DEATH PENALTY INFORMATION The Death Penalty is the legal process used to enforce Capital Offenses in the United States. The United States currently sits in the top 5 for countries who employ capital punishment the most, executing more prisoners yearly than North Korea, Sudan and Somalia combined. A total of 659 individuals have been executed in Louisiana including 28 since 1976. Toni Jo Henry (January 3, 1916 - November 28, 1942), born Annie Beatrice McQuiston, was the only woman executed in Louisiana's electric chair (for the murder of Joseph P. Calloway). A total of 88 people are under a sentence of death in the state as of 13 October 2007. The current method of execution in Louisiana is lethal injection. As in any other state, people who are under 18 at the time of commission of the capital crime or intellectually disabled are constitutionally precluded from being executed. Since 1976, LA has executed 29 people. University of Michigan law professor Samuel Gross led a team of experts in the law and in statistics that estimated the likely number of unjust convictions. The study determined that at least 4% of people on death row were and are innocent. (This amounts to 3 of 88 on death row in Louisiana possibly innocent). Process: The jury decides the sentence and may give a sentence of life imprisonment without parole for capital offenses. A unanimous verdict is needed is order to convict a defendant of a capital crime and sentence to death. Clemency rests with the governor of Louisiana, who must have a recommendation from a board. The most recent execution was in 2010. Gerald Bordelon “volunteered” himself to die after spending eight years on death row. Method: The male death row is at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in West Feliciana Parish. The female death row is at Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women in St. Gabriel. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION Executions in Louisiana are currently performed at the Louisiana State Penitentiary. Louisiana's method of execution is lethal injection. Previous methods: Hanging up to 1981 and then other forms of electrocution for 61 people from 1941 to 1991. Statistics: (According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics) Race of defendants executed- • 56% White • 35% Black • 7% Hispanic Race of victim in death penalty case- • 76% White • 15% Black • 6% Hispanic Average cost of a death penalty case- $2.4 million Executions by region (Since 1976)- • South- 1010 • Midwest- 143 • West- 69 • Northeast- 4 Percent of Americans who support the death penalty- 85% Capital Offenses: • First degree murder: • The murder was committed during the commission of, attempt of, or escape from a specified felony (aggravated kidnapping, second degree kidnapping, aggravated escape, aggravated arson, aggravated rape, forcible rape, aggravated burglary, armed robbery, assault by drive-by shooting, first degree robbery, second degree robbery, simple robbery, terrorism, cruelty to juveniles, or second degree cruelty to juveniles). • The victim was a firefighter or peace officer engaged in his or her lawful duties. • The offender has a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm upon more than one person. • The murder was committed for pecuniary gain or pursuant to an agreement that the defendant would receive something of value. • The victim was under the age of 12 years. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION • The victim was 65 years or older. • The murder was committed during an illegal drug deal. • The murder was committed while the defendant was engaged in "ritualistic acts". • The murder was committed while the defendant was the subject of a restraining order protecting the victim. • The murder was committed upon a victim who was a witness to a crime or was a member of the immediate family of a witness to a crime committed on a prior occasion. • Formerly the state also allowed execution for the aggravated rape of a victim under the age of 12. The Supreme Court, however, ruled it unconstitutional on 25 June 2008 in Kennedy v. Louisiana, saying "there is a distinction between intentional first-degree murder on the one hand and nonhomicide crimes against individual persons". Contact info: How to mail letters to death row inmates… To Angola (men): INMATE NAME AND INMATE ID NUMBER Louisiana State Penitentiary 17544 Tunica Trace Angola LA, 70712 To St. Gabriel (women): Inmate Name, ID Number Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women Post Office Box 26 St. Gabriel, LA 70776 DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION ! Name: Brandy Holmes Age: 34 On Death Row Since Feb. 2006 Details: On New Year’s’ Day in 2003, Brandy Holmes and her boyfriend Robert Coleman knocked on a door in Blanchard. When retired minister Julian Brandon, Jr., 70, answered, Brandy and Robert forced their way in. They shot the elderly man, and when he didn’t die right away, they stabbed him multiple times. They also shot his wife, Alice, who survived but died five years later. Brandy was arrested after her neighbors called a tip line and told police that she’d been bragging about killing an elderly couple and trying to sell their jewelry. After being sentenced to death, Brandy appealed, stating that her fetal alcohol syndrome should have been considered in her sentencing. Tom Donaldson, president of the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome supported her appeal, saying, “Her mother testified that she drank throughout her pregnancy, and in fact named her daughter after her favorite drink. Brandy’s capacity to appreciate the criminality of her actions or to conform to the law is very seriously impaired.” The appeal was denied by the court. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION ! Name: Antoinette Frank Age: 43 On Death Row Since Oct. 1995 Details: Before Antoinette Frank became a convicted killer on Louisiana’s death row, she was a police officer. In hindsight, anyone involved in hiring her would say Antoinette should never have been allowed in the New Orleans Police Department. Her troubled youth had led to psychological problems, about which she lied on screening forms. She failed two psychiatric evaluations and was flat-out told that she wouldn’t be hired. But, the chronically understaffed department eventually brought her on board. Antoinette spent only two years on the force before the night that would land her on death row. On March 4, Antoinette and Rogers LaCaze, a drug dealer she’d met while performing police duties, entered Kim Anh, a family- run Vietnamese restaurant. Antoinette and Rogers began demanding money. When the four siblings working at the restaurant wouldn’t tell them where the money was hidden, they shot and killed two of them–Ha and Cuong Vu. Also killed was Ronald Williams, an NOPD officer working night security at the restaurant. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION ! Name: Jason Reeves Age: Early 20’s On Death Row Since 2004 Details: Reeves kidnapped, raped and stabbed 4-year old Mary Jean Thigpen 16 times and left her in the woods. Reeves confessed to molesting the girl but did not remember killing her. In mitigation, Reeves was essentially raised by his sister until he was ten and saw an 18-wheeler crush and kill her. As a child, Reeves also was raped by a neighbor and never received any counseling. In aggravation, Reeves has a child molestation case pending. Reeves was tried previously, but the trial ended in a mistrial after a juror would not vote to convict Reeves of murder. Reeves is currently being held at Calcasieu Jail to be examined for an intellectual disability. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION ! Name: Lamondre Tucker Age: 24 On Death Row Since March 2011 Details: Convicted of killing his pregnant girlfriend, 18 year-old Tavia sills and dumping her body in a pond in Shreveport in September 2008. The body of Sills, a student at Southern University-Shreveport, was found in a pond in the Martin Luther King drive area. Tucker and his mother were later indicted for threatening a member of the jury. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION ! Name: Christopher Sepulvado Age: 71 On Death Row Since 1992 Details: Sepulvado was indicted for the first degree murder of his six year old stepson, Wesley Allen Mercer. His execution has been delayed twice due to issues with the drug to be used. The state intended to administer the same drug on Sepulvado that was used in botched executions in Ohio and Oklahoma. Questions were raised about whether Louisiana's lethal injection drugs would cause undue pain to Sepulvado and other people killed by the state. Louisiana has put state executions on hold until legal proceedings over the constitutionality of Louisiana's method of putting prisoners to death will be taken up next in court. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION ! Name: Darrell James Robinson Age: On Death Row Since 2001 Details: Darrell Robinson was found guilty in 2001 for killing Billy Lambert, 50; Carol Hooper, 54; Hooper's daughter, Maureen Kelley, 37; and Kelley's 10-month-old son, Nicholas. Darrell had been living with Billy for approximately 8 days before the murders, having met him at the V.A. hospital being treated for alcoholism. While the two were still in treatment, Billy invited him to live with him in exchange for performing chores on his farm. Several witnesses say that almost immediately after being released from treatment, Darrell began drinking again. He purchased a bottle of vodka on the morning of the murders. Robinson was sentenced to death by injection on April 9, 2001. The sentence was appealed at the state level, but in 2004 the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld the conviction and refused to rehear the matter on a later appeal. Robinson has remained on death row at the state penitentiary at Angola. DEATH ROW INMATE INFORMATION Name: Daniel T.