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Three killers were executed in August 2010. They had
murdered at least 6 people.
Five killers were given a stay in
August 2010. They have murdered at least 5 people.
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 10, 2010 |
Ohio |
John Coleman
Tracey Jefferys |
Roderick Davie |
executed |
|
Roderick Davie returned to his former place of employment in Warren,
Ohio and ordered three employees, two men and a woman, to lie face
down. He shot both men in the head and back. After running out of
bullets, Davie chased the escaping woman and killed her. One of the
men survived the shooting; Davie tried to kill him by running him
down with a truck and then by beating him with a stick. The woman
died due to blunt force trauma, the man died of a gunshot to the
head. The details are that on June 27, 1991, Roderick Davie killed
John Coleman and Tracey Jefferys, and tried to kill John Everett. In
a taped confession, Davie admitted that he “flipped out” the morning
of the crime and “went down to VCA and shot ’em up.” He described
how he entered the building, made his three victims lie on the
floor, and shot them. He described how he beat one victim with a
chair when he ran out of bullets, and attempted to run down one
victim with a truck. He also described his activities after he
committed the shootings. At trial, Donna Smith, an eye witness,
testified that, as she approached the Veterinary Companies of
America (“VCA”) warehouse in Warren, Ohio on the morning of the
shootings, she noticed a bleeding man stumble across the parking lot
and collapse on a sidewalk. Smith then noticed another man come out
of the building and run around to the driver’s side of a truck in
the dock area. Thereafter, Smith testified that the truck came
“flying out” of the parking lot across both lanes of the street in
an attempt to hit the injured man. The injured man was able to
shield himself from the truck by falling underneath a bridge, and
the truck rammed into the bridge. Smith testified that the man in
the truck left the truck and jumped over the side of the bridge.
John Everett, one of Davie’s victims and the man that Smith
witnessed stumble across the parking lot, testified to the following
events. On the morning of the shootings, Everett was in the VCA
lunch room. Davie, accompanied by a crying Tracey Jefferys (another
VCA employee), came up from behind Everett holding a gun. Davie
ordered Everett out of the lunch room and, once in the warehouse
area, ordered Everett and Jefferys to “lay face down.” Davie then
ordered John Coleman, who was loading his truck at the loading dock,
to join Everett and Jefferys. After Everett, Jefferys, and Coleman
had complied with Davie’s commands, Davie began shooting. Everett
testified that after numerous shots were fired, Jefferys got up and
ran away. Davie brought Jefferys back, and Everett heard Davie
remark to Coleman “You ain’t dead yet, huh, brother?” and fire
another shot. Everett testified that Davie then took Everett’s
wallet and told Jefferys that she was lucky that he was out of
bullets. At that point, Jefferys again attempted to flee, and Davie
followed. Everett heard Jefferys scream for three or four minutes
and, eventually, the screaming stopped. Tracey Jefferys died in
VCA’s lunch room due to blunt force trauma. A metal folding chair
was found next to her body. Coleman died in the warehouse as a
result of five bullet wounds—two of which were located in the back
of his head. Everett escaped the warehouse and made his way out of
the building and to the street. Thereafter, Everett noticed Davie
revving the engine of a truck in the parking lot. Davie attempted to
use the truck to run Everett down, but Everett escaped by jumping
under a bridge. Everett heard the truck crash into the bridge and,
shortly thereafter, Davie arrived under the bridge. At that time,
Davie began beating Everett with a stick on the left side of
Everett’s head, and attempted to gouge Everett’s eyes out with the
stick. Everett testified that Davie had the look of “a man on a
mission and he was definitely going to kill me.” At some point,
Davie stopped beating Everett, looked up over the bridge, and left
the area. Everett was treated at the hospital for, among other
things, three gunshot wounds—one to the head, one to the shoulder,
and one to the arm. The remainder of the trial testimony established
overwhelmingly that Davie committed a bloody and gruesome series of
crimes on the morning of June 27, 1991. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 12, 2010 |
Alabama |
Candace Brown |
Michael Land |
executed |
| The police
were called to Candace Brown's house after her landlord found that a
window had been broken and the telephone wires had been cut. Upon
entering the house, the police had discovered a puppy with Candace's unharmed
two-year-old child, a note on a bulletin board with Michael Land's
name and phone number, and a shoe print with distinctive tread
(spelling out “USA”) on one of the broken windowpanes.
Candace had briefly met Land when she was visiting a friend of his
in prison as part of a prison ministry. She had named him as a
suspect in a prior burglary of her home in which her purse was
stolen. Police
located Land, who agreed to accompany them to the police station for
questioning. He was given his Miranda rights, signed a
waiver-of-rights form and agreed to have his statement tape
recorded. Land initially claimed not to have seen Candace for a week
and provided an alibi to account for the time relevant to her
disappearance. During the course of the interview, one detective
noticed what appeared to be bloodstains on Land's shoes and asked to
inspect them. The detective saw that the tread on his shoes seemed
to match the “USA” print on the windowpane at Brown's house and took
them for further analysis. Land also complied with a request to
change into a jail jumpsuit so his clothes could be inspected for
bloodstains. During this period, the police contacted Land's alibi
witness, who did not substantiate his story. The police then
confronted Land about the evidence, his inconsistencies, and the
lack of corroboration from his alibi witness, telling him he needed
to be truthful. He was again informed of, and waived, his Miranda
rights. He proceeded to give another statement to the police which
was not recorded (hereafter his “second statement”). This time he
said he met two men at a service station who asked him if he knew an
“easy mark” for a burglary. He suggested Brown's home and the men
paid him $20 to cut the window glass of her residence, after which
they all entered the kitchen. During the burglary, Brown woke up
from the commotion and appeared in the kitchen, where one of the two
men knocked her to the floor. Land claimed he became frightened at
this point and left. He also admitted in this second statement that
he had lied previously about where his car was and informed the
detectives it could be found at the mall where he worked. The
detectives then formally arrested Land. The next day Brown's body
was discovered in a limestone quarry on Ruffner Mountain near her residence
by a group of high school students who were hiking. She had been shot in the back of
her head by a .45 caliber automatic handgun. A search of Land's car
turned up a .45 handgun, and the bullet from her head matched a
bullet test-fired from that gun. They also found wire-cutters and a
pair of gloves that had imbedded glass fragments consistent with the
glass of the broken window in Brown's house. A DNA profile made from
a semen stain, which was found on Brown's blouse, matched Land's
blood sample with a degree of certainty of roughly one in 20
million. Land was convicted and sentenced to death in Alabama state
court for two counts of capital murder-murder during burglary and
murder during kidnapping. UPDATE: Candace Brown's parents,
John and Brenda, her son Michael, who is now 19, and her three
brothers all plan to attend the execution. "We've always sought
justice for our daughter, and that is what we're seeking, justice,"
her father said. "Eighteen years is what we've waited. We aren't
going down there to gloat; I am going down there to represent my
daughter." At the time of her death, the 30-year-old Brown was
working at an insurance company and doing some prison ministry. Her
life, her father said, revolved around her son and helping others.
"She loved him to death. She lived for him," John Brown said. "She
was so proud of him, and we were so proud of her." Land, whose
mother was a Birmingham police officer at the time of the crime and
conviction, was just 24 when he killed Brown after burglarizing her
home. Forensics test linked Land's .45-caliber pistol to the bullet
that killed Brown. It also linked Land's DNA to semen found on
Brown's shoulder and identified blood on his shoes as matching the
victim. Brown had named Land, who had previously been to prison
twice for receiving stolen property, as a suspect in a prior
burglary of her home in which her purse was stolen. Authorities have
said Brown briefly met Land when she was visiting a friend of his in
prison as part of her ministry. John Brown said his daughter's death
left an emptiness in their family. "It's been a tragedy for us," he
said. "You never expect to outlive your child. She was our only
daughter." He said he has no animosity toward Land's family. "I know
they are going to hurt," he said. But, he said it's important the
decision of the jury and judge be carried out. "He went in my
daughter's house; he cut the phone lines, and he took her out and
shot her," he said. "All of this was done by his choice." Among the
greatest loss, he said, is that suffered by his grandson, who he and
his wife raised after the slaying. "He never really got a chance to
know his mother," John Brown said. "He has been deprived of the
relationship they were building." John Brown said his daughter loved
to laugh and cut up. She was, he said, a faithful Christian. "I'd
like for them to remember her in those ways and the fact that she
was a Christian," he said. "That means more to me than anything."
UPDATE: Land, 41, was pronounced dead at 6:23 p.m. at Holman Prison
in Atmore after spending 17 years on Alabama's Death Row for the
slaying of Candace Brown. Gov. Bob Riley this week turned down
Land's request for clemency. Efforts by Land's attorneys to get the
Alabama Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court to halt the
execution failed. When Warden Tony Patterson asked Land if he had
any final statements, Land replied "No, thank you though." |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 17, 2010 |
Texas |
Patricia Lourdes Lopez
Jennifer Ertman
Elizabeth Pena |
Peter
Cantu |
executed |
|
  Jennifer
Ertman and Elizabeth Pena were 14 and 16 years old, respectively.
They were friends who attended the same high school in Houston,
Texas, Waltrip High School. On June 24, 1993, the girls spent the
day together and then died together. They were last seen by friends
about 11:15 at night, when they left a friend's apartment to head
home, to beat summer curfew at 11:30. They knew they would be late
if they took the normal path home, down W. 34th Street to T.C.
Jester, both busy streets. They also knew they would have to pass a
sexually-oriented business on that route and so decided to take a
well-known shortcut down a railroad track and through a city park to
Elizabeth's neighborhood. The next morning, the girls parents began
to frantically look for them, paging them on their pagers, calling
their friends to see if they knew where they were, to no avail. The
families filed missing persons reports with the Houston Police
Department and continued to look for the girls on their own. The
Ertmans and Penas gathered friends and neighbors to help them pass
out a huge stack of fliers with the girls' pictures all over the
Houston area, even giving them to newspaper vendors on the roadside.
Four days after the girls disappeared, a person identifying himself
as 'Gonzalez' called the Crimestoppers Tips number. He told the call
taker that the missing girls' bodies could be found near T.C. Jester
Park at White Oak bayou. The police were sent to the scene and
searched the park without finding anything. The police helicopter
was flying over the park and this apparently prompted Mr. 'Gonzalez'
to make a 911 call, directing the search to move to the other side
of the bayou. When the police followed this suggestion, they found
the badly decaying bodies of Jenny and Elizabeth. Jennifer Ertman's
dad, Randy Ertman, was about to give an interview regarding the
missing girls to a local television reporter when the call came over
a cameraman's police scanner that two bodies had been found. Randy
commandeered the news van and went to the scene that was now
bustling with police activity. Randy Ertman appeared on the local
news that evening, screaming at the police officers who were
struggling to hold him back, "Does she have blond hair? Does she
have blond hair?!!?" Fortunately, they did manage to keep Randy
from entering the woods and seeing his daughter's brutalized body
and that of her friend Elizabeth. The bodies were very badly
decomposed, even for four days in Houston's brutal summer heat and
humidity, particularly in the head, neck and genital areas. The
medical examiner later testified that this is how she could be sure
as to the horrible brutality of the rapes, beatings and murders. The
break in solving the case came from, of course, the 911 call. It was
traced to the home of the brother of one of the men later sentenced
to death for these murders. When the police questioned 'Gonzalez',
he said that he had made the original call at his 16 year-old wife's
urging. She felt sorry for the families and wanted them to be able
to put their daughters' bodies to rest. 'Gonzalez' said that his
brother was one of the six people involved in killing the girls, and
gave police the names of all but one, the new recruit, whom he did
not know. His knowledge of the crimes came from the killers
themselves, most of whom came to his home after the murders,
bragging and swapping the jewelry they had stolen from the girls.
While Jenny and Elizabeth were living the last few hours of their
lives, Peter Cantu, Efrain Perez, Derrick Sean O'Brien, Joe Medellin
and Joe's 14 year old brother were initiating a new member, Raul
Villareal, into their gang, known as the Black and Whites. Raul was
an acquaintance of Efrain and was not known to the other gang
members. They had spent the evening drinking beer and then "jumping
in" Raul. This means that the new member was required to fight every
member of the gang until he passed out and then he would be accepted
as a member. Testimony showed that Raul lasted through three of the
members before briefly losing consciousness. The gang
continued drinking and 'shooting the breeze' for some time and then
decided to leave. Two brothers who had been with them but testified
that they were not in the gang left first and passed Jenny and
Elizabeth, who were unknowingly walking towards their deaths. When
Peter Cantu saw Jenny and Elizabeth, he thought it was a man and a
woman and told the other gang members that he wanted to jump him and
beat him up. He was frustrated that he had been the one who was
unable to fight Raul. The gang members ran and grabbed Elizabeth and
pulled her down the incline, off of the tracks. Testimony showed
that Jenny had gotten free and could have run away but returned to
Elizabeth when she cried out for Jenny to help her. For the next
hour or so, these beautiful, innocent young girls were subjected to
the most brutal gang rapes that most of the investigating officers
had ever encountered. The confessions of the gang members that were
used at trial indicated that there was never less than 2 men on each
of the girls at any one time and that the girls were repeatedly
raped orally, anally and vaginally for the entire hour. One of the
gang members later said during the brag session that by the time he
got to one of the girls, "she was loose and sloppy." One of the boys
boasted of having 'virgin blood' on him. The 14-year-old juvenile
later testified that he had gone back and forth between his brother
and Peter Cantu since they were the only ones there that he really
knew and kept urging them to leave. He said he was told repeatedly
by Peter Cantu to "get some". He raped Jennifer and was later
sentenced to 40 years for aggravated sexual assault, which was the
maximum sentence for a juvenile. When the rapes finally ended, the
horror was not over. The gang members took Jenny and Elizabeth from
the clearing into a wooded area, leaving the juvenile behind, saying
he was "too little to watch". Jenny was strangled with the belt of
Sean O'Brien, with two murderers pulling, one on each side, until
the belt broke. Part of the belt was left at the murder scene, the
rest was found in O'Brien's home. After the belt broke, the killers
used her own shoelaces to finish their job. Medellin later
complained that "the bitch wouldn't die" and that it would have been
"easier with a gun". Elizabeth was also strangled with her
shoelaces, after crying and begging the gang members not to kill
them; bargaining, offering to give them her phone number so they
could get together again. The medical examiner testified that
Elizabeth's two front teeth were knocked out of her brutalized mouth
before she died and that two of Jennifer's ribs were broken after
she had died. Testimony showed that the girls' bodies were kicked
and their necks were stomped on after the strangulations in order to
"make sure that they were really dead." The juvenile, Venancio
Medellin, pled guilty to his charge and his sentence was reviewed
when he turned 18, at which time he was sent to serve the remainder
of the sentence in prison. The five killers were tried for capital
murder in Harris County, Texas, convicted and sentenced to death.
See US 5th Circuit Court summary of
this case. Six months before Jenny and
Elizabeth were murdered, three of their killers murdered another
young woman, Patricia Lourdes Lopez. Patricia, a 27-year-old mother
of two young children, had run out of gas and was stranded on the
side of the freeway on her way home from a football game. She walked
to a nearby convenience store, and called someone to come and help
her. As she was leaving, she was stopped by Joe Medellin, Peter
Cantu and Sean O'Brien, who asked her to buy them some beer since
they were underage. They said they would buy her some gas and get
her on the road again if she did. She bought the beer and went with
the group, unwittingly heading to her death. Instead of taking her
back to her truck, the trio took her to a back parking lot in
Melrose Park in Houston, where they took turns raping and sexually
assaulting her before stabbing her to death. A drunken O'Brien had
told Patricia that if she did not cause him to have an erection
through oral sex, he would kill her. Her body, nude from the waist
down, was found by police on January 4, 1993 with her blood-soaked
clothing strewn about her. The medical examiner stated that Patricia
was probably on her knees in front of her murderer when she was
stabbed, based on the angle of the wounds. She had been stabbed and
slashed in the abdomen, throat and back and strangled. This murder
was unsolved until after O'Brien was arrested for the murder of
Jennifer Ertman and Elizabeth Pena. Joe Cantu, brother of ringleader
Peter Cantu, whose call to police had led to the arrests in the
Ertman/Pena murders, had again contacted authorities and told them
that he recalled O'Brien bragging about another murder that occurred
before the girls were killed. Houston police researched older cases
and found a possible match with the unsolved murder of Patricia
Lourdes Lopez. When they tested evidence, O'Brien's fingerprints
were matched to some found on a beer can under Patricia's body at
the murder scene. When confronted with the evidence, O'Brien
admitted his involvement in Patricia's murder. A belt of the same
type that was used to kill Jennifer Ertman was found underneath
Patricia's neck. Medellin's DNA matched semen samples taken from
Patricia's body. Her family was present at his trial for the June
murders. "I think they should file some more charges," Cathy Lopez,
Patricia Lopez's mother-in-law, said. "I think whatever they did, no
matter how much there is, they should stand trial for every single
thing." Patricia's estranged husband suffered through a long period
of being considered a suspect in his wife's murder.
|
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 17, 2010 |
Oklahoma |
Earl Short |
Jeffrey
Matthews |
stayed |
| On January
27, 1994, at around six o′clock in the morning, Minnie Short was
awakened by a noise in her home in McClain County, Oklahoma. As she
walked from her bedroom into the living room to investigate, an
intruder wielding a knife attacked. The intruder cut Mrs. Short's
throat, but still she remained conscious. When Mrs. Short's husband,
Earl, followed her into the living room a few moments later, another
intruder shot him in the head. Mr. Short died within minutes. The
attackers then ordered Mrs. Short to lie still. They asked her where
she hid her money. The two men kept Mrs. Short prisoner in her home
while they searched it for nearly two hours, eventually leaving in
the Shorts' truck with $500 cash and a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson
taken from the house. After the intruders left, Mrs. Short walked
down a nearby road to seek help. A passing ambulance came to her
aid, and police were notified of the attack. In response to police
questioning, Mrs. Short recalled that the man who stabbed her wore a
dark jacket and that the man who shot Mr. Short wore tan,
loose-fitting clothes. Mrs. Short also told police that the man who
stabbed her made a telephone call from the kitchen just prior to
leaving. Police traced this phone call and determined it was made at
8:16 a.m. to a Bill Guinn in Oklahoma City. Police promptly
contacted Mr. Guinn, who told them he received a call at that time
from his nephew and employee, Tracy Dyer. Dyer had called to say
that he would be late to work that morning because of car problems.
Police then located Dyer and took him to the sheriff's office for
questioning. There Dyer admitted that he and Jeffrey Matthews, a
great-nephew of Earl and Minnie Short, went to the house to look for
money they thought was hidden there. Dyer blamed Matthews for the
attacks on the Shorts. Police arrested Dyer and secured an arrest
warrant for Matthews. They also executed a search of Matthews's
home, where they seized a pair of brown coveralls, three $100 bills
found in the freezer, and a prescription pill bottle for Xanax
issued to Minnie Short. Officers also searched the backyard, but
found nothing. Five months later, however, in June of 1994, one of
Matthews's neighbors found a .32 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver
buried in a field directly behind Matthews's house. The gun was
later identified as the gun taken from the Shorts' home by their
attackers. The police then returned to the same field with metal
detectors and found another buried gun, a .45 caliber Ruger pistol,
that tests proved was used to kill Earl Short. In due course,
Matthews was charged with first degree murder and various other
crimes. At trial, Dyer testified against Matthews, implicating him
as Dyer's accomplice in the crime. At the close of evidence, the
jury found Matthews guilty and sentenced him to death. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 17, 2010 |
Pennsylvania |
Michelle Cable, 41 |
James
VanDivner |
stayed |
| Jessica
Cable and her mother Michelle Cable lived in Grindstone, Fayette
County. On July 5, 2004, Jessica was babysitting at a neighbor’s
home. Between 8:30 and 9:00 p.m., Jessica saw VanDivner driving in
the direction of her home and immediately ran home. When she
arrived, she saw VanDivner get out of his vehicle and walk to the
back porch of her home. As Jessica followed, VanDivner entered the
home through the back door and, while walking through the home,
encountered a family friend, Larry Newman, in the living room.
VanDivner asked Larry where Michelle was, and Larry pointed to the
front door. VanDivner then opened the door and walked onto the sun
porch. On the steps leading to the sun porch from the outside,
VanDivner met Michelle and her son, Billy Cable. As VanDivner walked
onto the porch, Billy told him, “Dude, get off my property.”
VanDivner then pointed a gun at Michelle, at which point, Billy
pounced on VanDivner in an attempt to wrestle the gun from his hand.
VanDivner managed to keep the gun and pointed it at Larry Newman’s
head. Larry’s relative, Kenneth Newman, then rushed VanDivner, and
the gun fired. VanDivner, who still had the gun, walked quickly to
Michelle and told her he was going to kill her. He grabbed her by
the hair, shot her in the head, and, as she fell to the ground,
stated, “There, you bitch, I said I was going to kill you.”
VanDivner smiled and walked away. A motorist who was passing by saw
VanDivner grab Michelle by the hair and shoot her in the head.
Meanwhile, after unsuccessfully attempting to take the gun from
VanDivner, Billy had gone inside the home to look for a weapon to
protect his family. When he was unable to find a weapon, he left the
home. As he stepped off the back porch, Billy saw VanDivner walking
toward him with the gun in his hand. VanDivner pointed the gun at
Billy, who turned to run away. VanDivner shot Billy in the neck and
then left the scene. Police subsequently apprehended VanDivner in a
field and recovered a Jennings J22 handgun. As VanDivner was being
taken into an interview room at the Pennsylvania State Police
barracks, he blurted out to Trooper James Monkelis, “This is a death
penalty case and I don’t want the needle, life for a life. Tell the
DA I will plead guilty to life. I would have killed myself if I knew
Michelle was dead.” On July 8, 2004, Dr. Cyril Wecht performed an
autopsy on Michelle and determined that the manner of death was
homicide in that she “died as a result of anoxic and cephalopathy,
diminution of oxygen to the brain tissue with degeneration, early
necrosis, death of brain tissue, produced as a result of the gunshot
wound to the head.” Dr. Wecht recovered the bullet from Michelle’s
brain and provided it to the State Police for analysis. Corporal
David J. Burlingame, an expert in the field of firearm and toolmark
examination determined that the bullet recovered from Michelle’s
brain was fired from the Jennings 22 handgun found in VanDivner’s
possession at the time of his apprehension. Prior to trial,
VanDivner filed a petition to bar the death penalty, alleging that
he is mentally retarded and has significant limitations in adaptive
skills. He argued that the execution of a mentally retarded person
constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and requested a pretrial
hearing to determine whether the death penalty should be barred in
this instance. Judge Solomon held a four day hearing on VanDivner’s
petition at which VanDivner presented the testimony of two expert
witnesses and several lay witnesses, and the Commonwealth offered
the testimony of a psychiatrist and an official of the Department of
Transportation. Judge Solomon determined that VanDivner had failed
to meet his burden of proving that his limitations, if any, began
before he was 18 years of age, as required by the standards for
determining mental retardation in Pennsylvania. Thus, based upon
VanDivner’s failure to establish this element, the court denied the
petition. A jury found VanDivner guilty of the first-degree murder
of Michelle, criminal attempt to commit criminal homicide with
respect to Billy and the aggravated assault of Larry Newman. At the
penalty phase hearing, the Commonwealth presented evidence of two
aggravating circumstances: (1) that, in the commission of the
offenses VanDivner knowingly created a grave risk of death to
another person in addition to the victim; and (2) that VanDivner had
a significant history of felony convictions involving the use or
threat of violence. The jury found both aggravating circumstances
and one mitigating circumstance related to VanDivner’s character and
the circumstances of his offense, (the “catchall” mitigator), and
determined that the two aggravating circumstances outweighed the
mitigating circumstance. Thus, the jury returned a sentence of
death. On February 12, 2007, the trial court formally imposed the
death sentence as well as a consecutive sentence of 20 to 40 years
for the attempted homicide of Billy Cable and a sentence of 10 to 20
years to run consecutively to VanDivner’s sentences for first-degree
murder and attempted murder, for the aggravated assault of Larry
Newman. *There are still appeals pending in this case and the
execution is not expected to take place on this date. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 18, 2010 |
Pennsylvania |
Vaughn Christopher |
Anthony
Fletcher |
stayed |
| Anthony
Fletcher was sentenced to death for the shooting death of Vaughn
Christopher on March 2, 1992, at approximately 1:00 a.m., in the
2000 block of South 60th Street in Philadelphia. Fletcher shot
Christopher because Christopher failed to pay for drugs Fletcher had
given him. The shooting was witnessed by several persons including
Natalie Grant, Angelic Kirkman, and Ronald “Skeet” Williams. In
summary, the witnesses testified that Fletcher approached
Christopher and asked him for the money Christopher owed him.
Without giving Christopher an opportunity to respond, Fletcher
reached into his coat, pulled out a silver .380 caliber
semi-automatic handgun, and then fired one shot at Christopher's
feet. Christopher immediately began walking away from Fletcher. When
Christopher was about seven feet from Fletcher, Fletcher fired two
more shots at him. One of the bullets hit Christopher in his thigh
and the other hit him in his right flank. The bullet that struck
Christopher in his flank caused damage to his right kidney, liver,
and chest wall. Christopher stumbled away and collapsed against a
parked car. He asked Williams to help him but Williams declined.
Christopher managed to rise to his feet and walk several steps but
then fell to the ground and lapsed into unconsciousness. Police
arrived soon thereafter and transported Christopher to a nearby
hospital where he died a day and a half later. Following the
shooting, Fletcher returned to his home and changed his clothes. He
then returned to the scene of the shooting and remarked to Grant and
Williams that, “You all better tell that boy he better not tell who
shot him.” Almost a week later Fletcher approached Grant and warned
her not to speak to the police. Afraid for her own safety and that
of her family, Grant promised Fletcher that she would not speak to
the police about the shooting. Police arrested Fletcher on March 10,
1992, and charged him with murder and possessing an instrument of
crime. Fletcher then agreed to speak to police. After receiving
Miranda warnings, Fletcher told the police that he approached
Christopher and punched him in the head because Christopher and
another man had robbed him during a dice game. Fletcher further
remarked that Christopher pulled out a gun, which prompted him to
grab for Christopher's weapon. Fletcher stated that he was able to
gain control of Christopher's weapon and fired it twice at
Christopher's legs. On January 29, 1993, a jury convicted Fletcher
of first-degree murder and PIC. Following the recording of the
verdict and a penalty hearing, the jury found that the aggravating
circumstances outweighed the mitigating circumstances and fixed the
penalty at death. *There are still appeals pending in this
case and the execution is not expected to take place on this date. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 19, 2010 |
Pennsylvania |
Sherry Miller |
Dennis
Miller |
stayed |
|
Dennis L.
Miller resided with his wife, Sherry, and their two children,
Barbara and Dennis, who at the time were twelve and four, at 301
Church Alley, Londongrove Township, Chester County. Miller's marital
relationship was, however, strained as a consequence of drug use, as
well as jealousy and physical abuse directed toward his wife.
Notably, in July of 1994, Miller pled guilty to harassment and
disorderly conduct arising from an altercation with Sherry, and, in
April of 1995, he pled guilty to aggravated assault in connection
with an incident in which he held a gun to Sherry's head. As a
result of the latter conviction, Miller was imprisoned for a term of
nine to twenty-three months. While in prison, Miller professed a
desire to kill Sherry, and on the day of his release in September of
1995, he told his cellmate, “I'll be back for killing my wife.”
Following his release from prison, Miller resumed living with his
wife and children. On November 18, 1995, Miller made arrangements
with his mother, Agnes Miller, to supervise his children while he
and Sherry visited a local tavern, Trib's Waystation. At the bar,
Miller and his wife drank beer and, at one point, ingested
methamphetamine. Although Miller did not appear to be intoxicated,
during the course of the evening he became angry whenever his wife
either spoke to another man or used the telephone. Sherry used the
telephone at the bar to page Sean Smith, a man she dated during
Miller's incarceration. Smith then telephoned Sherry in response to
the page. At approximately 12:30 a.m. Miller and his wife left the
bar. On Sunday, November 19, Agnes Miller was surprised when Miller
and his wife did not arrive during the breakfast hour as planned to
retrieve their children. As the day progressed, she became
increasingly concerned. Miller's daughter, Barbara, repeatedly
telephoned the family residence, but no one answered. In addition,
Agnes Miller drove to Miller's home on two or more occasions. On
each occasion, she observed that the house was locked, no one
answered the door, and Sherry's vehicle was missing. Initially,
Agnes Miller was concerned because Barbara was asthmatic and her
medicine was located in Miller's home. Indeed, later that day,
Barbara was taken to the hospital for treatment of an asthmatic
attack. Ultimately, on Monday, November 20, Agnes Miller contacted
Sherry's mother, Mary Folk, to determine whether she had heard from
her daughter. As Ms. Folk had not, she filed a missing persons
report with the Pennsylvania State Police. In response to this
report, the investigating trooper contacted the employers for Miller
and his wife, checked with the local prisons and hospitals, and
interviewed family members. Both Agnes Miller and Ms. Folk related
to the police that Miller and his wife had used illicit drugs and
speculated that they might have traveled to Philadelphia to purchase
drugs. The police also went to the Miller home, knocked on the door,
and after receiving no response, checked the doors, finding them
locked. When these efforts failed, the troopers asked Agnes Miller
to meet them at the residence. Once there, Agnes Miller again
expressed concern that something may have happened to her son and
daughter-in-law because of their history of drug abuse. The troopers
who met Agnes Miller were familiar with Miller's drug problem and
were aware of Miller's history of spousal abuse. At Agnes Miller's
request, and after receiving an assurance from her that she would be
responsible for the property, the troopers agreed to forcibly enter
the residence. The troopers gained access through a basement window,
checked the basement area, climbed a set of stairs to the kitchen,
and briefly surveyed the kitchen. Upon hearing a fan on the second
story, the troopers announced themselves and proceeded upstairs. In
the master bedroom, the troopers observed the contents of a purse
strewn about the floor, an open suitcase, and the naked,
blood-spattered body of Sherry Miller lying on a bed with her legs
spread, knees bent, and with a bloody pillow over her face. After
confirming that Miller was not also in the bedroom, the troopers
left, secured the house, and waited until investigators arrived with
a search warrant. An autopsy of Sherry Miller revealed that she died
as a result of more than thirty stab wounds to her head, neck,
chest, arms, and hands. The murder weapon, a knife, was found in a
trash can; the tip had been broken off and was recovered from the
shoulder of Sherry Miller. In addition to determining the cause of
death, the forensic pathologist conducting the autopsy concluded
that Sherry Miller had been subjected to forcible intercourse at the
time of her death. This finding was premised, in part, upon the
position in which her body was found, the defensive wounds on her
hands and arms, the seminal material recovered from her vaginal
vault, the absence of such material outside her vagina, and the
absence of blood spatter in the area just above her vagina and
between her legs. From the crime scene, the police recovered
Miller's bloody handprints on the pillow that was used to cover
Sherry Miller's face. Furthermore, the police discovered a bloody
footprint of Miller and a bandage with Miller's bloody fingerprint
in the bathroom area. In addition, the police obtained a partial
thumbprint from the murder weapon. Although this print contained
several characteristics consistent with Miller's right thumb, the
partial print was insufficient for a positive identification. The
police noted that the box spring from the bed where Sherry Miller
was found was broken, and the bed frame was bent. On the kitchen
table, the police found a partially empty cup of coffee next to a
vengeful note in Miller's handwriting. In his note, Miller stated:
Now I hope some of Sherry's whore friends learn something from
this. I didn't want for it to go this far, but you people don't
understand what she put me through. Some know, but they don't want
to say something about her. Everybody told her everything I did, but
me, I had to find out for myself what she did. All of my so-called
friends f--- me one way or another. I had no friends. And I wish I
had more time to get even with some of you assholes. I just want to
say that you, Larry Brown, I would have killed you, and you, Sean
Smith, I told Donny one time before to tell you to leave her alone.
I don't know if he did. And if he did, the next time somebody tells
you something, you better do what they say. I would have got you
too. I hope somebody in my family takes care of Barb, Dennis. I do
love you all. I will see some of you in hell. The police
continued to search for Miller, contacting his friends and family
members in an effort to locate him. Although their efforts were
unsuccessful, the police were able to trace Miller's flight from the
crime scene to Maryland from his use of his wife's automatic teller
machine card, and the police found Sherry's vehicle in Maryland;
the vehicle contained a baseball cap belonging to Miller and a
number of ATM receipts. Miller was ultimately apprehended six months
later in Florida, after a tip following a description of the
unsolved crime on the America's Most Wanted television program.
Prior to trial, Miller sought to suppress the evidence seized from
his residence, alleging that the initial entry of the police was
illegal as it was not authorized by a warrant or supported by
probable cause. The trial court denied the suppression motion,
finding that the actions of the police were justified in response to
the concerns, expressed by Agnes Miller and Ms. Folk, that either
Miller or his wife may have been in need of immediate aid. After an
extensive colloquy, Miller elected to proceed with a non-jury trial.
At trial, the Commonwealth presented testimony from a forensic
pathologist, Richard Callery, M.D., regarding the cause of and
circumstances surrounding Sherry Miller's death. Dr. Callery opined
that she died from massive internal bleeding resulting from multiple
stab wounds, and that she had been subjected to forcible intercourse
during the homicide. The Commonwealth also presented testimony from
Agnes Miller, as well as a number of witnesses who had seen Miller
and his wife at Trib's Waystation on the evening of November 18. In
addition, Miller's cellmate during his incarceration for aggravated
assault testified to incriminating statements made by Miller.
Finally, both sides stipulated to a number of forensic findings,
namely, fingerprints, footprints, blood tests, and the results of
DNA testing, which linked Miller to the murder. The defense
presented one witness, who testified that Miller's cellmate
fabricated the statements he had attributed to Miller. The trial
court found Miller guilty of all offenses. In the penalty phase, the
Commonwealth alleged as aggravating circumstances that Miller
committed the murder during the perpetration of a felony, rape, and
that the murder was committed by means of torture. After the
Commonwealth incorporated the record from the guilt phase, the
defense sought to establish mitigating circumstances by presenting
psychological testimony regarding Miller's background, upbringing,
and psychological profile, as well as testimony from his family
members. The trial court found one aggravating circumstance and one
mitigating circumstance, that Miller lacked the capacity to
appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his conduct to
the requirements of the law. However, the trial court concluded that
the aggravating circumstance outweighed the mitigating circumstance.
On October 27, 1997, the trial court formally imposed the death
sentence with a consecutive term of incarceration of ten to twenty
years related to the rape conviction. *There are still appeals
pending in this case and the execution is not expected to take place
on this date. |
|
Date of scheduled execution |
State |
Victim name |
Inmate name |
Status |
|
August 24, 2010 |
Pennsylvania |
Kristofer Kolesnik |
Bryan
Galvin |
stayed |
| At
approximately 3:00 a.m. on January 31, 2006, Officer Nicholas Hine,
Sr. of the Cumru Township Police Department, on patrol in the
Borough of Kenhorst, Berks County, Pennsylvania, observed a maroon
1988 Ford Aerostar van travelling on New Holland Road. The van was
heading toward Nolde Forest, a wooded public park and operating
without its headlights illuminated. Based upon this violation of the
Motor Vehicle Code, Officer Hine activated his overhead lights in an
attempt to stop the van. The van made numerous evasive turns through
the streets and alleyways of Kenhorst before ultimately coming to a
stop. An individual, later identified through his driver’s license
as Galvin, exited the van, and walked toward Officer Hine’s patrol
car. After being ordered twice to return to his vehicle, Galvin
returned to the van. Officer Hine radioed for assistance. While
waiting for the backup officers to arrive, Officer Hine observed
through the window of the van what appeared to be a human leg with a
peace sign tattooed on the skin, with a white sneaker on the foot.
After observing this body, Officer Hine instructed Galvin, through
the P.A. system of his patrol car, for Galvin to turn off the engine
of the van and throw the key out of the window with his left hand.
The key was on a ring with a “Jello” key fob. Officer Hine also
noticed that a piece of plastic was broken off of the van’s bumper.
Shortly thereafter, Officer Hine was joined by Sergeant Scott
Bechtel and Officer James Griffith. As the officers approached the
van, Sergeant Bechtel observed a large, approximately 400-pound
white male, later determined to be Kristofer Kolesnik, lying in the
back of the van. Kolesnik was wrapped in a large white sheet or tarp
which was tied with yellow electrical cord. There appeared to be
blood on Kolesnik’s chest and on the sheet, and he did not appear to
be breathing. After directing Galvin to exit the vehicle and lie on
the ground, Officer Hine asked if there was anyone else in the van,
to which Galvin responded, “just a dead guy,” or “only the dead
guy.” Subsequently, EMS personnel who were summoned to the scene
confirmed Kolesnik was not breathing and had no heartbeat, and
determined that he was dead. Also at this time, Officer Hine and
Sergeant Bechtel observed a red gasoline can placed on the front
passenger seat, which was later determined to be full of gasoline.
Additionally, Sergeant Bechtel saw a Motorola cellular telephone
lying in the center console of the van. After Galvin was taken into
custody, Sergeant Bechtel noticed blood on Galvin’s pant leg, boot,
wrist watch, and glasses. The officers transported Galvin to the
Cumru Township Police Department. There, Galvin was placed in a
holding cell and instructed not to wash his hands in the sink.
Later, however, Galvin was observed by a surveillance camera,
dunking his hands into the toilet bowel and rubbing them together.
Through Galvin’s driver’s license, the police were able to obtain
the address of Galvin’s residence at 312 South 18th Street, Reading,
Pennsylvania. Investigators were dispatched to Galvin’s residence to
search for pieces of broken bumper from the van, which had been
impounded after the removal of the victim’s body. Upon his arrival
at Galvin’s residence, Sergeant Guy Lehman of the Reading Police
Department observed fresh blood leading from the sidewalk to the
front door of the residence, and a wooden broom with blood on it, on
the sidewalk. Michael Miller, who lived in the apartment above
Galvin, was later charged in connection with the disposition of
Kolesnik’s body. Evidently, Galvin asked for Miller’s assistance in
moving a “heavy object” into the van. Miller helped Galvin slide the
body into the van. Based upon his observation of what he believed to
be fresh blood spread across the front of the residence, and his
fear that there may have been other victims inside the residence who
may require medical attention, Sergeant Lehman called for assistance
and determined that it was prudent to conduct a security check of
the residence. Thereafter, Criminal Investigators William Strickler
and Andrew Shearer arrived at Galvin’s residence. Investigator
Strickler knocked on the front door of the residence. Initially,
there was no response. After knocking a second time, Investigator
Strickler heard a faint muffled voice coming from inside the
residence. Investigator Strickler pushed open the front door, and
three officers entered the residence. The officers proceeded
room-by-room in search of individuals in the apartment. The officers
checked a living room, a kitchen, a rear bathroom, and a bedroom
where they encountered William Galvin, Galvin’s father, who was
lying on a bed. Galvin’s father was not injured or in need of
medical care. The officers explained why they were in the apartment,
gave him an opportunity to dress, and then escorted him from the
apartment so that the security check could be completed. Proceeding
to the next room, which was later determined to be Galvin’s bedroom,
the officers observed a bullet shell casing and blood on the carpet.
After assuring themselves there were no additional victims or
persons requiring medical attention, the officers vacated the
residence. Outside the residence, the officers found a piece of
plastic bumper along the curb and sidewalk directly beneath a
damaged porch post, which later was determined the match the damage
to the van. Investigator Shearer prepared a search warrant, and a
magisterial district judge issued the warrant authorizing a search
of the premises. Pursuant to the search of the residence, the
officers recovered from Galvin’s bedroom a rifle shell casing, a
shell casing on a dresser, a discharged bullet projectile, an impact
indentation on the wall directly above the bullet, yellow electrical
wire (which later was determined to have been the source of the wire
wrapped around Kolesnik’s body), yellow wire cutters (which later
were determined to have cut the wire used to secure the tarp around
the victim’s body), a pool of blood at the foot of the bed, a pool
of blood on the mattress, and a larger pool of blood on the
underside of the mattress. Additionally, the search uncovered a
Brinks lock box, which was located underneath the bed in Galvin’s
bedroom. Subsequently, a district judge issued a second search
warrant authorizing the seizure of the contents of the lock box,
which we discuss below. Dr. Samuel Land, a certified forensic
pathologist, performed an autopsy of Kolesnik’s body. The autopsy
revealed that Kolesnik’s death was a result of a gunshot wound to
the head. No gun was ever recovered related to Kolesnik’s murder.
The autopsy also disclosed that a boot lace was wrapped around
Kolesnik’s left arm in a fashion associated with intravenous drug
use. Injection sites on Kolesnik’s arms were observed and toxicology
reports revealed the presence of morphine, codeine, and alcohol in
Kolesnik’s body. Finally, additional evidence adduced at trial
established that, on January 27, 2006, at an A-Plus minimarket on
Perkiomen Avenue in Reading, Galvin and Kolesnik engaged in a heated
argument regarding $20 and a cellular telephone. Three days later,
on January 30, 2006, Wendy Hess, the victim’s girlfriend with whom
he lived, picked up Kolesnik after he finished his shift with the
Reading Metro Taxi Company. The two returned to their home in
Reading. After eating a meal, Hess and Kolesnik went to bed. When
Hess awoke at 1:45 p.m., Kolesnik was gone and had evidently taken
Hess’ maroon van with him. In the interim, at approximately 12:15
p.m., Kolesnik went to the A-Plus minimarket on Perkiomen Avenue
where he was confronted by Galvin regarding the return of a cellular
telephone. Galvin was tried before a jury, commencing August 6,
2007. The jury found Galvin guilty of the above-stated crimes,
including first-degree murder. On August 13, 2007, the jury found
the aggravating circumstance that Galvin had a significant history
of felony convictions involving the use or threat of violence to the
person. The jury also found as a mitigating circumstance that Galvin
committed three of his prior felonies when he was a juvenile. The
jury concluded that the aggravating circumstance outweighed the
mitigating circumstance and rendered a verdict of death. On
September 6, 2007, the trial court formally sentenced Galvin to
death and a consecutive, aggregate sentence of no less than 5 nor
more than 11 years’ imprisonment for the convictions for abuse of a
corpse, tampering with evidence, and theft by unlawful taking. *There
are still appeals pending in this case and the execution is not
expected to take place on this date. |
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