Murder Charge Dropped Against James Johnson

News Update 12/20/07

North Carolina

A special prosecutor has found insufficient evidence to support the first-degree murder charge against James Johnson. Johnson spent over three years in prison, despite the lack of physical evidence against him and the insistence of the killer than Johnson was not involved. Johnson, who went to the police shortly after the murder and confessed that he helped the killer clean the victim’s car after she had been killed, still faces a charge if accessory after the fact.

Elsewhere

In Ohio, Kenneth Richey will soon be set free after almost 20 years on death row. Richey was convicted of setting the fire that killed his ex-girlfriend’s daughter, but the fire has since been determined to have been accidentally set. Sources say the girl was known to play with cigarettes, lighters, and matches, and had set three previous fires.

In South Carolina, two former prison guards say that they were forced to participate in executions on threat of losing their jobs. They also allege that they were not properly trained before the executions or offered counseling afterwards, leading to ongoing mental anguish. The guards participated in both lethal injections and electrocutions.

The United Nations General Assembly has passed a nonbinding resolution calling for a moratorium on the death penalty. The vote was 104 to 54 with 29 abstentions. Among the nations joining the United States in opposition to a moratorium were North Korea, Myanmar, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

The Death Penalty Information Center has released its year-end report for 2007. Forty-two people were executed in 2007, as opposed to 53 in 2006 and 98 in 1999. One hundred and ten new inmates were sent to death row last year, 115 the year before, and 284 in 1999. The report also notes legislative activity and shifts in publc opinion.

Moore County Seeks Death Against Four

News Update 12.19.07

North Carolina

Moore County DAs have announced their intention to seek the death penalty against four men accused of killing a Cameron girl in September. Michael Graham Currie, Ryan Jemar White, Perry Ross Schiro, and Sherrod Nicholas Harrison are all under the age of 21. A fifth person is too young to be charged capitally, but will be tried as an adult.

Elsewhere

Although Nigeria told the United Nations it has not executed anyone since 2002, Amnesty International has uncovered evidence of at least seven executions in the last two years. All of the men were hanged, sometimes without access to lawyers or appeals required by law. The BBC has more.

The New York Times and CNN note a 13-year low in executions, due largely to the Supreme Court’s cert grant in Baze. Still, there were 42 executions this year, 62% of which took place in Texas. Forty states, including North Carolina, had no executions at all.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics has come out with its preliminary capital punishment statistics for 2006. Just in time to start working on 2007! Anyway, they have info on, among other things, how many people are on death row, how old they were when they got there, and how they are most likely to leave. (c/o SLAP)

New Jersey Abolishes Death Penalty

News Update 12.18.07

North Carolina

Nothing to report.

Elsewhere

How Appealing provides several links to articles about the abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey. The fine folks over at Abolish! have lots of pictures and video capturing Gov. Corzine signing the bill. They also have video of a speech given by Sister Helen Prejean.

One consequence of abolition is that Karl Keys at Capital Defense Weekly will no longer be working on capital cases. Accordingly, he has decided to shut down his blog – a must-read staple for the last decade. Fear not, he promises to be back with a new must-read staple in the new year.

Dennis Lawley was convicted of ordering a California man’s murder in 1989 after a gun found in his home was identified by experts as the murder weapon. The problem? The admitted hit man says Lawley had nothing to do with it, and Lawley’s attorney may have found the actual murder weapon in the field where the hit man said he tossed it. Lawley, a delusional paranoid schizophrenic was allowed to represent himself at trial and has spent the last 17 years on death row.

Jerry Givens killed 62 people over the course of 17 years. He is not eligible for the death penalty, but he might be up for a state pension (if not for unrelated perjury and money laundering charges). Givens was Virginia’s executioner in the 80s and 90s, the man charged with pushing the buttons that would unleash a lethal jolt of electricity. How much electricity to use was largely a matter of guesswork, “If he was a small guy, I didn’t give that much. You try not to cook the body, you know. I hate to sound gross.” ABC News has a revealing interview. Givens no longer believes that the death penalty is a deterrent, and is haunted by the prospect of having executed an innocent person. (c/o SLAP)

Lisa Greene Trial Continues

News Update 12.14.07

North Carolina

The Cabarrus County trial of Lisa Greene is ongoing. Yesterday the defense questioned the State’s expert about differences between simulations run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the actual fire that killed Greene’s children. When the defense attorney asked the expert to mark one of the differences on a photo, the Assistant District Attorney popped up, “Objection, Your Honor. If it’s different, then what use is it?” “Exactly,” replied defense counsel.

Former Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford and three of his top officers have been arrested on charges that they used money extorted from illegal video poker operations to fund Medford’s campaign and cover his own gambling debts. There are nine people on death row from Buncombe.

Elsewhere

Yesterday the New Jersey General Assembly voted 44-36 to abolish the death penalty, the first state to do so in four decades. The bill is on its way to Governor Jon S. Corzine for final approval. Inmates will then have 60 days to petition the courts to reduce their sentences to life without parole. How Appealing has links and Abolish! has a photo.

Meanwhile, a Connecticut Superior Court heard arguments from attorneys for seven inmates who claim that the State’s death penalty is administered in an arbitrary and racially discriminatory fashion. Which might not be newsworthy if Judge Stanley T. Fuger Jr. hadn’t been presiding over a court more familiar to Shaquille O’Neal. Due to concerns over bringing so many death row inmates to the standard courthouse, the hearing was held in the prison gym, with counsel addressing the judge from half court.

Patrick Kennedy is no longer the only person on death row in the United States for a non-homicide crime. Yesterday, a Louisiana jury sentenced Richard Davis to die for the rape of a five-year-old girl. Kennedy’s case is expected to be granted certiorari by the US Supreme Court in January.

CDW notes that blogging can be hazardous to your law license. Florida lawyer Sean Conway said some unflattering things about a local judge in his blog and now he’s facing bar sanctions. Coincidentally, so is she.

StandDown reports that the director of Ohio’s Department of Rehabilitation and Correction has provided the court with 700 pages of information on the procedures used to implement lethal injection. Included are minute-by-minute accounts of previous executions and data on the equipment and personnel involved in lethal injections. For now, the information will not be available to anyone outside of the judge’s chambers or the attorneys involved in the litigation.

Finally, here’s one for the You Learn Something New Every Day column. Executed Today reports that on or about this date in 1974, Neal Sherman and Charlie Dean – brother of former Vermont governor Howard Dean – were executed in Laos.

More on Jonathan Hoffman

News Update 12.12.07

North Carolina

All charges were dropped yesterday against Jonathan Hoffman, who spent seven years on death row for the murder of a jewelry store owner. Defense attorneys suspect that the real killer is a relative of one of the main witnesses against Hoffman at his original trial. Media reporting here and here. Past articles about the problems with the case against Hoffman are here and here. You can learn more about the victim, Danny Cook, here. (Photo credit: News & Observer)

Triangle residents – don’t forget tonight’s panel discussion, Doctors in the Death Chamber, hosted by St. Francis of Assisi in Raleigh. The balanced panel will include a doctor, a defense attorney, a prosecutor, and a legislator. Possibly also a butcher, a baker, and a candlestick maker. Starts at 7. (919) 847-8205

Elsewhere

On his last day in office, Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher granted clemency to death row inmate Jeffrey Devan Leonard. Leonard, a brain-damaged man with no prior criminal history, will have his sentence commuted to life without parole. Leonard was represented at trial by an attorney who has since been brought up on perjury charges and disbarred.

The State Senate of New Jersey voted 21-16 to abolish the death penalty earlier this week. The State House could vote as soon as tomorrow. Since reinstating the death penalty in 1982, New Jersey has spent $253 million on capital prosecutions, but has not executed anyone because nearly all of the death sentences obtained were determined to be faulty on appeal.

Charges Dropped Against Jonathan Hoffman

BREAKING NEWS

All charges have been dropped against Jonathan Hoffman, who was sentenced to die in 1996 for the murder of a jewelry store owner in Union County. Read the press release here. No physical evidence linked Hoffman to the crime. Prosecutors sent him to death row by deceiving the judge, the jury, and the defense about the true motives of the witnesses against Hoffman.

The decision came a week after a judge ruled that testimony given at Hoffman’s first trial by a witness who has since died could not be used against Hoffman at his retrial. The prosecution hid evidence that the witness, the only person linking Hoffman to the murder weapon, was seeking reward money in exchange for his testimony. Hoffman was granted a new trial in 2004 because prosecutors failed to reveal that another witness had been rewarded for his testimony with immunity from state and federal prosecution, thousands of dollars, and a reduction in his federal prison sentence.

Kenneth Honeycutt and Scott Brewer were the original prosecutors in the case. Attorneys Joseph Cheshire and David Rudolph, now representing Mr. Hoffman, credit current district attorney John Snyder for having the courage to do the right thing.

You can read prior reporting about the Hoffman case here and here. More detail on the case is available in this 2003 article on prosecutorial misconduct from Joseph Neff at the News & Observer.

Charles Triplin Not Guilty

News Update 12.06.07

North Carolina

Yesterday, a Cumberland County jury found Charles Triplin not guilty of the crime for which he has spent more than four years behind bars. Until a month before trial, Triplin faced the death penalty for the 2003 murder of Shelly Wooten. The jury reported that they did not believe the testimony of the State’s two main witnesses, both of whom received plea deals in exchange for their testimony, that Triplin was with them on the night of the murder. Said Triplin on his way out of the Cumberland County Jail, “I only came to Fayetteville three times in my life, and I ain’t coming back.”

Elsewhere

In Tennessee, Michael McCormick was found not guilty of a murder for which he spent 16 years on death row. McCormick received a new trial after it was revealed that a hair found in the victim’s car, used at his first trial to tie McCormick to the scene, came from someone else. The real killer has not been identified.

The Supreme Court has stayed the Alabama execution of Tommy Arthur, until such time as the Court takes action on Arthur’s lethal injection lawsuit. The order is here.

The transcript of the oral argument in Snyder is available online here. Media coverage here.

Court Asked to Reverse Council of State

News Update 12.04.07

North Carolina

Attorneys for five inmates on North Carolina’s death row have asked the Wake County Superior Court to review the Council of State’s February decision to approve a new lethal injection protocol. The complaint raises several issues: that the agency’s final decision was issued after the statutory deadline to do so had expired, that a member of the Attorney General’s Office engaged in ex parte communications with one or more members of the Council, that the Council ignored the valid opinion of the Administrative Law Judge, and that the Council failed to consider any of the evidence presented by the inmates. You can read the complaint here.

Elsewhere

Kentucky has filed its brief in Baze v. Rees. The argument section of the brief begins, “Petitioners have been sentenced to death. Kentucky seeks to execute them in a relatively humane manner, and has worked hard to adopt such a procedure.” I was unaware that the constitutional standard is whether you did a decent job and tried real hard. For the record, at the end of its brief, Kentucky completely mischaracterizes the factual situation surrounding the BIS monitor in North Carolina. The federal court did not force DOC to use a BIS monitor, DOC bought one of their own volition and lied to the court about how it would be used. But I digress.

The US Supreme Court heard arguments in Snyder v. Louisiana this morning. The case revolves around racial discrimination in jury selection, but is more widely known due to the prosecutor’s comparison of the defendant to OJ Simpson, whom the prosecutor said had gotten away with murder. Snyder, a black man, was tried by an all-white jury after the prosecutor removed all eligible people of color from the jury pool.

Jerry Guerinot has had more clients sentenced to death than have been executed by Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Wyoming combined. The Guardian takes a look at his representation of Linda Carty, a British citizen on death row in Texas. The article notes that while Houston accounts for 1.3% of the US population overall, the city has produced 10% of our nation’s executions. (c/o CDW and Grits)

Texas recently marked the 25th anniversary of its first lethal injection.

Executions – December 2007

6 – Thomas Arthur (AL)

12 – Pervis Payne (TN – stay likely)