Month: June 2012

New York Law School professor Robert Blecker says life on death row is TOO COMFORTABLE

June 21, 2012  Source : http://www.dailymail.co.uk

Most people expect life on death row to be harsh and isolated but a prison expert claims many convicted murderers are living the life of Riley behind bars.

Killer Danny Robbie Hembree Jr sparked a public uproar in January when he wrote to his local newspaper, the Gaston Gazette, gloating about how cushy his life was at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina.

‘Is the public aware that I am a gentleman of leisure, watching color TV in the A.C., reading, taking naps at will, eating three, well-balanced, hot meals a day,’ Mr Hembree wrote in the letter, which he concluded with ‘Kill me if you can, suckers. Ha! Ha! Ha!’

Gloating: Convicted killer Danny Robbie Hembree Jr, pictured, bragged about how cushy life was in prison Danny Robbie Hembree Jr

But New York Law School professor Robert Blecker believes this level of comfort is the norm for prisoners inside America’s maximum-security prisons.

He said life can be undeservedly pleasant for many of the country’s most dangerous rapists and murderers.

They’re playing on softball fields with lined base paths and umpires in uniforms, while other guys are hanging out, getting a suntan,’ he told ABC News. 

‘Those who committed the worst crimes, who deserve to suffer the most, generally suffer the least.’

Mr Blecker said some inmates even claimed to have killed purely to get put behind bars.

‘I can play pool or basketball,’ said Robert Pitts of Woodbury, Tennessee, who told Mr Blecker he bludgeoned to death a 63-year-old grandmother so he could go to jail.

‘Softball when it’s softball season. Run, you can go out and jog, lift weights, play cards.’

But the murder victim’s families are struggling with the revelation that prison is something of a paradise for their loved ones’ killers.

Nicholas Catterton and Stella Holland’s 17-year-old daughter Heather Catterton was strangled to death by Mr Hembree, 50, in 2009, and then he dumped her body in a ravine.

Ms Holland told ABC that hearing her daughter’s murderer was so content with his living arrangements was like Mr Hembree ‘sticking a knife in there and just turning it all over again’.

‘We can’t even take care of our own poor people, but we can take care of him sitting on death row. Come on,’ Mr Catterton told the station.

‘You might be able to read a few books. But sit there and watch color TV and watch your favorite Jerry Springer Show? When you start caring and giving more rights to the criminals than you do the victims there’s something wrong with America.’

Such privileges are routine and help create a safe environment, prison officials told ABC, while advocates for the rights of prisoners said being deprived of freedom was punishment enough and that most inmates were not ladies or ‘gentleman of leisure’ as Mr Hembree claimed to be.

‘These prisons are just absolutely horrific places to be, there is violence throughout them, absolute overcrowding, the noise is deafening, no one would voluntarily choose to be there,’ Jon Gould, a criminal justice professor at American University said.

‘We are fooling ourselves if we allow ourselves to believe that one picture of a domino’s game suggests this is a something other than a horrific life to live.’

But Blecker said the public needed to be aware of some of these conditions and while prisoners shouldn’t be stripped of their rights the punishment should better fit the crime.

‘For the worst of the worst of the worst, the ones who are raping and murdering children, there should be punishment,’ Mr Blecker told ABC.

‘That quality of life that they experience day to day should be a direct reflection on the heinousness and seriousness of the crime.’

ARKANSAS – Death-row inmate wins new hearing – Ray Dansby

June 21, 2012 Source : http://thecabin.net

LITTLE ROCK — A federal appeals panel Thursday partially reversed a federal judge’s denial of the appeal of an Arkansas death-row inmate.

The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis sent Ray Dansby’s appeal back to the U.S. District Court in the Western District of Arkansas for new proceedings.

Dansby was convicted of two counts of capital murder and sentenced to die for the Aug. 24, 1992, fatal shooting of his ex-wife, Brenda Dansby, and her boyfriend, Ronnie Kimble, at Brenda Dansby’s home in El Dorado. Witnesses testified they saw Dansby shoot both victims.

A three-judge panel of the 8th Circuit Court upheld the dismissal of some of Ray Dansby’s claims on appeal Thursday but reversed the dismissal of two claims. The panel did not address the merits of those claims but said the federal judge’s reasons for dismissing them were erroneous.

Among the witnesses who testified at Dansby’s trial was his former cellmate, Larry McDuffie. The trial judge allowed Dansby’s lawyer to ask McDuffie if prosecutors had offered him leniency in exchange for his testimony, but the judge did not allow other questions about McDuffie’s past dealings with prosecutors.

Dansby argued on appeal that he should have been allowed to try to show that McDuffie was biased by his past dealings with prosecutors. A federal district judge dismissed that claim, saying Dansby had failed to raise the point in state court before raising it in federal court.

In its opinion Thursday, the 8th Circuit said Dansby specifically referenced the confrontation clause of the Sixth Amendment in a brief to the Arkansas Supreme Court, so the district judge’s ruling that Dansby had not previously raised the claim was in error.

The 8th Circuit also overturned a ruling by the district judge that Dansby’s claim of prosecutorial misconduct — he alleged that prosecutors withheld evidence regarding the credibility of McDuffie — was procedurally faulty. The appeals court said the district judge reached this conclusion without allowing either side to present arguments on the issue.

“The parties were not afforded adequate notice and opportunity to be heard on the issue of procedural default,” Judge Steven Colloton wrote in the 8th Circuit’s opinion.

Convicted Calif. killer on death row for murders of 5 females, accused of 2 NYC slayings

June 21, 2012 Source : http://www.washingtonpost.com

NEW YORK — A man already convicted and on California’s death row for the decades-old murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl now faces charges in the slayings of two Manhattan women in the 1970s.

Rodney Alcala was scheduled for arraignment Thursday for the deaths of Trans World Airlines flight attendant Cornelia Crilley and aspiring researcher Ellen Hover, both 23.

It was unclear who would represent Alcala or even whether he would have a lawyer. A former photographer with an IQ said to top 160, Alcala represented himself at his California trial that ended with his convictions in 2010 for the five murders. He is appealing.

Decades of suspicion, an indictment last year and 18 months of legal maneuvering over extraditing him culminated Wednesday with his arrival in New York City on a U.S. Marshals Service plane. He was placed in police custody.

Alcala was indicted only recently, after the Manhattan district attorney’s cold-case unit re-examined the cases, looked at evidence that emerged during the California trial and conducted new interviews with more than 100 witnesses.

California authorities had said they were exploring whether Alcala could be tied to cases in New York and other states, and they had released more than 100 photos, found in his storage locker, of young women and girls.

“These cases were built one brick at a time, as each new lead brought us closer to where we are today,” District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said when Alcala was indicted, adding that he hoped the indictment “brings a small measure of peace to the families and friends who have spent decades searching for answers, and justice.”

Crilley was found, strangled with a stocking, in her Manhattan apartment in 1971. Hover was living in Manhattan when she vanished in 1977. Her remains were found the next year in the woods on a suburban estate.

Hover had a degree in biology and was seeking a job as a researcher, a private investigator for her family said at the time. A talented pianist, Hover was “enamored of the counterculture of the 1960s,” cousin Sheila Weller wrote in a 2010 Marie Claire magazine piece about Hover’s death. Weller has said she’s gratified by his indictment in her cousin’s death; she declined Wednesday to elaborate.

Hover’s father, comedy writer Herman Hover, had been an owner of the one-time Hollywood hotspot Ciro’s.

Her disappearance and Crilley’s death made headlines and spurred extensive searches. TWA offered a $5,000 reward for information about Crilley’s killing. Hover’s relatives papered walls and kiosks with posters.

A note in Hover’s calendar for the day she vanished showed she planned to have lunch with a photographer she had recently met, according to the family’s private detective and news reports at the time. Her lunch date’s name, authorities later said, was an alias that Alcala used.

Alcala had been eyed in Crilley’s death for at least several years. New York Police Department detectives investigating her killing went to California in 2003 with a warrant to interview Alcala and get a dental impression from him.

A forensic dentist later found that a bite mark on Crilley’s body was consistent with Alcala’s impression, a law enforcement official has said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Alcala, now 68, has been behind bars since his 1979 arrest in one of the California killings. Before that arrest, he also served a prison sentence on convictions of furnishing marijuana to a minor and kidnapping and trying to kill an 8-year-old girl.

He also had attended college and worked briefly as a typist at The Los Angeles Times, according to a 1979 story in the newspaper.

And he had made his way onto a 1978 episode of “The Dating Game,” the innuendo-filled matchmaking show that was a hit in its era.

Introduced as a photographer with a yen for motorcycling and skydiving, the long-haired, leisure-suited Alcala won the contest. But the woman who chose him over two other contestants ultimately didn’t go on a date with him, according to news reports.

His conviction last year came after a series of trials, overturned convictions and strange courtroom moments. Acting as his own lawyer, Alcala offered a rambling defense that included questioning the mother of one of his victims, showing a clip of his appearance on “The Dating Game” and playing Arlo Guthrie’s 1967 song “Alice’s Restaurant.”

Alcala fought his extradition to New York, saying he needed to stay in California to attend court hearings and do other preparatory work on his appeal. The California Supreme Court rejected his argument last month.

 

Split Ohio Parole Board rejects clemency for condemned killer of convenience store owner

June 20, 2012  Source : http://www.therepublic.com

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The prosecutor who charged John Eley with a capital crime and a judge who sentenced him to death both want the killer of a Youngstown convenience store owner spared, saying he doesn’t deserve a death sentence.

Their unusual support was not enough to sway the Ohio Parole Board, which voted 5-3 Wednesday in a rare split decision to recommend against clemency for Eley.

Eley, 63, is scheduled to die July 26 for the 1986 killing of store owner Ihsan Aydah. Gov. John Kasich has the final say on mercy.

Eley refused to testify against his alleged conspirator, Melvin Green, in exchange for a deal that would have removed the death penalty. Green, who was acquitted in a separate trial, was considered the mastermind of the crime by investigators.

Opposition to Eley’s execution from the prosecutor and the judge, as well as the detective who investigated the crime, don’t outweigh the nature of the crime, according to the five board members who rejected clemency.

The supporters’ assertions “do not outweigh the fact that Eley took the gun from Green, entered the store with the intent to rob the victim, knew that the victim had a gun and might try to use it, and then shot him in the head,” the board said.

The board also rejected claims by Eley’s lawyers that he is mentally ill and mentally disabled.

It’s not unusual for judges or prosecutors to change their mind about individual cases or the death penalty itself, but on-the-record testimony on behalf of a condemned inmate is relatively rare.

The three board members who supported Eley’s plea for mercy say he is not the “worst of the worst” killers, and argue that many similar convenience store robbers who committed more serious crimes escaped death sentences.

They also said the crime wouldn’t have happened without Green. And they argued that Eley was a victim of a game of bluff by prosecutors as they threatened him with a death sentence to force his testimony against Green.

“The prosecutors ‘played a bluff’ all the way to the end, and when Eley did not cooperate, they were stuck with the death penalty conviction,” the three dissenting members said.

Former Mahoning County prosecutor Gary Van Brocklin told the board that Green set up the entire robbery. Former Mahoning County judge Peter Economus — now a federal judge — said if defense attorneys had presented more reasons why Eley should have been spared, he wouldn’t have voted in favor of a death sentence.

Clemency “should be granted for Mr. Eley in this case,” Economus wrote to both the parole board and Kasich on June 7.

“Frankly, I am surprised that his death sentence was not modified by the courts who have reviewed this case over the years.”

Board members opposed to clemency rejected Economus’ argument, saying several courts have previously ruled that factors that could have been presented to the jury about Eley but weren’t — such as the effect of a head injury in earlier life on his behavior — wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

Green, 54, is in prison and scheduled for release in October on charges he illegally carried a concealed weapon, had a gun in a car and possession of drugs. But he also faces the possibility of additional time for violating parole on a prior aggravated robbery conviction, according to state prison records. Those charges are unrelated to the Eley case.

Luka Magnotta Pleads Not Guilty To Dismembering Lover On Video

Update June 20, 2012 Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Magnotta

Luka Rocco Magnotta, the Canadian porn actor accused of dismembering his Chinese lover, having sex with and eating his corpse on video, and then mailing his body parts to schools, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to five charges, including first-degree murder.

In his first court appearance since his extradition from Germany to Montreal, the 29-year-old Magnotta entered a plea by videoconference from a Montreal detention center, CBS News reported.

Magnotta’s lawyer, Pierre Panaccio, asked that Magnotta undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he’s criminally responsible for the killing. The court will consider the request on Thursday.

The porn actor allegedly killed his lover and roommate, 33-year-old Jun Lin, and sent his hands and feet to Canada’s political parties and two schools. Cops are still looking for Lin’s head.

Investigators say that a video recorded by Magnotta shows him having sex with Lin’s corpse and eating part of it.

The videos and body parts started a worldwide manhunt for Magnotta. He was arrested this month in Germany.

Luka Rocco Magnotta Update: Police Search For Victim’s Head

June 19,2012 Source : http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Luka Magnotta

MONTREAL — A Canadian porn actor accused of dismembering his Chinese lover and mailing the body parts to political parties and schools pleaded not guilty Tuesday to five charges including first degree murder.

Luka Magnotta entered his plea before a judge via videoconference from a Montreal detention center. It was his first hearing since being extradited to Canada under very tight security from Germany, where he was arrested after an international manhunt.

His lawyer, Pierre Panaccio, requested that Magnotta be evaluated by a psychiatrist to determine his criminal responsibility. The court will consider that request Thursday.

Magnotta, 29, is suspected of killing Jun Lin, a 33-year-old a computer science student at Concordia University, and sending his feet and hands to Canada’s top political parties and two schools. The head is still missing, and police said they would ask Magnotta where it is.

Investigators say Magnotta also posted a video online showing him having sex with the dismembered corpse. A second, unedited version of the video seen by police shows him eating parts of the body. Police say Magnotta and Lin were in a relationship.

During the hearing, Magnotta stood silently between two guards, handcuffed and wearing a brown shirt. He said just one word to his defense lawyer. Panaccio told his client that he hoped to speak with him later Tuesday.

“If you wish to call me at home tonight, I’d be pleased to talk about this,” Panaccio told Magnotta.

“Okay,” the suspect replied before being led away to detention.

His appearance lasted about three minutes.

Magnotta faces charges including first-degree murder, defiling a corpse, threatening the prime minister and using the mail system for delivering “obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous” material.

Prosecutor Helene DiSalvo said authorities will meet with Lin’s family, who traveled to Canada after hearing of his death. She said finding the head is important to both the case and the victim’s family.

The case became known when a package containing a severed foot was found at Canada’s ruling Conservative Party headquarters on May 29. That same day, a hand was discovered at a postal facility, addressed to the Liberal Party of Canada.

Lin’s torso was found in a suitcase at a garbage dump in Montreal outside Magnotta’s apartment building.

About a week later, the missing foot and hand were found mailed to two schools in Vancouver. Police said notes were included in most of the packages but declined to say what they said.

Magnotta, who fled to Canada before the killing was discovered, spent a few days partying in Paris before moving on to Berlin, where he was caught earlier this month as he read stories about himself at an Internet cafe.

He did not contest his extradition from Germany and arrived Monday in Montreal on a military plane.

Police called the Canadian military flight an extraordinary measure. Police said preliminary checks with private airlines suggested it would be difficult to use a standard commercial carrier to get Magnotta home. Among the problems: the airline would have had to vacate an entire section of seats around the suspect.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Tuesday that China was monitoring developments and hoped that there would be justice to give “the victim a result that can have him rest in peace.”

__

STAYS OF EXECUTIONS 2012

UPDATE October 19, 2012

STAYS OF EXECUTIONS 2012

Date of  Scheduled Execution  State  Inmate Reason for Stay
January      
17 PA Ralph Birdsong Stayed to allow time for appeals.
18 PA Kenneth Hairston Stayed to allow time for appeals.
 18 OH Charles Lorraine U.S. District Court Judge Gregory Frost delayed the execution due to the Department of Corrections failing to “follow its own rules for executions.”  Frost said the state failed to document the drugs used in its last execution in November and failed to review the medical chart of the inmate who was put to death.
19 KY Michael St. Clair Stayed due to a pending case on the fairness of the death penalty protocol in Kentucky.
20 DE Robert Gattis Gov. Jack Markell cited the “unusual and perhaps historic” recommendation of the Delaware Board of Pardons, in a 4-1 vote, to commute Gattis’ sentence after considering disturbing accounts of physical and sexual abuse that Gattis claims to have suffered as a child and which his attorneys argued have never been properly considered by the courts.
31 GA Nicholas Tate Stayed to allow time for appeals.
February      
1 TX Donald Newbury Stayed by U.S. Supreme Court to consider an Arizona case that questions whether death row inmates are entitled to better legal help during initial appeals.
8 MS Edwin Turner U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves stayed the execution to allow Turner to be seen by a psychiatrist of his choosing.
16 OK Garry Allen Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin granted a 30-day stay of execution so that state attorneys could study whether he should be granted clemency.
22 OH Michael Webb Stayed by U.S. District Judge Gregory L. Frost, through an agreement with Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, to allow time for Ohio to revise their execution protocols.
28 TX Anthony Bartee Stayed by State District Judge Mary Roman to allow time for DNA testing.
March      
6 NE Michael Ryan Stayed by the Nebraska Supreme Court to allow time for a lower court to consider a request to have Ryan’s sentence commuted to life in prison.
8 PA Dustin Briggs Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
16 OK Garry Allen Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin issued an additional 26-day stay.
18 SD Briley Piper Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
29 AL Tommy Arthur Stayed by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals due to Alabama’s decision to use pentobarbital as part of a three-drug execution combination.
April      
5 UT Michael Archuleta Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
12 AL Carey Grayson Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
12 OK Garry Allen Granted stay by a federal District Court judge to give adequate opportunity to litigate claims regarding competency.
19 GA Daniel Greene Stayed for up to 90 days by the state Board of Pardons and Paroles to allow for additional time to examine the substance of claims offered by Greene’s representatives. Update – Greene’s sentence was commuted to a sentence of life without parole by the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles.
20 DE Shannon Johnson Stayed by a federal judge to allow time to hear mental incompetence claims. 
Update – Johnson has been executed.
26 TX Buenka Adams Stayed by U.S. District Judge Michael Schneider to allow time to review the quality of legal help that Adams had in early stages of his appeal.  Update – Adams has been executed.
May      
2 TX Anthony Bartee Stayed to consider a request for additional DNA testing.
9 LA Todd Wessinger Stayed by U.S. District Judge James Brady to allow time to review arguments presented by Wessinger’s attorneys.
13-19 SD Eric Robert Stayed by the South Dakota Supreme Court so the court can fully review the case.
16 TX Steven Staley Stayed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals due to mental health issues raised in his appeal.
16 AZ Samuel Lopez Stayed by the Arizona Supreme Court to allow time for issues raised by recent clemency-board appointments to be worked out.
June      
6 TX Bobby Hines Stayed at the request of the district attorney’s office to allow further DNA testing.
6 OH Abdul Awkal Stayed for 2 weeks by Gov. John Kasich to allow a judge to hold a hearing on his mental competency.  Update – Cuyahoga County Judge Stuart Friedman has issued a decision that Awkal may not be executed unless and until he has been restored to competency.
July      
18/23 GA Warren Hill July 18 execution stayed until July 23 to allow time for the state to switch to a single-drug execution protocol.  Update- July 23 execution stayed by unanimous vote of Georgia Supreme Court to consider state’s change of lethal injection protocol.
26 OH John Eley Governor John R. Kasich commuted the death sentence of John Jeffrey Eley to life in prison without the possibility of parole.  Kasich stated that Eley, who is of limited mental capacity, acted under the direction of another man who was later acquitted. Without those factors it is doubtful that Eley would have committed this crime. Additionally, the former Mahoning County prosecutor who tried Eley’s case regretted the way the case was handled and its outcome, and had called for clemency.
August      
1 TX Marcus Druery Stayed by TX Court of Criminal Appeals to consider whether a hearing is needed to determine his mental competency.
3 MO Michael Tisius Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
15 LA Jason Reeves Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
22 TX John Balentine Stayed by U.S. Supreme Court to allow time for further review.
September      
9-15 SD Rodney Berget Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
13 PA Michael Travaglia Stayed to allow more time to prepare a federal appeal.
October      
3 PA Terrance Williams Trial level judge found prosecutors withheld evidence.  New sentencing ordered.
9 PA Terry Chamberlain Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
10 PA Andre Staton Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
10 TX Jonathan Green Stayed by U.S. District Judge Nancy Atlas to allow review of Green’s mental competency. Update – stay has been overturned by 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.  Update – Green has been executed.
11 PA David Ramtahal Stayed to allow more time for appeals.
16 FL John Ferguson Stayed by Gov. Scott to allow time for psychiatric testing.  Execution could go forward if Ferguson found mentally competent.  Update – The Florida Supreme Court granted a 2-day stay of execution so the justices can hear another appeal, the stay will expire 10/18. Update – prior stay required setting of a new execution date.  Update – Execution date has been set for 10/23.
18 TX Anthony Haynes Stayed by the U.S. Supreme Court (7-2) to consider claims of inadequate representation at trial and appeal.

UPCOMING – Executions – JULY 2012

Update July 18, 2012

Dates are subject to change due to stays and appeals

Pennsylvania execution dates and stays are generally not listed because the state routinely sets execution dates before all appeals have been exhausted.

July

07/18/2012

Yakomon Hearn

Texas

  Executed   6:37 p.m 

07/18/2012

Warren Hill

Georgia

 Stayed (rescheduled for 7/23)  STAYED

07/24/2012

Darien Houser

Pennsylvania

 STAYED

07/25/2012

John Koehler

Pennsylvania

 STAYED

07/26/2012

Willie Clayton

Pennsylvania

 STAYED

07/26/2012

John Eley

Ohio

  COMMUTED  

MISSISSIPPI – Gary Carl Simmons – Execution june 20 – Last Hours EXECUTED 6:16 p.m

Last Statement

“I’ve been blessed to be loved by some good people, by some amazing people. I thank them for their support. Let’s get it on so these people can go home. That’s it,” Simmons said as he lay strapped on a gurney in the execution chamber moments before the procedure was carried out.

Once the drugs began flowing, Simmons took a few deep breaths and yawned before going motionless.

–————————————————-

June 20, 2012 Execution of Gary Carl Simmons 7:00 p.m. News Briefing

Parchman, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) today conducted the mandated execution of state inmate Gary Carl Simmons. Inmate Simmons was pronounced dead at 6:16 p.m. at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps said during a press conference following the execution that the evening signified the close of the Gary Carl Simmons case. Simmons was sentenced to death in 1997 for the crime of capital murder of Jeffery Wolfe in Jackson County, Miss.
“For the third time this month, the cause of justice has been championed. The State of Mississippi – Department of Corrections has carried out the mandated execution of death row inmate Gary Carl Simmons,” said MDOC Commissioner Chris Epps. “Through the course of nearly 16 years, death row inmate Gary Carl Simmons was afforded his day in court and in the finality, his conviction was upheld.”
“I ask that you join me in prayer for the family of Jeffery Wolfe. The entire MDOC family hopes you may now embark on the process of healing. Our prayers and thoughts are with you as you continue life’s journey,” said Epps.
Epps concluded his comments by commending Deputy Commissioner of Institutions Emmitt Sparkman, Parchman Penitentiary Superintendent Earnest Lee, Mississippi State Penitentiary security staff and the entire staff of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for their professionalism during the process.

June 20, 2012 Scheduled Execution of Gary Carl Simmons 4:45 p.m. News Briefing
_________________________________________________________________________________
Parchman, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) today briefed members of the news media of death row Inmate Gary Carl Simmons’ activities from 2:00 p.m. to approximately 4:45 p.m., including telephone calls and visits.
Inmate Simmons’ Collect Telephone Calls
Today, Wednesday, June 20, 2012
None
Update to Inmate Simmons’ Visits
Family visitors, Belinda Simmons Bowen (sister) and Anthony Bowen (brother-in-law) arrived at Unit 17 at 1:30 pm and left at 3:00 p.m.
Attorney Harvey Barton visited with inmate Simmons from 3:00 p.m. until 3:22 p.m.
His spiritual advisor, David Lowery, visited with inmate Simmons from 3:22 p.m. until 4:00pm.
Activities of Inmate Simmons:
Inmate Simmons has eaten at least half of his last meal. He has sampled everything except one bag of chips and is still eating.
Inmate Simmons does want to take a shower.
He does not want a sedative.
Inmate Simmons remains under observation. Officers have observed Inmate Simmons as being slightly more upbeat since visiting with his spiritual advisor.

June 20, 2012 Scheduled Execution of Gary Carl Simmons 2:00 p.m. News Briefing
______________________________________________________________________
Parchman, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) will hold three news briefings today related to events surrounding the Wednesday, June 20, 2012 scheduled execution of death row Inmate Gary Carl Simmons, MDOC #R1943. The following is an  update on Inmate Simmons’ recent visits and telephone calls, activities, last meal to be served, and the official list of execution witnesses.
Approved visitation list:
 Belinda Simmons Bowen (sister)
 Anthony Bowen (brother-in-law)
 Harvey Barton (attorney)
 Scott Johnson (attorney)
 David Lowery (spiritual advisor)
 Father Tim Murphy (MDOC Chaplain)

Visits with Inmate Gary Carl Simmons
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Harvey Barton (attorney)
Visits today, thus far:
None

Activities of Simmons
Inmate Simmons was transferred from Unit 29 to Unit 17 on Monday at 6:00 p.m.
This morning, at Unit 17, for breakfast at 5:36 a.m. inmate Simmons was offered 1
serving of scrambled eggs, 1 slice of ham, 1 serving of Frosty Flakes cereal, 1 biscuit,
4 packs of sugar, 2 boxes of milk and 1 cup of coffee. He ate the serving of eggs, and
drank 2 boxes of milk and the coffee.
Inmate Simmons was offered lunch today at 10:54 a.m., which included 1 meatloaf
patty, 4 ounces of rice, 4 ounces of salad with dressing, 2 pieces of cornbread, 3
ounces of gravy, and 1 cup of punch. He ate all of the salad with dressing, half of the
meatloaf patty and drank half of the punch.
Inmate Simmons has access to a telephone to place unlimited collect calls to persons
on his approved telephone list. He will have access today, June 20th until 5:00 p.m.
Approved Telephone List
 Cheryl Bullied (friend)
 Lori Lucus (ex-wife)
 Robert Taylor (uncle)
 Glen Swartzfager (attorney)
 Kathleen Blackmon (sister)
Inmate Simmons’ Collect Telephone Calls
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
One phone call to Glen Swartzfager (attorney)
Today, June 20, 2012
Two phone calls to Kathleen Blackmon (sister)
According to the MDOC correctional officers that are posted outside his cell, Inmate Simmons is observed to be in a somber mood and is not talkative.
Simmons’ Remains
Inmate Simmons has requested that his body be released to Belinda Bowen (sister) via Legacy Funeral Services, Denver, Colorado.
Last Meal
Inmate Simmons requested the following as his last meal: one Pizza Hut medium super supreme deep dish (thin crust if available) pizza, double portion: tomato sauce, mushrooms, onions, jalapeño pepper slices and pepperoni. Regular portion: 3 cheeses, olives, bell peppers, tomato, garlic and Italian sausage. Ten (8oz) packs of parmesan cheese, ten (8oz)
packs of Ranch dressing, One (16oz) family size bag of Doritos nacho cheese chips, 8oz jalapeño nacho cheese, 4oz sliced jalapeño peppers, 2 large strawberry milkshakes, two (20oz) cherry Cokes, one super-sized order McDonald’s French fries (extra ketchup and mayonnaise) and two pints strawberry ice cream (any brand)

Execution Witnesses
Spiritual Advisor(s) for the condemned Inmate Simmons requested his spiritual advisors,
David Lowery and Father Tim Murphy, witness the execution.
Attorney(s) for the condemned Harvey Barton and Scott Johnson.
Member(s) of the condemned’s family Inmate Simmons’ family member, Belinda Simmons
Bowen (sister), will witness the execution.
Member(s) of the victims’ family Paskiel Wolfe (father of Jeffery Wolfe) and Linda
Wolfe (step-mother of Jeffery Wolfe) will witness the execution.
Sheriffs Sheriff James Haywood, Sunflower County
Sheriff Mike Byrd, Jackson County

Members of the Media

Margaret Baker
Sun Herald
Biloxi, MS
Brittany Davis
Enterprise-Tocsin
Indianola, MS
Holbrook “Bert” Mohr
Associated Press
Jackson, MS
Doug Walker Wineki
WLOX – TV
Biloxi, MS

Arizona death-row inmate wants his execution delayed until state has new governor – Samuel Villegas Lopez

Update, June 22 Source : http://www.azcentral.com

Arizona’s Board of Executive Clemency voted 4-0 Friday not to recommend clemency or a reprieve for convicted murderer Samuel Lopez, who is scheduled to be executed Wednesday.

Also on Friday, Arizona’s Supreme Court denied a request by Lopez’s attorneys for a stay of execution, leaving a pending appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court as his last chance for a reprieve.

Lopez was sentenced to death for the brutal murder of Estefana Holmes in central Phoenix in 1986. After a “terrible and prolonged struggle,” Lopez raped and sodomized her, stabbed her more than 23 times in the chest and head, and slashed her throat, according to court records.

The board’s vote followed impassioned pleas both for and against his execution.

“He didn’t just murder Essie, he murdered our family,” said Denise Evans, Holmes’s daughter-in-law, saying that her devastated husband drank himself to death after her killing.

More than a dozen members of Holmes’s family testified, most describing how the murders continue to affect them, and saying the execution would bring them closure.

“Why should he be allowed more time on this earth than our sister?” asked Sarah Arguijo Bryant.

Assistant Federal Public Defender Kelley Henry expressed her condolences, but told the board that because of poor lawyering, no court had heard the full story of Lopez’s poor and brutal upbringing, or of how his childhood abuse of various substances, as an escape, had left him mentally impaired. Neuropsychiatrist George Wood, describing that upbringing in clinical detail, said Lopez and his siblings essentially were brought up as “feral children.” He noted that two of Lopez’s brothers also faced the death penalty for their own crimes.

That background and impairment should have mitigated his sentence to life without parole, Henry said. Inevitably, when the death penalty is imposed “it’s not for the worst crime, it’s for the worst lawyer,” she said.

State prosecutors had provided the board members with color photos of Holmes and the murder scene. Board member Mel Thomas said he reviewed them closely before the hearing. “I tell you now, when I did this at home, I cried,” he said.

Lopez, who is being held at the Eyman state prison, did not take part in the hearing. He previously had been scheduled for execution May 15, but won a delay after the Arizona Supreme Court agreed that three new members of the clemency board hadn’t had adequate training when they first considered his bid for clemency last month. When Gov. Jan Brewer replaced three of the five board members, including the chairman, in April, the departing members said they had been ousted because she was unhappy with their votes to recommend clemency in certain cases.

Henry had sought another stay, arguing that the new members couldn’t give Lopez a fair hearing because they were improperly appointed and biased against him; but Friday the state supreme court denied her motion without comment. The U.S. Supreme Court had not acted Friday on a separate request for a stay filed by Lopez’s attorneys

June 20, 2012 Source :

PHOENIX — Attorneys for a death-row inmate set to be put to death in Arizona next week want the execution delayed until the state has a new governor, arguing in a Tuesday filing that Gov. Jan Brewer appointed “political cronies” to a clemency board in an unconstitutional, closed-door process.

In their filing in the Arizona Supreme Court, defense attorneys for death-row inmate Samuel Villegas Lopez argue that he can’t receive a fair hearing with the state’s clemency board, often an inmate’s last chance for mercy before an execution.

Brewer overhauled the board in April, a move that her spokesman Matt Benson said at the time was designed to “bring fresh insight and fresh blood” to the board.“The Arizona Supreme Court has already found these allegations to be without merit. The latest filing is more of the same,” Benson said in statement Tuesday evening. “Governor Brewer appropriately nominated qualified individuals to the Board of Executive Clemency, including a Democrat, and they were properly confirmed by the Arizona Senate. The governor and the Board of Executive Clemency have the right to defend themselves when named in a lawsuit in which spurious and sanctionable allegations are asserted.”

In their filing, Lopez’s attorneys argued that the new board members are “political cronies” appointed to ensure that they never vote for executions to be delayed or overturned.

The attorneys also argue that the selection committee for the new board members questioned potential members about how they would vote on controversial or high-profile cases in interviews that were closed to the public in violation of open-meetings laws.

“While the Governor may be free to appoint her political cronies to Arizona boards and commissions, and while political patronage may be an accepted part of Arizona government, the law at least requires that those actions be known to the public,” the filing said.

“Offensive to any reasonable notion of fairness, this denial of access to the clemency process would not have occurred in the sunlight of public scrutiny,” they wrote. “Mr. Lopez must now plead for mercy before a board constituted of a majority of members selected by that process.”

Lopez’s clemency hearing is set for Friday.

His attorneys also argue that statements made by Benson and newly appointed board Chairman Jesse Hernandez to reporters display clear bias against Lopez and a prejudgment of his request for mercy.

For instance, Benson told The Associated Press last month that defense attorneys were “attempting to further delay justice for the heinous crimes committed by their client 25 years ago.”

“Throwing together a host of trumped-up charges against a citizen board does not change that fact,” he said.

Hernandez has told the AP that the attorneys were “grandstanding” in filing a lawsuit against Brewer and the board in Maricopa County Superior Court over the new board members.

Hernandez did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The Arizona Supreme Court already delayed Lopez’s execution once, on May 15, to give the new clemency board members time to undergo four weeks of training before they held a hearing about Lopez’s fate.

The court granted the delay on the grounds that Lopez was denied a fair chance for clemency because a majority of the board members had not undergone the training. The court rescheduled the May 16 execution for June 27.

Lopez faces a lethal injection at a state prison in Florence for the 1986 murder of Estefana Holmes. The Phoenix woman was raped, robbed and stabbed in what authorities described as a “terrible and prolonged struggle.

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