February 3, 2010
Jury selection in the federal death penalty trial of Demario James Atwater is scheduled to begin later this month despite several outstanding issues. Atwater is accused of the 2008 murder of UNC student body president Eve Carson.
The court has yet to rule on several motions, including a motion for change of venue due to the exceptional amount of media attention the case has received. The court must also decide whether it will order police to release surveillance tapes of the squad car and interrogation room in which Atwater was held – tapes which may show that officers physically abused Atwater after taking him into custody.
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Death penalty, News, North Carolina | Tagged: Death penalty, Demario Atwater, Demario James Atwater, North Carolina |
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February 3, 2010
Gaston County prosecutors have announced their intention to seek the death penalty against Danny Robbie Hembree, Jr. Hembree is accused of killing two women last year and a third in 1992.
Interestingly, another man had been charged in the murder of the third woman, but prosecutor Locke Bell dropped the charges against him because he said that charging the second man would have made it difficult to seek the death penalty against Hembree (not because the second man was innocent).
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Death penalty, News, North Carolina | Tagged: Danny Robbie Hembree |
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February 3, 2010
1 – Robert Lee McConnell (NV – stayed)
4 – Mark Brown (OH)
12 – Dale Wayne Eaton (WY – stayed)
16 – Martin Grossman (FL)
18 – Robert Bryant Melson (AL – stayed)
24 – Hank Skinner (TX)
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Death penalty, Executions | Tagged: Dale Eaton, Dale Wayne Eaton, execution, Hank Skinner, Mark Brown, Martin Grossman, Robert Bryant Melson, Robert Lee McConnell, Robert McConnell, Robert Melson |
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January 29, 2010
In Forsyth County, a judge has ordered an evidentiary hearing to determine whether prosecutors offered immunity to a witness in exchange for testimony that put another man on death row – without revealing the deal to defense attorneys or the jury.
Errol Moses has been on death row since 1997, but has maintained that he is innocent of the drug-related killings of Ricky Griffin and Jacinto Dunkley. The testimony of Casey McCree was the only evidence directly linking Moses to the shootings of Griffin and Dunkley.
The jury that convicted Mr. Moses and sentenced him to death was never told that prosecutors had an agreement with Mr. McCree that, in exchange for his testimony, he would not be charged with any crime related to his involvement in the killings.
The prosecutor involved in the case says that this sort of unofficial immunity-for-testimony exchange was “common practice” at the time of Moses’ trial.
A hearing date has not been set.
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Death penalty, News, North Carolina | Tagged: Casey McCree, Death penalty, Errol Moses, North Carolina |
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January 29, 2010
Prosecutors in Onslow County have announced that they will not seek the death penalty against Sirree Scales, who allegedly shot a 17-year-old to death in April of 2008. Prosecutors have also elected not to seek death against Jarrell Wilson, a Marine who allegedly killed two people in July.
Meanwhile, prosecutors are holding off on whether to seek death for Soyer Moll, who is accused of killing his wife during a domestic dispute.
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Death penalty, News, North Carolina | Tagged: Death penalty, Jarrell Wilson, North Carolina, Sirree Scales, Soyer Moll |
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January 21, 2010
The military death penalty trial of Master Sergeant Timothy Hennis has been put off until sometime after March so that additional DNA testing can be completed.
Hennis has already been tried twice for the 1985 murders of Kathryn Eastburn and her children. Although initially convicted and sentenced to death, Hennis was found not guilty at the second trial. Hennis returned to the Army and retired in 2004, but was called back to duty to face the murder charges a third time in military court, where double jeopardy protections do not apply.
More details are here.
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Death penalty, News, North Carolina | Tagged: Death penalty, Tim Hennis, Timothy Hennis |
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Posted by deathwatch
January 8, 2010
From Slate, with assistance from DPIC’s Richard Dieter, a semi-answer to the burning question: If a Siamese twin commits murder, does his brother get punished too?
[Bonus question: What happens to brother B if brother A is sentenced to death?]
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