death penalty news--TEX., ILL./MO., N.C., CALIF.

[Rick Halperin <rhalperi@post.cis.smu.edu>]

8-13-98--


TEXAS:

Kelsey Patterson, scheduled for execution in Huntsville on August 31, 
has received a stay of execution, according to the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice.

(source:  Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty)




ILLINOIS/MISSOURI:

Prosecutors in Madison County agreed Wednesday to step aside after 
U.S. Attorney Edward L. Dowd Jr. of St. Louis vowed to seek the death 
penalty against David Martin.

Martin is accused in the abduction and killing of 11-year-old Selma 
Ducanovic on Aug. 1.

State's Attorney William R. Haine of Madison County said he would hold 
back on his murder charge against Martin, 31, of St. Louis, until Dowd's 
office could prosecute him in federal court on charges of kidnapping 
the Bosnian refugee from her home in St. Louis and killing her in 
Madison County.

If Martin is convicted on federal charges, the case against him in 
Madison County will be dismissed, Haine said.

He said he had met with Dowd and agreed there were several reasons to
prosecute Martin in federal court in St. Louis.

A spokeswoman for Dowd confirmed the meeting and acknowledged that 
federal prosecutors were taking over the case. Federal charges against 
Martin could be filed in a few weeks.

Haine said:  "I presume it's in the national interest as determined by 
the Department of Justice that U.S. authorities proceed because of the 
immigrant status of the family.  This is retribution for the murder of 
a refugee.  That's what she was - a refugee from aggression."

Haine also said federal authorities in St. Louis would be better 
prepared to provide victim-related services to Selma's relatives 
because they live in St. Louis.

He praised the Madison County Sheriff's Department and the St. Louis
Metropolitan Major Case Squad for the investigation that led to county 
charges against Martin of 1st-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping.

Martin is accused of taking Selma to Horseshoe Lake State Park near 
Granite City and shooting her in the back of the head.  Her body was 
found in the lake.

Haine said he had confidence in Dowd's office to prosecute the case and 
get the death penalty for Martin.

"We certainly believe the death penalty is appropriate and that the 
people of the state of Illinois and the federal government have the 
same goal in this case," he said.

(source:  St. Louis Post-Dispatch)







NORTH CAROLINA:

For more than 2 hours Wednesday, Gov. Jim Hunt listened to people 
asking him to halt Friday morning's scheduled execution of Zane Hill:  
lawyers, neighbors of the victims and killer, and a former chief 
justice of the N.C. Supreme Court. 
                                 
Hunt, who has overseen 6 executions and has never commuted a death 
sentence, is Hill's last hope.  He has exhausted his judicial options. 
"I'm reviewing this case very carefully," Hunt said after the meetings.
"I've listened and talked to members of the family.  I met with the 
district attorney and members of the faith community.  I'm looking at 
everything." 
                                 
Hunt is expected to announce his decision today, just hours before 
Hill is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 2 a.m. Friday for the 
1990 murder of his son, Randy Hill. 
                                 
Death penalty opponents said that if Hunt is ever to commute a death
sentence, Zane Hill presents the most likely case. 
                                 
"I am an incredible optimist," said Bishop Gary Gloster of the 
Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina.  "An execution would go against 
the wishes and feeling of the family, and cut off the opportunity for 
more healing." 
                                 
At the time of the murder, Hill was separated from his wife, Bonnie, 
and was the subject of a restraining order forbidding him from going to 
their house.  When Bonnie Hill arrived home from work Jan. 10, 1990, 
her husband had consumed 12 beers and a big handful of painkillers and 
muscle relaxants. 
                                 
When Zane Hill came into the house with a rifle, Randy Hill grabbed a
pistol and went into a bedroom to call the police.  Zane followed him 
into the bedroom, where he shot his son once in the abdomen and twice 
in the back. 
                                 
Prosecutors offered to let Hill plead guilty to 2nd-degree murder.  
Hill and his lawyers declined, thinking they could argue self-defense 
and get a lesser verdict.  But the jury sentenced Hill to death. 
                                 
On Tuesday, Hunt met with Buncombe County District Attorney Ron Moore, 
who argued in favor of Hill's execution. 
                                 
Hunt also spoke by phone with members of Zane Hill's family: his wife,
Bonnie; his son, Chuck; and Kathy, wife of Randy Hill.  Bonnie Hill, who 
has regularly visited her husband in prison, has said she has forgiven 
Zane for killing their son, and she has said she doesn't want to see her 
husband die any more than she did her son.  But Bonnie Hill has stopped 
short of calling for clemency. 
                                 
"Bonnie is caught in a place of tremendous tension," said the Rev. Joe
Hoffman of First Congregational Church of Asheville, who met with Hunt
on Wednesday.  "To ask to spare Zane's life might mean that Randy's life
was worth less.  I don't think she's asked to commute Zane's sentence.  
It would be hard for her to say that." 
                                 
Reda Smith said Zane Hill has the overwhelming support of his neighbors 
in Beaverdam, a small, tightknit community in a hollow west of
Asheville. 
                                 
"I told the governor how close we are to the family, how we all love
Zane.  He has friends all over the community," said Smith, who has
accompanied Bonnie Hill on visits to her husband at Central Prison. 
                                 
Another friend is April Walker, who has known the Hills all her life.
"He's a sweetie," Walker said of Hill.  "He's like a big old bear." 
                                 
Walker said she, like almost everyone in the Beaverdam community,
supports the death penalty.  But she noted the 2nd-degree murder plea
bargain offered to Hill, and that there a number of killers serving 
life sentences who have committed far more heinous murders than Hill. 
                                 
"If you're going to have a death penalty, it ought to be more stringent 
in how you hand it down," she said. 
                                 
Hill also had a distinguished advocate on Wednesday -- Jim Exum, the 
former chief justice of the N.C. Supreme Court.  Exum declined to 
discuss his conversation with Hunt.  "That's between me and the 
governor." 

(source:  News & Observer)





CALIFORNIA:

Los Angeles Police Chief Bernard C. Parks late Wednesday announced
the arrest of a murder suspect in connection with last weekend's 
ambust slaying of an LAPD officer.

The suspect, identified as Catarino Gonzalez Jr., 20, of Los Angeles,
turned himself in Tuesday night after learning that police were seeking
him, and was placed under arrest Wednesday.

Police sources said he has at least 1 prior narcotics arrest and is a 
member of the city's notorious 18th Stree gang who goes by the moniker
"Termite."  As 1 police source put it, Gonzalez "has a reputation for 
being a badass on the streets."

Police said they expect the district attorney to file a murder charge 
against Gonzalez today, alleging that he shot Officer Filbert H. 
Cuesta Jr., 26, in the back of the head as the policeman sat in his 
patrol car.  Under state law, Gonzalez could face the death penalty if 
he is convicted of shooting a law enforcement officer in the performance
of his duties.

Detectives at LAPD headquarters questioned the suspect throughout the
day Wednesday, giving him a lie detector test.  Several sources said 
that in addition to other evidence against the suspect, Gonzalez 
implicated himself with his own statements.

Although investigators at 1 point were exploring the possibility that 
more than a single gunman was involved, they now believe that there was 
just 1 shooter, sources said.

Only 1 type of shell casing -- from a 9 mm handgun -- was recovered 
from the scene, officials said.

Parks said the attack appears to have been an ambush on unsuspecting
officers.  A source described the suspect as "reckless" and "immature,"
known for acting "macho in the neighborhood."

Despite the arrest, Parks said the investigation was ongoing and 
detectives were seeking additional evidence and requesting that people
with information about the shooting come forward.

"I am relieved that the LAPD has gotten a murderer off the streets of
Los Angeles," Mayor Richard Riordan said through a spokeswoman.

The mayor, who condemned the shooting as a cowardly act, added that the
arrest was "terrific work.  This is good news for the family, the LAPD 
and the city."

Councilwoman Laura Chick, chairwoman of the city's public safety 
committee, agreed.

"I'm very please with the LAPD's quick and thorough handling of this
tragedy," Chick said through an aide.  "I'm hopeful that the city of
Los Angeles and Cuesta's family can rest now that this killer is in
custody."

Cuesta, a 4-year veteran who worked in the LAPD's anti-gang unit, was
shot early Sunday as he and his partner, Officer Richard Gabaldon, 
waited for colleagues to help them break up a loud party in southwest
Los Angeles.

Gang members appeared at the party uninvited, and Cuesta apparently 
recognized some of them, said police, who declined to say how he 
spotted them.

Before backup arrived, Cuesta and his partner were barraged by gunfire,
which struck Cuesta in the head.  Gabaldon returned fire.  Police 
declined to say how far the attacker or attackers were from the patrol
car before the gunfight erupted.

Cuesta is survived by his wife Sylvia and 2 young daughters -- ages 18
months and 4 weeks.  Before holding his late-night news conference 
announcing the arrest, Parks 1st notified Sylvia Cuesta of the 
breakthrough in the case.

"She is very gratified...(but) she still feels the effect of this 
tragedy," Parks said.

Residents of the mostly working-class Latino neighborhood where the 
slaying occurred were upset by the shooting but not surprised.

Gang-related gunfire, they said, is common in the area because of 
clashes between members of 18th Street and rival gangs from adjacent 
neighborhoods.

Immediately after the shooting, police said they received a number of
very solid tips from residents in the neighborhood.  Parks thanked
the community for its help in the investigation.

News of the arrest was kept a secret throughout most of the day, as
investigators continued to build their case.

The shooting sent waves of grief through the LAPD but also galvanized
rank-and-file police officers and city lawmakers to try to bring 
Cuesta's killer to justice.

Capt. Jim Tatreau, head of the LAPD's elite robbery-homicide division,
vowed to solve the case, while Deputy Chief Martin Pomeroy promised that 
the killer would be captured.  He assigned 25 detectives to work on the 
case full time.

City leaders from the mayor on down expressed horror over the 
senselessness of the crime.  Presdient Clinton, who was traveling in Los
Angeles this week, also called Cuesta's family to convey his 
condolences.  The arrest of the suspect came 3 days after the shooting 
and 2 days before Cuesta is scheduled to be buried.

(source:  Los Angeles Times)


Rick Halperin
AI-Texas


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