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Thread: Darrel Peter Pandeli - Arizona Death Row

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    Darrel Peter Pandeli - Arizona Death Row




    Facts of the Crime:

    On September 24, 1993, Pandeli killed Holly Iler after what he claimed was an abortive sexual encounter. He slit her throat and mutilated her body. After being captured and interrogated for that murder, he confessed to killing Holly Humphreys more than a year before the Iler murder. He was tried separately for the murder of Humphreys, and convicted of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to death on July 15, 1998 for Iler's murder, but the sentence was reversed. On April 20, 2006, he was sentenced to death again in a new sentencing proceeding.

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    No. 07-7824 *** CAPITAL CASE ***
    Title:
    Darrel Peter Pandeli, Petitioner
    v.
    Arizona
    Docketed: November 26, 2007
    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Arizona
    Case Nos.: (CR-06-0143-AP)
    Decision Date: July 12, 2007

    ~~~Date~~~ ~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Sep 21 2007 Petition for a writ of certiorari and motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis filed. (Response due December 26, 2007)
    Dec 21 2007 Brief of respondent Arizona in opposition filed.
    Jan 10 2008 DISTRIBUTED for Conference of February 15, 2008.
    Feb 19 2008 Petition DENIED.

    http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.a...es/07-7824.htm

  3. #3
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    Judge throws out death sentence for Phoenix killer

    Darrel Pandeli killed and mutilated two prostitutes in Phoenix in 1993. He was sentenced to death twice for one of the murders and sentenced to 20 years for the other.

    But in a ruling published Thursday, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge threw out the death sentence and ordered a new sentencing trial on the grounds that Pandeli's trial lawyers did not provide effective representation by failing to present evidence of Pandeli's brain damage and abusive upbringing during the sentencing phase of his trial.

    "The judge is basically saying that Pandeli has impairments but (the original lawyers) did not articulate it properly, and they let the state's expert give an improper evaluation," said attorney Ken Countryman, who represented Pandeli in the current matter.

    Neither the Arizona Attorney General's Office, which handled the appeal for the state, nor the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, which will likely have to retry the case, provided comment on the ruling.

    The ruling was officially handed down Feb. 27, but published Thursday.

    Pandeli was arrested in 1993 for the murder of Holly Iler, a 43-year-old who was the daughter of a prominent family but had turned to prostitution to support a drug habit. Pandeli hired Iler for sex but became enraged when he could not perform, so he beat her, slashed her throat, mutilated her breasts and left her nude body near what is now Christown Spectrum Mall.

    After his arrest, Pandeli confessed to the murder and mutilation of another prostitute. He was convicted of second-degree murder in that killing and sentenced to 20 years in prison, a term he has already completed.

    In 1996, Pandeli was found guilty of killing Iler, and a judge sentenced him to death. But a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as the Ring Decision mandated jury sentencing instead of judge sentencing in death-penalty cases, sending the case back to Maricopa County Superior Court for re-sentencing.

    Pandeli went back on trial and in 2006 was sentenced to death again, this time by a jury. The Arizona Supreme Court affirmed both the conviction and the death sentence.

    But as happens in death-penalty cases, after the so-called direct appeal to the state Supreme Court, and sometimes after the U.S. Supreme Court turns down appeal, the case can return to Superior Court in what is called post-conviction relief. That is the first time that a defendant can raise appeal issues regarding a trial attorney's performance, referred to in legal parlance as "ineffective assistance of counsel."

    Countryman argued that the original attorneys and mitigation expert did not adequately present the extensive abuse Pandeli had suffered as a child nor the existence of brain damage.

    Judge Robert Gottsfield, in what was his last major ruling — he retired March 6 after 35 years on the bench — agreed and threw out the death sentence.

    "Defendant, it is clear, suffers from a serious mental illness (cerebral dysfunction and impaired frontal lobes) but the jury was told he had an anti-social personality disorder and was a malingerer," Gottsfield wrote.

    Gottsfield also cited federal case law requiring that defendants have a right to be sentenced on the basis of correct information.

    Whether the prosecutor decides to settle with a life sentence or to stage a third trial remains to be seen.

    http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...eath/70234316/

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    Court to review ruling that overturned man's death sentence

    The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review a trial judge's decision that threw out a death sentence for a man convicted of killing a prostitute in Phoenix in 1993.

    The state high court said Tuesday it will schedule oral arguments on prosecutors' appeal of a 2015 ruling by now-retired Judge Roberts Gottsfield in the case of Darrel Peter Pandeli.

    Gottsfield ruled that Pandeli's former attorney was "deficient" in presenting evidence during Pandeli's original sentencing and that jurors weren't told the defendant suffered from a mental illness that affects his brain function.

    The judge ordered a new penalty phase trial.

    Pandeli was convicted for the 1993 killing of 43-year-old Holly Iler. She was found in an alley with her throat slashed and her breasts cut off.

    (Source: The Associated Press)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    STATE OF ARIZONA v DARREL PETER PANDELI

    In today's opinions, the Arizona Supreme Court REVERSED the ruling of the PCR court and reinstated Pandeli's death sentence.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Administrator Moh's Avatar
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    On May 30, 2017, Pandeli filed a habeas petition in Federal District Court.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ar...v01657/1035619

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    In today's orders, the United States Supreme Court declined to review Pandeli's petition for certiorari.

    Lower Ct: Supreme Court of Arizona
    Case Numbers: (CR15-270-PC)
    Decision Date: May 15, 2017
    Rehearing Denied: June 5, 2017

    https://www.supremecourt.gov/search....c/17-5939.html

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