Fla. High Court Vacates Paul Johnson’s Death Sentences

New penalty phases to be held for murderer Paul Beasley Johnson.

The original report by Suzie Schottelkotte & Jason Geary appeared in the Lakeland Ledger.

Shelia Meehan provided this abstract:

Paul Beasley Johnson’s death sentence was vacated by the Florida Supreme Court and he will now get a new Penalty Phase hearing.  In murder cases there are two phases — 1) guilt or innocence, and 2) penalty.  Governor Crist signed Johnson’s death warrant just a couple of months ago following an on-line petition effort by the local sheriff.  Mr. Johnson will now get a new penalty phase hearing because the Florida Supreme Court found that there was serious misconduct by the prosecutors during his original trial almost 30 years ago.

Death Warrant Signed/TCADP Meeting noon today

Gov. Crist signed the warrant Jan. 12 for 44-year-old Martin Grossman. Florida State Prison warden Steven Singer then set the execution by lethal injection for Feb. 16 at 6 p.m.

This makes it even more urgent that you take the time to attend today our planning meeting for the training session we’ll conduct Sat. Feb. 27 to educate advocates for ending the death penalty.

We’re meeting today from noon-1:30 on the first floor of the annex of First Presbyterian Church, 110 N. Adams St. This is the two story building across from the courthouse.

Even if you can’t stay the whole time, please come and share your ideas about the content of the workshop and what we can do to attract many supporters to the training.

Thank you for your interest in this important human rights issue.

Louise Ritchie

Chair, TCADP

Crist signs death warrant for park ranger killer

FLORIDA—-new execution date

Gov. Charlie Crist signed a death warrant for Martin Grossman, convicted
of murdering a Pinellas County wildlife officer in 1984. Grossman is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection on Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. Read More

The Florida Supreme Court denies a death-sentence appeal Thursday

Bill Cotterell
Florida Capital Bureau

The Florida Supreme Court denied a death-sentence appeal Thursday in the case of a Fort Myers man who refused to let lawyers show mitigating facts that might have kept him off of Death Row.

After being found guilty of murder, the court said, Mark Twilegar waived a jury in the penalty phase of his trial. The ruling said he stated, “I would rather do the death penalty and just get it over with.” He filed an affidavit saying presentation of mitigating factors would violate his right to privacy, amount to an admission of guilt and violate his religious rights.

Twilegar was convicted of fatally shooting David Thomas in Fort Myers on Aug. 7, 2002.

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Equal Justice USA

This is an excellent source for information nationally. Recommended by Shelia Meehan.

Group Gives Up Death Penalty Work New York Times Sidebar

Adam Liptak’s column about the legal world appears weekly. Columnist Page »

Times Topics: Capital Punishment

Last fall, the American Law Institute, which created the intellectual framework for the modern capital justice system almost 50 years ago, pronounced its project a failure and walked away from it.

There were other important death penalty developments last year: the number of death sentences continued to fall, Ohio switched to a single chemical for lethal injections and New Mexico repealed its death penalty entirely. But not one of them was as significant as the institute’s move, which represents a tectonic shift in legal theory. Read More