardens police officer Nouman Raja, the first police officer in Florida in 3 
decades to be criminally convicted for taking a life while on duty. Raja was 
sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2015 fatal shooting of stranded 
motorist Corey Jones.

Aleman will be back in court Oct. 28, when a possible trial date will be set.

(source: Palm Beach Post)








OHIO:

Life sentence for former Cleveland death row inmate Kelly Foust brings end to 
long legal battle



A Cleveland killer and serial rapist who had his 2002 death sentence overturned 
on appeal was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison with no chance for parole.

Kelly Foust, 42, struck a deal with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael 
O’Malley’s office to avoid facing the death penalty once again in the 2001 
claw-hammer killing of Jose Coreano and the rape of a 17-year-old girl.

Foust agreed to spend the rest of his life in prison and not to appeal any 
aspect of his conviction or sentence in exchange for O’Malley’s office dropping 
its pursuit to have the state execute him.

Common Pleas Court Judges Cassandra Collier-Williams, Hollie Gallagher and 
William McGinty accepted the agreement and imposed the life sentence.

The 25-minute hearing brought a close to a protracted legal battle over Foust’s 
re-sentencing that stretched over 8 years.

The woman Foust was convicted of raping when she was 17 years old said the 
hearing was bittersweet. She told the judges she wanted Foust to pay with his 
life, but was looking forward to trying to move on with her life.

“I’m done thinking about him," the woman, now in her 30s, told the judges 
Wednesday.

Foust declined to say anything on his own behalf before the judges imposed his 
sentence.

Foust broke into a home in the middle of the night in March 2001, looking for 
his estranged girlfriend. He beat the sleeping Coreano to death with a claw 
hammer, then raped the girl and set fire to the house.

The woman told judges Wednesday that memories of the attack haunted her for 
years. She was afraid of being alone and afraid to go to sleep, in case another 
attacker was lurking.

“Fear crept in as soon as the sun went down,” she said.

(source: cleveland.com)



TENNESSEE:

More Accused Fentanyl Dealers Charged With Murder As Tennessee Threatens Death 
Penalty



2 men have been charged with 2nd-degree murder for dealing heroin laced with 
fentanyl. They're accused of killing a 30-year-old from Murfreesboro as 
Tennessee law enforcement is increasingly turning to homicide charges stemming 
from overdose deaths.

These 2nd-degree murder charges in the death of Justin Brent of Murfreesboro 
originated with a state investigation into a series of overdoses in Middle 
Tennessee last year. Police say the heroin was cut with potent fentanyl, which 
can be deadly in much smaller doses.

Tennessee is among 20 states where a drug dealer can face murder charges. This 
month, it's joined a much smaller group of states. House Majority Leader 
William Lamberth pushed through a new law that took effect July 1, permitting 
capital punishment for a murder involving fentanyl.

"That would be an aggravating factor that could be placed in front of a jury 
for them to decide whether the death penalty would be appropriate," he said 
during one committee hearing.

The bill passed unanimously, resulting in no debate.

But addiction advocates say the heightened penalties are counterproductive and 
might keep some drug users from calling 911 when a friend overdoses.

(source: nashvillepubicraio.org)








NEBRASKA:

Guilty: Aubrey Trail could face death penalty following murder conviction



The jury Wednesday night found Aubrey Trail guilty of the 1st-degree murder of 
24-year-old Sydney Loofe, who was lured from her home in Lincoln on the guise 
of a Tinder date and strangled in his basement apartment here in 2017.

Trail, surrounded by sheriff’s deputies, showed no emotion as Amber Mulbery, 
clerk of the Saline County District Court, read the verdicts just after 7 p.m.: 
guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

A friend of the Loofe family broke out in tears at the news, and Loofe's sister 
and mother wiped away tears as they left the courtroom.

In the morning, they had been there, too, as the state painted a picture of 
Trail and his fiance, Bailey Boswell, as a counterculture couple intent on 
making a kill, stalking their prey as she drove to work that day and shopping 
for the tools to dismember her body hours before they carried out the crime.

Assistant Attorney General Mike Guinan said at 6:59 p.m. on Nov. 15, 2017, when 
Loofe got in Boswell’s car, her fate was sealed.

“She got in that car and she was dead. It was just a matter of when,” the 
prosecutor said.

The defense painted a different picture using the state’s own cross examination 
of Trail a day earlier, when Assistant Attorney General Doug Warner said Trail 
had meticulously planned a half million dollar con of a Kansas couple, 
suggesting Trail wasn’t one to act on impulse.

"This was not meticulously planned," Joe Murray told the jury. "There was no 
rhyme or reason to it.”

No plan equals no premeditation and no 1st-degree murder, he argued before 
Trail's case went to the jury of 6 men and 6 women shortly before 4 on 
Wednesday afternoon, 3 weeks after opening statements in the closely watched 
trial.

For months leading up to jury selection, Trail maintained that Loofe's death 
was an accident, happening while being choked consensually during sex. But his 
story changed Tuesday when he testified and admitted he hadn’t paid Loofe to 
participate in a sexual fantasy, two other women weren’t there when it happened 
and there was no video, all of which he’d previously told FBI agents.

In closing arguments, Murray admitted Trail had blindsided him, but said 
Trail’s story never changed about one thing — that he’d strangled her 
accidentally.

"The forensic pathologist can’t tell if the death was accidental or 
intentional. I suggest neither can you,” he said.

But Guinan said it wasn’t just the pathologist’s findings, which were 
consistent with Loofe’s death being intentional, it was all the rest of the 
evidence. Three women who were part of their group testified that Trail and 
Boswell had talked for months about wanting to kill.

“Who’s credible? Aubrey Trail?” the prosecutor asked. “He changed the story 
about the death of Sydney Loofe before your eyes.”

Guinan said Boswell had isolated Loofe the night of her death, first taking her 
away from her home and friends in Lincoln to the apartment in Wilber, then 
taking away her last lifeline: her phone.

“This is clearly not some sexual fantasy gone wrong. This is a premeditated 
murder gone right,” he said.

Guinan contends that between 8:08 that night, when Loofe’s phone connected with 
a cellphone tower in Wilber, and 8:40, when her mom sent a text that never was 
received, she died.

"They had her there, and they pounced on her,” he said.

Not by mistake, not by accident, Guinan said. He said she was intentionally 
killed, backed up by evidence during the autopsy that pointed to Loofe fighting 
to survive — scrapes and bruising on her back and shoulder and a bump on her 
head — but it was two against one, and one of them was Trail, a 300-pound man, 
he said.

Guinan said he believes Trail and Boswell followed Loofe to work at noon that 
day and that Trail went inside, passing within feet of her, intending to see 
who they were going to kill.

“The two of them had been planning, scheming and lusting after, desiring a 
murder for months. That’s what we have here,” he said.

Then they dismembered her, cutting her into at least 14 pieces, something that 
Guinan suggested was gratuitous, and disposed of Loofe's body on the side of 
the road like it was garbage. The next day, they went to a casino, where over 
the next two days they gambled and played strip poker in a hotel room with 
another woman “and talked about killing more people,” he said.

Murray said it was just that -- talk -- and much of it coming from the Stephen 
King book "Dr. Sleep."

“We’ve got a bizarre cast of characters in this case. You don’t need me to tell 
you that,” the defense attorney told the jury.

There was the young woman fascinated by serial killers and torture who 
sometimes liked to act like a cat, wearing a collar and nothing else and eating 
out of a pet dish on the floor. And another young woman who, minutes after 
meeting Trail, told him she wanted her stepdad who abused her years earlier 
killed.

“There was a lot of talk by these people about a lot of things, but nothing 
ever acted on,” Murray said.

He said Trail also lacked any kind of plan to get rid of the body or get away, 
leaving most of their belongings behind in Wilber, apparently intending to 
return. They bought maps of Iowa and the Texas-Mexico border but scrapped going 
to Mexico because they didn’t have passports. They considered camping out in a 
national park but didn’t know where to find one.

“Yeah, that’s some plan,” Murray said.

But Guinan, on the other side, said they just didn’t think they’d get caught.

“They thought they had committed the perfect crime. What they did not count on 
were the dominoes that fell so soon after,” he said.

Within days, investigators had Boswell's and Trail’s names, Guinan said. He 
said Loofe’s disappearance was the kind of case that could’ve gone cold fast 
but for the actions of investigators, worried family and persistent friends.

"But what happens? Sydney Loofe solves her own crime,” he said, pointing to the 
text Loofe sent a friend with a photo of the woman she’d met on Tinder and was 
going on a date with that night. It was Boswell.

The jury of 6 men and 6 women who started hearing Trail's case June 18 
deliberated for less than 3 hours before word spread that they had reached a 
verdict.

After, attorneys outside the courtroom declined comment. In a news release, the 
Attorney General’s Office said they were “pleased with the determination of the 
jury in today’s decision."

"We offer our sympathy again to the Loofe family, hoping our system of justice 
provides some form of solace to them for their loss of their daughter Sydney," 
the news release said.

Trail faces a possible death sentence, if the same set of jurors find evidence 
of aggravating factors when they return to court for the second phase of the 
trial on Thursday.

A 3-judge panel ultimately would determine if he gets capital punishment or 
life in prison.

Boswell's trial is scheduled for later this year on a single count of 
1st-degree murder.

(source: Lincoln Journal Star)








NEW MEXICO:

NM lawmakers visit state prison, view execution chamber



Behind fences topped with razor wire, New Mexico’s old death chamber sits 
empty.

A red phone still hangs on the wall – a relic from when the governor could halt 
an execution at the last moment.

But there’s no steel table – or much of anything else – left in the 
80-square-foot room, which lies inside a small, musty building at the 
Penitentiary of New Mexico.

A handful of New Mexico legislators this week got a rare peek at the execution 
chamber as part of a tour led by state prison officials. It’s where 
child-killer Terry Clark died in 2001, strapped down and pumped with a lethal 
combination of drugs.

“I’m just relieved we don’t need this any longer,” Democratic Rep. Gail Chasey 
of Albuquerque said after seeing the execution chamber.

She sponsored the 2009 legislation that ended New Mexico’s death penalty and 
replaced it with a life sentence, without the possibility of parole. Just last 
month, the state Supreme Court vacated the death sentences imposed on two 
inmates convicted before the 2009 repeal.

The group of lawmakers touring the state penitentiary passed by a mural 
honoring correctional officers who died in the line of duty, visited classrooms 
where inmates pursue general equivalency diplomas, and stopped inside a library 
filled with well-worn paperback books.

James Patterson – author of thrillers and other novels – is a popular request.

Chasey was 1 of 6 Democratic lawmakers who toured New Mexico’s 864-bed 
maximum-security prison, just south of Santa Fe. The tour was part of Monday’s 
agenda for the legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, though 
most committee members skipped the tour.

Chasey, co-chairwoman of the committee, said she wishes more lawmakers would 
visit the prison, to see first hand the restrictive conditions imposed on 
inmates.

Rep. Eliseo Alcon, a Milan Democrat and former correctional officer himself, 
said it’s important for lawmakers to see for themselves the conditions inside 
the prison.

“We’re responsible for these people,” he said.

Alcon worked in the old main prison from 1975-77 – later the site of a vicious 
riot that killed 33 inmates in 1980.

Lawmakers this week didn’t have any direct contact with inmates during the 
3-hour tour, but men in yellow prison jumpsuits could be seen through cell-door 
windows and in day rooms. The penitentiary holds inmates of the 
highest-security classifications.

Prison officials told legislators that they are trying to promote learning in a 
classroom setting to help rehabilitate inmates, rather than in noisy prison 
units. They also are tapping the inmates themselves to lead some programs – an 
arrangement that promotes peer learning and also provides a sense of purpose.

“When they have to start caring for someone else, that’s when you see the 
transformation,” said Anthony Romero, deputy director of adult prisons.

(source: Albuquerque Journal)








UTAH:

Mackenzie Lueck slaying suspect charged with murder and desecration



A man jailed on suspicion of killing Mackenzie Lueck, a 23-year-old University 
of Utah student from El Segundo, was charged Wednesday with aggravated murder 
and desecration of a human body days after police found the woman’s charred 
remains buried in a shallow grave.

Ayoola Ajayi, 31, also is facing counts of aggravated kidnapping and 
obstruction of justice related to Lueck’s slaying, Salt Lake County Dist. Atty. 
Sim Gill said.

Ajayi would be eligible for the death penalty if convicted of the charge of 
aggravated murder, but prosecutors have not decided whether they plan to pursue 
it.

“I think it would be premature to talk about the death penalty,” Gill said.

Ajayi was arrested on suspicion of Lueck’s death last month after authorities 
searched his house and found a human bone, charred human tissue that matched 
the woman’s DNA and some of her personal items in a freshly dug area in the 
backyard, Gill said.

Investigators also found burned black fabric and buckles in an alley near his 
home that were taken into evidence, Gill said. Authorities, however, did not 
find Lueck’s body until last week, when investigators say data from Ajayi’s 
cellphone led them to a secluded area in Logan Canyon, roughly 80 miles from 
Salt Lake City.

Lueck’s body was buried in a shallow grave in the heavily forested area. Her 
arms had been bound behind her back with a zip tie and a rope. Coroner’s 
officials determined that she died of blunt force trauma to the left side of 
her head, Gill said.

Lueck, a pre-nursing student at the state’s flagship university in Salt Lake 
City, went missing June 17 after arriving at the Salt Lake City airport 
following her grandmother’s funeral in Los Angeles. Her disappearance, which 
was reported to police by her father on June 20, quickly gained national 
attention.

Investigators said that after Lueck arrived at the airport, she took a Lyft to 
a park in North Salt Lake, where she was picked up by Ajayi in the early 
morning. Records showed her phone was turned off shortly after she arrived at 
the park and was never powered back up.

Records also showed Ajayi was the last person Lueck communicated with using her 
cellphone, though he denied having contact with her that day, authorities said.

Gill said Ajayi purchased a red gas can — later found in the trunk of his car — 
around 9 a.m. June 17. A neighbor told police she detected a “horrible smell” 
coming from his backyard later that day, according to the district attorney.

Gill declined to comment on any prior interaction between Lueck and Ajayi or 
the nature of their communications. Authorities have not provided a possible 
motive in the slaying.

“This continues to be an ongoing, active investigation,” Gill said. “It has not 
come to a conclusion.”

According to inmate records, Ajayi is a naturalized U.S. citizen born in 
Nigeria. He joined the Utah National Guard and was discharged in June 2015 
after six months of service, according to Maj. David Gibb. He had been a member 
of the 214th Forward Support Company in Tooele, Utah, but did not attend 
training.

Officials at Utah State University said Ajayi attended the school three 
separate times for short periods between 2009 and 2016. He never earned a 
degree, said Tim Vitale, a spokesman with the university.

Ajayi’s LinkedIn profile indicated he had worked in IT for companies including 
Dell and Microsoft, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. His account has since 
been deactivated. He also is an author, publishing the crime novel “Forge 
Identity” last year. The novel is about a man drawn to crime after witnessing 
gruesome murders at age 15.

Ajayi does not have a previous criminal record in Utah, according to court 
records. In 2014, he became the suspect in a rape investigation, but the probe 
was dropped after the woman decided not to press charges, according to a police 
report.

Lueck’s parents, who have not spoken publicly about their daughter’s death, 
asked Gill to share their gratitude for the generosity of the community.

“The support and the prayers have helped them through this very difficult 
time,” Gill said. “They are genuinely appreciative and moved by the outpouring 
of love and compassion, and they wanted me to expressly thank everyone who has 
reached out to them in that capacity.”

(source: Los Angeles Times)








ARIZONA:

High court's ruling in death row case could affect 19 others



There is no question that James McKinney murdered Christine Mertens and James 
McClain in two separate botched burglaries in the Phoenix area in 1991.

But should he be put to death for it?

That’s the question the Supreme Court will consider this fall, and experts say 
its ruling in McKinney’s case could affect as many as 19 other Arizona 
death-row inmates who were sentenced under the same guidelines as McKinney.

“The Arizona state courts in the 1990s were making the same mistake in a whole 
bunch of cases, which is they weren’t considering the mitigation the way they 
were supposed to,” said David Euchner, a Pima County public defender.

McKinney’s attorneys argue that the mistake in his case was a failure to fully 
consider “mitigating evidence” – evidence that weighs against imposition of a 
death sentence – of the post-traumatic stress disorder McKinney suffered as a 
result of a “horrific childhood.”

They also argue that from the time McKinney’s original sentence was upheld in 
1996 to the last time it was upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court, in 2018, the 
law had changed.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that the death penalty could only be 
imposed by a jury, not a judge, which means McKinney’s sentence should have 
been reconsidered by a jury, not the court, they argue. The state disagreed, 
saying McKinney’s case was final after his first round of appeals failed in 
1996.

Attorneys for McKinney did not respond to requests for comment on the case. But 
a spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the state supreme 
court acted properly when it upheld McKinney’s sentence last year.

“We believe the Arizona Supreme Court previously addressed the Ninth Circuit’s 
(Court of Appeals) concerns and therefore there is no need for the U.S. Supreme 
Court to get involved at this stage,” said Katie Conner, the attorney general’s 
spokeswoman.

“That being said, we feel confident in our arguments and believe we will 
ultimately prevail at the federal level as well,” Conner said in a prepared 
statement.

McKinney and his half-brother Charles Hedlund were convicted for a string of 
burglaries in 1991 that ended with the murders of Mertens and McClain.

McKinney, Hedlund and two others first broke into Mertens house on Feb. 28, 
1991, but left when she came home unexpectedly. They returned on March 10, this 
time finding Mertens at home, where they brutally beat and stabbed, then held 
her on the floor and shot her in the back of the head at point-blank range.

Nearly two weeks later, McKinney and Hedlund broke into McClain’s home, where 
he was asleep on March 23 when the two men broke in and fatally shot the 
65-year-old in the head with a sawed-off rifle.

McKinney and Hedlund were tried together in front of separate juries in 1992. 
McKinney was convicted on 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, 2 counts of burglary 
and 1 count of theft, while Hedlund’s jury convicted him of the same theft and 
burglary charges, 1st-degree murder or McClain’s death and 2nd-degree murder 
for Mertens’ killing.

In July 1993, both were sentenced to death by a Maricopa County judge, who 
cited aggravating factors of previous convictions and crimes committed for 
monetary gain and, in McKinney’s case, that the murder was “especially heinous, 
cruel or depraved.”

The judge considered mitigating circumstances of their childhoods – in which 
they were frequently beaten, abandoned and neglected – saying it was “beyond 
the comprehension of most people.” But he did not weigh it because, under 
Arizona law at the time, evidence of a defendant’s background could only be 
considered if it had a “causal nexus,” or direct link to the crime. The judge 
determined it did not.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in McKinney’s case in 2015 that 
Arizona courts had erroneously applied a “causal nexus” test for as long as 15 
years after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the practice in a case known as 
Eddings.

“They didn’t consider all of his mitigating factors unless it had a causal 
nexus to the crime and that was wrong,” Euchner said. “They did it to a bunch 
of cases back in the ’90s.”

Among the 19 cases that McKinney’s attorneys listed in his appeal are inmates 
who have spent decades on death row, many found to have aggravating 
circumstances that included “especially heinous, cruel or depraved” murders.

They include Alfonso Salazar, on death row for more than 30 years for the 
murder of 83-year-old Sarah Kaplan, who was beaten and strangled with a phone 
cord. And Robert Poyson, sentenced in 1988 for a triple-murder in which he 
bludgeoned one victim with a cinderblock, shot another and pounded a bread 
knife through the ear of a 15-year-old victim before crushing his skull, 
according to court records.

Donna Leone Hamm of Tempe-based Middle Ground Prison Reform said there is a lot 
more known about the effects of PTSD than there used to be, but “there are 
still lingering doubts about the authenticity of the claim.”

“Just how real did the condition contribute to the crime and I think that’s 
where it no longer relies on science but it relies on the gut feeling and the 
hearts and minds of the judges,” she said.

“You have to look at what else the defendant do during the offense that 
suggests that he was not suffering,” she said. “Was his state of mind 100% in a 
PTSD mode, or was he doing things that showed a consciousness of guilt and 
premeditation?”

Euchner said the 9th Circuit’s ruling had the effect of reopening McKinney’s 
case and giving him “the right to question what set of rules that apply” to his 
resentencing – those in effect in 1996 or those in effect now.

“In McKinney’s case, and many others like McKinney, it’s not just that they 
were denied a jury trial but they’re getting their case reopened – so it 
becomes unfinal,” Euchner said.

“The question that the U.S. Supreme Court is deciding is if McKinney’s appeal 
was final or not final – and if it’s not final he will get a jury trial,” 
Euchner said. “So all the other cases that have been reopened for the errors 
made by the Arizona courts in the ’90s about mitigating circumstances will also 
be awaiting the opinion to see if they also get jury trials.”

But Hamm cautioned that the court could write a “very narrow” opinion that 
applies only to McKinney and not the others, “so you just don’t know until you 
see how the opinion is written.” Even then, she said, it’s not a sure thing for 
McKinney.

“I don’t think that anyone is very confident that this Supreme Court has great 
sympathy toward prisoner rights, especially when they become aware that it 
could result in overturning convictions on not just his case but many others, 
even in other states,” she said. “It’s worrisome – you have to hope that they 
will consider fairly the facts of the case.”

Euchner said he is hoping for a broad – and favorable – ruling, saying it’s 
“more than just McKinney’s case … we really need this.”

(source: TucsonSentinel.com)








USA:

Spring 2019 ?“Death Row USA” Documents Further Shrinking of U.S. Death-Row 
Population



The number of people on death row or facing capital resentencing in the United 
States has continued its 19-year decline, according to a new death-row census 
by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF). The Spring 2019 edition 
of Death Row USA, released in early July, reports that 2,673 people in 32 
states or in U.S. federal or military custody were on death rows across the 
U.S. as of April 1, 2019. That total reflects a 2.6% drop from the same time in 
2018 and an 18.6% decline over the course of the past decade. The decline has 
come at a time in which executions remain near historic lows, as more people 
have been resentenced to life or less or come off of death row by exoneration, 
clemency, or deaths other than by execution than have been added to death row 
through new death sentences. Nearly 1,000 prisoners have come off death row in 
the past decade by means other than execution, nearly tripling the 337 
executions over that same period.

LDF includes in its total 230 people who have overturned their convictions or 
sentences in the courts but still face the possibility of having their 
sentences reinstated on appeal or reimposed after new trial or sentencing 
proceedings. The other 2,443 people in the death-row census face active death 
sentences, continuing the decline in the number of prisoners in current 
jeopardy of execution. April 2018 was the first time in more than a quarter 
century that the number of active death sentences fell below 2,500.

For the first time, the LDF census offered a count of individuals on death rows 
in states with moratoria on executions (California, Colorado, Oregon, and 
Pennsylvania). Death Row USA reports that 923 people, or 34.5% of all U.S. 
death-row prisoners, are in these states. Excluding these states and the 
individuals whose convictions or death sentences have been overturned, 1,570 
death-row prisoners in the United States have what LDF describes as 
“enforceable sentences.”

California’s death row remains the largest in the nation, with 733 prisoners. 
Florida (349), Texas (225), Alabama (181), and Pennsylvania (155) are also 
among the 5 largest state death rows. Nationwide, the death row population is 
about 42% white, 42% black, 13% Latino/a, 2% Asian, and 1% Native American. 
Among states with at least 10 prisoners, the highest percentages of racial and 
ethnic minorities were in Nebraska (75%), Texas (73%), and Louisiana (71%). 
Just 2% of all death-row prisoners are women.

(source: Death Penalty Information Center)

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

Pete Buttigieg Wants to Eliminate Death Penalty, Legalize Weed----Justice 
reform plan released as presidential candidate reals from leadership test in 
South Bend, Ind.



As out presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg continues to struggle with black 
voters, his campaign released a plan to “dismantle racist structures and 
systems.” That includes eliminating the death penalty and legalizing marijuana.

The New York Times reports that Buttigieg faces a difficult path to the 
Democratic presidential nomination if he can’t gain traction with black voters. 
The plan comes while Buttigieg deals with a racially sensitive test of 
leadership as mayor of South Bend, Ind.

In addition to changes to capitol punishment and marijuana laws, Buttgieg also 
wants to limit use solitary confinement in prisons and eliminate mandatory 
minimum sentencing.

The plan also says he will be tightening the legal standard for police to use 
deadly force; creating a federal database of officers fired from police 
departments; and persuading states to disclose more data on law enforcment to 
see a correlation with race.

A police-involved shooting in his hometown turned the spotlight on Buttigieg’s 
history with race relations. Eric Logan, a 54-year-old black man, died after 
South Bend Sgt. Ryan O'Neill shot him. O’Neill has said Logan came toward him 
with a knife, but the officer’s body camera was off at the time.

Buttigieg addressed the issue with contrition at the st Democratic presidential 
debate.

1 “I'm not allowed to take sides until the investigation comes back,” Buttigieg 
said. “The officer said he was attacked with a knife, but he didn't have his 
body camera on. It's a mess. And we're hurting.”

Then-opponent Eric Swalwell challenged Buttigieg at the time and said the mayor 
needed to fire his police chief. Buttigieg hasn’t done so, but since he years 
ago fired a black police chief, that’s only amplified tension with the black 
community.

Christine Pelosi, a Democratic National Committee member, told the Times that 
Buttigieg appears to have evolved on issues of race, but could still have a 
tough time.

“It is one thing to get credit for evolution and change but it is quite another 
to be there viscerally,” Pelosi said.

Many voters were exposed to Buttigieg for the 1st time at the debate, the Times 
notes. So Buttigieg has continued to work through the public ordeal just as 
national attention turns toward the presidential contest.

Buttigieg has, however, enjoyed continued fundraising success, raising a 
stunning $24.8 million in the 2nd quarter. That ultimately turned out to be 
more money than was raised by any other Democratic candidate.

(source: advocate.com)

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

Death sentences show slight uptick in 2018 after big decline, new report says



Death sentences imposed in the United States dropped to 31 in 2016, before 
rising slightly to 39 in 2017 and 42 in 2018, according to a new report citing 
estimates by the Death Penalty Information Center.

Death sentences peaked at 315 in 1996, then declined over time until reaching 
the low point in 2016, according to the report by Ronald Tabak, a special 
counsel for pro bono at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

25 executions were carried out last year. It was the 4th straight year with 
less than 30 executions.

Tabak’s report is the 19th chapter in an ABA book called The State of Criminal 
Justice 2019.

The death penalty tends to be geographically concentrated, Tabak said. Half of 
the new death sentences last year were imposed in just four states: California, 
Florida, Ohio and Texas. And just five states— Alabama, Florida, Georgia, 
Tennessee and Texas—accounted for 88% of the country’s executions last year.

Some states that used to be among the leaders in imposing capital punishment 
have gone years without any new death sentences, Tabak wrote.

One notable example is Georgia, which in March 2019 had gone 5 years without a 
new death sentence. Prosecutors in the state are turning more often to 
sentences of life without parole; last year only three death sentences were 
sought, according to a January story by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

At the end of 2018, another Southern state, North Carolina, had gone 2 years in 
a row without imposing any new death sentences.

Even though some states are providing better representation to capital 
defendants and offering more alternatives to the death penalty, defendants 
sentenced to death in the past aren’t benefiting, Tabak tells the ABA Journal.

When courts deal with older cases, they don’t take into account that the 
defendant might not receive the death penalty if the case was heard today, he 
says. Courts also avoid addressing the merits of constitutional issues because 
of procedural technicalities, he says.

Tabak also says there is no consistency in carrying out capital punishment. 
Defendants with the same level of culpability may get the death penalty in one 
jurisdiction and a sentence well below life without parole in another.

Very often, Tabak says, a sentence “depends less on what you did and more on 
the quality of your defense counsel, the nature of the prosecutors’ attitudes 
toward and manner of pursuing the death penalty, and the way in which the court 
system deals with your constitutional claims,” he says.

In 2014, Tabak received the Father Drinan Award for Distinguished Service to 
the ABA group that is now known as the ABA Section of Civil Rights and Social 
Justice. He is known for his advocacy for fairness in administration of the 
death penalty and is the longtime chair of the section’s Death Penalty 
Committee.

(source: ABA Journal)