Date set for next Georgia execution

 ATLANTA -- Hours after Troy Davis was put to death, Georgia has set the execution date for its next death row inmate.

RELATED: Davis' last words: I am innocent

Marcus Ray Johnson's execution has been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 5. 

Johnson was convicted in 1998 of murdering Angela Sizemore in Dougherty County in 1994. Her body was found in her truck with 41 stab wounds not long after the she and Johnson were seen leaving an Albany bar together.

In his appeals, Johnson argued his trial lawyers were ineffective because they failed to bring up evidence of his childhood struggles, including his father's abandonment of him when he was 15.

According to the State Attorney General's office, Johnson has exhausted his direct appeals and state and federal habeas corpus options. An appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was denied this past June.

http://www.11alive.com/news/article/206392/40/Date-set-for-next-Georgia-execution

I just had to return for this one. Hopefully this saga will finally be over. Wow 4 yrs ago we were having a discussion on this very thread and had to slap down a thieving Nazi scumbag for proclaiming his innocence. This has been an eternity and truly a living hell for the family to get justice.

Baze's petition to the US Supreme Court was Denied in today's Orders.

Death for man who killed ex over abortion

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Justin McMillian will die for taking the life of the woman he used to love. 

On Friday, a Duval County judge gave 26-year-old McMillian the death penalty.

In January 2009, he fought with then ex-girlfriend Danielle Stubbs over her admission that she had aborted the couple's unborn child.

Police say McMillian and Stubbs' relationship had been marred by violence and jealousy for years, and things came to a head on January 11th.  That's when McMillian attacked Stubbs inside her townhome on Pineverde Lane.

Days later, when police sought McMillian for questioning, he led officers--including U.S. Marshals--on a wild chase.  At one point, he opened fire on police, damaging a JSO patrol car.


 
http://www.actionnewsjax.com/content/topstories/story/Death-for-man-who-killed-ex-over-abortion/3bHiOlPg3kKfbTS-G8Fj7g.cspx?rss=1

The FL Supremes Upheld the Conviction for Ault in an opinion of 9/30/10.

Opinion is here:

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2010/sc07-2130.pdf

Serial killer Alcala's spree to be on '48 Hours Mystery

The crime spree and 31-year legal odyssey of serial killer Rodney Alcala, who was sentenced to death by an Orange County judge earlier this year, will be featured on CBS news "48 Hours Mystery" in its season premier episode on Saturday.

Alcala, 67, on death row at San Quentin State Prison after an Orange County jury convicted him of the sexual assault, torture and strangulation murders of four women and a 12-year-old girl in the late 1970s.


Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy is asking for the public's help in identifying women, young men, and children in dozens of photos seized when detectives searched a storage locker that Rodney Alcala rented in Seattle. If you know who these people are, contact Huntington Beach police detective Patrick Ellis, at 714-375-5066, or email at pellis@hbpd.org. It was the third time that Alcala, a freelance photographer reportedly with a near genius IQ, received a death sentence. Twice before -- in 1979 and again in 1986 – he was given the maximum penalty for the kidnapping and murder of Robin Samsoe, a Huntington Beach girl who disappeared while riding a bicycle near her home in the summer of 1979.

But both convictions were reversed on appeal.

Before Alcala could be tried a third time, however, detectives in Los Angeles County linked him through DNA and other forensic evidence to four unsolved slayings of young women there between late 1977 and 1979.

Witnesses testified during his third trial that Alcala used his camera as a method of approaching women and charming them into lowering their guard. Once he had them alone and under his control, they said, Alcala would rape, beat and strangle his prey.

The long-haired defendant, who reportedly has a near-genius IQ, represented himself in his third trial. He presented no defense to the Los Angeles County cases but insisted that he did not abduct, savage and then kill Robin Samsoe.

The Orange County jury disagreed and convicted him in March of all five slayings.

"48 Hours Mystery" will focus on those killings and other crimes committed by Alcala before his arrest in the Samsoe case, and his more than three decades in court during its one-hour episode Saturday called "The Killing Game."

The program will also pay tribute to longtime "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Harold Dow, who died suddenly last month while he was completing more than a year's work on the tale of Rodney Alcala.

The program will feature Dow's interviews with Alcala's ex-girlfriend, girls Alcala had approached, investigators, and victims' family members. The episode will be presented by Harold's nephew, Jay Dow, a correspondent for WCBS in New York and a contributor for CBS News.

The episode will also take a look at other potential victims of the serial killer while he was pretending to be a freelance photographer between arrests in the 1960s and 1970s.

Orange County Deputy District Attorney Matt Murphy argued during the trial that Alcala was a "hunter" and "a predatory monster" who sought out females to torture and kill "because he enjoyed it."

He reminded the jurors that Alcala - a freelance photographer - approached some of his victims and asked them to pose for his camera as a way of getting them to lower their guard. Murphy also said that Alcala positioned the bodies of his victims into horrific poses and may have shot pictures of them afterward.

After the jury recommended that Alcala be put to death for the five killings, The Orange County Register published hundreds of photos of young women taken by Alcala before his 1979 arrest – and seized during court-authorized searches of Alcala's Monterey Park home and a rented storage locker in Seattle.

Millions of readers visited ocregister.com to view the photos, and police in several states, including New York, Delaware, Washington and Texas, re-examined cold case murder investigations to see if any of the women in the photos could be linked to Alcala.

So far, authorities have not claimed that they have identified a murder victim or a missing person from among the photos in Alcala's portfolio.

But Alcala, who represented himself in his most recent trial, remains a suspect in two New York state killings, including the July 15, 1977, slaying of restaurant heiress Ellen Jane Hover, 23, who disappeared after leaving her Manhattan apartment.

A year later, her bones were found in a shallow grave in a rugged section of the Rockefeller estate in Westchester County, authorities said.

He is also a suspect in the June 12, 1971, rape and strangulation of Cornelia Crilley, a 23-year-old TWA flight attendant whose body was found in her Manhattan apartment on 83rd Street.

Authorities say Alcala's DNA matches genetic material found at the crime scene.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/alcala-267809-county-year.html

yahoo this is great news !!!!! im stoked for sure.Jeff how many in cal do you think have run out of appeals ? It is time for cal to get busy .

Only 6 or 7 Vikki with like 3 more that have been denied through the 9th Circuit. I am almost positive we will see more dates set early next week. 

Here is the list:

http://off2dr.com/smf/index.php?topic=8452.0

State Unveils 1-Drug Execution Plan


State lawyers have laid out for a federal judge their plans for an execution scheduled next week at San Quentin that will use 1 drug instead of the usual 3.

But the attorneys cautioned in papers filed with U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel on Wednesday that they provided the information "without conceding that the court has the jurisdiction to order a `-drug execution or that such an execution would comply with state law."

Death row inmate Albert Greenwood Brown, 56, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison early Sept. 29 for the 1980 rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in Riverside.

If the death penalty is carried out, it will be the 1st in the state since January 2006.

Brown's lawyers have asked Fogel to halt the execution while he considers a lawsuit filed by another death row inmate, Michael Morales, challenging the state's lethal injection procedures.

One of Morales' claims is that the 3-drug combination previously used in executions has the potential to cause unconstitutional extreme pain, while masking the pain by paralyzing the inmate.

Fogel said at a hearing Tuesday that he will rule on Brown's stay request on Friday.

But during the hearing, he asked state Justice Department lawyers to inform him by today how the execution could be performed with just one drug, the sedative sodium thiopental, instead of the planned 3.

He also asked how much notice the San Quentin execution team would need to make such a change. The questions suggested that the judge is considering an option of allowing Brown's execution to proceed, but with the use of only 1 drug.

Sodium thiopental alone is not considered to cause pain and can be lethal if used in increased doses, but the execution takes longer.

The state attorneys answered in a 3-page filing late Wednesday that a total of 5 grams of sodium thiopental would be used instead of three. They said the execution team would need 3 days' notice to adjust training and preparedness exercises.

Earlier this year, corrections officials announced a revised protocol for the three-drug lethal injections, and this week, San Quentin officials unveiled a new execution chamber.

The changes were intended to address Fogel's concerns that the there were inadequate training and supervision of the execution team and inadequate lighting, overcrowded conditions and poorly designed facilities in previous executions.

Morales' lawsuit resulted in California executions being put on hold beginning in 2006.

In addition to Morales' lawsuit, a separate state lawsuit by condemned inmate Mitchell Sims challenging the procedures by which the new protocol was adopted is now pending in Marin County Superior Court.

Any ruling made in either lawsuit can be appealed, potentially causing further delay in the resumption of executions.

Morales and Brown have argued in the federal case that Fogel must conduct an "impartial and orderly review" of the new protocol before it is used.

State lawyers have responded that the new regulations provide adequate safeguards, and that the execution team has been trained "to conduct Brown's execution with an appropriate degree of care and professionalism."

The 3 drugs used in previous lethal injection executions in California are the sodium thiopental, which is intended to make the inmate unconscious; pancuronium bromide, a paralyzing agent; and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

Morales' lawsuit contends that the combination could be unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment because the 3rd drug can be excruciatingly painful if the inmate is not truly unconscious, while the paralytic 2nd drug makes it impossible for the inmate to speak or show pain.

(source: KTVU News)

Execution delayed after 'utterly terrified' killer tries to commit suicide just hours before he was to be put to death


The state of Georgia has delayed the execution of a convicted killer after the 'utterly terrified' man tried to commit suicide.
Brandon Joseph Rhode, 31, tried to slit his wrists and throat just hours before he was due to be put to death by lethal injection.
Now his lawyers are arguing that his attempt proves he is incompetent.
And Rhode's attorney Brian Kammer said executing him violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
'He's utterly terrified and just hopeless,' said Kammer.

'He was very morose, frightened and subdued.

'This was a product of him just being in terror, of losing hope altogether.'
Georgia prisons officials have rescheduled the execution for Friday.
Rhode was convicted in 2000 of the killings of Steven Moss, 37, his 11-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter during a burglary of their home.

His co-conspirator, Daniel Lucas, was also sentenced to death in a separate trial and is on death row.
Suicide attempts on death row are rare, but have happened.

In March, Ohio inmate Lawrence Reynolds overdosed on an antidepressant hours before he was to be transferred to the state's death chamber. He recovered in a hospital and was executed a week later.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1314157/Brandon-Joseph-Rhode-execution-delayed-killer-tries-commit-suicide.html
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The POS was terrified oh how sad.....NOT!!! I don't think that being scared to get his due justice does not violate cruel and unusual Mr Scumyer.

The Tennessee Supreme Court Upheld the District Court ruling that Irick is competent to be executed in today's Orders/Opinions.

Opinon is here:

http://www.tsc.state.tn.us/OPINIONS/TSC/PDF/103/SC%20State%20v%20Billy%20Ray%20Irick.pdf

Brandon Rhode Execution Rescheduled For Friday


ATLANTA (AP) - The Georgia Supreme Court has delayed the execution of a Jones County condemned man who attempted to commit suicide hours before he was to be put to death.

Prisons officials rescheduled the execution of 31-year-old Brandon Joseph Rhode for Friday at 9 a.m. after the court on Tuesday delayed the execution two days to give him a chance to consult with his attorneys and to file a new mental competency challenge.

Defense attorneys filed an emergency motion Tuesday after Rhode attempted to commit suicide. It contended Rhode was "incompetent"
and executing him would violate the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Rhode was scheduled to die at 7 p.m. Tuesday for the killings of Steven Moss, 37, his 11-year-old son Bryan and 15-year-old daughter
Kristin during a burglary of their Jones County home.

http://www.newscentralga.com/news/local/Brandon-Rhode-Execution-Delayed-Until-Thursday.html
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Wow 9am!! Bright and early.

Facts of the Crime:

Convicted March 22, 2001, in Pierce County of one count of aggravated first-degree murder for the stabbing death of his neighbor, Geneine Harshfield, 43, at her Tacoma home in 1996.
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Case Update:

Gregory was sentenced to death in May 2001.  However, in November 2006, the Washington Supreme Court overturned Gregory’s rape convictions and threw out his death sentence.  The case was then remanded to the Pierce County Superior Court for resentencing.  Since he is not currently under a sentence of death, he is not on death row or in our capital lit report.  Here is a link to the Washington’s Supreme Court’s opinion which discusses the case further:

 http://caselaw.findlaw.com/wa-supreme-court/1112456.html

The penalty phase hearing is scheduled for March 2011.  There is a status conference scheduled for November 15, 2010 which could change that date again, however at this time it appears we will not know what sentence Gregory will receive until March 2011. 

(Source: Washington AG's office and off2dr)

Calif seeks return of executions after 4-year hold


SAN JOSE -- Attorney General Jerry Brown's deputies are seeking permission for the state to resume executing death row prisoners as early as next week.

State lawyers are scheduled to appear in federal court in San Jose Tuesday to ask a judge to allow the scheduled execution of Albert Greenwood Brown.

Brown is scheduled to die by lethal injection on Sept. 29 for the for the Riverside County rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl abducted on her way home from school in 1980.

 U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy Fogel of San Jose halted executions in California in 2006 and ordered prison officials to improve the procedures for administering lethal injections.

Lawyers for some of the 702 inmates on death row at San Quentin State Prison are seeking an extension of the execution moratorium Fogel imposed.


http://www.modbee.com/2010/09/21/1348134/calif-seeks-return-of-executions.html

2 quetions -
1. Does the Racial Bias law apply to military cases in NC?
2. What's the military record like on executing these POS?  Are they any faster?

The last miilitary person X'd was April 13, 1961. As far as the RJA, I suppose it could be raised on an appeal but it doesn't apply to Hennis since he's not a NC DR inmate and he was tried and convicted in a military court not a state one.