[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS, TENN., ORE., USA

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 3



TEXAS----impending execcution

Fort Worth man who stabbed 2 elderly women set to be executed



A 64-year-old Fort Worth man could be days from facing death.

Billy Jack Crutsinger, who stabbed an elderly mother and daughter after he 
entered their home on the pretense of doing repairs is scheduled to be executed 
Wednesday at the Huntsville “Walls” Unit.

That is if the U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t step in.

Crutsinger, who has been on Texas’ death row since his conviction in 2003, is 
asking the Supreme Court to halt his execution, arguing that his 14th Amendment 
rights were violated. He alleges that his former legal counsel “failed to 
adequately represent him” and had a “substantial history in the state and 
federal courts of a lack of professionalism, unethical behavior, and an 
inability to competently represent" death row clients.

Crutsinger was convicted of killing Patricia Syren and her mother Pearl “RD” 
Magouirka. After entering the house, Crutsinger stabbed both women to death and 
stole several items from the home, including credit cards and Patricia’s 
Cadillac.

The decomposing bodies of Pearl "R.D." Magouirk, 89, and her 71-year-old 
daughter, Patricia "Pat" Syren, were found inside their home April 8, 2 days 
later.

The blood-stained Cadillac was found outside a Fort Worth bar. The bloody 
clothes that Crutsinger wore during the killings were later recovered in trash 
bin near another bar.

Crutsinger was arrested at a Galveston bar the day after the car and bodies 
were discovered, when authorities began tracking purchases made on Syren's 
credit card.

During the trial, defense attorneys argued that Crutsinger was illegally 
arrested in Galveston and that a search warrant issued in Fort Worth to obtain 
another DNA sample from Crutsinger also was illegal.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Crutsinger’s request for a stay 
last week.

“The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals failed to expressly and unambiguously 
state that it had based its denial on an adequate and independent state law 
ground, and instead answered the federal question in the negative,” 
Crutsinger’s attorney Lydia M.V. Brandt said.

(source: itemonline.com)

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

DPIC Analysis: 13 Texas Death Warrants Raise Troubling Questions About U.S. 
Execution Practices



In a year in which few states have carried out any executions, the aggressive 
execution practices of a single state — Texas — stand in sharp contrast. The 
Lone Star State has scheduled thirteen executions for the last five months of 
2019, more than the rest of the country combined. And a DPIC review of the 
circumstances in which the warrants were issued raises troubling questions as 
to whether the state is executing the most morally culpable individuals for the 
worst of the worst crimes or the most vulnerable prisoners and prisoners who 
were provided the worst legal process.

The cases of the 13 men scheduled for execution include 2 with strong claims of 
innocence, 2 whom authorities admit did not kill anyone but were sentenced to 
death under Texas’ controversial “law of parties,” and 7 who exhibited 
significant mental or emotional vulnerabilities as a result of intellectual 
impairments/brain damage, serious mental illness, or chronic trauma. 3 
prisoners were age 21 or younger at the time of their crime. 4 prisoners 
scheduled for execution had raised claims that their attorneys did not provide 
them with constitutionally adequate representation, and six received other 
forms of deficient legal process — including false testimony at their trials, 
trial before a racially or religiously biased judge, or execution dates that 
interfered with ongoing judicial review.

Texas’ aggressive execution schedule also illustrates its status as an outlier 
in its use of the death penalty and the stark differences in approach between 
the decisionmakers empowered to end prisoners’ lives and those evaluating 
whether new defendants should be sent to death row. Nationally, executions have 
remained near historic lows for the past 5 years, but Texas has carried out 
more than any other state. In 2018, Texas executed more prisoners than the rest 
of the United States combined and, if most of the scheduled executions go 
through, could do so again in 2019.

Prisoners sentenced to death in Texas are executed at a rate triple the 
national average. The process of rubberstamping — in which state court judges 
adopt as fact the pleadings submitted by prosecutors — is commonplace, and the 
Texas federal courts routinely defer to this state court “factfinding.” The 
Texas state and federal courts are also outliers in denying resources to 
defense counsel and in resisting enforcement of constitutional rights, even in 
the face of clear directives from the U.S. Supreme Court.

The state’s disproportionate pace of executions continues even as prosecutors 
are seeking and capital juries are imposing significantly fewer new death 
sentences. New death sentences have fallen from an average of more than 40 per 
year in 1998-2000 to five per year in 2016-2018. Fewer death sentences have 
been imposed in Texas in the last 5 years than in any other 5-year period in 
the modern era of capital punishment.

(source: Death Penalty Information Center)

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

Executions under Greg Abbott, Jan. 21, 2015-present----44

Executions in Texas: Dec. 7, 1982----present-----562

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

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

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

47---------Sept. 25---------------Robert Sparks-----------565

48---------Oct. 2-----------------Stephen Barbee----------566

49---------Oct. 10----------------Randy Halprin-----------567

50---------Oct. 16----------------Randall Mays------------568

51---------Oct. 30----------------Ruben Gutierrez---------569

52---------Nov. 6-----------------Justen Hall-------------570

53---------Nov. 13----------------Patrick Murphy----------571

54---------Nov. 20----------------Rodney Reed-------------572

55---------Dec. 11----------------Travis Runnels----------573

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)








TENNESSEE:

New Deal Ends Decades-Long Legal Process In Nashville Death Penalty Case



Shawanna Norman was just 9 when Abu-Ali Abdur'Rahman stormed into her house in 
February 1986. She trembled in a bedroom with her sister Katrina, who was 8, 
hearing everything as their mother and her boyfriend were attacked.

The sisters were spared. Three decades later, so has the life of Abdur'Rahman. 
Last week, a judge granted him a new sentence of life imprisonment, ending a 
seemingly endless cycle of appeals just months before Abdur'Rahman was to be 
put to death.

"I'm just glad that it's finally over," Katrina says. "We've had to deal with 
it for a long time."

Judge Monte Watkins signed off on the unusual shift in sentence on Friday, 
agreeing with Davidson County District Attorney General Glenn Funk that there 
was enough evidence of misconduct during Abdur'Rahman's trial to throw out his 
death sentence. Abdur'Rahman's defense attorney, Bradley MacLean, says his 
client didn't get a fair trial because of racial bias during jury selection.

"Public officials who are elected or appointed to positions of trust must take 
an oath to support the Constitution," MacLean says. "In this case, Judge 
Watkins and General Funk adhered to their oath by removing the ugly stain cast 
by a rogue prosecutor upon Mr. Abdur'Rahman's trial."

The Normans were relieved when Abdur'Rahman was given a death sentence in 1987. 
But then came the appeals. The hearings. The endless letters from the 
prosecutors. Katrina says she still dreads checking her mail.

"I don't want to talk about it. I don’t want to hear about it. If something 
comes on the news, I'm going to cut it off," she says. "I don't want to deal 
with it."

Last Friday, the sisters finally got closure when Abdur'Rahman waived his right 
to all future appeals. He'll still spend the rest of his life behind bars, but 
he won't face execution.

The long wait to resolve Abdur'Rahman's case compounded a trauma that began 
when men held their mother, Norma Jean Norman, and her boyfriend at gunpoint. 
They recalled shaking so hard, their beds knocked against the wall.

After the men left, the girls found their mother on the floor, bleeding from 
stab wounds. She survived, but her boyfriend did not.

When Katrina learned about the prosecutor's misconduct during the 1987 trial, 
she understood why the district attorney decided to offer Abdur'Rahman a new 
sentence. But now, she and her sister are ready to move forward.

Death penalty opponent Stacy Rector says many victims suffer in capital cases 
as the state tries to balance the sentence against the directive not to execute 
people who are innocent.

"It's traumatizing," Rector says. "It goes on for so long. We're in and out of 
court. It's in and out of the media. And what I often hear people say is, 'We 
just want some finality.'"

The Norman sisters say they haven't forgiven Abdur'Rahman, and they were 
looking forward to his execution in April.

But they think the new deal will finally deliver some justice to everyone 
involved.

(source: nashvillepublicradio.org)








OREGON:

Readers respond: Death penalty won’t help victims’ families heal



I can only imagine the heartache visited on the families of murder victims. 
(“Williamson doubles down on death penalty law: Steve Duin,” Aug. 28) There 
must be an overwhelming desire to do something -- anything -- to counterbalance 
the devastation experienced by their loved one. Thus, the ancient, if barbaric, 
rule of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. We no longer extract teeth or 
put out eyes. Yet in murder cases, victims’ families cling to the archaic 
demand: a life for a life.

A victim’s sister notes that the families “are not allowed to heal.” What she 
doesn’t seem to realize, is that the only reason these appeals and hearings 
keep continuing is because the death penalty was imposed. That penalty is so 
extreme that the courts bend over backwards to make sure that no innocents are 
convicted, allowing appeal after appeal, hearing after hearing. (Even then, DNA 
evidence has shown that many convicted murderers are, in fact, innocent.) If 
the sentence had been life without parole, the sister would not have had to 
suffer through all those appeals. One, maybe. She would never forget, I’m sure. 
But at least she would be left, as she says, to heal.

In times of overwhelming trouble, it's human instinct to strike out. This is 
natural, and no reason for shame. But the rest of us, while sympathetic, should 
not be ruled by such blind emotions. Killing is a bad business, whether done by 
an individual or by a government. It will not help victims.

Elizabeth J. Hinds, Portland

(source: Letter to the Editor, The Oregonian)








USA:

Barr To Propose Fast-Tracking Death Penalty Sentences For Mass Shooters — But 
Would It Work?----The Trump administration is planning a series of proposals in 
response to a number of mass shootings that have occurred over the past 30 
days. One idea may not be an effective means of stopping such behavior, 
however, according to scientific research and analysis by criminology experts.



According to reporting from Reuters, Attorney General William Barr has drafted 
legislation that would effectively allow for speeding up the process of 
executing individuals who have been charged and convicted of mass murder. The 
proposal is set to be part of a broader series of bills the administration will 
be pushing in the future in order to address the issue of mass shootings.

The idea is simple: those who understand they could face the death penalty, and 
do so in an expedited manner, will be less likely to commit the crime. There’s 
just one problem — many of the shooters involved in these incidents are hoping 
to die, either from a police officer’s bullet or from shooting themselves.

More than half of the perpetrators involved in mass shootings since 2006 have 
died during their rampages, the Associated Press reported.

Gary LaFree, department head of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the 
University of Maryland, spoke to the AP on the issue, saying that executing 
mass shooters may indeed have the opposite effect, as it all but ensures those 
who are arrested alive still wind up being killed — something that individuals 
with terroristic ideologies might use to their advantages.

“In fact, in the case of terrorism, it might be worse than that because you 
have the very real possibility of creating martyrs,” LaFree stated.

Many studies on the death penalty, in general, have also shown that it has not 
worked as a deterrent for major crimes in states where the practice is legal, 
even for crimes that are not related to mass shootings, the Washington Post 
reported in 2014.

(source: hillreporter.com)

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

White House to propose expedited death penalty for perpetrators of mass 
shootings



U.S. Attorney General William Barr has drafted legislation that would speed the 
death penalty for people who have committed mass murder, a White House official 
said on Monday. Marc Short, chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, told 
reporters on Air Force 2 that the measure would be part of a package of gun 
legislation that the White House intends to propose to Congress.

Pence, who is traveling in Europe, had been in contact with Barr about the 
issue, Short said.

The White House has been working on measures to address gun violence after 
several recent mass shootings. President Donald Trump has voiced support for 
tackling mental health issues related to the violence while also looking at 
expanded background checks, an issue on which he has wavered.

Leading Democrats have pushed Republicans in the U.S. Senate to take up 
legislation already passed by the House of Representatives addressing the 
issue. Lawmakers are expected to look at the legislative options more closely 
when they return to Washington from their August recess.

(source: Reuters)