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  1. #1
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    Virginia Capital Punishment News

    State’s budget woes bring a slowdown in capital cases


    In the 18 months since he took the helm of the Richmond area capital defender’s office, David Baugh said he has seen about 10 capital cases end in pleas after prosecutors pulled the death penalty off the table.

    The result? Life in prison for the defendants and likely a savings to Virginia’s taxpayers, who won’t have to foot the bill for defense fees associated with lengthy trials and years of appeals, Baugh said.

    With a $3.5 billion budget shortfall, the state has to make some tough decisions on using manpower and money to prosecute the capital cases, he said. Three out of four state capital defender offices are understaffed. State officials already have frozen vacant positions. Now, Baugh said, the state should consider freezing capital punishment as the next cost-saving measure.

    “The state ought to give serious thought to a moratorium on the death penalty until the budget gets straight,” Baugh said. “You’d be amazed how much the state pays.”

    The state paid more than $1 million to cover the defense of John Allen Muhammad, who was executed last month for one in a series of sniper shootings that terrorized Northern Virginia in 2002.

    Other capital cases carry significant costs, although not nearly as high as the bills for Muhammad’s defense. For example, the state paid $150,472 to cover defense expenses for Carl Lee Walton, said Katya Herndon, spokeswoman for the state Supreme Court.

    Walton, of Virginia Beach, shot and killed two women at point-blank range in 2005. His first trial, in 2007, ended in mistrial. He was convicted at a second trial in October, but rather than sentence him to death, a judge ordered he spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Thomas A. Porter was sentenced to death in 2007 for capital murder in the killing of Norfolk police Officer Stanley C. Reaves. The state has paid about $127,000 to cover his defense expenses, Herndon said.

    Those figures include the fees – $150 per hour out of court, $200 per hour in court – for private attorneys who are court-appointed. Salaries of capital defenders, who are automatically appointed to represent indigent defendants, and expenses amassed by prosecutors are not included.

    Taxpayers are covering costs of 13 other active capital cases across Virginia. In October, Douglas Ramseur took the helm of the capital defender’s office for the state’s southeastern region. Since then, one attorney has retired from the Norfolk-based office and another announced plans to leave for a position in a private firm.

    The departures leave Ramseur and one other attorney to handle four capital cases, including one in Virginia Beach. Although he has received a waiver allowing him to quickly fill one of those vacancies, Ramseur said it likely will be February or March before a new attorney is hired.

    “That’s the challenge, finding people who want to take on death penalty cases,” he said. The cases are stressful and the pay is low compared to a position in a private firm, he said. The turnover in the office was among the reasons a judge agreed to postpone Ted Vincent Carter’s capital murder trial, originally set for Jan. 26. Carter is accused of robbing and shooting a police detective who was trying to buy drugs during an undercover operation last year.

    Ramseur declined to speak about his Richmond colleague’s suggestion, but Virginia Beach Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Bryant noted the death penalty’s role as a deterrent and said cost shouldn’t be a factor in the state’s decision to seek it.

    “The cost of it never has been, and never should be, a factor in whether to seek it,” he said.

    Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat and Roman Catholic, has made his opposition to the death penalty clear while campaigning and while in office, spokeswoman Lynda Tran said. But, she said, he has allowed 11 executions to be carried out.

    She knew of no formal proposals to halt capital punishment in the commonwealth for budgetary reasons. “What we’re looking at is a $3.5 billion budget gap,” she said. “Whatever the cost of the moratorium might be in terms of savings, I’m not sure it would have a huge savings anyway.”

    Bryant, who plans to argue for Carter’s execution in Virginia Beach next year, said a moratorium wouldn’t be approved by the General Assembly or by Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell. The state’s population wouldn’t approve it, either, he said.

    “I have enough faith in Virginians in general that, if it was put to a referendum, they would never say let’s just stop the death penalty because it costs too much.”

    http://hamptonroads.com/node/533131

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    New law allows death penalty in fire marshal slayings

    Under a new law passed by the General Assembly this year, anyone who kills a fire marshal could face the death penalty.

    The bill passed the House of Delegates and the Senate but has not yet been signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell.

    Danville Fire Chief David Eagle said fire marshals have the same arrest powers of police officers and are put into dangerous situations during their investigations.

    “And because of that, they should have the same benefits,” Eagle said.

    In Virginia, killing a police officer is a capital offense.

    Fire Marshal Shelby Irving said fire marshals are surrounded by firefighters and police during their investigation, but they install smoke alarms, look at burn permits and do inspections on their own, which leaves them vulnerable.

    Some new city residents confronted her after Danville annexed areas of Pittsylvania County in 1988.

    “A lot of people felt like they didn’t want to be a part of the city,” Irving said. “And we didn’t have a right to come and do a fire inspection.”

    Irving said it got rough, and she left a few houses after people challenged her.

    “Our uniform is like a police uniform,” she said. “And we don’t carry the gun.”

    Retired Fire Marshal Woodrow Williams Jr. stumbled into some dangerous situations during his 31-year career with the Danville Fire Department.

    Williams responded to a car fire on Schoolfield Drive about 10 years ago, he said. Williams started the investigation about 10 a.m. on a warm, sunny day.

    He tried to tear out the backseat to get to the trunk, but he couldn’t tear out the left-hand side. He backed out of the car and saw a man nearby with a rifle pointed at him and a Danville police officer.

    “I hollered, ‘He’s got a gun,’” Williams said.

    Williams ran behind the car, and the police officer drew his gun and started walking toward the man.

    “Hold on a minute, I don’t have a gun,” Williams shouted to the officer. “If you miss him, and he comes this way, what am I supposed to do?”

    The officer stayed with Williams and called for help. By the time police got there, the man walked back into the house and put the gun on the bed.

    Williams never learned why the man targeted him and the officer.

    He hopes the bill will protect Virginia’s fire marshals.

    “Maybe it will make someone stop and think, I hope so,” Williams said. “I’d hate to think that someone would get hurt out there.”

    http://www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/article/new_law_allows_death_penalty_in_fire_marshal_slayi ngs/18963/

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    Virginia death row inmates seek enhanced visitation, but state and victims' families push back

    DENA POTTER Associated Press

    11:39 a.m. EDT, June 26, 2011
    RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Inmates on Virginia's death row are asking for the chance to hug their family and friends.

    At least two of the 11 inmates on death row tell the AP they have asked the Department of Corrections to change its visitation policy so they can have contact visits. They also want visits from friends rather than only family.

    The department banned contact visits in 2008 amid concerns outsiders could smuggle cell phones or other contraband to those on death row.

    Some victims also object to the contact visits, saying they no longer get to hug their loved ones either.

    All death row visits are done in booths separated by a glass partition, with both parties speaking through telephones.

    Of the nation's 34 death penalty states, 20 have policies similar to Virginia's.

    http://www.wtvr.com/sns-ap-va--death...,1556955.story

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    'Triggerman' revision killed by Senate panel

    The General Assembly has rejected legislation to expand Virginia's death penalty law.

    The Senate Courts of Justice Committee voted 8-6, with one abstention, on Wednesday to kill legislation allowing the death penalty for accomplices who share the intent to kill. Under current law, the so-called triggerman rule allows capital punishment only for the person who does the actual killing.

    Two weeks ago, the Senate's own version of the Republican-backed bill died in the courts committee on a 7-7 party-line vote, with one Republican abstaining because he accepts court appointments to represent capital murder defendants. Sen. Bill Stanley abstained again, and Republican Sen. Bryce Reeves switched sides and voted against the bill.

    Reeves said later that he changed his vote because of his faith. He declined to elaborate.

    http://www.coshoctontribune.com/usat...xt|Frontpage|p

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    Senior Member Member Slayer's Avatar
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    Hey Heidi your not worried that your home state hasn't carried out a sentence since 2010?

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    What about Jerry Terrell Jackson?

  7. #7
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Slayer View Post
    Hey Heidi your not worried that your home state hasn't carried out a sentence since 2010?
    Not at all. I expect Ivan Teleguz will be executed this year.
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Virginia's death row population down to 8

    Virginia's death row population has dwindled to eight from a peak of 57 in 1995, and it's not just because of the state's efficiency in carrying out capital punishment.

    A couple of death sentences have been erased recently -- one because of the inmate's mental health issues, another because a star witness changed his story and prosecutors withheld key evidence. Another inmate's innocence claim based on recanted testimony was revived last year by an appellate court and is in a judge's hands.

    But another major reason for the declining death row population is that fewer death sentences are being handed down. David Bruck of the Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse at Washington and Lee University School of Law says death row has received only two new inmates in nearly five years.

    http://www.wtop.com/41/3244005/Virgi...tion-down-to-8
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

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    Lawyer, former legislator spar in death penalty debate


    A former legislator argued that the death penalty is a useful deterrent to murder, and an Amherst lawyer asserted that the penalty is unjust — partly because one in 10 men who have been on death row were released after their innocence was proven.

    Vance Wilkins, once speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, took the pro-death-penalty side of a debate Tuesday night against Stephen Martin, who defended one of the teenage shooters in the Sal’s Pizza robbery-homicide in Madison Heights in 1984.


    Wilkins and Martin participated in the first of a planned series of community discussions sponsored by Amherst Presbyterian Church. Ned Kable, formerly an elder of the church, was a panelist during the debate.


    Kable said he felt the death penalty, which has faded as a topic in political campaigns over the past five years, “is an important issue that should be discussed,” so he and other church leaders organized this debate and others that will follow on topics such as poverty in Amherst County.


    Lawrence Janow, a retired judge of juvenile and domestic relations court in Amherst, and who now teaches at Sweet Briar College, served as moderator of the debate.
    Its purpose, Janow said, was “not to change anybody’s mind” about the death penalty but “to give you both sides.” About 50 people attended, and a few asked questions of the panelists.


    Wilkins and Martin focused their arguments on the death penalty’s legal and social aspects, and never made biblical references. Janow commended them for “not bringing that aspect into it.”


    Martin said, “the question of whether you support the death penalty should not be confused with the emotions we have when we read about terrible crimes,” and it’s normal to think a perpetrator may deserve to die.


    America’s justice system is a “process that is not based on emotion. It is a process designed to get to the truth and protect the innocent,” Martin said. The process “is there for everybody,” and should not be altered to deal with one particularly heinous crime, he said.
    Wilkins based his advocacy for capital punishment on U.S. Senate testimony given by a Heritage Foundation scholar, David Muhlhausen, who concluded that the death penalty actually saves the lives of innocent people who could become victims of killers.


    Increased executions result in fewer murders, Wilkins argued, and the threat of being caught for the crime deters many people from committing it.


    Other issues of criminal punishment, including retribution for the crime, rendering the perpetrator unable to commit another crime, and rehabilitation, received little attention.
    Kable said the aspect of the death penalty that bothered him most was its violent aspect.


    “We are teaching our children that violence is good when the state carries it out,” Kable said.

    http://www2.wsls.com/news/2010/oct/1...ate-ar-574078/

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    This is what my local news channel reported about death row contact visits.

    Edited:

    Va. death row inmates seek contact visits

    "I have never stated that I don't deserve to be in prison. I took a life, so I deserve to be in prison," said Thomas Porter, who was sentenced to death for killing Norfolk Police Officer Stanley Reaves in 2005. "But it's making my family a victim."

    Porter wants to hug his mother and wife.

    The department allows visits from family members, but friends and others are prohibited.

    Jerry Jackson, 29, wants to see three longtime female friends before he is executed for raping and murdering 88-year-old Ruth Phillips, a widow in Williamsburg, in 2001.

    "I just want to see them one last time just to thank them for being there for me," Jackson said of his friends.

    Of the nation's 34 death penalty states, Virginia and 22 others allow only visits through glass partition while 10 allow visits in the same room where offenders and visitors can touch. In Ohio, visitors are separated by glass, but there is a slot that allows inmates and visitors to hold hands.

    Both Jackson and Porter, who talked to the AP via telephone, have asked officials for expanded visits. Jackson said he and others asked department director Harold Clarke, who took over the agency in November, to change the policy when he visited death row a few months ago, but nothing changed. Inmates' family members also have asked the department to change the policy.

    "Director Clarke is aware of this issue and understands the concerns of the inmates," department spokesman Larry Traylor said.

    Traylor said the policy allows inmates to request a contact visit, which is to be viewed on a case-by-case basis. Since 2008, a handful of inmates have done so but none have been granted, he said.

    Jackson and Porter complained that no rules were broken by death row inmates that resulted in the policy change. Yet they say there have been instances in which general population inmates received contraband during contact visits, but the visits weren't taken away for all general population offenders.

    Traylor said the policy is meant to avoid the issues on death row before they occur. He pointed to instances in Texas, where several cell phones were confiscated from death row inmates in 2008. One of them was taken from a condemned inmate who made threatening calls to a legislator.

    "It comes down to illegal contraband such as cell phones, weapons, drugs, etc. entering the secure environment," he said. "This policy completely eliminates that possibility."

    Traylor said the department also must take into account the feelings of victims' family members, some of whom have complained that inmates get to visit with their family the day they are executed.

    "I don't get to hug my mother, either," said Richard Phillips, who found his mother Ruth dead after going to check on her when she failed to show up for church.

    "Prison is not a pleasant place. It's not the idea that it's a country club," he said. "It's too bad that these people do things that get themselves in trouble, but that's the way it is."

    Mikhaela Payden-Travers, a friend of Jackson's who wants to visit him, said she understands why victims' family members would feel that way, but that it's "never OK to not let someone say goodbye."

    "Being on death row, it's a very difficult place to be. It's a place to despair," she said. "Most people are coming to terms with themselves, what they've done with their lives. ... In order for men on the row to be able to grow, they need to have contact with their friends and family and the people who are going to support them and dealing with all those emotions."

    Payden-Travers started writing to Jackson several years ago when she was working for Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty. She now lives in San Diego, and tries to keep in touch with her friend through letters and the occasional $50 phone call.

    She wants to see him one more time before he's put to death.

    "What's hard is that I've come to care for him like a brother, and I won't be able to say goodbye," she said.

    http://www.wvec.com/news/Va-death-ro...124584044.html

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