Texas executes man for murder of twins 35 years ago

 The 19th Execution of 2024

Garcia Glenn White was executed by lethal injection in Texas on October 1, 2024 for the murder of 16-year-old identical twin sisters 35 years ago. The execution makes him the sixth death row inmate killed in the U.S. in the past 11 days, an unusually large cluster, reported the USA TODAY.

White, who became the fifth man executed in Texas this year, confessed to murdering five people in a six-year period but prosecutors only pursued charges for the teenage girls. He was pronounced dead at 6:56 p.m.

"I apologize, and I pray that you can find peace, comfort and closure in your heart for the wrong I have done and the pain I have caused you, and anybody else I’ve caused pain to," White said as he was strapped to the execution table, apologizing to some of his victims' family members. "I’m sorry for all the pain I have caused."

White's attorney of 26 years, Patrick McCann, said he was "devastated by this loss but at the same time it's more devastating for Glenn's family."

While Glenn could have had five loved ones in the room during the execution, he asked them not to come, McCann said. "I think he was trying to spare people the pain of watching him die, and that is the guy they killed, and unfortunately that’s a waste," he said

Meanwhile at least two family members of White's victims planned to attend the execution in hopes of finding closure and seeking justice. Dewanta Washington, a 60-year-old schoolteacher in Houston whose beloved sister, Greta Williams, was beaten to death by White in 1989, told USA TODAY: "My sister wont be truly free until he's executed, until he pays his debt."

Here's what you need to know about the execution, including more of White's last words.

White's last words were filled with apologies, thanks and prayers, including prayers for the prison administration, guards and his fellow inmates.

"To all my brothers and sisters incarcerated, y’all just keep pushing forward, keep loving one another," he said. "To the administration again and to the guards, thank you for treating us like human beings."

He thanked his family and friends "for all the love and comfort" and said to them: "Keep y'all's heads up, stay strong."

"Again, I'm sorry for all the pain I caused to anyone," he said. "I just ask you to please find comfort and closure in your heart."

He then sang "I Trust in God."

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Mangino discusses Sean Combs legal troubles on Law & Crime Network

Watch my interview with Sierra Gillespie of Law & Crime Network as we discuss on expanding legal problems for Sean "Diddy" Combs.

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PLW: One Word May Make All the Difference for Lifers Convicted of Felony Murder

Matthew T. Mangino
The Legal Intelligencer
September 26, 2024

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in a criminal case that will test, when it comes to punishment, whether the Pennsylvania Constitution provides greater protections than the U.S. Constitution.

The constitutional provisions at play are Article I, Section 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Article I, Section 13 of the Pennsylvania Constitution provides:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel punishments inflicted.

The Eighth Amendment provides:

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court must decide whether the term "cruel punishment" is more expansive in the punishments it precludes than the term "cruel and unusual punishment."

In what context has this matter made its way to the state's high court?

On Oct. 14, 2014, Derek Lee was one of two men who entered a residence in Allegheny County shared by Leonard Butler and Tina Chapple. According to the Pennsylvania Superior Court, "Both Butler and Chapple were forced into the basement of the home, and then were forced to kneel. Both males were yelling at Butler to give up his money and one used a taser on Butler several times during the attack." Lee took Butler's watch and went up the stairs, leaving the basement.

The second male remained with the couple and shot Butler causing his death.

There is no dispute that Lee did not kill or intend to kill in the commission of the robbery. Following trial, the jury found Lee guilty of second-degree murder, robbery, and conspiracy. Second degree murder, felony murder, is a statutory crime in Pennsylvania promulgated at 25 Pa.C.S.A. 2502 (b), "Criminal homicide constitutes murder of the second degree when it is committed while defendant was engaged as a principal or an accomplice in the perpetration of a felony."

The Pennsylvania Crimes Code, 18 Pa.C.S.A. 1102(b), provides a mandatory sentence of life in prison for second degree murder. As a result, Lee was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

In Pennsylvania, life without parole is often referred to as death-by-incarceration.

Pennsylvania's death penalty is in a de facto moratorium. Gov. Josh Shapiro has said unequivocally that he is opposed to the death penalty, but death-by-incarceration is flourishing in Pennsylvania.

Under Pennsylvania's sentencing scheme, offenders—other than lifers—are sentenced to a minimum and a maximum term of sentence. The maximum must be at least twice the minimum.

Once an inmate has served his minimum sentence, he is eligible for parole. Release from prison is determined by the state's parole board. Once released, the offender is supervised on parole until the expiration of his maximum sentence.

A life sentence in Pennsylvania has no minimum—there is no opportunity for parole—life means life in Pennsylvania.

Over time, the U.S. Supreme Court has back-pedaled from life without parole. The decisions in Graham v. Florida, 560 U.S. 48 (2010), Miller v. Alabama, 567 U.S. 460 (2012), and Montgomery v. Louisiana, 577 U.S. 190 (2016) are instructive. Lee has cited in his argument the U.S. Supreme Court's finding that "That life-without-parole sentences are sufficiently similar to the death penalty that they may be unconstitutional when applied to people with categorically diminished culpability based on their offense or characteristics."

That is the criticism of Pennsylvania's mandatory sentence of life without parole for second degree murder—diminished culpability. As in Lee's case he was not the shooter, he didn't intend to shoot anyone, yet his sentence provides no hope for redemption, rehabilitation or a return to society.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court's review of Lee's case comes down to a single word, "unusual." Lee argues that the absence of the word "unusual" in the text of Article I, Section 13 is crucial to finding mandatory life without parole for second degree murder unconstitutional.

In Bucklew v. Precythe, 587 U.S. 119 (2019), U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch turned to history as he and his conservative colleagues are so eager to do when analyzing an argument. Gorsuch cited a 2009 law review article by John F. Stinneford defining "unusual" in a constitutional sense as "Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries describe unusual government actions that had "fallen completely out of usage for a long period of time." (Appellant's brief at page 17).

Without the limitations of "unusual" in Article 1, Section 13, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is free to determine if life without parole, although still in use, is unduly cruel. The argument suggests even if the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution doesn't prohibit life without parole for second degree murder in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Constitution does.

So, does the language of Article I, Section 13 provide greater protection than the Eighth Amendment?

Lee's attorneys say yes. However, in order for Lee to prevail he must persuade the court that the four factors outlined in Commonwealth v. Edmunds, 586 A.2d 887 (Pa. 1991), favor the prohibition of life without parole for second degree murder.

The four factors are "the text of the Pennsylvania constitutional provision; the history of the provision, including Pennsylvania case law; related case-law from other states; and 4) policy considerations, including unique issues of state and local concern, and applicability within modern Pennsylvania jurisprudence."

At a minimum, the policy considerations are compelling. Pennsylvania is home to thousands of people sentenced to die in prison. The state has the second-highest number of people serving life without parole, nearly 5,100 inmates, approximately 1,200 of whom have been convicted of felony murder, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Only Louisiana and Pennsylvania still impose the sentence without regard for a person's involvement or intent in the crime. According to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, every other state among the 30 that allow life sentences without parole require an additional level of intent or action by the defendant.

Lee argued in his brief in support of allowance for appeal, "Pennsylvania stands virtually alone in mandating that anyone convicted of felony-murder is sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole."

This matter is scheduled for argument on Oct. 8, 2024.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George. He is the author of "The Executioner's Toll," 2010. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @MatthewTMangino.

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Creators: Diddy Sits in Jail Pending Trial

Matthew T. Mangino
Creators Syndicate
September 30, 2024

Why is Sean "Diddy" Combs in jail? He hasn't been convicted of a crime. He was charged by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York with conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. How about the presumption of innocence?

Pretrial detention in federal court is much different than in the various states. In state court, typically after a felony arrest, an arraignment hearing is scheduled. At the hearing, a judge sets a monetary amount for bond. The accused can post a cash bond or use a surety to post bail. The accused is then free pending trial. There is no such system in federal cases.

In federal court, pursuant to the Bail Reform Act of 1984, an accused has a presumption of release pending trial. Federal prosecutors must overcome that presumption. The presumption is overcome by proving that an accused is a flight risk — the fear that an accused will run before trial.

This is where it gets dicey for Combs. The court will consider a person's access to funds and ease of travel. Someone like Combs, with substantial wealth, is more likely to be detained because of access to quick cash, making it easier to flee.

Another problem for Combs was his alleged contact with witnesses prior to the indictment. Federal prosecutors can present evidence that the accused poses a danger to the community, such as a history of violence or threats to witnesses.

If a judge finds that the accused is either a risk to flee or dangerous, she may order the accused remain in custody until trial.

According to The New York Times, during Combs' detention hearing, prosecutors presented evidence that Combs had committed violence against women, had access to weapons, had a history of anger management and substance abuse, and had contacted some of the victims, and witnesses, who reported being afraid of him.

A federal magistrate and a federal district court judge have decided to detain Combs pending trial.

Combs is a victim of his own wealth and notoriety.

In a state cash bail system, a judge sets a sum based on factors like the seriousness of the offense and the accused's criminal record. If the accused doesn't have the money, she sits in jail until trial. Many of those charged with a crime in state court remain in jail simply because of their inability to post bond.

In contrast, federal law requires the judge to conduct an extensive hearing and consider a variety of factors in deciding whether to release a defendant before trial. If released, the accused pays nothing up front to be released — only a promise to pay a certain sum of money in the future if the defendant fails to appear for trial. The advantage of the federal system over the state cash bail system is that a defendant's freedom is not determined by their ability to pay.

In March, federal Homeland Security agents raided Combs' residences in Los Angeles and Miami as part of an investigation into alleged criminal activity.

According to news accounts, a recent indictment against Combs alleges arson, kidnapping, forced labor, bribery, obstruction of justice, prostitution and sex trafficking, including forcing victims into engaging in recorded sexual activity referred to as "Freak Offs."

For Combs, money is the problem. Not that he doesn't have enough, but that he has too much. Theoretically, it would be easy for someone with Combs' resources to be released, call a friend with some connections, charter a private jet — without a flight plan — and flee the country.

Ironically, a federal statute created to eliminate wealth as a factor for release is keeping Combs in jail.

Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg, Garbett, Kelly & George P.C. His book "The Executioner's Toll, 2010" was released by McFarland Publishing. You can reach him at www.mattmangino.com and follow him on X @MatthewTMangino

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Former President Jimmy Carter turns 100, the first president to reach that milestone

When Jimmy Carter entered hospice care at his Georgia home last year, his family and friends thought he had only days to live. More than 19 months later, he is set to celebrate his 100th birthday on Tuesday, the first president in American history to hit the centennial mark, reported The New York Times.

The last chapter of Mr. Carter’s already remarkable life story is turning out to be one of astonishing resilience. The peanut farmer turned global statesman has over the years beaten brain cancer, bounced back from a broken hip and outlived his political adversaries. And now he is setting a record for presidential durability that may be hard to break.

Though frail and generally confined to his modest ranch house in Plains, Ga., Mr. Carter has not only refused to surrender to the inevitability of time, he has perked up in recent months, according to family members. He has become a little more engaged again, telling his children and grandchildren that he has a new milestone he wants to reach — not his birthday, which he professes not to care that much about, but Election Day, so that he can vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.

“It’s a gift,” Josh Carter, one of his grandsons, said of the last few months. “It’s a gift that I didn’t know we were going to get.”

Mr. Carter had already surpassed all of his predecessors to become the longest-living president, but some of those who have experienced his stubborn irascibility over the decades said they were not surprised that he is approaching his second century.

“That’s Jimmy,” said Gerald Rafshoon, his White House communications director and longtime friend. “It’s almost like his whole life has been to go against the norm. Tell him he can’t do something, just tell him that, and you’re bound to see the determination.”

Mr. Carter’s hometown, Plains, the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it speck on the map in southwest Georgia with barely 500 residents, is celebrating his birthday with a flyover of military jets, a naturalization ceremony for 100 new citizens and a concert. Supporters already held a lively concert this month at Atlanta’s Fox Theater to be televised on Tuesday, including performances by the B-52s, BeBe Winans and others along with videotaped tributes from most of the other presidents.

Mr. Carter was not able to attend personally. He has become severely diminished physically. There are days when his grandchildren and great-grandchildren travel to Plains only to be told that he is not able to see them.

The death last year of his wife, the former first lady Rosalynn Carter, was crushing and disorienting, relatives said. After 77 years of marriage, many around him assumed he would follow her soon.

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Biden issues executive order targeting 'emerging firearms threats'

President Joe Biden is creating a federal task force to target “emerging firearms threats,” including cheap devices that can convert commonly owned semiautomatic pistols into fully automatic machine guns, reported The Trace. 

The executive order, signed by Biden during an event on September 26, also seeks to crack down on 3D-printed guns and improve school active shooter drills. It likely marks one of the last gun violence initiatives of his presidency, with a little more than a month to go before the 2024 election and four months before the inauguration of his successor.

“The streets are flooded with machine gun conversion devices because the parts are small, cheap, and easy to make. The impact of these devices is devastating,” Biden said. “It’s about sending a clear message to local law enforcement, and cities across the country, that we’re here to help, and together we can save lives.”

The new Emerging Firearms Threats Task Force — composed of leaders from several federal departments and agencies — will be responsible for developing a plan to combat machine gun conversion devices. The devices, also known as Glock switches, auto sears, or trigger activators, have been showing up at crime scenes in increasing numbers.  

One recent example was in Birmingham, Alabama, where four people were killed and 17 injured in a mass shooting on September 21. Law enforcement recovered more than 100 shell casings and believe machine gun conversion devices were used. While the devices are illegal on the federal level, Alabama and some other states do not have state-level bans, leaving local law enforcement with few tools to arrest and prosecute people caught with the devices.

Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin was among dozens of gun violence prevention advocates, law enforcement officials, and others who attended the September 26 signing ceremony. 

 “We’ve been working with our U.S. attorney, with the Justice Department, to get machine gun conversions like Glock switches off our city streets,” Woodfin said. “But still, my community, and I imagine other communities, are still finding the use of these devices at crime scene after crime scene.”

The ceremony marked the first time that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, now the Democratic nominee for president, have appeared together at a gun violence-focused event since Biden placed Harris in charge of the new White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention one year ago.

“For as much as we have accomplished, more must be done,” Harris said. “We need more leaders like the leaders in this room, in Congress, who have the courage to take action, to stand up to the gun lobby, and to put the lives of our children first.”

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Alabama conducts second execution by nitrogen gas in the U.S.

 The 18th Execution of 2024

Alabama conducted the second execution in the United States using nitrogen gas on September 29, 2024, with media witnesses describing the prisoner shaking and gasping for several minutes before dying on the gurney, reported The New York Times.

Alan E. Miller, who was convicted in the 1999 murders of three men he believed were spreading rumors about him, was pronounced dead at 6:38 p.m. Central time in Atmore, Ala.

Reporters who witnessed the execution said that Mr. Miller shook on the gurney for about two minutes and appeared to gasp periodically for roughly six minutes as the nitrogen gas flowed.

The state prisons commissioner, John Hamm, responded that officials had been expecting “involuntary body movements as the body is depleted of oxygen.” He said the execution had gone “just as we had planned.” He declined to say whether Mr. Miller had been sedated.

Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement that Mr. Miller had acted with “pure evil” in carrying out the murders, and she declared that “justice was finally served for these three victims.”

In January, the state carried out what was described as the first nitrogen execution anywhere in the world, and other states have said they are looking into doing so as well as they continue to experience problems obtaining lethal injection drugs.

Several witnesses to that execution said that the prisoner, Kenneth Smith, shook violently as the nitrogen gas was administered and then writhed before his body eventually stopped moving. Witnesses told The New York Times that the gurney had shaken in the execution chamber and that Mr. Smith had appeared to be gasping for air.

But the state’s attorney general, Steve Marshall, has hailed the execution, calling it “textbook” and saying that Alabama had become a pioneer that other states could follow. “Alabama has done it, and now so can you,” he said.

Nitrogen, a colorless, odorless gas, is not harmful in itself and makes up about 78 percent of the air. But when it is used in an execution, a prisoner is strapped to a gurney and a mask is placed over the head, after which a stream of pure nitrogen gas, absent life-sustaining oxygen, produces a fatal but supposedly painless form of suffocation known as nitrogen hypoxia. The method has been used in some medically assisted suicides.

Deanna Smith, wife of Kenneth Smith, was comforted by Jeff Hood after the execution of Mr. Smith in January in Atmore, Ala.Credit...Edmund D. Fountain for The New York Times

Lawyers for the state said Mr. Smith might have moved on the gurney during the execution in January because he tried to hold his breath once the nitrogen had begun flowing.

Thursday’s execution was the second time that the state had tried to carry out the death penalty for Mr. Miller, 59. In September 2022, Mr. Miller fought his planned execution by lethal injection, arguing in court that he had opted for a nitrogen execution but that the state had lost his request.

The U.S. Supreme Court sided with the state, allowing the lethal injection to proceed, and Mr. Miller was taken to the execution chamber. Workers spent more than an hour unsuccessfully trying to insert an intravenous line into his veins, and the execution was called off sometime before midnight, when his death warrant expired.

Later that year, after several problems with executions, Governor Ivey temporarily stopped all executions in the state and called for the prison system to review its procedures. A handful of changes were made, including lengthening by 12 hours the window during which officials can carry out death warrants. Executions resumed in 2023.

Death penalty opponents have warned of a litany of potential problems with using nitrogen gas, including the possibility that the prisoner could suffer a seizure, vomit under the mask or experience other problems if the mask’s seal were broken, diluting the nitrogen and prolonging the prisoner’s suffering.

Maya Foa, an executive director of Reprieve US, a nonprofit that targets human rights issues, said Alabama’s decision to execute Mr. Miller a second time was part of a long, recent history of problematic attempts to carry out the death penalty, both by lethal injection and nitrogen.

“These methods of execution have two things in common: They are human experimentation that risks causing horrific pain, and failed attempts to hide the violent reality of the state taking a human life,” Ms. Foa said.

Across the United States, 18 people have been executed this year. Seven more are scheduled to die in five states before the end of the year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. On Thursday, Oklahoma executed Emmanuel Littlejohn, who was convicted in a 1992 convenience store robbery in which the store owner was fatally shot. A state parole board had recommended that he be granted clemency, but Gov. Kevin Stitt rejected the advice and allowed the execution to go forward.

Executions have been on a general decline since 1999, when a modern peak of 98 were carried out, and death sentences have dropped dramatically as well.

This month so far, five people have been executed in five states. South Carolina carried out the state’s first execution in more than a decade last week, with a lethal injection to Freddie Owens. And Missouri and Texas each executed a person on Tuesday.

This week’s execution of Marcellus Williams in Missouri took place over the objections of the local prosecutor’s office that had convicted him of murder. The prosecutor there had argued in recent months that Mr. Williams could be innocent and that his prosecution had been mishandled.

In Alabama, Mr. Miller’s lawyers argued in court earlier this year that it was “difficult to overstate the mental and physical anguish” that he had endured during the failed attempt in 2022. They said men in scrubs had tried unsuccessfully to insert intravenous lines in his arms, his hands and one of his feet.

They asked in that lawsuit that a medical professional be present during the nitrogen execution and hold the mask on Mr. Miller’s face. It was not clear whether the state had agreed to that, as a settlement reached last month was confidential.

Mr. Miller was convicted in the murders of three men on Aug. 5, 1999, at two Alabama businesses where he had worked, a plumbing company and a warehouse operation that sold oxygen canisters. He was 34 at the time of the shootings. The victims were Lee Holdbrooks, 32; Christopher Yancey, 28; and Terry Jarvis, 39.

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