Month: April 2012

S.D. Supreme Court denies Eric Robert’s request for quick execution in guard’s murder

april 12, 2012 source : http://www.argusleader.com

The South Dakota Supreme Court has denied a death row inmate’s request for a quick execution.

Eric Robert, 49, filed a motion to vacate with the court earlier this year after the justices stayed his May execution. The court issued the stay in order to complete the sentence review mandated by South Dakota law in all death penalty cases.

Robert was sentenced to die by lethal injection in October for the murder of corrections officer Ron “R.J.” Johnson, which took place one year ago today.

Robert’s lawyers argued that the Supreme Court did not have the authority to stay an execution where no appeal has been filed. The inmate has not appealed his sentence or asked for clemency from Gov. Dennis Daugaard.

The high court rejected the notion that it doesn’t have the statutory authority to stay a sentence. The justices ruled unanimously that a sentence review is required, and that a stay can be issued as a part of that process.

“While it is true that this proceeding was not initiated by Robert filing a notice of appeal, it is an exercise of this court’s appellate jurisdiction to review the decision of a lower court – a proceeding upon appeal,” Chief Justice David Gilbertson wrote.

Robert and another inmate, 49-year-old Rodney Berget, attacked Johnson from behind with a metal pipe at the South Dakota State Penitentiary’s prison industries building. Johnson, who was filling in for an ill co-worker on his 63rd birthday, was the lone officer on duty that morning.

After beating him to death, Robert put on Johnson’s uniform and Berget climbed into a box atop a wheeled cart.

The inmates were captured as Robert tried to wheel the cart through the prison’s west gate.

Both men have been sentenced to die for the murder.

A third inmate, 47-year-old Michael Nordman, was given a life sentence for his role in the crime. Nordman, who worked in the prison industries building, traded the plastic wrap and pipe for a prison knife.

A dedication ceremony is planned in Sioux Falls today for the prison’s staff training center, which will be renamed in Johnson’s honor.

Related articles

Florida – David Alan Gore – execution – serial killer’s last hours

Angelica Lavallee, 14Lynn Elliott, 17Hisang Huang Ling, 48Judy Daley, 35Ying Hua Ling, 17

angelica lavallee                     Lynn Elliot                           Hisang Huang Ling                Judy Daley                    Ying Hua Ling

Barbara Ann Byer, 14   Barbare Ann Byer

     “I seen her running down the road so I started running after her and I was hollering for her to stop, and when she wouldn’t, I shot over her head,” recalled Gore in a deposition. “I kept running after her and then she tripped and … she was trying, like, resisting, fighting me, so I throwed (sic) her to the ground. That’s when I shot her in the head.”

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

David Alan Gore, 58, was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. 

Gore gave a hand-written statement before the execution process started.

“I would like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Elliott, that I truly am sorry for my part in the death of your daughter. I wish above all else my death could bring her back,” the statement said. “I am not the same man today that I was 28 years ago. When I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior, I became a new creature in Christ and I know God has truly forgiven me for my past sins.”

Update: 4.30 pm

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied all of David Alan Gore’s 11th-hour appeals, clearing the way for the scheduled 6 p.m. execution at Florida State Prison, officials said.

“The Supreme Court has denied everything,” said Assistant State Attorney Ryan Butler, adding officials received the information via telephone late this afternoon. “A written order of denial will be forthcoming.”

During the 4:30 p.m. media update, Florida Department of Corrections Communications Director Ann Howard announced Gore has prepared a hand-written a press statement. It won’t be released until the execution is completed.

When asked about the tone of the statement, she said, “I would say it’s remorseful.”

To the surprise of some, no formal protests — regarding Gore or the general execution process — were evident.

Gore received his last meal early this afternoon and was visited for an hour by his mother and an ex-wife in preparation for the execution.

update :

STARKE — Condemned killer David Alan Gore has received his last meal and was visited for an hour by his mother and an ex-wife in preparation for his 6 p.m. execution at Florida State Prison.

Ann Howard, Florida Department of Corrections communications director, said it appears Gore’s execution is on schedule.

“So far so good,” she said. “We’re on schedule and things are looking normal for us.”

Gore is being executed for the July 1983 first-degree murder of Lynn Elliott, 17, of Vero Beach. He also confessed to killing five other women and girls.

During the 1:30 p.m. update, Howard said Gore was being visited by a religious advisor, but she didn’t say who it was, what religion the advisor represented or what they discussed.

He spent an hour visiting with his mother Velma Gore and an ex-wife, Howard said. She didn’t say which of Gore’s three wives had visited him.

Gore also has received his last meal, Howard confirmed.

“It was fried chicken, French fries, butter pecan ice cream and a soft drink,” she said. “So pretty simple.”

Gore’s demeanor today has been “calm,” Howard said, without elaborating.

Howard said prison officials have not received word on whether the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled on the two motions filed this week seeking to stop his execution.

State prosecutors on Wednesday indicated the high court would likely rule Thursday afternoon.

The next update on Gore’s execution is scheduled for 4 p.m.

april 12, source : http://treasurecoastdeathrow.com

When David Alan Gore woke up today — the day of his scheduled execution — he had more interaction with people than he has had since his death warrant was signed six weeks ago.
After Gov. Rick Scott signed the warrant on Feb. 28 for the first-degree murder of Lynn Elliott in Vero Beach, Gore was moved from his 6-foot by 9-foot death row cell at Starke’s Union Correctional Institution to a 12-foot by 7-foot death watch cell at Starke’s Florida State Prison.

There, he has been secluded from all other death row inmates with whom he regularly got the chance to talk at the prison’s exercise yard. Gore also was allowed one legal and one social phone call, but officials did not release whether he used those privileges.

Gore on Thursday will have the opportunity to spend two hours with approved visitors. A religious adviser will meet with him, if he requests it. And he’ll have his last meal, which will be prepared by prison staff with local ingredients that cost no more than $40 total. Officials at the Florida Department of Corrections would not release details on these items.

Gore also had the opportunity to grant a final media interview, but declined it

While Gore was on death watch, prison officers checked him every 30 minutes to make sure he had not harmed himself, according to prison officials. During Gore’s last week, officers have had 24-hour in-person surveillance on him.

Shortly before 6 p.m., officers are scheduled to escort Gore through a quarter mile-long corridor to Florida’s execution chamber.

The chamber is a small room with hospital-white walls that are bare, except for a telephone, several mirrors and a large digital clock that hangs on one wall. A black curtain covers the execution witness room window.

Gore’s executioner will be an anonymous private citizen who is paid $150.

Extra prison staff will be on duty inside and outside the prison for heightened security. Highway patrols will keep the traffic moving across the street from the prison, where media representatives and protesters are expected.

“The atmosphere at the prison will be more somber,” said Randall Polk, assistant warden at the prison. “On that day, the staff is respectful, the inmates calm down. If you can get one of the inmates to tell you the truth, they’ll tell you they quiet down out of respect.”

Polk said the prison’s execution team was scheduled to perform a mock execution about a week ago, mimicking the method Gore has chosen for his death — lethal injection.

DEATH WATCH TIMELINE

After the governor signs the death warrant

The warden at Florida State Prison selects two executioners, who are 18 years old or older and are trained to perform an execution. The anonymous executioners are paid $150 each.

The warden designates the members of the execution team, who will perform such tasks as moving the inmate to the gurney and mixing the lethal chemicals.

Lethal chemicals are purchased and stored securely.

A week before the execution

The execution team reviews the inmate’s medical file and gives him a physical examination, making sure no medical issues will interfere with the administration of the lethal injection.

The execution team performs a mock execution.

Execution day

A food service director will prepare the inmate’s last meal.

The inmate will shower.

Lethal injection chemicals are prepared. The inmate will be offered an intramuscular injection to ease anxiety.

The execution team establishes telephone communication with the governor’s office.

The warden reads the death warrant to the inmate.

Officers strap the inmate to the gurney in the execution chamber and insert one intravenous line on each of his arms.

Witnesses are secured

n the witness room. The witness room curtains open. The public address system is turned on.

The inmate says final words, if he chooses.

The primary executioner administers the lethal injection.

A physician pronounces the inmate’s time of death.

Florida Department of Corrections

Letter from Tom Elliot

april 12, source : http://www.tcpalm.com

Letter: Time to stop Gore‘s appeals, just as he stopped his victims’ appeals for their lives

With very heavy hearts, my family has seen this whole process of trials, appeals, stays, new trials and on and on and on with faith in God and the justice system. It’s taken 28 years for this process to play itself out.

The pain, torture, cruelty and punishment David Gore imposed on his innocent victims warrants death. When I see with my eyes the total destruction of life David Gore has caused to his victims and their families, it warrants death.

While very pleased with the recent opinion of the Florida Supreme Court, it’s just another slap in the face from Gore to think his efforts are not exhausted due to the ability to go to the federal courts. His victims were afforded absolutely nothing but death. Their pleas for life, relief, pardon and help were heard by no one but him. He was judge and jury of their fate. He denied them.

I pray the federal courts will do the same to him. He’s been fighting for his life longer than most of his victims even lived. It’s been long enough.

Tom Elliott is the nephew of Carl Elliott, whose daughter, Lynn, was one of David Gore’s victims.

 

Breaking news : Garry Allen execution stayed 30 days

april 11, 2012

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A federal judge in Oklahoma City has stayed the execution of an inmate who was diagnosed with schizophrenia but found sane by a jury that considered whether he was eligible for the death penalty.

Fifty-six-year-old Garry Allen is scheduled to die by injection on Thursday. Allen pleaded guilty to capital murder after being shot in the head during his November 1986 arrest. He killed 24-year-old Gail Titsworth, with whom he had children, outside a daycare where she had picked up her sons days after she moved away from Allen. An officer shot Allen after he tried to shoot the officer.

In 2005, the state Pardon and Parole Board voted 4-1 to commute Allen’s sentence to life in prison, but Gov. Mary Fallin had decided to allow the execution to proceed.

Charges expected against George Zimmerman in Trayvon Martin shooting death

zimmerman charged with second- degree murder and his in custody

april 11 source : http://www.wxyz.com

AP) – A law enforcement official says that charges are being filed in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

The official with knowledge of the investigation says a prosecutor will announce charges against George Zimmerman on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.

live on CBS news at 6.00 p.m ET watch here

Zimmerman’s arrest is also expected soon.

The official didn’t know the charge and spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release the information.

Related articles

Alabama – High cost of death penalty

april 11, 2012  source : http://www.timesdaily.com

With states like Alabama having to slash services over monetary woes, it’s an appropriate time to reconsider the high costs of the death penalty.

Many TimesDaily readers have expressed the opinion that Sheffield native and death row inmate Tommy Arthur has been in the news much too often in recent months.

They are tired of the seemingly endless appeals process that has allowed a convicted killer to remain on death row for 29 years. Since Arthur was sentenced in 1983, the courts have upheld his conviction in a murder-for-hire plot involving Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker. But at the same time, Arthur has avoided execution five times through the appeals process, most recently in late March.

One reader asked how much the efforts to execute Arthur have cost compared to simply sentencing him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. That’s a good question, considering the dire budget situation facing the state.

The answer is not simple, but by comparing Alabama to other states we can get a rough idea of the price.

The annual cost to house one state inmate in 2009 was about $15,118, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections. If 70-year-old Arthur reached the lifespan of the average U.S. male, he would serve a total of 35 years for capital murder at a cost to the state of about $529,130. That does not include the cost of his initial trial.

A report from the Death Penalty Information Center offers what it says is a “very conservative” estimate of $30 million to reach a single execution. This amount factors in the millions wasted on cases where there is never an actual execution.

One specific example is Maryland, where a legislative commission recommended abolishing the death penalty after a study showed the state was paying $37 million per execution.

Much of the costs involved in executing an inmate revolves around exhausting every effort to ensure the person is guilty. As DNA evidence has proved in recent years, the state doesn’t always get it right. The fact that Alabama has no law ensuring access to DNA testing for people convicted of capital crimes and does not require that biological evidence be preserved throughout the capital inmate’s incarceration is among several moral concerns.

But beyond those moral issues remains the nagging thought that revoking the death penalty could make a substantial difference as the state faces a $330 million budget shortfall.

With Arthur and 198 other inmates on death row, the state Legislature should undertake an in-depth study of the cost specific to Alabama’s death penalty.

 

Time to end death penalty in Texas

april 10, source : http://www.star-telegram.com

Two events last week — one in the Connecticut Senate chamber, the other in a Dallas courtroom — helped once again to focus attention on two of the nation’s most glaring flaws: wrongful convictions and capital punishment.

In Dallas, three more men were exonerated for crimes they did not commit, bringing to 30 the total number of exonerations in Dallas County since 2001. One of the men had been sentenced to 99 years in prison for a 1994 violent purse snatching involving a 79-year-old woman.

About 1,600 miles away in Hartford, the Connecticut Senate voted 20-16 to repeal the death penalty based partly on the growing evidence of wrongful convictions and the possibility that an innocent person could be executed. The state’s House of Representatives is likely to approve the measure soon, and the governor has vowed to sign it into law.

If the measure is enacted, Connecticut will join a growing number of states (the fifth in five years) to abolish capital punishment. California voters will weigh in on the subject in a ballot initiative in November.

After the Dallas defendants were officially cleared in court, both District Attorney Craig Watkins and District Judge Lena Levario declared that it was time to have a discussion about race and justice, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Actually we need a discussion about much more than that in America.

The latest Dallas case again revealed that prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense and that police, during their initial investigation, subjected the suspects to prejudicial identification tactics. These kinds of injustices cry out for discussion.

How many innocent people are behind bars based on overzealous police work, unethical prosecution or just honest mistakes? How many might be on Death Row?

When it comes to executions, there are signs that the nation’s thirst for blood is waning, bringing some hope to those of us who have been fighting against capital punishment for so long.

Even in Texas, which has the busiest death chamber in the country, the numbers are decreasing. Texas juries are sentencing fewer people to death, and the population on Death Row is declining.

Texas executed 13 people last year, the lowest number since 1996 when three people were killed by lethal injection. In 2000, a record 40 executions occurred in the state.

Four people have been put to death this year in Huntsville, bringing the total to 481 since 1982, when Texas resumed executions after the Supreme Court had declared capital punishment “cruel and unusual” in 1972.

Today 298 people are on Texas’ Death Row, including nine women. The ethnic breakdown is 29.2 percent Anglo, 40.6 percent black, 28.5 percent Hispanic and 1.7 percent other. At the end of fiscal 2001, the Death Row population was 446.

Those are all good signs, but not good enough.

If more states continue to lead the way, maybe the Lone Star State will eventually follow. New York, New Jersey, Illinois and New Mexico recently repealed capital punishment, and The Associated Press reports that Kansas and Kentucky are considering it.

Many people acknowledge that we have a flawed justice system, and that’s understandable with any structure that depends on human judgment and actions.

But it is because of the fallibility of humans that we mortals should not be charged with deciding to take a life — the one thing we can never give back in case of a mistake — in the name of the state.

The progress toward abolishment of the death penalty has been steady, but slow. It’s now time to pick up the momentum.

I’m ready to see the movement gather steam, wage an all-out legal assault and awareness campaign to change these barbaric laws one state legislature at a time.

We are a nation that should be better than this. Let’s vow to end capital punishment in this country, now and forever.

 

Florida justices refuse to stay Gore’s execution

update april 10 source : http://www.wpbf.com

Gore’s lawyers asked for a stay and filed an appeal on Tuesday, just two days before he is scheduled to die.

The appeal is based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said federal courts must hear a convict’s claim of receiving ineffective legal assistance – or none at all – for appeals alleging the inmate’s trial lawyers also had been ineffective.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected a similar appeal Monday.

april 9, 2012, source :http://www.miamiherald.com

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court has refused to stay serial killer David Gore’s execution. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Thursday.

The justices on Monday unanimously rejected several arguments by Gore’s lawyers.

That includes their contention a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision dealing with ineffective counsel applies to his case.

The state justices ruled that opinion appears to apply only to federal rather than state court proceedings.

One of Gore’s lawyers, Martin McClain, says the ruling will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and that other federal court options also are being considered.

Gore is to be executed for murdering a 17-year-old girl in Indian River County nearly 30 years ago. He also is serving life terms for killing five other girls or women.

florida Supreme court read the decision : click here

George Zimmerman seeks donations on his new website

breaking news 4.12 pm ET   George Zimmerman’s Attorney News Conference on CBS News

watch here : CBS

George Zimmerman’s attorneys said in a press conference this afternoon that they will no longer be representing him, because they have not been able to locate him and because he has rebuffed their counsel.

april 9, 2012 source : http://www.cbsnews.com

George Zimmerman, the man who fatally shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, has started a website “to ensure my supporters they are receiving my full attention without any intermediaries.”

The authenticity of the website,therealgeorgezimmerman.com, has been confirmed by his lawyers, according to CNN and other news outlets.

“On Sunday February 26th, I was involved in a life altering event which led me to become the subject of intense media coverage. As a result of the incident and subsequent media coverage, I have been forced to leave my home, my school, my employer, my family and ultimately, my entire life,” the website states.

The site includes a link to donate funds to help pay for Zimmerman’s lawyers and living expenses because of his “forced inability to maintain employment.”

“I thank you for your patience and I assure you, the facts will come to light,” the website goes on to say. Zimmerman then goes on to quote a philosophy attributed to sociologist James W. Loewen: “People have a right to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. Evidence must be located, not created, and opinions not backed by evidence cannot be given much weight.”

Under a section titled “My race,” the website has a Thomas Paine quote: “The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”

The website does not contain Zimmerman’s account of his interaction with Trayvon Martin.

Special prosecutor: No grand jury for Trayvon Martin case
Trayvon Martin’s family asks feds to investigate
Investigator: Martin family “will get answers”
2 Fla. officials step aside in teen death probe

Meanwhile, Florida State Attorney Angela Corey has decided not to use a grand jury in her investigation into the shooting death of Martin.

The grand jury, scheduled by the case’s previous prosecutor, was set to convene on April 10.

A statement released by her office said that the decision “should not be considered a factor in the final determination of the case.”

Corey was appointed by Gov. Rick Scott last month to take over the investigation. At that time she said she may not need a grand jury.

Corey, the state attorney for the Jacksonville area, was appointed to take over the case after the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, recused himself.

Monday’s statement said that the investigation continues, and declined further comment.

Related articles

‘I put my daddy on death row – but he’s innocent’: Man who testified against his father is campaigning for his release

april, 8 source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk

A man who testified against his father when he was seven years old is proclaiming his innocence and campaigning for his release – 23 years after he was sentenced to life in prison.

Jerry Michael Burgos, now 29, was called to the witness stand to give evidence against his father in 1989.

Jerry Burgos, who was 29 at the time, was charged with strangling his wife Nilsa – who was seven months pregnant – and setting their Polk Township, Pennsylvania, house on fire in an attempt to cover up the crime.

Campaign: Jerry Michael Burgos, right, and his brother Jason, left, are starting a Facebook group to proclaim the innocence of their father Jerry, centre

Campaign: Jerry Michael Burgos, right, and his brother Jason, left, are starting a Facebook group to proclaim the innocence of their father Jerry, centre

When investigators asked the boy what had happened on that fatal night, he said: ‘My dad took me and my brother out of the house and put us in his truck,’  according to the New York Post.

Burgos had told jurors that thick smoke engulfed their home and that he had managed to save his two sons from the blaze – but not his wife.

But the boy could not remember seeing signs of a fire, which allowed prosecutors to use his testimony to discredit his father’s.

The father-of-two had purchased a $75,000 life insurance policy four months before his wife’s death so prosecutors had reason to believe he had committed the crime.

The couple were also said to be involved with other lovers, which gave jurors another motive for the murder.

In 1989 Burgos was sentenced to the electric chair and found guilty of murder, arson and abuse of a corpse.

But Jerry Michael does not believe his father committed the crime. ‘I never hated my dad. I never felt like he did this,’ he told the New York Post. ‘I was always happy to see him when we went to trial.’

‘I feel like parents are a little bit of us. I really don’t think he did it. I can’t see myself doing it, and I couldn’t see him doing it either,’ he added.

The case that has been plagued by controversies went to retrial in 1993 because Burgos’s lawyer argued that prosecutors improperly used Jerry Michael’s testimony. But the second jury still found Burgos guilty.

Then, in 2004, Burgos’s attorney Philip Lauer won an appeal to test for genetic clues, as the previous trials had relied mainly on circumstantial evidence and had ignored DNA testing.

‘It seems like its standard fare in every case that everything gets tested, but in rural counties that isn’t the case,’ Lauer told the New York Post.

But even though a t-shirt found inside Nilsa’s body bag revealed somebody else’s DNA, it was not enough to overturn the verdict.

Now Jerry Michael and his brother Jason are creating a Facebook page to raise awareness about their father’s case. 

‘I love my mom, but I also lost my dad,’ Jerry Michael said. ‘I really don’t think he did it. I’m 99.9 percent sure that he didn’t do it. There’s no way.’