[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, FLA., ALA., NEV., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 5




TEXAS----stay of 2 impending executions

Texas Courts Halt 2 Imminent Executions



Texas state courts have halted the executions of 2 condemned prisoners who had 
been facing imminent execution dates. On October 4, 2019, the Texas Court of 
Criminal Appeals stayed the October 10 execution of Randy Halprin and directed 
a Dallas trial court to consider his claim that the religious bigotry of the 
judge who presided over his case denied him a fair trial before an impartial 
tribunal. The previous day, a Henderson County District Court judge withdrew 
the death warrant that had scheduled Randall Mays to die on October 16, amid 
concerns that Mays may be mentally incompetent.

The twin rulings were a dramatic development in the continuing saga involving 
the Lone Star State’s efforts to execute 13 prisoners in the last 5 months of 
2019. A DPIC analysis of those cases found that they raised troubling questions 
of innocence, significantly flawed legal proceedings, junk science, and 
diminished culpability arising from one or more of mental illness, intellectual 
disability, youthfulness, and chronic exposure to trauma.

Supported by a coalition of national and local Jewish organizations, Halprin, 
who is Jewish, filed petitions in the state and federal courts seeking a stay 
of execution and a new trial based upon recently discovered evidence of his 
trial judge’s virulently anti-Semitic statements and beliefs. He supported his 
claim with affidavits from court personnel who said that his trial judge, 
Vickers Cunningham, disparaged Halprin as “a f***in’ Jew” and “g**damn k**e,” 
and made racist comments about his Latino co-defendants. One court employee 
said Cunningham had bragged that, during their trial, “[f]rom the w**back to 
the Jew, they knew they were going to die.”

Halprin’s defense team began investigating Cunningham’s possible anti-Semitic 
bias after learning from a report in The Dallas Morning News in 2018 that 
Cunningham had put provisions in his will that conditioned his children’s 
inheritance upon marrying a straight, white Christian. Halprin’s current 
counsel, assistant federal defender Tivon Schardl, praised the state court’s 
decision, as “a signal that bigotry and bias are unacceptable in the criminal 
justice system.” “A fair trial requires an impartial judge, and Mr. Halprin did 
not have a fair and neutral judge when his life was at stake,” Schardl said.

Mays’ death warrant was withdrawn by Henderson County District Judge Joe 
Clayton after defense lawyers moved to have May declared incompetent to be 
executed. The defense motion said that prison mental health personnel had 
recently diagnosed Mays with schizophrenia and prescribed him anti-psychotic 
medication. A forensic psychiatrist reported that Mays’ mental health condition 
has deteriorated, that he is increasingly delusional and incoherent, and that 
he claims the prison guards are poisoning the air vents in his cell.

Mays was convicted and sentenced to death for killing 2 county sheriff’s 
deputies. The competency pleading says he believes he is to be executed because 
he has designed a process for creating renewable energy that threatens the 
interests of the oil companies. Judge Clayton wrote that he withdrew the 
execution date so the court could have time to “properly review all medical 
records submitted.”

(source: Death Penalty Information Center)

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

"Texas 7" member Randy Halprin wins stay of execution amid claim of 
anti-Semitic judge----Halprin's lawyers had requested the stay amid allegations 
that the judge who handled his case made racist and anti-Semitic comments 
during his time on the bench.



Editor's note: This story contains explicit language and has been updated 
throughout.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution of Randy Halprin on 
Friday, less than a week before he was to be put to death.

Halprin, one of the infamous "Texas Seven" — who were convicted in the 2000 
murder of a police officer during a more than month-long prison escape — had 
recently argued that his trial was biased because his judge was "a racist and 
anti-Semitic bigot."

Halprin, who is Jewish, said in his latest appeal that former Judge Vickers 
Cunningham had described Halprin as “a fuckin’ Jew” and “goddamn kike” shortly 
after the trial. Cunningham also admitted to putting stipulations in his will 
that his children could only receive inheritance by marrying a straight, white 
Christian, as was first reported by The Dallas Morning News in 2018.

The Court of Criminal Appeals, Texas’ highest criminal court, stopped Halprin’s 
execution, set for next Thursday, and sent the case back to the Dallas County 
trial court for further review of the claims.

"A fair trial requires an impartial judge – and Mr. Halprin did not have a fair 
and neutral judge when his life was at stake," one of Halprin's attorneys, 
Tivon Schardl, said in a statement after the ruling. "We are very grateful the 
CCA has given Mr. Halprin the opportunity to seek a new trial, free of 
religious discrimination."

Cunningham did not immediately return requests for comment Friday afternoon. 
Dallas District Attorney John Creuzot, who did not file a response to Halprin's 
latest appeal, said Friday evening it was too early to determine what his 
office's next steps would be in the case.

Halprin, 42, was sentenced to death in 2003 in the high-profile murder of 
Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins on Christmas Eve 2000. Seven prisoners at 
a South Texas prison escaped more than a week earlier, and were robbing a 
sporting goods store when Hawkins arrived on scene. The 31-year-old officer was 
shot repeatedly and run over as the escapees fled. Halprin was found about a 
month later in an RV in Colorado with Larry Harper, who killed himself when 
police surrounded them. The other five were captured within a couple of days.

Halprin’s lawyers said in their filing they had recently learned about 
Cunningham’s anti-Semitic slurs, as well as calling some of his co-defendants 
“wetbacks.” They also claimed Cunningham said people of color would “go down” 
in his courtroom and that Jews “needed to be shut down.” The filings attributed 
the allegations to first-hand accounts. Cunningham has denied the bigoted 
comments in previous interviews with the Morning News.

4 of the other Texas 7 have already been executed — including at least one 
tried under Cunningham. Aside from Halprin, only one member, Patrick Murphy, 
remains alive, and he is set for execution in November. Murphy's scheduled 
execution in March was halted because the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 
would not allow a Buddhist spiritual adviser into the execution chamber with 
him.

Halprin’s was the 2nd Texas execution stopped by different courts in 2 days. On 
Thursday, a Henderson County court withdrew the execution date of Randall Mays, 
set for Oct. 16, to review his mental competence.

(source: The Texas Tribune)

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

Judge halts execution for man convicted of killing 2 Henderson County 
deputies----Randall Mays was scheduled to be executed Oct. 16, but the judge 
removed the death warrant amid questions that Mays may not be mentally 
competent to be put to death.

A Texas judge has withdrawn a death row inmate's execution date amid questions 
that he may not be mentally competent to be put to death.

On Thursday, less than two weeks before Randall Mays’ scheduled Oct. 16 
execution, Judge Joe Clayton of Henderson County withdrew the death warrant. 
Mays’ attorneys had filed a motion to find him incompetent for execution 
because he was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia and believes he is to be 
executed because he has a renewable energy design that threatens oil companies.

Clayton said in his order that he stopped the execution to “properly review all 
medical records submitted.” The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that for an 
execution to be conducted, the inmate must know that they are about to be 
executed and why.

Mays, 60, was sentenced to death in 2008 after killing 2 Henderson County 
sheriff's deputies in a standoff that began with a domestic disturbance call, 
according to court records. Mays and his wife were yelling, and a neighbor said 
Mays was shooting at her, on their property in Payne Springs, a small town 
southeast of Dallas.

At first, deputies said Mays was calm and polite, and that his wife told them 
to leave because they were “just having a spat.” When the neighbor wanted to 
press charges for the gunshots and a deputy attempted to arrest Mays, however, 
his face changed, court briefings state. He ran inside with a rifle , but 
continued talking with deputies through a window and at one point outside for 
about 20 minutes, telling them he feared the deputies would kill him.

Mays then shot two deputies, Tony Ogburn and Paul Habelt, in the heads, killing 
them. Another deputy was shot in the leg but survived. Mays surrendered after 
he was shot himself.

In 2015, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stopped Mays’ first scheduled 
execution because of competency questions, but ultimately the same Henderson 
County judge found he was fit for execution. A reason for that finding, Mays’ 
lawyers claim, was because the Texas prison system had not diagnosed or treated 
Mays for any relevant mental illness at that time.

That has since changed. In 2018, prison mental health officials diagnosed Mays 
with schizophrenia and other disorders and prescribed him antipsychotics, the 
lawyers wrote in a motion last month.

A forensic psychiatrist who visited Mays before also said that as of August, 
his cognitive functions and delusional beliefs have worsened. Mays had trouble 
staying on topic, quickly veered conversation to comments that the guards were 
poisoning the air vents and was frequently incoherent.

Mays’ execution was the s2nd stopped this week. On Friday, the execution of 
Randy Halprin, set for Oct. 10, was halted by the Texas Court of Criminal 
Appeals.

(source: The Texas Tribune)

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

Mays receives stay of execution



Henderson County District Attorney Mark Hall has confirmed, Randall Mays 
received a stay of execution for the 2007 murder of 2 Henderson County 
Sheriff's Deputies.

Visiting Judge Joe D. Clayton had set Mays to be executed for 6 p.m.,Wednesday, 
Oct. 16. Henderson County District Attorney Mark Hall said Clayton has stayed 
the executive due to the fact his attorneys have file an appeal on Mays 
competency.

Mays' attorneys are appealing a decision made June 5, by the Texas Court of 
Criminal Appeals affirming the decision by Clayton that Mays is competent to be 
executed.

In May of 2008, Mays, 58, of Payne Springs was convicted and sentenced to death 
for killing Deputy Tony Ogburn. He also killed HCSO investigator Paul Habelt 
and seriously wounded Deputy Kevin Harris.

Ogburn and Habelt were a pair of the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office’s most 
experienced lawmen. Habelt had more than 40 years to his credit. Ogburn was a 
veteran deputy who had worked around the courthouse for several years.

Mays’ trial in early 2008 again brought the story to the forefront. For days, 
witnesses recounted the events until the decision finally went to the jury. 
They returned with a guilty verdict almost a year to the day after the 
shootings.

The original execution date of March 18, 2015, was stayed by the Court of 
Criminal Appeals. The appellate court justices found Mays, 58, of Payne 
Springs, made “a substantial showing that he is incompetent to be executed” and 
ordered further competency hearings, including the appointment of mental-health 
experts.

No date has been set for Mays execution. Hall said Mays is entitled to other 
appeals before an execution is carried out by the state of Texas.

(source: Athens Review)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----47

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----565

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

48---------Oct. 30----------------Ruben Gutierrez---------566

49---------Nov. 6-----------------Justen Hall-------------567

50---------Nov. 13----------------Patrick Murphy----------568

51---------Nov. 20----------------Rodney Reed-------------569

52---------Dec. 11----------------Travis Runnels----------570

53---------Jan. 15----------------John Gardner------------571

54---------Mar. 11----------------Carlos Trevino----------572

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

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

USA----impending/scheduled executions

With the execution of Russell Bucklew in Missouri on October 1, the USA has now 
executed 1,507 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 further scheduled executions as the nation continues its shameful 
practice of state-sponsored killings.

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

1508-------Oct. 30------------Ruben Gutierrez----------Texas

1509-------Nov. 3-9-----------Charles Rhines-----------South Dakota

1510-------Nov. 6-------------Justen Hall--------------Texas

1511-------Nov. 7-------------James Dailey-------------Florida

1512-------Nov. 13------------Patrick Murphy-----------Texas

1513-------Nov. 20------------Rodney Reed--------------Texas

1514-------Dec. 5-------------Lee Hall Jr.-------------Tennessee

1515-------Dec. 9-------------Daniel Lewis Lee---------Federal - Ark.

1516-------Dec. 11------------James Hanna--------------Ohio

1517-------Dec. 11------------Travis Runnels-----------Texas

1518-------Dec. 11------------Lezmond Mitchell---------Federal - Ariz.

1519-------Dec. 13------------Wesley Purkey------------Federal - Mo.

1520-------Jan. 13-----------Alfred Bourgeois----------Federal - Tex.

1521-------Jan. 15-----------Dusten Honken-------------Federal - Iowa

1522-------Jan. 15-----------John Gardner--------------Texas

1523-------Jan. 16-----------Kareem Jackson------------Ohio

1524-------Mar. 11-----------Carlos Trevino------------Texas

(source: Rick Halperin)








FLORIDA:

Court filings give insight into how defense may keep convicted murderer Everett 
Miller off death row



Court filings in the case of convicted murderer Everett Miller have given some 
insight into how the defense may be trying to keep Miller off death row.

The retired marine was convicted last month in the 2017 murders of Kissimmee 
police officer Matthew Baxter and Sgt. Sam Howard.

Channel 9’s legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said the defense can use as many 
mitigating factors as they can come up with to try to spare their client's 
life.

Mental health is often a big one and it’s something Miller’s attorney’s have 
already notified the court they plan to use. They have also received extra 
funding for a psychological expert.

This is an issue they couldn’t raise in the guilt phase of the trial, but can 
use in the penalty phase.

Prosecutors have also listed a neurologist as a possible expert witness, a 
doctor known for testifying about abnormalities in the brain, perhaps to 
counter any mental defect the defense may raise.

Both sides know the law now requires a unanimous jury to come back with a 
recommendation for death, which might be what the defense is hoping by raising 
mental health concerns for the former marine.

“They hope this mental health issue touches at least one juror and if it does, 
they keep their client off death row,” Sheaffer said.

The sentencing phase will begin next month and will be like a small trial with 
the same jurors who found Miller guilty

(source: WFTV news)








ALABAMA:

February trial set for Coley McCraney



A trial has been set for a Dothan man charged with the 1999 murders of 2 
teenage girls whose bodies were found in a trunk of a car.

Court records show Dale County Judge William Fillmore scheduled a trial date of 
Feb. 3 for Coley McCraney, who was arrested earlier this year and charged with 
capital murder in the deaths of J. B. Beasley and Tracie Hawlett.

Beasley and Hawlett, who were both 17 and from Dothan, went missing, and it was 
2 days before their bodies were found in the trunk of Beasley’s car on a side 
street in Ozark on Aug. 1, 1999. The crime scene, where the bodies were found, 
indicated the 2 girls had been shot in the head with a 9mm handgun.

McCraney faces 3 capital murder charges for Beasley and 2 capital murder 
charges for Hawlett. His charges stem from DNA test results performed by 
Parabon Labs in Virginia, which matched McCraney's DNA to evidence collected 
from the crime scene. Results were also confirmed by the Alabama state lab.

In an unrelated case, McCraney was ordered to submit DNA by a judge as part of 
a paternity petition from a woman who claimed McCraney was the father of her 
child born in September 1998, according to court documents reviewed by the 
Dothan Eagle. The order for DNA submission was made July 30, 1999, by Ozark 
judge Fred Steagall.

According to the paternity petition, McCraney lived on Lisenby Drive in Ozark 
in the summer of 1999, a 1.08-mile straight walk from where the teens’ bodies 
were found near the intersection of Herring Avenue and James Street.

If convicted, McCraney faces either life in prison without parole or the death 
penalty. Dale County District Attorney Kirke Adams previously said he will seek 
the death penalty upon conviction.

Andrew Scarborough and David Harrison, defense attorneys who represent 
McCraney, believe their client is innocent of the murder charges. McCraney has 
professed his innocence through attorneys and his wife.

McCraney has a hearing scheduled Monday for the court to address multiple 
motions requested by defense attorneys.

(source: Dothan Eagle)

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

6 death penalty cases pending in Madison County



6 potential death penalty cases await their day in court in Madison County.

At least 1/2 of them are to go before a judge in the next 12 months, but 
prosecutors say the time needed to prepare for those will push other death 
penalty cases down the road.

It's been more than 4 years since prosecutors say a married couple murdered 5 
people, including a 9-month pregnant woman, and set their New Market home on 
fire.

Christopher Henderson and Rhonda Carlson will be tried separately.

Henderson's trial, which is expected to last 3 weeks, is set to begin June 8, 
2020. Henderson was also married, at the same time, to the pregnant victim in 
the case, Kristen Henderson.

Carlson is set to go on trial on October 19, 2020. The state is requesting the 
death penalty for both defendants.

The 1st death penalty case on the 2020 calendar invlves Warren Hardy. He is 
charged with killing 72-year-old Kathleen Lundy, of Huntsville, during a crime 
spree.

The Huntsville Police Department said the crime spree included an attempted 
kidnapping and a carjacking before Hardy approached Lundy outside her home.

"He walks up and asks for the keys and then shot her and killed her before 
taking off in her car," Huntsville Police Department Lt. Michael Johnson said 
in August 2016.

Hardy is set to go on trial April 6, 2020.

Tim Gann, chief trial attorney for the Madison County District Attorney's 
office told a judege last week that the caseload means that the trial for 2 
other defendants facing a possible death sentence will have to wait.

Israel Palomino and Yoni Aguilar, aren't likely to go to trial until late 2020.

The 2 men are accused of killing Oralia Lopez and beheading her 13-year-old 
granddaughter, Mariah Lopez. And investigators say the case has ties to 
Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel.

Another death penalty case awaiting a trial date in Madison County is against 
Otis Mayes. He's charged with killing 2 women in Five Points in September 2017.

Mayes doesn't yet have a trial date.

(source: WHNT news)








NEVADA:

Groups urge no death penalty for severely mentally ill people



The American Bar Association and several local attorneys groups want Nevada’s 
high court to ban the death penalty for defendants with severe mental illness.

The American Bar Association filed an amicus brief Thursday urging the Nevada 
Supreme Court to overturn a lower court’s decision to impose the death penalty 
on Siaosi Vanisi, who was convicted of killing a police officer in Reno in 
1998.

Several local groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, 
state and county public defenders and Nevada law professors, filed similar 
briefs Thursday, asking the court to ban executions of people who suffer from 
severe mental illness.

In their brief, the ABA points to prior U.S. Supreme Court decisions that 
barred the execution of defendants with intellectual disabilities, and said the 
reasons for those rulings “apply equally to those suffering from symptoms 
related to severe mental illness at the time of their crimes.”

Vanisi, 49, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1998 hatchet murder of 
George Sullivan, a University of Nevada, Reno campus police sergeant who was 
attacked while in his patrol car.

In prior appeals, Vanisi’s lawyers argued that a judge had erred in determining 
that he was mentally competent to assist in post-conviction appeals. The high 
court had previously upheld the conviction, but in 2017 sent the case back to 
the lower court to consider if Vanisi’s lawyers had failed to show evidence of 
mental illness that might have influenced jurors’ decision to levy the death 
penalty, and that appeal was also denied.

Washoe County Chief Appelate Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Noble said 
Friday that Vanisi had been found competent at the time of his trial and 
initial sentencing.

“Certainly if someone is found incompetent, that is a different story,” Noble 
said. “But Mr. Vanisi has been found several times over the years to be 
competent.”

The ACLU’s brief argued that when people with severe mental illness commit a 
violent crime, their behavior can be traced directly back to the symptoms of 
their condition.

“Such symptoms, as the facts of Mr. Vanisi’s case plainly demonstrate, can also 
impair the trial and appellate proceedings, making the reliability in capital 
sentencing required under the Nevada Constitution impossible to accomplish,” 
the ACLU wrote.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)






  Felon Who Killed Lover, Jail Cellmate Sentenced to Capital Punishment



A death sentence was imposed Friday on a convicted felon who stabbed his 
ex-girlfriend to death along Interstate 10 in Whitewater and, 4 months later, 
strangled his 82-year-old cellmate at the Smith Correctional Facility in 
Banning.

In July, a Riverside jury unanimously recommended capital punishment for 
43-year-old Rigoberto Villanueva of Fontana for the 2016 killings of Rosemary 
Barrasa, 37, and Tom Carlin.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mac Fisher affirmed the panel’s findings, 
rejecting a defense motion for a sentence modification.

In June, Villanueva was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder, and jurors 
found true a special-circumstance allegation of taking multiple lives, making 
the defendant eligible for the death penalty.

According to prosecutors, the 6-foot-2-inch, 300-pound defendant had been in a 
relationship with Barrasa in the late 1990s, and in the fall of 2015, he 
persuaded her to join him at his brother’s residence in Salida, Northern 
California.

Deputy District Attorney Anthony Orlando said the defendant and Barrasa lived 
together at the property for the ensuing 6 months, during which time, 
Villanueva became abusive, inflicting injuries to the victim’s arms and legs 
and cutting away some of her hair.

Barrasa left the house at the end of April 2016, heading to Fontana to stay 
with a friend. Within a week of her leaving, Villanueva went searching for the 
victim and arrived in the Inland Empire on May 7. Several days later, he 
located Barrasa at her friend’s residence.

“The defendant expressed that Barrasa had his heart, which Barrasa responded to 
by laughing,” Orlando said. “However, Barrasa seemed happy after talking with 
the defendant.”

Despite being happy to see him, the victim told friends she was concerned about 
Villanueva’s behavior, and at least one witness recalled her hesitating to get 
into his car on the night of May 11, 2016, according to the prosecutor.

Shortly before 2 a.m. the next day, her body was found in Villanueva’s sedan, 
which appeared to have crashed on eastbound Interstate 10, near Tipton Road, in 
Whitewater. She had been stabbed 34 times with a screwdriver, the wounds 
patterned in the shape of an ”X” across her upper body, according to Orlando.

California Highway Patrol officers encountered Villanueva a quarter-mile west 
of the scene, walking in the freeway center median. When they attempted to 
question him, he took off running and resisted officers when they caught up to 
him, prompting them to deploy a Taser to gain control and handcuff him.

He was immediately jailed and charged with Barrasa’s murder. He was paired with 
Carlin in Housing Unit 17 at the Smith Correctional Facility.

Other inmates described Villanueva as extremely moody and sometimes physically 
aggressive — a deep contrast with Carlin, who was “happy-go-lucky” and 
generally liked by the men in his cell block, according to the prosecution.

One inmate told sheriff’s investigators that in the days leading up to Carlin’s 
murder, Villanueva had suggested his cellmate was a child molester, even though 
the elder man was charged with felonious assault and making criminal threats — 
not sexual offenses. Villanueva also conveyed to the same inmate that he wanted 
to choke Carlin.

The prosecutor said that on the afternoon of Sept. 17, 2016, Villanueva knotted 
a bed sheet and used it to strangle Carlin, trying to make it appear as though 
he had hung himself while sitting on the bedside commode.

Villanueva was charged with the murder and was relocated to a high-security 
unit at the Riverside jail.

Court records did not specify his prior convictions.

(source: mynewsla.com)








USA:

Indiana clergy sign letter calling for renewed moratorium on federal executions



5 Roman Catholic clergy from Indiana, including the administrator of the 
Diocese of Gary, signed a letter Friday calling for a renewed moratorium on 
federal executions.

In July, the federal government announced it will resume executing death-row 
inmates for the first time since 2003, ending an informal moratorium on capital 
punishment.

Attorney General William Barr instructed the Bureau of Prisons to schedule 
executions starting in December for 5 men, all accused of murdering children. 
Although the death penalty remains legal in 30 states, executions on the 
federal level are rare.

“The Justice Department upholds the rule of law -- and we owe it to the victims 
and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice 
system,” Barr previously said.

The Indiana clergy, 4 bishops and the Rev. Michael Yadron, who is currently 
administrator of the Diocese of Gary, wrote Friday that the decision to end the 
moratorium“is regrettable, unnecessary and morally unjustified,” according to 
the letter.

“As we observe Respect Life Month in the Catholic Church, we, the Bishops of 
Indiana, in as much as federal executions are conducted in our State, ask 
President (Donald) Trump to rescind the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to 
resume capital punishment later this year,” the letter reads. “We respectfully 
implore that the sentences of all federal death row inmates be commuted to life 
imprisonment.”

The letter states that by “seeking to end the use of the death penalty," the 
clergy “do not dismiss the evil and harm caused by people who commit horrible 
crimes, especially murder.”

But, capital punishment “undermines the dignity of human life,” according to 
the letter. “In the case of incarcerated prisoners, the aggressor has been 
stopped and society is protected. Hence, it is no longer permissible to take 
the life,” according to the letter.

The death penalty remains legal in 30 states, but only a handful regularly 
conduct executions. Texas has executed 108 prisoners since 2010, far more than 
any other state.

In Indiana, Odell Corley remains on federal death row. He was convicted of bank 
robbery and capital murder, and was sentenced to death on Oct. 27, 2004. Corley 
was allegedly involved in an Aug. 27, 2002, bank robbery that results in the 
death of 2 people and paralyzing a 3rd.

Executions on the federal level have long been rare. The government has put to 
death only three defendants since restoring the federal death penalty in 1988.

There are 61 people on the federal death row, according to Death Row USA, a 
quarterly report of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Some of the 
highest-profile inmates on federal death row include Dylann Roof, who killed 9 
black church members during a Bible study session in 2015 at a South Carolina 
church, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who set off bombs near the Boston Marathon’s 
finish line in 2013, killing 3 people and wounding more than 260.

Capital punishment continues the cycle of violence and “precludes the 
possibility of reconciliation and rehabilitation,” according to the letter from 
Indiana bishops. P> In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, 
President Barack Obama directed the Justice Department to conduct a broad 
review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs.

That review has been completed, Barr said in July, and it has cleared the way 
for executions to resume.

(source: Associated Press) **************

Suspect in San Diego-area synagogue shooting pleads not guilty



A Rancho Penasquitos man appeared at a brief San Diego court hearing Thursday 
to enter a plea of not guilty to charges of murder, three counts of attempted 
murder and hate crime allegations in the Poway synagogue shooting in April.

John Timothy Earnest, 20, is accused of killing one member of Chabad of Poway 
and wounding two others, along with a rabbi. He also is charged with arson at 
an Escondido mosque in March, where several people were sleeping but got out 
safely.

Prosecutors say hatred fueled the crimes, as evidenced by an anti-Jewish and 
Muslim diatribe posted online by someone who identified himself as Earnest.

The hearing on Thursday came as a pretrial formality. Deputy District Attorney 
David Grapilon said the hearing gives defendants in felony cases a chance to 
hear any new charges or allegations that may have been filed.

The only change from the original complaint, Grapilon said, was to a 
firearm-use allegation. It now alleges that Earnest used a firearm causing 
great bodily injury or death to all 4 shooting victims.

It may be another month before the district attorney’s office decides whether 
to seek the death penalty against Earnest, Grapilon said. He said prosecutors 
will research the defendant’s background and consult with victims, families and 
congregants from the synagogue before deciding.

Earnest could face the death penalty in a federal case, filed separately from 
the state case but involving the same offenses. He is charged in a 113-count 
federal indictment alleging hate crimes, using a firearm and obstructing the 
free exercise of religious believes by using a weapon causing death and injury.

He was arrested April 27 after he called 911, told a dispatcher that he had 
just shot some people at a synagogue, and waited for police to arrive. He 
surrendered quietly. Authorities found an AR-15 rifle, ammunition and a 
tactical helmet in his car.

Killed at the synagogue minutes earlier was Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, shot as she 
stood in the lobby to greet congregants arriving for a special service on the 
last day of Passover. Almog Peretz, 34, was wounded, as was his 8-year-old 
niece, Noya Dahan. Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein was wounded in both hands and lost a 
finger.

On Sept. 20, Superior Court Presiding Judge Peter Deddeh ordered Earnest to 
stand trial after finding, at the end of a preliminary hearing, that enough 
evidence had been presented against the nursing student. Peretz testified to 
hearing gunshots from the lobby and grabbing his niece and another girl while 
he herded children away from a playground to safety. He realized later that 
he’d been wounded, he said.

Attorneys agreed to meet again Dec. 5 to discuss any trial issues and perhaps 
set a date for the trial. Grapilon said he expects the trial could begin in 
late spring or early summer.

(source: San Diego Union-Tribune)

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

Abolish the death penalty in the U.S.



It is time that the U.S. follow the standard of the rest of the modern world 
and abolish its use of the death penalty. For both being, barbaric antiquated 
practice, immoral and more importantly impractical for a civilized society to 
as a means of punishment for anything.

America is unique in terms of its use of the death penalty in this “developed 
world.” There are 30 states in the U.S. that currently use the death penalty. 
The death penalty is legal penalty under the federal justice system as well. In 
contrast practically every country in the developed world has stopped using the 
use of the death penalty as a punishment. Every country in Europe has ceased 
using the death penalty decades ago. Australia and Canada have similarly ceased 
using it as a punishment a long time ago. Even Russia, a dictatorship, has 
ceased using the death penalty. The last time someone was executed in Russia 
was in 1999. The last time someone was executed in America was on September 10, 
2019.

[my note----the most recent execution in the USA occured on October 1, 2019]

Many hold the misconception that the death penalty is relatively inexpensive. 
Even cheaper to use than merely giving a prisoner life-imprisonment. The death 
penalty actually costs the public substantially more than simply providing a 
prisoner life-imprisonment.

“The prosecution and defense of capital cases costs $467,000 more per case than 
noncapital cases. A capital case also involves increased court costs, as well 
as the need for a high-security, expensive death row—dollars our state could 
use to help victims’ families in a time of fiscal crisis,” said The American 
Civil Liberties Union of Washington.

Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates “the annual 
costs of the present system ($137 million per year), the present system after 
implementation of the reforms … ($232.7 million per year) … and a system which 
imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death 
penalty ($11.5 million),” said the California Commission on the Fair 
Administration of Justice.

The death penalty is actually expensive. We as a public should not be wasting 
so much money on something such as permanently removing a dangerous individual 
from society. We should be doing it in the most efficient way possible. 
Life-imprisonment accomplishes that goal without the cost ramifications of the 
death penalty.

With the money saved from utilizing only the life-imprisonment to deal with 
murder cases the public could fund projects that could help prevent killings in 
the future, such as giving more funding to our educational system, our police 
departments and other things we rely on to keep our society safe and 
prosperous.

But even ignoring the cost incentives to do away with the death penalty it is 
still a fundamentally gross practice for the government to continuously engage 
in. The government should not be legally killing its citizens if said citizen 
does not actively prove a threat. Killing someone who is not attacking another 
or capable of defending in him or her is little nothing more than state 
sanctioned murder, an act that we as a civilized society should treat as 
revulsion.

There is also the real possibility of an innocent person being executed. The 
National Academy of Sciences reported that “at least 4.1 percent of defendants 
sentenced to death in the United States are innocent.” That number roughly 
translates to mean one in 25 people on death row are innocent. As a civilized 
society we should see this as a travesty that cannot continue.

The U.S’s use of the death penalty is a unjustifiable. It is time for the 
nation to recognize it as such and do away with it.

(source: Dante Harrold, The (Los Medanos College) Experience)