McCollum seeks go-ahead on Schwab execution

McCollum sees opening in Schwab case

Brendan Farrington

The Associated Press

April 17, 2008

TALLAHASSEE

Attorney General Bill McCollum asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow Florida to proceed with the execution of child killer Mark Dean Schwab, shortly after the high court ruled that lethal injection is not cruel and unusual punishment.

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist asked for a "very short list" of the worst death-row inmates so he can sign his next death warrant.

In a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection to execute condemned killers, and McCollum said that should clear the way for executions in Florida because the states have nearly identical procedures. The court had stopped the Schwab execution, and McCollum's office filed paperwork Wednesday afternoon seeking to get the order lifted.

"In the most heinous of cases, the death penalty should be carried out," McCollum said. "Schwab is a very heinous case."

Schwab, 40, a Merritt Island High School dropout and convicted sex offender, was slated to be executed last November for raping and murdering 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez of Cocoa in 1991. He was sentenced to death in July 1992.

But the Supreme Court stayed his execution on Nov. 15 -- four hours before he was scheduled to die -- so the court could hear related arguments in the Kentucky case.

McCollum said he was gratified that the victim's family would see justice and that his belief that Florida's executions "are constitutionally sound has been upheld by the highest legal authority in the nation."

Crist had said he would wait until the high court's decision before moving ahead with other executions. He said he is considering the length of time on death row and the crime committed in choosing who should be executed after Schwab.

"Justice delayed is justice denied, and an awful lot of families of the victims have been waiting for justice to be done," Crist said. "But in addition, the heinous nature of the crime itself is important to consider."

There are 388 offenders on death row in the state, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. Schwab's is among three signed death warrants that are pending.

The ruling "removes the roadblock that brought the Schwab case to a halt," said Wayne Holmes, chief of operations for the Seminole-Brevard County State Attorney's Office and first prosecutor of Schwab. If the U.S. Supreme Court dismisses the current stay, Schwab could be executed as early as this summer, Holmes said.

Holmes said it appears Schwab's attorneys might have exhausted all appeals that could stop the execution. "It's hard for me to imagine anything of merit that they could file," he said.

Holmes did not speak to the Rios-Martinez family Wednesday, but a victim advocate from the State Attorney's Office did. "They are being cautiously optimistic," Holmes said.

Peter Cannon, an attorney representing Schwab, was not immediately available, his office in Tampa said. Calls to Vicki Rios-Martinez, the victim's mother, were unanswered.

Crist signed a death warrant for Schwab in July, lifting a moratorium on executions that his predecessor, Jeb Bush, had ordered after it took twice as long as usual -- 34 minutes -- for convicted killer Angel Diaz, 55, to die in December 2006.

An investigation found the needles had been pushed through Diaz's veins into his flesh, reducing the drugs' effectiveness.

Corrections officials responded by ordering more training and monitoring of its execution team. The new procedures also include a delay after the first chemical, the anesthetic sodium pentothal, is injected to make sure an inmate is unconscious before the other drugs are administered. The second chemical causes paralysis and the third stops the heart from beating, which can result in severe pain if a person is conscious.

Critics of the three-drug system say the paralyzing drug is unnecessary and prevents an inmate from showing pain. Some have advocated using only sodium pentothal because it also is lethal in large doses.

Orange-Osceola Public Defender Robert Wesley, who has handled numerous death-penalty cases, said the high court ruled the chemical drug-execution system does not violate the Eighth Amendment's cruel-and-unusual-punishment standard if it's done perfectly. But he said the court did not address problems and potential room to improve the process.

"When judges and lawyers try to be scientists, we don't always get scientifically logical results," Wesley said.


Jim Leusner, Sarah Lundy and John Kennedy of the Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

States plan to resume executions

By Kevin Johnson and Joan Biskupic, USA TODAY

Florida officials on Wednesday started the process of reopening that state's death chamber, shuttered for more than six months as part of a national moratorium on executions.

Hours after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to lethal injection in a Kentucky case, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum filed papers asking the high court to lift a stay of execution that spared the life of convicted child killer Mark Dean Schwab.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued the stay late last year while justices considered the Kentucky case. McCollum and officials in other states say the court's validation of lethal injection allows the 36 states that permit capital punishment to begin setting new execution dates.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway is reviewing the state's 38 death row cases, including the two that initiated the Supreme Court challenge in Baze v. Rees. "As soon as we've determined that all the remedies are exhausted and it's appropriate to seek the death warrants, we will do so," he says.

In Alabama, where there are 201 inmates on death row, lethal injections could resume in about a month at the earliest, says Clay Crenshaw, chief of the state's capital litigation division.

"We're pleased," Crenshaw says. "Executions will resume very shortly. … We'll take every step to ensure that will happen."

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who imposed an execution moratorium this month pending the Supreme Court's ruling, lifted the ban Wednesday. The state's next execution is set for May 27, pending further appeals. Kevin Green, convicted in a 1998 murder of a store clerk, is scheduled to die by lethal injection.

California officials are mired in a separate legal challenge over how lethal injection is carried out in that state. The Supreme Court's decision could help restart executions that have been stalled since June 2006.

California Department of Corrections spokesman Seth Unger says new execution protocols the state submitted to a federal judge last year meet the standards the Supreme Court outlined in its ruling. A status conference in that case is scheduled in U.S. District Court in June.

The Supreme Court decision "is another step toward us carrying out the will of the people in California," Unger says.

Death penalty opponents expressed disappointment, saying the court did not address the broader issues of fairness and the precision with which the death penalty is carried out.

"Our challenge as a nation is not to make it easier to execute people, or make more people eligible for the death penalty, but to do everything possible to make our criminal justice system more fair and accurate," says Barry Scheck, co-director of The Innocence Project, which seeks to free innocent people from prison.

Contributing: Jessie Halladay and Stephenie Steitzer, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal

Short-term savings, huge costs

By STEVE BOUSQUET, Tallahassee Bureau Chief

Published Friday, April 18, 2008 9:16 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The budget is the clearest statement of values and priorities the Florida Legislature makes each year.

Lawmakers get to decide how to spend your tax money. You get decide whether they value what you value.

In the budget proposed by the House of Representatives, two figures stand out.

The first is $418-million. That's how much money the House wants to spend next year to build more prison beds.

The second number is zero. That's how much money the House would spend next year to help inmates deal with drug and alcohol abuse.

Neither the Senate nor Gov. Charlie Crist agrees with the House (the Senate would spend $31-million for treatment; Crist sought $29-million more than that, which was ignored), so the House's choice is not likely to be sustained. It's one of many unresolved budget issues with two weeks left in the session.

Crist's office calculated that increasing substance abuse care by $29-million would lessen the need for $300-million in future prison construction, because fewer inmates would reoffend because of their addictions.

The state Department of Corrections says 10 percent of all inmates are locked up because of drug possession crimes. Most of them will be released at some point, still addicted or not.

In tough times like these, the Legislature will slash prenatal care for poor women, reduce care for the disabled and chronically sick, lay off child abuse investigators and deny state workers a token raise. But no matter how bad the economy gets, they always find hundreds of millions of dollars for more prison beds.

The Senate set aside $229-million for construction, but the House is much more serious about building beds, even in a year when hundreds of probation officers' jobs are on the chopping block.

The House's $418-million includes money for a new 2,000-bed private prison in Graceville, a 1,335-bed annex in Mayo, 1,335 beds in Suwannee County, 1,335 beds at Sumter Reception Center, 1,596 beds at other prisons and four work camps with 2,016 beds.

Florida has more than 94,000 people behind bars, and must abide by strict rules for prison bed space or run the risk of setting violent criminals free. That's an apocalyptic scenario for citizens who like to sleep at night, let alone politicians vowing to be "tough on crime" at election time.

What galls substance abuse experts, prison officials, Crist and some legislators is that the unwillingness to spend money on substance abuse treatment will accelerate the need for more beds in the years to come.

"When you cut these substance abuse programs, you are guaranteeing a bigger hit on the budget down the road," says Rep. Jack Seiler, D-Fort Lauderdale, who blames term limits for what he views as a shortsighted House outlook on the issue. "The Senate thinks more long term."

Mark Fontaine of the Florida Alcohol and Drug Abuse Association has been walking the halls of the Capitol, pushing what he sees as a more compassionate Senate position.

"Invest wisely," Fontaine's one-page flyer reads.

Citing the state's own data, he says that eliminating substance abuse treatment will result in an estimated 1,500 more inmates flowing into the system at a cost of $166-million.

Ironically, House Speaker Marco Rubio's priorities include improving the lives of young black men who are disproportionately represented in the prison population. Asked about the inconsistency in shutting off abuse treatment, he said the program was important, but "the reality is that Florida has less money than it did a year ago. We're trying to balance that as best we can."

Steve Bousquet can be reached at bousquet@sptimes.com or
(850) 224-7263.

Judge frees out-of-state sex offenders

He rules that making them register if they move to another state is unconstitutional.
Jim Leusner

Sentinel Staff Writer

April 19, 2008

An Orlando federal judge has ordered the release of two jailed, out-of-state sex offenders who moved to Florida, ruling that part of the Adam Walsh Act requiring their registration is unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Presnell on Friday ruled that the 2006 federal law requiring state sex offenders to register with law-enforcement officials when they move across state lines was largely a local issue.

The ruling, made in two unrelated sex-offender cases pending in Orlando, led to the dismissal of charges against Robert D. Powers, 43, and Tommy William Buckius, 60, both of Orlando. Powers was released Friday from the Seminole County Jail, but Buckius remained in the Orange County Jail.

Powers was convicted in 1995 in South Carolina of sexual assault, freed in 1997 and later arrested for failing to register as a state sex offender. In 2002, he registered in North Carolina but absconded in 2005 and did not register with Florida authorities when he repeatedly visited Orlando in the late 1990s and lived with his mother in 2007.

Buckius, who pleaded guilty to the attempted rape of a 13-year-old Ohio girl in 1986, was freed from prison there in 2000 and later registered as a sex offender. He previously was convicted of assault with intent to commit rape in Texas in 1973, court records show. But in November 2006, Buckius moved from Liverpool, Ohio, and did not notify local authorities of his new address. He was documented living in Orlando as early as March 2007 and arrested in February 2008.

Assistant Federal Public Defenders Michelle Smith and Stephen Langs argued that Congress lacked the authority to force state sex offenders solely convicted of local offenses to register. Powers had an IQ of 68, a second-grade reading level and did not understand state sex-offender forms he had signed, Smith argued.

They also contended both men were convicted of crimes before the new law was passed and should not be subjected to them. But federal prosecutors argued that an Attorney General's rule applied to sex offenders before the new took effect in 2007.

Known as the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, it was passed in honor of Adam Walsh, a South Florida boy killed in 1981. It was designed to help identify up to 200,000 unaccounted-for sex offenders nationwide.

Failing to register carries a prison term of up to 10 years. The law requires states to notify all sex offenders in or out of prison about the federal provision, but Florida has yet to comply with the new federal rules deadline of July 2009.

"The Adam Walsh Act was enacted with a commendable goal -- to protect the public from sex offenders," Presnell wrote. "However, a worthy cause is not enough to transform a state concern [sex-offender registration] into a federal crime."

Ironically, three other Central Florida federal judges have upheld the law's constitutionality in other cases, though one last year said he wished he could have dropped the case the next day if the suspect had registered. He sentenced the suspect to probation.

Presnell's problem with the federal law centered on the "mere unrelated travel in interstate commerce" to link it with local criminal conduct. Such reasoning would subject virtually all criminal activity to federal scrutiny, he wrote.

"Surely, our founding fathers did not contemplate such a broad view of federalism," Presnell wrote.


Jim Leusner can be reached at jleusner@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5411.

Nurse Accused Of Sexual Battery Given Probation

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A nurse accused of sexually assaulting two patients and inappropriately touching another at two different Central Florida hospitals has learned his fate.

Following Laing's sentencing, a family member of one of the victims said his 15 year probation was not enough.

"People like him belong in prison, because if they don't go to prison they'll do it again," one of the victim's husbands said.

If Laing had gone to a jury trial, he could have served 17 years in prison.

Instead, he'll have to register as a sex offender and be monitored by a GPS ankle bracelet.

Another victim said she too wanted a harsher punishment.

"Personally, I would like to see him in jail," the victim said.

The victims said they will now live in fear for the rest of their lives knowing Laing is still a free man.

Laing's wife maintains he's innocent.

Laing also received a maximum punishment on Friday for the exposure charge and battery charge -- he will be on probation one year for those charges. He is also never allowed to work with patients again.

The judge told the victims the reason the state agreed to this plea deal is because they were under medication and could not make convincing witnesses to any jury.

Death for Durango Killer

St. Petersburg, Florida - A Pinellas County jury has recommended the death penalty for convicted killer, Wilson Saintil.

That same jury found the 54 year old restaurant worker guilty of first degree murder on Thursday.

In 2005, police found Durango Assistant Manager, Stephen Holmes dead inside the restaurant. His neck had been slashed repeatedly and his hands had defensive wounds, indicating the tried to fight off his attacker.

A judge must still hold a hearing to determine if the death penalty will be imposed. That hearing has not yet been scheduled

Woman's accused killer told authorities he was kidnap victim

SARASOTA, Fla. A man accused of kidnapping, raping and killing a young mother has never admitted any wrongdoing, even claiming that someone else abducted him and the woman, according to documents released Friday.

Michael Lee King, 36, has apparently told investigators nothing else since he was arrested for the slaying of Denise Amber Lee, 21, in January. He invoked his right to an attorney almost immediately after he was pulled over while police were still searching for Lee.

DNA evidence links King to Lee's killing, investigators said. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for King if he is convicted. He has pleaded not guilty.

The case has sparked criticism of 911 dispatchers in Charlotte County, who failed to dispatch a deputy after a motorist called and described the precise location of King's car. Lee was seen visibly struggling in the back seat.

King's attorney had tried to block Friday's statement release, but a judge ruled that they were not admissions of guilt. His public defender declined to comment on the release.

Nowhere in the 38 pages of documents does King acknowledge harming Lee. Most are interviews with people who knew him or detectives' reports.

King told authorities, "I was a victim too," according to the documents. Investigators then drove King around as he claimed to retrace his movements. He said he was blindfolded and shoved in a trunk, and could barely hear a woman's voice through earplugs.

"Yes, a guy took me and that girl and I was tied up and had a hood over my head, and he kept telling me to stay down," he told detectives.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper who pulled over King's green Chevrolet Camaro immediately doubted his claims, noting that his pants were wet from the waist down.

Prosecutors suspect King abducted Lee from her North Port home, leaving her two young children alone. They suspect he raped Lee, shot her in the head and dumped her body in a shallow grave.

Investigators have found no connection between King and Lee, who is the daughter of a Charlotte County sheriff's official.

King repeated the claims that he was abducted to a fellow jail inmate, claiming he and Lee were "hijacked." The inmates were on suicide watch at the time.

Two dispatchers were briefly suspended for their handling of the 911 call, Lee's husband is planning a lawsuit and lawmakers are contemplating new legislation that would create statewide training standards for 911 operators.

Last injection in Del. took longer than usual

When Brian Steckel was put to death in November 2005, it took longer than usual, which the inmate even commented on.

By SEAN O'SULLIVAN
The News Journal

Supreme Court justices noted Wednesday in upholding Kentucky's system for lethal injections that no evidence had been shown indicating any problems on the one occasion the state used drugs to kill someone.

Delaware's last execution, by contrast, appeared to have problems.

The November 2005 execution of killer Brian Steckel took longer than usual, about 12 minutes, and at one point Steckel turned to his executioners and said, "I didn't think it would take this long."

Steckel then appeared to drift off, which is usually how a lethal injection ends according to experts, then snorted and convulsed -- something experts said the three-drug lethal injection should have prevented.

The first drug is an anesthetic, which puts the condemned to sleep, and the second induces paralysis before the third causes a fatal heart attack. A paralyzed convict would not be able to convulse as the lethal drug moves into his bloodstream, critics say.

Delaware Department of Correction officials said at the time there were no problems and that prison officials just allowed Steckel more time to talk to family viewing the execution. Steckel was sentenced to death for the 1994 murder of Sandra Long.

But at a death penalty seminar in Wilmington on Friday, Michael Wiseman, the federal defender leading a legal challenge to Delaware's death penalty procedure, said filings in the case show there was indeed a problem.

In response to a question about the Steckel execution, Wiseman said "there was some difficulty with one of the lines [intravenous tubes connected to Steckel]. The primary line failed and it took time to get the second line going."

DOC spokesman John Painter said this week that there was "no conflict" between DOC's earlier statements and the revelation from Wiseman.

"Mr. Steckel was given more time to talk with family and make his final statement. During the execution, a secondary injection site was utilized. This was in keeping with standard procedure which anticipates the potential need for use of a secondary injection site," said Painter in an e-mail.

Executions in Florida and Ohio have also had apparent problems with indications that prisoners suffered severe pain, according to advocates.

In a reversal, Justice Stevens calls the death penalty 'anachronistic'

Part of the Supreme Court majority that reinstated capital punishment in the U.S. in 1976, he says it no longer serves any purpose.

By James Oliphant, Chicago Tribune
April 17, 2008

WASHINGTON -- The nation's longest-serving Supreme Court justice, John Paul Stevens, on Wednesday declared his formal opposition to capital punishment.

Stevens, 87, was part of the court majority that reinstated the death penalty in America in 1976. But in a concurring opinion to Wednesday's ruling that Kentucky's use of lethal injection is constitutional, Stevens wrote that the death penalty no longer served a legitimate social function. He is the first justice to openly oppose capital punishment since Harry Blackmun in 1994.

His words came as some comfort to death penalty opponents on a day when they suffered a setback at the hands of the justices. Within hours of the 7-2 ruling, Virginia and Florida announced their intention to lift a moratorium on executions, and several other states were expected to follow suit. In California, executions could begin again by the end of the year.

But Elisabeth Semel, a law professor and director of the Death Penalty Clinic at UC Berkeley who helped bring the challenge to Kentucky's lethal-injection procedures, said the court's opinion made it clear that states can be forced to institute alternative lethal-injection procedures if they can be proven to alleviate a substantial risk of severe pain to the inmate.

That may have been one reason that Stevens, in a sense, threw up his hands and said "enough" even as he concurred with the majority in the Kentucky case. Stevens wrote that when the court agreed to hear the Kentucky challenge, he "assumed that our decision would bring the debate about lethal injection as a method of execution to a close. It now seems clear that it will not."

Then he went further, saying the death penalty was no longer meeting any of the societal aims the court laid out when it reinstated the sanction in 1976 after a four-year pause. "State-sanctioned killing," he said, is becoming "more and more anachronistic."

The Chicago native, who was named to the court by President Ford in 1975, wrote that modern, lengthy prison sentences had achieved the goal of preventing the offender from committing further crimes and said that researchers had yet to prove to his satisfaction that the death penalty deterred others from committing crimes.

That left retribution as the sole rationale for capital punishment, and there Stevens found a paradox. Noting that the court is now working to make executions as painless as possible, he wrote: "By requiring that an execution be relatively painless, we necessarily protect the inmate from enduring any punishment that is comparable to the suffering inflicted on his victim."

Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a special concurrence to criticize Stevens, saying that his reversal on the issue was "astounding" and that he was substituting his own views for those of state legislatures elected by the people.

"It is Justice Stevens' experience that reigns over all," he wrote mockingly.

Notwithstanding Stevens' stance, states were gearing up to put a pair of killers to death. Florida officials said that the high court's decision paved the way for the execution of Mark Dean Schwab, convicted of raping and killing an 11-year-old boy in 1991.

And in Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine cleared the way for the execution of Edward Bell, who killed a police officer in 1999. His execution was scheduled for April 8, but Kaine had postponed it until July in advance of the Supreme Court ruling.

ACLU Expresses Concern to Governor Crist About HB 5075

For Immediate Release: April 16, 2008
Contact: Alexandra Bassil, ACLU, 786-363-2723 or media@aclufl.org

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.--Today, the ACLU of Florida sent the letter below to Governor Crist and members of the Cabinet (who collectively serve as the Board of Executive Clemency), House Speaker Marco Rubio and Senate President Ken Pruitt warning that the restoration of civil rights (RCR) process could be severely impacted by the passage of House Bill 5075.

Please attribute the quote below to Howard Simon, Executive Director, ACLU of Florida:

“We are asking Gov. Crist and legislative leaders to carefully examine the proposed transfer of RCR functions from the Parole Commission to the Department of Corrections to ensure that the Governor’s commitment to address Florida disenfranchisement crisis is not undermined by governmental reorganization or perceived cost savings,” said Howard Simon, Executive Director, ACLU of Florida.

Please attribute the second below to Muslima Lewis, Director, ACLU of Florida Racial Justice and Voting Rights Projects:

“Any change to the restoration of Civil Rights process that is not carefully analyzed to make sure that sufficient resources are devoted to RCR could set back the efforts to meet Gov. Crist’s commitment to expedite the restoration of civil rights,” said Muslima Lewis, Director of ACLU of Florida’s Racial Justice and Voting Rights Project.


April 16, 2008

Via First Class Mail and Electronic Transmission

Governor Charlie Crist, Office of the Governor
The Capitol
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0001
Re: House Bill 5075

Dear Governor Crist:

We are writing to express our grave concerns about the future of restoration of civil rights (RCR) in Florida.

Specifically, we are concerned that efforts in the House of Representatives to move clemency functions from the Parole Commission to the Department of Corrections could significantly undercut the effectiveness of the April 2007 restoration of civil rights (RCR) reforms that you and members of the Board of Executive Clemency ushered in last year unless the State is diligent in ensuring that adequate resources are allocated to RCR processing. In a time of a contracting state budget, exceeding care must be taken to ensure that these critical RCR functions are performed in the most effective and cost-effective manner possible. Unfortunately, to date, it does not appear that the House seriously examined how RCR processing would be impacted by the passage of HB 5075.

In November 2007, the Florida Parole Commission (PC) requested 42 additional Full Time Equivalents (FTE) at a cost of close to $2.3 million in order to expeditiously process RCR applications. This request for additional resources reflects the Parole Commission’s own assessment of what is required to properly administer the current Clemency Rules, which still require case-by-case analysis and significant paperwork.

Rather than considering the funding request of the Parole Commission, and without considering what type of resources are needed to adequately process RCR requests, the House passed HB 5075 that would remove the Clemency functions (including RCR processing) from the Parole Commission and transfer those functions to the Department of Corrections.

At this point, too little is known to evaluate how this transfer of RCR processing will impact the efficiency with which RCR cases are processed. However, it is clear is that no serious thought or analysis was given to how and whether those RCR functions can be handled by the Department of Corrections or how the transfer to the Department of Corrections may impact the current backlog of applications and the processing of future applications.

Transfer of clemency functions to the DOC is apparently being justified, in large part, on claimed cost savings. However, any such claimed cost savings are illusory. Without adequate funding, RCR processing will be delayed, which will only delay the ability of individuals to re-enter the workforce and contributing to the state’s economy.

Before any decision is made to transfer RCR processing from the Parole Commission to the Department of Corrections, important questions must be answered, including:
If RCR functions are transferred from the Parole Commission to the Department of Corrections, will the number of FTE’s dedicated to processing RCR remain the same, be reduced or increased?
What funding will be available at the Department of Corrections to undertake meaningful outreach and public education regarding the RCR process?
What are the cost savings that will be realized by transferring RCR processing to the Department of Corrections from the Parole Commission? How will those cost savings be realized?
Will the fact that the Department of Corrections is involved in RCR processing become a deterrent to citizens seeking to restore their civil rights?
Under the current Clemency Rules, it is unrealistic to believe RCR processing can be done more expeditiously - by either the Department of Corrections or the Parole Commission - without significant additional resources. Without adequate funding (at either the Department of Corrections or the Parole Commission), your goal to streamline the RCR process will be significantly undermined and the backlog of RCR cases will increase exponentially.

Given the nature of the current Clemency Rules relating to RCR, additional resources, not less are needed to process RCR cases in a timely fashion. If in the current fiscal environment, additional resources are not available, then we suggest it is time for the Board of Executive Clemency to implement additional clemency reforms so the RCR process is more automatic and paperwork-free, thereby eliminating unnecessary backlogs and ensuring prompt civil rights restorations without significant costs to the Florida taxpayers.

As you stated on April 5, 2007, the clemency rule changes adopted at that time were an important step in reforming Florida’s restoration of civil rights process. We fear that any progress made since April 2007 could be fundamentally impeded, and, in fact, the RCR backlog could increase to the highest levels ever, if the state fails to adequately fund RCR processing.

There is no more significant civil rights issue in Florida than civil rights restoration. Careful attention must be given to any changes in the RCR process so Florida does not find itself failing to realize the important gains that the April 2007 rule changes made possible and, through either governmental reorganization or perceived cost savings, renege on its commitment to expedite RCR processing.

We look forward to your continued leadership on this issue and we remain available to provide assistance to your office and to the Legislature.

Very truly yours,

Howard Simon, Executive Director

Muslima Lewis, Director, Racial Justice and Voting Rights Projects

cc: Members of the Board of Executive Clemency, Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, Commissioner Charles Bronson, Attorney General Bill McCollum, House Speaker Marco Rubio, Senate President Ken Pruitt

Chamberlain off Death Row, resentenced to life in prison

By LARRY KELLER larry_keller@pbpost.com

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — He supplied the gun and the car used in a triple murder. He got more bullets so that the victims could be finished off. And today, John Chamberlain got off Death Row, resentenced to life in prison on a technicality.

"I now vacate the death penalty that was previously imposed on you," Circuit Judge Lucy Chernow Brown told Chamberlain at a court hearing, as family members of two of his victims watched. With that, Chamberlain will be transferred from Death Row to another high-security facility.

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"It just doesn't seem like justice," said Anita Charest of Palm Springs, whose daughter, Charlotte Kenyon, was awakened from her bed, taken to a bathroom and executed.

"He killed my daughter. His parents can visit him. He gets three meals a day now and we pay for it. "He should fry, and I would be right there in front."

Chamberlain and Thomas Thibault were convicted of first-degree murder in separate trials. Both were sentenced to death for the slayings of Kenyon, 26, Bryan Harrison, 21, and Daniel Ketchum, 27, in the West Palm Beach house they shared on Thanksgiving 1998.

A third defendant, Jason Dascott, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He was released last month and is on probation in Monroe County for the next five years.

Thibault's death sentence was reversed in 2005 on a procedural technicality, and he received life in prison. Now 32, he's serving his sentence at Glades Correctional Institution in Belle Glade.

Chamberlain's attorney then argued that he should receive the same sentence as Thibault, especially since it was Thibault who shot all three victims.

"We all agreed the case law says you can't have disproportionate sentences," said prosecutor Terri Skiles.

Accompanied by Chamberlain and Dascott, Thibault went to the Norton Avenue house intending to sell cocaine to a woman, Amanda Ingman, who lived there with the victims. Once there, the defendants decided to take stolen electronics from the home that Ingman said were kept in a walk-in safe.

Thibault held Harrison and Ketchum at gunpoint while Chamberlain and Dascott robbed the house. When Ketchum rushed him, Thibault shot and killed him.

Chamberlain then urged Thibault to kill Harrison and Kenyon to eliminate witnesses, Ingman told police. Thibault said later that he "emptied the gun" on them, and when Harrison continued breathing, Chamberlain went to the car and got more bullets so he could finish the job.

Like her mother, Kenyon's sister was unhappy that Chamberlain's life was spared. "It's very upsetting," she said. "In my opinion, he's almost more responsible than Tommy. At least Tommy took responsibility for his actions. This man has never taken responsibility for this."

She and other relatives of the victims said they are angry that Ingman was never charged in the crime. Skiles said the men charged with the murders would not cooperate when asked about Ingman, whose boyfriend, Harrison, was one of the people murdered.

Prosecutor Skiles successfully argued that Judge Brown should impose consecutive, not concurrent, life sentences on Chamberlain. Since life carries no possibility of parole, there is no practical distinction. But it does carry a symbolic value, Skiles suggested.

"It makes each life that was taken accounted for by the defendant," she said.

Ex-fugitive, now in jail, needs medicines

BY AMY DRISCOLL adriscoll@MiamiHerald.com


When Jack Hazen slipped away from a prison work program in 1976 and disappeared into the North Florida woods, he was a young man of 29.
Today, back in prison after more than three decades as an escapee, he is a sick 61-year-old grandfather fighting to get his medicines for multiple sclerosis and other serious ailments while he's been behind bars in Florida.

Hazen, who assumed the name Charlie Free for more than three decades in Las Vegas after his escape, went for a week in a Florida prison without his M.S. medicine, said his attorney, Don Pumphrey, Jr., of Tallahassee.

''We were having problems getting his medicines to him, which I think I have now resolved,'' Pumphrey said Friday. ``They pushed the paperwork through so I think he can finally start getting the pills he needs.''

Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said she can't comment directly on an inmate's medical situation due to privacy laws but she said Hazen had contacted the department about some issues.

''We have a constitutional duty to provide appropriate care for our inmates and that's what we do,'' she said. ``Any concerns or complaints will be looked into.''

LAWYER'S VISIT

Pumphrey visited Hazen in his solitary confinement cell at North Florida's Lake Butler Reception and Medical Center on Thursday, the same prison Hazen ran away from 32 years earlier.

'He's not trying to get out of something. He's saying, `I know what I did was wrong. I need to repay it. I just don't want to die in prison,' '' Pumphrey said.

Hazen, a Vietnam War veteran, married and raised a family in Las Vegas under the name Charlie Free, which he says he got from a student ID he found shortly after he absconded. His wife and daughters knew nothing of his other life until police knocked at their door. A Florida Department of Corrections cold-case squad tracked him down; department officials won't say what led them to the Las Vegas home.

According to the police report from the 1975 crime, Hazen robbed a Pompano Beach 7-Eleven clerk at knife point, stealing more than $100 from the cash register. When police arrested him shortly after the crime, he told the officer: ``I did it because I was hungry.''

Hazen spent about 10 months in prison before he walked away from a Union County prison carpentry shop.

In addition to multiple sclerosis, Hazen has suffered from a brain tumor that was partially removed, plus diabetes and early onset Alzheimer's, his family has said.

Corrections officials have already made one concession to his fading health -- they flew him to Florida on April 4, rather than driving him. He had been held in a Las Vegas jail since his Jan. 30 arrest. Gov. Charlie Crist signed an extradition order in March, returning him to Florida to complete his seven-year sentence.

His family members, who were stunned to find out about his life under a different name, said he had always been an upstanding family man and solid citizen. His daughters have begun a letter-writing campaign to ask Crist to ask the governor to grant expedited clemency to get Hazen out of prison, and they started a website -- freecharlesfree.com -- to help publicize his case.

ANONYMOUS HELPER

There's been one stroke of luck for Hazen, Pumphrey said. A Vietnam vet who wants to remain anonymous stepped forward to pay for a lobbyist to help push for clemency with the governor. Pumphrey has already told the family that he is willing to continue his work free of charge if they run out of money for legal costs.

Pumphrey also said Hazen told him that his 28th wedding anniversary was Friday. He can't make any phone calls from prison.

''He asked me if I'd call his wife and tell her that he loves her,'' Pumphrey said.

Corrections employees want fewer cuts

By DAVID FISCHER
Associated Press Writer

The state could have to close a prison, and some probation officers would see more than a 50 percent increase in the cases they handle if budget cuts proposed by the Legislature are adopted, officials said Tuesday.

A group of employees with the Department of Corrections gathered at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to reconsider their cuts. As the Legislature puts together a budget that is about $5 billion less than the previous year, budget bills proposed by both the Senate and House would eliminate more than 600 probation officer positions from the department. That's about a third of all probation officers in the state. The Senate is also proposing to cut more than 1,200 prison jobs.

Proposals in both chambers keep the department's current budget of $2.2 billion roughly the same for next year, while the state's average daily prison population is expected to jump from approximately 97,000 to 102,000.

Guarding a prison is already a dangerous job, and the proposed budget cuts would only make it more dangerous, said Jim Baiardi, who represents correctional officers with the Florida Police Benevolent Association, a union that represents law enforcement officers.

"Eventually we won't be able to take these cuts anymore, and somebody's going to get hurt," Baiardi said.

If the Senate's cut of 1,200 positions makes it into the final budget, the department would most likely be forced to close a prison, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the department.

At a time when more and more inmates are being released from prison, the state should be adding probation officers not taking them away, said Richard Gordon, who represents probation officers with the Florida Police Benevolent Association.

State law mandates maximum case loads for probation officers who deal with high-risk offenders, so the number of cases they deal with wouldn't change. The most significant change would be officers who deal with moderate and low-risk offenders. Those case loads could jump from an average of 89 cases to 139. If the cuts are approved, those officers would have to stop making field visits, Plessinger said. The officers would only see offenders once a month during office visits, she said.

Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa, said the Legislature can't deal with state's money problems by simply cutting the budgets for all departments across the board. Lawmakers need to prioritize, and public safety should be one of the top priorities.

"It is unconscionable that this Legislature would cut correctional officers who hold our very lives in their hands," Joyner said.

Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil said he's been working with lawmakers and believes common sense will ultimately prevail.

"Everybody understands the importance of public safety in our state," McNeil said, "And everybody understands the issues of prison overcrowding and the fact that we need our corrections officers and probation officers out there."

Boca Raton man faces prison for arriving at jail drunk

By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — A man who dodged prison for a car accident which killed his stepdaughter now faces 10 years there after allegedly violating probation by showing up drunk for his assigned weekend in jail.

Scott Wynkoop, 43, appeared before a judge this morning. His attorney told the judge he is accused of having a blood-alcohol level of more than .10. Under Florida law, a person is presumed intoxicated with a blood alcohol more than .08.

The Boca Raton man, convicted of manslaughter by culpable negligence, once faced up to 15 years in prison. Traffic Homicide Prosecutor Ellen Roberts argued Wynkoop raced to beat a train, causing the accident that ultimately killed 9-year-old Samantha Rosales in May 2005.

A stepdaughter who, by all accounts in court, Wynkoop adored.

After hearing pleas to keep him out of prison, including one from the girl's mother, Circuit Judge Lucy Chernow Brown sentenced Wynkoop last year to 364 days in jail, served on weekends, plus 10 years of probation.

Brown also suspended a sentence of 10 years in prison that would have taken effect if Wynkoop violated any of the terms of his probation.

The sentencing order forbids him showing up drunk or late for his weekend jail time.

"You can't get around that sentencing order," Roberts said outside court Tuesday.

At the hearing, Brown set a May hearing for Wynkoop. The lawyers must now sort out which court has jurisdiction — Brown's or another now considering Wynkoop's appeal.

susan_spencer_wendel@pbpost.com

Correctional Officers

By Associated Press

The union that represents Florida's prison guards and probation officers says the Legislature could be putting those prison workers, as well as the public, in danger.

A group of corrections employees gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday to urge lawmakers to reconsider their cuts.

The Legislature is putting together a budget that is about $5 billion less than the previous year. Both the House and Senate versions would eliminate 600 probation officers from the
department. That's about a third of all probation officers in the state. The Senate also is proposing more than 1,200 prison security cuts.

The Police Benevolent Association which represents correctional officers says the cuts would make an already dangerous job even more dangerous.

The union also says that at a time when more and more inmates are being released from prison, the state should be adding probation officers not taking them away.

Department of Corrections Secretary Walter McNeil said he's been working with lawmakers and believes commonsense will ultimately prevail.

Escapee Returned To Prison After 32 Years

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Russell Trawick was married, had kids and was described as a good employee who even did volunteer work in his community. But Trawick had a secret that came crashing down when detectives knocked on the door of his Missouri home last November.

Trawick, now 53, escaped from a Florida prison in Putnam County in 1975. Almost 33 years later, he is back in Florida and back in prison.

"He kept it a secret," said attorney Robert Shafer. "He had secret communications with family members, but I don't think he ever expected this to really happen."

Trawick escaped from the state prison while he was setting up an Alcohol Anonymous meeting at the facility. He was serving a 10-year sentence for stealing $150 in money orders.

When Trawick escaped, he headed to Tampa. He then went to Indiana and Michigan before finally settling in Missouri.

Over the years, he met his wife and started a family.

Shafer said Trawick was, "Living a total, wonderful life; paying his taxes, doing everything he is supposed to do. Then the state of Florida knocked on his door and said, 'You owe us nine years.'"

Florida Department of Corrections photograph of Russell Trawick


While Trawick is back behind bars serving the remainder of his sentence, his parents in Nassau County have petitioned the state clemency board asking for his release.

The family says his wife is now sick with cancer and he has not done anything wrong.

Trawick has also written to the board saying, "I have lived a good life for the past 30 years and I desperately want to go back to my wife and the life we have made together. My every concern is for her welfare and safety."

Trawick is not being prosecuted for the escape and Shafter said the original sentence was too harsh and would never have happened if tried today.

"We certainly hope the governor and the Cabinet would be sympathetic with our petition, to finally say to this man, 'We don't want to spend $30,000 a year housing you in the state of Florida. Go on back to where you were and live a good life,'" Shafer said.

The Florida Department of Corrections' Web site lists Trawick's release date as Aug. 29, 2013 -- although it says that is subject to change after a review of any gain time he has earned or forfeited.

Businessman indicted in fatal shooting

A Gainesville businessman accused of fatally shooting an employee in a dispute over payment was indicted for first-degree murder Monday, according to the State Attorney's Office.

In addition to the murder indictment, an Alachua County Grand Jury indicted Corey B. Pryor for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of a firearm by a violent career criminal and five counts of tampering with evidence, according to State Attorney Bill Cervone.

The murder charge could carry the death penalty or life imprisonment, depending on how the State Attorney's Office moves forward."I have not made a decision on that yet. It is under consideration," Cervone said of seeking the death penalty.

Pryor, 38, shot and killed Vearl Ingram, 51, on March 18 during an argument with Ingram, according to a Gainesville Police Department report. Ingram was an employee at Corey's Tree Service and Stump Removal, which was operated by Pryor.

Pryor held a semi-automatic handgun in the parking lot of Madison Pointe Apartments, 2701 NW 23rd Blvd., and ordered Ingram to get on the ground, according to police. Ingram threw a beer bottle at Pryor, and the two struggled over the gun before Pryor discharged the firearm three to five times, police say.

"The victim fell to the ground, bleeding profusely near the storm sewer grate, in the parking lot," a witness told the police two days after the incident.

The witness, 19-year-old Eric Woliver, talked to police two days after Ingram's killing, police said. He told police that he was initially fearful about coming forward, and did so only after he spoke with family, friends and attorneys.

At the time of the murder, Pryor was on state parole after being released from prison in April 2006 following a 1998 sentence on charges including aggravated assault, according to the Florida Department of Corrections. He has a prior criminal history of 33 felony charges and 10 felony convictions, according to police.

Bruce Randal Davis, 43, is also charged in connection with the murder. Davis, who is charged as an accessory after the fact and tampering with evidence, helped Pryor move Ingram's body to a swampy isolated hunting camp in Levy County in order to conceal the body, Cervone said. Davis was an employee at the company.

After the killing, Davis went to the 2200 block of NW 9th Place, where the victim was hidden in a yard under some bushes, according to police. He helped Pryor place the victim on a tarp and transfer the body into the van, then drove with Pryor to Levy County between Bronson Creek and Otter Creek, police said.

"Davis said he believed the body would be dismembered by wild animals before it was discovered," a police report states.

To further conceal the evidence, Pryor removed Ingram's belt and shoes, police say. He threw them out of the window of the van as the two returned to Gainesville, the report states.

Davis, who was stopped by police while driving Pryor's truck, initially used to hide the body, toward Ocala National Forest, had been instructed by Pryor to burn the truck, Davis told police according to a report. After he was stopped by police, Davis led them to the body. Davis also gave police the man's wallet and bloody shirt that Davis said Pryor had asked him to get rid of, police say.

Pryor is being held without bond in Alachua County jail, and Davis is also in jail on a $50,000 bond.

Jack Stripling can be reached at 352-374-5064 or Jack.Stripling@gvillesun.com.

Judge Denies Motion To Delay Teen's Murder Trial

Michael Hernandez Trial Will Begin May
If Convicted, Hernandez Faces Life In Prison

MIAMI (CBS4) ― A Miami judge has rejected a motion that would have delayed next months trial of a South Florida teen accused of stabbing a classmate to death when the boys were both in grade school.

''I'm only sure of a few things - we have to pay taxes on April 15, we all will die one day and that this case is going to trial on May 19,'' said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Schlesinger.

Tuesday an attorney for 19-year old Michael Hernandez submitted a motion to delay the trial because the teen was recently put on new medication and one of the psychiatrists they planned to use as a defense expert would be unable to give an opinion on his mental state without a full re-examination over a period of weeks.

Hernandez's attorney, Richard Rosenbaum, plans to argue that the boy was insane when he killed Jamie Gough in a rest room at Southwood Middle School in 2004.

Rosenbaum says Hernandez is an obsessive compulsive, mentally disturbed boy, who did not have the capacity to understand what he was doing when he confessed to police about Gough's murder.

Charged as an adult, Hernandez could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.

Child welfare advocates have argued that children who commit horrible crimes should not be treated or punished as adults because they think, act and perceive the world differently than adults and that confessions probably are made in a state of confusion.

Psychologist Barry Rosenthal of Fordham University says that almost one month before the death of Jamie Gough, Hernandez displayed "bizarre behavior". He said, "Michael created a rigid schedule down to chewing snacks in school, the time he would have to go to bed, how many times he would circle the cul de sac on his bike." Rosenthal then said Michael started "punishing himself for violations of his schedule that gradually increased to cutting himself".

A psychiatrist for the prosecution has admitted that the boy had some bizarre behaviors but his thinking is logical and he is in his right mind to comprehend what he has allegedly done.

Man Asks Judge For Death Penalty

CASSELBERRY, Fla. -- A man has confessed that he hogtied, beat and stabbed a woman to death, and he said it is time he pays for it -- possibly with his life.

David Russ is asking the judge to consider the death penalty for him and hold back evidence that might earn him mercy.

The victim, Madeleine Leinen, 58, was part of the family at the doctor's office where she worked.

"The patients love her. Months later they would come in only to find out it was her who had been killed," Dr. Emil Felski said.

Russ was eventually arrested in Texas. He pleaded guilty instead of going to trial.

"I stood in front of you for these charges and pleaded guilty. I was found competent. I'm here vulnerable as should be the case," Russ said.

Still facing the possibility of death, Russ is asking the judge for no jury and no witnesses to say he shouldn't be put to death.

"I don't want my family or the victim's family to be dragged in here to put on mitigation which actually might succeed. I've struggled with drug addiction. I was abused as a child," Russ said.

"Just seems like a ploy so he won't have to face Madeleine's family, his own family," Felski said. "He didn't give Madeleine a choice. Madeleine wanted to live. Madeleine enjoyed life. She wasn't given any choices."

Felski and Leinen's family don't want Russ to be labeled a man so willing to face the music, that he catches a break.

"He wants to have the death penalty. We agree with his choice," Felski said.

The judge has set another hearing to let the attorneys lay out what they would say in a penalty hearing.

To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Dave McDaniel.

Fla. attorney general says Schwab execution may go forward

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Attorney General Bill McCollum asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to allow Florida to go ahead with the execution of child killer Mark Dean Schwab now that it rejected arguments that lethal injections are unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

Meanwhile, Gov. Charlie Crist asked for a "very short list" of the worst death row inmates so he can sign his next death warrant. There are 388 people on death row.

The Supreme Court earlier in the day upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection to execute condemned killers, and McCollum said that should clear the way for executions in Florida because the states have nearly identical procedures. The court had stopped the Schwab execution, and McCollum filed paperwork Wednesday afternoon seeking to have the order lifted.

"In the most heinous of cases, the death penalty should be carried out," McCollum said. "Schwab is a very heinous case."

Schwab was supposed to be executed last November for raping and murdering 11-year-old Junny Rios-Martinez in 1991, but received his stay just four hours before his scheduled execution. His death was held up while the U.S. Supreme Court considered the Kentucky case.

McCollum said he was gratified that the victim's family would see justice and that his belief that Florida's executions "are constitutionally sound has been upheld by the highest legal authority in the nation."

Crist also said he would wait until that decision before moving ahead with other executions. He said he is considering the length of time on death row and the crime committed in choosing who should be executed after Schwab.

"Justice delayed is justice denied and an awful lot of families of the victims have been waiting for justice to be done," Crist said. "But in addition, the heinous nature of the crime itself is important to consider."

Peter Cannon, an attorney representing Schwab, was not immediately available, his office in Tampa said. Calls to the home telephone number and cell number of Vicki Rios-Martinez, the victim's mother, were unanswered.

The Florida Supreme Court had rejected arguments about lethal injections from Schwab this year. His lawyers pointed out that the state Corrections Department execution team botched two of five training sessions using recently adopted procedures. They were designed after Florida bungled an actual execution in 2006.

Schwab's lawyers also contended that during the exercises, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement official who is supposed to monitor the mixing of lethal chemicals was insufficiently trained.

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a death warrant for Schwab in July, lifting a moratorium on executions that his predecessor, Jeb Bush, had ordered after it took twice as long as usual - 34 minutes - for convicted killer Angel Diaz, 55, to die in December 2006.

An investigation found the needles had been pushed through Diaz's veins into his flesh, reducing the drugs' effectiveness.

Corrections officials responded by ordering more training and monitoring of its execution team. The new procedures also include a delay after the first chemical, the anesthetic sodium pentothal, is injected to make sure an inmate is unconscious before the other drugs are administered.

The second chemical causes paralysis and the third stops the heart from beating, which can result in severe pain if a person is conscious.

Critics of the three-drug system say the paralyzing drug is unnecessary and prevents an inmate from showing any sign of pain. Some have advocated using only sodium pentothal because it also is lethal in large doses.

Supreme Court backs death penalty

The highest court in America has ruled in favour of executing criminals in a crucial test case.

The US Supreme Court upheld the state of Kentucky's use of lethal injections.

The justices, by a 7-2 vote, turned back a constitutional challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky, which uses three drugs to sedate, paralyse and kill convicts.

"We ... agree that petitioners have not carried their burden of showing that the risk of pain from maladministration of a concededly humane lethal injection protocol, and the failure to adopt untried and untested alternatives, constitute cruel and unusual punishment," Chief Justice John Roberts said.

Executions in the US have been on hold since September, when the court agreed to hear the Kentucky case. There was no immediate indication when they would resume.

The argument against the three-drug method is that if the initial anaesthetic does not take hold, the other two drugs can cause excruciating pain. One of those drugs, a paralytic, would render the prisoner unable to indicate his pain.

In the Kentucky case two death row inmates did not ask to be spared execution or death by injection. Instead, they wanted the court to order a switch to a single drug, a barbiturate, that causes no pain and can be given in a large enough dose to cause death.

At the very least, they said, the state should be required to impose tighter controls on the three-drug process to ensure that the anaesthetic is given properly.

Kentucky has had only one execution by lethal injection and it did not present any obvious problems, both sides in the case agreed.

But executions elsewhere, in Florida and Ohio, took much longer than usual, with strong indications that the prisoners suffered severe pain in the process. Workers had trouble inserting the intravenous tubes that are used to deliver the drugs.

How do you repay a man for a crime he didn't commit?

Michael Mayo

News Columnist

9:52 PM EDT, April 2, 2008

Twenty-four years, six months, 13 days and four hours.

That's how much time Alan Crotzer spent locked up for a crime he didn't commit.

He recites the figure with practiced ease, not even a grimace crossing his face when he speaks. He told his story again on Tuesday, in a lecture hall packed with law students at Nova Southeastern University in Davie.

"Whatever life I have left, I want to enjoy it," said Crotzer, 47. "I can't afford to be bitter. I don't have time for that."

It's been a little more than two years since he walked free, exonerated in January 2006 after DNA testing proved he didn't take part in a 1981 home invasion, kidnapping and double rape in Tampa.

On Tuesday, the halls at NSU's Shepard Broad Law Center were plastered with fliers of others like Crotzer, wrongly convicted people freed by DNA testing. Crotzer wore a T-shirt that read: "214 ... and counting."

The shirt, promoting the Innocence Project legal group that helped Crotzer win freedom, was already outdated. The group's national exoneration tally has climbed to 215, including nine in Florida.

"I just want to let you know there are a lot of Alan Crotzers out there," he said.

Crotzer went away at 21. He got his life back at 45.

He now works a $9.50-an-hour job for a landscaping firm in Tallahassee. He got married last year, has two stepchildren, 14 and 12. He voted for the first time in January. He got his first passport two months ago.

"I just want to be an average person," he said.

Crotzer spoke of the challenges adjusting to a changed world. He was baffled the first-time he encountered an automated-sensor faucet. Before he went to prison, there were no such thing as cell phones or the Internet. He said many of his friends from his St. Petersburg neighborhood are dead or addicted to crack cocaine, which didn't exist before he left.

The day of his release, one of his attorneys asked if he wanted to go to Starbucks.

"Sure ... what's a Starbucks?" Crotzer replied.

Now he awaits some semblance of justice, in the form of a check from the state.

"There's no amount of money that can give me back my freedom," Crotzer said.

Crotzer might soon get $1.25 million from the Legislature, $50,000 for each year he was incarcerated. Last week the House unanimously approved a claims bill for Crotzer. The Senate is expected to take a first vote on the bill today and could finalize approval next week.

Florida is among 28 states that have no compensation system for the wrongfully imprisoned. "If you're a convicted felon, when you finish your sentence they give you $100 cash and a bus ticket when you leave prison," said Michael Olenick, one of Crotzer's attorneys. "But if you've been wrongly convicted and they let you out, you don't get $100 or the bus ticket."

It's up to wronged individuals to lobby the Legislature for compensation, an inconsistent and maddening process. Last year, the Senate didn't take up Crotzer's claims bill. So far, only one of Florida's nine DNA-exonerated inmates, Wilton Dedge, has gotten a claims bill passed ($2 million in 2005).

A less capricious system could soon arrive, with the Legislature considering a broader bill (HB1025) that would set an automatic process for the wrongfully convicted. It would cap payment at $50,000 per year of imprisonment or $2 million.

But the bill has an onerous "clean hands" provision that would exclude anybody with a prior felony conviction. Under this bill, Crotzer wouldn't qualify for compensation, because he robbed a convenience store of two cases of beer when he was 18. The other remaining Florida DNA exonerees would also be disqualified for previous felonies.

"It's not perfect, but it would be a start," Olenick said of the bill.

If Crotzer's individual claims bill passes, Gov. Charlie Crist has said he would sign it. Crotzer met Crist recently at his Capitol office.

"He looked me in the eye and apologized," Crotzer said. "That meant something."

Michael Mayo's column runs Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Read him online weekdays at Sun -Sentinel.com/mayoblog. Reach him at mmayo@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4508.

North Port mother died as deputies were left unaware

Jane Kowalski called 911 upon hearing screams apparently made by Denise Amber Lee from slaying suspect Michael King’s Camaro. Her call, from the border of Charlotte and Sarasota counties, wasn’t passed on to North Port officers handling the case.

By Leonora LaPeter Anton, Times Staff Writer

Published Saturday, April 12, 2008 8:03 PM


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NORTH PORT — The high-pitched scream reached Jane Kowalski as she sat at a traffic light on U.S. 41.

"It was very, very loud and unlike anything I've ever heard in my entire life, there was that much panic and terror," Kowalski, 45, of Tampa, said last week.

She made eye contact with a heavy man in a dark Camaro to her left. It was dusk, but she could see he was trying to shove something down behind him.

A hand reached up from the back seat and banged on the window.

Fearing it might be a kidnapped child, Kowalski called 911. She spoke with a Charlotte County operator for nine minutes as she kept an eye on the Camaro in her rearview mirror. Halfway through the call, the Camaro turned off the road and disappeared.

The operator assured Kowalski someone would follow up, so she kept driving to her grandmother's house. But dispatchers never told deputies, who were in the vicinity, police documents show.

Within hours, Denise Amber Lee, a 21-year-old mother of two, was dead and buried in a dirt grave less than 3 miles away.

Lee's husband, Nathan, thinks she might still be alive today if Kowalski's call had gotten to deputies on the road.

"There's no doubt in my mind she would have been saved," he said.

• • •

The day she was kidnapped, Jan. 17, Denise Amber Lee was doing what she did most days. She was home in North Port with her two boys, Noah, 2, and Adam, 6 months.

The family had settled in North Port, a fast-growing community of about 50,000 in Sarasota County, because rents were cheap.

Denise and Nathan began dating after taking the same math class at Manatee Community College. Neither finished their degrees once they started a family but both hoped to one day.

Raising the two young children was challenging for the petite young mother, who was still breastfeeding, but she enjoyed every moment.

"Something so simple as going to the mall to buy new sunglasses is a thousand times harder when you have two boys under two," she wrote on her MySpace page last August. "But it was still fun. Any time I get to leave the house is a treat for me."

On Jan. 17, when Nathan Lee got home at 3:20 p.m. from his job as a meter reader with Florida Power & Light, his sons were in their cribs in soiled diapers and his wife was gone.

He called police. A neighbor told them she had seen a man in his 30s pull a green Camaro into the Lee driveway about 2:30 p.m.

Over the next few hours, the hunt for Denise Amber Lee escalated with officers walking the banks of area ponds and riding through woods on ATVs. A bloodhound searched around the home, and a helicopter flew overhead.

Her father, Rick Goff, worked one county to the south as a sergeant for the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office. His family was from Englewood, a town just southwest of North Port. His great-great-great grandfather was the first to settle in the town in 1876. The family's roots ran deep.

"I know the only reason she went with him was because she didn't want her children harmed," said Goff, 46.

At 6:14 p.m. on Jan. 17, a woman called 911.

She was crying and could be heard saying: "I'm sorry, I just want to see my family, please let me go."

It was Denise Amber Lee. In the background, a car radio could be heard playing the song Too Little, Too Late by JoJo.

The call was disconnected but not before police got the information they needed. The phone belonged to Michael Lee King, a 36-year-old unemployed plumber with a history of increasingly odd behavior but no criminal record. He owned a green Camaro.

Nine minutes after Lee's call, 17-year-old Sabrina Muxlow called 911 to say King had stopped by her father's home in North Port about 6 p.m. Her father, Harold Muxlow, 45, had seen a young woman tied up in the car.

"He came over to my dad's house, borrowed a shovel, a gas tank and something else," Sabrina Muxlow told a Sarasota County 911 operator.

King and Harold Muxlow were cousins. King told him he needed the items because his lawn mower was broken. But as King pulled away in his Camaro, Harold Muxlow saw a young woman yell out, "Call the cops," he later told police. Eventually, he too would call 911.

By 6:30 p.m., police say, King had left North Port and entered Charlotte County on U.S. 41, where Kowalski spotted the Camaro.

Her 911 call went to Charlotte County's dispatchers, although Sarasota County deputies and North Port officers were handling the case.

Is there an Amber Alert out? Kowalski asked, thinking perhaps it was an abducted child.

Confusion apparently reigned in the dispatch center that night as the communication supervisor tried to establish a patch between North Port and Sarasota and Charlotte counties so the agencies could communicate about Lee.

So when the 911 operator brought up Kowalski's call, one dispatcher thought she needed to wait for the patch to be completed before she could air the call. Then a shift change took place, and the new dispatchers were not informed of the call.

The information on Kowalski's call was put in a computer file about the Lee case, but deputies were never told to respond to it, according to an internal investigation by Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.

One deputy admitted he was likely sitting at an intersection when King drove through it.

Several hours later, at 9:16 p.m., a Florida Highway Patrol officer stopped King driving his Camaro south onto Interstate 75. He was wet from the waist down and had a dirt-encrusted shovel.

Denise Amber Lee was gone.

Police found several strands of her sandy brown hair in the Camaro, as well as a ring with a heart in the back seat her husband had given her.

• • •

King has pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree premeditated murder, kidnapping and sexual battery. Police say he took Lee to his North Port home after abducting her and raped her before going over to his cousin's house for the shovel.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. King's lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Nathan Lee doesn't know of any connection between King and his wife.

A neighbor who lives a few doors down from the Lee home told police that a man who resembled King, a plumber, came to look at her home, which was for sale, last summer.

A day or so before Lee's abduction, King had just returned from Michigan, where he grew up. He had left his 12-year-old son there with his brother.

He had lost his job as a plumber in Venice the previous October for lying to his boss, who called him a "habitual liar," according to police reports.

King also had a history of disputes with his neighbors in North Port, and one accused him of stalking her daughter from the bus stop. Another woman, whose husband knew King, told police he raped her one night after she passed out drunk. And another woman reported he flashed her one day while she was pumping breast milk for her baby in a car outside the hair salon where she worked. None of these incidents resulted in any charges.

King's wife had left him and his son years before. Another woman, with whom he had had a serious relationship, had left him last November.

In January, the bank foreclosed on his home in North Port. And the day Lee was abducted, he visited a bankruptcy lawyer and practiced shooting a gun at a Venice gun range.

• • •

Last week, Nathan Lee announced plans to file a lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office, the agency that has employed Denise Amber Lee's father for the past 25 years.

It was a tough decision because a lot of good police work was done that night and ultimately King was captured, said Lee and his father-in-law, Goff.

Both men blame the Charlotte County dispatchers who failed to pass on Kowalski's call to deputies on the road. "We think she could have been saved if the call was handled correctly," Goff said.

Capt. Sherman Robinson, who is in charge of communications for Charlotte County, acknowledged in an interview last week that deputies on the road were not made aware of Kowalski's call. But he said they were aware of a Be on the Lookout (BOLO) for the green Camaro.

"When you look at the totality of the event, we got information out on the radio. But followup wasn't quite done, and that should have been done," said Robinson, who spoke before Nathan Lee announced his lawsuit against the county.

A Charlotte County dispatcher acknowledged she messed up, according to documents from the internal investigation.

"You know, nobody wants to screw up and nobody wants to live with that, but I will take full responsibility for … my actions in this," dispatcher Susan Kallestad said. " … I really screwed up on that."

Kallestad was suspended for 60 hours for failing to send deputies to respond to Kowalski's call. Another dispatcher was suspended for 36 hours.

Charlotte County Sheriff John Davenport, in announcing the suspensions, did not apologize for the failure, which irks Nathan Lee. Davenport could not be reached for comment.

Kowalski says that to this day she has never heard from the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office and that she had to call police back to let them know what she saw. She couldn't understand how a nine-minute call like hers, with such serious consequences, got lost in the mix.

"They could have gotten him while he was still following me," Kowalski said. "I don't know what the end result would have been except that it would have been different."

Nathan Lee thinks about his wife and wonders where she got the strength to fight so hard for her life. It's not like she had ever done anything before to show that side of herself.

"She had a lot of reason to get out of that car," Lee said. "I know the main thing on her mind was getting to see those kids again."

Lee, who plays trumpet, was going to play with the Venice Symphony the night his wife died. He never made it, but he's practicing for another concert with the symphony. He tried to go back to work with Florida Power & Light but soon left the job and asked to be reassigned. Being a meter reader, all you do is walk and think. And he didn't want to think that much.

Times staff writer Ilyce Meckler and researcher Carolyn Edds contributed to this report.

911 call could be key to defense in Escobedo trial, attorney says

By SUSAN SPENCER-WENDEL

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Saturday, April 12, 2008

WEST PALM BEACH — Evil met innocence deep in the night at the edge of Florida's Turnpike.

Two boys, just 3 and 4, executed along with their mother and father. The family Escobedo left along the road's shoulder in Port St. Lucie, sprayed with more than 20 bullets fired at close-range.

The murders in October 2006 prompted a sweeping state and federal investigation that tracked back to one of the largest cocaine rings along the East Coast, investigators have said. The investigation was so meticulous that not one, but four fingerprint examiners were called in to verify prints on a turnpike toll card.

Those prints are linked to two men federal prosecutors are seeking to execute for their alleged role in the killings. Daniel Troya and Ricardo Sanchez Jr. could face lethal injection if convicted after their trial, which is set for January 2009.

Now comes a recording of a purported 911 call from the execution scene recorded at 3:10:59 a.m. The call, if authenticated, could cast doubt on prosecutors' theory that Troya and Sanchez Jr. were the gunmen. Twinned with other evidence, the call suggests the men were 50 miles away from the scene nine minutes before shots were fired.

It's a recording the men's defense attorneys say federal investigators were aware of and possibly played for a co-defendant to pressure him. A recording, they say, that prosecutors are withholding from them.

"It's absolutely shocking to me," said attorney Donnie Murrell, who defends Sanchez. "They don't get to define what is evidence."

Murrell is asking a federal judge to force prosecutors to turn over the recording and related records.

A response from Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Carlton, a lead prosecutor in the death penalty case, is due by the end of this week.

Private eye Pat McKenna of West Palm Beach says he unearthed the call at the Florida Highway Patrol earlier this year after he pored over records and tried to track down details for Sanchez's defense.

McKenna is the investigator who discovered the bombshell tapes in the O.J. Simpson case of a detective's racial epithets and identified a key defense witness for William Kennedy Smith.

"After you look through phone records till blood's coming out of your eyeballs, you just want to try something different," McKenna said. "I was sitting there one day ... and it hit me that there's nothing in there from FHP."

One call to another within the agency led McKenna to what he calls "pure forensic gold."

The call recording is maybe 10 or 15 seconds long, he says, played for him by an FHP captain. McKenna says he heard a woman on it, wailing "Oh, oh, oh." Then gunshots - boom, boom, boom. "Then I don't hear the wailing anymore," McKenna said.

McKenna says the FHP captain, Ibrahim Egeli, told him federal agents enhanced the sound on the call so that the cries of children can be heard.

And how does this help accused killer Sanchez?

"According to four government fingerprint examiners, Ricardo Sanchez handed in a toll ticket ... at 3:02 a.m. According to the FHP 911 tape, the murder happened nine minutes later, 50 miles north," Murrell wrote in his request that prosecutors turn over the call.

McKenna said Egeli expressed concern to him about pressure from federal DEA agents and sheriff's investigators about the timing of the call. McKenna says Egeli told him that he had doublechecked FHP's system and concluded the time of the call was accurate.

Egeli declined to comment, saying he could not discuss the case at all.

McKenna now anticipates a fight with prosecutors. He expects they will call a witness "to make Capt. Egeli to look bad, mistaken or both, and he's neither."

In federal court, prosecutors are renowned for their freedom to keep evidence close to the vest, revealing as little as rules allow - then rolling it out on defendants at trial.

Witnesses and witness statements do not have to be provided to defendants prior to trial, said attorney Mark Johnson of Stuart, a former federal prosecutor for 15 years.

"In my mind that accounts for what defense lawyers view as being such an ambush," Johnson said.

Johnson said he was surprised, though, that the alleged emergency call in the Turnpike execution had not been already revealed to the defense. Johnson said that in the Department of Justice training he received, the lecturer usually advised: "'If you think it might hurt your case, you should be giving it to the defense.'"

"But that doesn't always happen," Johnson said.

Exactly who the call came from is a key fact to first understand, Johnson said.

McKenna says that Egeli seemed "confounded" about where the call came from and who made it as there was no information captured in the FHP system.

The 911 coordinator for St. Lucie County, Carolyn Dill-Collier, says emergency calls received from cell phones there often do not show the number of the person calling, just the location of the signal tower. Dill-Collier said this happens when a cell phone caller is using an older model cell phone or certain carriers. Newer model cell phones will show the number of the caller, she said.

So finding where the call to FHP came from that morning may be no easy task.

And it could be yet another mystery from the murders deep in the night.