[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----PENN., S.C., LA., ARK., UTAH, ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

June 10



PENNSYLVANIA:

Judge denies accused cop killer Rahmael Holt’s request to move jury selection



Jury selection in the capital murder trial of Rahmael Sal Holt will begin in 
Westmoreland County, but could be moved to another county if finding impartial 
jurors proves to be too difficult, a judge ruled Monday.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rita Hathaway rejected a defense 
request to move jury selection to another county because of intense pretrial 
publicity the case has generated since the November 2017 murder of New 
Kensington police officer Brian Shaw.

Holt, 31, of Harrison, is charged with 1st-degree murder in connection with the 
fatal shooting of Shaw. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty 
should there be a conviction.

“We won’t be able to select a fair and impartial jury in Westmoreland County,” 
said defense attorney Tim Dawson.

Jury selection for Holt’s November trial is scheduled to begin in late October. 
Testimony is slated to begin Nov. 4.

Hathaway said an effort will be made to select jurors in Westmoreland County. 
Should that prove to be difficult, the judge said she will reconsider the 
defense’s motion.

Prosecutors said Holt gunned down Shaw as Holt fled from a from a traffic stop 
in New Kensington. Holt was arrested 4 days later in Pittsburgh after an 
intense manhunt.

Also on Monday, the judge rejected a defense effort to bar prosecutors from 
seeking the death penalty.

Dawson argued that 2 cases pending before the state’s Supreme Court regarding 
appeals seeking to overturn death penalty cases issued in Philadelphia could 
ultimately invalidate capital punishment in Pennsylvania. Dawson also suggested 
that state legislation proposed in Harrisburg would do the same.

The appeals are based on an argument that the death penalty is cruel and 
unusual punishment.

Capital punishment has been the law in Pennsylvania since the late 1970s but 
just 3 men have been executed in the state. Gov. Tom Wolf has placed a 
moratorium on signing any death warrants as state officials continue to study 
the impacts of the death penalty.

“At this time the death penalty is not declared unconstitutional, so at this 
point the trial will proceed,” Hathaway said.

(source: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)








SOUTH CAROLINA:

Grandmother of dad who killed 5 kids asks to spare his life



The father and grandmother of a man who killed his 5 children asked a jury on 
Monday to spare his life for the slayings because their family has seen so much 
death and sadness.

Roberta Thornsberry testified that along with losing her five 
great-grandchildren after Timothy Jones Jr. killed them in their Lexington home 
in 2014, she has also had to deal with untimely deaths of other children and 
grandchildren.

Defense lawyer Casey Secor asked her if the jury should sentence her grandson 
to death for killing her 5 great-grandchildren.

"No, God no. I love him. Our family has been through enough. I don't think we 
can take any more. This has broken us so bad I think that would be the final 
nail in the coffin," Thornsberry said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Later Monday, Timothy Jones Sr. also urged the jury to spare his son's life, 
taking off his dress shirt and tie to show the jury tattoos of all five of his 
grandchildren's faces covering his back.

Earlier, he testified how he had torn down the pool he built in his backyard 
for the grandchildren to play in after defense lawyers at trial had showed a 
home movie of him holding the oldest 2 in floaties.

"I feel more responsible than anyone," Jones Sr. said of the murders of his 5 
grandchildren at the hands of his son.

The same jury that convicted Jones Jr., 37, of five counts of murder last week 
is deciding his sentence. They must unanimously choose the death penalty or 
Jones automatically gets life in prison without parole.

Thornsberry talked about how Jones Jr. was mostly happy as a child. She 
identified her five great-grandchildren from a photo of all of them in the bed 
during a visit to her house.

Jones' lawyers are trying to get the jury to have mercy on Jones by showing how 
his execution would just continue the heartache his family has endured.

Prosecutor Shawn Graham reminded Thornsberry of her testimony before Jones was 
convicted, in which she said he was selfish because he was an only child. Then, 
in a soft voice, he asked her if she heard testimony from Jones' confession 
about how the older children begged for their lives or said they loved their 
dad as he strangled them.

She cried and quietly agreed.

Jones confessed he exercised 6-year-old Nahtahn until he collapsed and died, 
then several hours later decided to kill the other four children . Jones said 
he strangled 8-year-old Merah and 7-year-old Elias with his hands and used a 
belt to choke 2-year-old Gabriel and 1-year-old Abigail because his hands were 
too big.

Earlier Monday, defense lawyers called 2 prison guards who said Jones has been 
a model prisoner in his nearly 5 years behind bars, ignoring horrible things 
said by other prisoners when they discovered who he was and what he had done.

They also called psychiatrist Donna Maddox who has treated Jones and said his 
schizophrenia is getting worse, taking away his outward emotions and his 
intelligence.

When he killed his children, Jones was a computer engineer making $80,000 a 
year. Now he is scoring below average on a number of intelligence tests, Maddox 
said.

Jurors have heard nearly four weeks of heart wrenching testimony in the case, 
from the mother of the children breaking down in sobs that she didn't do more 
to help her kids to teachers who said they have nightmares and can still see 
the children they taught in the halls of their school.

Jones' own father testified he feared his son would break down mentally because 
his mother has been in a mental institution with schizophrenia for more than 2 
decades and a court appointed psychiatrist testified Jones mental problems came 
from synthetic marijuana, not a disorder in his brain.

The trial is being livestreamed from the Lexington County courthouse.

(source: Associated Press)








LOUISIANA:

Death penalty abolitionists increasingly optimistic



A proposal to abolish the death penalty failed to pass this year, but 
proponents are more optimistic about its chances going forward, citing the 
progress it made this year. New Iberia Representative Terry Landy says his bill 
got further this year than ever before, proof that legislative opinion may be 
shifting.

“I think we have a lot of traction. For the 1st time in 3 years we were able to 
get it out of committee and get it on the floor, when my expectations initially 
were just to start the conversation.”

This was Landry’s last year in the Legislature.

The Democrat says despite a somewhat lopsided floor vote against abolishing the 
death penalty, he’s encouraged about the effort’s momentum, because lawmakers 
were more receptive to his arguments than ever before.

“I had members come up to me after the debate and tell me that I had put it on 
there hearts, and that they were really really struggling with it, and some who 
said I had changed their minds.”

Landry adds the incoming generation of lawmakers, set to replace 1/3 of the 
legislature that is term limited, may be more progressive in their views of 
this issue.

The death penalty ban failed to pass, but so too did an effort to make it 
easier to get the drugs needed to carry out the death penalty. Landry says the 
progress made this year has inspired him to make a bold prediction.

“We have moved the ball significantly, and I do believe in the next term that 
the death penalty is going to be repealed in Louisiana, I really do believe 
that in my heart.”

Louisiana has not carried out an execution since 2010, as pharma companies 
refuse to sell the drugs the state legally needs to carry out lethal 
injections.

(source: KPEL news)








ARKANSAS:

Ethics complaint against pastor/judge in death penalty protest hits snag



2 days after saying Arkansas Supreme Court justices do not have to testify in 
an ethics complaint against a judge photographed at an anti-death penalty 
demonstration more than 2 years ago, a statewide commission that monitors 
judicial conduct canceled a hearing scheduled June 13.

It is the 4th postponement in proceedings by the state Judicial Discipline and 
Disability Commission in a complaint against Judge Wendell Griffen. Griffen, 
pastor of New Millennium Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas, attended a 
Good Friday 2017 prayer vigil on the eve of planned executions in his role as 
pastor. Earlier in the day Judge Griffen issued a temporary order barring the 
use of a lethal injection drug alleged to have been obtained illegally.

The state Supreme Court responded, without a hearing, by removing the judge not 
only from the property dispute but barring him from any future death penalty 
cases.

Griffen, who has served in leadership roles with the Cooperative Baptist 
Fellowship, says he was exercising his constitutional right to religious 
freedom and that his personal views on capital punishment had no bearing on his 
ruling in the dispute over how the drug was acquired.

The commission canceled the most recent hearing after its own special counsel 
recused herself due to competing interests.

Rachel Michel, a Mississippi attorney appointed to avoid conflicts of interest 
by commission prosecutors, said the panel knows she is forbidden from working 
on the case during office hours and serves weekends in the National Guard but 
scheduled the hearing anyway, without her knowledge or consent.

Michel said in her notice of recusal she nevertheless requested personal leave 
time from her employer to attend the hearing, scheduled on short notice, but 
the request was denied. She said the rescheduled hearing and employer’s refusal 
to grant leave time “creates an unresolvable conflict of interest.”

Griffen’s attorney, Mike Laux, said the debacle “further exposes the 
retaliatory politics driving the prosecution of this non-existent ethics 
violation.”

In a June 7 order saying that Griffen could not compel Supreme Court justices 
to testify because they are “protected by judicial privilege,” the judicial 
commission also gave its rationale for extending the case despite a rule 
requiring dismissal of complaints that are not decided within 18 months.

“The haphazard, thoughtless and arbitrary nature of the JDDC’s handling of the 
complaint against Judge Griffen is clear evidence of political ‘fire-ready-aim’ 
retribution at work here,” Laux said.

“Combined with the JDDC’s indefensible rulings which defy the letter of its own 
rules, the unfortunate developments of the past week all but prove that the 
JDDC case against Judge Griffen is totally baseless,” Laux said. “It should 
therefore probably come as no surprise that when push comes to shove no one 
wants to advance this case.”

(source: Baptist News)








UTAH:

Baum pleads not guilty to Juab Co. teens’ murders, death penalty on the table



Jerrod Baum pleaded not guilty to new charges leveled against him.

During a brief court appearance on Monday, Baum entered a plea to charges of 
aggravated murder, a capital offense; aggravated kidnapping, a 1st-degree 
felony; abuse and desecration of a body, obstruction of justice and possession 
of a weapon by a restricted person.

"Not guilty," he said each time 4th District Court Judge Derek Pullan read a 
charge.

Utah County prosecutors now have 60 days to decide whether to seek the death 
penalty against him. Utah County Attorney David Leavitt told reporters outside 
of court he anticipated a decision by late July.

"It's too early to tell at this point," he said.

Baum is charged in connection with the deaths of 17-year-old Brelynne “Breezy” 
Otteson and 18-year-old Riley Powell. The two disappeared in 2017. Baum is 
accused of tying them up, killing them and throwing their bodies down an 
abandoned mine shaft. Their bodies were recovered in March 2018.

Prosecutors allege Baum was angry because the couple had been visiting with his 
girlfriend.

Leavitt said no plea deal is being negotiated right now, but acknowledged the 
death penalty could motivate one. However, he said he would consult with 
Otteson and Riley's families before deciding any of that.

The families told FOX 13 they supported executing Baum, if he were to be 
convicted.

"They didn't get a choice. They didn't get a voice," Bill Powell, Riley's 
father, said. "They were prisoners and brutally murdered. He deserves the 
same."

"Right now, it's death penalty," said Otteson's aunt, Amanda Hunt.

"Yesterday," Bill Powell added.

Baum will return to court in August.

(source: Fox News)








ARIZONA:

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Chandler death penalty case



The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will hear the death penalty 
case of a man convicted of murder in Arizona.

The plaintiff in McKinney v. Arizona is current death row inmate James Erin 
McKinney. McKinney was convicted of murdering Christene Mertens in her Chandler 
home during a robbery, then doing the same to Jim McClain 13 days later in 
March of 1991.

McKinney was sentenced to death in 1993. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court 
of Appeals overturned the sentence in 2015, ruling that the Arizona Supreme 
Court did not properly weigh mitigating factors. McKinney's attorneys have 
argued that the sentencing judge did not consider McKinney's post-traumatic 
stress disorder due to severe child abuse, which could have resulted in a 
lesser sentence. The case before the Supreme Court now will determine whether 
Supreme Court rulings that have changed death penalty cases since McKinney's 
initial sentence should be applied to McKinney, and, subsequently, other death 
row inmates convicted before 2002.

McKinney's accomplice, Charles Hedlund, had his death sentence overturned for 
the same reason in 2016.

In 2002, the ruling in Ring v. Arizona held that the 6th Amendment requires a 
jury to find the "aggravating factors necessary for imposing the death 
penalty." In 2015, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Arizona's 
"causal nexus" rule unconstitutional. The rule requires any mitigating 
evidence, such as mental illness or post-traumatic stress disorder, to be 
directly tied to the crime committed in order to be considered in sentencing.

In 2018, the Supreme Court refused to consider a case challenging the 
constitutionality of the Arizona death-penalty statute, which petitioners 
argued is overly broad.

According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, there are currently 116 
inmates on death row.

(source: azcentral.com)

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

High Court to Clarify Appeals Standard in Death-Penalty Cases



The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a convicted double murderer’s appeal 
of his death sentence and decide whether Arizona’s high court should have 
applied current law when reviewing mitigating and aggravating evidence in the 
decades-old case.

In 1991, James McKinney and his older half-brother committed 2 burglaries, and 
in each crime one of the brothers killed a victim with a gunshot wound to the 
back of the head.

Although the brothers dispute who pulled the trigger in each crime, separate 
juries found McKinney guilty of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, and convicted 
his brother of 1 count each of 1st- and 2nd-degree murder.

A trial judge sent McKinney to death row in 1993, a ruling upheld by the 
Arizona Supreme Court 3 years later

. The state’s highest court refused to consider evidence of McKinney’s severely 
abusive upbringing because it found no “causal nexus” between his trauma and 
his crimes. The court practiced its so-called “causal nexus” test for capital 
crimes for 16 years before abandoning it in 2005.

After a Ninth Circuit panel initially rejected his habeas petition, a 6-5 
majority of the en banc appeals court found in 2015 that the Arizona Supreme 
Court’s refusal to hear mitigating evidence before imposing the death penalty 
violated the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Eddings v. Oklahoma, which 
found that a trial court in another case should have considered evidence of a 
defendant’s difficult childhood and emotional disturbance.

The majority ordered the district court to grant McKinney’s habeas petition 
unless Arizona reduced his sentence or allowed him to submit mitigating 
evidence at another hearing.

The state challenged the ruling, and the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed 
McKinney’s death sentence. It held that U.S. Supreme Court decisions requiring 
juries rather than judges to make findings necessary to support the death 
penalty did not apply to McKinney’s case because they were issued after 1996, 
when his conviction became final.

In a petition for a writ of certiorari to the nation’s highest court, McKinney 
urged the justices to resolve the “clear division in authority, which similarly 
impacts a substantial number of death-row inmates in Arizona, and which has 
significant implications for other capital cases across the country.”

“By refusing to remand McKinney’s case for resentencing, the Arizona Supreme 
Court created a clear split with five other state and federal courts, which 
have each held that resentencing is required to correct Eddings errors,” the 
petition states.

The Supreme Court decided Monday to add the case to its docket for the next 
term. Per their custom, the justices did not comment on the decision to take up 
the case.

(source: Courthouse News)








CALIFORNIA:

Man Found Guilty of Murder in Death of McStay Family, 6 Years After Bodies Were 
Found in Victorville



A Southern California man was convicted Monday of bludgeoning a couple and 
their 2 little boys to death, then burying their bodies in a remote desert area 
where the crime remained hidden until an off-roader stumbled across skeletal 
remains.

After a trial that spanned more than 4 months and depended largely on 
circumstantial evidence, jurors in San Bernardino found 62-year-old Charles 
"Chase" Merritt guilty of the 1st-degree murders of business associate Joseph 
McStay, McStay's wife, Summer, and the couple's 3- and 4-year-old sons.

Merritt closed his eyes and looked down when the court clerk said the word 
"guilty" the 1st of 4 times. Sobs came from the packed courtroom. Someone 
called out, "Yes!"

Prosecutors said Merritt killed the family with a sledgehammer at a time when 
he owed McStay money and was being cut out of the victim's business making and 
selling custom water fountains.

The jury also found the special circumstance of multiple murders.

The judge scheduled the penalty phase to begin Tuesday. Prosecutors have said 
they will seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors declined to comment after the verdict, and families on both sides 
left without speaking to reporters.

The McStay family vanished in 2010.

Authorities found bowls of uneaten popcorn at their San Diego County home, 
which had no signs of forced entry, and their car parked at a strip mall near 
the Mexico border.

For years, officials couldn't determine what happened to the McStays. At one 
point, investigators said they believed the family had gone to Mexico 
voluntarily, though they couldn't say why.

In 2013, their bodies were found in shallow graves in the desert after an 
off-road motorcyclist discovered skeletal remains in the area. Authorities also 
unearthed a rusty sledgehammer that they said was used to kill the family.

"It was blow, after blow, after blow to a child's skull," prosecutor Britt Imes 
said during closing arguments.

Merritt, who worked with McStay in his water features business, was arrested in 
2014.

Authorities said they traced Merritt's cellphone to the area of the desert 
gravesites in the days after the family disappeared and to a call seeking to 
close McStay's online bookkeeping account.

Merritt referred to McStay in the past tense in an interview with investigators 
after the family vanished, and while the evidence linking him to the killings 
is largely circumstantial, it is "overwhelmingly convincing," Imes said.

Merritt's attorneys said the two men were best friends and investigators 
overlooked another possible suspect in the killings. Instead, they said, 
authorities zeroed in on an innocent man, but the evidence didn't add up, 
noting there were no signs of an attack inside the family's home.

"They tried his character and not the facts of this case," defense attorney 
James McGee told jurors.

Many questions still remain about the family's disappearance. Prosecutors 
acknowledge details of the killings aren't entirely clear but say the evidence 
from the family's car, cellphone towers and financial accounts link Merritt to 
the killings.

Authorities said McStay was cutting Merritt out of the business in early 
February and the 2 met on Feb. 4 in Rancho Cucamonga, where Merritt lived at 
the time.

Prosecutors say financial records show Merritt tried to loot the business bank 
accounts just before and after the family disappeared and backdated checks to 
Feb. 4, knowing it was the last day anyone had contact with McStay.

Phone records show McStay called Merritt 7 times after the Feb. 4 meeting, with 
defense lawyers arguing that McStay wouldn't likely do that if he had just 
fired Merritt.

(source: KTLA news)