Thực phẩm nông nghiệp: penalty

Hiển thị các bài đăng có nhãn penalty. Hiển thị tất cả bài đăng

Thứ Tư, 15 tháng 5, 2013

Jurors find Jodi Arias eligible for death penalty

PHOENIX (AP) — The same jury that convicted Jodi Arias of murder one week ago took less than three hours Wednesday to determine that the former waitress is eligible for the death penalty in the stabbing death of her one-time lover.

The swift verdict sets the stage for the final phase of the trial to determine whether the 32-year-old Arias should be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty for the 2008 murder of Travis Alexander in a Phoenix suburb.

Prosecutors will call Alexander's family and other witnesses in an effort to convince the panel Arias should face the ultimate punishment. Her defense lawyers will call family members in an attempt to gain sympathy from jurors to save her life. It's not yet known if Arias will testify.

Arias showed no emotion Wednesday after the jury returned a decision that was widely expected given the violent nature of the killing. Investigators say she slashed the victim's throat, stabbed him in the heart and shot him in the face in what they say was a jealous rage after Alexander wanted to date other women and take a trip to Mexico with his latest love interest.

The jury simply had to determine the killing was committed in an especially cruel and heinous manner to complete the "aggravation phase" of the trial and move on to the penalty portion. The jury got the case around noon, took a lunch break and returned the verdict around 3 p.m.

Family members of Alexander sobbed in the front row as prosecutor Juan Martinez took the jury through the killing one more time earlier in the day. He described how blood gushed from Alexander's chest, hands and neck as the 30-year-old motivational speaker and businessman stood at the sink in his master bathroom and looked into the mirror with Arias behind him.

"The last thing he saw before he lapsed into unconsciousness ... was that blade coming to his throat," Martinez said. "And the last thing he felt before he left this earth was pain."

Wednesday's proceedings played out quickly, with only one prosecution witness and none for the defense. The most dramatic moments occurred when Martinez displayed photos of the bloody crime scene for the jury and paused in silence for two minutes to describe how long he said it took for Alexander to die at Arias' hands.

Arias, wearing a silky, cream-colored blouse, appeared to fight back tears most of the morning, but didn't seem fazed by the verdict. Afterward she chatted with her attorneys. Arias spent the weekend on suicide watch before being transferred back to an all-female jail where she will remain until sentencing.

Arias' attorneys didn't put on much of a case during the aggravation phase, offering no witnesses and giving brief opening statements and closing arguments. They said Alexander would have had so much adrenaline rushing through his body that he might not have felt much pain.

The only witness was the medical examiner who performed the autopsy and explained to jurors how Alexander did not die calmly and fought for his life as evidenced by the numerous defensive wounds on his body.

Minutes after her first-degree murder conviction last Wednesday, Arias granted an interview to Fox affiliate KSAZ, only adding to the circus-like environment surrounding the trial that has become a cable TV sensation with its graphic tales of sex, lies and violence.

"Longevity runs in my family, and I don't want to spend the rest of my natural life in one place," a tearful Arias said. "I believe death is the ultimate freedom, and I'd rather have my freedom as soon as I can get it."

However, Arias cannot choose the death penalty. It's up to the jury to recommend a sentence.

Arias acknowledged killing Alexander, saying it was self-defense. She initially denied any involvement in the killing, even proclaiming to a detective after her arrest in 2008: "I'm not guilty. I didn't hurt Travis. If I hurt Travis, I would beg for the death penalty."

View the original article here

Arizona jury finds Arias eligible for death penalty in ex-boyfriend's slaying

By Brad Poole

(Reuters) - An Arizona jury on Wednesday declared Jodi Arias eligible to receive the death penalty for the fatal shooting and stabbing of her ex-boyfriend in 2008, saying that she had acted with extreme cruelty.

The jury was due to return to court on Thursday to weigh additional evidence in deciding whether to actually sentence Arias to death or to life in prison for killing Travis Alexander, 30.

The same jury rejected Arias' claims of self-defense to convict her last week of the first-degree murder of Alexander, whose body was found slumped in the shower of his Phoenix-area home five years ago. He had been stabbed 27 time, had his throat slashed and been shot in the face.

The penalty phase of the proceedings moved swiftly on its first day on Wednesday. After prosecution and defense presentations, the jury deliberated for about three hours before deciding Arias was eligible for the death penalty and then recessed for the day.

Arias appeared agitated and tearful at times during the proceedings, wiping her eyes and nose with a tissue and mostly keeping her gaze downward. But she kept her composure during the reading of the jury's verdict finding that she had committed the murder in an "especially cruel" manner.

She had been placed on suicide watch in a psychiatric ward following her conviction a week ago after saying in a television interview that she would prefer the death penalty to life in prison, but she was returned to her jail cell on Monday.

The petite, 32-year-old former waitress from California had sought unsuccessfully to convince the jury during her trial that she acted in self-defense.

She admitted shooting Alexander, with whom she was having an on-again, off-again affair, but said she opened fire on him with his own pistol after he attacked her in a rage because she dropped his camera while taking snapshots of him in the shower. She said she did not remember stabbing him.

The lurid circumstances of the case, which went to trial in January and featured graphic testimony, photographs of the blood-sprayed crime scene and a sex tape, became a sensation on cable television news and unfolded in live Internet telecasts of the proceedings.

On Wednesday, prosecutors focused on the grisly details of Alexander's slaying in their bid to cast the crime as especially cruel - a legal standard for aggravating factors that would qualify Arias for the death sentence.

FIERCE ATTACK

Prosecutor Juan Martinez recounted how Arias attacked Alexander in his own shower, repeatedly stabbing him for two minutes as he tried to escape from the bathroom. She then followed the bleeding victim down a hallway and slashed his throat when he was too weak to get away.

Alexander knew he was going to die and was unable to resist his attacker at that point, Martinez said.

"Each and every time that blade went into his body, it hurt," Martinez told the jury. "It was only death that relieved that pain. It was only death that relieved that anguish, and that is especially cruel."

The defense argued that adrenaline would have prevented Alexander from feeling the pain of the knife blows, thus reducing his suffering. If the bullet wound to his forehead came first, rendering him unconscious in seconds, then Alexander would not have suffered, defense attorney Kirk Nurmi said.

During the trial, Martinez cast Arias as manipulative and prone to jealousy in previous relationships. He said she had meticulously planned to kill Alexander, a businessman and motivational speaker.

In making his case for premeditated murder, Martinez had accused Arias of bringing the pistol used in the killing, which has not been recovered, with her from California home to the scene of the crime. He said she also rented a car, removed its license plate and bought gasoline cans and fuel to conceal her journey to the Phoenix suburbs to kill Alexander.

Martinez said Arias also lied after the killing to deflect any suspicion that she had been involved in his death, leaving a voicemail on Alexander's cellphone, sending flowers to his grandmother and telling detectives she was not at the crime scene before changing her story.

Nurmi, meanwhile, argued that Arias had snapped in the "sudden heat of passion" in the moments between a photograph she took showing Alexander alive and taking a shower, and a subsequent picture of his apparently dead body covered in blood.

(Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Tim Dobbyn and Bill Trott)

View the original article here

Thứ Ba, 14 tháng 5, 2013

Why Gosnell Didn't Get the Death Penalty

Dr. Kermit Gosnell will live. The 72-year-old Philadelphia physician struck a deal with prosecutors on Tuesday that will allow him to avoid the death penalty and stay alive. This is how he did it.

Gosnell was found guilty on three of four first degree murder charges and one charge of involuntary manslaughter Monday on charges stemming from his illegal abortion practice in a Philadelphia clinic. He was accused of killing babies post-birth and of causing the death of one adult patient. All three first degree murder charges put Gosnell up for the death sentence.

But that sentence won't come. After a full day of negotiations, both sides struck a deal Tuesday that saw Gosnell forfeiting all future appeal opportunities, so long as prosecutors abandon the death sentence and allow him to spend the rest of his life in jail. Prosecutors agreed to sentence Gosnell with two life sentences without parole for two of his three first degree murder charges.

District Attorney Seth Williams will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to announce additional sentencing for the third murder charge, the involuntary manslaughter charge, and around 250 lesser counts for additional crimes committed. The gag order will lift. More controversy will likely abound. But Gosnell, after all that, is guaranteed to die behind bars.

View the original article here

Thứ Năm, 9 tháng 5, 2013

Death penalty for Ariel Castro? Official cites captives' miscarriages, 'torture'

Prosecutors may seek the death penalty in the case against a Cleveland man accused of kidnapping and holding captive three young women for years, on the basis of police reports that he allegedly forced miscarriages during the women’s detainment, officials announced Thursday.

Ariel Castro was arraigned Thursday morning in Cleveland Municipal Court, charged with four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape. He did not enter a plea at the hearing. He is being held on $8 million bail, which is higher than the $5 million requested by the prosecution.

Details about the conditions and abuse of the women – Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus – have emerged as the prosecution presented its case against Mr. Castro. The women were kidnapped between 2002 and 2004 when they were 21, 16, and 14 years old. Castro allegedly lured the victims into his car, promising to give them a ride home, but took them to his house, where he kept them confined for about 10 years.

While in captivity, Ms. Berry gave birth to a daughter who is now 6 years old, said police reports. Ms. Knight said she had at least five miscarriages caused by Castro. The three women were repeatedly beaten and raped, police reported.

“The horrific brutality and torture the victims endured for more than a decade is beyond comprehension,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said during a news conference.

Ohio state law calls for the death penalty for the "most depraved criminals who commit aggravated murder during the course of a kidnapping," said Mr. McGinty, who will "engage in a formal process to evaluate" seeking the death penalty against the suspect.

Want your top political issues explained? Get customized DC Decoder updates.

"I will seek charges for each and every act of sexual violence, rape, every day of kidnapping ... and each act of aggravated murder he committed by terminating pregnancies ... during this decade-long ordeal," he said.

Both McGinty and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson have asked residents and the media to respect the privacy of the three women and the young girl.

“The victims and their families have been overwhelmed by this response.... We need to give them room, space and time to heal," Mr. Jackson said during a press conference.

Jackson ordered Public Safety Director Marty Flask to instruct officials to not release information or details outside of the department out of respect for the victims.

“This is not for the sake of concealing any information,” he said. “It is to demonstrate compassion for the victims and their families and to ensure the credibility of the investigative process and allow us to arrive at a just conclusion to this difficult situation.”

Castro is currently being held in his own cell at the Cuyahoga County Jail under suicide prevention watch, officials told WEWS-TV. It is likely the suspect will face additional charges after a grand jury hearing within the next few weeks.

– Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Jodi Arias death penalty proceedings postponed until May 15

By Tim Gaynor

PHOENIX (Reuters) - The death penalty phase in the trial of Jodi Arias, the California woman convicted of first-degree murder in the brutal slaying of an ex-boyfriend, has been postponed until May 15, court officials said on Thursday.

An Arizona jury on Wednesday found Arias guilty of murdering 30-year-old Travis Alexander, whose body was found in the shower of his Phoenix valley home in June 2008. He had been shot in the face, stabbed nearly 30 times, and his throat had been slashed.

Arias, who was put on suicide watch and moved to a psychiatric unit after the verdict, had been due in court on Thursday to begin the part of her trial in which a jury will decide whether she deserves to be executed by lethal injection.

But the proceedings were postponed, and are now due to resume at 10 a.m. (1700 GMT) on Wednesday. Court officials tweeted that trial proceedings were sealed on Thursday, but gave no reason for the postponement.

A spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office said Arias and her counsel had held a closed meeting with Judge Sherry Stephens.

"After that meeting, the details of which are under seal, Judge Stephens canceled court for the day without providing a reason," spokesman Jerry Cobb said.

A call to defense attorney Kirk Nurmi was not immediately returned.

Arias, 32, had tried to convince the jury during her four-month trial that she had acted in self-defense after Alexander attacked her because she had dropped his camera while taking photographs of him in the shower.

She teared up as the jury's decision was read while a crowd of hundreds erupted into cheers outside the court. Jurors could have convicted Arias of a lesser crime such as second-degree murder or manslaughter, but instead found her guilty of the most serious charge possible.

The trial, which aired graphic evidence including a sex tape and photographs of the blood-spattered crime scene, became a sensation on cable television news with its tale of an attractive and soft-spoken young woman charged with a brutal crime.

'THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM'

In a television interview moments after the verdict, Arias indicated that she preferred a death sentence to life in prison. The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office later moved Arias to a jail psychiatric facility after placing her on suicide watch on Wednesday.

"The worst outcome for me would be natural life. I would much rather die sooner than later," Arias, speaking slowly and calmly, said in an interview with Fox affiliate KSAZ.

"I said years ago I'd rather get death than life and that still is true today. I believe death is the ultimate freedom, so I'd rather just have my freedom as soon as I can get it," she said.

In a separate development on Thursday, the sheriff's office said deputies arrested a man suspected of tweeting that he was going to put a bomb in the courtroom where Arias' case was being heard.

Laquint Cherry, 18, was booked into jail on a felony charge related to acts of terrorism. Sheriff's office spokesman Joaquin Enriquez said no explosive device was found at the court and that the trial postponement was not related to the threat. In the next phase of the trial, the prosecution will present evidence trying to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating factors exist that merit the death penalty. The defense can also present rebuttal evidence. The decision will then be up to the jury.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said the state planned to present "evidence to prove the murder was committed in an especially heinous, cruel or depraved manner."

Nurmi has argued that the one-time waitress snapped in the "sudden heat of passion" in the moments between a photograph she took showing Alexander alive and taking a shower, and a subsequent picture of his apparently dead body covered in blood.

(Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston, Toni Reinhold and Xavier Briand)

View the original article here

Judge declines to drop death penalty for Fort Hood shooter

By Don Bolding and Jim Forsyth

FORT HOOD, Texas (Reuters) - A military judge on Thursday again denied a request from accused Fort Hood gunman Army Major Nidal Hasan to remove the death penalty as a punishment option in his forthcoming court-martial on charges of killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage.

At a pre-trial hearing, judge Colonel Tara Osborn also denied requests from the defense that Hasan's trial be pushed back until September 1 and that a media affairs expert be appointed at government expense to assist the defense in jury selection.

Selection of the panel of officers who will act as the jury is set to begin on May 29, although Osborn said Thursday that interviews with prospective jurors might not begin until the following day.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is facing the death penalty for opening fire in Fort Hood, Texas, on a group of soldiers who were preparing to deploy to Iraq on November 5, 2009.

In addition to the 13 killed, 32 were wounded, and Hasan, 42, is paralyzed from the chest down from gunshots fired by two civilian Fort Hood police officers who ended what was the worst shooting at a U.S. military installation.

The defense requested the trial delay because recent media reports about the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings have mentioned Hasan.

"Media coverage was saturated again," Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, the lead defense lawyer, told the judge. "The comparisons are striking and troubling."

But Colonel Steve Henricks, one of the prosecutors, said prominent stories about the Boston bombings had only mentioned Hasan briefly, and Osborn said: "How do we know that nothing else will happen between now and the time of the trial that will bring this case to public attention again?"

Osborn previously denied a request by Hasan's lawyers that the death penalty be removed from consideration in return for a guilty plea. The Uniform Code of Military Justice, the unique law code that governs the armed forces, does not allow a guilty plea to a capital charge.

"The evidence is overwhelming, so the defense has always concentrated on two things: How can we delay this trial and how can we get a reduced sentence?" said Jeffrey Addicott, a former legal adviser to the Army Special Forces and a professor of law at St. Mary's University in Texas.

"The defense is hoping that the more time that goes by, they can just get the government to throw up their hands in frustration and say, OK, we'll just accept a guilty plea."

Osborn has been trying to get the trial schedule on track after extensive delays while the military justice system debated whether Hasan, who is Muslim, should be required to shave his beard to comply with military rules. Osborn has put that issue aside.

Opening arguments in the trial are expected to begin on July 1. Security is being ramped up at Fort Hood's Lawrence J. Williams Courthouse in preparation for the trial. Officials have placed bullet-proof sand-and-fiber barriers close to the building.

Fort Hood is a 340-square-mile (880-square-km) Army post located about 60 miles north of Austin, Texas.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Scott Malone, Mohammad Zargham and Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

Death penalty sought in Las Vegas shooting, crash

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a self-described pimp charged in a shooting and fiery crash that killed three people on the Strip.

Ammar Asim Faruq Harris was arrested Feb. 28 in Los Angeles and is jailed in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Sun reports (http://bit.ly/12hcumo ) the district attorney filed the notice of intent to seek the death penalty Wednesday after a special panel reviewed the case and recommended that action.

Harris was arrested a week after the pre-dawn crash in which he's accused of shooting out of a black Range Rover into a Maserati sports car, mortally wounding driver Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr.

The Maserati crashed into a taxi that exploded into flames, killing cab driver Michael Boldon and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, of Maple Valley, Wash.

___

Information from: Las Vegas Sun, http://www.lasvegassun.com

View the original article here

Judge declines to drop death penalty for Fort Hood shooter

By Don Bolding and Jim Forsyth

Selection of the panel of officers who will act as the jury is set to begin on May 29, although Osborn said Thursday that interviews with prospective jurors might not begin until the following day.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, is facing the death penalty for opening fire in Fort Hood, Texas, on a group of soldiers who were preparing to deploy to Iraq on November 5, 2009.

The defense requested the trial delay because recent media reports about the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings have mentioned Hasan.

"Media coverage was saturated again," Lieutenant Colonel Kris Poppe, the lead defense lawyer, told the judge. "The comparisons are striking and troubling."

"The defense is hoping that the more time that goes by, they can just get the government to throw up their hands in frustration and say, OK, we'll just accept a guilty plea."

Fort Hood is a 340-square-mile (880-square-km) Army post located about 60 miles north of Austin, Texas.

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan, Scott Malone, Mohammad Zargham and Andre Grenon)

View the original article here

Thứ Tư, 8 tháng 5, 2013

Jodi Arias says she prefers death penalty

PHOENIX (AP) — Jodi Arias spent 18 days on the stand sharing intimate, emotional and oftentimes X-rated details of her life before a rapt television and online audience. She had hoped it all might convince a jury that she killed her one-time boyfriend in self-defense.

But the eight men and four women on the panel didn't buy it, convicting Arias of first-degree murder after only about 15 hours of deliberations. Jurors will return to court Thursday to begin the next phase of the trial that could set the stage for Arias receiving a death sentence — a penalty she, herself, said she now desires in a stunning interview following her conviction.

Minutes after being convicted, Arias said she was overwhelmed and surprised because she didn't believe she committed first-degree murder.

"It was unexpected for me, yes, because there was no premeditation on my part," she told Fox affiliate KSAZ in the courthouse. Arias added she would "prefer to die sooner than later," rather than spending the rest of her life in prison.

The case elevated the unknown waitress and aspiring photographer to a household name, with a real-life story of love, betrayal and murder far more alluring than any made-for-TV movie. The crime itself was enough to grab headlines: Arias, a 32-year-old high school dropout, shot Travis Alexander in the forehead, stabbed him nearly 30 times and slit his throat from ear to ear, leaving the motivational speaker and businessman nearly decapitated.

She claimed he attacked her and she fought for her life. Prosecutors said she killed out of jealous rage after Alexander wanted to end their affair and planned to take a trip to Mexico with another woman.

Arias' four-month trial quickly became a media sensation — ratings gold for cable networks that could broadcast from inside the courtroom and feed an insatiable public appetite for true-crime drama delivered live and up-close. It was, for many, the horrible train wreck they just couldn't turn away from, even though they know they should.

Arias fought back tears as the verdict was announced Wednesday in the hushed, packed courtroom, while Alexander's family members wept and hugged each other. They wore blue ribbons and wristbands with the words "Justice For Travis." The family thanked prosecutor Juan Martinez and a key witness and said it appreciated the outpouring of support from the public.

Outside, a huge crowd that had gathered on the courthouse steps screamed, whistled and cheered the news in a case that has attracted fans from across the country who traveled to Phoenix to be close to the proceedings. Some chanted, "USA, USA, USA!"

Alexander's friend Chris Hughes said he was happy with the verdict, pointing out a bold proclamation that Arias made in one of her jailhouse interviews that she wouldn't be found guilty.

"She said, 'No jury would convict me. Mark my words.' This jury convicted her," Hughes said. "Luckily we had 12 smart jurors. They nailed it."

When asked about Alexander's family, Arias said in her TV interview, "I just hope that now that a verdict has been rendered, that they'll be able to find peace."

Arias said she doesn't have access to the Internet in jail so she's been reading newspapers. She also told the station (http://bit.ly/15qG7aP) other inmates have wanted to shake her hand, give her a hug or get her autograph.

Testimony in Arias' trial began in early January. The trial quickly snowballed into a made-for-the-tabloids drama, garnering daily coverage from cable news networks and spawning a virtual cottage industry for talk shows, legal experts and even Arias, who used her notoriety to sell artwork she made in jail.

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said no more media interviews with Arias will be granted. She has been placed on suicide watch.

The trial now moves into the so-called aggravation phase during which prosecutors will argue the killing was committed in an especially cruel, heinous and depraved manner that should allow jurors to consider the death penalty. Both sides may call witnesses and show evidence. If the panel finds the aggravating factors exist, the trial then moves into the final penalty phase during which jurors will recommend either life in prison or death.

Authorities said Alexander fought for his life as Arias attacked him in a blitz, but he soon grew too weak to defend himself.

"Mr. Alexander did not die calmly," prosecutor Juan Martinez told jurors in opening statements.

Arias said she recalled Alexander attacking her in a fury after a day of sex. She said Alexander came at her "like a linebacker," body-slamming her to the tile floor. She managed to wriggle free and ran into his closet to retrieve a gun he kept on a shelf. She said she fired in self-defense but had no memory of stabbing him.

She acknowledged trying to clean the scene of the killing, dumping the gun in the desert and working on an alibi to avoid suspicion. She said she was too scared and ashamed to tell the truth. However, none of Arias' allegations that Alexander had physically abused her in the months before his death, that he owned a gun and had sexual desires for young boys, were corroborated by witnesses or evidence during the trial. She acknowledged lying repeatedly before and after her arrest but insisted she was telling the truth in court.

Arias spent 18 days on the witness stand describing an abusive childhood, cheating boyfriends, dead-end jobs, a shocking sexual relationship with Alexander, and her contention that he had grown physically violent.

Psychologist Richard Samuels testified for the defense that Arias suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative amnesia, which explained why she couldn't recall much from the day of the killing. Another defense witness, psychotherapist Alyce LaViolette, concluded that Arias was a battered woman.

Their testimony was crucial and aimed at convincing jurors that, one, Arias wasn't lying about her memory gaps from the day of the killing, and two, that she did suffer physical abuse by Alexander. Defense attorneys had to get jurors to believe that despite no evidence of Alexander ever having been violent in the past, he had attacked Arias on several occasions, and did so again on the day of his death.

After all, there was no dispute that Arias killed Alexander.

It was the first thing Arias' defense acknowledged as the trial began.

"Jodi Arias killed Travis Alexander," Arias attorney Jennifer Willmott told jurors in opening statements. "There is no question about it. The million-dollar question is what would have forced her to do it?"

Martinez worked feverishly to attack the credibility of the defense experts, accusing them of having sympathy for Arias and offering biased opinions.

Aside from her lies, Arias had another formidable obstacle to overcome.

Her grandparents had reported a .25-caliber handgun stolen from their Northern California home about a week before Alexander's death — the same caliber used to shoot him — but Arias insisted she didn't take it. Authorities believe she brought it with her to kill him. The coincidence of the same caliber gun stolen from the home also being used to shoot Alexander was never resolved.

Meanwhile, the entire case devolved into a circus-like spectacle attracting dozens of enthusiast each day to the courthouse as they lined up for a chance to score just a few open public seats in the gallery. One trial regular sold her spot in line to another person for $200. Both got reprimands from the court, and the money was returned.

Many people also gathered outside after trial for a chance to see Martinez, who had gained celebrity-like status for his firebrand tactics and unapologetically intimidating style of cross-examining defense witnesses.

The case grew into a worldwide sensation as thousands followed the trial via a live, unedited Web feed. Twitter filled with comments as spectators expressed their opinions on everything from Arias' wardrobe to Martinez's angry demeanor. For its fans, the Arias trial became a live daytime soap opera.

Adding to the spectacle, Arias sold drawings from jail throughout the trial on a website operated by a third party, Arias' mother said. According to the site, some pieces were fetching more than $1,000, and Sandra Arias said the money was being used to help pay for family expenses. Nothing prevented Jodi Arias from profiting from her notoriety given she hadn't been convicted of a crime.

___

Brian Skoloff can be followed at https://twitter.com/bskoloff

___

Brian Skoloff can be followed at https://twitter.com/bskoloff

View the original article here

Thứ Sáu, 3 tháng 5, 2013

Governor signs repeal of death penalty in Md.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Opponents of capital punishment marked a milestone Thursday as Maryland became the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line to abolish the death penalty in nearly 50 years, joining only West Virginia.

The passage was a significant victory for Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Roman Catholic who opposes capital punishment and is considering seeking the 2016 presidential nomination. Death penalty opponents said the governor helped maintain the national momentum of repeal efforts by making Maryland the sixth state in as many years to abolish capital punishment.

"I don't know exactly what the timing is, but over the longer arc of history I think you'll see more and more states repeal the death penalty," O'Malley said in a brief interview after the bill signing. "It's wasteful. It's ineffective. It doesn't work to reduce violent crime."

NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous, who worked to get the repeal bill passed, noted the significance of a Democratic governor south of the Mason-Dixon line with presidential aspirations leading an effort to ban capital punishment. Jealous noted that in 1992, then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton left the presidential campaign trail to oversee the execution of a man who had killed a police officer, a move widely viewed as an effort to shed the Democratic Party's image as soft on crime.

"Our governor has also just redefined what it means to have a political future in this country," Jealous said. "You know, it was just 20 years ago that a young governor with possibilities below the Mason-Dixon stopped during his presidential campaign" to oversee an execution.

West Virginia, which is also south of the Mason-Dixon line, abolished the death penalty in 1965.

Maryland is the 18th state to abolish the death penalty. Neighboring Delaware also made a push to repeal it this year, but the bill has stalled.

Diane Rust-Tierney, executive director of the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said Maryland is keeping the momentum going for other states to follow.

"It doesn't always happen overnight," Rust-Tierney said. "The more people study it, the more people understand it. This was a seven-year effort here in Maryland."

Supporters of capital punishment said the governor was taking away an important tool to protect the public. Del. Neil Parrott, a Washington County Republican, criticized the governor for moving ahead with banning the death penalty during the same session as he pushed for a gun-control bill to restrict firearms access to law-abiding citizens.

Parrott, who is chairman of a group called MDPetitions.com, scheduled a news conference on Friday to announce the group's decision on whether to launch a petition drive to try to put the death penalty ban on the ballot for voters to decide in 2014. He declined to say Thursday what the decision will be. They would need to get one-third of the 55,736 signatures needed to petition a bill to referendum by midnight May 31 to qualify to move forward.

State Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat and constitutional law professor who opposes the death penalty, said he believes pressure is building around the country to focus law enforcement resources on things that are proven to lower the homicide rate.

"The trend lines are clear," Raskin said. "There's nobody who's adding the death penalty to their state laws. Everybody is taking it away."

Opponents of capital punishment also noted that the state won't have to worry about potentially putting an innocent person to death. Kirk Bloodsworth, a Maryland man who was the first person in the U.S. freed because of DNA evidence after a conviction in a death penalty case, attended the news conference.

The bill will not apply to the five men the state has on death row, but the governor can commute their sentences to life without parole. O'Malley has said he will consider them on a case-by-case basis.

The state's last execution was in 2005, when Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich was in office.

Last year, the Death Penalty Information Center said in an annual report that just four states carried out more than three-fourths of the executions in the United States last year, while another 23 had not put an inmate to death in 10 years.

View the original article here

Thứ Tư, 1 tháng 5, 2013

Should prosecutors seek the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev?

Polls show that most Americans are in favor, but prosecutors may not pursue it

A significant majority of Americans think accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death if found guilty of the attacks, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Wednesday. Yet while Americans may want to see Tsarnaev put on death row, there are already signs that option may be taken off the table.

In the poll, 70 percent of respondents said they support the death penalty for a convicted Tsarnaev, versus just 27 percent who said the opposite. In addition, 74 percent said they backed the government's decision to try him in a federal court rather than hold him as an enemy combatant.

Federal prosecutors charged Tsarnaev with using a weapon of mass destruction to commit murder, a crime punishable by death. (It's worth noting that under federal law, virtually any explosive device can be classified as a WMD.)

However, multiple reports say prosecutors may not even pursue the death penalty — so long as Tsarnaev cooperates with investigators. According to CNN's Bill Mears, there are "very preliminary" talks to that end underway, with the hope being that such a deal would convince Tsarnaev to open up to investigators about the bombing. Tsarnaev reportedly started off cooperating with authorities after his capture, but has since clammed up.

From CNN:

Communications are in the very early stages, and not a sign lawyers for either side are ready to make a deal, said one source, who did not want to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the private discussions. The source emphasized these are not formal negotiations, and no deals have been offered.

The discussions between prosecution and defense attorneys are at a 'preliminary, delicate stage' and both refused to offer details of what either side would be willing to leverage, according to the sources. A Justice Department official said it is not accurate to suggest there are negotiations. [CNN]

NBC's Pete Williams and Tracy Connor, citing their own sources, confirmed that lawyers had begun discussing that option. According to NPR's Dina Temple-Raston, it's unclear if investigators or Tsarnaev's lawyers first floated that possibility.

At the same time, Tsarnaev has been appointed an anti-death penalty attorney who is famous for keeping other accused killers off death row. The attorney, Judy Clarke, defended Unabomber Ted Kaczynski; Tucson, Ariz., shooter Jared Loughner; and the Atlanta Olympics bomber. Given her history of negotiating guilty pleas in exchange for life sentences, it's widely believed she'll pursue the same strategy here.

The government has not yet said what penalty it will pursue for Tsarnaev. A Justice Department spokesman, Dean Boyd, told CNN, "We have no comment at this time on what potential penalty the government might seek if the defendant is convicted, particularly given that the defendant has only just been charged."

View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

Thứ Sáu, 26 tháng 4, 2013

Reclusive death penalty lawyer opens up about work

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Judy Clarke is in the business of cheating death, but she rarely talks about it.

Clarke, one of the nation's top lawyers and defender of the despised, broke her silence Friday in a speech at a legal conference, where she spoke about her work saving notorious criminal defendants from execution.

The names of her past clients — Susan Smith, Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski and most recently, Tucson shooter Jared Loughner — run like a list of the most reviled in American criminal history. But she did not say whether she would add to that list the latest name in the news: The suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing.

Clarke was reticent throughout her keynote speech and declined to take questions from the audience. Instead, she talked about how she had been "sucked into the black hole, the vortex" of death penalty cases 18 years ago when she represented Smith, who drowned her two children.

"I got a dose of understanding human behavior and I learned what the death penalty does to us," she said. "I don't think it's a secret that I oppose the death penalty. "

She saved Smith's life and later would do the same for Kaczynski, Loughner and the Atlanta Olympics bomber Eric Rudolph. All received life sentences instead of death.

Before an audience of lawyers, judges and law students at Loyola Law School's annual Fidler Institute, Clarke shared her approach in handling death penalty cases.

"The first clear way death cases are different is the clients," said Clarke, now a visiting professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law in Virginia. "Most have suffered from serious severe trauma, unbelievable trauma. We know that from brain research. Many suffer from severe cognitive development issues that affect the core of their being."

She added that they had another thing in common: When she first meets them, they do not want to plead guilty. Her job is to change their resolve, she said.

"They're looking into the lens of life in prison in a box," she said. "Our job is to provide them with a reason to live."

Connecting with the client by finding out "what brought them to this day that will define the rest of their lives" is the first step, she said. In most cases, she said she finds underlying mental illness. Kaczynski was ultimately diagnosed as schizophrenic and, on the eve of seating a jury, he agreed to plead guilty.

Clarke said a veteran lawyer once told her: "The first step to losing a capital case is picking a jury.

The San Diego-based attorney often appears in court as a federal public defender, and appealed to judges in the audience to provide sufficient funding for death penalty cases. She also told defense lawyers and students that death penalty clients deserve their loyalty.

"Our clients are different," she said. "We should enjoy the opportunity to step into their lives. It can be chaotic. But it's a privilege to be there as a lawyer."

View the original article here

Texas Prosecutor and Ex-Governor Agree: No Death Penalty for Being Black

Former Harris County, Texas, prosecutor Linda Geffin had no idea what was at stake the day the defense team she was up against called psychologist Walter Quijano to the stand to testify in the murder trial of Duane Buck.

“I’m not sure anyone realized it at the time,” Geffin tells TakePart. “I’m not even sure I was in the room. I didn’t snap to it.”

Asked in open court if “the race factor, black” increased Buck’s risk of reoffending, Quijano answered “yes.” The so-called expert went on to testify that being either African American or Latino “increases the future dangerousness for various complicated reasons.”

In Texas, “future dangerousness” is one of the key factors in determining whether a person is eligible for capital punishment. By allowing Quijano’s testimony to stand, Harris County, in effect, established that race can be used as a significant justification for meting out the death penalty.

In other words, being black is one more box to fill in on the death penalty checklist.

Geffin’s prosecution team benefited from the defense’s lack of judgment. Buck was, in fact, sentenced to die.

Years later, Buck’s sentence has resurfaced, and Geffin has had to face what she was a part of. With Buck still in prison, and the executioner at the door, Geffin is trying to make amends.

“This is not a cat and mouse game,” says Former Texas Governor Mark White. “This is about seeking justice.”

Yes, Buck is guilty; but Geffin, along with key other figures in the state of Texas, is now demanding he receive a new sentencing hearing.

“I’ve heard people say, ‘He’s guilty, forget about it.’ That’s so far away from how we’re looking at it,” she says. “If we don’t seek to correct this mistake, it could be any one of us.”

Former Texas Governor Mark White agrees.

White, along with Geffin and 100 more state justice leaders have sent a statement of support to Harris County D.A. Mike Anderson, urging a new sentencing hearing for Duane Buck that isn’t predicated upon his race.

White and Geffin are also seeking passage of the Texas Racial Justice Act, which would allow those sentenced to the death penalty to present evidence that racial discrimination played a role in their legal treatment.

“This is not a cat and mouse game,” says White. “This is about seeking justice.”

White oversaw 19 executions while in office from 1983 to 1987. Yet, he says, his experience as a lawyer made him as thorough as possible in meting out the ultimate punishment. A single legal loose end was enough to prevent an execution from going through under his watch.

These days, he argues, politicians are not so thorough, by choice or by incompetence, or by both.

“Let’s not let a man be executed based on frailties of his own counsel,” says White. “There is nothing wrong, or weak, or liberal, about saying, ‘Let’s be fair to the defendant.’ Fairness is at the foundation of our criminal justice system. Right now that system is an absolute disaster. The obstinacy shown by those denying Buck a resentencing is a reflection both on them as individuals, and of our criminal justice system.”

Geffin is more diplomatic: She remains employed in Harris County as a senior assistant county attorney.

Yet, she admits, “I am frustrated. It seems the right result is crystal clear. We have a golden moment to right a wrong. Harris County is known across the country as the death penalty capital. This is a chance to show we stand for justice. I hate to see that opportunity lost.”

Though she’s cautious with her words, Geffin is fully bold in her stance on Buck’s case.

“I’ve always been inspired by Elie Wiesel, who said: ‘There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.’ ”

Does Duane Buck deserve a new sentencing hearing? Explain why or why not in COMMENTS.

Related Stories on TakePart:

• Will Texas Execute a Man for Being Black?

• Troy Davis Death Penalty Puts USA in Bad Company

• Death Row’s Damon Thibodeaux Is 300th Person Set Free by DNA

Matthew Fleischer is a former LA Weekly staff writer and an award-winning social justice reporter in Los Angeles. Email Matt

View the original article here

Thứ Tư, 24 tháng 4, 2013

Death penalty: A pragmatic case for repeal

Next month Maryland will become the sixth state in six years to abolish the death penalty. The Free State is the first state south of the Mason-Dixon Line to repeal capital punishment, and we believe that other states will soon follow.

There are practical reasons why momentum is steadily shifting toward repeal: The death penalty is expensive, it does not work, and it is administered with a clear racial bias. Repealing it is a matter of justice, a matter of public safety, and a matter of effective governance.

THE MONITOR'S VIEW: Not even Timothy McVeigh

The death penalty does not make Americans stronger or more secure as a people, and it does not make our laws more just. One of the most jarring facts about our modern criminal justice system is that defendants accused of murdering white victims are significantly more likely to face a death sentence than those accused of killing non-white victims.

This was certainly true in Maryland. A 2003 study showed that defendants charged with killing a white victim were significantly more likely to receive a death sentence. In Delaware, recent research revealed that 73 percent of death-row cases since 1972 involved a white victim. This data helped bolster efforts to pass the repeal bill in the Delaware state Senate last month.

The death penalty is also an ineffective deterrent. In 2011, the average murder rate in states with the death penalty, weighted for population, was 4.9 per 100,000 people. In states without it, the weighted murder rate was 4.1 per 100,000 people.

Nevertheless, Maryland taxpayers have spent millions of dollars on death penalty cases each year. Capital punishment in Maryland costs three times as much as life in prison without parole. Every extra dollar spent on the death penalty is a dollar not invested to stop crimes from being committed in the first place, or to support the families of murder victims.

Most troubling is the very real possibility that an innocent person can be put to death – and there is no way to bring a wrongfully executed person back to life. Each year from 2000 and 2011, an average of five death row inmates was exonerated nationwide. In Maryland, between 1995 and 2007, our state’s reversal rate for the death penalty was 80 percent.

This point was driven home nationwide by the case of Troy Davis in Georgia. Davis was put to death in September 2011 even though seven of nine eyewitnesses recanted the testimony that convicted him. On the night of his final appeal in September 2011, the world was watching; the Twitter hashtag #TooMuchDoubt marked the second-most-active Twitter event of the year. According to a Gallup poll released one month after his death, 35 percent of Americans opposed the death penalty – the highest level in nearly 40 years.

Across our ever-more-closely connected world, the majority of public executions now take place in just seven countries: Iran, Iraq, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the United States. Whether one believes that the death penalty is wrong on moral grounds or not, more and more Americans are beginning to realize that capital punishment is wasteful, unjust, and tragically subject to human error.

OPINION: More states correct the mistake of trying juveniles as adults

Besides Delaware, legislators in Colorado, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Kansas are weighing repeal of the death penalty. As momentum continues to shift toward repeal in state after state, there is real hope that America will soon join the rest of the free world in abolishing the death penalty once and for all.

Martin O’Malley is the governor of Maryland. Benjamin Todd Jealous is the president and chief executive officer of the NAACP.

Thứ Hai, 1 tháng 4, 2013

James Holmes' Victims Applaud Death Penalty Plan: 'I Want Him Dead'

Friends of Aurora shooting victims applauded prosecutors' decision today to seek the death penalty for James Holmes, with one friend saying he wanted to be in the room if Holmes is executed.

"I don't know if it's painful. I want him dead. I just want to be there in the room when he dies," Bryan Beard said outside the Colorado courthouse. "He took one of my friends from this Earth. Death equals death."

Beard's close friend Alex Sullivan was one of the 12 people killed in the shooting on July 20 last year. It was Sullivan's 27th birthday.

Prosecutors from the Arapahoe County District Attorney's Office said at a hearing today in Aurora, Colo., that they will seek execution for Holmes if he is convicted.

FULL COVERAGE: Aurora Shooting

"For James Eagan Holmes, justice is death," District Attorney George Brauchler said in court.

A couple of victims' relatives cried. Holmes' parents were also in court. He looked at them when he came in. After the announcement, Holmes' father nodded his head and put his arm around his wife.

Brauchler said his office has reached out to 800 victims and that he had personally spoken with relatives of 60 victims who died and were injured. Brauchler said he didn't speak to anyone about the decision.

"They are trying to execute our client and we will do what we need to do to save his life," public defender Tammy Brady said in a voice shaking with anger. "We are asking the court not to rush this."

Holmes was swiveling back and forth in his chair during the discussion of the trial date.

Judge Carlos Samour, the case's new judge, set the trial date for Feb. 3, 2014, but the date could change if the defense finds it is not ready early next year.

"I want to be aggressive in moving this case along, and at the same time I want to make sure it's done right," Samour said.

The decision follows several days of wrangling between the defense and prosecution over Holmes' offer to plead guilty in a bid to avoid the death penalty.

Despite the announcement, experts predict a long road ahead for Holmes, 25, and the case.

"When the government tries to kill one of its citizens, you do everything you can to keep it from happening so I expect the road to trial will be a long process," former head of the Colorado public defender's office David Kaplan told ABC News today.

"Hopefully the prosecution will keep an open mind to bring closure that will be of benefit to everyone," he said.

Holmes' defense attorneys said on Wednesday that he was willing to plead guilty and spend the rest of his life in prison in order to avoid death row. But prosecutors rejected the offer and criticized the defense for what prosecutors called a "calculated" move for attention.

"The circumstances surrounding the filing of the Notice indicate that it was filed for the intended purpose of generating the predictable pretrial publicity," prosecutors wrote in their response to the defense's filing.

Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and wounding at least 58 when gunfire erupted in an Aurora theater last July during a midnight screening of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Holmes' physical appearance has evolved over his time in prison, visible only in rare court appearances. He has gone from wild, Joker-like orange and red hair in his first appearance to his most recent look of brown hair and a shaggy beard. He has sometimes looked bug-eyed and confused and other times so despondent and drowsy that people questioned whether he had been drugged.

Family members are divided on whether Holmes should get death, according to investigative sources. Some are philosophically opposed to the death penalty, others support it and still another group wants death for Holmes, but they don't want to endure a trial.

Colorado prosecutors seek death penalty for accused cinema gunman

By Keith Coffman

DENVER (Reuters) - Accused theater gunman James Holmes returns to a Colorado court on Monday, where prosecutors will reveal if they intend to seek the death penalty against the former graduate student for the "Dark Knight" shooting rampage that killed 12 moviegoers.

It is widely expected that Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler will attempt to win a death sentence against the 25-year-old California native.

Brauchler already has announced he has a death penalty lawyer on the prosecution team and he rejected a defense offer to let Holmes plead guilty and serve a life sentence if capital punishment is taken off the table.

Holmes is accused of opening fire inside a suburban Denver theater during a screening of the Batman movie "The Dark Knight Rises" last July, in one of the deadliest outbursts of gun violence in the United States in recent years.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder for the shooting massacre that also wounded 58 moviegoers. Another dozen people suffered non-gunshot injuries as they fled the Aurora, Colorado, cinema.

Arapahoe County District Judge William Sylvester entered a not guilty plea for Holmes last month, but said he would consider allowing that to be changed to not guilty by reason of insanity.

Last week, public defenders said in a court filing that Holmes was willing to plead guilty and serve a life sentence without the possibility of parole if prosecutors would not try to execute their client.

While Holmes' attorneys said they are prepared to mount an insanity defense, they wrote in the filing that "Mr. Holmes is currently willing to resolve the case to bring the proceedings to a speedy and definite conclusion for all involved."

Brauchler fired back in a written response, calling the move by the defense improper at this stage of the case and "that it was filed for the intended purpose of generating the predictable pretrial publicity."

"The only conclusion that an objective reader would reach ... is that the defendant knows that he is guilty, the defense attorneys know he is guilty and that both of them know that he was not criminally insane," Brauchler wrote.

In court pleadings, public defenders Daniel King and Tamara Brady have said Holmes has been hospitalized twice since his arrest, once for "potential self-inflicted injuries."

At one point, jailers determined Holmes was a danger to himself and in "immediate need of a psychiatric evaluation." He was transported by ambulance to a Denver psychiatric ward "where he was held for several days, frequently in restraints," his lawyers wrote.

Also at issue at Monday's hearing is whether a Fox News reporter will be compelled to testify about confidential sources she used in a story that said a notebook Holmes sent to a psychiatrist detailed his plans to commit mass murder.

Sylvester agreed to hear arguments from lawyers for New York-based reporter Jana Winter, whose story violated a gag order he had imposed in the case.

(Reporting by Keith Coffman; Editing by Alex Dobuzinskis and Eric Beech)

View the original article here

Chủ Nhật, 24 tháng 3, 2013

Jury declines to impose death penalty in Puerto Rico murders

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - A man convicted of killing eight people in a crowded bar in Puerto Rico was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison on Saturday in only the fifth case in which prosecutors have sought capital punishment on the island.

The jury failed to reach a unanimous decision on a death sentence for Alexis Candelario Santana, 41, who was convicted by the same panel earlier this month for the so-called La Tombola killings of October 2009.

The death penalty is banned under Puerto Rico's constitution but applicable in certain federal cases. The island is U.S. territory and Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens.

Although there is strong opposition to the death penalty, crime has become a top public concern in Puerto Rico and the La Tombola killings were seen as particularly brazen and brutal. One of the people slain was a pregnant woman.

Candelario would have been the first person put to death in Puerto Rico since 1927 and the first under the federal death penalty statute.

He was convicted of being the mastermind and a participant of the shooting rampage, in which gunmen opened fire in the La Tombola bar in Toa Baja, a suburb west of San Juan.

Authorities said the shootings were retaliation against the bar owner, who had taken control of local drug sales when Candelario was in prison.

Candelario has been convicted for 10 other killings over the past decade in battles over the drug trade. Prosecutors say he has killed 22 people and attempted to kill another 19 in all.

His case marked the fifth time federal prosecutors sought and failed to get the death penalty imposed in Puerto Rico.

"I express my most profound respect to the jury for the decision it has taken. With it they have sustained the conviction of the Puerto Rican people that capital punishment should not be applied under any circumstances," Governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla said in a statement.

The governor said he has asked U.S. Attorney Eric Holder not to certify any other federal case in Puerto Rico for the death penalty.

(Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Jackie Frank)

View the original article here

W.Va. delegate fighting to reinstate death penalty

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — With neighboring Maryland about to become the sixth state in as many years to abolish the death penalty, one West Virginia delegate is on a quixotic quest to resume executions in his state for the first time in a half-century.

This year marks the 27th in a row that Republican Del. John Overington has introduced a bill to reinstate capital punishment. It has rarely progressed far and is unlikely to pass this year, even with the minority GOP steadily making gains in the legislature. Still, Overington said he will continue pushing such bills because he thinks the state would be better served if it could execute convicted murderers.

"You want to live in a just society that is fair, and capital punishment, if somebody is murdered, I think there's a perception that you have fairness if that person is put to death," Overington said. "It sort of adds to the fairness of our society and helps make it work. If you feel that our justice system is fair, it helps you believe in it."

Since 2007, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Illinois and Connecticut have abolished the death penalty. In Maryland, the legislature has passed a bill repealing the death penalty, and the governor has promised to sign it. There are official moratoriums on the death penalty in California and Oregon, and there are legislative efforts to repeal the death penalty in at least 14 other states.

West Virginia abolished the death penalty in 1965 and has not executed a prisoner since 1959.

Overington isn't worried about bucking that trend because he says the public supports capital punishment. He proudly points to faded newspaper clippings in his office with poll results showing majorities of West Virginians favoring capital punishment. And every year, Overington sends everyone in his district a "citizens' poll" soliciting their opinions on current issues — he said capital punishment always gets overwhelming support.

He said his interest in bringing back the death penalty goes back to the case of Ron Williams, who killed a police officer in Beckley in 1975. Four years later, he orchestrated a mass escape from the prison in Moundsville and killed an off-duty police officer. He killed another person in Arizona in 1981 before being caught in a gunfight with federal agents in 1984.

"So if we had had capital punishment for that first killing in cold blood in Beckley, we'd have another policeman that would be alive today," Overington said.

Other than Maryland, all of West Virginia's neighbors still have the death penalty — and Overington said he fears that West Virginia invites killers by not having capital punishment as a deterrent. However, West Virginia's homicide rate for the past 10 years is lower than that of all neighboring states, according to FBI data.

There have been many studies both touting and discounting the death penalty's role as a deterrent. In 2012, a National Research Council report concluded that none of those studies — either for or against capital punishment — was statistically sound enough to be useful.

"That was a pretty definitive review of these studies," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death penalty advocacy group. "Ultimately it may be impossible to know if deterrence occurs, but we haven't proven it."

Overington, with 29 years in the House, is the longest-serving member of the chamber. And Republicans have made steady gains in the House, now just five seats shy of a majority. Nonetheless, his measure stands little chance of passing.

Republican Del. Ron Walters said his party would be misguided to risk their electoral gains by pushing controversial social issues like the death penalty. And the bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Chairman Tim Miley said it is unlikely to proceed.

The bill has one Democratic co-sponsor, Del. Rupert Philips, who said that people he's talked to while campaigning seem to support it.

"When's enough enough? We're wasting tax dollars trying to prosecute them," Philips said. "An eye for an eye."

However, most studies show that death penalty prosecutions are far more expensive than sentencing someone to life in prison. That's because states often spend years fighting inmates' appeals, sometimes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Miley also said many people are hesitant to reinstate the death penalty to avoid executing someone who was falsely convicted, citing the example of a West Virginia state police crime lab technician who was found to have falsified evidence in at least 134 cases that led to convictions.

Since 2009, 14 prisoners nationally who spent time on death row have been exonerated, many of them as a result of DNA testing. The first man ever exonerated from death row by DNA evidence, Kirk Bloodsworth, has become both a rallying call and a key lobbyist in the effort to repeal Maryland's death penalty.

Still, Overington said he's determined to make attempt No. 28 next year if his bill fails yet again.

"Some bills I've pushed I get passed the first year and some the second or third year and some take a little longer," Overington said. "But it is my intention to try again next year."

View the original article here

Thứ Sáu, 22 tháng 3, 2013

Ohio Wants the Death Penalty for Punxsutawney Phil

Butler County, Ohio, is angry that the groundhog got his prediction wrong. At some future time, visitors from another planet — or, perhaps, our own ancestors, who somehow come across the drifting remains of our modern life for the first time — will find this news article and be completely perplexed.

Fox 19 in Cincinnati, Ohio, reports on this significant legal action.

Officials in Butler County, Ohio have indicted a famous groundhog for the rash of cold winter type weather we've been having.

The indictment, filed by Butler County Prosecuting Attorney Michael Gmoser, alleges that on or about February 02, 2013, at Gobbler's Knob, Punxsutawney Phil did purposely, and with prior calculation and design, cause the people to believe that Spring would come early.

There is also a link provided to the entire indictment. It goes further in its seeking "the death penalty" for the "defendant." Phil's statement that winter was ending is apparently an "unclassified felony" in Butler County, called "MISREPRESENTATION OF EARLY SPRING." This crime offends "the peace and dignity of the State Of Ohio," which, having lived there myself, takes some doing, despite the weather.

Also: Residents of Butler County? You might want to figure out how much this cost you in tax dollars.

Since we're here, let's go with it. Allow me to rise in defense of Phil, with whom I share the unending bonds of both first name and poor foresight.

Prosecuting attorney Michael Gmoser accuses Phil of acting "with prior calculation and design." This is categorically untrue. The test presented to my client, Phil, demanded he react to an unknown factor: the presence or absence of his shadow. Until the door of his hutch (or whatever he lives in) was opened, he had no knowledge of how he would respond.

Further, his response itself wasn't premeditated. The value proposition of Groundhog Day is that the animal, seeing his shadow, will become frightened — an involuntary response. Not only did he not plan his respons, he was not able to control it!

And, finally, Phil made no determination about the future weather whatsoever. Rather, it is human projection onto his behavior that results in the much-lauded prediction. It is true that Phil presents a "proclamation" in groundhog language each February 2 which is then translated to provide his "prediction," but it is a well-known fact that groundhogs not only lack spoken language, there is no record whatsoever that any groundhog has ever mastered written communication. I offer, therefore, that the "proclamation" from Phil is, in fact, actually created by a human.

It is essential Gmoser prove premeditation given the punishment he and Butler County seek: that "the death penalty be implemented" for the rodent. Happily, Phil is innocent. But whoever wrote up that proclamation and framed the poor little creature might want to watch his back.

View the original article here