Region's group of inmates on death row may grow to 20

By DEREK SIMMONSEN
derek.simmonsen@scripps.com
July 8, 2007

When a jury unanimously recommended recently that Alwyn Tumblin should be put to death for the murder of Fort Pierce auto shop owner Jimmy Johns, the wheels were set in motion for him to join a small, but infamous group of residents from the Treasure Coast and Okeechobee County.

Tumblin will be sentenced later this summer by Circuit Judge James McCann, and the judge must give the jury's decision "great weight" when he hands down the punishment. If Tumblin receives death, he would be the third person in a year on the Treasure Coast to head to Death Row: Eugene McWatters was sentenced to die in December for the murder of three women and Steven Hayward received the same fate in June for his killing of a Tribune news carrier.

Although it might appear being sentenced to death is the end of the line, the judge's sentence is really just the start of a process that can last decades and actually might never end with execution.

Some cases have lingered on Florida's Death Row for decades, but recent changes could mean less delay from sentencing to execution.

More recent death penalty cases have been moving faster after the state and federal government streamlined the process and imposed stricter time limits on when inmates could file claims, according to Assistant State Attorney Ryan Butler, head of the local legal affairs division. Cases that have occurred since 2000 fall under these new time limits, and those cases have been heard before the Florida Supreme Court faster and also had post-conviction motions, in which inmates typically make complaints about the quality of their attorneys, move faster, too.

"Whether that will translate to a quicker execution, we'll see in five or 10 years," Butler said. "Certainly their appeals are being exhausted more quickly."

The process still frustrates prosecutors who see inmates sit for years and years on Death Row waiting for an execution that gets pushed further and further into the future.

"It's just become a game for the defense bar to delay and stall for as long as possible," said Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl. "Our position is that we wish to litigate these issues rapidly and expeditiously because it just delays justice."

But Chief Assistant Public Defender Mark Harllee, who has handled a number of local capital cases, said the system does move faster than it has in the past and delay is not necessarily a bad thing.

"I feel like you've got to strike a balance between the interests of the victim's family and the due process rights of the convicted killer and you don't want to do it so quickly that you miss something just for the sake of going quickly through the process," Harllee said. "There's been quite a few cases that have made their way well into the process that have been reversed for one reason or another."

THE APPEALS PROCESS

• Once a defendant is sentenced to death, the case goes on automatic appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. Recent cases from the Treasure Coast have taken about two years before the justices have heard oral arguments, and the opinions typically are not released until months later. The justices look for any errors that occurred during the trial, such as a judge making a bad ruling on a motion or evidence being wrongly admitted. A new trial potentially could be ordered.

• The process then moves into post-conviction challenges. This is when the inmate addresses the performance of his attorneys: decisions on what witnesses they called or didn't call, how they prepared for the case and motions or objections they made.

• The post-conviction challenge is heard before a circuit judge, sometimes the same judge that presided over the trial. This process can be like a "mini-trial" with witnesses, but no jury, and can take a week or more. If the judge finds no problems with how the lawyers performed, the case goes back to the Florida Supreme Court for review.

• If the Florida Supreme Court again finds no reason to overturn the conviction and sentence, the inmate typically appeals to the federal system, first to a district court, then an appeals court and finally to the U.S. Supreme Court. This must be done within one year of the end of the inmate's state appeals.

• Appeals beyond this point require unusual circumstances, such as a change in the law or newly discovered evidence. At that point, an inmate again can work a new claim through the state and federal systems.

• Once all appeals are exhausted, the governor signs a death warrant. This typically prompts another wave of last-minute motions at state and federal levels, but these motions usually are expedited.

GETTING OFF DEATH ROW

Having a death sentence thrown out in the appeals process does happen. Here are two recent cases when it occurred:

• Rodney Lowe, 37, was sentenced to death after being found guilty in 1991 of the murder of a Palm Bay convenience store clerk. A circuit judge set aside his death sentence and granted a new penalty phase hearing after new evidence emerged he did not act alone in the incident and another person confessed to the shooting.

• Daniel Perez, 29, was sentenced to death for the 2001 murder of a Port St. Lucie woman who was bludgeoned and stabbed 94 times during a burglary at her home. The death sentence was overturned by the Florida Supreme Court, and Perez agreed to a deal with prosecutors that put him in prison for life rather than going through a new penalty phase of the trial.

HOW CLOSE ARE SOME LOCAL KILLERS TO EXECUTION?

• All of the state and federal appeals are exhausted for Jim Chandler, 52, who bludgeoned an elderly Sebastian couple to death in July 1980. He now is pursuing claims about the method of execution being cruel and unusual — related to problems that occurred in a December execution — and is the closest to being executed of anyone from the Treasure Coast, according to the State Attorney's Office.

• Billy Kearse, 34, who shot Fort Pierce police Sgt. Danny Parrish 13 times in 1991, currently is appealing the quality of his legal assistance before the Florida Supreme Court, and he has joined a petition filed by numerous Death Row inmates against the current method of lethal injection.

• The appeal of Alphonso Cave, 48, who along with co-defendants J.B. Parker and James Earl Bush kidnapped and killed Julia Frances Slater in 1982, is currently in the federal system. J.B. Parker, 45, has a hearing set for October to determine whether he had adequate legal help during his trial and to determine if he is too mentally incompetent to be executed. Bush was executed in 1996.

ABOUT EXECUTIONS IN FLORIDA:

• Prior to 1923, executions were carried out by individual counties, typically by hanging. In 1923, the electric chair was designated the official state means of execution and in 2000, lethal injection was added as an alternative, with inmates given the right to choose which method they wanted.

• Three drugs are currently used in Florida's lethal injections: sodium pentothal, an anesthetic; pancuronium bromide, a nerve blocker and muscle paralyzer; and potassium chloride, a drug to stop the heart.

• The executioner is a private citizen who is paid $150 per execution. The identity is kept anonymous by state law.

A TEMPORARY HALT TO EXECUTIONS:

• Angel Diaz, a convicted murderer asked "What's happening?" twice during his Dec. 13 execution, which took 34 minutes, twice as long as is typically normal. It was later learned the IV needles for the lethal injection had pushed completely through his veins, with the poison collecting in the muscles of his arms and slowing the process.

• Former Gov. Jeb Bush called for a moratorium on the state's death penalty and asked for a commission to study lethal injection — Florida was one of seven states that put the penalty on hold while studying lethal injection. Gov. Charlie Crist announced in May he would begin signing death warrants again after the commission came up with 37 suggestions to improve executions in the state.

• Among the changes were more training for execution teams, better lighting in the death chamber and improving the communications systems. Critics say the process is still too secret and the execution teams lack proper medical training — doctors and other medical professionals are barred by ethics rules from participating in the procedures. There also have been arguments raised that the three chemicals used causing excruciating pain that likely violates constitutional bans on cruel and unusual punishment.

WHAT'S LIFE LIKE ON DEATH ROW?

• Death row cells are 6-by-9-by-9.5 feet high; inmates are moved to different cells once a death warrant is signed.

• Men are held at Florida State Prison in Starke or at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford; women are held at Lowell Correctional Institution Annex in Lowell

• Inmates get three meals a day, served at 5 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.

• Last meals must be purchased locally and cost no more than $40

• Inmates are allowed to shower every other day

• They are kept in their cells except for medical reasons, exercise and visitation

• Inmates are allowed to receive mail and can have cigarettes, snacks, radio and a 13" television in their cells. They are not allowed cable TV or air conditioning. They do not have common rooms. They can watch church services on TV.

• All Death Row inmates wear special orange T-shirts, but they wear the same blue pants worn by regular inmates.

Material for boxes comes from the State Attorney's Office, the Florida Department of Corrections and the Associated Press.

High court denies appeals from two Treasure Coast killers

By DEREK SIMMONSEN AND MICHAEL PELTIER
staff writers
July 6, 2007

TALLAHASSEE — The Florida Supreme Court denied appeals Thursday from two Treasure Coast residents sentenced to death for separate murders in Indian River and St. Lucie counties.

The court upheld the conviction and death sentence of Richard Allen Johnson, 29, who was sentenced in the 2001 kidnapping, rape and murder of Tammy Hagin, 35, a Vero Beach waitress. After the killing, he dumped her body in the Savannas State Park where it was discovered by police.

The court also denied relief to David Alan Gore, 53, who was appealing the quality of his legal representation during his trial, among other claims. Gore, a former Indian River County sheriff's auxiliary deputy, was sentenced to die for the 1983 murder of 17-year-old Vero resident Lynn Elliot and received five consecutive life sentences for the killings of five other Indian River County women.

Johnson and his accomplice, John Vitale, met Hagin at Club Babylon, a gay nightclub, now defunct, in Port St. Lucie.

After the bar closed at 2 a.m., the three drove to the Savannas State Preserve in Port St. Lucie where Johnson and Hagin had sex, court records state.

Witnesses said the three went to the home Johnson and Vitale shared about 7 a.m. and saw Hagin being forced into the house despite screaming that she wanted to go home.

At Johnson's trial, Vitale and others said Johnson took Hagin into his bedroom. An hour later, he emerged in tears, saying, "She's gone."

Johnson raised a variety of issues on his direct appeal, including the trial court wrongly dismissed a juror in the case, allowed certain hearsay evidence that should not have been let in, let prosecutors ask improper questions on cross-examination and that the death sentence was disproportionate to sentences given for similar crimes, among other claims. The high court rejected all of his arguments.

In 1989, a federal district judge overturned Gore's death sentence, saying Gore didn't get the opportunity to introduce evidence about his alleged intoxication at the time of the murder. In December 1992, after a second trial, Gore again was convicted and sentenced to death. The Florida Supreme Court upheld the conviction in 1998.

State law, however, requires a second appeal on death-row cases to ensure defendants are properly defended and no constitutional rights were breached. The state Supreme Court on Thursday said the trial and conviction were valid.

In his current appeal, Gore made several claims, including his attorney did not object to certain statements, did not present certain witnesses who could have aided the case and didn't present evidence related to his claims that toxic citrus groves allegedly caused him neurological problems. The court rejected all of these arguments.

derek.simmonsen@scripps.com

Killer's appeal turned down

July 7, 2007

TAVARES

- The state Supreme Court has rejected the latest appeal from a death-row inmate who claims he was wrongfully convicted of killing a fellow inmate at the Lake Correctional Institution nine years ago.

Allen W. Cox, 44, was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1998 stabbing death of Thomas "Venezuela" Baker Jr., 25, who was accused of taking $500 that Cox had stashed in his cell at the Clermont prison.

Cox claimed he was failed by his public defender.

But the high court unanimously ruled Cox was fairly tried, convicted and sentenced to death, making special mention of a "thorough and well-analyzed" ruling by Lake Circuit Judge T. Michael Johnson.

"Because the stakes are so high in death-penalty cases, this type of detailed order from the trial court greatly assists the [Supreme] Court's review," the justices noted.

Dubbed a career criminal by prosecutors, Cox received the death penalty, in part, because of his record of violent crimes, which include the rape and attempted sodomy of a convenience-store clerk and the beating of a man with a three-hole punch. A psychiatrist who evaluated Cox said he had no positive feelings toward others.

Cox can still challenge his conviction in federal court.

Willoughby Mariano, Walter Pacheco, Stephen Hudak and Adrian G. Uribarri of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel

Murder suspect mildly retarded, psychologists say

By Larry Keller

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, July 07, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH — Psychologists say Allissia Alexander is mildly retarded, and that may ensure that she avoids the death penalty if she's convicted as charged of first-degree murder.

Alexander, 24, of West Palm Beach, and Candace Sims, of Riviera Beach, are both charged with first-degree murder in connection with the shooting death of Eben Roblero during a botched robbery in December 2005.

Sims and Alexander went looking on a Friday night for Guatemalan and Mexican men to rob along Broadway in West Palm Beach, police say. They found Roblero. Sims pulled a gun and demanded money, and when Roblero resisted, she shot him dead, according to investigators.

After Assistant State Attorney Craig Williams filed a written notice of intent in February 2006 to seek the death penalty against both women, Alexander's lawyers retained psychologist James Barnard to evaluate her.

Barnard concluded that Alexander is mildly retarded overall. He said she is severely retarded in communication skills, with reading comprehension a little below the second-grade level.

Florida law prohibits imposing a death sentence on a mentally retarded person, and in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court abolished the practice.

Williams said he had decided not to seek the death penalty for Alexander regardless of her IQ. That's because she wasn't an active participant in Roblero's murder, he said. Alexander didn't fire the gun, nor did she urge her co-defendant to do so, he said.

"We trust his candor, but until there's a written waiver, we consider it a death penalty case," said Assistant Public Defender Shari Vrod, who is Alexander's co-counsel.

Barnard's report on Alexander and those of two other psychologists were sealed by a judge this week when a Palm Beach Post reporter asked for copies of the reports from her file. An employee of the clerk and comptroller's office refused, saying they should have been sealed. A judge subsequently sealed them.

They were unsealed Friday after Post attorney Martin Reeder intervened, and the public defender's office said it didn't object to the records being public.

Other experts made similar findings about Alexander before she was evaluated by Barnard.

Palm Beach County School Board tests in 1990 and 1996 found she had an IQ of 59 and 58, respectively. A person with an IQ below 70 is considered retarded by many experts.

A psychologist concluded in 2004 that Alexander was "functioning within the low end of the educable range of retardation."

Another psychologist wrote in a 2004 report that the West Palm Beach native "functions in the mildly mentally retarded range of intellectual capability."

Despite those limitations, defense attorneys have not sought to have Alexander declared incompetent to stand trial. Another psychologist who interviewed her twice last year placed her IQ at 65, but reported she had the capacity to understand and assist in legal proceedings, and is competent to go to trial.

Orme will accept death

July 7, 2007

By David Angier News Herald Writer 747-5077 / dangier@pcnh.com

PANAMA CITY

Roderick Michael Orme told his victim’s family on Friday that he has to fight his death sentence or it would be “tantamount to suicide.”

“It’s only because of God and faith that I’ve tried to remain alive,” Orme said. “Not because my life is a joy, but because I have a family who loves me. But if it is God’s will that I eventually be put to death by the state, then so be it. On that day, I will accept that.”

Orme, 45, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to die in 1993 for the murder, rape and robbery of Lisa Redd, a Bay Medical Center nurse. Redd’s body was found on a Lee’s Motel room floor March 4, 1992. Investigators said Orme, Redd’s former boyfriend, lured her to the motel where he raped and strangled her because she had broken up with him.

In February 2005, the Florida Supreme Court overturned Orme’s sentence, but upheld his conviction, and returned him to Bay County for a new penalty trial. Justices decided that Orme’s original jury should have heard more about his bipolar disorder, which could have swayed the close vote.

After a two-week trial in May, jurors voted 11-1 to recommend the death sentence for Orme. It was more decisive than the 7-5 vote he received in 1993.

Circuit Judge Judy Pittman held the next phase of the death penalty process Friday so family members could tell her how they felt. The last phase, the sentencing, is scheduled for July 23.

Carol Atwell, Redd’s sister, said despite the 15 years of hardship she’s suffered in these proceedings, and the appeals she expects to come from this latest trial, she will continue to press for Orme’s death.

“I can honestly say that I hate him,” Atwell said. “I will fight to my last breath and make it my mission to see that he pays the ultimate penalty.”

Atwell said she hopes that when he takes his “last breath,” he remembers her sister.

Redd’s son, Jedidiah Redd, told Pittman that his mother was murdered when he was 13 and just beginning to appreciate her for the person she was.

Redd’s family spoke of her capacity for love and willingness to help others.

“All I have now is a memory,” Jedidiah Redd said, “and a gravesite. Only when justice is carried out will my mother truly rest in peace.”

Lisa Redd’s brother said his faith required that he forgive Orme.

“So I forgive you,” Larry Morris said.

Orme apologized to Redd’s family, saying “she was the most unselfish, loving person I’d ever known.”

Defender law stirs critics

Experienced attorneys are opting out

By Pat Gillespie
pgillespie@news-press.com
Originally posted on July 06, 2007

Special to news-press.com

A law change supposed to help save the state money could come at the expense of cash-strapped criminal defendants.

Critics of the law predict a new office created to complement the public defender will have attorneys who are younger and less experienced than the current list of court-appointed attorneys the office is replacing.

Several experienced attorneys on the court-appointed list are dropping off because many of their cases are being taken by the new office and under the law, they won't be paid until after a case is completed.

But supporters of Senate Bill 1088, which went into effect Sunday, say young attorneys can provide sufficient criminal defense and still save the state tens of millions of dollars in the process, cutting into private attorneys' funds, which is the real source of their ire.

The new office — a Regional Conflict Council — will provide representation to a second defendant in a crime when the Public Defender's Office represents the first defendant. Usually, an office represents only one defendant because there may be a conflict of interest.

All of this is bad news for poor defendants, several local attorneys say.

"If you don't hire an attorney, you might be crushed by the wheels of justice waiting for someone to look at your case," Fort Myers attorney Jay Brizel said. "That's a great tragedy."

Uncertainty

Many in the court community are unsure how the council will work, what types of applicants will take the job and how it will provide ample representation. Five offices will be set up statewide, based on the Court of Appeals districts.

For Southwest Florida, that district runs from Pasco to Collier — a 14-county span compared with the 20th Judicial Circuit's Public Defender's Office, which represents a five-county span — Lee, Charlotte, Collier, Glades and Hendry counties.

Sen. Victor Crist, R-Tampa, who introduced the bill, said the five conflict council offices will split a $50 million budget and counties will supply the office space — estimated at $2.5 million statewide.

Right now, it's also unclear how many attorneys each office will have and where each office will be located. Tina McCain Matte, who chairs the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission, said that will be decided by the five council leaders.

"With the new position, obviously it'll be a little trial by error," she said.

Matte said the commission has received about two dozen applications for the five positions, which will each pay $80,000 annually. She said she expects more today, the deadline. Recommendations will be sent to Gov. Charlie Crist. It's unclear how much the council's attorneys and support staff will be paid.

The salary is part of the problem, private attorneys say. Attorneys in Fort Myers estimate their average hourly fee ranges from $200 to $300. A year's work earns many in this area $250,000-$400,000 or more. So, a job that pays $80,000 per year may get inexperienced applicants.

"You can't just get a kid out of law school and say, 'Go do it,' " Brizel said. "It is very difficult to envision this working smoothly."

Dave Aronberg, vice chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said the bill was proposed as a money-saving effort but didn't create much controversy. It passed unanimously.

"Whether it will work or not, we will see," said Aronberg, a Democrat who represents parts of Lee County. "If this system does not work, I will push to put the old system back in place."

The uncertainty is affecting an 18-year-old murder suspect Richard Elkins, accused of killing a man in Bonita Springs in March.

Because a grand jury recently indicted him on first-degree murder charges, Brizel, his first attorney, had to withdraw, lacking qualifications to defend capital clients. Now Elkins sits in the Lee County Jail without defense representation as his co-defendant is already represented by the Public Defender.

Because the conflict council won't be fully established until October and many private attorneys are falling off the court-appointed list, it's unclear who will represent Elkins. That could bring up issues with the Sixth Amendment, which provides the right to a speedy trial.

Money issues

The Judicial Administration Commission, which in 2004 was empowered to dole out money to court-appointed attorneys, has, in the last 36 months, increased its payments from $32 million to $92 million, Sen. Crist said.

"That's what caught our attention," he said. "The costs are skyrocketing."

The commission has standard payment fees for different types of cases, such as for capital cases, which were paid at $3,500 and then increased to $15,000 this year. But the $3,500 fee was routinely challenged by attorneys saying it wasn't enough.

"It's like an open checkbook — there's just no bottom to the barrel," said 20th Judicial Circuit court spokesman Ken Kellum. "How do you control the cost? That's the crux of the problem."

Many attorneys say the $15,000 still isn't much help because capital cases — in which the penalty can be death — can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend.

"No defense attorney would do it for $3,500 and no defense attorney will do it for $15,000," Fort Myers attorney David Brener said. "There's no way to do a two-year capital case for $15,000 and do a good job. No way. They're looking at everything from a financial aspect."

Of the seven private attorneys on the 20th Judicial Circuit's court-appointed list for capital cases, five said they won't sign up for the list or already have taken off their names. One said he will wait to see how the system functions and one was unavailable for comment.

Those decisions are based on a new payment change for court-appointed attorneys. Under the old system, attorneys would be paid 80 percent of their fee after a year with the rest coming at the end of the case. Now, attorneys won't get paid until the end of a case.

"What other occupation do we ask for people to work for two years and not get paid?" Brener asked. "It's unfair."

Fort Myers Attorney John Mills said he won't be signing up for any more court-appointments because he can't afford to work for free.

"Not only are they cutting the fee, now they're cutting the volume," he said. "No one's going to take cases."

Fair practice

Gov. Crist said private attorneys who are complaining about the law change are simply upset about the state's in-house approach to criminal defense.

"The attorneys that are screaming that the sky is falling only care about losing profits," Crist said. "If you're a public defender who's dishing out cases to their friends in the private sector, you're basically appeasing your constituency — the ones who are paying for their campaigns."

Crist said the attorneys hired for the conflict council will be paid a flat rate, which should motivate them to get the job done.

"It doesn't matter if he puts an hour or 100 hours in — he's going to make the same at the end of the day," Crist said.

And many inexperienced attorneys got opportunities in state attorney or public defender offices as well as private firms before moving up the ranks.

"Do you think all these big-wig attorneys do all the work," he asked. "No, it's the fresh-out-of-school attorneys who do it. Why should the state be denied that?"

Lawyer who got death threats arrested in Broward courthouse for carrying gun

By Tonya Alanez
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

July 6, 2007

A defense attorney who had been receiving death threats was arrested Thursday morning for carrying a loaded gun into the Broward County courthouse.

Stephen J. Finta, 59, told deputies who found the .357-caliber Ruger revolver in his black briefcase that he had forgotten the gun was there. He did not have a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon.

Finta was headed to the third day of jury selection for the first-degree murder, death-penalty case of Andre Andrew Hall when he was arrested in the courthouse's main lobby.Finta was charged with carrying a concealed firearm, a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of five years in prison.

He was released about 2:45 p.m. after posting $1,000 bail. Finta could not be reached for comment Thursday.

His arrest delays an already much-delayed case.

Hall, a convicted killer also known as Keenan Clarke, has been in jail awaiting trial longer than any other Broward County defendant: eight years and 40 days. He has a history of having his attorneys fired or recused on the eve of trial.

Finta is Hall's eighth attorney.

One attorney withdrew from the case after Hall told him he had heard of a client who disliked his attorney and stabbed him in the neck with a pencil.

The threats against Finta came by telephone.

Finta described them to the judge: The first caller told Finta's secretary that if her boss proceeded to trial July 2, his life would be in danger. The second caller threatened the secretary's life, said prosecutor Brian Cavanagh.Cavanagh has watched Hall's attorneys come and go.

"When it gets ripe for trial, he has that lawyer removed for one reason or another," Cavanagh said. "He's crazy like a fox."

When Hall, 29, was convicted of the May 20, 1999, murder of Fort Lauderdale auto-body shop owner Spurgeon Bowen, Cavanagh was the prosecutor. Hall's life sentence was upheld on appeal.

The intervening years have been spent bringing Hall to trial for the April 25, 1999, murder of Dwight Brown. His body was found in the trunk of a car parked below Sunrise Boulevard at Interstate 95.

Along the way, Hall picked up additional charges for a 2000 attempted escape from the main jail's maximum-security eighth floor. He and a cellmate used a piece of metal broken from a stool to bash a hole in their cell window. Police found a line made of bed sheets on the ground below.

Mike Gottlieb is the attorney to whom Hall relayed the pencil-in-the-neck story. It was the basis for Gottlieb's motion to withdraw.

"It was nervousness on his part, because I was really close to being ready for trial," Gottlieb said. "It was a way of manipulating the system and creating a delay."

Throughout jury selection, Cavanagh said, Hall made daily motions to remove Finta from the case. They had gone through about 100 jurors, narrowing the group to 40. They were discharged Thursday afternoon.

Hall and the attorneys will meet with Circuit Judge John Murphy at 9 a.m. today to determine whether to begin jury selection anew or remove Finta from the case.

Gainesville Murder Suspect Found Dead In Jail Cell

POSTED: 1:15 pm EDT July 3, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- A Gainesville man accused of fatally stabbing his wife was found dead in his jail cell.

Authorities said 64-year-old Leroy Leadingham apparently hung himself with a bedsheet before he was found Monday morning.

Leadingham was arrested June 21 in connection with his wife's death.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the death at the jail.

Death is barbaric penalty

Forum
By David A. Love
Story updated at 10:46 PM on Sunday, July 1, 2007

It's been 35 years since the Supreme Court's watershed death penalty decision, yet little has changed with the disturbing use of capital punishment in America.

In the 1972 Furman v. Georgia case, the high court found in a 5-4 decision that the death penalty was arbitrarily imposed and racially biased. It also found that it was cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the U.S. Constitution. The majority cited factors such as the poor quality of court-appointed lawyers for the accused and the risk of executing the innocent.

In the four years after Furman, 37 states enacted new death penalty laws to address the court's concerns about arbitrariness and discrimination. By 1976, the Supreme Court upheld the new statutes passed by Georgia, Florida and Texas. And by 1977, America's death machine resumed operation.

Today, more than 1,000 executions later, the death penalty still is arbitrary and unfair.
In its 1997 report calling for a moratorium on the death penalty, the American Bar Association declared that "administration of the death penalty, far from being fair and consistent, is instead a haphazard maze of unfair practices with no internal consistency." In other words, it is a game of pure chance.

Each locality has its own standards, and each prosecutor decides whether to seek death. Only 2 percent of those eligible for a death sentence actually receive death. Co-defendants might receive different sentences for the same crime, with one receiving death and the other receiving jail time.

Ninety-five percent of death row prisoners can't afford an attorney and must take a court-appointed attorney, who often is overworked, underpaid or lacks experience in capital cases.

The most important factor that determines whether someone will get the death penalty is the race of the victim. Over the past 30 years, an overwhelming majority of people executed in the United States - more than 80 percent - were convicted of killing a white victim, according to Amnesty International.

Blacks, however, are about half of all murder victims. And one-third of America's death row inmates is black.

Since 1973, 124 people have been released from death row because they were wrongfully convicted, according to Amnesty International and the Death Penalty Information Center. In January 2000, then-Illinois Gov. George Ryan declared a moratorium on executions after 13 death row prisoners were found to have been wrongfully convicted in the state since 1977, while 12 others were executed.

The death penalty offends international sensibilities and violates human rights law. Since the United States resumed executions, 70 countries have abolished the death penalty, for a total of 128 nations that have repudiated killing by the state.

Most of all, the death penalty isn't the deterrent its supporters claim. The murder rate for states with the death penalty was 46 percent higher than those without in 2005, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The United States virtually stands alone in the developed world in the use of judicial executions, and it is not a brave or principled stance. As the only industrialized nation with such a hunger for death in its justice system, the nation cannot justify the barbaric practice.

One cannot fix a system that is inherently flawed. Now is the time to put the death penalty to sleep, for good.

• David A. Love is a lawyer in Philadelphia. He wrote this for Progressive Media Project.



Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 070207

A look at Ohio's lethal injection lawsuit

ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - A look in question and answer form at the Ohio version of a lawsuit that has been brought in several states challenging the constitutionality of lethal injection:

Q: What does the lawsuit allege?

A: Ohio's lawsuit, like those in other states, claims that death by injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment because inmates could suffer extreme pain during the process.

Q: How are the chemicals supposed to work?

A: In Ohio and elsewhere, states use three chemicals: sodium pentothal, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride. The first drug is a painkiller, which death penalty opponents have argued can wear off too soon. The second drug paralyzes the inmate and the third causes a fatal heart attack.

Q: What is the history of the lawsuit in Ohio?

A: Death row inmate Richard Cooey, sentenced to die for raping and killing two female University of Akron students in 1986, brought the original complaint in 2004. He alleged the current procedure would amount to him being tortured to death.

Q: How many inmates have joined the lawsuit?

A: Judge Gregory Frost of U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, has allowed 14 death row inmates to join Cooey.

Q: Is there any evidence that injection is painful or produces the kind of suffering that inmates allege?

A: Researchers in April in the online journal PLoS Medicine published an article cited by Frost suggesting that the drugs sometimes fail to work as planned, causing slow and painful deaths. The analysis looked at 33 North Carolina executions and reviewed execution data from California, Florida and Virginia. Other researchers maintain the amount of anesthesia is sufficient to cause inmates to lose consciousness and stop breathing within one minute.

Q: How has the inmates' argument been received by the courts?

A: Frost has noted a growing body of evidence calling the injection process like the one used in Ohio into question, including a 2006 ruling by a federal judge that found potential constitutional violations by California's injection procedures. But Frost has also said the potential flaws in Ohio's injection process "are readily fixable."

Q: What experience have inmates in other states had with similar lawsuits?

A: In Delaware, a federal judge in February allowed all inmates on death row - currently 18 - to join that state's injection lawsuit, while similar lawsuits in California and Missouri have put all executions on hold. A federal lawsuit is also pending in Maryland where executions are on hold after a state appeals court said the state didn't properly adopt new injection procedures.

Q: Has the U.S. Supreme Court looked at the issue before?

A: In June 2006, the high court voted 9-0 to allow Florida death row inmate Clarence Hill to challenge that state's use of the chemicals under a civil rights motion. However, Hill was executed in September 2006 after a district court in Tallahassee and an appeals court in Atlanta refused to hear those challenges, ruling that Hill should have filed earlier. The U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to deny another delay.

Q: What is the main issue being debated in Ohio?

A: Before the arguments about injection itself can be visited, inmates must first persuade the federal courts they filed their lawsuit in a timely way. Earlier this year, an appeals court ordered the lawsuit dismissed over a statute of limitations issue but delayed that order to allow an appeal of that issue to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Q: What are the arguments over the statute of limitations?

A: The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel said Cooey should have filed the lawsuit at the exhaustion of his state appeals in 1995. The state public defender's office argues that the statute of limitations starts when federal appeals are complete.

Q: Can the act of joining the lawsuit prevent the state Supreme Court from setting an execution date?

A: The state court could still set a date but it's up to the federal courts to decide whether the executions would go forward. In recent months Frost stopped executions of Kenneth Biros of Trumbull County and Clarence Carter of Hamilton County after allowing them to join the lawsuit. But Frost also stopped the execution of Jeffrey Lundgren of Lake County, only to see the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturn his decision and allow the execution to proceed.

Q: Are all inmates who apply to join the lawsuit accepted?

A: Not necessarily. Frost denied a request by James Filiaggi of Lorain County, saying he didn't file properly. Filiaggi was executed in April.

Lethal questions

State's death-penalty rules still flawed


Gov. Charlie Crist says he's ready to crank up executions again in Florida after the state adopted 37 recommended changes in procedure that supposedly make lethal injection less brutal and less prone to gruesome accidents.

We'd urge Crist to reconsider. Much as the governor backed away from his old persona as "Chain Gang Charlie," the state should back away from its bloodthirsty reputation and move toward a system that emphasizes justice over vengeance.

The problems with the death penalty aren't going away. Even if Florida found a painless and foolproof execution method (the current system is likely to be neither, even after the changes) fundamental injustices remain. The death penalty is still applied so randomly that it's comparable to lightning striking. Racial and socioeconomic inequities still riddle the system. And the question of innocence still throbs as the sorest point of all.

The man whose execution prompted a review of lethal-injection procedures went to his death proclaiming his innocence. There were no eyewitnesses to the killing of a Miami strip-club manager for which Angel Nieves Diaz was convicted, and a jailhouse "snitch" later testified that he lied when he said Diaz confessed to the crime.

But it was the manner in which Diaz died that raised so many questions. Florida's lethal-injection procedure was adopted because it was advertised as being sterile and quick, with no unsightly twitching or flames. But Diaz's execution took more than 30 minutes. Needles meant to inject a triple cocktail of lethal chemicals into his bloodstream were inserted through, not into, his veins, leaving the caustic fluid to pool in the muscles of each arm.

Witnesses said they saw Diaz moving his head, grimacing and mouthing words as the execution dragged on. But state officials say Diaz felt no pain. That claim is barely credible.

The changes in execution procedure since adopted by the state don't offer much comfort. Among other things, prison officials will take care not to move the gurney onto which a prisoner is strapped during an execution, and watch the inmate's arms for signs that a needle has been misinserted. But the state won't change the chemicals used in exections, despite medical testimony that the three-drug combination -- an anesthetic, a paralytic, and a drug that stops the heart -- could be excruciatingly painful.

Florida leaders shouldn't focus on making executions less dramatic. They should be asking whether all the controversy and debate is worth it, whether the effort is justified to preserve a system that any rational evaluation shows to be unjust. The answer, clearly, is no.

Couey defense disputes standards

BY DAVE PIEKLIK
John Couey’s lawyers are arguing that the state’s standard to determine if someone is mentally retarded and barred from execution is unconstitutional.

A July 17 hearing for Couey, 48, had already been scheduled before Assistant Public De-fender Alan Fanter filed his June 21 motion. The motion claims U.S. Supreme Court rulings declare the state’s burden of proving someone is mentally retarded is unconstitutional.

The state’s standard of proving retardation is “clear and convincing evidence.” Law pro-hibits the execution of mentally retarded defendants, saying it’s cruel and unusual punish-ment.

Fanter cites two rulings, the 2002 ruling Atkins v. Virginia and the 1996 decision Cooper v. Oklahoma, to argue that burden is too high. In Atkins, the court recognized a lower burden of proof — a preponderance of evidence — in proving retardation.

That means a judge or jury believes it’s more likely than not that a defendant is retarded, rather than clear and convincing — or overwhelming — proof.

In the Cooper ruling, justices decided it was not justified to heighten the burden of proof. Fanter said the Florida Legislature enacted its statute before the Supreme Court rulings.

Though the state has not amended its statute, he added “the clear majority of states with statutes concerning mental retardation as a bar to the death penalty requires that the defen-dant establish retardation by a preponderance of evidence.”

A Miami jury convicted Couey on March 7 of the rape and murder of 9-year-old Jessica Marie Lunsford of Homosassa in February 2005. The same jury decided a week later Couey should be executed by lethal injection on charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping, sexual battery and burglary.

Couey’s lawyers maintained during the trial Couey is mentally retarded, and Circuit Judge Ric Howard ordered the July hearing to make a determination. Howard will ultimately decide Couey’s sentence: life in prison or execution.

If Couey is found not to be retarded, Howard will participate in a Spencer hearing, where evidence will be presented to him from the defense and prosecution about what an appropri-ate sentence should be.

Howard will review aggravating factors, reasons Couey should be executed such as past criminal history and the reported heinousness of his crime, against mitigating factors, or rea-sons Couey shouldn’t be executed. Those factors include his mental state.

Fanter argues in his motion having a judge determine whether or not a defendant is men-tally retarded violates the 2002 ruling Ring v. Arizona. The Supreme Court opinion states a jury, not a judge, should make critical sentencing recommendations.

In response to the motion, Assistant State Attorney Pete Magrino cites several rulings of his own in a motion filed Friday to counter Fanter’s claims. He lists the 2005 Florida Supreme Court ruling Arbelaez v. State, that says a judge, and not a jury, must determine if someone is mentally retarded.

Magrino also says the U.S. Supreme Court left it to states “to establish rules and proce-dures with regard to mental retardation” in the Atkins ruling. Magrino also says Howard is bound by those pronouncements.

State moves prisoners to serve near loved ones

The taxpayer-paid trips are an incentive, officials say. But victims' families are upset.

Stephen Hudak

Sentinel Staff Writer

July 1, 2007

TAVARES

Convicted murderer Robert Craig, who once sat on Florida's death row, has gotten a pair of cross-country rides at taxpayer expense so he could be closer to family.

The 3,000-mile trips incense Toby Farmer, 29, whose own family was wrecked in 1981 by the cattle-rustling farmhand, one of two men convicted of the notorious Wall Sink murders of Lake County rancher John Eubanks and Farmer's father, Bobby.

"He's already had umpteen more chances than he gave my daddy," said Farmer, a corrections officer at the Lake County Jail.

Craig benefited from a little-known prisoner-exchange program that in the past 12 months has shipped 173 Florida inmates to other states to serve their time. Florida has taken in 177 inmates from elsewhere during the same period.

State officials justify inmate transfers, saying they help maintain order behind bars and can improve a prisoner's chance to stay straight when released. But Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway said he was appalled to learn the state has paid to accommodate Craig's requests -- a cost of nearly $5,000.

"Considering that the Farmer family was absolutely devastated by this heartless crime, it is outrageous," Ridgway said. "Mr. [Bobby] Farmer's wife . . . literally died of a broken heart shortly after, so [their] two very young boys essentially became orphans. And now one of the killers gets to move to be closer to his own family? Outrageous isn't a strong enough word."

Craig, 49, whose death sentence was commuted in 1998 to life in prison, returned to Florida on May 31 from California, where he was allowed to serve the past five years to be near a woman he met and married while on death row.

"We are sympathetic to the concerns of victims' families," said Gretl Plessinger, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. "But our mission is not punitive in nature. Privileges like visitation are important for prison security, staff safety and inmate well-being."

Prisons can dangle visits as an incentive for an inmate to behave, said Jeff Mellow, an associate professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

"It's the carrot-and-stick approach," he said. "A prisoner who acts up can lose the privilege of a visit, which is often the only thing he has to look forward to."

Law-enforcement officials sometimes promise a suspect a transfer to another state in exchange for testifying against co-defendants.

Florida-bred, Craig had no family in California until Nov. 20, 1998.

On that day, in a civil ceremony at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, he married Jeri Lynne Koffel, then 47, a Long Beach, Calif., caterer he met when he responded to a query that she sent to a death-row inmate for a religious-studies class.

She said she flew to visit him twice a month for almost four years.

Craig was granted a move to California in April 2002, and the families of his victims found out months after he was gone.

"We weren't even asked for our opinion," said Bobby Farmer's brother, Travis, who retired last year from the Sumter County Sheriff's Office after 31 years.

The Eubanks and Farmer families had no say in his return, either.

According to documents provided by the DOC, Craig asked to come back to Florida in 2005, saying he had an ailing 83-year-old father in Live Oak and a brother, Leonard, who had developed Parkinson's disease.

Though Craig's father died last year and his younger brother, John, a dentist, is serving a jail sentence in Suwannee County for prescription fraud, he has several other siblings in Florida, including three sisters in Orlando.

Craig's wife recently divorced him, sold her home in California and moved to New York state, but she thinks he deserves to be in Florida near relatives.

She said she can't understand the Farmer family's anger.

"What difference does it make if he's in California, Florida or Timbuktu? He's in prison and he'll never get out," Jeri Lynne Craig said in a phone interview.

Farmer, 29, and Eubanks, 32, were killed after they became suspicious that Craig and Robert Schmidt, now 46, were involved in a cattle-rustling scheme. They were shot in the back of the head and dumped into the deep and murky waters of Wall Sink with cement blocks tied to them.

Toby Farmer, who was 3 when his father was killed, said Craig should not only stay in a Florida prison, but die there, too.

"It might be Old Testament, an-eye-for-an-eye kind of thing, but they should both die [in prison]," he said of the two killers. "It's just the way I feel. They've both gotten far more [consideration] than they deserve."

Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.

Attorney: Keep killer alive for study

Expert calls Schwab's bid for clemency 'lame'

BY JOHN A. TORRES
FLORIDA TODAY

Convicted murderer, pedophile and rapist Mark Dean Schwab should not be executed so he can remain a living case study, his attorney argued in a motion for clemency.

"As long as he's alive he is available for psychological research, examinations and evaluations, which could in the future prevent a person from becoming so fully mis-oriented as to commit a crime that Mr. Schwab stands guilty of today," wrote Titusville attorney Kenneth Studstill. "For that reason and only that reason clemency should be granted."

Studstill called Schwab a "scientific mystery in need of much more in-depth study." He wants to see his client's death sentence commuted to life in prison.

Dr. James Herndon, retired staff psychologist for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, called the attempt "lame."

"It's also pretty vain. It's your typical sociopathic ego," he said. "You can learn more about him by studying his past. The only person who benefits by this would be him."

Schwab was convicted in 1991 for kidnapping, raping, torturing and then killing 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez, who he tried to befriend after seeing the boy's photo in the newspaper. Schwab called the child's school pretending to be his father. He had the school relay a message to the boy to meet him at a nearby field after classes.

He was never seen alive again.

Schwab was sentenced to death for the murder.

"It never ends," said Junny's father, Junny Rios-Martinez Sr., about the wait to see his son's killer executed. "There's always something else."

The entire clemency process takes between seven and eight months. Studstill filed this motion a few months ago. It will be reviewed by the Parole Commission, which will make a recommendation to Gov. Charlie Crist.

The victim's mother, Vicki Rios-Martinez, said she has a scheduled meeting with the governor in September. She and her husband both want to see Schwab's sentence carried out.

"I think Schwab played out a life for a life. Junny was his sacrifice," she said. "He knew what he was doing."

But Studstill, citing testimony from the trial and subsequent penalty phase, argued that Schwab had little control over his actions.

"It stood unrebutted that Schwab's mental illness controlled him," he wrote. "Once the defendant acts out his fantasy the theme becomes an irresistible impulse. This is where he has the incapacity to stop. This where there are no more negative consequences."

Studstill, who did not return a phone call seeking comment, detailed what Schwab claimed was an abusive childhood where he, too, was the victim of rape. The motion describes how, as a child, Schwab would also parade around his home wearing his mother's outfits, complete with high heels and makeup.

State Attorney Norman Wolfinger said it would be fine for scientists to study Schwab -- after he is executed.

"We have sharks and whales wash up on the beach all the time and scientists can study them," he said. "I have no objection if they want to study him after he receives his injection."

Crist has yet to sign any death warrants since a moratorium on executions was lifted in May. An execution date is not set until after the death warrant is signed.

Vicki Rios-Martinez called the Studstill memorandum "frivolous" but conceded that it meant the end was now one step closer.

"What else can they ask for?" she said. "Where else can they go?"

Contact Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@floridatoday.com.

No Death Penalty In Pompano Beach Baby Dumping

Grand Jurors Indict Mom Who Dumped Baby In A Trash Chute

(CBS4) POMPANO BEACH The Iowa woman indicted Thursday for allegedly dumping her newborn baby down the trash chute of a Pompano Beach hotel will face arraignment in the next few weeks, but she will not face the death penalty if convicted.

A grand jury indicted 18-year-old Ashely Truitt Thursday for first-degree murder.

Prosecutors say Truitt, who was visiting South Florida from Solon, Iowa, hid her pregnancy from her parents and boyfriend. They were staying at the hotel when authorities found a bloody knife in the hallway and the newborn's body in a trash bin in early June.

Truitt said she gave birth in the bathroom, using a kitchen knife to cut the umbilical cord. She then put the baby in a plastic bag with some bath towels and threw it down the trash chute. Truitt told investigators the baby was breathing and crying upon birth.

An autopsy found the newborn died from blunt trauma to the head.

Truitt is being held without bond at the Broward County Jail. The state attorney's office says it doesn't plan to seek the death penalty.


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From prison warden to anti-execution advocate

By Bill Berlow

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Eleven years ago, when Ron McAndrew became superintendent of the Florida prison where Death Row inmates are executed, he was an unflinching supporter of capital punishment.

"I thought it was the right thing to do," he said.

Early today, the Dunnellon resident will fly to Washington to participate in a fast and vigil organized by the anti-death-penalty Abolitionist Action Committee in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

The demonstration, which includes a press conference in which McAndrew is a featured speaker, is part of four days of activities commemorating 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court rulings suspending then reinstating capital punishment in the United States.

"The death penalty puts us right up there with the barbarians in Iran, where killing other people is a sport more than justice," he said. "It's an absolute political manipulation - a politician's best toy."

It's been an interesting, introspective journey for McAndrew, 68, who witnessed and was victim of his share of prison violence as he worked his way up through the Department of Corrections ranks.

Just a few weeks after becoming top dog at Florida State Prison at Starke, he oversaw his first execution. John Earl Bush was electrocuted on Oct. 21, 1996, for killing Evinrude outboard heiress Francis Slater in 1982.

"I realized," he said in a telephone interview Wednesday, "that I had no business standing there."

McAndrew said the process leading up to the execution, and the final, carefully choreographed act itself, horrified him.

While at Starke, McAndrew oversaw two other executions - including John Mills Jr., who murdered Les Lawhon in Wakulla County, and the infamous botched execution of Pedro Medina in 1997.

After flames leapt from Medina's mask, filling the execution chamber with smoke and the smell of burning flesh, Florida aggressively pursued lethal injection as its preferred execution method, although condemned inmates may still request the electric chair.

McAndrew went to Texas while still a Corrections administrator to see how lethal injections worked and help Florida make the transition. Lethal injections temporarily reduced his ambivalence, but didn't rid him of it. It wasn't until a few years after he left Florida State Prison that he decided capital punishment was wrong under all circumstances.

He retired from the DOC several years ago and now, as a consultant on prisons, occasionally testifies against his former employer despite his generally fond feelings for the agency.

About seven years ago, he said, he found religious faith and became a Catholic. Previously, he said, faith played almost no role in his life, but now he believes "that killing people is a sin" - even killing those who took innocent lives themselves.

But what would he say to diehard supporters of the death penalty, particularly the loved one of a murder victim?

"It's very easy," he said. "You just say that the most severe punishment you could ever give anyone would be to lock them in a little cage made out of concrete and steel ... with a steel cot, a mattress that is 2 inches thick, a stainless steel toilet that does not have a lid, and you leave them there for the rest of their natural life.

"There can't be a more severe punishment than that," he said, "and you feed them institutional food for 365 days a year."

And, when DNA testing reveals the occasional wrongful conviction, it's not too late to correct - to the extent possible - the state's mistake.

Like McAndrew, I used to support the death penalty, and people I respect still do. I just can no longer justify even one execution of someone wrongfully convicted as worth the price for putting so many more actual murderers to death.

Let's face it, the death penalty is about vengeance at least as much as it's about justice. That's understandable. If someone murdered a person I loved, I'm pretty certain I'd feel like killing him.

But vengeance dehumanizes, and the death-penalty ritual is state-sponsored theater designed precisely to achieve that objective.

McAndrew still wrestles with ghosts of his past.

"These folks that you sent on to another world," McAndrew said, "they have a way of coming back and sitting on the edge of your bed at night. I don't like that. It's not the right thing to do."

Amen, brother.

Jury Recommends Death Penalty For Killer

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- After a several hours of deliberations Thursday, a jury recommended that an accused serial killer should be executed for the rape and slaying of a 24-year-old woman.

On June 8, the same jury of seven women and five men found Paul Durousseau guilty of first-degree murder in the 1999 killing of Tyresa Mack, a mother of three.

Durousseau was arrested in 2003 and is charged in the deaths of five other women. Trials on those charges are still pending.

Thursday evening, Durousseau sat emotionless as the jury's decision was read -- death by lethal injection.

"The majority of the jury, 10-2, advised and recommend to the court that they impose the death penalty upon Paul Durousseau," was the statement read in court.

After eight long years of waiting, the victim's family said the jury's decision was the closure it needed and it hopes to move forward.

Mack's mother, Iris Harper, said she couldn't be happier about the jury's decision.

"I feel relieved. I'm at peace now. My mother, my brother, my daughter and my family, the ones that are not here, they can rest in peace now," Harper said.

The victim's family was quiet in court, but outside in the hallway, their excitement erupted as the still-grieving family got some closure that was many years in the making.

"I thank God. It's a closure; I mean this is the most wonderful thing that could have ever happened. This is something I prayed for eight years. My mom prayed for eight years before she died. I'm just relieved, I really am," Harper said.

In a few weeks, the judge will take the jury's recommendation and make a final

Convicted Killer Nelson Serrano Moved to Death Row

POLK COUNTY -- Polk County inmate and convicted murderer Nelson Ivan Serrano, who was sentenced to die on June 26, was moved out of the Polk County Jail Thursday morning.

Serrano was taken by Polk County deputies to the Florida Department of Corrections Reception Medical Center in Lake Butler, where all death row inmates are initially received.

A judge officially sentenced Serrano to lethal injection for killing George Gonsalves, Frank Dosso and Diane and George Patisso in Dember of 1997.

Serrano's sentence and conviction will be automatically appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, which is standard procedure.


©2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Cyprus court backs extradition of US cyanide fugitive, defense to appeal

The Associated Press
Friday, June 29, 2007

LARNACA, Cyprus: A fugitive doctor accused in the United States of fatally poisoning his wife can be extradited, a court in Cyprus ruled Friday.

The court rejected the defense argument that Yazeed Essa, 38, would face the death penalty if he returns to the U.S. state of Ohio. Defense lawyers said they will appeal the decision.

Cypriot law bans extradition of suspects who face the death penalty.

Essa, a U.S. citizen, disappeared before he was indicted on aggravated murder charges in Cuyahoga County in the death from cyanide poisoning of his wife, Rosemarie Essa, 38. She collapsed in her car and died on Feb. 24, 2005, about five miles (eight kilometers) from their home in Gates Mills, near Cleveland, Ohio.

He was arrested last October in Cyprus as he attempted to clear customs after arriving from Lebanon.

Charges against Essa carry a term of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

But his defense fought extradition, arguing that he could face a death sentence if convicted for his wife's death because prosecutors could amend the charge to one that carries the death penalty.

In its 45-page decision, the court said expert testimony presented by the defense to support this argument was "supposition and conjecture."

Judge Elias Georgiou said Essa failed to present credible evidence to suggest a "serious possibility or real risk, that the charges will be amended" or new charges, carrying the death penalty, will be filed.

The judge ordered Essa to remain in custody until his extradition.

Defense attorney Soteris Argyrou said they will first contest his continued detention before appealing the decision at the island's Supreme Court — setting the stage for a lengthy legal battle.

A mustachioed Essa appeared in court with a shaved head, clad in black T-shirt and jeans. He followed the two-hour hearing, held in Greek, through a translator.

Ohio authorities believe that after his wife's death, Essa, an emergency room doctor, traveled to Syria, Greece and Lebanon and possibly visited Florida.

He disappeared in March 2005, leaving behind the couple's two children, then aged 4 and 2. The children currently are living with Rosemarie Essa's brother.

Conviction stands in Zeigler case

June 29, 2007

Orange County

The Florida Supreme Court refused to overturn death-row inmate William "Tommy" Zeigler's murder conviction, according to a ruling released Thursday.

Zeigler's lawyer tried to convince the justices that DNA tests conducted in 2002 raised doubt that Zeigler killed his wife, her parents and a friend on Christmas Eve 1975 at his Winter Garden furniture store.

The blood found on the defendant and some of the victims did not conclusively eliminate Zeigler as the perpetrator, the justices wrote in their ruling.

Zeigler, 61, was convicted by a Duval County jury in 1976 for killing his wife, Eunice; her parents, Virginia and Perry Edwards; and store customer Charlie Mays. The jury recommended life in prison, but the trial judge instead imposed the death sentence.

In 1988, the Supreme Court ordered a new sentencing, but Zeigler was sentenced again in 1989 to death.

Ludmilla Lelis, Erika Hobbs, Leslie Postal, Sarah Lundy, Christopher Sherman and Willoughby Mariano of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report. Information from The Associated Press also was used.

Defenders argue plan for defense

The Florida Times-Union

June 27, 2007

By Paul Pinkham,
The Times-Union


Florida defense lawyers predict disaster for a legislative plan that creates a new state agency to replace court-appointed counsel for indigent defendants who can't be represented by a public defender.

They foresee offices filled with overworked, underpaid attorneys, diminishing the quality of justice for the poor and leading to an increase in costly appeals and delays in criminal and child dependency cases.

More Times-Union legislative coverage Learn more about members of the First Coast legislative delegation State budget coverage Florida health services coverage State education coverage Public safety legislationLearn more about Senate Bill 1088

Even Gov. Charlie Crist, who signed the legislation into law, expressed reservations about it last week, saying in a letter he was concerned about the "radical replacement" of court-appointed private lawyers with 384 new state employees.

But the new agency's primary champion says its critics are overreacting and it will save the state millions of dollars in costs to defend accused criminals in cases where public defenders have conflicts of interest. State Sen. Victor Crist, who's not related to the governor, said the new Offices of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel will allow state government to control the quality and spiraling cost of such representation.

"The compelling reason we did this is money," said Sen. Crist, R-Tampa and chairman of the Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee. Florida was looking at spending $100 million this year on court-appointed lawyers, he said. The annual budget for the new agency is half that.

He said lawyers are upset because the new system will cost them money.

Most indigent defendants in Florida are represented by the public defender's office in their county. But sometimes the public defender has to opt out - in cases with multiple defendants, for instance, or when the public defender has represented the victim in the past.

Traditionally, judges have appointed private lawyers to handle conflict cases, and Sen. Crist said those costs have nearly tripled the past three years.

The new agency will shift that responsibility Oct. 1 to one of five conflict offices across the state. The one serving Northeast Florida will encompass 32 counties, from Jacksonville to Pensacola. The state will pay for office space the first 18 months. Then that cost shifts to the counties.

The legislation dictates that each office will be headed by a regional counsel who will be paid $80,000, about half of what elected public defenders.

"They're trying to save money at the expense of the litigant," said Jacksonville defense attorney Refik Eler. "What they're saving up front will be spent down the road."

Eler said he understands the need to get costs under control but said the concern among his colleagues is that the new office will be staffed with inexperienced lawyers who aren't equipped to handle complex cases, leading to more money being spent on appeals.

The problem could be particularly acute in smaller counties, where the ratio of conflicts is higher because people know each other, said attorney Teresa Sopp of Nassau County. It could be exacerbated by the number of lawyers who plan to stop accepting court-appointments because of cuts in their fees.

"It's going to make it very difficult for felony judges to find competent representation," she said. "I don't know how they're going to attract people who are qualified to handle death penalty cases, for instance."

A. Russell Smith of Jacksonville, president of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said he doesn't expect the quality of lawyers to be the problem. But he's concerned they will be stretched too thin. For instance he said early estimates are nine or 10 lawyers will handle criminal cases in Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.

Gov. Crist expressed similar concerns in a June 19 letter to the secretary of state. While praising the Legislature for tackling the spiraling costs of court-appointed legal representation, the governor said he's concerned about caseloads in the new agency. Citing the North Florida office in particular, he questioned whether the office will have sufficient staff to handle 32 far-flung counties.

The governor urged lawmakers to closely monitor the new agency to ensure delivery of legal services to the poor isn't compromised. Sen. Crist promised that would be done, and additional funding would be found if necessary.

"Nothing is carved in stone," he said. "Any improvements that need to be made will be made."

But he said he doubts many smaller counties will need the new agency's services, and he said 90 percent of the work will involve simple cases that won't require "a high-end, experienced, big-gun lawyer." He said he expects the state to hire young lawyers eager to prove themselves and experienced professionals to oversee their work.

Applications for regional counsel were due Friday, but the Florida Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission extended the deadline until July 6. A list of applicants will be available then, a spokeswoman said.

paul.pinkham@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4107

Attorneys seek evidence in death-row inamte’s appeal

By GREG MARTIN
Staff Writer

PUNTA GORDA -- It comes as no surprise to death row inmate Daniel Conahan's attorneys that media reports of the recent discovery of eight skeletons in a wooded area of Fort Myers have included speculation on whether Conahan could be responsible for their deaths.

But William Hennis, director of the Capital Collateral Office, which is representing Conahan in an appeal, also pointed out that if any of the Fort Myers skeletons are identified as people killed after Conahan was jailed in 1996, that would cast doubt on the state's entire case.

That's because the case against Conahan was based on circumstantial evidence linking a series of unsolved homicides and a Florida Department of Law Enforcement profile which suggested the suspect was likely a “sexual sadist.”

Both the evidence and the profile amounted to “junk science,” said Hennis today, in comments following a hearing at the Charlotte County Justice Center.

“Our claim is that Conahan was convicted in part on junk science and no DNA evidence tying him to the crime,” Hennis said.

The collateral office provides attorneys for indigent defendants who have been sentenced to death.

Conahan, 53, received that sentence in 1999 for the April 1996 murder of Richard Montgomery, a 21-year-old Charlotte Harbor-area transient.

Montgomery's body was one of five found in wooded areas of Port Charlotte and North Port between 1994 and 1996. An FDLE profiler had concluded the crimes were “behaviorally linked” because of the way they were found.

Most of them were nude, had been tied to trees, were strangled and had their genitals removed, according to affidavits in court records.

Today’s hearing was one in a series held to allow Circuit Judge Donald Pellecchia to track the progress of the State Attorney's Office and the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office in complying with the defense attorneys' requests for evidence and records in Conahan's appeal.

Conahan already has lost a direct appeal to the Florida Supreme Court. But he still has other appeals pending, Hennis said. State appellate courts could resolve those appeals by next year, but the case is then likely to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, he said.

The evidence requested by the defense includes an undercover detective's audiotape, videotapes of witness statements, and fiber and paint chip evidence, according to court records.

The fiber and paint chip evidence will be reviewed by defense experts.

Conahan was first arrested on July 3, 1996, on charges of kidnapping, sexual battery and attempted murder in a 1994 Fort Myers case.

The victim in that case, Stanley Burden, who is now serving a 25-year prison term in Ohio for sexual battery on a child, had reported to Fort Myers Police in August 1994 that Conahan had lured him into a wooded area. Conahan then tied him to a tree and tried to strangle him, Burden said.

The wooded area where Burden was taken is within a mile of where the eight skeletons were found in March.

Conahan's attorneys have listed 10 cases in which unidentified bodies were found in Charlotte County or North Port.

Those victims include “John Doe No. 7,” whose body was found in October 2000 in an area west of Toledo Blade Boulevard -- within sight of where another body, “John Doe No. 6,” had been found in May 1996.

What's intriguing is that “John Doe No. 7” had been dead for less than two years. Conahan would have been in jail at the time of his death, Hennis pointed out.

Conahan's attorneys have requested the Sheriff's Office release its records of investigations into the “John Doe” cases linked by the FDLE to Conahan's case.

But the State Attorney's Office has declared the unsolved cases exempt from public records because they represent “active investigations.”

However, both the State Attorney's Office and Sheriff's Office have been cooperating fully with the defense's other requests, said Christina Spudea, an attorney from Capital Collateral Office who is co-counsel on Conahan's case.

Today, Assistant State Attorney Bob Lee told the defense attorneys he would contact former investigator Ronnie Lee, who is now Hendry County sheriff, to try to locate a missing audiotape. The tape, recorded by Ronnie Lee, is of Charlotte County Sheriff's Detective Ray Weir talking to Conahan during several “street conversations,” Bob Lee said.

Ecuadorean sentenced to death in Florida

Ecuadorean sentenced to death in Florida

By PHIL DAVIS -- Associated Press Writer
(Published: June 26, 2007)
BARTOW, Fla. (AP) A former Ecuadorean businessman was sentenced to death Tuesday for killing four people in a business dispute, despite pleas from his native country to spare his life.

Nelson Ivan Serrano, 68, was convicted last year on four counts of first-degree murder for the Dec. 3, 1997, shootings of George Gonsalves, 69; Frank Dosso, 35; Diane Patisso, 28; and George Patisso Jr., 26.

Serrano showed no reaction as Circuit Judge Susan Roberts imposed four death sentences in a hearing that lasted only a few minutes. The sentences will automatically be appealed under Florida law.

"The state felt all along that Mr. Serrano deserved the death penalty," prosecutor John Aguero said. "We feel that was an appropriate sentence."

Serrano's attorneys declined to comment.

Serrano, Gonsalves and Dosso's father were business partners at a garment conveyor factory until a dispute over finances led to Serrano's firing as company president in 1997.

Serrano was arrested in September 2002 in his native Ecuador.

In February, Ecuador's Foreign Ministry requested Serrano be returned to that country because he was "illegally" taken to the United States to face charges.

Ecuador will not extradite fugitives who are facing the death penalty in other countries, but U.S. authorities were able to use Serrano's status as a U.S. citizen to get him deported in 2002. Serrano had U.S. and Ecuadorean passports when he was arrested.

Serrano denied involvement in the killings, insisting he was in Atlanta on business at the time. Defense lawyers said there was no physical evidence connecting Serrano to the slayings and no proof he was in Polk County the night of the slayings.

Prosecutors said rage over his firing drove Serrano to mastermind an elaborate plot to kill Gonsalves and leave himself with an alibi nearly 500 miles away. Dosso and the Patissos were killed because they got in the way, prosecutors said.

In October, the jury that convicted Serrano recommended 9-3 that he be sentenced to death.

A Tale of Two Cities, and Two Organizing Strategies

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

'Twas the best of times, 'twas the . . . different best of times? OK, I think that Dickens may have failed me there. Yesterday evening, Isaac and I travelled to McKenzie and then Jackson to hold strategy sessions with groups of TCASK activists in each city to plan local campaigns for municipal moratorium resolutions. Now granted, Nashville to McKenzie to Jackson to Nashville in one night is quite a trip (fortunately, I pulled seniority and Isaac did most of the driving) but it was well worth it. In both cities we met with engaged, energized, and willing folks ready to take action to engage their communities. Both meetings were great, but our groups offered different models for our organizing.

In McKenzie, our group was based mostly at Bethel College, so mostly students and professors with lots of energy ready to wake up a small, fairly rural town. So we organize to those strengths. This group is ready to form a team to canvass local businesses for moratorium resolutions, and visit local pastors to ask them to support a moratorium effort. On top of that, they're looking to build on a new connection between the college and the local paper to gain publicity for their efforts! On the right you can see Bethel Activist Allen McQueen with Juan Melendez at last year's student conference!

In Jackson, we were lucky enough to work with a group of seasoned activists, who have a lot of terrific connections in the city and already know the members of the city council fairly well. Rather than work on beating the pavement with this group, we focused on targeting key decision makers with a sign-on letter for faith leaders and a press conference to kick off our campaign featuring Juan Melendez, the 99th death row exoneree, on his coming visit to Tennessee.

The lesson for us, as organizers, is to find the strengths of the group that you're working with and play to those, whether it's youthful energy or knowledge and connections. With TCASK, we're lucky to have both!
posted by TravelingJesuit at 9:03 AM

Man pleads guilty in 17-year-old’s murder; sentenced to life in prison

PHILLIP BANTZ, pbantz@breezenewspapers.com

Monday, June 25, 2007

Is there sufficient justice in locking a double murderer away for the rest of his life, or is death a more fitting punishment?

The issue split Annamarie Randazzo’s parents in court Monday, when their daughter’s killer, Jeremy Chapman, signed a deal with the State Attorney’s Office and avoided the death penalty.

Chapman pleaded guilty to an array of charges in the bludgeoning deaths of Randazzo, 17, and John Hardin, 66. He will serve two consecutive life sentences in state prison without possibility of parole.

“It is the intent of this court that you never see the light of day, except through barbed wire and iron bars,” said Lee County Circuit Judge Thomas Reese. “You will never walk free among the decent people in the state of Florida again.”

Tears streamed from behind John Randazzo’s dark sunglasses during the hearing. Annamarie’s father and attorneys in the case had reportedly come to an agreement on Chapman’s plea deal.

John Randazzo declined comment as he rushed out of the courtroom after the sentencing.

Randazzo’s mother, Mercedita Walter, told Chapman during the hearing that he should have been sentenced to death.

“He can’t bring back my daughter,” she said. “I still think he needs the death penalty rather than life in prison.”

Chapman, 25, stared blankly at Walter as she spoke. He kidnapped, raped, killed and burned Randazzo on July 22, 2005. He beat his roommate, Hardin, to death with a crowbar during a robbery seven days later. Hardin did not have a family member or relative in court Monday.

Randazzo’s stepfather, Jeff Walter, said he was “shocked” that State Attorney Stephen Russell never told him or Mercedita Walter about Chapman’s plea deal. They first learned Randazzo’s killer would avoid the death penalty after speaking with a reporter.


“We found out about this deal this morning. This is another layer of disappointment in this situation, that the State Attorney’s Office did not call us directly,” said Jeff Walter. “We’re very disappointed. ... We thought there would be no deals.”

Chapman said the deal was in “his best interest,” but when asked to explain why, he said it was “kind of hard to explain” and requested to speak with one of his attorneys.

“I want to take responsibility for my actions,” said Chapman, his voice cracking. “And I have remorse.”

Later, Chapman wept as he apologized to Randazzo’s family, saying he did not expect forgiveness.

“I’d like to say that I’m so sincere when I say, from the bottom of my heart, I’m sorry,” he said. “I will never forgive myself for this and I don’t expect them to forgive me.”

As part of his agreement with the state, Chapman will testify against his alleged accomplice in the Randazzo slaying. Joshua P. Henninger was 16 when he lured Randazzo to his home, where she was beaten, bound with tape and driven to a remote location in Lehigh Acres, authorities said.

Henninger and Chapman then reportedly beat Randazzo to death and shoved her body into an abandoned refrigerator, which they set ablaze. The duo also burned Randazzo’s Ford Mustang, according to reports.

Henninger, now 18, awaits a September trial while being held in the Lee County Jail on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, arson and sexual assault with a weapon. He is exempt from the death penalty due to his age at the time of the crime.

© 2007 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.

Ex-Warden Who Executed in Florida & Texas Among Many Calling for End to Death Penalty on Historic 35th Anniversary

As part of STARVIN' FOR JUSTICE 2007; THE 14TH ANNUAL FAST AND VIGIL TO
ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY AT THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

WASHINGTON, June 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --

WHO: Former Florida State Prison Warden Ron McAndrew (Participated in executions), Former Louisiana Death Row Prisoner Moreese Bickham removed from Louisiana's death row by the Furman decision),Attorney Marshall Hartman (worked on historic Furman case), Death Row Survivors, Murder Victim Family Members, and other leaders of various anti-death penalty organizations.

WHAT: Press Conference

WHEN: NOON, Friday, June 29, 2007, the 35th Anniversary of the Historic
Furman Decision

WHERE: On the sidewalk in front of the United States Supreme Court in
Washington, DC

WHY: July 29, 2007 marks the 35th anniversary of the Furman V. Georgia decision in which the United States Supreme Court struck down all laws allowing executions in the U.S. Persons of interest noted above will join leaders of the anti-death penalty movement in speaking out about recent developments regarding the issue, noting how the death penalty continues to fail as a public policy in the United States.

July 2, 2007 marks the 31st anniversary of the Gregg V. Georgia decision in which the United States Supreme Court upheld laws written in various states to reinstate the death penalty in the wake of the Furman decision in 1972.

This press conference is part of the Annual Fast & Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty at the US Supreme Court, wherein anti-death penalty activists will converge on Washington, D.C. from Friday, June 29 through Monday, July 2 for four days of activities commemorating the historic 1972 and 1976 Supreme Court rulings that suspended the death penalty in the United States and later allowed executions to resume. This is the fourteenth year in a row that the Abolitionist Action Committee will hold its annual Fast and Vigil between the dates of these two landmark decisions. Activists, many of whom are fasting the entire four days, are travelling to Washington D.C.from across the United States and beyond.

Highlights of this highly visual and interactive annual event include live music and evening teach-ins by death row survivors, murder victim family members, and noted activists and scholars. Please see details at ://www.abolition.org/starvin14/schedule.html

ATTENTION REPORTERS, EDITORS AND PRODUCERS: Consider interviews with activists from your specific state or region. A press conference will be held at Noon on Friday, June 29 on the sidewalk in front of the U.S.

Supreme Court, but we are available all day and evening on June 29 and 30, and July 1 and 2. SEE THE LIST OF SCHEDULED EVENING SPEAKERS.

RAIN ALERT: In the event of rain or significant threat thereof, the press conference and other events requiring amplification will take part inside the United Methodist Church Building, immediately adjacent (across Maryland Ave. on 1st St.)

The Abolitionist Action Committee is an ad-hoc group of individuals committed to highly visible and effective public education for alternatives to the death penalty through nonviolent direct action.

Contact the AAC at:
800-973-6548
aac@abolition.org
http://www.abolition.org



SOURCE Abolitionist Action Committee

Hearing moves convicted quadruple-murderer closer to execution

TOM McLAUGHLIN
Monday June 25th, 2007

Convicted quadruple-murderer Jeffrey Hutchinson might have moved one baby step closer Monday to his date with the executioner.

But his prosecutor said Hutchinson could remain on death row for years before that happens.

Hutchinson, who was sentenced to death Feb. 6, 2001 for the murders of the three children of his girlfriend, wasn’t present for the routine status conference.

But a date certain was set for Okaloosa County Judge G. Robert Barron to hear motions he noted had been “pending for quite some time.”

Hutchinson’s latest court appointed attorney, Tallahassee-based Clyde Taylor, said he would have an amended version of the Hutchinson motions in the court’s hands by Aug. 1.

All present for the status conference agreed an Oct. 22 hearing date would allow prosecutors and defense attorneys ample time to prepare.

Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore, who prosecuted Hutchinson for the killings of Renee Flaherty and her children, Geoffrey Flaherty, 9, Amanda Flaherty, 7, and Logan Flaherty, 4, said Hutchinson remains a long way from an execution date.

His case, Elmore said, was in no way impacted by a decision made last December to stop imposing the death penalty until improvements could be made to the process through which lethal injections are administered.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush halted executions statewide after it took Angel Diaz 34 minutes to die Dec. 13 following the injection meant to kill him.

Charlie Crist, who followed Bush into office, said last month he intends to begin signing death warrants again.

The announcement came after the state adopted 37 recommendations made by a committee that studied the way Florida’s death penalty is administered.

Hutchinson’s case is still moving through the “state post-conviction challenges,” Elmore said. Should prosecutors ultimately prevail, Hutchinson’s attorney, in all likelihood, will file a federal habeas corpus challenge, Elmore said.

“If that is denied, then the time will be ripe for the governor to sign a death warrant,” Elmore said.

Hutchinson has been on death row for more than six years, but it takes 12.86 years on average for a death row inmate to move from conviction to execution, according to the Florida Department of Corrections.

Hutchinson is also serving a life-without-parole sentence for the killing of Renee Flaherty.

Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin can be reached at 863-1111, Ext. 435.

Florida Executions To Resume

POSTED: 2:22 pm EDT June 24, 2007
UPDATED: 2:29 pm EDT June 24, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- As Florida prepares to resume executing convicted killers, state officials say they have made changes that will provide a humane and dignified death.

But death penalty opponents and defense attorneys said the state has not gone far enough to solve the problems in the Angel Diaz execution last December. Needles punctured his veins and it took twice as long for him to die as other executions. Executions in the state were halted pending an investigation.

Since then, a state commission has made 37 recommendations to the Florida Department of Corrections, which have been implemented.

The changes include more training for the execution team, changes to the death chamber and careful monitoring of the execution process.

It's not clear when Gov. Charlie Crist will sign his first death warrant