Rick Halperin
2018-10-16 13:58:43 UTC
October 16
TEXAS:
Judge to set death date for Coble
A judge has called a hearing to set an execution date for convicted triple
murderer Billie Wayne Coble.
Judge Matt Johnson of Waco's 54th State District Court has set the hearing for
1:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 days after the U.S. Supreme court rejected Coble’s
appeal of his conviction in the 1989 deaths of his brother-in-law, Waco Sgt.
Bobby Vicha, and Vicha's parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, at their homes in
Axtell.
By statute, Johnson must set the execution date at least 91 days after
Wednesday's hearing. Johnson will coordinate the date for Coble's execution,
which will be carried out at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, with prison
administrators and the Texas Attorney General's Office.
Johnson signed a warrant Monday to have Coble returned to Waco for Wednesday's
hearing.
Coble, 70, one of the oldest on Texas' death row, has been on death row since
1990, when he first was convicted in the Vichas' deaths. He won a new
punishment trial in 2007 when the 5th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals ruled
questions asked of jurors to return the death penalty were unconstitutional.
He was sentenced to death again following a punishment retrial 10 years ago.
Trial evidence showed Coble was upset over the failure of his 3rd marriage.
After killing Karen Vicha's brother and parents, Coble kidnapped his estranged
wife and threatened to rape and kill her. Coble was arrested after he and Karen
Vicha were injured after a high-speed chase with police in Bosque County.
J.R. Vicha, a Waco attorney and former McLennan County prosecutor, was 11 at
the time of the slayings. Coble tied him up, along with 2 cousins, and fled
with his wife.
"I want to thank Judge Johnson for getting this done so quickly," Vicha said
Monday. "I hope he sets the date as soon as possible after the 91 days so we
can get this done."
Coble's attorney, A. Richard Ellis of Mill Valley, California, did not return a
phone message Monday.
(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)
***********************
Inmate convicted of capital murder in death of Abilene corrections officer
An inmate has been found guilty of capital murder in the death of an Abilene
corrections officer.
The jury found Dillion Gage Compton guilty after deliberating for less than 3
hours.
Compton killed Marianne Johnson in July 2016 at the French Robertson Unit.
The punishment phase, which starts tomorrow at 10 a.m., will determine whether
he will face the death penalty.
(source: KTXS news)
VIRGINIA:
Who will be the last person executed by Virginia?
On Oct. 11, the Washington state Supreme Court unanimously struck down that
state's death penalty statute as unconstitutional ["State's high court rejects
death penalty," national digest, Oct. 12]. The court wrote:
"The death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and
racially biased manner. While this particular case provides an opportunity to
specifically address racial disproportionality, the underlying issues that
underpin our holding are rooted in the arbitrary manner in which the death
penalty is generally administered."
Washington becomes the 20th state to end capital punishment. 10 more states
have not put anyone to death in the past decade.
Unfortunately, Virginia is among the few remaining states that still carry out
executions - 3 in the past 5 years.
However, no Virginia jury has sentenced an offender to death since 2011. There
are only 3 men remaining on Virginia's death row. Who will be the last person
executed by the commonwealth?
It is long past time that Virginia ends what the unanimous Washington Supreme
Court called "an arbitrary and racially biased" punishment.
Michael E. Stone, Richmond
(source: The writer is executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty----Letter to the Editor, Washington Post)
ALABAMA:
Death penalty switched to life in prison for Alabama man who killed 4 children
A Bayou La Batre man who was given the death penalty after throwing his 4
children off a bridge in 2008 had his sentenced reduced Monday to life without
a parole after 2 independent psychologists said that his IQ did not meet the
state minimum to be executed.
Lam Luong, 38, who born in Vietnam before moving to the United States as a
teenager, was present in court when the new sentence was handed down.
District Attorney Ashley Rich, who was visibly shaken while reading a press
release at Government Plaza late Monday afternoon, said that "no one deserves
the death penalty more" than Lam Luong.
"Our hands are tied," she added, while citing state and federal laws that
prohibit executing a person with an IQ of lower than 70 points. To do so would
be considered cruel and unusual punishment, as outlined in the 8th Amendment.
DA Rich said that no member of the legal profession that interacted with Luong
during his initial trial in April 2009 believed he had learning issues. "None
of these very experienced members of the bar specializing in criminal law ever
had any indication that the defendant might be below average intelligence."
Attorneys for Luong hired a licensed psychologist and developmental
neuropsychologist to determine their clients IQ, which had never been done at
the initial trial. His IQ was measured at 57, said Rich. An independent
licensed psychologist hired by the Alabama Attorney General's Office, which
sought to appeal the test's findings, measured Luong's IQ even lower, at 51.
Luong will now spend the remainder of his life in prison. He has no opportunity
for parole.
(source: al.com)
OHIO:
Inmate faces death penalty after allegedly strangling cellmate to death
A former Warren County inmate strangled his cellmate to death in April,
prosecutors said.
Jack Welninski was serving a nearly 70-year sentence when police said he killed
Kevin Nill at the Lebanon Correctional Institution. But now, if convicted,
Welninski could be sentenced to death.
The 33-year-old was indicted on a capital murder charge Monday, Warren County
Prosecutor David Fornshell said.
In 2015, Welninski was convicted for the attempted murder of an Oregon, Ohio,
police officer. He was sentenced to 69 years in prison.
On April 23, Welninski was placed in a cell with Kevin Nill, 40, of Piqua,
Ohio. Nill was dead less than an hour later, the Warren County Prosecutors
Office said.
"Investigators believe that Welninski murdered Nill to obtain a transfer to a
different prison," officials said in a press release Monday.
The killing occurred in the Lebanon Correctional Institution. Welninski has
since been sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Ohio.
Fornshell explained that death penalty is an option due to the alleged killing
occurring while Welninski was incarcerated and prior violent offenses.
Welninski has not yet been arraigned on the murder charge. Trial dates will be
scheduled later.
The victim, Nill, of Piqua was serving an 18-month sentence for attempted
domestic violence. He scheduled to be released from prison on May 24, about a
month after he was killed.
The death penalty in Warren County
There are 4 recent cases of the death penalty being brought to bear in Warren
County.
Christopher Kirby is accused of killing his sister Debra Power in September
2017. Prosecutors said Kirby and his wife was living with his sister and his
sister was threatening to kick them out. Kirby's trial begins next week, and a
jury will be asked to consider the death penalty in the case.
Terry Froman abducted his estranged girlfriend from Kentucky and killed her on
Interstate 75 in Sept. 2014. A Warren County jury recommended the death penalty
for Froman. His appeal is currently pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Austin Myers is scheduled to be put to death on July 20, 2022. Myers and
another man killed Justin Back, an 18-year-old Navy recruiter, in Jan. 2014.
Justin's Law was passed in Ohio as a response to the murder and increased
penalties in murder cases.
James Hanna killed a fellow inmate, 18-year-old cellmate Peter Copas, with a
paintbrush and a padlock at the Lebanon Correctional Institution in 1997. Hanna
is scheduled to be put to death in Dec. 2019.
The last man to be executed from Warren County was Rocky Barton. He killed his
wife in 2003 and was executed in July 2006. The short period between the murder
and his death was due to Barton refusing to appeal his conviction or ask for
clemency. He tried to kill himself with a shotgun blast to the head the day he
killed his wife, who was attempting to leave him, and later said he deserved to
die.
(source: cincinnati.com)
TENNESSEE----impending execution
State prepares electric chair, execution date unconfirmed
While the details of the execution are still up in the air, but the state is
preparing to send a death row inmate in Tennessee to the electric chair.
A jury sentenced Edmund Zagorski to death back in 1984 for the slayings of two
men during a drug deal.
Zagorski had been set to be executed at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 11, but that
was halted after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a
stay over concerns of inadequate representation.
As the state rushed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling
and ensure the execution took place as scheduled, a separate federal judge
barred the state from using lethal injection to kill Zagorski after it refused
his request to die in the electric chair.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge of Tennessee's lethal injection
protocol and lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of
inadequate counsel.
The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski's
execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted
a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by
electric chair.
"I am granting to Edmund Zagorski a reprieve of 10 days from execution of the
sentence of death imposed upon by him by a jury in 1984 which was scheduled to
be carried out later today," Haslam stated. "I take seriously the
responsibility imposed upon the Tennessee Department of Correction and me by
law, and given the federal court's decision to honor Zagorski's last-minute
decision to choose electrocution as the method of execution, this brief
reprieve will give all involved the time necessary to carry out the sentence in
an orderly and careful manner."
Before the state can use the electric chair, it has to be tested four times a
year, including two weeks before an execution. The state says it just tested
the chair Wednesday.
The 10-day reprieve is set to run out October 21, but It's still not clear just
when Zagorski's execution could happen.
(source: WATE news)
**********************
Last-Ditch Efforts to Save Death Row Inmate in Tennessee Rejected
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected 2 last-ditch efforts to save the life of
Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski, apparently clearing the way for his
execution despite a delay caused by legal wrangling.
The court rejected a challenge of Tennessee's lethal injection protocol and
lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of inadequate
counsel.
The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski's
execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted
a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by
electric chair.
(source: governing.com)
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors considering death penalty against Christopher Clements
Prosecutors are considering the death penalty for the man accused of kidnapping
and murdering 2 young girls.
Christopher Clements is accused of killing 6-year-old Isabel Celis and
13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.
Prosecutors need to give notice of intention to seek the death penalty within
60 days of the arraignment. Prosecuting and defense attorneys asked a judge to
extend the deadline another 60 days "given the complexity of the case,"
according to court documents.
The Pima County Attorney's Office now has until January 24 to decide if it
wants to seek the death penalty.
(source: KVOA news)
NEVADA:
Scott Dozier Still Wants to be Executed. And He's Still Waiting.----After
forcing Nevada into a legal battle over its lethal injection drugs, an
execution "volunteer" says the state is punishing him.
Last week, Nevada death row prisoner Scott Dozier called his family and friends
and said they might not be hearing from him for a while. He had been placed, he
said, in a form of solitary confinement so his mental health could be assessed,
with just a few articles of clothing and an anti-suicide blanket.
Prison officials have not offered an explanation, but Dozier has speculated
that they are punishing him for - or trying to get him to halt - his years-long
effort to be executed. "I have never heard him sound so defeated," said Edgar
Barens, a filmmaker who has regularly corresponded with Dozier.
Dozier's ongoing legal saga, which I wrote about in January, continues to
illuminate the ambivalence and political turmoil surrounding the death penalty
in the United States. Death row prisoners usually appeal their sentences, and
many manage to hold off execution for decades. Many live in solitary
confinement with few amenities, but Dozier was given access to an exercise
yard, as well as a television, MP3 player and art supplies. Still, he did not
feel that life in prison was a life worth living. 2 years ago, he announced
that he would give up his appeals and agree to be killed. His request forced
Nevada, which had not executed anyone in a decade, to come up with a new lethal
injection cocktail and defend it in a number of court battles.
As of now, the state is losing those battles, and it appears Dozier will not be
executed anytime soon. In late September, Las Vegas district judge Elizabeth
Gonzalez barred officials from using their store of lethal injection drugs,
based on opposition from the pharmaceutical companies that produced them.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is asking the state supreme court to
overrule Gonzalez, but if that fails, officials will need to acquire new drugs
- no company has offered to sell them - or else develop a new execution method,
such as the firing squad.
After 2 previous stays of execution, Dozier was placed on suicide watch for
several days. The prison agency said this was a temporary precaution until he
could be given a psychological evaluation, but Dozier thought officials might
be punishing him. "I can't fucking believe they can treat people like this," he
told me by phone in July after the most recent stay. "It feels like they're
fucking with me to get me to stop [pushing to be executed]." He wrote letters
to the head of the prison agency and a state senator, but to no avail.
This time, family and friends said Dozier had been in good spirits until he was
put in these conditions, which he described to Barens as "limbo inside of
limbo." In an email sent on Oct. 3 to 1 of Dozier's lawyers, obtained by The
Marshall Project, Ely State Prison warden William Gittere wrote that Dozier's
placement was based on a "mental health provider's orders." "He is not on a
suicide watch, but has been placed in an infirmary cell to be observed and
assessed for the next few days to a week," Gittere wrote. "I cannot comment on
the source of information that led to the provider's concern due to an ongoing
investigation."
Last Friday, Dozier’s family sent a letter to Nevada Department of Corrections
director James Dzurenda. "At this point there is little to no information
supporting the idea that Mr. Dozier is a risk to himself or others," they
wrote. "He has asked to speak with medical staff yet requests were left
unanswered, denied, or met with apathy."
In an email, corrections department spokesperson Brooke Santina cited patient
privacy in declining to provide details about Dozier's mental health treatment,
but said prisoners are only placed in segregation when "we have a reason to
believe that there is a threat to their safety or the safety of another.” Asked
if Dozier was being punished, she responded, "With nearly 14,000 inmates in 18
facilities across the state, it's imperative we follow the law and our policy
to ensure each inmate is treated as any other inmate in his or her
circumstances would be treated."
Dozier was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing and dismembering 22-year-old
Jeremiah Miller, an associate in the methamphetamine trade. He was separately
convicted in Arizona of killing 26-year-old Jasen Greene, and while in an
Arizona jail, in 2005, he attempted suicide. He denies both murders, and began
appealing his convictions, but in October 2016, he ended his appeals. Some have
described his effort to be executed as akin to state-assisted suicide, but
Dozier doesn't see it that way. "It's not that I think I deserve the sentence,"
he told me. "It's more that I'm resigned ... I'm not raging against the dying
of the light."
His decision set off a chain reaction. Pharmaceutical companies, most of which
have refused to sell drugs for use in lethal injection in recent years,
declined to sell them to Nevada. The state announced a new cocktail featuring
fentanyl, the opioid better known for causing overdoses across the country, and
set an execution date in November 2017. When Dozier let his defense lawyers
argue that death by the new drug combination might be painful, and therefore
unconstitutional, a judge stayed his execution.
As the months passed, Dozier's frustration - with the state, with his lawyers,
with himself - only grew. "I see this as a war right now, a battle, and I feel
like sometimes I'm winning, and sometimes I feel like I'm losing," he told me
by phone in February. He started wondering if state officials were dragging out
the legal process, hoping he would change his mind and save them the hassle of
killing him.
But he also maintained his caustic, nihilistic sense of humor. When President
Trump said he wanted to give the death penalty to some drug dealers, Dozier
said, "They can't even execute me! Get your shit together, people."
After state officials set a new execution date for last July, several drug
companies accused them of purposefully obfuscating their intentions while
buying their products. When a judge halted the execution, it was a benchmark
moment: never before had a drug company stopped an execution in court.
Dozier was visiting with his family - for the last time, he thought - when an
officer told them about the stay. "It is heartbreaking and stressful," Dozier's
sister Bekki Patzer told me in an email. "I don't know for certain, but I
imagine it is similar to someone having a terminally ill family member. We
don't know how long we have with him, when will be the last time we see him,
hug him, talk with him, or say our final goodbyes."
His family has continued to write letters to the department about Dozier's
conditions but have not received a reply. Patzer told me she understands that
the prison must take precautions, but does not understand why her brother has
been deprived of his personal belongings, along with the ability to exercise in
the yard, make calls and receive visitors. "His well-being is my primary
concern," she said, "and I don't see how keeping him from those things can do
anything but cause a deterioration in his mental and physical well-being."
(source: themarshallproject.org)
WASHINGTON:
Looking back at the only case to face the death penalty in Yakima County
Yakima County has seen its fair share of murders over the years, but there's
only been 1 case where the death penalty was filed by prosecutor’s office.
The murder of Mike and Dorothy Nickoloff in 1988. Prosecuting Attorney Joe
Brusic said it's one of the most gruesome crimes the county has ever seen.
"A couple residing here in Yakima County, and they're tragically killed by two
individuals in their home and we filed the death penalty," he said.
Police said then 17-year-old Herbert Rice Jr. and Russell McNeil went into the
Nickoloff's home, stabbed both people inside dozens of times and then stole
their television.
McNeil pleaded guilty and Rice Jr. went to trial facing the death penalty.
The jury ended up voting 11-1 in favor of death but state law required it
needed to be a unanimous vote for capital punishment.
Since then, Yakima County has seen a handful of cases considered for the death
penalty.
The most recent being against Manuel Verduzco, who was found guilty on 2
charges of 1st degree murder. After police said he went into a MoneyTree and
shot 2 women in Yakima.
One reason Brusic said the death penalty isn't filed very often is because of
how expensive it can be for the county to take someone to trial.
"The last 2 cases (King County) had, King County taxpayers spent millions of
dollars on those cases to see them go through the system," he said.
Which means the county can spend millions of dollars to only have the jury vote
against the death penalty.
The state supreme court ruled capital punishment was arbitrary and racially
biased.
Brusic said he and prosecutors across the state don't agree with the ruling
because it limits their options when dealing with crime.
"Under the right circumstances, which doesn't happen all that often, it is an
option that could be sought. I think being taken away does affect our abilities
at times," he said.
The death penalty is gone but the Nickoloff case still lives on today.
Brusic said Herbert Rice Jr. is set to be re-sentenced in March of next year
for a murder that happened 30 years ago.
(source: KIMA news)
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TEXAS:
Judge to set death date for Coble
A judge has called a hearing to set an execution date for convicted triple
murderer Billie Wayne Coble.
Judge Matt Johnson of Waco's 54th State District Court has set the hearing for
1:30 p.m. Wednesday, 8 days after the U.S. Supreme court rejected Coble’s
appeal of his conviction in the 1989 deaths of his brother-in-law, Waco Sgt.
Bobby Vicha, and Vicha's parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, at their homes in
Axtell.
By statute, Johnson must set the execution date at least 91 days after
Wednesday's hearing. Johnson will coordinate the date for Coble's execution,
which will be carried out at the Walls Unit in Huntsville, with prison
administrators and the Texas Attorney General's Office.
Johnson signed a warrant Monday to have Coble returned to Waco for Wednesday's
hearing.
Coble, 70, one of the oldest on Texas' death row, has been on death row since
1990, when he first was convicted in the Vichas' deaths. He won a new
punishment trial in 2007 when the 5th U.S.Circuit Court of Appeals ruled
questions asked of jurors to return the death penalty were unconstitutional.
He was sentenced to death again following a punishment retrial 10 years ago.
Trial evidence showed Coble was upset over the failure of his 3rd marriage.
After killing Karen Vicha's brother and parents, Coble kidnapped his estranged
wife and threatened to rape and kill her. Coble was arrested after he and Karen
Vicha were injured after a high-speed chase with police in Bosque County.
J.R. Vicha, a Waco attorney and former McLennan County prosecutor, was 11 at
the time of the slayings. Coble tied him up, along with 2 cousins, and fled
with his wife.
"I want to thank Judge Johnson for getting this done so quickly," Vicha said
Monday. "I hope he sets the date as soon as possible after the 91 days so we
can get this done."
Coble's attorney, A. Richard Ellis of Mill Valley, California, did not return a
phone message Monday.
(source: Waco Tribune-Herald)
***********************
Inmate convicted of capital murder in death of Abilene corrections officer
An inmate has been found guilty of capital murder in the death of an Abilene
corrections officer.
The jury found Dillion Gage Compton guilty after deliberating for less than 3
hours.
Compton killed Marianne Johnson in July 2016 at the French Robertson Unit.
The punishment phase, which starts tomorrow at 10 a.m., will determine whether
he will face the death penalty.
(source: KTXS news)
VIRGINIA:
Who will be the last person executed by Virginia?
On Oct. 11, the Washington state Supreme Court unanimously struck down that
state's death penalty statute as unconstitutional ["State's high court rejects
death penalty," national digest, Oct. 12]. The court wrote:
"The death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and
racially biased manner. While this particular case provides an opportunity to
specifically address racial disproportionality, the underlying issues that
underpin our holding are rooted in the arbitrary manner in which the death
penalty is generally administered."
Washington becomes the 20th state to end capital punishment. 10 more states
have not put anyone to death in the past decade.
Unfortunately, Virginia is among the few remaining states that still carry out
executions - 3 in the past 5 years.
However, no Virginia jury has sentenced an offender to death since 2011. There
are only 3 men remaining on Virginia's death row. Who will be the last person
executed by the commonwealth?
It is long past time that Virginia ends what the unanimous Washington Supreme
Court called "an arbitrary and racially biased" punishment.
Michael E. Stone, Richmond
(source: The writer is executive director of Virginians for Alternatives to the
Death Penalty----Letter to the Editor, Washington Post)
ALABAMA:
Death penalty switched to life in prison for Alabama man who killed 4 children
A Bayou La Batre man who was given the death penalty after throwing his 4
children off a bridge in 2008 had his sentenced reduced Monday to life without
a parole after 2 independent psychologists said that his IQ did not meet the
state minimum to be executed.
Lam Luong, 38, who born in Vietnam before moving to the United States as a
teenager, was present in court when the new sentence was handed down.
District Attorney Ashley Rich, who was visibly shaken while reading a press
release at Government Plaza late Monday afternoon, said that "no one deserves
the death penalty more" than Lam Luong.
"Our hands are tied," she added, while citing state and federal laws that
prohibit executing a person with an IQ of lower than 70 points. To do so would
be considered cruel and unusual punishment, as outlined in the 8th Amendment.
DA Rich said that no member of the legal profession that interacted with Luong
during his initial trial in April 2009 believed he had learning issues. "None
of these very experienced members of the bar specializing in criminal law ever
had any indication that the defendant might be below average intelligence."
Attorneys for Luong hired a licensed psychologist and developmental
neuropsychologist to determine their clients IQ, which had never been done at
the initial trial. His IQ was measured at 57, said Rich. An independent
licensed psychologist hired by the Alabama Attorney General's Office, which
sought to appeal the test's findings, measured Luong's IQ even lower, at 51.
Luong will now spend the remainder of his life in prison. He has no opportunity
for parole.
(source: al.com)
OHIO:
Inmate faces death penalty after allegedly strangling cellmate to death
A former Warren County inmate strangled his cellmate to death in April,
prosecutors said.
Jack Welninski was serving a nearly 70-year sentence when police said he killed
Kevin Nill at the Lebanon Correctional Institution. But now, if convicted,
Welninski could be sentenced to death.
The 33-year-old was indicted on a capital murder charge Monday, Warren County
Prosecutor David Fornshell said.
In 2015, Welninski was convicted for the attempted murder of an Oregon, Ohio,
police officer. He was sentenced to 69 years in prison.
On April 23, Welninski was placed in a cell with Kevin Nill, 40, of Piqua,
Ohio. Nill was dead less than an hour later, the Warren County Prosecutors
Office said.
"Investigators believe that Welninski murdered Nill to obtain a transfer to a
different prison," officials said in a press release Monday.
The killing occurred in the Lebanon Correctional Institution. Welninski has
since been sent to the Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Ohio.
Fornshell explained that death penalty is an option due to the alleged killing
occurring while Welninski was incarcerated and prior violent offenses.
Welninski has not yet been arraigned on the murder charge. Trial dates will be
scheduled later.
The victim, Nill, of Piqua was serving an 18-month sentence for attempted
domestic violence. He scheduled to be released from prison on May 24, about a
month after he was killed.
The death penalty in Warren County
There are 4 recent cases of the death penalty being brought to bear in Warren
County.
Christopher Kirby is accused of killing his sister Debra Power in September
2017. Prosecutors said Kirby and his wife was living with his sister and his
sister was threatening to kick them out. Kirby's trial begins next week, and a
jury will be asked to consider the death penalty in the case.
Terry Froman abducted his estranged girlfriend from Kentucky and killed her on
Interstate 75 in Sept. 2014. A Warren County jury recommended the death penalty
for Froman. His appeal is currently pending before the Ohio Supreme Court.
Austin Myers is scheduled to be put to death on July 20, 2022. Myers and
another man killed Justin Back, an 18-year-old Navy recruiter, in Jan. 2014.
Justin's Law was passed in Ohio as a response to the murder and increased
penalties in murder cases.
James Hanna killed a fellow inmate, 18-year-old cellmate Peter Copas, with a
paintbrush and a padlock at the Lebanon Correctional Institution in 1997. Hanna
is scheduled to be put to death in Dec. 2019.
The last man to be executed from Warren County was Rocky Barton. He killed his
wife in 2003 and was executed in July 2006. The short period between the murder
and his death was due to Barton refusing to appeal his conviction or ask for
clemency. He tried to kill himself with a shotgun blast to the head the day he
killed his wife, who was attempting to leave him, and later said he deserved to
die.
(source: cincinnati.com)
TENNESSEE----impending execution
State prepares electric chair, execution date unconfirmed
While the details of the execution are still up in the air, but the state is
preparing to send a death row inmate in Tennessee to the electric chair.
A jury sentenced Edmund Zagorski to death back in 1984 for the slayings of two
men during a drug deal.
Zagorski had been set to be executed at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 11, but that
was halted after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a
stay over concerns of inadequate representation.
As the state rushed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the ruling
and ensure the execution took place as scheduled, a separate federal judge
barred the state from using lethal injection to kill Zagorski after it refused
his request to die in the electric chair.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge of Tennessee's lethal injection
protocol and lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of
inadequate counsel.
The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski's
execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted
a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by
electric chair.
"I am granting to Edmund Zagorski a reprieve of 10 days from execution of the
sentence of death imposed upon by him by a jury in 1984 which was scheduled to
be carried out later today," Haslam stated. "I take seriously the
responsibility imposed upon the Tennessee Department of Correction and me by
law, and given the federal court's decision to honor Zagorski's last-minute
decision to choose electrocution as the method of execution, this brief
reprieve will give all involved the time necessary to carry out the sentence in
an orderly and careful manner."
Before the state can use the electric chair, it has to be tested four times a
year, including two weeks before an execution. The state says it just tested
the chair Wednesday.
The 10-day reprieve is set to run out October 21, but It's still not clear just
when Zagorski's execution could happen.
(source: WATE news)
**********************
Last-Ditch Efforts to Save Death Row Inmate in Tennessee Rejected
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected 2 last-ditch efforts to save the life of
Tennessee death row inmate Edmund Zagorski, apparently clearing the way for his
execution despite a delay caused by legal wrangling.
The court rejected a challenge of Tennessee's lethal injection protocol and
lifted a stay of execution ordered by a lower court because of inadequate
counsel.
The court issued the rulings Thursday night around the time Zagorski's
execution had been scheduled. But earlier in the day, Gov. Bill Haslam granted
a 10-day reprieve to give the state time to prepare for an execution by
electric chair.
(source: governing.com)
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors considering death penalty against Christopher Clements
Prosecutors are considering the death penalty for the man accused of kidnapping
and murdering 2 young girls.
Christopher Clements is accused of killing 6-year-old Isabel Celis and
13-year-old Maribel Gonzales.
Prosecutors need to give notice of intention to seek the death penalty within
60 days of the arraignment. Prosecuting and defense attorneys asked a judge to
extend the deadline another 60 days "given the complexity of the case,"
according to court documents.
The Pima County Attorney's Office now has until January 24 to decide if it
wants to seek the death penalty.
(source: KVOA news)
NEVADA:
Scott Dozier Still Wants to be Executed. And He's Still Waiting.----After
forcing Nevada into a legal battle over its lethal injection drugs, an
execution "volunteer" says the state is punishing him.
Last week, Nevada death row prisoner Scott Dozier called his family and friends
and said they might not be hearing from him for a while. He had been placed, he
said, in a form of solitary confinement so his mental health could be assessed,
with just a few articles of clothing and an anti-suicide blanket.
Prison officials have not offered an explanation, but Dozier has speculated
that they are punishing him for - or trying to get him to halt - his years-long
effort to be executed. "I have never heard him sound so defeated," said Edgar
Barens, a filmmaker who has regularly corresponded with Dozier.
Dozier's ongoing legal saga, which I wrote about in January, continues to
illuminate the ambivalence and political turmoil surrounding the death penalty
in the United States. Death row prisoners usually appeal their sentences, and
many manage to hold off execution for decades. Many live in solitary
confinement with few amenities, but Dozier was given access to an exercise
yard, as well as a television, MP3 player and art supplies. Still, he did not
feel that life in prison was a life worth living. 2 years ago, he announced
that he would give up his appeals and agree to be killed. His request forced
Nevada, which had not executed anyone in a decade, to come up with a new lethal
injection cocktail and defend it in a number of court battles.
As of now, the state is losing those battles, and it appears Dozier will not be
executed anytime soon. In late September, Las Vegas district judge Elizabeth
Gonzalez barred officials from using their store of lethal injection drugs,
based on opposition from the pharmaceutical companies that produced them.
Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is asking the state supreme court to
overrule Gonzalez, but if that fails, officials will need to acquire new drugs
- no company has offered to sell them - or else develop a new execution method,
such as the firing squad.
After 2 previous stays of execution, Dozier was placed on suicide watch for
several days. The prison agency said this was a temporary precaution until he
could be given a psychological evaluation, but Dozier thought officials might
be punishing him. "I can't fucking believe they can treat people like this," he
told me by phone in July after the most recent stay. "It feels like they're
fucking with me to get me to stop [pushing to be executed]." He wrote letters
to the head of the prison agency and a state senator, but to no avail.
This time, family and friends said Dozier had been in good spirits until he was
put in these conditions, which he described to Barens as "limbo inside of
limbo." In an email sent on Oct. 3 to 1 of Dozier's lawyers, obtained by The
Marshall Project, Ely State Prison warden William Gittere wrote that Dozier's
placement was based on a "mental health provider's orders." "He is not on a
suicide watch, but has been placed in an infirmary cell to be observed and
assessed for the next few days to a week," Gittere wrote. "I cannot comment on
the source of information that led to the provider's concern due to an ongoing
investigation."
Last Friday, Dozier’s family sent a letter to Nevada Department of Corrections
director James Dzurenda. "At this point there is little to no information
supporting the idea that Mr. Dozier is a risk to himself or others," they
wrote. "He has asked to speak with medical staff yet requests were left
unanswered, denied, or met with apathy."
In an email, corrections department spokesperson Brooke Santina cited patient
privacy in declining to provide details about Dozier's mental health treatment,
but said prisoners are only placed in segregation when "we have a reason to
believe that there is a threat to their safety or the safety of another.” Asked
if Dozier was being punished, she responded, "With nearly 14,000 inmates in 18
facilities across the state, it's imperative we follow the law and our policy
to ensure each inmate is treated as any other inmate in his or her
circumstances would be treated."
Dozier was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing and dismembering 22-year-old
Jeremiah Miller, an associate in the methamphetamine trade. He was separately
convicted in Arizona of killing 26-year-old Jasen Greene, and while in an
Arizona jail, in 2005, he attempted suicide. He denies both murders, and began
appealing his convictions, but in October 2016, he ended his appeals. Some have
described his effort to be executed as akin to state-assisted suicide, but
Dozier doesn't see it that way. "It's not that I think I deserve the sentence,"
he told me. "It's more that I'm resigned ... I'm not raging against the dying
of the light."
His decision set off a chain reaction. Pharmaceutical companies, most of which
have refused to sell drugs for use in lethal injection in recent years,
declined to sell them to Nevada. The state announced a new cocktail featuring
fentanyl, the opioid better known for causing overdoses across the country, and
set an execution date in November 2017. When Dozier let his defense lawyers
argue that death by the new drug combination might be painful, and therefore
unconstitutional, a judge stayed his execution.
As the months passed, Dozier's frustration - with the state, with his lawyers,
with himself - only grew. "I see this as a war right now, a battle, and I feel
like sometimes I'm winning, and sometimes I feel like I'm losing," he told me
by phone in February. He started wondering if state officials were dragging out
the legal process, hoping he would change his mind and save them the hassle of
killing him.
But he also maintained his caustic, nihilistic sense of humor. When President
Trump said he wanted to give the death penalty to some drug dealers, Dozier
said, "They can't even execute me! Get your shit together, people."
After state officials set a new execution date for last July, several drug
companies accused them of purposefully obfuscating their intentions while
buying their products. When a judge halted the execution, it was a benchmark
moment: never before had a drug company stopped an execution in court.
Dozier was visiting with his family - for the last time, he thought - when an
officer told them about the stay. "It is heartbreaking and stressful," Dozier's
sister Bekki Patzer told me in an email. "I don't know for certain, but I
imagine it is similar to someone having a terminally ill family member. We
don't know how long we have with him, when will be the last time we see him,
hug him, talk with him, or say our final goodbyes."
His family has continued to write letters to the department about Dozier's
conditions but have not received a reply. Patzer told me she understands that
the prison must take precautions, but does not understand why her brother has
been deprived of his personal belongings, along with the ability to exercise in
the yard, make calls and receive visitors. "His well-being is my primary
concern," she said, "and I don't see how keeping him from those things can do
anything but cause a deterioration in his mental and physical well-being."
(source: themarshallproject.org)
WASHINGTON:
Looking back at the only case to face the death penalty in Yakima County
Yakima County has seen its fair share of murders over the years, but there's
only been 1 case where the death penalty was filed by prosecutor’s office.
The murder of Mike and Dorothy Nickoloff in 1988. Prosecuting Attorney Joe
Brusic said it's one of the most gruesome crimes the county has ever seen.
"A couple residing here in Yakima County, and they're tragically killed by two
individuals in their home and we filed the death penalty," he said.
Police said then 17-year-old Herbert Rice Jr. and Russell McNeil went into the
Nickoloff's home, stabbed both people inside dozens of times and then stole
their television.
McNeil pleaded guilty and Rice Jr. went to trial facing the death penalty.
The jury ended up voting 11-1 in favor of death but state law required it
needed to be a unanimous vote for capital punishment.
Since then, Yakima County has seen a handful of cases considered for the death
penalty.
The most recent being against Manuel Verduzco, who was found guilty on 2
charges of 1st degree murder. After police said he went into a MoneyTree and
shot 2 women in Yakima.
One reason Brusic said the death penalty isn't filed very often is because of
how expensive it can be for the county to take someone to trial.
"The last 2 cases (King County) had, King County taxpayers spent millions of
dollars on those cases to see them go through the system," he said.
Which means the county can spend millions of dollars to only have the jury vote
against the death penalty.
The state supreme court ruled capital punishment was arbitrary and racially
biased.
Brusic said he and prosecutors across the state don't agree with the ruling
because it limits their options when dealing with crime.
"Under the right circumstances, which doesn't happen all that often, it is an
option that could be sought. I think being taken away does affect our abilities
at times," he said.
The death penalty is gone but the Nickoloff case still lives on today.
Brusic said Herbert Rice Jr. is set to be re-sentenced in March of next year
for a murder that happened 30 years ago.
(source: KIMA news)
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