Medical Board Appeals Death Docs Decision

News Update 07.31.08

North Carolina

The North Carolina Medical Board filed an appeal in the NC Supreme Court yesterday, hoping to overturn a 2007 decision by a Superior Court that would prevent the Board from sanctioning doctors who actively participate in the taking of life. The Board asserts that active participation violates both a doctor’s oath and the intent of the legislature in passing a statute that requires only the presence of a doctor.

Stacey Lee Wynn will serve consecutive sentences of life without parole for two murders that occurred in the span of three days in 2005. Wracked by bipolar disorder and in the middle of a cocaine binge, Wynn is said to have bound a 66-year-old man at the hands and feet and beat him to death with a toilet seat. Two days later, he shot an acquaintance in the head and robbed him of cash and drugs. Wynn then disappeared for three months until he was found living in South Carolina under an assumed name. Before he was struck by mental illness and discovered cocaine, Wynn was a full-scholarship music student at UNC-Wilmington.

DW was recently contacted by the Delaware Libertarian blog with a request to spread the word about NC gubernatorial candidate Dr. Michael Munger, who opposes the death penalty. DW does not endorse candidates for political office.

Elsewhere

In Alabama, the execution of Tommy Arthur was stayed after another inmate (who is serving a life sentence for another murder) confessed to the crime for which Arthur was supposed to die. Arthur’s attorneys asked the court to delay the execution and asked the governor to order testing of the DNA of the second man, Bobby Ray Gilbert, against the DNA in a rape kit taken at the scene. Oops, said Alabama, we lost it. Arthur’s attorneys have been trying to get Alabama to conduct DNA testing for years. Arthur was sentenced to die for the murder of Troy Wicker, Jr., based in large part upon the testimony of Wicker’s wife. Judy Wicker admitted to hiring someone to kill her husband. Prosecutors agreed to release her ten years into what was supposed to have been a life sentence if she testified that the man she hired was Arthur.

Kentucky is resisting DNA testing in the case of Thomas Clyde Bowling, who is on death row for a double murder the state has always claimed he committed alone. Unfortunately for Kentucky, preliminary testing on the evidence shows that the DNA of at least three people (not including the victims) is present. It is also not clear if any of that DNA belongs to Bowling. “If Bowling’s DNA isn’t on it, it definitely helps him,” said Bowling’s attorney, David Barron. “Even if his DNA is on it, it still helps him.”

Military DP OK’d for Ft. Bragg Soldier

News Update 07.29.08

North Carolina

President Bush has authorized the execution of former Fort Bragg soldier Ronald Gray.  Gray was convicted in 1988 of a series of rapes and murders in the Fayetteville area, and has been at the military death row in Kansas ever since.  A lethal injection has never been conducted at Fort Leavenworth.  The last military execution, by hanging, was performed in 1961.  No execution date has been set, and more appeals are likely.  Gray is one of six men on the military’s death row.  As governor of Texas, Bush approved over 150 executions, more than any governor in recent history.  He is now the first president since Eisenhower to greenlight a military execution.  More here, here, and here.  Props to CDW for finding an article explaining the federal appeals process for military death sentences.

The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a rehearing en banc in the case of William Gray.  Gray will receive a new sentencing hearing in Lenoir County.  As indicated in this prior post, a panel of the 4th Circuit found that Gray was prejudiced by his trial attorneys’ failure to investigate and present evidence of his severe mental illness.

Elsewhere

Oh no they didn’t.  StandDown reports that local police and Texas Rangers searched the offices of attorneys representing a capital defendant.  Who requested the search?  The district attorney prosecuting the case.  Who approved the search?  The judge who will preside over the trial.  Did they find the alleged hidden evidence of guilt they were allegedly searching for?  Of course not.

Chance Denied Mental Retardation Hearing

News Update 07.25.08

North Carolina

Judge James Spencer ruled today that Antonio Chance will not receive a pre-trial hearing on mental retardation. Chance is charged with the 2006 murder of Cynthia Moreland. Chance’s IQ has tested in the mentally retarded range since he was 5 years old. Chance’s trial is scheduled to begin in Wake County on the same day as another potentially mentally retarded defendant, Joseph Sanderlin.

In Haywood County, Edwardo Wong III will face the death penalty for the shooting of State Trooper David Shawn Blanton.

Elsewhere

The only doctor ever officially deemed too incompetent to participate in an execution has apparently been hired by the state of Arizona for that purpose. Dr. Alan Doerhoff supervised some 54 executions in Missouri before the state supreme court barred him from further practice. Aside from his troubles in the prison system, Doerhoff has been sued for malpractice over 20 times and banished from multiple hospitals.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has authorized the forced medication of mentally ill death row inmates to make them sane enough to be executed. It is believed to be the first decision of its kind.

In Oklahoma, Governor Brad Henry followed the recommendation of the Pardon and Parole Board and granted clemency to Kevin Young. The Board and the Governor were persuaded to mercy by members of the jury who said they would have voted differently if they’d known Young would serve life without parole.

Sanderlin Denied Mental Retardation Hearing

News Update 07.23.08

North Carolina

Judge Paul Gessner has ruled that Joseph Sanderlin, who is accused in the 2005 killing of Lauren Redman, is not entitled to a pretrial hearing on whether he is mentally retarded. Under North Carolina law, a person whose IQ is below 70, and who exhibited deficits in adaptive functioning prior to the age of 18, is considered mentally retarded and therefore ineligible for execution. Sanderlin’s IQ has consistently tested between 64 and 69 throughout his lifetime. The question of Sanderlin’s mental retardation is not settled; if he is found guilty of first-degree murder, the jury will readdress the issue before deciding on his sentence. Sanderlin’s co-defendant, Byron Waring, was sentenced to death last year. Sanderlin’s trial will begin September 29th.

Attorneys for William Kreutzer argued yesterday that trying their client at Fort Bragg would be like trying the Virginia Tech shooter (had he not committed suicide) in front of a jury of VT students, while represented by VT alums. In 1995, Kreutzer fired on his own unit during a training exercise, killing one and injuring 18 others. He will be tried before a jury of other soldiers, and is represented by soldier-attorneys appointed for him by the military. Kreutzer’s attorneys believe that the shooting affected the Fort Bragg community so profoundly that Kreutzer can only get a fair trial if the case is heard on another base.

Elsewhere

Some recent studies suggest that DNA is not the sure thing we all thought it was. DNA labs have been finding “matches” between people who are not only unrelated, but of different races. According to the FBI, the odds of unrelated people sharing genetic markers to such a degree is 1 in 113 billion, but it has happened several times. In a Maryland database of 30,000 people, 32 matched at nine or more loci, three of which were “perfect” matches, identical at 13 out of 13 loci. That should only happen among identical twins and other immediate siblings. One blogger ran his DNA and found that he is a 12-point match for dozens of people he has never met.

The Clarion-Ledger, a pro-death penalty newspaper in Mississippi, is calling for clemency for Dale Leo Bishop, who is scheduled to be executed tonight. Although Bishop held and kicked the victim, Marcus Gentry, another man inflicted the fatal blows. The actual killer was sentenced to life in prison. Bishop also suffers from documented mental illness that interfered with his ability to assist in his defense.

Womble and Parmon Blast NC Senate

News Update 07.22.08

North Carolina

Rep. Larry Womble and Rep. Earline Parmon have issued a press release laying the blame for the defeat of the Racial Justice Act at the feet of Senate leaders who let politics get in the way of truth. They hold out hope for next year.

If passed in North Carolina – a state with a death row population that is sixty percent Black despite the Black population in the state being only twenty percent, the Racial Justice Act will allow defendants to use statistics to prove race was a factor in the imposition or decision to seek the death penalty. The historic United States Supreme Court case, McClesky v. Kemp, first utilized statistics in a Georgia capital case to prove that the odds that black males would receive a death sentence increased by 4.3 times if the victim is white.

In North Carolina, a study by University of North Carolina Professor Issac Unah and UNC Law Dean Jack Boger, who also argued the historic McClesky v. Kemp case, revealed that the odds that black males would receive a death sentence increased by 3.5 times if the victim is white.

Race continues to play a role throughout the criminal justice system and to allow race to determine a person’s right to live or die is unacceptable and a flagrant example of failed policymaking decisions at the state and local levels. In a state that has at least twenty-five individuals currently on death row who were tried by all-white juries between the 1990s and the present day, it is difficult to argue that race is a factor that should be ignored.

Moore County has announced its intention to seek the death penalty against Justin Raynal Cotton and Martin Devon McMillan. Both are charged with the murder of Donald Gray Sands last May.

A hearing is scheduled today for Sgt. William Kreutzer, Jr., who faces the death penalty in military court for a 1995 homicide.

Elsewhere

Louisiana has asked the Supreme Court to reconsider last month’s decision in Kennedy, which barred the death penalty in cases of child rape where the victim does not die. This makes the folks over at SLAP happy. Louisiana complains that the Court failed to consider two legal developments (which Louisiana failed to put before the Court) in its opinion. Such petitions for rehearing are rarely granted.

Life x3 for Scott Williams

News Update 07.21.08

North Carolina

Scott Wilson Williams has entered a plea and been sentenced to three consecutive terms of life without the possibility of parole. Williams shot and dismembered three women in the Charlotte area between 1997 and 2006. Two other victims survived. “At first I was shocked about him not receiving the death penalty,” wrote one victim’s daughter, “But I guess God has a plan.”

The North Carolina General Assembly ended its 2008 session last week without passing any major death penalty reforms. Both the Racial Justice Act and a bill intended to protect the severely mentally ill from execution stalled. Representatives Womble and Parmon, chief sponsors of the RJA in the House, blasted their Senate colleagues for failing to pass the bill.

Elsewhere

Elected judgeships affect both composition of bench and voting in capital cases. In other news, sky is blue, water is wet.

Feed your head with a herd of new death penalty-related articles.

No Death Penalty for Howell

News Update 07.18.08

North Carolina

Mecklenburg County prosecutors have announced that they will not seek the death penalty against Michael Arthur Howell, who is accused of killing a state insurance examiner who was auditing his Charlotte business. Sallie Rohrbach disappeared during her investigation of Howell; her body was found in South Carolina days later. Howell still faces a penalty of life without the possibility of parole if convicted.

In developing news, the Racial Justice Act has stalled, but death penalty supporters managed to sneak a new capital aggravating factor through the Senate at the last minute. The new agg is now in the House rules committee. More on this if it passes, but the bill would make some domestic killings automatically death-eligible. It does nothing to address the larger problem of violence against women.

Elsewhere

Texas Governor Rick Perry has announced his intention to go forward with the executions of five Mexican nationals, despite pleas from Washington and abroad. Earlier this week, the International Court of Justice in the Hague ordered the United States to stop the executions of persons who had been denied their rights under the Vienna Convention. Among those Texas has decided to execute anyway is Jose Medellin.

It has been learned that former Maryland governor Robert Ehrlich wasted some 300 hours of police time when he ordered surveillance of local peace activists and death penalty opponents. No illegal activity was observed, and the operation was eventually terminated when the officers assigned to the detail complained that perhaps their time was better spent pursuing actual criminals.

Take Action on Racial Justice Act

News Update 07.16.08

North Carolina

With the legislative session ending tomorrow, the North Carolina Coalition for a Moratorium has issued a call for folks to reach out to a Senate Democrat near you and tell them you think it’s important for the General Assembly to vote on and pass the Racial Justice Act. Contact information for the Senate Dems is available here. Call today; tomorrow it will be too late.

Elsewhere

DPIC reports on a survey of police officers, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges about what they believe to be the frequency of wrongful convictions. An abstract of the study is available here. The combined estimate was that 1-3% of persons convicted in the United States were in fact innocent.

Jakiem Wilson Sentenced to Life

News Update 07.14.08

North Carolina

After deliberating for over a dozen hours about whether to convict him of first-degree murder, it took a Wake County jury less than an hour to decide that life without parole is the most appropriate punishment for Jakiem Wilson. The jury voted unanimously for life after finding none of the aggravating factors required by law to elevate the possible punishment to death.

This week marks the General Assembly’s last chance to pass the Racial Justice Act this session. The bill would allow capital defendants to challenge the prosecutor’s decision to seek death in their case if that decision was based on racial bias. Republicans are attempting to amend the bill to include a provision that would bar the N.C. Medical Board from disciplining doctors who participate in executions.

Elsewhere

The NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund as released Death Row U.S.A. 2008, their annual accounting of changes in death penalty law and death row populations. According to the report, the total number of inmates on death row in the United States is 3,309, down from 3,350 the previous year. As the data was compiled several months ago, the report lists several inmates who are no longer on North Carolina’s death row due to exoneration, re-sentencing, or death from natural causes. These include Carlos Canady, Glen Chapman, Levon Jones, and Gary Greene.

In victims’ rights news, a California judge threatened to throw a widow in jail if she told the jury she did not support the death penalty. Carlton Akee Turner was executed in Texas for the murders of his parents, despite pleas from many family members asking that he be spared.

In Oklahoma, the Pardon and Parole Board voted to grant clemency to Kevin Young, who is scheduled to die later this month. The Board’s decision is only advisory; the final say lies with Governor Brad Henry. Learn more about the case and how to take action here.

Defense Begins Case in Wilson Trial

News Update 07.07.08

North Carolina

The defense will begin its presentation today in the case of Jakiem Wilson. Wilson is accused of killing his wife in 2007 and could face the death penalty if convicted.

The Rule 24 hearing for Demario Atwater, who stands accused of killing UNC student body president Eve Carson, has been postponed. “Rule 24 hearing” refers to the proceeding at which the prosecutor formally announces whether s/he will seek death in a murder case. Atwater’s co-defendant, Lawrence Lovette, is ineligible for the death penalty because of his age.

Elsewhere

In Tennessee, Paul House is off death row after serving over 22 years for a rape/murder he may not have committed. Still, House is not free. Although he has multiple sclerosis and cannot walk, House cannot leave his mother’s home, must wear a monitoring bracelet, and must register as a sex offender while he awaits retrial. Prosecutors are no longer seeking the death penalty against him.

CDW reports that Texas’ Lester Bower has received a stay of execution while a judge considers whether the state should bother testing the DNA evidence from his case before they kill him. On a related note, the 19th person exonerated by DNA in Dallas County was freed from prison this week after serving 15 years for a robbery/kidnapping he did not commit.