The StandDown Texas Project

In Pennsylvania

The Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer reported, "A new, unusual twist in death-penalty fight," by Joseph A. Slobodzian.  Here's the beginning of this report on a complicated case:

When condemned fugitive Joseph Kindler was returned to Philadelphia in 1991 after two escapes, three years on the lam in Canada and four fighting extradition, the news was grim.

Prosecutors argued - and Pennsylvania judges agreed - that by fleeing, Kindler had forfeited his rights to appeal his death sentence for the 1982 beating and drowning of a witness against him in a burglary case.

Kindler's lawyers fought that issue to the U.S. Supreme Court and back until 2011, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ordered that Kindler get a new death-penalty hearing or be sentenced to life in prison.

Now 54, Kindler is again before a Philadelphia judge, fighting for his life on an unusual legal theory: He cannot fairly be executed because in the 32 years since the slaying of 18-year-old David Bernstein, witnesses and mitigating evidence that might persuade a jury to spare his life have died or been destroyed.

Earlier coverage from Pennsylvania begins at the link.  I am also in the process of adding state postal codes in the category index.  The PA category index will take you to earlier posts involving Pennsylvania.

Returns in Key Governor Elections

"Hickenlooper declares victory; Beauprez refuses to concede in Colorado," is by John Frank and Joey Bunch for the Denver Post.

A bleary-eyed John Hickenlooper declared victory in the governor's race Wednesday morning after a long night and early morning waiting for the ballot count in a razor-thin contest against Republican Bob Beauprez.

Though the death penalty was a highly visilbe part of the Colorado race, earlier polling indicated that it was not a significant issue to the overwhelming majority of voters.  Earlier coverage from Colorado begins at the link.

"Hassan wins second term as N.H. governor," is by Kathleen Ronayne of Associated Press, via the Boston Globe.

Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan defeated Republican businessman Walt Havenstein on Tuesday to win a second term in office after a campaign dominated by the economy.

Hassan, leading into the final days of the campaign, was never down in the polls.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Wolf defeats Corbett," by Thomas Fitzgerald.

Democrat Tom Wolf, a businessman from central Pennsylvania, was elected governor Tuesday in his first campaign for political office.

Republican Tom Corbett became the first governor to lose a bid for reelection in the state's modern history.

Wolf stated during the campaign that he believed Pennsylvania needed a moratorium on capital punishment.

Related posts are in the politics category index. 

Multi-State Case Roundup

There is case news from Pennsylvania, Mississippi, and Ohio.

Courthouse News Service posts, "Death Penalty for PA Prisoner Thrown Out," by Andrew Thompson.

Blocking the execution of a Pennsylvania prisoner, a federal judge cited lapses by defense counsel with respect to evidence of childhood abuse and medical history.

Darrick Hall was one of three men convicted for the Dec. 18, 1993, armed robbery of a Chester County laundromat, and Hall was convicted for murdering the laundromat attendant. Prosecutors showed that while Hall and his two accomplices were changing clothes after the shooting, they joked about the guns they had used.

Though the Pennsylvania Supreme Court affirmed the death penalty for Hall, U.S. District Judge James Gardner found Wednesday that habeas relief is required because of deficiencies by Hall's trial attorney.

Even a basic investigation into Hall's life would have unearthed evidence of extreme childhood abuse and a history of significant head traumas and seizures, according to the 180-page ruling.

"Attorneys for death row inmate argue before Mississippi Supreme Court that key witness lied," is the AP report, via the Mississippi Link.

Lawyers for a Mississippi death row inmate told state Supreme Court justices Monday that he deserves a new trial because evidence that defense lawyers did not obtain the first time shows that a key state witness lied

Willie Jerome Manning is appealing an Oktibbeha County judge’s denial of his post-conviction challenges. Manning came within hours of being put to death last year on separate charges before the state high court halted it.

Monday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments over the 1993 slayings of 90-year-old Emmoline Jimmerson and her daughter, 60-year-old Alberta Jordan. Police and prosecutors say the women were beaten and had their throats slashed. They were killed during a robbery attempt at their Starkville apartment.

Manning was convicted and sentenced to death in the case in 1996, but lawyers argued Monday that the conviction should be overturned because of questions about a witness who put Manning at the scene. Current lawyers also argued that either the state concealed evidence from Manning’s original lawyers or the defense was too ineffective to find it.

Earlier coverage of Willie Manning's case begins at the link.

"Fed appeals court rejects death penalty exemption," is the Toledo Blade report by Jim Provance.

A federal appeals court Monday rejected the argument from convicted murderer James Frazier that he is mentally retarded and exempt from Ohio’s death penalty.

Frazier, 73, who is on death row at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution, was convicted of robbing and killing Mary Stevenson, a disabled woman at Northgate Apartments where Frazier was attending a crack cocaine party late on March 1, 2004, or early the next morning. Frazier apparently robbed Ms. Stevenson for money when the party was short of drugs.

IQ tests conducted before Frazier’s trial in Lucas County Common Pleas Court found his score to be slightly above 70, the threshold above which the law presumes someone is not mentally retarded. The court noted that the expert hired by the defense found he was not retarded, prompting his attorneys to drop that line of strategy at trial.

Related posts are in the post-conviction review category index.

Pocono Record Editorial

"End futility of death penalty system," is the editorial published by the Pocono Record in Pennsylvania.

If there’s one thing for which Pennsylvanians can thank confessed double murderer William Parrish, it’s pointing out the mirage of the state’s capital punishment law.

“Mirage” is no mere opinion. It reflects reality. Pennsylvania has imposed the death penalty 412 times since 1978, when capital punishment was reinstated, but only three people have been executed — and they essentially committed legal suicide, by declining to appeal. The last prisoner executed against his will was put to death in 1962, more than 50 years ago.

And:

A 2011 Morning Call article reported that the death penalty costs an additional $2.27 million every year, even though, as Parrish’s recent stay shows, executions do not occur.

Death penalty advocates and death penalty opponents alike should agree that the system is broken. For all intents and purposes, it’s mere smoke and mirrors. All the death penalty is doing is bleeding Pennsylvania taxpayers.

Earlier coverage from Pennsylvania begins at the link.

In Philadelphia

Today's Philadelphia Inquirer publishes the editorial, "Dead end for D.A."  Here's the beginning:

Jailed for life for a vicious murder he insists he did not commit, Anthony Wright spent nearly half his time behind bars awaiting the day last month when he appeared before a Philadelphia judge to hear the good news that he had been granted a new trial.

Any sense of relief for Wright and his legal team, though, has been brief.

Even before Wright, 43, officially returned to the status of defendant rather than convict, prosecutors made it clear that they would seek another first-degree murder verdict. District Attorney Seth Williams' legal team remains unconvinced by DNA and other evidence revealed with the help of attorneys from the Innocence Project at Yeshiva University's Benjamin N. Cardozo Law School in New York.

That compelling evidence suggests not only that Wright is likely innocent of the 1991 slaying of 77-year-old Louise Talley in her Nicetown home, but also that a now-dead career criminal was the actual killer.

An earlier reference to his case is at the link.  Related posts are in the DNA cateogry index.

Earlier unrelated coverage from Pennsylvania begins at the link.

Pennsylvania Governor Signs Three Death Warrants

"Gov. Tom Corbett signs death warrant for Michael Ballard," is by Riley Yates in the Allentown Morning Call.

Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed the execution warrant for mass murderer Michael Eric Ballard, a development that came three days after the five-time killer publicly backed away from challenging the state to execute him.

Absent a stay, Ballard will be lethally injected Dec. 2 for brutally murdering four people in Northampton while on parole for a prior killing, Corbett said. But the chance of that happening is one that even the case's prosecutor says is slim.

"Mr. Ballard, for all his bravado and all his statements, will in the end be like any other death-row inmate," Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said. "He'll be kicking and screaming and utilizing any avenue."

Five weeks ago, the 41-year-old Ballard stood before a Northampton County judge and said he wanted his death sentence carried out. But Friday, he told The Morning Call that he is now interested in joining a pending lawsuit challenging Pennsylvania's method of lethal injection, a move that could delay his execution indefinitely.

"Governor signs for execution of Baumhammers," is by Paula Reed Ward for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed an execution warrant for Richard Baumhammers, who was convicted of killing five people and paralyzing a sixth, who later died, in a racially motivated rampage 14 years ago.

Baumhammers, 49, is scheduled to die by lethal injection Dec. 3.

And:

The warrant — the second signed for Baumhammers — may be moot, however. An execution scheduled for Sept. 22 had to be postponed because the state Department of Corrections is having trouble obtaining the drugs for a lethal injection.

“The law compels the governor to sign these warrants,” said Joshua Maus, a spokesman for the Office of General Counsel.

The governor has 90 days to issue a death warrant after his office receives the defendant’s full trial record, he said. That occurs when the state appeals process has been exhausted.

The article notes that the case has now moved into the federal court system for post-conviction review.

The Philadelphia Inquirer posts, "Gov. Corbett signs execution warrant for Bucks cop killer."

Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday signed the warrant of execution for convicted-cop killer Robert Flor, a man who shot to death Newtown, Bucks County, police officer Brian Gregg in 2005.

The execution date is set for Dec. 4. But Flor is in the midst of appealing his death sentence, a slow process that often allows death warrants to expire .

Flor is among 184 Pennsylvania inmates facing the death penalty. Corbett has signed death warrants for 40 of them. Three people have been executed since Pennsylvania reinstituted capital punishment in 1978 - two in 1995, the last in 1999 - and only because all three ended appeals and asked for death.

Earlier coverage from Pennsylvania begins at the link.  Related posts are in the execution date category index.