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Thread: Georgia Capital Punishment News

  1. #51
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Gang members could face death penalty under bill by Gov. Kemp

    In his ongoing efforts to go after street gangs, Gov. Brian Kemp unveils new legislation that could have some of the most violent members facing the death penalty.

    The bill is named for 11-year-old Nicholas Sheffey who died in 2010 as the result of shots fired into his Chamblee home. The boy was asleep in his bed when the shooter, 18-year-old Cody Dane Bauer, fired into his 16-year-old brother's room from the front yard of the house on Admiral Drive.

    3 years later, Bauer pleaded guilty in exchange for life without the possibility of parole, plus an additional life sentence and 675 years.

    Sheffey’s mother Deborah Rider says the bill is long overdue and would like to have seen Bauer face the same fate.

    “He’s where he needs to be, but if I’d had my way, it would have been (the) death penalty,” she tells WSB’s Sandra Parrish.

    The bill would also allow judges to sentence gang members convicted of multiple crimes to an additional 5-15 years in prison for each count.

    Kemp is asking legislators to approve nearly $2 million for seven new positions on the GBI’s Gang Task Force and resources to set up the statewide gang database. A separate bill would create a legal division of the GBI so that, when requested, the agency’s lawyers could serve as special prosecutors.

    “Their (gangs) reach extends to nearly every county and every corner of Georgia, and we plan on doing something about it,” he says.

    (source: WSB news)
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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

  2. #52
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    I'm very suprised to see this happen in Georgia.

    May 28, 2020

    Fulton DA, two challengers commit to not seeking the death penalty

    By Bill Rankin
    The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

    Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, one of the state’s most aggressive prosecutors in seeking the death penalty, has said he will no longer ask for the ultimate punishment.

    Howard made the pledge Tuesday during a candidate forum hosted by the Georgia Justice Reform Partnership. He responded yes to a question by a moderator, who asked, “Will you commit to refuse to seek the death penalty?”

    Howard, who is running for reelection in the June 9 primary, is being challenged by Atlanta lawyers Christian Wise Smith and Fani Willis. At the same forum, Smith and Willis also said they would not seek the death penalty, which means there should be no new capital cases in Georgia’s most populous county for the foreseeable future.

    “I believe Georgia should lead the nation in coming to grips with a criminal sentence that might have outlived its usefulness,” Howard told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday.

    Capital punishment is on the wane as more and more juries -- and prosecutors -- agree to sentences of life in prison without parole.

    Only one Georgia jury has handed down a death sentence over the past six years. That occurred in April 2019 when a Gwinnett County jury sentenced Tiffany Moss to die by lethal injection for starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter to death, then trying to burn the child’s corpse inside a trash can. In that case, Moss represented herself as her own lawyer and put up no defense.

    Howard called for a three-phased approach. First, he said, Gov. Brian Kemp should appoint a commission that examines phasing out the death penalty and receives input from citizens across the state.

    Phase Two would be a five-year to 10-year moratorium during which crime statistics are monitored to determine if the moratorium produced any negative effects, Howard said. The final phase would be the passage of a constitutional amendment to eliminate the death penalty for crimes not involving terrorism or the deaths of multiple children, he said.

    Since 2005, Howard has filed notices to seek death in about 40 cases, according to state records. He obtained death sentences in just two of them, and a judge has since granted one a new sentencing trial.

    There are now nine pending capital cases in Fulton. As for their dispositions, Howard said, he would consider them through a “case by case analysis


    Jerry Word, who heads Georgia’s capital defender office, welcomed the news. “We look forward to working with District Attorney Howard to try and resolve those cases,” he said.

    At Tuesday’s forum, Smith said he opposed the death penalty in his opening remarks, long before the candidates were asked about it.

    “I have never agreed with the death penalty,” Smith said Thursday. “It’s inhumane. It’s expensive.”

    Since the advent of DNA testing, dozens of inmates on death row have been cleared of their crimes, he added. “My concern is if you get a death penalty case wrong there’s no coming back.”

    Smith said if elected, he will withdraw death notices in all pending cases.

    Willis, a former chief deputy in the Fulton DA’s office, said she has prosecuted hundreds of murders. “None of those cases I believed were appropriate for death,” she said.

    The one exception might be the case against Brian Nichols, who killed four people — a judge, a court reporter, a sheriff’s deputy and a federal agent — after escaping from custody while on trial for rape in March 2005, Willis said. But after the DA’s office spent millions of dollars prosecuting Nichols, his jury could not unanimously agree on a death sentence and he was sentenced to life without parole.

    “I cannot foresee a case (in which) I would seek death, as I believe that life without parole is an appropriate remedy,” Willis said.

    https://www.ajc.com/news/local/fulto...o2MgJ/amp.htmle
    Last edited by JLR; 06-02-2020 at 06:51 AM.

  3. #53
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    Smaller counties anyway will seek the death penalty like what happened with Tiffany Moss. Fulton has trended extremely progressive for years now.

  4. #54
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    Moss represented herself at trial and literally put on no defence. It's an absolute slam dunk for the prosecution but they still tried to plea it out to LWOP. The last death sentence before then was in 2014. Cases take to long to get to trial that most end up taking plea deals.

    This is Viriginia Mark 2. Once Georgia has cleared through it's current backlog, the rate of executions is going to drop like a stone because new death sentences have been (and will likely continue to be) so rare.

  5. #55
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    There is one death penalty trial ongoing right now. I believe it is another Tiffany Moss case in the same county.

  6. #56
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JLR View Post
    I'm very suprised to see this happen in Georgia.


    Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, one of the state’s most aggressive prosecutors in seeking the death penalty, has said he will no longer ask for the ultimate punishment.

    Only one Georgia jury has handed down a death sentence over the past six years. That occurred in April 2019 when a Gwinnett County jury sentenced Tiffany Moss to die by lethal injection for starving her 10-year-old stepdaughter to death, then trying to burn the child’s corpse inside a trash can. In that case, Moss represented herself as her own lawyer and put up no defense.

    Since 2005, Howard has filed notices to seek death in about 40 cases, according to state records. He obtained death sentences in just two of them, and a judge has since granted one a new sentencing trial.
    So the Fulton County DA has been just stealing from the taxpayers over these death penalty cases then.

    The two people he got were Cleveland Clark 2010 and Demetrius Willis 2009. So it took him four years to get the first and its been 10 years since his last. That's not aggressive.
    Last edited by Mike; 06-02-2020 at 09:44 AM.
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  7. #57
    Senior Member CnCP Legend JLR's Avatar
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    The article notes that one of those two has since had his death sentence reversed though I can't find any evidence of which one.

  8. #58
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Rep. Johnson files legislation to allow death row inmates ability to introduce new evidence

    Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), along with other Congressional leaders, today re-introduced the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act, which would ensure that death row inmates have the opportunity to present newly discovered evidence of innocence.

    Under current law, an inmate on death row can be stranded with no procedural options to stop their execution, even when there is compelling new evidence that he or she is innocent.

    The Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act would:

    (1) empower the federal courts to grant habeas corpus relief for a prisoner on death row who presents newly discovered evidence that demonstrates probable innocence; and

    (2) allow prisoners on death row to file successive federal habeas petitions if, and only if, they present newly discovered evidence that a federal three-judge panel determines may be reasonably expected to demonstrate innocence.

    If a federal court were to grant such a habeas corpus petition, the case would likely return to its original jurisdiction for retrial.

    “I believe we should completely abolish the death penalty, but while 25 states – half of which are in the South – still have some form of capital punishment on their books and some states like Alabama, Texas and Georgia continue to hold state executions –

    America needs the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act to help wrongly convicted people on death row present newly discovered evidence that they are innocent.” said Johnson.

    “When it comes to a human life, the courts must always be able to take a closer look at evidence that supports claims of innocence. We should never put an innocent person to death.”

    Original Cosponsors: Andre Carson (IN-07), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Danny Davis (IL-07), Chuy Garcia (IL-04), Alcee Hastings (FL-20), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-01), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Joe Kennedy (MA-04), Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), Rep. Gregory Meeks (NY-05), Chellie Pingree (ME-01), Jamie Raskin (MD-08), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Terri Sewell (AL-07), Bennie Thompson (MS-02), David Trone (MD-06), Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12), Susan Wild (PA-07).

    The Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund supports the Effective Death Penalty Appeals Act.

    (source: ocgnews.com)
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  9. #59
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    August 14, 2020

    Georgia GOP Lawmaker Makes Budget Argument To Abolish Death Penalty

    A Republican says he thinks the state House of Representatives is 12 votes shy of advancing a bill that would abolish the death penalty.

    By Jill Nolin
    The Georgia Recorder

    A Georgia Republican says he thinks the state House of Representatives is just a dozen votes shy of advancing a bill that would abolish the death penalty.

    Rep. Brett Harrell of Snellville said Thursday that he thinks highlighting the cost of capital punishment may help win over the support needed, at least in the one chamber. Harrell, who chairs the influential House Ways and Means Committee, said he intends to push for the funding needed to pay for an analysis of how much Georgia spends to execute people.

    "I think this conservative concerns about the death penalty focus is important and to focus on those fiscal costs will be important to us to gain those last few votes necessary to move the issue forward in Georgia," he said.

    The Gwinnett County lawmaker took part in a virtual discussion Thursday that was organized by Conservatives Concerned about the Death Penalty, a national group that argues capital punishment is inconsistent with conservative principles. He appeared along with two Republicans from Ohio and Wyoming.

    Hannah Cox, the group's senior national manager, called the death penalty a "failed big government program that fails to measure up to our values of limiting government, adhering to fiscal responsibility and protecting the sanctity of human life." She said most of the costs stem from the intensive trials required for a capital murder case – and not, as most assume, the lengthy appellate process.

    She said the squeeze on state budgets due to the COVID-19 pandemic has brought renewed scrutiny to the cost. Georgia just recently cut 10% from its budget, partly because of declining revenues due to the viral outbreak.

    Harrell sponsored a bipartisan bill last year that would have ended the death penalty in Georgia, requiring instead life in prison without parole for those sitting on death row. The bill never cleared a committee. Georgia is among the 25 states that have the death penalty.

    Now, he's sharpening his fiscal line of attack, calling the death penalty an "incredibly expensive proposition." He pointed to an example in the 1990s that left local officials jailed for a day in Lincoln County when they refused to foot the bill for a second capital murder trial after the courts overturned a death sentence. At the time, the case had already cost the rural county about $100,000; the county's entire budget was $2.2 million.

    Evidence suggests – study after study – that it is not an actual deterrent to crime and we have alternatives, such as life without parole," Harrell said. "As someone who is fiscally conservative and prefers a small government consistent with efficient implementation of government, the death penalty fails on all those measures."

    He also noted that Georgia has exonerated six people since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976.

    "Someone who is also a social conservative and someone who is pro-life should also see the death penalty as very problematic in that the likelihood is very great that innocent have been executed as well," Harrell said.

    Georgia has carried out the sixth most executions nationally – a total of 76 inmates – since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

    Nationally, 1,522 inmates have been executed since then. The South is the region of the country that has executed the most people in that time, with Texas responsible for more than two-thirds of all executions in the country.

    So far this year, Georgia's death chamber has only seen one person killed by lethal injection: Donnie Lance, who was convicted in the 1997 murders of his ex-wife and her boyfriend, died in January. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Joshua Sharpe wrote this first-person account at the time.

    Last year, three people were executed in Georgia. In the last decade, the total number of executions peaked at nine in 2016. There are currently 41 inmates sitting on death row in Georgia.

    https://patch.com/georgia/across-ga/...-death-penalty

  10. #60
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Neil's Avatar
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    So how true you guys think this guys words are?

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