[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.H., PENN., GA., FLA., LA.

[Rick Halperin]

May 3




TEXAS-----new execution date

North Texas man convicted of killing Godley woman during crime spree gets 
September execution date



A North Texas man sentenced to die for killing a 61-year-old woman during a 
2010 crime spree is now scheduled for execution later this year.

A Johnson County judge last month signed off on a Sept. 10 death date for Mark 
Anthony Soliz, who was sent to death row 7 years ago following a 2-county 
string of violence.

"I will fight this execution date with every legal tool in my kit," said 
Houston-based defense attorney Seth Kretzer, vowing to file another appeal and 
pursue a clemency request from the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.

In June 2010, Soliz and his buddy Joe Ramos stole long guns and a 9-millimeter 
semiautomatic in a burglary, according to court records. For the next week, 
they robbed strangers at gunpoint, shot a man in the ear, killed the driver of 
a beer delivery truck, pulled off a carjacking, burglarized homes, and shot a 
man repeatedly in a drive-by.

Most of the crimes were in the Fort Worth area, but on June 29, Ramos and Soliz 
drove to the Johnson County home of Nancy Weatherly and knocked on her door, 
then pulled out a gun when she answered and pushed inside to rob her. Before 
leaving, according to state records, Soliz shot Weatherly in the back of the 
head.

During trial, Soliz barely paid attention and sometimes fell asleep even as the 
jury heard how Weatherly begged for her life before she was killed, the Fort 
Worth Star Telegram reported at the time.

The jury also heard about Soliz's rough childhood, surrounded by drugs and 
poverty. He saw his aunt stabbed to death when he was young and started 
breaking into parking meters when he was 9 or 10.

In the years since he was sent to death row, Soliz has filed appeals alleging 
bad lawyering and claiming his death sentence should be considered 
unconstitutional because he suffers from fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

But the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his latest claims earlier this year, and 
he's now one of three Texas men with pending execution dates.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----43

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----561

Abbott#--------scheduled execution date-----name------------Tx. #

44---------Aug. 21----------------Larry Swearingen--------562

45---------Sept. 4----------------Billy Crutsinger--------563

46---------Sept. 10--------------Mark Anthony Soliz-------564

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








NEW HAMPSHIRE:

Supporters of Death Penalty Repeal Bill Holding Vigils



Supporters of a bill to repeal the death penalty are starting daily candlelight 
vigils outside of the New Hampshire Statehouse to express their hope that Gov. 
Chris Sununu will sign it, or allow it to become law.

Both the House and Senate have voted with veto-proof majorities to repeal the 
state's capital punishment law. Sununu, a Republican, vetoed a death penalty 
repeal bill last June and is expected to do the same this year.

The vigils, which started Thursday, are being led by the New Hampshire Council 
of Churches. The Rev. Jason Wells, the group's executive director, says the 
people of New Hampshire have spoken clearly that the state can live without the 
death penalty.

(source: nhpr.org)

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

Death penalty repeal awaits Sununu's veto



On Wednesday, Senate President Donna Soucy signed HB 455, repealing the death 
penalty for capital murder.

The New Hampshire Senate previously voted 17 to 6 to pass the bill, while the 
House voted 279 to 88 — reaching a veto-proof majority.

The bill now awaits action from Gov. Chris Sununu, who is expected to veto it.

“The death penalty has been an issue every New Hampshire legislator has 
grappled with over many years," said state Sen. Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, in a 
statement after the signing. "My journey on this topic began 25 years ago in an 
ethics class at Saint Anselm College.

“While our conclusions may differ, I have the utmost respect for my colleagues 
who have been on similar journeys and for the votes they have cast. At its 
core, repealing capital punishment is a matter of public policy and conscience. 
It has been my privilege to speak with my constituents and my fellow lawmakers 
about this important issue and it was my privilege today to take the historic 
step of signing the death penalty repeal bill.”

Sununu indicated he will veto the bill.

“I will continue to stand with crime victims, members of the law enforcement 
community, and advocates for justice in opposing this bill,” he said.

(source: eagletribune.com)








PENNSYLVANIA:

Study: Republicans are abandoning the death penalty in record numbers



So if you thought it was weird that one of the most progressive Democrats in 
the state House was teaming up with one of its most conservative members on a 
bill calling for the abolition of Pennsylvania’s broken death penalty statute, 
think again.

The Odd Couple pairing of Reps. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, and Frank Ryan, 
R-Lebanon, is becoming more commonplace as Republican lawmakers across the 
country not only reevaluate their support for capital punishment, but also step 
up to sponsor bills calling for its elimination.

Indeed, criminal justice reform is one area where civil justice-minded 
progressives and fiscal conservatives have managed to find common ground, both 
in Pennsylvania and nationwide. Through sentencing reform and other measures, 
the Keystone State is viewed as a national leader.

So far, the death penalty hasn’t been a part of that conversation, but a recent 
report is indication of a shift in the tone of the debate.

According to a group calling itself Conservatives Concerned about the Death 
Penalty, Republican lawmakers in 10 more states — Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas, 
Wyoming, Kentucky, Montana, Missouri, Colorado, New Hampshire and Washington 
State — are sponsoring death penalty repeal bills.

And according to a 2017 study by the conservative anti-death penalty group, 
Republican sponsors of death penalty abolition proposals doubled between 2013 
and 2016, going from 20 sponsors to 40 sponsors.

And because some legislatures only meet for 2-year sessions, or only in odd 
years, the study also took that into account. It concluded that “in the 
2001/2002 legislative sessions, 6 Republicans in 5 states sponsored bills to 
end the death penalty. By the 2015/2016 biennium, more than 11 times as many 
Republicans were sponsoring death penalty repeal bills – 69 Republicans in 11 
states.”

In addition, “the percentage of legislative sponsors that are Republican 
increased alongside the number of sponsors. By 2017, the percentage of sponsors 
who were Republican was more than 6 times the same figure in 2007, with over 31 
% of all death penalty repeal sponsors being Republican,” the study noted.

And before our conservative readers go all, “Well these are only RINOs in blue 
or purple states,” consider this: According to the study, “the data show that 
Republicans in red states are taking on even more leadership than those in blue 
states.”

“Among the states where Republicans sponsored death penalty repeal bills, more 
than 40 percent of them (10 states) were red states,” the report reads. “Of the 
total number of Republican sponsorships of death penalty repeal bills, more 
than 67 % were in red states (143 red state sponsorships out of 211 total 
Republican sponsorships).”

So why is this happening?

The report, coupled with our conversation with Ryan, a tax-and-spending hawk 
who’s avowedly opposed to abortion rights, provides some indication: When it’s 
not about the bottom line, it’s about the morality of the death penalty.

One lawmaker, Sen. Paul Wieland, sponsored an abolition bill in Missouri. It 
cleared committee, and was debated on the Senate floor, but didn’t become law. 
Nonetheless, Wieland considered it a win.

Wieland told the study’s authors that that he doesn’t “think it’s a fiscally 
smart thing that we do as far as dealing with the death penalty. I think we 
spend a lot more money with the appeals and going through the process of 
putting people to death than if we just give them life in prison.”

As we noted earlier this week, Pennsylvania has carried out just 3 executions 
in the nearly half-century since the U.S. Supreme Court again declared the 
death penalty constitutional, at a combined cost to the taxpayers of $816 
million. In a memo seeking sponsors for his repeal bill, Rabb pointed to an 
Urban Institute Study of Maryland’s death penalty that concluded that a capital 
case costs $2 million more than a non-capital case.

In addition, Wieland told an in-state newspaper that that the issue was a 
religious one for him, as well.

“One of my motivations [in running run for office] was defending human life,” 
Wieland told The Missouri Times after his bill made it out of committee, the 
report indicated. “As a pro-life person, I needed to be congruent with my 
conscience.”

Speaking to The Capital-Star, Ryan echoed that moral argument, saying “I’m 
pro-life, which means conception to natural death,” he said. “Capital 
punishment isn’t natural death to me.”

Rabb and Ryan are seeking co-sponsors for their bill and hope to introduce it 
soon. A similar measure, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Katie Muth, of Berks 
County, and Sharif Street, of Philadelphia, is making the rounds on the other 
side of the Capitol. They’re seeking Republican co-sponsors.

If this recent study is any indication, they might just find 1 or 2 of them.

(source: Pennsylvania Capital-Star)








GEORGIA----execution

Georgia executes Scotty Morrow for 1994 murders of 2 women----Final words: ‘I 
love you all. God bless’



Georgia executed Scotty Morrow on Thursday night for the 1994 murders of two 
women, marking the state’s 1st execution this year.

The 52-year-old Gainesville man was pronounced dead at 9:38 p.m. at the Georgia 
Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson. He became the 50th Georgia 
inmate killed by lethal injection since the death penalty was reinstated in 
1976.

The father of 2 and grandfather of 4 said in his petition for clemency that he 
thought every day about what happened on Dec. 29, 1994. Spurned over the phone 
by his ex-girlfriend, Barbara Ann Young, Morrow drove to her house and fatally 
shot her and her friend, Tonya Woods. He shot a 3rd woman in the face and arm 
but she survived.

The murders were witnessed by Young’s 5-year-old son.

Minutes before his lethal injection, Morrow expressed remorse for the killings. 
“I’m truly sorry for all that happened,” he said. “I would like to give my 
deepest and sincerest apology to the Woods family and to the Young family.”

He also thanked his family for their support and asked for their forgiveness.

Morrow was very composed, and an imam, after saying a prayer, told Morrow hat 
he loved him.

Morrow’s final words: “I love you all. God bless.”

Although his execution was set for 7 p.m., Georgia does not move forward with 
lethal injections until all courts have weighed in.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied Morrow's appeal for mercy at about 9 p.m. 
Thursday, two and a half hours after his defense team petitioned the nation's 
highest court.

That followed the decision Thursday afternoon from the Georgia Supreme Court to 
reject an appeal from Morrow’s attorneys.

Morrow, 52, was denied clemency Wednesday by the state Board of Pardons and 
Paroles. His attorneys argued that unplanned crimes of passion, such as the 
ones Morrow was convicted of, are rarely punished by death. Morrow was found 
guilty of the 1994 murders of his ex-girlfriend and another woman in Hall 
County.

A Butts County judge dismissed a petition filed Tuesday claiming Morrow’s death 
sentence was unconstitutional because it was improperly imposed. Lawyers for 
the Gainesville man said the judge in Morrow’s criminal trial decided which of 
the 2 murders he committed warranted the death penalty, a decision they said 
the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled must be made by jurors.

The Butts County judge on Wednesday agreed with attorneys for the state that 
those claims had already been rejected by higher courts.

On Thursday, the state Supreme Court agreed in a unanimous decision. The court 
described Morrow’s appeal “as lacking in arguable merit” and it also denied a 
request from his lawyers for a stay of execution.

Earlier in the day, Morrow was visited by one friend, 10 family members, two 
members of the clergy, and four of his attorneys. At 5 p.m., he was afforded 
the opportunity to record a last statement while holding onto the faintest hope 
that the U.S. Supreme Court would stay his execution.

That didn’t happen.

Morrow took immediate responsibility for his crimes after his arrest, saying 
something “snapped” inside of him. His lawyers point to a childhood fraught 
with trauma.

At age 3, Morrow watched his father stomp on his pregnant mother’s abdomen, 
causing her to miscarry. Mother and son eventually fled to a relative’s home 
but found no solace. That relative started raping Morrow when he was 7, his 
attorneys said. Another relative raped him one year later. Later, after moving 
to New York, Morrow was beaten repeatedly by his mother’s new boyfriend, 
according to his clemency petition.

Jurors in Morrow’s murder trial heard few of those details, leading a state 
court judge to overturn his sentence in 2011. A new trial was ordered, but the 
Georgia Supreme Court later reversed that decision and reinstated the death 
sentence.

Morrow’s attorneys made a compelling case for clemency, arguing that the 
murders were out of character for their client.

“Mr. Morrow’s acts of violence were aberrations in a life otherwise 
characterized by kindness and compassion, and the man he became in December of 
1994 bears no resemblance to the man he was before and the man he has worked to 
be since,” they wrote in his clemency petition Wednesday to the Georgia Board 
of Pardons and Paroles.

Prison officials testified Morrow was a model inmate who sought redemption for 
his crimes. His son and namesake said he was a positive influence on his four 
grandchildren. Counselors told the parole board he had been fully 
rehabilitated.

Morrow’s attorneys said his punishment bucked precedent, arguing the murders 
were unplanned and emotionally charged, circumstances that rarely result in a 
death sentence.

But the parole board was unswayed.

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

Gwinnett woman’s competence could be focus of death sentence appeal



The recent trial that sent a Gwinnett County woman to death row for the 
starvation of her stepdaughter was extremely disturbing, with ghastly autopsy 
photos documenting the 10-year-old’s unimaginable suffering. It was also one of 
the most lopsided death-penalty trials in Georgia history because Tiffany Moss, 
acting as her own attorney, did nothing to defend herself.

Moss’s unsettling decision to present no evidence during the sentencing phase 
of her trial was extraordinarily unusual. It happened at a time when state 
capital defenders routinely conduct extensive investigations into a defendant’s 
childhood, schooling and background so they can introduce mitigating evidence 
to try and convince a jury to impose a sentence of life, not death.

The strategy has been so effective that Moss’s death sentence was the first one 
handed down in Georgia in more than five years. But her inaction during trial 
made the jury’s final verdict seem inevitable. And maybe that was the point, 
some said.

“Was this a suicide by trial?” wondered Denise de la Rue, a jury consultant in 
Decatur.

The Georgia case played out very differently than a similar one in Florida that 
played out more than a decade ago. In that case, judge appointed a lawyer to a 
convicted man who refused to fight his death sentence.

Then there is the question Moss’s mental fitness.

In pretrial rulings, Superior Court Judge George Hutchinson found Moss both 
competent to stand trial, and free to represent herself. She had said she was 
putting her case in God’s hands, although capital defenders who initially 
represented her disclosed that she had suffered brain damage.

But the 6-man, 6-woman jury in Moss’s case heard none of that.

What they did hear were the gruesome details of Emani Moss’s death in the fall 
of 2013. They heard how Tiffany Moss cared for and fed the 2 children of her 
own who lived with Emani in an apartment near Lawrenceville. 10-year-old Emani 
Moss weighed just 32 pounds when her charred body was discovered in a trash can 
on Nov. 2, 2013. Her stepmother has been convicted of her murder.

And they heard how Moss and her husband kept Emani in her bedroom and out of 
public view as she wasted away. After Emani died, the couple tried to cover up 
her death by stuffing her emaciated body into a galvanized trash can and 
setting it on fire.

“Representing yourself is very different than sitting there and doing nothing,” 
said de la Rue, who has assisted lawyers defending high-profile clients such as 
former NFL star Ray Lewis and Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Robert 
Rudolph. “How can anyone be considered competent when they do nothing?”

Atlanta lawyer Leah Ward Sears, a former chief justice of the state Supreme 
Court, said there is a low bar for criminal defendants to be found competent to 
stand trial.

Leah Ward Sears, forner chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, called the 
Moss case “a terrible tragedy” but said she has faith in the jury system.

“This whole thing is a terrible tragedy, but it was her decision,” Sears said. 
“I really believe in the jury system in this country. And this jury spoke. They 
saw herself representing herself. They saw her doing nothing. They had a chance 
to give her something less than death. But they didn’t.”

The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that juries should know the character and 
record of an offender because of “the possibility of compassionate or 
mitigating factors stemming from the diverse frailties of humankind.”

This type of individualized information for the jury is “a constitutionally 
indispensable part of the process of inflicting the penalty of death,” the high 
court said in a 1976 opinion. Without it, “the fundamental respect for 
humanity” cannot be given.

After Moss, 36, was convicted, Hutchinson reminded her she could address the 
jury to help them decide what the appropriate sentence should be. She could 
also call upon family members who’d attended the trial to testify on her 
behalf, the judge said.

He added, “Is there anything I can do to assist you?”

“No, your honor,” Moss replied politely, as she did throughout the trial.

But when it came time for her to put up mitigation evidence or talk to the 
jury, she declined.

Moss’s only participation in the trial occurred during jury selection, which 
lasted little more than a week.

Early on, she nervously asked a few questions to a handful of jurors. On two 
occasions, she won challenges to keep jurors who seemed favorable to the 
defense in the final pool.

But as jury selection wore on, Moss appeared to shut down. Her easy smile 
disappeared. She asked no more questions and raised no more objections, and 
this behavior continued during both the guilt-innocence and sentencing phases 
of the trial.

When it became clear Moss would not defend herself, two capital defenders who 
once represented her and were appointed “standby counsel” sought to intervene 
and represent Moss during the penalty phase of the trial. But Hutchinson, after 
hearing from Moss that she wished to continue representing herself, declined 
the defenders’ request.

That decision by the judge and his previous ruling finding Moss competent to 
represent herself are sure to be the key thrusts of appeals filed on her 
behalf.

Those appeals are certain to cite the case of James Barnes, who represented 
himself at his death-penalty trial in 2007 for the sexual assault and murder of 
a Melbourne, Fla., woman. Barnes confessed to this killing while he was in 
prison for the murder of his wife.

After the state rested its case during the sentencing phase, Barnes said he 
would present no evidence. Upon hearing that, the trial judge appointed an 
attorney to investigate and present mitigating evidence on Barnes’ behalf and 
over Barnes’ objection. The lawyer, with help from a court-appointed 
psychologist and mitigation expert, made the presentation at the continuation 
of the trial a few months later. Barnes was sentenced to death anyway.

In his appeal, Barnes contended the trial judge improperly trampled on his 
right to defend himself. But in 2010, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the 
judge’s decision. It said it was not prepared to rule that a judge may never 
appoint counsel when a pro se defendant’s refusal to present mitigating 
evidence “impedes or prevents the trial court’s exercise of its constitutional 
duty to provide individualized sentencing.”

Last year, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sets precedents for 
cases in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, agreed with the Florida high court’s 
decision.

“A defendant shouldn’t be in a situation to stipulate to a death sentence,” 
said Sam Baxter Bardwell, the Titusville, Fla., lawyer appointed to represent 
Barnes. “The government has an interest in making sure a death sentence is 
imposed in the fairest manner possible and only against the most evil among 
us.”

Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter wondered whether Moss was trying to 
gain sympathy from the jury. As for what she did to Emani, he said, “This was 
one of the worst cases I’ve ever seen.”

But Stephen Bright, a professor at Georgia State and Yale law schools, said 
Moss’s trial should never have gone so far.

(source for both: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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

USA----countdown to nation's 1500th execution

With the execution of Scotty Morrow in Georgia on May 2, the USA has now 
executed 1,495 condemned individuals since the death penalty was re-legalized 
on July 2, 1976 in the US Supreme Court Gregg v Georgia decision. Gary Gilmore 
was the 1st person executed, in Utah, on January 17, 1977. Below is a list of 
scheduled executions as the nation approaches a terrible milestone of 1500 
executions in the modern era.

NOTE: The list is likely to change over the coming months as new execution 
dates are added and possible stays of execution occur.

1496-------May 16-------------Donnie Johnson-----------Tennessee

1497-------May 16-------------Michael Samra------------Alabama

1498-------May 23-------------Bobby Joe Long-----------Florida

1400-------May 30-------------Christopher Price--------Alabama

1500-------Aug. 15------------Stephen West-------------Tennessee

1501-------Aug. 21------------Larry Swearingen---------Texas

1502-------Sept. 4------------Billy Crutsinger---------Texas

1503-------Sept. 10-----------Mark Anthony Soliz-------Texas

1504-------Sept. 12------------Warren Henness-----------Ohio

Learn more about efforts to #StopThe1500th Execution and how you can be 
involved at http://deathpenaltyaction.org/1500th [deathpenaltyaction.org]

(source: Rick Halperin)








FLORIDA:

With Bobby Joe Long's execution date set, many Tampa Bay inmates still wait on 
death row



Bobby Joe Long, now 65, was convicted of killing 8 women in Hillsborough County 
and at least 2 other women in Pinellas and Pasco counties in the 1980s.

Although Long's is the 1st execution the DeSantis has ordered since taking 
office in January, he is in the company of 341 other men and women who are 
currently on Florida's death row roster.

When he is put to death on May 23, Long will be the 98th person executed in 
Florida since the state's reinstatment of the death penalty in 1976.

See the graph below to see where in Tampa Bay Florida's current death row 
inmate population comes from.

If the state follows through with the scheduled conviction, Long will have 
spent 34 years on death row — not far behind the nation's longest serving death 
row prisioner, Gary Alford, who spent 40 years on death row after strangling 3 
women to death in Tampa.

(source: WFLA news)

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

>From victim to survivor to deputy: Lone survivor of a Tampa serial killer will 
witness execution----Serial killer set to be executed



On the night Lisa McVey Noland, a 17-year-old with her entire life in front of 
her, was abducted and raped by a serial killer; she had planned to kill 
herself.

That irony isn't lost on Noland, now in her 20th year with the Hillsborough 
County Sheriff’s Office.

“One bad situation got me to another bad situation is what saved my life,” 
Noland said. “Because the night before I’m doing my suicide note and the next 
night I’m fighting for my life.”

THE ABDUCTION

On November 3, 1984, Noland said God had other plans for her. If she made it 
home, Noland noted there is no doubt in her mind she would’ve followed through 
with the suicide.

“All my childhood I was abused, most of my life in and out of foster care five 
years,” Noland said. “I was being sexually abused at home. My grandmother’s 
boyfriend used to put a gun to my head every time he molested me for three 
years. It was nothing new to me.”

When Long put a gun to her head, Noland had enough.

“I wasn’t going to allow someone else to take anything else from me.”

For the next 26 hours, Noland said her survival instincts kicked in and she did 
everything Long asked her to do. What happened inside Long’s Tampa apartment is 
forever seared into her memory.

"I was brutally raped by this monster and I’m going to put it out there: it’s 
not molestation, sexual assault," Noland said. "It is rape. I endured that for 
26 hours... I survived, got him caught.”

REVERSE PSYCHOLOGY

Noland said she used reverse psychology on Long and got him to see her as a 
person rather than an object.

“He had mentioned that he had raped other women. I said ‘why are you doing this 
to me,’ and he goes ‘because just to get back at women in general.’ I said, 
‘I’ll be your girlfriend. I’ll do whatever you want. It’s unfortunate how we 
met we don’t have to tell anyone how we met; let’s do this.’ He said ‘no, I 
can’t keep you.’”

THE ARREST

Long let Noland go and drove off.

“He tells me stand here for 5 minutes and you are free to go,” Noland said.

After Noland’s rape case was linked to the murders, a task force was formed the 
next day. Tampa Police, Hillsborough County deputies, and the FBI began 
searching for a red Dodge Magnum in the area Noland described the area Long 
took her. She was blindfolded but able to peek through to see different 
landmarks.

THE EXECUTION

An emergency motion is scheduled for May 3 in Tampa. Long will be transferred 
from the Florida State Prison to the Hillsborough County Courthouse. His 
lawyers are planning to argue that “Florida’s lethal injection procedures 
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.”

“Eye for an eye tooth for a tooth,” Noland said. “Yeah, there’s forgiveness, 
OK, but there’s also a price to pay for that forgiveness and his time is 
coming. He knows it and ironically, he is very scared and it’s about time. Your 
life’s about to end. Because where is the justice where is the humanity for 
those victims that he took?”

“I’m right there beside my victim's families. I’m going to hold their hand and 
walk them through it,” Noland said.

Noland’s dedicated her life to helping others. She is currently a master 
sergeant with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office where she works as a 
school resource officer at Davidson Middle School.

“Just to be a role model and help make a difference in their lives every day I 
learn something new, and they make a difference in me,” Noland said.

(source: ABC News)

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

Florida man on death row for murdering cellmate indicted in death of another 
cellmate



A man who has already been sentenced to death for killing an inmate in July 
2012 was indicted Thursday on charges connected to the death of another inmate 
at the Santa Rosa County Jail in January 2017.

The State Attorney's Office announced Thursday that Rocky Ali Beamon, 41, was 
indicted by a Santa Rosa County grand jury on a charge of first-degree 
premeditated murder.

The charge stems from a Jan. 22, 2017, incident where Beamon allegedly killed 
his cellmate, 27-year-old Nicholas Anderson.

Prosecutors say shortly after the midnight inmate count, Beamon bound Anderson 
and strangled him in their cell. He also allegedly used a homemade weapon to 
cut the man's neck.

The charge carries a penalty of either death or life in prison. The State 
Attorney's Office will make a decision on whether to seek the death penalty in 
the case within the next 30 days, according to a news release. Prosecutors 
previously told the News Journal the state intended to seek the death sentence 
in the case if a grand jury indicted Beamon.

Beamon was sentenced to death in January for a separate incident where he 
killed his cellmate at Apalachee Correctional Institution in Sneads on July 5, 
2012. In that incident, Beamon watched the victim, Bruce Hunsicker, for several 
days to learn his schedule, and then killed him by choking him and stabbing him 
80 times in the shower area of the prison dormitory with a homemade shank.

Beamon then rinsed himself off and flushed the shank, a towel and a pair of 
boxers before proceeding to dinner.

Beamon had been serving, and is still serving, a life sentence for murder in a 
2005 case in Hillsborough County.

(source: Pensacola News Journal)








LOUISIANA:

Slow wheels of justice: A look at capital punishment in Louisiana



There are about 70 inmates currently on Louisiana's death row.

The state hasn't carried out any executions since 2010, and there's no sign 
they'll resume any time soon. Louisiana is currently under a court order, 
stemming from a challenge to lethal injection protocol, halting all executions 
in the state until at least July.

More legal challenges can delay executions even further.

Still, death penalty cases continue to drag out in Louisiana's courts, leading 
to legal battles that sometimes span decades, with no guarantee that the 
sentence will be carried out.

A proposed constitutional amendment to stop executions in the state is being 
debated by lawmakers during the current legislative session.

Waiting for Justice

On Nov. 20, 1995, a man who’d just been fired from a Baton Rouge restaurant 
stormed the local eatery with a gun. He killed a former co-worker and Stephanie 
Guzzardo, the manager who’d fired him.

"It was very heartbreaking and devastating," said Michelle Perkins, a friend of 
Guzzardo’s. "Stephanie was the sweetest person-- and she knew the guy."

23 years later, Perkins continues to keep a close eye on her friend’s case, 
because the man who pulled the trigger still sits on death row.

Todd Wessinger spent years fighting his conviction. It was overturned in 2015, 
and re-instated two years later by a federal appeals court.

"To lose a loved one, and to sit through trial after trial -- of every minute 
detail of your loved one being killed -- is horrible," Perkins said. "I started 
questioning what has been going on in our state, as to why he hasn't been held 
accountable."

Cause for Delay

Hugo Holland is a prosecutor based in Caddo Parish, who handles cases in other 
parishes as well. He did not handle Wessinger’s case, but has seen many like 
it. Holland said drawn-out legal sagas have become a norm in cases that involve 
capital punishment.

"Every (inmate) on death row -- I don't care how good his lawyer was -- claims 
on appeal that his lawyer … was ineffective, (and the) prosecutor hid evidence. 
Same two things, they claim every time," Holland said.

Most people accused of capital murder in Louisiana have the same lawyers. To 
defend someone in a capital case in the state, an attorney needs to meet 
certain criteria. There are very few in the state who do.

For the defendants who can't afford an attorney, their case will automatically 
be sent to one of three private law firms in south Louisiana, which are paid by 
the state to handle these cases. It's called the Capital Defense Project of 
South Louisiana, led by director Kerry Cuccia.

Cuccia explained that each firm is bound by a contract with the state.

"It specifies what we are supposed to do, which specifically, is to provide 
high quality legal services to indigents charged with capital cases,” Cuccia 
said. “And when I say ‘high quality,’ I'm not talking about extraordinarily 
high, or what some people would refer to as ‘Cadillac’ defense, but one that is 
constitutionally sufficient."

The Louisiana Public Defender Board also pays different law firms, under 
similar contracts, for appeals and post-conviction work.

In addition to the contracts, all of these attorneys adhere to a lengthy set of 
guidelines. The document listing the guidelines states they comply with capital 
defense guidelines set forth by the American Bar Association.

Many of those guidelines are standard code of conduct. For instance, attorneys 
must “manifest a professional attitude toward the judge, opposing counsel, 
witnesses, jurors, and others in the courtroom,” and provide defendants with 
“high quality legal representation” throughout each stage of their case.

Holland, however, believes some of the guidelines are overreaching.

"For example, (appellate attorneys) completely re-investigate everything. If 
the cops take an audio/videotape statement from a witness, they can't look at 
it and go, 'Oh crap. This is what that witness says,'” Holland said. “They have 
to go and re-interview the witness. If we do DNA testing, it doesn't matter 
what the state police crime lab does. They're going to get stuff and retest 
it."

An example of that is in DeSoto Parish, where Brian Horn was convicted 5 years 
ago of killing 12-year-old Justin Bloxom. Horn is now getting a new trial, for 
which the judge gave Horn’s CDP attorneys two years to prepare. The attorneys 
plan to start from scratch and interview all of the witnesses again.

Holland said it’s causing an unnecessary delay,which just adds to the emotional 
strain for the Bloxom family.

The guidelines and contracts also set case limits for the attorneys. According 
to a contract for one of the CDP law firms, an attorney can handle no more than 
three to five cases at a time. The guidelines further require that each capital 
case have at least 2 defense attorneys.

"I have more death penalty cases than any one of these lawyers that works for 
these boutique law firms, and my job is harder,” Holland said. “I have to prove 
the case. They don't have to prove anything."

When the death penalty is on the table, the quota could put the case on hold 
until an attorney becomes available.

This happened in 2018, when Johnathan Robinson was charged with capital murder 
in the death of his ex-girlfriend. Circumstances changed and the case closed 
when Robinson pleaded guilty and accepted a life sentence.

"We do not have the capacity to take any more cases,” Cuccia said. “To do so, 
we would not be able to provide professionally appropriate services to anyone 
new, or the other persons coming in, or we would be overloaded-- overworked."

Then, there are the motions.

Motions are typical in any criminal or civil proceeding, as attorneys make 
requests of the court.

Some motions are arguably meaningful. For instance, when attorneys for Grover 
Cannon, a man accused of killing a Shreveport police officer, asked for a new 
jury pool when they discovered that a computer glitch excluded people between 
the ages of 18 and 26 from jury duty.

Other motions might be considered more trivial.

A motion filed in St. John Parish on behalf of Brian Smith, who is accused of 
killing two law enforcement officers, argues that it us unconstitutional to 
prohibit Smith’s attorneys from “purchasing him a caffeinated beverage during 
court hearings.”

Every time an attorney files a motion in court, the opposing attorney must file 
a response, and the judge must consider both sides before making a decision.

"It's just a horrible waste of time and resources,” Holland said.

When asked to respond to critics who say death penalty cases take too long to 
play out, Cuccia responded, "I disagree with the idea that there is some 
objective standard about how long any one particular case of any type should 
take.”

He continued, “A lawyer’s code of professional responsibility and the rules of 
professional conduct require that a lawyer pursue the defense or the 
prosecution of a case diligently and in good faith. And that's what we do."

Holland said as long as the death penalty is on the books in Louisiana, he'll 
pursue it when he sees fit.

There are currently two bills in the Louisiana Legislature that seek to end 
capital punishment in the state. The Senate bill just gained approval in 
committee.

A study by the Loyola University New Orleans College of Law found that over the 
past 15 years, the state has spent more than $200 million on its death penalty 
system, while having carried out only one execution during that time.

(source: KTBS news)