[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----NEB., WYO., NEV., ARIZ., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin]

Sept. 12



NEBRASKA:

Nebraska county OKs sales tax to pay wrongfully convicted



A Nebraska county that owes more than $30 million to 6 people wrongfully 
convicted of murder approved a new half-cent sales tax Wednesday to help pay 
the legal judgment, but the former prisoners still will have to wait at least 6 
years to collect the full amount they’re owed.

The Gage County Board of Supervisors voted 7-0 to impose the sales tax, which 
will generate an additional $1.3 million annually to cover the county’s debt.

Known as the Beatrice 6, the ex-inmates spent more than 70 years in prison 
collectively for a 1985 rape and killing in Beatrice, Nebraska, about 40 miles 
(64 kilometres) south of Lincoln. DNA evidence exonerated them in 2008.

They sued Gage County the following year, alleging that the county ran a 
reckless investigation. A federal jury awarded them $28.1 million in 2016, plus 
interest and attorney fees that raise the total to more than $30 million. The 
county wasn’t properly insured when the six were convicted, and its appeals 
were all rejected. That left officials with no choice but to pay the judgment.

Now that the county has to pay it, “we’re trying to find ways to fund this as 
best as possible and take some of the burden off the landowner,” said County 
Board Chairman Erich Tiemann, according to the Beatrice Daily Sun.

Gage County has already raised its property tax as high as legally allowed and 
has started making $3.8 million a year in payments, but county officials say 
relying on property taxes alone isn’t fair to farmers whose land requires them 
to pay much more than homeowners and renters.

The new tax is intended to ease that burden and possibly allow the county to 
pay the judgment in 6 years instead of 8. Starting Jan. 1, anyone who buys $100 
worth of taxable goods or services in Gage County will pay an extra 50 cents to 
help with the judgment.

Even with the extra funding, the surviving members of the Beatrice 6 will 
likely have to wait years to receive everything they’re owed. One of the six 
was killed in a 2011 factory accident in Alabama, and several others are aging 
and have health problems.

Attorneys for the 6 weren’t immediately available for comment.

The board’s vote followed a newly enacted state law tailored to Gage County’s 
situation that allows counties to impose a sales tax to pay off a legal 
judgment without putting the issue on the ballot, as is normally required. 
Lawmakers approved the measure over the veto of Gov. Pete Ricketts, who argued 
that voter approval should have been required.

“It’s something that should definitely help the property owners in Gage 
County,” said state Sen. Myron Dorn, a former Gage County supervisor who 
sponsored the law.

It’s unlikely that voters would approve a sales tax increase because many 
didn’t live in the county when authorities were investigating the killing, and 
some residents still believe the 6 were involved even though state officials 
have declared them innocent. Some of the 6 have been diagnosed with mental 
health problems and were coerced into confessing with threats of capital 
punishment.

Both the sales and property taxes will expire once the judgment is paid in 
full.

(source: Associated Press)








WYOMING:

Dale Wayne Eaton considering U.S. Supreme Court appeal, lawyer tells Natrona 
County judge



A Wyoming man convicted of the kidnapping, rape and murder of a teenage woman 
more than 30 years ago may still appeal his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, his 
lawyer told a Natrona County judge on Tuesday afternoon.

Sean O’Brien, the Kansas City, Missouri, lawyer and law professor who has led 
Dale Wayne Eaton’s recent post-conviction appeals, made the statement by phone 
to Judge Daniel Forgey during a mid-afternoon scheduling conference in Natrona 
County District Court that spanned about 10 minutes. The conference marked the 
first hearing in the state court since a regional federal appeals court issued 
an opinion this summer that declined to prevent prosecutors from seeking 
Eaton’s death.

Eaton, now 74, has asked the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Denver, to 
reconsider its opinion.

The Wyoming attorney general’s office has until the end of the week to reply to 
the request. If the case returns to the state court, Eaton may again defend 
himself against the death penalty. On Aug. 5, about two weeks after the 10th 
Circuit’s decision, Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen filed paperwork 
indicating he would seek Eaton’s capital punishment.

The same day, he filed request for the status conference.

Neither Itzen nor Eaton appeared in court Tuesday. In the prosecutor’s stead 
were assistant district attorneys Mike Schafer and Kevin Taheri, who spoke only 
briefly. O’Brien appeared by phone with Lindsay Runnels, also of Kansas City, 
and Terry Harris, who practices in Cheyenne. O’Brien told Forgey a federal 
district court stay on proceedings in the lower court remains in place; he said 
a typical re-hearing, as he’d requested from the 10th Circuit, takes a month or 
2.

The lawyer then noted that Eaton’s legal team is considering requesting review 
of the case by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“That is a possibility, at this point, that we’re considering,” the Kansas City 
lawyer said over the court phone. He did not say what factors he and co-counsel 
were considering. O’Brien did not immediately respond to an early Tuesday 
evening phone call requesting comment for this story.

Taheri then told the judge that the attorney general’s office — which has 
handled the appellate case — agreed that the federal stay remains in effect.

O’Brien told Forgey he would inform the judge of any updates from appellate 
courts, and the judge concluded the hearing.

The proceedings are the latest in a case that has largely been active in 
federal courts since Eaton’s 2004 conviction for the 1988 kidnapping, rape and 
murder of a woman. Although a jury found Eaton should be put to death, he spent 
a decade on death row before a judge ordered in 2014 he should be re-sentenced. 
A hearing to determine a new sentence has not yet been held.

Although authorities began investigating Lisa Marie Kimmell’s death shortly 
after her body turned up in the North Platte River, investigators were 
unsuccessful for a decade. In 1998, after Eaton was convicted of assault and 
sent to Wyoming State Penitentiary, authorities found Eaton’s DNA linked him to 
Kimmell’s body. In 2002, authorities unearthed Kimmell’s car on Eaton’s 
property in Moneta, about an hour from Casper.

In 2003, the Natrona County District Attorney’s Office charged Eaton with 
Kimmell’s death, and in early 2004 jurors convicted him of 1st-degree 
premeditated murder, felony murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery 
and 1st-degree sexual assault. Days later, the jury found Eaton should be put 
to death.

(source: Casper Star Tribune)








NEVADA:

Prosecutors to seek death penalty for 2 in Aryan Warriors case



Prosecutors announced Wednesday that they plan to seek the death penalty for 2 
of the 23 defendants tied to a violent white supremacist Nevada prison gang.

Anthony Williams, 36, and Tarik “Torque” Goicoechea, 34, are suspected of 
stabbing a fellow inmate to death before Williams was freed from High Desert 
State Prison without facing criminal charges in the killing.

Williams, who goes by the nickname “Mugsy,” was not charged in the slaying 
until last month, more than half a year after he was tried and convicted for 
his role in a string of robberies across Clark County that occurred after his 
release.

Prosecutors said they plan to seek capital punishment for both Williams and 
Goicoechea. Both men pleaded not guilty Wednesday.

A sweeping indictment against reputed members of the Aryan Warriors was 
recently unsealed as a result of an investigation by a gang task force with 
representatives from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Department of 
Homeland Security, the Clark County district attorney’s office, the 
Metropolitan Police Department, North Las Vegas police, the U.S. Marshals 
Service, the Nye County Sheriff’s Office and the Nevada Department of 
Corrections.

The defendants, many of whom appeared in court Wednesday afternoon, face 
charges ranging from murder and robbery to drug trafficking and racketeering.

The indictment was the 1st time prosecutors publicly linked Williams and 
Goicoechea to the slaying of 26-year-old Andrew Thurgood.

Authorities have declined to say why it took more than 3 years to charge 
Williams, a felon with convictions dating back to 2001, and Goicoechea in the 
February 2016 death of Thurgood, who was serving time at the prison for 
attempted possession of a stolen vehicle.

No other crimes listed in the indictment occurred before January.

Among those indicted were the gang’s reputed leader, known as the “horn 
holder,” 37-year-old Robert “Coco” Standridge, who is being held at High Desert 
State Prison, and Zackaria “Lil Dog” Luz, known as the gang’s “street captain,” 
or 2nd in command. He also is imprisoned at High Desert.

2 of the men named in the indictment, Devin “Soup” Campbell, 24, and 
Christopher “Bullwinkle” Ashoff, 38, have been tied to killings in Las Vegas 
that occurred earlier this year.

(source: Las Vegas Review-Journal)








ARIZONA:

Court: Death-row inmate should get new chance to show lawyer failed him



A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that an Arizona death-row inmate should 
have another chance to prove his attorney did not fully investigate evidence of 
his intellectual disabilities in his trial for a 1989 Phoenix double-murder.

A 3-judge panel on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there is a 
“reasonable probability” that David Ramirez’s sentencing would have been 
different if his attorney at the time had presented evidence of the defendant’s 
low IQ and a history of abuse, sexual assault, neglect and developmental 
issues.

“The (sentencing) judge did find several mitigating factors, and only three 
aggravating factors,” Chief Judge Sidney Thomas wrote in his opinion. “Had the 
evidence of a mental impairment been introduced, as well as the evidence of the 
level of abuse Ramirez suffered, there is a substantial claim that the judge 
‘would have struck a different balance.'”

The U.S. Attorney’s office for Arizona did not respond to request for comment 
on the case Wednesday. But Tim Gabrielsen, an assistant federal public defender 
for Arizona, said that while he welcomed the decision, “it’s regrettable that 
it took this long” to reach this point.

Ramirez has spent nearly 30 years on death row for the stabbing deaths of his 
girlfriend, Mary Gortarez, and her 15-year-old daughter, Candie, in Gortarez’s 
Phoenix apartment on May 25, 1989.

Police were called to the apartment that morning by neighbors who reported 
hearing thuds and sounds of struggle for around half an hour. When they 
arrived, police found what appeared to be the scene of a violent struggle with 
Ramirez “apparently intoxicated” and covered in blood, which was splattered 
throughout the apartment.

Gortarez was found on the living room floor, stabbed 18 times in the neck, 
back, stomach and left eye. Candie’s naked body was found in a bedroom, stabbed 
15 times around her neck. Neither victim died immediately and records say 
Ramirez sexually assaulted Candie before she died.

A jury convicted Ramirez guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in 
December 1990.

At sentencing, Ramirez presented a sentencing report that talked about his 
chaotic childhood, a history of sexual and substance abuse, a poor school 
record and the fact that his state of mind was muddled at time of the murders 
by drugs and alcohol. 3 family members testified to varying levels of maternal 
support for Ramirez, and two prison guards said he was a good worker in prison.

The sentencing judge agreed there were several mitigating factors for Ramirez, 
but also found three aggravating factors: two previous felony convictions, 
multiple murders and the “especially cruel, heinous or depraved manner” of the 
killings. He sentenced Ramirez to death.

In his most recent appeals, however, Ramirez has argued that the public 
defender who represented him at trial – who had never handled a capital case 
before – failed to investigate and present evidence that would have weighed in 
his favor.

The attorney agreed, saying in later court filings that she was unprepared to 
represent “someone as mentally disturbed as David Ramirez, especially in a 
capital case.” She relied on the psychologist’s finding that Ramirez was “well 
within the average range of intelligence.”

But they psychologist said he would not have reached the findings he did if the 
attorney had presented him with fuller records on Ramirez’s background. Those 
would have led to different tests that showed Ramirez with an IQ in the 70 to 
77 range.

The appeals court said the evidence presented at Ramirez’s sentencing painted a 
“relatively innocuous” picture compared to what later emerged.

Family members who were subsequently contacted said Ramirez had little 
relationship with his mother, who routinely beat him with “anything she could 
get her hands on, including electrical cords and shoes.” She reportedly drank 
while pregnant with Ramirez and told family members she would put beer in 
Ramirez’s bottle when he was young.

He was often left in charge of younger siblings, one of whom died of exposure 
after their mother left them at home without heat one night while she went out 
partying. Family members noted developmental delays in the young Ramirez, who 
did not know how to comb his hair or use utensils, for example.

The appeals court ordered the case back to district court to more fully 
investigate Ramirez’s claim of an ineffective attorney. It turned down his 
other appeals, including a claim that courts improperly rejected his mitigating 
circumstances, and refused to grant permission for other issues.

In a partial dissent, however, Judge Marsha Berzon wrote that Ramirez should be 
allowed to pursue his claim that he should not receive the death penalty 
because he is intellectually disabled.

Gabrielsen agreed, saying Berzon’s dissent could be the basis of a future 
appeal.

“I think she hit it right on the head,” he said. “I think she was absolutely on 
the money.”

(source: cronkitenews.azpbs.org)








CALIFORNIA:

California Supreme Court declines to take up L.A. death penalty cases



The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to consider whether Gov. Gavin 
Newsom’s moratorium on executions prejudices capital defendants.

Meeting in closed session, the state high court declined to review two Los 
Angeles County cases in which defendants face the death penalty.

The court issued a short order that did not explain the justices’ thinking, but 
the action means that the court is unlikely to weigh in on other cases in which 
defense attorneys claim that jurors considering a death sentence might be 
swayed by the moratorium.

Prosecutors can now move forward with the 2 Los Angeles County cases, one of 
which had been put on hold.

Attorneys representing Jade Douglas Harris, who is accused in a shooting 
rampage that left three people dead and two wounded, and Cleamon Johnson, a 
gang leader known as “Big Evil” who is charged with 5 counts of murder, had 
argued that a fair decision would be impossible given that Newsom granted a 
reprieve to the more than 700 prisoners on death row and had the state’s 
execution chamber dismantled — with much fanfare in front of cameras.

Jurors, they argue, might be more likely to favor the death penalty if they 
don’t believe it would actually be carried out.

“The jury making that order has to really believe it, because if they don’t, 
they could be cavalier about it and just say: ‘Well, let’s send a message. … We 
know [the death sentence] is never going to happen, but let’s do it anyway,’” 
Johnson’s attorney, Robert Sanger, has said.

Prosecutors in Johnson’s case said in court papers that any of his concerns can 
be handled through appropriate jury instructions and during voir dire, when 
jurors are questioned before the trial to determine their fitness. They argued 
that concerns about fairness can also be assessed on appeal.

Harris’ trial had been set to begin in July. Attorneys on both sides were about 
2 weeks into choosing a jury when they had to toss out the work they’d done and 
send the potential jurors home while waiting for the high court to weigh in.

California, which has the largest death row in the nation, has not had an 
execution since 2006. In March, Newsom issued his controversial moratorium on 
death row executions in the state.

“The law is the law, and this is crystal clear: The Constitution of the state 
of California provides the governor the ability to reprieve, the ability do 
this moratorium,” Newsom said at the time. “My ultimate goal is to end the 
death penalty in California.”

Critics objected that he was defying the will of voters who in 2016 approved 
Proposition 66, a statewide ballot measure to fast-track executions in 
California. During that same election, voters rejected a separate ballot 
measure — Proposition 62 — to abolish the death penalty, marking the 2nd time 
since 2012 that Californians voted against repealing capital punishment.

(source: Los Angeles Times)

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

Court won't block death penalty trials despite moratorium



The California Supreme Court refused Wednesday to block death penalty cases 
from proceeding during Gov. Gavin Newsom's moratorium on executions.

The justices rejected defense attorneys' arguments that jurors can't 
realistically gauge the seriousness of imposing a death sentence if they think 
it's never actually going to be carried out. Attorneys for 2 men separately 
facing trials in multiple slayings say it's unfair to ask jurors to consider 
what for now would be hypothetical sentences.

"In light of this paradigm shift, a California jury in a capital case cannot be 
expected to provide a fair and reasoned penalty phase determination free from 
speculation," defense attorney Robert Sanger wrote on behalf of his client, 
Cleamon Demone Johnson.

He is awaiting trial on 5 counts of capital murder and one of attempted murder. 
An appeals court said they were "6 casualties of the gang wars between the 
Bloods and the Crips in the early 1990s."

California hasn't executed anyone since 2006. Still, Los Angeles County 
prosecutors contend that barring jurors from considering death sentences would 
be "tantamount to judicial abolition of the death penalty in violation of the 
wishes of California voters."

Voters have repeatedly, if narrowly, supported executions and in 2016 approved 
a ballot measure to speed them up. Lawmakers backed by the governor are 
considering putting another measure on the November 2020 ballot to repeal the 
death penalty.

In July, the justices temporarily halted the case against Jade Douglas Harris. 
He could face a death sentence if convicted of charges that he killed three 
people and wounded a 13-year-old boy while stealing a car in 2012.

(source: Associated Press)