[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, N.C., FLA., MISS., LA.

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 3




TEXAS:

Death Watch: Judge's "Horrible Bigotry" Not Enough to Force New Trial----The 
5CA has denied Randy Halprin's plea as his death date nears



The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals doesn't dispute that the judge in Randy 
Halprin's trial was a racist. But in its Sept. 23 ruling, the 5CA says there's 
nothing it can do about it now that will help Halprin, a member of the 
notorious Texas 7, scheduled to be executed Oct. 10.

Halprin's attorneys allege that his trial was biased beyond repair and a new 
one is in order. The 1st sentence of their appeal to the 5CA reads: "The 
Honorable Vickers Cun­ningham, the presiding judge at Randy Halprin's capital 
trial, is a racist and anti-Semitic bigot who described Halprin – a Jewish man 
– as 'that fuckin' Jew' and a 'goddamn kike.'" Cunningham presided over most of 
the trials of the Texas 7, a group of inmates who broke out of prison in 2000 
and robbed a sporting goods store, then shot down Irving police officer Aubrey 
Hawkins when he responded to the alarm. They hid out for months before a tip to 
the television show America's Most Wanted led authorities to Colorado, where 
they apprehended 6 of the 7 men in 2001 (one killed himself to avoid capture). 
One after another, the defendants received death sentences from Cunningham; 4 
have already been executed. Patrick Murphy, whose execution was stayed in March 
after he'd asked for a Buddhist priest to attend to him in the death chamber, 
is now scheduled to die in November.

Cunningham's bigotry came to light 15 years after the trials, when he was 
running in the 2018 Republican primary for a seat on the Dallas County 
Commissioners Court. Cunningham's brother told The Dallas Morning News about 
the living trust Cunningham had set up for his children – allowing them to 
receive shares of their inheritance only upon marrying straight white 
Christians. In a video interview with the News, Cunningham said, "I'm 
supporting what my beliefs are." When asked if he had ever used the "N-word," 
he gazed pensively into the air and waited 9 seconds before answering no. This 
news broke on the last day of early voting in the run-off, in which Cunning­ham 
had been heavily favored; he ended up losing by 25 votes. He and other family 
members deny he is a racist; he still practices law in Dallas today.

McKinney said Cunningham took pride in the death sentences he handed out, and 
remembers him saying, “from the wetback to the Jew, they knew they were going 
to die.”

Halprin's appeal to 5CA is replete with other examples of Cunningham's bigotry. 
Tammy McKinney, who grew up with Cunningham and knew him well, is quoted as 
saying he regularly used language "such as 'nigger,' 'wetback,' 'spic,' 'kike,' 
'the fuckin' Jews.'" She said Cunningham took pride in the death sentences he 
handed out to the Texas 7 and remembers him saying, "From the wetback to the 
Jew, they knew they were going to die."

Amanda Tackett, who worked on Cunningham's earlier failed run for Dallas County 
district attorney in 2006, also remembers his demeaning language. She says 
Cunningham often used the N-word and would place it in front of a black 
person's name, as he did with former Dallas D.A. Craig Watkins, whom he 
referred to as N-word Watkins.

Halprin's request for a new trial attracted widespread support; over 100 Jewish 
attorneys and community leaders filed a brief in his favor, and The Washington 
Post backed his appeal. Current Dallas County D.A. John Creuzot did not oppose 
a retrial. But there were technicalities to consider, rules of procedure. The 
5CA said that for the appeal to be considered, it had to have something new in 
it; while Halprin's defense attorneys argued that they didn't know about 
Cunningham's racism until the 2018 election – and thus it was new evidence – 
the judges ruled that since Cunningham had been racist all along, it did not 
constitute new grounds for appeal, and in any event wouldn't matter. For the 
5CA to order a new trial, the evidence of bias would have to be so compelling 
that it would make a normal jury change its verdict; the judges ruled that 
Halprin's jury would still have found him guilty even if they'd known of 
Cunningham's bigoted views.

Now, time is growing short. Halprin's lawyers will surely ask the U.S. Supreme 
Court to review his case and order a new trial, but SCOTUS hasn't replied to 
questions about their plans. If they don't hear the case, the appeal has 
nonetheless offered a picture of the judiciary rarely seen, though often 
suspected. In that regard, the 5CA felt compelled to draw a distinction between 
Cunningham's views and its own. The statement of principle came in a footnote: 
"Cunningham's racism and bigotry are horrible and completely inappropriate for 
a judge."

(source: Austin Chronicle)

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

Man accused of killing trooper appears in court



The 24-year-old man accused of killing Texas Department of Public Safety 
Trooper Moises Sanchez made his first appearance in court following new charges 
that could carry the death penalty since the officer died in late August.

And state District Judge Letty Lopez wanted to know whether he could hire a 
lawyer or needed on appointed.

Victor Godinez, who is charged with capital murder of a peace officer and 
attempted capital murder of a peace officer, told Lopez he had to talk to his 
mother, but thought that he could afford to hire an attorney.

Sergio Muñoz, the attorney in Godinez’s previous case that includes charges of 
attempted capital murder, called court staff before the man’s scheduled 
arraignment to tell them that Godinez had not hired him in his new case.

Lopez sharply questioned Godinez about his ability to hire an attorney and 
rescheduled his arraignment to next week.

“OK, well I guess we’ll find out Monday,” Lopez told Godinez.

A Hidalgo County grand jury indicted Godinez, an Edinburg resident, on Sept. 
19.

Hidalgo County District Attorney Ricardo Rodriguez said recently that his 
office would meet with Sanchez’s family to determine whether to pursue the 
death penalty.

“ Our office has tentatively decided how they want to handle this case, but is 
meeting with Mr. Sanchez’s wife and family before the decision is made final,” 
Rodriguez said recently.

The DA said he couldn’t comment further on the case.

Authorities accuse Godinez of shooting Sanchez, 48, on April 6 after the 
suspect fled a car crash the trooper responded to on North 10th Street and 
Freddy Gonzalez Drive in McAllen.

The 24-year-old man is accused of running away after shooting Sanchez once in 
the head and once in the shoulder.

2 Edinburg police officers caught up with Godinez in the 1500 block of South 
Maltese in Edinburg.

He’s also accused of shooting at those officers, who eventually apprehended him 
east of Mon Mack Road and State Highway 107.

The officers were not hit and police say they recovered a .357 revolver 
authorities say Godinez used in the shooting.

Sanchez went through intense rehabilitation and multiple surgeries after the 
shooting.

However, on Aug. 24, he succumbed to his injuries following a surgery in 
Houston.

Godinez remains jailed on $3 million in bonds.

(source: Brownsville Herald)

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

A trial judge recommended taking Paul Storey off death row. The Texas Court of 
Criminal Appeals said no.----The state's highest criminal court rejected the 
judge's finding that Storey should be resentenced to life in prison after 
prosecutors falsely said at trial that the murder victim's family wanted the 
death penalty.



Paul Storey was one step away from escaping the death penalty. Then came the 
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

The state’s highest criminal court Wednesday rejected the trial court judge’s 
recommendation to resentence Storey to life in prison without the possibility 
for parole after a three-day hearing last year. Storey’s sentence was being 
reconsidered after it became known that Tarrant County prosecutors falsely said 
at his 2008 trial that the family of Storey’s victim, Jonas Cherry, wanted the 
death penalty. Cherry’s parents have since said that they have always opposed 
capital punishment, including for their son’s killer.

In Wednesday’s ruling, the court explained that it was taking the unusual step 
of opposing the trial judge, who it acknowledged “is in the best position to 
assess the credibility of the witnesses.” While the court order didn't argue 
against the finding that Storey's trial lawyers were unaware of the Cherrys' 
opposition, it ruled that one of his appellate attorneys — who is now dead — 
might have known, claiming there was no evidence to show he didn't.

The judges also ruled that since Cherry’s father said he often talked about his 
anti-death penalty views, the appellate attorney, Robert Ford, could have found 
out through “the exercise of reasonable diligence.”

“The trial court found that Ford did not know that the victim’s parents opposed 
a death sentence for [Storey],” the court’s order states. “This finding is not 
supported by the record. [Storey] did not present any evidence showing what 
Ford did or did not know regarding the victim’s parents’ anti-death penalty 
views.”

“And although the trial court found that Ford generally ‘had a strong 
reputation for his diligence,’ [Storey] presented no evidence showing that Ford 
was diligent in his particular case,” the ruling continued.

Generally in death penalty cases, if evidence could have been raised at an 
earlier appeal and wasn’t, it is not allowed to be used in future appeals. 
After the ruling, one of Storey's attorneys, Keith Hampton, said the legal team 
would ask the court to reconsider the ruling, arguing the opinion now requires 
appellate attorneys to interview murder victim survivors. He said an 
equitability argument raised in their appeal was ignored in the court opinions.

"You can't fault ... counsel for not finding something that you suppressed," 
Hampton told The Texas Tribune. "You're not in a position to say, 'Hey, you 
didn't try hard enough to find the thing that I buried.'"

Storey, now 34, was sentenced to death for the 2006 murder of Cherry, the 
28-year-old assistant manager at a miniature golf course near Fort Worth, 
during a robbery. Court records state that Storey and another man shot Cherry 
while he was on his knees begging for his life. At his 2008 trial, a prosecutor 
said that “it should go without saying” that all of Cherry’s family “believe 
the death penalty is appropriate.”

But two months before his scheduled execution in 2017, Cherrys’ parents, Glenn 
and Judith, wrote to Gov. Greg Abbott and the Board of Pardons and Paroles, 
asking for a life sentence. They said they never wanted the death penalty and 
had made that clear to Tarrant County prosecutors.

“As a result of Jonas’ death, we do not want to see another family having to 
suffer through losing a child and family member,” they wrote.

One of the jurors in Storey’s trial, who has asked Texas legislators to change 
what he says are confusing jury instructions in capital cases, also wrote an 
affidavit that he would have never voted for a death sentence if he knew the 
Cherrys didn’t want it.

The Court of Criminal Appeals stopped his execution, and sent the case back to 
the trial court to determine if the Cherrys’ opposition could have been 
discovered earlier. The judge found that Ford had exercised due diligence as 
Storey’s appellate attorney, and that the trial prosecutors withheld the 
information and knowingly presented false evidence at trial. He recommended 
Storey’s sentence be changed to life.

Though the majority of the nine-judge Court of Criminal Appeals disagreed, 
three dissented from Wednesday’s ruling. In a 26-page dissent, Judge Scott 
Walker said asking the Cherrys their opinions on the death penalty goes beyond 
“reasonable diligence.”

“‘Reasonable’ diligence would not go prying into the private feelings of a 
murder victim’s family without a very good reason for doing so,” Walker wrote 
in his dissent, which Judge Michelle Slaughter joined. “The trial court found 
that ‘in most cases family members of murder victims do not wish to speak to 
lawyers representing the person found guilty of killing their loved one.’”

Judge Kevin Yeary said in his dissent, also joined by Slaughter, that he would 
at least set the case for additional review instead of simply rejecting the 
appeal, which the court did.

“What I would not do is simply declare that [Ford] — who is now deceased and 
unable to respond to claims about his diligence—failed to diligently 
investigate the present claims, and dismiss the subsequent writ application on 
that basis,” he wrote.

3 other judges, however, signed onto an opinion by Judge Barbary Hervey in 
support of the court’s order, saying the case is not one of false evidence 
“because no evidence of the family’s preference was introduced at trial.” She 
said that the prosecutor’s closing argument is not evidence at trial.

Hervey also stated that even if evidence of the Cherrys’ opposition was brought 
up at trial it would not change the horrors of the case, also noting that some 
jurors cried during Cherry’s wife’s testimony at trial explaining how her 
husband's murder impacted her life.

"In light of all of this, it is difficult — if not impossible — to conclude 
that the victim’s parents’ general opposition to the death penalty would cast 
'the whole case in a different light,'" she wrote.

(source: The Texas Tribune)








NORTH CAROLINA:

Man accused of killing girlfriend could face death penalty



A man who is accused of shooting his girlfriend to death will find out Thursday 
if he will face the death penalty.

Khira McKinley’s body was found in a car July 4 on Oakwinds Avenue in north 
Charlotte.

(source: WSOC news)








FLORIDA:

New Bill Would Compensate More of Florida's Wrongfully Convicted



Clifford Williams Jr. and his nephew Hubert Myers spent more than 4 decades in 
prison for a murder they didn't commit.

The men were at a party in Jacksonville in the early hours of May 2, 1976, when 
two women in a nearby apartment were shot while they slept. One of the women 
died; her partner survived and told police Williams and Myers shot them from 
the foot of their bed.

Myers and his uncle were arrested, tried, and convicted on charges of murder 
and attempted murder based on testimony from a single witness and despite a 
lack of any physical evidence tying the men to the crime.

Myers, who at the time was 18 and had no violent criminal history, was 
sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. 
Williams, then 30, was sentenced to death, although the Florida Supreme Court 
eventually reversed his sentence to life in prison.

While behind bars, Myers read a Florida Times-Union article about the State 
Attorney's Office of the Fourth Judicial District creating a unit that would 
review wrongful convictions. He wrote to the office arguing his defense and 
pointing out that another man had confessed to the murder.

His appeal for justice worked: In March, Myers and Williams had their sentences 
vacated after a case evaluation by the Conviction Integrity Review unit. The 
uncle and nephew, now gray-haired, were set free.

Myers qualifies for compensation from the state of Florida under the Victims of 
Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, which grants $50,000 to exonerees for 
each year of wrongful incarceration, with a cap of $2 million. But Williams, 
under current state law, is not eligible for compensation because of prior 
felony convictions.

A newly filed Florida bill won't change that for Williams, but it could for 
others like him. State Rep. Bobby DuBose, a Fort Lauderdale Democrat, this week 
filed a House bill that would remove the "clean hands" provision of the Victims 
of Wrongful Incarceration Compensation Act, which bars compensation for people 
who have prior felony convictions. The bill won't be retroactive, DuBose tells 
New Times, but he hopes it will right some wrongs moving forward.

"At the end of the day, the fact that the state wronged someone with a prior 
conviction doesn't remove our culpability from what we've done," he says.

When the act was signed into law in 2008 with then-Sen. Arthenia Joyner leading 
the charge, wrongfully imprisoned people with any previous felony convictions 
were exempt from compensation. In 2017, the Florida Legislature unanimously 
passed a bill that amended the act to exclude those priorly convicted of only 
violent felonies or multiple nonviolent felonies.

Of the 35 states that compensate wrongfully incarcerated people, Florida is the 
only one with these caveats. DuBose's bill seeks to eliminate them all. He 
believes Williams' case perfectly highlights the need for that.

"When you think about removing someone from their family for 40 years, you're 
not just impacting them — you're impacting generations to come," DuBose says. 
"This recent case is a good example on why something like this is a bad policy, 
and we need to pass this bill to correct that."

About 2,500 people have been exonerated in the United States since 1989, 
according to the Innocence Project of Florida. State-specific exoneration 
figures are a little unclear. The Death Penalty Information Center maintains a 
database of exonerations that includes pardons, acquittals, and dropped 
charges. The database counts 29 exonerations in Florida since 1973. The 
National Registry of Exonerations, meanwhile, counts 72 exonerations in Florida 
since 1989

(source: Miami New Times)








MISSISSIPPI:

Godbolt defense team asks for a later trial date



A Lincoln County circuit judge delayed hearing a motion to reset Willie Cory 
Godbolt’s capital murder trial to later next year until he can speak to the 
attorney who may be joining the defense team as a replacement.

Judge David Strong said Wednesday he would not hear the motion until he could 
talk to public defender Thomas Fortner about his schedule. A date for the next 
hearing was not set.

Fortner, a Hattiesburg attorney, could replace former Lincoln County Public 
Defender Jason Tate as co-counsel in the case. Tate resigned from the LCPD 
office in July.

Allison Steiner with the capital defense counsel division of the state public 
defender’s office filed the motion Friday, requesting it be heard Wednesday 
when Godbolt would be in court for jury questionnaire discussion. The defendant 
is being held in the Copiah County jail.

Godbolt, who is accused of killing eight people in May 2017, sat quietly for 
the nine-minute hearing that was also attended by several members of the 
victims’ families.

In Steiner’s motion, she argued that Godbolt, an indigent defendant, must be 
appointed “a defense team capable of providing effective representation 
consistent with the guidelines for such representation.”

She said the Feb. 10, 2020 date, when set by the court, appeared to be a target 
they could hit, but now that Tate has left the team, it will be impossible to 
find someone with the experience and training required by the Mississippi Rules 
of Criminal Procedure to serve as co-counsel in a capital matter who can be 
ready in time for trial.

“The circumstance changed materially, however, when Mr. Tate unexpectedly and 
without prior notice to the rest of the defense team for Mr. Godbolt, resigned 
from his position as a Lincoln County Public Defender and ceased to participate 
in Mr. Godbolt’s defense,” she wrote.

When Tate resigned, the defense team filed a motion seeking the appointment of 
a qualified and effective co-counsel for the defense since the attorney who 
replaced Tate at the LCPD office does not meet the qualifications to serve in a 
capital murder case.

The court at that time authorized Steiner to find someone suitable to serve as 
co-counsel.

She secured a conditioned agreement from Fortner to accept co-counsel but only 
if the trial date can be delayed several months.

She said it was “unreasonable under the circumstances of this case to expect 
that any attorney with those capabilities could practically, and even 
ethically, agree to take such an appointment with the February 2020 trial date 
in place.”

Steiner said while the state may be ready to go forward with the case and the 
arrangements have been made for courthouse space in Desoto County for jury 
selection, “the constitutions of the United States and Mississippi require that 
those understandable interests cannot trump the rights of the defendant to due 
process, counsel, compulsory process and to prepare for and present an adequate 
defense.”

Steiner said a conviction obtained without the defense given sufficient time to 
prepare would not be fair.

In his affidavit filed with the Steiner’s motion, Fortner asked for the case to 
be pushed back several months. He is involved with 4 death penalty cases as 
either lead or co-counsel, trials in 2 non-death penalty homicide cases and has 
obligations with his law practice, he said.

He said after a preliminary review of the state’s case against Godbolt, it is 
“impossible to come up to speed as an effective co-counsel in the time 
remaining between now and the present trial date, especially since the court 
has already determined not to sever the counts for trial purposes. The 
indictment includes 12 felony counts, and will involve multiple witnesses both 
lay and expert, as to each count. 8 of the counts are homicides occurring at 3 
different physical locations with distinct factual circumstances that are 
likely to be of significance to both the culpability and if necessary penalty 
phases of any trial. The death penalty is being sought in 4 counts, at least 1 
count occurring at each of the 3 principal locations. The discovery is also 
massive — hours of recorded interviews and statements, huge compilations of 
data downloaded from several electronic devices owned by multiple people, and 
over 2,300 pages of documents produced to date.”

(source: dailyileader.com)








LOUISIANA:

Public safety emerges as campaign issue in Louisiana governor's race



Halfway into Gov. John Bel Edwards’ 1st term in office, Louisiana shed a 
dubious distinction that it had held for nearly 2 decades: The state was no 
longer the nation’s prison capital.

Oklahoma took the mantel as the top incarcerating state one year after state 
lawmakers, at Edwards’ urging, adopted a landmark, bipartisan criminal justice 
overhaul package.

The change will arguably be one of Edwards’ lasting legacies long after he’s 
left office, but it’s also providing campaign fodder to his main Republican 
rivals in this fall’s gubernatorial race who have questioned whether Louisiana 
residents are safer today than they were before Edwards took office and whether 
the Edwards administration bungled the criminal justice reform effort.

“We’ve got to implement this in a way so that public safety is issue No. 1,” 
said Rep. Ralph Abraham, of Alto.

Baton Rouge businessman Eddie Rispone accused the Democrat incumbent of being 
focused on “getting as many people out as possible.” He said, “In doing so, 
some people that should not have been released were released. Some dangerous 
people."

The Louisiana Legislature has taken no action to significantly change the law 
in the past 2 years since its passage, despite some heated rhetoric.

Act 280 allows sentences to be shortened more rapidly for nonviolent, 
non-sex-crime offenders who receive credit for good behavior — slashing the 
mandatory time served from 40 % of their original sentences to 35 %. The 1st 
wave of nearly 2,000 early releases took place on Nov. 1, 2017.

Critics point to at least two who have been accused of murder after receiving 
early release and others who have ended up back behind bars for lesser offenses 
as possible indicators that the state should be cautious as it continues to 
shed inmates.

In both murder cases, offenders records consisted mostly of drug-related 
offenses and other non-violent crimes.

Many who have been released under the change get out about 30 to 90 days ahead 
of schedule. Some are "released" with outstanding warrants and transferred to 
other jurisdictions, so they never technically make it out of custody.

Edwards, whose family has a long history in law enforcement, has defended the 
effort.

“The fact of the matter is, in Louisiana for decades, we had the highest 
incarceration rate in the nation, but we weren’t safer,” he said. “Our crime 
rate was unacceptably high, and the recidivism was too high.”

The election is Oct. 12, with a Nov. 16 runoff between the top 2 vote-getters 
if no one gets more than 50% in the 1st round. Early voting runs through Oct. 
5.

Just days before voters started to head to the polls for early voting, the FBI 
released its latest crime statistics data that showed decreases in violent 
crime and murder in Louisiana — murder down by about 8 % and overall violent 
crime by 3.4 % from 2017 to 2018.

The FBI report is the 1st that reflects a full year of the 2017 criminal 
justice measures.

"The decrease in violent crime reaffirms what Republicans, Democrats, faith 
leaders, business leaders and law enforcement officials said at the time of 
reform’s passage: we can make our state safer with commonsense reforms that 
focus on non-violent offenders and invest in crime prevention," Edwards said in 
a statement touting the results.

Aside from disputes over the effectiveness of the 2017 criminal justice law 
changes, public safety has prompted a major disagreement among the three 
candidates over how they would approach the death penalty.

Edwards has withheld his personal views on capital punishment but said he would 
uphold the law that's on the books. While capital punishment is legal in 
Louisiana, there have been no executions during Edwards' administration because 
the a long legal battle over lethal injections and the state's inability to get 
drugs used in executions.

Rispone has said because of his Catholic faith he opposes the death penalty.

Abraham has said he strongly supports the death penalty, would expand it to 
convicted child molesters, and consider alternative methods to lethal 
injection.

But it's the criminal justice overhaul that has taken the forefront in the 
debate over public safety issues in the governor's race.

Advocates who worked across the political spectrum and studied best practices 
for more than a year before lawmakers passed their proposal have defended 
Edwards against criticisms like Abraham and Rispone’s.

“It’s disappointing to see elected officials and candidates for office using 
criminal justice reforms in disingenuous attacks and political ploys,” Daniel 
Erspamer, chief executive officer of the Pelican Institute for Public Policy 
said in a recent statement. “Today’s political debate offers far too few areas 
of consensus, and misleading scare tactics only further undercut opportunities 
for meaningful debate and discussion.”

The 10-bill package, which received bipartisan support in both GOP-controlled 
chambers of the state Legislature, offers alternatives to prison for people 
convicted of less-serious non-violent, non-sex crimes;

“What they tried to implement was a good attempt at criminal justice reform, 
but as you get into it you realize we need to do some things that are 
different,” Rispone said.

He said he thinks there should be a more holistic approach with a focus on 
discouraging people from committing crimes or getting help for people who are 
on a bad path. He described criminal backgrounds he has heard about that start 
with drug addiction and escalate to theft then robbery and on, all tracking 
back to the initial foray into drugs.

“It breaks your heart when you listen to these stories,” he said.

He said he also worries that people are getting out of prison without life 
skills they need to prevent them from returning to a life of crime. “Just 
locking them up in a cage and hoping that will fix it isn’t working,” Rispone 
said.

Abraham said public safety is one of the most pressing issues he hears about 
when talking to people in the community.

“Everybody that you talk to now knows someone who has been affected by one of 
these early releases,” he said. “People just shake their heads in despair.”

He said he supports efforts to cut the recidivism rate and provide people who 
get out of prison with resources needed to become productive citizens.

“I want to make sure that people do understand – for nonviolent criminals, I 
want them to become productive members of society,” Abraham said. “But if you 
are violent criminal, in a Abraham administration, you will serve every day of 
your sentence.”

(source: The Advocate)