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Executions


There were no executions in the past week




Scheduled Executions


John Ferguson - Florida Execution - October 16, 2012




A lawyer for a convicted mass killer who claims insanity asked the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday to block his scheduled Oct. 16 execution after 34 years on death row.

The high court appeal is part of a three-pronged effort to spare John Errol Ferguson's life, said his lead attorney, Christopher Handman.

Ferguson, 64, is appealing Gov. Rick Scott's rejection of his insanity claim to a state judge in north Florida's Bradford County, where he's being held at Florida State Prison. He's also challenging changes in the state's lethal injection procedures in federal court in Jacksonville.


Ferguson was convicted of killing eight people in South Florida. The first six victims died in 1977 in a drug-related, execution-style mass killing in Carol City. Ferguson also was convicted of killing two Hialeah teenagers on their way to a church meeting in 1978.

The oral argument in the state high court focused on Scott's denial of clemency based on what Handman said was an investigation that began 25 years ago but never was completed because Ferguson was incompetent.

He asked the justices to send the case back to a trial judge in Miami-Dade County to hold a competency hearing.

Assistant Attorney General Scott Browne said Ferguson has a history of faking mental illness and leads a "normal life on death row."


Scott rejected Ferguson's insanity claim based on a report by two mental health experts who interviewed him Monday for 90 minutes.

Experts hired by the defense who have examined Ferguson over the past year have concluded he is not feigning mental illness and is insane.


Anthony Haynes - Texas Execution - October 18, 2012

Attachment 290

A convicted cop killer who faces the death penalty for the 1998 murder of an off-duty police officer cannot have his appeal reopened and his Oct. 18 execution will move forward, a federal judge ruled.

Anthony Cardell Haynes shot and killed Sgt. Kent Kinkaid following a night of crime where he committed a string of armed robberies before spotting the off-duty officer and firing at him.

A Harris county jury convicted Haynes in 1999 of capital murder and sentenced him to death.

After failing to find relief in both state and federal courts for more than a decade, including a 456-page federal petition for a writ of habeas corpus filed in 2005, Haynes petitioned the court to reopen his federal habeas action citing an ineffective trial counsel.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake rejected that petition Wednesday and denied him a certificate of appealability.



Donald Moeller - South Dakota Execution - Week of October 28, 2012




More than two decades after the crime and just week's before his scheduled execution, one of South Dakota's most notorious killers made what could be his final court appearance.

On Thursday, Donald Moeller admitted to murdering Becky O'Connell in May of 1990 and gave federal Judge Lawrence Piersol a detailed description of life behind bars and told him why he deserves to die for the crime.

Moeller has asked that his federal lawsuit challenging South Dakota's method of execution be dismissed. However, Moeller's Arkansas-based public defenders argued in court Thursday that the appeal should continue because Moeller isn't competent to give up his appeals.

To determine if Moeller is competent Judge Piersol had a half-hour conversation with Moeller during court on Thursday.


Judge Piersol didn't make a decision on Thursday about dismissing the case, but said he will make one soon.




Stays Of Execution


Terrence Williams - Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania's highest court Wednesday upheld a judge's earlier decision to grant a stay of execution for a man who says the person he killed had sexually abused him years earlier.

The court's decision denied prosecutors an emergency petition to have Terrance Williams, 46, put to death on Wednesday, though the court could decide at a later point to have the execution go forward.

"As the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has now confirmed, Judge (M. Teresa) Sarmina's grant of a stay was factually and legally sound," said attorney Shawn Nolan. "The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office should stop its pursuit to execute Terry Williams."

No one disputes that Williams beat Amos Norwood to death with a tire iron in 1984 or that he should be in prison. But his defense team says information that Norwood had allegedly sexually abused Williams was withheld from the trial, and his life should be spent in a cell.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams filed an emergency appeal, and has called the abuse allegations hearsay and "a last-ditch effort to escape punishment."

Williams, the district attorney, said that although the high court denied the immediate review of the case, the ruling means the case would now proceed as a normal appeal.



Current Death Row Inmates


Chritie Michelle Scott - Alabama



A state appeals court upheld the death sentence given to a Franklin County woman charged with setting the Aug. 16, 2008 house fire that killed her 6-year-old autistic son.

On Friday, the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the sentence given to 34-year-old Christie Michelle Scott. The unanimous opinion said the appeals court found death was the appropriate sentence for "the horrific murder."

Court testimony said the fire appeared to have been set in the bedroom Mason shared with another child. Prosecutors accused Scott of setting the fire to collect on insurance policies. The court rejected Scott's arguments for overturning her conviction, including that her trial should have been moved out of Russell County because of publicity the case received.

Scott is 1 of 4 women on Alabama's death row.


Tommy Pruitt - Indiana



On Thursday, a federal judge rejected the appeal of Tommy Ray Pruitt, who is on death row for the 2001 murder of Morgan County Sheriff’s Deputy Dan Starnes.

U.S. District Judge Robert L. Miller ruled that both the Dearborn County court where he was convicted and the Indiana Supreme Court had properly determined that Pruitt is not mentally retarded.

Miller said that “under any view, Mr. Pruitt is borderline — either a high functioning mentally retarded individual or an individual with very low average intelligence.” But the courts did not act unreasonably in finding not mentally retarded and able to stand trial. The court also rejected Pruitt’s appeal that he did not have effective counsel at trial.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller applauded the decision, saying: “We owe it to the courageous law enforcement officers who have died in the line of cuty protecting the public to diligently ensure that our state statutes are enforced at every level of the appellate process.”

Deputy Starnes had stopped Pruitt on June 14, 2001, for erratic driving. After getting Pruitt’s license and vehicle registration, Starnes learned that a recent robbery report suggested Pruitt might have stolen weapons with him. As he started back to Pruitt’s car, Pruitt came out firing. Starnes was shot five times and managed to fire back, hitting Pruitt seven times. Starnes died 26 days later.

Pruitt can now appeal his case to the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.


Victor Miller - Oklahoma

An Oklahoma death row inmate is asked a state appeals court to overturn his first-degree murder convictions and death sentence.

Oral arguments were scheduled Tuesday before the Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of Victor Cornell Miller. The 49-year-old Miller is one of two men convicted of killing 77-year-old retired Tulsa banker Mary Agnes Bowles and 44-year-old Owasso trucking company owner Jerald Thurman on Aug. 31, 1999.

Investigators believe Bowles was abducted from the Tulsa Promenade mall parking lot and taken to a secluded area, where her killers confronted Thurman as they robbed Bowles of her car.

The appeals court last year upheld the conviction and death sentence of Miller's co-defendant, 48-year-old John Fitzgerald Hanson.

Death sentences for Miller and Hanson have been previously overturned on appeal.


George Ochoa - Oklahoma



Attorney General Scott Pruitt asked the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals to set an execution date for death row inmate George Ochoa

Ochoa was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for the killings of 38-year-old Francisco Morales and his wife, 35-year-old Maria Yanez. Investigators say Morales suffered 12 gunshot wounds and Yanez suffered 11 wounds while in their bedroom on the morning of July 12, 1993.

On Monday, Pruitt asked the appeals court to set an execution date for the 38-year-old Ochoa after the U.S. Supreme Court denied the inmate's final appeal


Rodney Berget - South Dakota

A lawyer for a South Dakota man sentenced to death for killing a prison guard said the state Supreme Court should overturn the ruling because his client was not given a fair trial in the penalty phase of the case.

Lawyer Jeff Larson argued before the South Dakota Supreme Court on Monday that the sentencing hearing for 50-year-old Rodney Berget was skewed because it came after Judge Brad Zell had already sentenced another inmate to death in the case.

Berget and 50-year-old Eric Robert had pleaded guilty in the April 2011 killing of prison guard Ronald Johnson during a botched prison escape.

Attorney General Marty Jackley argued that Berget repeatedly waived his right to a jury trial.

The court will make its decision at a later date.


Gary Green - Texas



On Wednesday, the conviction and death sentence of a Dallas man for fatally stabbing his estranged wife and drowning her 6-year-old daughter in a bathtub have been upheld by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Gary Green was sent to death row two years ago for the September 2009 slayings of Lovetta Armstead and her daughter, Jazzmen, at their home. Armstead was stabbed more than 25 times. One other child, a boy, was stabbed in the stomach. He survived.

Attorneys for the 41-year-old Green raised 46 points of error from his trial, including challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence against him, his confession and jury selection. The court this week rejected all of the claims.

Green could still pursue appeals in federal court. He does not have an execution date.


Michael Yowell - Texas



A federal judge in Lubbock on Wednesday cleared the way for Michael Yowell to be put to death. An execution date has not been set and Yowell might have other avenues of appeal.

Yowell was convicted and condemned by a Lubbock jury in 1998 for the double murder of his parents. Their badly burned bodies were found after a house explosion and fire.

In 2010, U.S. District Judge Cummings was critical of defense attorneys Jack Stoffregen and Mark Fesmire in his ruling. It said in part, "the actions of Yowell's trial counsel in failing to investigate and present compelling mitigation evidence fell so far below the standard of care required of counsel … as to constitute ineffective assistance of counsel."

The State of Texas appealed to the Fifth Circuit, which disagreed with Cummings and sent the case back to Lubbock.

On Wednesday, Cummings followed the instructions of the Fifth Circuit and issued a completely different ruling. The new one says even if the defense was insufficient "Yowell failed to demonstrate that it prejudiced his defense."

The new ruling also says, "Yowell even instructed his counsel not to take any action that would result in the possibility of a life sentence because he wanted a death sentence."

In addition to other claims, Yowell has brought up the issue of mental health. So far, the state and federal appeals courts have not been swayed.

The Lubbock County District Attorney's office can now take the case back to a State District Judge and request an execution date.


Douglas Carter - Utah



A death row inmate lost another appeal in his bid to get his case reheard.

The Utah Supreme Court on Friday said Douglas Stewart Carter had failed to show his counsel at his original trial was "so deficient as to be constitutionally ineffective." The decision upheld a lower court ruling.

The ruling mirrors a decision issued by a federal court judge in September, who also found that Carter had failed to show that state courts erred on questions about the effectiveness of counsel at his 1985 trial and admissibility of his confession. Carter has about a week to file a notice of appeal on the federal ruling with the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Carter was convicted of murdering Eva Olesen in her Provo home on Feb. 27, 1985. Olesen’s hands had been tied behind her back with a telephone cord ripped from the wall. She was nude from the waist down and had been stabbed eight times in the back, once in the abdomen and once in the neck with a kitchen knife. A medical examiner said Olesen, 57, was still alive when she was fatally shot in the back of the head.

At his first trial in 1985, a jury unanimously found Carter guilty of first-degree murder and that aggravating circumstances existed, which made him eligible for the death penalty. On Dec. 19, 1985, the jury sentenced Carter to death.

Over the subsequent 27 years, Carter made various appeals to get the verdict and sentence overturned, arguing, among other things, that his confession was coerced and should have been suppressed; that the prosecutor had tainted the jury by indirectly commenting on his decision to not take the witness stand in his own defense; and that his counsel had been ineffective.

The Utah Supreme Court rejected all but one issue raised by Carter — that jury instructions were flawed — and, based on that finding, ordered Carter to be re-sentenced. At that 1992 penalty hearing, a jury again decided Carter should be executed for the crime.



New Death Sentences

Christopher Johnson - Pennsylvania





Reversed/New Trials/Resentenced/Released/Commuted


Leo Kaczmar - Florida

Attachment 137

The Florida Supreme Court threw out the death sentence of a north Florida man convicted of fatally stabbing his father's girlfriend.

The court on Thursday ruled that Leo L. Kaczmar III is guilty of murdering Maria Ruiz in late 2008 and burning down a house in Green Cove Springs in an effort to conceal the crime.

But a majority of justices also ruled that Kaczmar should have been acquitted of attempted sexual battery. The ruling also states that it appears Kaczmar killed Ruiz because she rebuffed his advances and that the murder was not cold, calculated and premeditated.

That's why the court decided to order the trial court to hold a new sentencing hearing.

Two justices disagreed and said there was sufficient evidence that Kaczmar's death sentence was deserved.

Justin Wolfe - Virginia

The re-trial of Justin Michael Wolfe, whose previous conviction related to the murder of Daniel Robert Petrole Jr. was vacated by the federal courts, has been delayed. Additional charges have been filed against the former Chantilly High School student.

While the trial—initially set for Oct. 15—has been delayed, the judge did not set a new date. The new charges include first-degree murder, capital murder, two counts of drug distribution, and two charges of using a firearm in commission of a felony, according to Prince William County court records.

Wolfe was convicted in 2002 of ordering Petrole’s 2001 murder, but the triggerman later recanted his story and testified on Wolfe’s behalf in federal court. Federal judges criticized how Prince William prosecutors handled the case.

After the state declined to appeal the federal court's decision to vacate Wolfe’s convictions, a Prince William County Circuit Court judge assigned a special prosecutor to the case.

In addition, Wolfe’s defense team is questioning whether Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Raymond Morrogh can try the case because of his relationship with attorneys for several people involved in the case.




Jury Recommended Death Sentences

Desi Marentes - California

Joel Lebron - Florida

Joe Thomas - Ohio




US Supreme Court Denials

Richard Allen Jackson - Federal Death Row
Bobby Baker Jr. Alabama Death Row
Renard Marcel Daniel - Alabama Death Row
Demetrius Frazier - Alabama Death Row
Heath McCray - Alabama Death Row
Brandon Deon Mitchell - Alabama Death Row
Benjamin Cota - Arizona Death Row
Brad Nelson - Arizona Death Row
Richard Dale Stokley - Arizona Death Row
John Clyde Abel - California Death Row
Ronnie Dale Dement - California Death Row
Todd Rizzo - Connecticut Death Row
Robert Consolvo - Florida Death Row
Jesus Delgado - Florida Death Row
Larry Mann - Florida Death Row
Phillip Partin - Florida Death Row
John Loveman Reese - Florida Death Row
Richard Rhodes - Florida Death Row
Jason Dirk Walton - Florida Death Row
William Harry Meece - Kentucky Death Row
Terrance Carter - Louisiana Death Row
Lee Roy Odenbaugh - Louisiana Death Row
Michael Tisius - Missouri Death Row
Marco Torres Jr. - Nebraska Death Row
Stanley Jaloweic - Ohio Death Row
Elwood Jones - Ohio Death Row
Jeffrey Wogenstahl - Ohio Death Row
Raymond Lee Johnson - Oklahoma Death Row
Gilbert Postelle - Oklahoma Death Row
George Ochoa - Oklahoma Death Row
Orlando Maisonet - Pennsylvania Death Row
Freeman May - Pennsylvania Death Row
Abraham Sanchez - Pennsylvania Death Row
Jerry Buck Inman - South Carolina Death Row
Christa Pike - Tennessee Death Row
Carl Blue - Texas Death Row
Troy James Clark - Texas Death Row
Ramon Hernandez - Texas Execution - November 14, 2012
Robert Lynn Pruett - Texas Death Row
Michael Anthony Archuleta - Utah Death Row
Von Lester Taylor - Utah Death Row
Alfredo Prieto - Virginia Death Row