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Executions

Robert Waterhouse - Florida - February 15, 2012



Summary Of Offense: On the morning of January 3, 1980, St. Petersburg police responded to a call that the nude body of an unidentified woman had been found in the mud flats of Tampa Bay. There was evidence that the woman had been dragged from a grassy area on shore into the water at high tide. An examination of the body revealed severe lacerations on the head and rectum, and bruising on the throat. Medical examiners determined that drowning was ultimately the cause of death. Additionally, there was an adequate amount of acid phosphotase found in the woman’s rectum to suggest the presence of semen. The lacerations in her rectum were determined to be cause by the insertion of a large object.

Unable to identify the body of the woman, St. Petersburg police turned to the public for help. An anonymous caller gave police of the license plate number of Robert Waterhouse and suggested that they should investigate him. The body of the woman was identified as Deborah Kammerer by her neighbors, Yohan Wenz and Carol Byers.

Wenz and Byers reported that on the evening of January 2, 1980 they accompanied Kammerer to the ABC Lounge. They later left the lounge, while Kammerer stayed behind. Kyoe Ginn, a bartender at the ABC Lounge, testified that he saw Kammerer talking to Robert Waterhouse and that the two left the lounge together around 1:00 a.m. On the evening of January 7, 1980, Robert Waterhouse was asked to go to the police station voluntarily for questioning. Waterhouse told the investigators that he did not know the victim and did not leave the bar with a woman. Waterhouse was permitted to leave the police station, but his car was impounded with a search warrant. A search of his car revealed bloodstains and a luminol test showed that more blood had been wiped up. The blood found in the car was consistent with the blood type of Kammerer and inconsistent with the blood type of Waterhouse. Additionally, investigators found strands of hair that were similar in characteristic to the samples taken from Kammerer. There were also fibers in the car that matched fibers from the Kammerer’s coat and pants. Waterhouse was arrested on January 9, 1980 for the murder of Deborah Kammerer. During a subsequent interrogation, Waterhouse was shown a picture of Kammerer and admitted that he did, in fact, know her.

Waterhouse was sentenced to death on April 11, 1990.

Victim(s): Deborah Kammerer.

Time of Death: 8:22 p.m.

Manner of execution: Lethal Injection

Last Meal: Two pork chops, two fried eggs, two pieces of toast, cherry pie, butter pecan ice cream, a pint of OJ and a pint of milk.

Final Statement: You are about to witness the execution of a wrongly convicted and innocent man, The state broke its own law in destroying DNA evidence in my case so I could not prove my innocence. "To my wife and family, I want to say I love you all and that's it


Scheduled Executions

Robert Moorman -Arizona- 02/29/12

Arizona death-row inmate Robert Moormann, who is scheduled to be executed Feb.29, was transported to an unnamed hospital Thursday after falling ill at the state prison in Florence.

The Arizona Department of Corrections would not provide information -- even to Moormann's attorneys -- about Moormann's condition, but a department spokesman said Thursday afternoon that Moormann was still alive.

Moormann, 63, was sentenced to death for the 1984 murder of his adoptive mother.

He has a history of health problems and was hospitalized twice last fall, first for an appendectomy and later for a quintuple heart bypass.

Arizona prison policy requires death-row inmates facing execution to be kept alive until the last minute before execution by lethal injection.

The execution protocol requires that a cardiac defibrillator "be readily available on site in the event that the inmate goes into cardiac arrest at any time prior to dispensing the chemicals; trained medical staff shall make every effort to revive the inmate should this occur."

Michael Ryan - Nebraska - March 06, 2012



An attorney for Nebraska death row inmate Michael Ryan has filed a motion seeking to have his death sentence commuted to life without parole.

The motion filed Monday in Richardson County District Court says Nebraska's lethal injection protocol did not exist during Ryan's conviction, sentencing and previous appeals related to the 1985 cult-related murder of two people near Rulo. For that reason, Ryan's motion says, none of the grounds for relief he's seeking in his latest motion could have been raised in previous pleas.

Nebraska changed its method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection in 2008.

Ryan's execution has been set for March 6. If that date holds, Ryan would be the first person executed in Nebraska since 1997, and the state's first by lethal injection.

Garry Allen - Oklahoma - March 17, 2012



A death-row inmate who was originally scheduled to be executed last Thursday night will instead be put to death March 17 if the governor's legal team decides against commuting the man's sentence to life in prison.

Gov. Mary Fallin issued a 30-day stay last week to give her legal team more time to consider a 2005 clemency recommendation from the state Pardon and Parole Board for 55-year-old Garry Thomas Allen.

Allen had been scheduled to die for the 1986 murder of the mother of his two children. His attorneys have argued that he was mentally impaired when he killed 42-year-old Lawanna Gail Titsworth.

Allen's current lawyer, Randy Bauman, declined to comment on the stay Thursday. Currie Ballard, a member of the pardon and parole board, said he could not comment on death-row cases.

Beunka Adams - April 26, 2012

In Wednesday's Texas Court of Criminal Appeals orders, Adams' subsequent application for writ of habeas corpus was dismissed as an abuse of the writ without considering the merits.


Stayed/Postponed/Delayed Executions

Carlton Gary - Georgia

Two of three judges on a federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel seemed skeptical Wednesday of convicted Stocking Strangler Carlton Gary’s defense argument that the U.S. government should continue to pay for Gary’s defense as he seeks a new trial in Muscogee Superior Court.

Defense attorney Jack Martin of Atlanta appealed to the circuit court after U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land decided the federal government would pay only for Gary again to seek clemency before the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles, not for Gary to pursue another trial in Superior Court.

Romell Broom - Ohio

An Ohio inmate spared from lethal injection once will face a new execution date.

The Eighth District Court of Appeals has rejected Romell Broom's challenge.

Broom had previously been scheduled to die on September 15, 2009 but prison officials were unable to obtain IV access to his veins. Then-Governor Ted Strickland issued a reprieve and postponed Broom's execution.

Broom then filed a challenge to a new execution date but a lower court and the Eighth District court both rejected Broom's claim that a new execution violated his right against cruel and unusual punishment and right against double jeopardy.

Broom is being executed for the 1984 kidnap, rape, and murder of Tryna Middleton, 14, in East Cleveland.

A new execution date will be set after Broom completes any remaining federal appeals.

Current Death Row Inmates

William "Billy" Kuenzel - Alabama



An Alabama death row inmate asked a federal appeals court to review new evidence in his case that his attorneys say could exonerate him.

Billy Kuenzel was convicted of killing Sylacauga convenience store clerk Linda Jean Offord during a robbery in November 1987, but he's maintained his innocence.

His attorneys asked the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday to grant him a new hearing, but prosecutors said the new information is little more than hearsay.

Kuenzel's defense team claims to have uncovered information that suggests his roommate had a shotgun that could have been used in the killing, and that Kuenzel may not have been at the crime scene.

Alabama prosecutors dismiss it as nothing more than "attacks on the credibility of witnesses."

Pablo Ibar - Florida

A Florida judge rejected on Monday an appeal that asked to repeat the trial to Spaniard Pablo Ibar, on death row since 2000 accused of three murders in 1994.

Pablo Ibar stands accused of the murders in 1994 of Casimir Sucharsky, manager of a local bar, and Sharon and Marie Anderson. The crimes were caught on security camera. In prison since 1994, Ibar has always protested his innocence and claims that he was with his then girlfriend (now wife) at the time of the murder.

William Van Poyck - Florida

In Thursday's Florida Supreme Court opinions, the court AFFIRMED the district court's DENIAL of Van Poyck's second successive motion for postconviction relief as it is both untimely and based upon inadmissible evidence.

Carlos Bellow - Florida

The curtain fell Friday on what one Tampa detective called an "Oscar-worthy performance" by cop-killer Carlos Bello, whose persuasive displays of mental illness have helped him avoid a death sentence for more than two decades.

For the first time in 15 competency hearings since the 1980s, a judge ruled that Bello was a malingerer who faked mental illness.

Hillsborough County Circuit Judge Ron Ficarrotta, who had presided over many of the previous hearings, based his ruling on the opinions of a psychologist who observed Bello almost daily for eight months last year at the South Florida Evaluation and Treatment Center near Miami.

Assistant Public Defender Charles Traina said he hasn't decided yet whether to appeal the decision. Prosecutors haven't decided whether to seek the death penalty again.

The judge did not set a date for re-sentencing.

Kimberly Rauft, who was just 12 when her detective father was killed, said the family has never given up hope of a final sentence. "We're very relieved."

Angelo Fears - Ohio

In Friday's opinions, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals AFFIRMED the district court's DENIAL of Fears' habeas petition.

Guilty Verdicts

Patrick Wharen Sr. - Florida

A 12-person jury found Patrick Wharen Sr. guity of two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the slayings of his estranged wife and another man.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.

Jurors took more than four hours to reach the verdict, during which time they relistened to two 911 calls made the night of the double-homicide.

Jurors began deliberating the case early Thursday afternoon after nearly a week of trial and closing arguments, which happened this morning. About 2:20 p.m. they returned to the courtroom to listen to the 911 tapes. Wharen's son, who was shot while trying to stop his father, places one of the calls saying "I'm shot, help me." The other brief call is by Vuick but disconnects.

The penalty phase of trial, which will determine if Wharen Sr. faces a death sentence, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Monday. The same jurors who found him guilty will determine his sentence.

Rodney Renia - Georgia

On Friday it took a jury just two hours to convict Rodney Renia Young of the murder of 28-year-old Gary Jones in March 2008, and despite the defense's claim of mental retardation, the jury found the 44-year-old was not mentally retarded, meaning he is eligible for the death penalty.

The verdict came after nearly a week of testimony. While the state painted Young as a cold, calculating killer, the defense brought in former teacher's of the high school football star who called him a "man child" and "a big teddy bear," who tried but had many limitations.

The penalty phase of the trial will begin Monday at 9 a.m. In it the defense will attempt to get jurors to spare Young's life and give him life in prison rather then the death penalty.



State By State Death Penalty News

Missouri

A Democratic lawmaker from St. Louis wants the Missouri auditor's office to investigate the cost of applying the death penalty.

State Sen. Joe Keaveny (keh-VIHN'-ee) says the audit would be the first comprehensive study in Missouri to compare the cost of the death penalty with sentencing an offender to life in prison without parole. Keaveny filed a bill seeking the audit this week.

Keaveny says the goal is to determine the cost of capital punishment, not to analyze whether the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime.

South Carolina

A South Carolina Senate panel's debate has been delayed on a new bill that would add a new crime to the list of offenses eligible for the death penalty.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday canceled a meeting at which members planned to discuss a bill that would create a new crime of home invasion in South Carolina, punishable by a prison sentence of 20 years to life.

The bill would also make someone convicted of committing a murder during a home invasion eligible for a death sentence.

The bill is called the Home Invasion Protection Act.

Tuesday's meeting has not been rescheduled.

Virginia

The Virginia House of Delegates has advanced a bill that would make a broader range of criminals eligible for the death penalty.

House Bill 389, proposed by Delegate Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, would redefine the “triggerman” rule in murder cases. The term “triggerman” refers strictly to the direct perpetrators of homicide, according to the current state law.

Delegate Robert Bell, R-Charlottesville, said the goal of the bill is to make accomplices to the “triggerman” just as eligible for the capital punishment.
“We believe that in some circumstances, someone other than the triggerman is every bit as culpable for the murder as the person who pulled the trigger, and therefore, it should be an option for juries,” Bell said.

On Tuesday, the House voted 72-28 for the bill. Eight Democrats, 63 Republicans and one independent voted for the legislation; four Republicans and 24 Democrats voted against it.