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Thread: Jeremiah Diaz Bean - Nevada Death Row

  1. #11
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Man accused of 5 Nevada murders to get death penalty review

    YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) — A judge has ordered another hearing on the mental state of a convicted felon accused of a string of five murders east of Reno in 2013 to determine if prosecutors can pursue the death penalty if he's convicted.

    A Lyon County judge earlier found Jeremiah Bean to be mentally competent to stand trial, currently scheduled to begin July 13 in Third District Court in Yerington.

    But last week, newly appointed Judge John Schlegelmich set a two-day hearing April 30 and May 1 to decide if Bean has the required mental capacity to qualify for capital prosecution under Nevada law.

    "That hearing on the motion to determine whether Mr. Bean is intellectually disabled is very important to us," Lyon County District Attorney Steve Rye said Thursday after the judge ordered the additional evaluation.

    "It affects whether or not the state can seek the death penalty," he told KRNV-TV.

    Bean initially agreed to a plea bargain that would have spared him from the possibility of execution. But he later changed his mind and pleaded not guilty in November 2013 to a total of 19 charges in connection with the killing rampage the previous Mother's Day weekend.

    Bean, 26, is accused of the slayings of two couples in two homes in rural Fernley and a newspaper deliveryman at an Interstate 80 exit east of Reno near the Mustang Ranch brothel.

    Prosecutors say he killed Robert Pape and Dorothy Pape, both 84, in one Fernley home on May 10, and Angie Duff, 67, and Lester Leiber, 69, at a house around the corner. He also is accused of fatally shooting Eliazar Graham, 52, of Sparks.

    Bean, who had been staying two houses away from the Duff-Leiber home, faces the arson charge for allegedly burning the Pape house. Prosecutors say he was trying to destroy evidence of the murder.

    Rye said the families of the victims "want to get this case done and closed."

    "We'll be ready to go to trial in July," he said.

    Friends of Duff attended Thursday's hearing in support of prosecutors' push for the death penalty.

    "I hope they throw the book at him," Charlene Arnold told KTVN-TV. "I hope he gets what he deserves."

    Bean's public defender, Richard Davies, appealed to the public and the media "to keep an open mind" about the case and many details of the events that led up to the killings that he says have not yet been disclosed.

    "There is another side to the story," he told KRNV-TV. "At the trial, there will be an opportunity for everyone to hear both sides of the story."

    Bean was convicted of an unrelated burglary in January 2011 in Lyon County and granted probation, which records show was revoked in July 2011. He was jailed for about a year and his parole expired in December 2012.

    http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2015...t-death-penal/
    "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."
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    - 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.”
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  2. #12
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    Bean 'intellectual disability' motion is denied

    With the court last week issuing an order that murder defendant Jeremiah Diaz Bean was not intellectually disabled, as defense attorneys had argued in a motion, Bean's one-month trial is still on to start on July 13.

    Bean's trial on charges of the murder of five people — four in Fernley — in early May 2013 and multiple other burglary, grand larceny, arson and other charges — is scheduled to run through Aug. 14.

    Bean, who was 25 at the time of his arrest, is charged with killing two couples in two homes in Fernley and a newspaper deliveryman at an Interstate 80 exit east of Reno near the Mustang Ranch brothel, and overall 19 felony charges (10 first degree murder charges).

    The Third Judicial District Court clerk's office sent out 300 jury requests and that office estimated about 285 of those people called for jury duty would show up for the start of jury duty on July 13.

    Juror selection has been scheduled for three days, with opening arguments possibly starting on the third day.

    Two prior trial dates have been set for Bean, with the prior date of June 2014 postponed almost on the eve of the trial after Bean's attorneys, Richard Davies, a Reno attorney certified under Supreme Court rules to serve as first chair in a death penalty trial, and Kenneth Ward, a public defender for Lyon County, announced the intent to file a motion seeking an evaluation to declare the defendant intellectually disabled.

    Under Nevada Revised Statutes 174.098, if Bean had been found intellectually disabled, the notice of intent to seek the death penalty would have been stricken, making him ineligible for the death penalty.

    District Court Judge John Schlegelmilch, however, after a hearing on this issue April 30 and May 1, wrote in an order denying the motion dated June 24, "The Defendant has failed to meet his burden to establish that he is intellectually disabled and, as such, the State may move forward with pursuing the death penalty."

    The district court previously found Bean competent to stand trial and help in his defense.

    District Attorney Steve Rye, who is prosecuting the case with chief deputy district attorney Jeremy Reichenberg, still intends to seek the death penalty.

    Last May Davies and Ward had filed for a stay of the trial set to start in June 2014, largely due to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Atkins v. Virginia, which declared execution of mentally retarded individuals violated the Eighth Amendment's ban against cruel and unusual punishment.

    That case prompted Nevada passing the law found in NRS 174.098.

    In the motion, the defense wrote there were "serious legitimate concerns as to defendant Jeremiah Diaz Bean's intellectual abilities."

    Bean was accused in 2013 of murdering Fernley residents Bob and Dorothy Pape, both 84, at their home on May 10; Angie Duff, 67, and Lester Lieber, 69, at a nearby home on May 13; and Eliazar Graham, 52, of Sparks, in Mustang, also on May 13. He also faces charges in relation to the theft of vehicles from the Papes and Graham, setting fire to the Pape home and other theft-related charges.

    At one time in late 2013, Bean had signed a plea negotiation that would have dropped all but the murder charges and removed the death penalty as an option in return for a guilty plea. However, when it came time for him to plead in court, Bean pleaded not guilty instead and this ultimately led to removal of the first death-penalty-certified attorney and Davies' appointment.

    Bean at that time invoked his right to a speedy trial. However, one request for a delay by Davies was granted, delaying an initial December 2013 trial date, but a second request to delay the trial, then set in June 2014, was denied by the court as Bean rejected that request, still seeking a speedy trial. That was until the motion in late May 2014 asking for the evaluation and hearing regarding potential intellectual disability.

    The judge's order regarding the intellectual disability issue in NRS 174.098, said that the defendant must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he is intellectually disabled.

    It then quotes the statute where it defines intellectual disability, saying Bean must show that he has "significant subaverage general intellectual functioning which exists concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the development period."

    Expert witnesses, one from the defense and one for the prosecution, testified at the hearing.

    Dr. Richard Weihar, the defense's expert witness, "testified that the Defendant fit the technical definition of an intellectually disabled person."

    Dr. Martha Mahaffey testified on behalf of the state that the defendant "did not fit the definition of an intellectually disabled person under NRS 178.098(7) as the Defendant did not score within the extremely low range of intellectually functioning," leaving the judge to decide.

    Mahaffey, who judged Bean to be "in the borderline to low average ranges of intelligence (IQ of 78-83)," and not meeting the first criteria for intellectual disability. She cited differences in IQ scores to attention and concentration, that perhaps she caught him on a better day or at a better time of day.

    Schlegelmilch's order cited 11 conclusions of law, including that "the Defendant has failed to meet the first prong of intellectual disability [significant subaverage general intellectual functioning"] and the motion must be denied."

    He also noted, "Any deficits in adaptive behavior do not exist concurrently with significant subaverage general intellectual functioning."

    Lyon County District Attorney Steve Rye said of the decision, "We never believed that he was (intellectually disabled). We're happy the court ruled that way."

    http://www.rgj.com/story/news/local/...nied/29566485/
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  3. #13
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    Jury Selection Underway in Jeremiah Bean Lyon County Murder Trial

    Jury selection is underway in Lyon County in the trial of Jeremiah Bean. He's accused of murdering 5 people in May of 2013.

    Jeremiah Bean is accused of killing Bob and Dotty Pape at their Jessica Lane home, in Fernley, and later lighting their house on fire. Investigators say he stole their truck and drove to Mustang and killed Eliazar Graham. They say he then returned to Fernley and murdered Lester Leiber and Angie Duff at her home on Tamsen Lane.

    Since the murders, there have been several questions regarding Bean's mental health, and whether Bean could face the death penalty, that's delayed this trial over a year.

    Friends of the victims told us back in 2014 they want justice for what happened.

    "He has taken away from us, people that we loved and that were loved by everybody. And they were very good people and I don't know why he had to do that,” said Maria Foster.

    Opening statements in the trial are expected to begin on Thursday.

    http://www.ktvn.com/story/29536357/j...murder-trial-1
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  4. #14
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    Defense tells Bean's story in opening statements

    Update: 3:45 Thursday by Keith Trout

    With the defense counsel quoting Shakespeare, agreeing with the prosecution's statement and essentially decrying the evils of drug use and the prosecution giving a step-by-step account of the crimes committed, opening statements were conducted Thursday morning in the murder trial of Jeremiah Bean in Third Judicial District Court in Yerington before Judge John Schlegelmilch.

    The statements before the nine-woman, three-man jury, Judge John Schlegelmilch and a handful of observers in the audience, outside of staff and those directly involved, lasted 35 to 45 minutes each, with lead defense counsel Richard Davies' statement going longer and being more demonstrative.

    While Lyon County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Reichenberg stood at a podium before the jury for the prosecution's opening statement, telling detailed activities of Bean from May 10 to 13, Davies moved the podium to the side while he stood before the jury, using the podium to hold a few papers and to slam it loudly, at the time representing each time a fatal shot was fired into the victims.

    Davies also walked back towards the defense table several times when talking about Bean and pointing at him, while describing the "despicable, deplorable" things he even admitted Bean had done.

    Davies began his statement quoting Shakespeare from his work Julius Caesar: "A coward dies a thousand deaths before his death," and quoted it a few more times during his statement, apparently referring to his client. However, near the end, he said that quote continues to say, "but the valiant taste of death but once." He continued that the victims were the valiant ones.

    After the initial quote, he said he didn't dispute anything Reichenberg had said, but continued he would tell more of the story, going back to Bean's birth and early days, first in Long Beach before joining his family that had moved to Fernley in recent years. He told of a "pack of jackals" who Bean hung around with in a garage when he came to Fernley.

    Reichenberg in his statement described in more detail than released before about how Bean allegedly killed the five victims, with even Davies admitting each murder became more violent than those before it.

    Reichenberg told of Dorothy Pape being shot in the head as she slept in bed and then her husband Bob shot in the head as he entered her bedroom after hearing the shot. He noted Bean had entered their home through an open garage on May 10, 2013.

    Reichenberg in his statement charged Bean of returning to the Pape home during the weekend to steal more items that he could sell at pawn shops to have money to buy drugs so he could party with friends.

    Davies added that, in fact, Bean returned to the residence with friends over the weekend and, not liking the small of the decomposing Pape bodies, they dragged them into a closet and covered them with clothes.

    Reichenberg, with Davies agreeing, also told of Bean going to visit a brothel in the region during those days.

    Reichenberg charged that Bean, still driving the pickup he'd stolen from the Papes' home on Friday, in the early morning hours of May 13, fatally shot Eliazar "Eli" Graham, whom he described as a man who always helped people, so he could steal the pickup Graham had borrowed from a friend to deliver newspapers to stores that morning.

    From there Reichenberg charged that Bean returned to the Pape home and set the garage on fire and later went to a home around the corner, Angie Duff's on Tamsen Lane, and found her handgun in her bedroom, one she had for protection. Then Duff, who had been outside, came inside and spotted Bean and Reichenberg charged he shot and pursued her, shooting her in a corner of the kitchen where she'd gone to grab a steak knife, after finding her gun gone.

    Then Lester Leiber, the boyfriend of the widowed Duff, hearing the gunshots, came inside and was shot and stabbed with that knife Duff had grabbed, Reichenberg charged.

    Reichenberg concluded with Bean hiding at a neighboring house, hiding items, including money, in a crawl space there, before a young man returned home and found him. Bean then left and was spotted by law enforcement in the neighborhood investigating the deaths, he said.

    Davies called the group of people Bean hung out with after moving to Fernley as a "pack of jackals," a group who simply used drugs to get high and robbed the community when they needed money for more drugs. He used that reference several times, describing some who "partied" with Bean after the first murders.

    He noted at least six people allegedly knew of the murders after the first on May 10, yet they didn't report them to authorities. This included the man who was letting Bean stay with him in the final days, two houses down from the Duff residence, and whom he alleged helped Bean pack to leave shortly before he was apprehended on May 13.

    Davies said Bean was jumped into a gang in Long Beach at 9, began smoking methamphetamine shortly after and didn't attend school past sixth grade, though he did work toward a GED in Fernley. He told of an early-age head injury and said Bean had what he termed "subpar intelligence."

    Davies continued to tell how methamphetamine continued to be a problem, with him moving on to inject meth and heroin in the time shortly before the murders, as the smoked methamphetamine wasn't taking away his pain well enough. Davies called the drugs poison and other negative terms, saying it was a "selfish drug habit," but that was all Bean cared about.

    Davies said Bean seemed to thrive the most in prison, where he landed after moving to Fernley, a place where he had the most structure and discipline, and even had the privilege of working on a fire crew. But he said Bean slipped back into the drug habit and environment after leaving prison, returned to the "garage." The defense counsel noted the defendant was kicked out of an older brother's house and kicked out of the family home by his father, who changed the locks, because he wouldn't meet their stipulations to stop using drugs.

    He said Bean left prison as someone without a driver's license, having never held a job and not even having had a girlfriend.

    Davies later in his final words admitted he was trying to argue for Bean to avoid the death penalty, although the prosecution objected to that and told the jury to disregard that remark.

    After the jury left, Schlegelmilch admonished Davies, saying that should only be brought up during the penalty phase, as that mitigation should only be brought up during the penalty phase, when a sentence is argued and considered after a guilty verdict. He admonished Davies to not do so again, saying he didn't want error in the case, which could be grounds for appeals.

    Update: 5 p.m. Wednesday by Keith Trout

    Opening statements are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Thursday morning in the trial of Jeremiah Diaz Bean, charged with five murders plus nine other murder counts, before Judge John Schlegelmilch in Third Judicial District in Yerington.

    Bean, 27, is accused with the murder of four elderly Fernley residents on between May 10-13, 2013, and a fifth person in Mustang on May 13. He also is accused with setting two of the victims' homes on fire and stealing two vehicles from victims and stealing other items.

    A 12-member jury of nine women and three men, plus four alternates (consisting of three men and one woman) was seated Wednesday afternoon after two-and-a-half days of jury selection in Courtroom B inside the Lyon County Justice Complex.

    After the opening statements, prosecutors Steve Rye, Lyon County district attorney, and Jeremy Reichenberg, deputy district attorney, planned to call approximately 40 witnesses to the stand. Lead defense counsel Richard Davies and Ken Ward, public defender, planned to call as many as 24 witnesses — the number he presented to potential jurors to see if they knew any witnesses — during the trial tentatively scheduled for four weeks.

    After the jury had been seated and sworn in, Judge Schlegelmilch provided some brief instructions and before dismissing them around 4 p.m. He told the jurors to return Thursday by 8:45 a.m. and from then on enter the courtroom from the jury room instead of the main entry door as they had before.

    The jurors had been selected from an initial pool of 300 jurors who received summons to jury selection and more than 200 who eventually were eligible to attend. However, those chosen were from the first four of six groups in the morning and afternoon each of three days that came in for jury selection processes.

    After the 16 jurors left the courtroom, Schlegelmilch went over with the attorneys where the court reporter would sit for opening statements so she could see the attorneys' faces. He asked the attorneys if there was anything else to go over and there was none. He closed saying and reminding the attorneys that he expected to start closing statements at 9 a.m. after reading of the information containing the charges filed in court.

    The prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in this case — which, at one point, appeared would have guilty pleas more than a year and a half ago and has had one trial called off last summer — and so much of the questioning dealt with jurors views on the death penalty.

    Update: 3:30 p.m. Wednesday by Robert Perea

    Bean trial seated, opening statements Thursday

    Jury selection was completed Wednesday afternoon and opening statements in the murder trial of Jeremiah Bean are scheduled to be at 9 a.m. Thursday in Third Judicial District Court in Yerington.

    Bean is charged with the murders of four people in Fernley and one in Mustang in May 2013.

    Jury selection was conducted over three days, with a total of 219 potential jurors summoned.

    Bean is charged with four counts of first degree murder with a deadly weapon against a person 60 years of age or older — Robert and Dorothy Pape, Angie Duff and Lester Leiber, who were murdered in Fernley — and one count of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon, as Eliazar Graham, who was shot alongside the Interstate 80 off-ramp in Mustang, was younger than 60 at the time. That murder occurred in Washoe County, but is being prosecuted in Lyon County along with the other charges.

    Other charges filed against Bean, 27, of Fernley, include burglary with use of a firearm; grand larceny (between $650 and $3,500 value); grand larceny of a stolen vehicle; first degree arson; robbery with use of a deadly weapon; burglary to obtain a firearm; and two counts of convicted felon in possession of a firearm.

    The state is seeking the death penalty.

    http://www.rgj.com/story/news/local/...rial/30216507/
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  5. #15
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Murder trial begins for Nevada man accused of 5 killings

    YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) — A capital murder trial is underway in rural northern Nevada for a 27-year-old man accused of five killings during a Mother's Day weekend rampage two years ago.

    Lyon County prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Jeremiah Bean.

    After more than two days of jury selection, KOLO-TV reports Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Reichenberg said during Thursday's opening statement that Bean robbed and killed his victims because he wanted cash to party on a Friday night.

    He's accused of fatally shooting two couples in two homes in rural Fernley and a newspaper deliveryman about 30 miles away at an I-80 exit east of Reno near the Mustang Ranch brothel.

    As many as 60 witnesses could testify at the trial expected to last up to a month in district court in Yerington.

    http://www.mynews4.com/news/state/st...mR1Fy0H4A.cspx

  6. #16
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    Nevada man guilty of 5 murders in 2013 killing-arson spree

    YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) - A 27-year-old Nevada man with a criminal history was convicted Tuesday of five counts of murder and could face the death penalty for a killing spree two years ago.

    Jeremiah Bean was convicted of committing the northern Nevada rampage on Mother’s Day weekend 2013, less than six months after his parole stemming from a burglary charge expired.

    The jury also returned guilty verdicts on arson, burglary, robbery and larceny charges, as well as enhancements for crimes against the elderly. His sentencing is set for Aug. 4 in Third District Court in Yerington.

    Bean initially agreed to a plea deal that would have spared him from possible execution, but he changed his mind and pleaded not guilty in November 2013.

    Prosecutors say he fatally shot two couples in two homes in rural Fernley and a newspaper deliveryman 30 miles away at an I-80 exit east of Reno near the Mustang Ranch brothel.

    Lyon County Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Reichenberg said during the 12-day trial that Bean robbed and killed his victims because he wanted cash to party on a Friday night. He said Bean set one of the houses on fire to try to destroy the evidence.

    Sheriff’s deputies said he killed Robert Pape and Dorothy Pape, both 84, in one Fernley home on May 10, and Angie Duff, 67, and Lester Leiber, 69, at a house around the corner. He fatally shot Eliazar Graham, 52, of Sparks, along the interstate.

    Defense attorney Richard Davies acknowledged Bean played a role in the killings but argued he was not the only person to blame.

    Bean was convicted of an unrelated burglary in January 2011 in Lyon County and granted probation, which records show was revoked in July 2011. He was jailed for about a year and his parole expired in December 2012.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...-killing-ars/#!

  7. #17
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    Penalty Phase Underway for Convicted Killer Jeremiah Bean

    The penalty phase for convicted killer, Jeremiah Bean is now underway in Yerington. Bean was found guilty of five counts of first degree murder last week.

    Jury members are deciding whether the 27-year-old should be put to death, or spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. The first degree murder conviction made him eligible for the death penalty.

    Prosecutors say Bean killed Bob and Dotty Pape at their Jessica Lane home, in Fernley, and later lit their house on fire in May 2013. Investigators say he then stole their truck and drove to Mustang and killed Eliazar Graham. They say he then returned to Fernley and murdered Lester Leiber and Angie Duff at her home on Tamsen Lane.

    The state’s last execution was carried out in 2006, when Daryl Mack died of lethal injection.

    Last week, prosecutors told us they take death penalty decisions very seriously.

    "When we make that decision in Washoe County, it is the very worst type of criminal, which can be shown by the last two we've done which is James Biela and Tamir Hamilton," Chris Hicks, Washoe County District Attorney said.

    "There are victims out there," Hicks said. "Victims who have lost loved ones. Victims, whose lives have been completely shattered, completely changed forever because of the actions of that defendant. Those victims deserve justice and that justice is when those sentences are carried out."

    If jurors do decide the death penalty for Bean, it could take years before the sentence is finally carried out.

    http://www.ktvn.com/story/29706408/p...-jeremiah-bean
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  8. #18
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    Jeremiah Bean sentenced to death in 2013 murders

    After less than two hours of jury deliberation, Jeremiah Diaz Bean was sentenced to death for five counts of murder on Thursday evening.

    He was found guilty June 28 of 12 counts, including the murders of four Fernley residents and one shot alongside Interstate 80 in May 2013.

    “We’re pleased with the verdict,” Lyon County District Attorney Steve Rye said. “It’s what we requested." He continued that he felt relieved and that the violence in the murders was the biggest factor in the death penalty, with the multiple loss of life and the effect on the victims as other key factors.

    The jury found each of the mitigating circumstances were met as argued by the prosecution and stipulated in the jury instructions. However, in each of the five murder counts, the jury ruled the aggravating circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances, pronouncing death in each as read by the court clerk.

    Lead defense attorney Richard Davies of Reno, who argued for Bean to be spared the death penalty in favor of the possibility of parole, praised the jury for its efforts.

    “The jury did their job," Davies said. "At the end of the day, that’s what our system is about. ... I trust the system.”

    Robby Pape, grandson of murder victims Bob and Dorothy Pape, attended the sentencing. Asked if the ruling brought closure, Pape said, “A little. Obviously, nothing brings anyone back." He said that this sentence was the one he and his family including his father, Bob Pape, wanted.

    Bean was convicted in the May 13, 2013, murders of the Papes at their Fernley home; the murder of Eliazar Graham in Mustang; and of the killings of Angie Duff and Lester Lieber at Duff’s Fernley home.

    http://www.rgj.com/story/news/local/...alty/31261935/
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  9. #19
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    Behind The Bean Sentencing

    Just before family and friends of murder victims took the stand early this week in the Jeremiah Bean Murder trial, Judge John Schlegelmilch warned them about going off of their prepared statements.

    “No threats to the defendant…. no telling you wish he were dead….Testify to what your loss is,” said Judge Schlegelmilch.

    One by one family and friends talked about their loss, and even lessons they'd experienced after the murders.

    “Say I love you to those you love,” said Trina Ramirez-Diaz, sister to murder victim Ellie Graham."

    “I will never hear their voices....” said Terri Lee Pape, daughter-in-law to victims Robert and Dorothy Pape.

    The question is: why can't family and friends say they wish nothing but ill will on the defendant or even worse?

    According to Judge David Hardy of Washoe County District Court, it has a lot to do with the appeals process.

    “Emotion, impalpable evidence, I don't at all begrudge the appeal process. That is part of our system. And defendants are entitled to constitutional rights. And the constitution commands that the process be balanced. It is the judge’s responsibility to keep that balance in the courts. Even though there is such loss,” say Hardy, chief judge at Washoe District Court.

    Hardy says typically judges oversee the statements before they are ever delivered to a jury.

    That's why, unless there is an unexpected emotional outburst in court, you won't hear words involving painful executions, or comparisons to Satan from those delivering impact statements to a jury.

    http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines...321104171.html
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  10. #20
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    Final Bean sentencing scheduled for Oct. 12

    As explained during the reading of the jury instructions by the judge Thursday morning, the jury in the Jeremiah Bean murder case had to decide whether the aggravating circumstances for the death penalty did or didn't outweigh the mitigating circumstances as argued by the defense.

    In the end, the jury, after deliberating less than two hours late Thursday afternoon, returned to the courtroom at 6 p.m. with a death penalty verdict. It reported that, although it accepted most of the mitigating factors, the aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors.

    Bean was convicted of first-degree murder convictions, including Robert and Dorothy Pape on May 10, 2013, at their Jessica Lane home in Fernley; followed by the early-morning murder of Eliazar Graham on May 13, 2013, in his pickup in Mustang; and later that morning the murders of Angie Duff and Lester Lieber in Duff's Tamsen Lane home in Fernley.

    After the verdicts were read, Third Judicial District Judge John Schlegelmilch scheduled the final judgment and sentencing for 9:30 a.m. Oct. 12. Meanwhile, Bean was remanded to the custody of Lyon County Sheriff's office awaiting that sentence pronouncement by the judge.

    Bean had faced the possible sentences on the murder convictions, which included life with possibility of parole, with parole eligibility in 20 years; life without the possibility of parole; a term of 50 years with parole eligibility after a minimum of 20 years served; and the death penalty.

    "You can't base the decision on mercy or on compassion when you have facts before you" that support the law and the aggravating circumstances for the death penalty, Lyon County District Attorney Steven Rye told the jury during his arguments Monday.

    Shortly after taking the case about 20 months ago, lead defense attorney Richard Davies said he wanted to tell another side of the story and Thursday after the verdict. He said he thought he expressed during his closing arguments that he felt others who were involved in burglaries at the first victims' homes benefited from Jeremiah Bean's arrest.

    The aggravating circumstances listed in the jury instructions and gone through by Rye during his closing arguments, included murder committed with a deadly weapon, which created a hazard on another person; murder committed during the commission of a burglary; committed to receive money or other things of monetary value; committed in flight after committing burglary or first degree arson; committed to escape arrest or custody; and multiple murders committed. Some applied to all counts and some only to some counts.

    The mitigating circumstances listed in the jury instructions and recited during Davies' closing arguments included child abuse or mistreatment; history of mental illness; unstable upbringing; dysfunctional home life; intelligence deficiency; the defendant cooperated with law enforcement; and the defendant showed peaceful adjustment to incarceration.

    According to the jury instructions, they only had to find one aggravating circumstance to give the death penalty, but with mitigating circumstances, the jury had to decide if those applied and then decide if they outweighed or did not outweigh the aggravating circumstances.

    Rye, in an interview Thursday evening, said one mitigating circumstance he couldn't accept were those relating to his home life and upbringing, as Davies had strongly argued, saying he didn't see any evidence of abuse, that he had two parents in the home, a father who worked hard to support the family and they tried several steps to correct Bean's early-life mistakes.

    He told the jury they had to consider the evidence and charged there was no evidence presented of that.

    In his final argument, Davies said he didn't see life in prison as a lesser penalty, citing the familiar quote
    "a fate worse than death," saying waking up every day in prison would be like death over and over again. "Nobody wants to live like that."

    "There is no excuse, there is no justification for what Jeremiah did," he said, and that a life sentence would still make him responsible for his crimes.

    Davies also told how Bean came clean about the crime to investigators, such as telling where the murder weapons were, something that saved law enforcement a lot of time. He said a comment Bean made reflected that he knew his life was over. He told of his family, who still wanted to visit him in prison.

    Rye expressed some surprise the jury returned with a decision that quickly, but he also felt they had presented a very strong case for the death penalty, which he earlier called the just sentence in this case.

    After the sentence was pronounced, he said he had sympathy for Bean's mother, Luz, saying her testimony was emotional, but "that didn't mitigate what happened in this case." He said he also thought of the victims' families, who wouldn't be able to see their loved ones.

    During his final arguments, he said Luz Bean no doubt suffers, "but your decision isn't about her." Rather it was about a just punishment for Jeremiah's crimes, he said.

    Although many other victims' family members attended the prior penalty phase hearings, only Robby Pape, a grandson of Robert and Dorothy Pape, Bean's first murder victims', a granddaughter, Tanya Szabo, his sister, and Robby's wife were present when the death sentence was read.

    Pape was asked whether the ruling brought closure.

    "A little," he said. "Obviously, nothing brings anyone back."

    He said that this sentencing outcome was the one he and his family, including his father, Bob Pape, the lone child of Robert and Dorothy, had wanted.

    In final comments after the sentence was read, Schlegelmilch praised the jury members for their efforts.

    "I cannot express to you how grateful I am for your service in this difficult case."

    To the attorneys, he said, "I'd personally like to thank both sides, for the professionalism on both sides."

    http://www.rgj.com/story/news/local/...uled/31287729/

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