death penalty news—-TEXAS

April 15

TEXAS:

State seeks death penalty in capital murder case

An Angelina County state prosecutor said Tuesday that the state is seeking
the death penalty for a Lufkin man accused of shooting and killing his
pregnant girlfriend at the couple's home more than a year ago.

Art Bauereiss, an assistant prosecutor in the Angelina County District
Attorney's Office who is handling the case, did not comment further on the
state's decision.

Darrel D'juan Ivey, 21, who is being held in Angelina County Jail, is
expected to be tried for capital murder July 7, which is also his
birthday.

He is accused of shooting Claudia Rodriguez, 20, in the head Feb. 13,
2007, resulting in her and her unborn child's death. She was 6 months
pregnant.

Ivey's defense attorney, Charles Meyers of Lufkin, was not immediately
available for comment Tuesday.

According to police, Ivey called 911 and requested emergency help after he
said Rodriguez, his live-in girlfriend, had shot herself in an apparent
suicide attempt. The 2 had been living together in a house off Lakeview
near Kurth Drive.

When officers arrived they found Rodriguez lying on the living room floor
with a gunshot wound above her left eye. A 9mm pistol was recovered near
her body, and police determined Ivey to be the shooter, LPD spokesman Lt.
David Young said in a previous interview.

Police arrested Ivey and later charged him with 2 counts of capital murder
after Rodriguez and her unborn child died at a local hospital.

Under Texas law, capital murder applies to the intentional killing of two
or more people, killing a child under the age of 5 and killing someone
while committing another specified felony offense.

Police have also charged Ivey with possession of ecstasy and cocaine,
which were allegedly found inside the home during the investigation.

At the time, Ivey was attending classes at a state prison guard training
academy in Woodville. He had enrolled in the program 13 days prior to the
shooting incident.

He is being held in jail on a $500,000 bond.

Texas is 1 of 38 states to administer a form of the death penalty to
inmates convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Last year the
highest court of criminal appeals in Texas placed an indefinite halt on
death row executions until the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether a form
of lethal injection is constituted cruel and unusual punishment barred
under the Eighth Amendment.

The ruling came Oct. 2 after the court stayed the lethal injection of
Heliberto Chi, a 28-year-old Honduran man who was scheduled to be put to
death that week, according to a report by The New York Times. Chi was
convicted of killing the manager of a men's story in Arlington in 2001.

The last person Texas put to death was Michael Wayne Richards on Sept. 25.
Richards was convicted in 1986 of sexually assaulting, shooting, killing
and robbing a 53-year-old woman in Hockley. Angelina County currently has
2 offenders on death row: David Lee Lewis, 42, and Harvey Earvin, 50.

(source: Lufkin Daily News)

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Hearing held for couple facing death penalty

A man and woman facing the death penalty in connection with the beating
death of a 2-year-old last September appeared Monday for pretrial hearings
in a Bowie County courtroom.

Neil Patrick Dewitts lawyer, Jeff Harrelson, will be assisted by Texarkana
attorney Sean Rommel. In cases in which the state is seeking the death
penalty, at least 2 lawyers must make up the defense team. Finding
attorneys certified and willing to do so has been an issue in the case.

Latoya Smiths attorney, Craig Henry, is in Florida and did not appear at
her hearing.

(source: Texarkana Gazette)

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Final defendant in deadly Victoria smuggling faces life

One after one they crowded into the back of a trailer, their biggest fear
detection hundreds or thousands of dollars wasted in a vain attempt to
slip into the United States.

Comfort was never part of the bargain, but the journey north on a
sweltering spring day in May 2003 wasn't supposed to go like this, with
ferocious heat and no air to breathe or water to drink.

When truck driver Tyrone Williams finally pulled his rig over at a
Victoria truck stop, 19 of the estimated 75 occupants were dead.
Prosecutors called it a "rolling chamber of death" and have spent the past
five years holding everyone in the human smuggling operation accountable.

The final postscript was written Monday when Octavio Torres Ortega, 42,
pleaded guilty to one conspiracy count. A sentence will be imposed in
September. He could get life in prison.

Next month marks the fifth anniversary of the worst smuggling disaster in
U.S. history.

"The 19 people that died should be remembered, and all this signifies is,
hopefully, that justice has taken one more step toward addressing this
horrible tragedy," lead prosecutor Daniel Rodriguez said after Monday's
hearing.

Torres, who is named in all but 2 charges of a 60-count indictment,
admitted a role in illegal crossings from Mexico into the United States
and in arranging transportation to a drop house in Harlingen. He fled to
Mexico after the incident and was apprehended at his home in San Luis
Potosi after U.S. authorities obtained a provisional arrest warrant.

Defense lawyer Steven J. Rozan said he will seek to persuade U.S. District
Judge Vanessa Gilmore to minimize Torres' time behind bars because he was
not a leader in the smuggling scheme.

"This is a complex case that has gone through several trials, and I am
very keenly and poignantly aware of some inconsistent testimony between
various material witnesses," he said. "His role assessment will control,
to a great degree, the actual amount of time he will get."

In all, 14 people were charged. Williams was target No. 1, prosecutors
said, because he could have prevented the loss of life. In an
unprecedented move, federal prosecutors sought the death penalty for him.
After one mistrial, a jury decided on a life sentence.

Cries for help unanswered

The dead, who succumbed to heat exhaustion, ranged in age from 5 to 91.
The truck contained immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and
Honduras. All were headed for Houston on U.S. 77 on a day when the high
temperature reached 90 degrees, close to a record high for the date.

The fatal trip started at a safe house in Harlingen. The passengers went
there after making their way across the border from Mexico individually,
said Eduardo Ibarrola, Mexico's consul general in Houston. Then they were
loaded onto the truck trailer, which was equipped with refrigeration
equipment that was not working or not turned on.

A few hours later, as the heat began to take a toll, the human cargo
desperately tried to get help. They stripped off their clothes and tore at
the insulation lining the locked trailer. They managed to punch a small
hole in the rear and tried to signal passing motorists with a bandana. One
driver called Kingsville police, but the call was not taken seriously. One
of those trapped used a cell phone to call 911 and beg for help. But the
dispatcher apparently could not make sense of the call.

Williams drove on, ignoring the banging and shouting coming from the rear,
telling a female companion to "shut the (expletive) up" when she begged
him to stop. Finally, at about 2 a.m., he stopped in Victoria, opened the
trailer and was stunned by what he saw. He quickly unhitched the trailer
and drove on to Houston, leaving behind a tableau of misery that shocked
authorities when they arrived at the truck stop.

'Unprecedented'

Smuggling cases are all too routine for federal prosecutors along the
southern border. But this was different, not only for the sheer number of
dead but because of the indifference they said was shown by the driver
paid to bring them to Houston.

"This is by all counts a smuggling tragedy of unprecedented proportions,"
said Mike Shelby, then local U.S. attorney. "We're going to prosecute the
entire organization."

Though Shelby died before prosecutions were completed, all those believed
to be involved in the operation were charged. One was acquitted, and
charges were dropped against another. Two defendants were released after
time served. 2 are awaiting punishment and are expected to be sent to
prison. The others were sent to prison.

The leader of the operation, Karla Patricia Chavez Joya, received a
sentence of 17 years and 5 months. She had taken over the smuggling ring
when her husband was imprisoned.

"If I could give my life to save the lives of those people, I would do
it," she said at her sentencing. "I ask for forgiveness from the families
of those people."

Most of the victims were returned to their native land for burial. Father
Miguel Solorzano, now pastor of the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church
in north Houston, recalled helping with services for some of them before
their bodies were flown to Mexico.

Solorzano does not advocate crossing the border illegally but said a legal
method of entry is needed for guest workers.

"I wish there was immigration reform so people wouldn't have to pay for
smugglers, and those who want to work in U.S. could get a temporary work
visa," the priest said, "and cross with dignity as a human being and not
in this humiliating and dangerous way to be smuggled in a truck and die.
It is terrible. Even children died."

THE CONSPIRATORS

Tyrone Mapletoft Williams Jr.: The truck driver was convicted of ignoring
the plight of an estimated 100 illegal immigrants stuffed into a sealed
trailer he towed; found guilty on 58 smuggling counts, 20 of which carried
a possible death sentence; was the only one of 14 defendants to face the
death penalty in the botched smuggling scheme that left 19 people dead.

Karla Patricia Chavez Joya: Leader of the smuggling operation; pleaded
guilty to conspiracy and received 17 years and five months in prison;
prosecutors appealed and are seeking a life sentence; she testified as a
defense witness against 3 other smugglers but refused to testify against
Williams for fear it would jeopardize her appeal.

Abelardo Flores Jr.: Chavez Joya lieutenant who gave Williams $7,500
cash; pleaded guilty and testified against Williams in hopes of a lighter
sentence; sentencing set for September.

Fredy Giovanni Garcia Tobar: Convicted of conspiracy for taking Williams
to meet the smugglers; found guilty of 39 counts; sentenced to 15 years in
prison.

Victor Sanchez Rodriguez: A leader of the group of smugglers associated
with Chavez Joya; convicted of conspiracy among 18 counts; sentenced to 23
years, 4 months in prison.

Emma Sapata Rodriguez: Wife of convicted accomplice Victor Sanchez
Rodriguez; convicted of 15 counts including conspiracy; sentenced to 15
years in prison.

Victor Jesus Rodriguez: Son of accused ringleader; convicted of bringing
illegal immigrants to a safe house near Brownsville; sentenced to 20
years, 7 months in prison.

Octavio Torres Ortega: Accused of leading a smaller group of smugglers
working with Chavez Joya; allowed to remain in Mexico because he claimed
Mexican citizenship; has pleaded guilty to conspiracy; awaiting
sentencing.

Rosa Maria Serratac: Convicted of providing a haven for smuggled
immigrants in a San Benito house; serving a prison sentence of 12 years, 7
months.

Norma Gonzlez Sanchez: Houston restaurant owner who arranged for Chavez
Joya's organization to transport two illegal immigrants; pleaded guilty to
conspiracy and sentenced to time served.

Claudia Araceli Carrizales Gonzalez: Acquitted; was accused of running a
sham restaurant used as a safe house and of being the "right arm" of
Chavez Joya.

Fatima Holloway: Accompanied Williams on the journey that ended in 19
deaths; testified against Williams, saying she yelled at him to let the
immigrants out; pleaded guilty to conspiracy; released after only 3 days
served because of the assistance and testimony she gave prosecutors.

Juan Carlos Don Juan Gaytn: Pleaded guilty to harboring and transporting
charges for assisting in a scheme to hold for ransom the child of a woman
who survived the trailer ride; he was sentenced and released after serving
14 months.

Erica Cardenas: Charges dropped; accused of assisting her husband, Juan
Carlos Don Juan Gaytn, in the ransom scheme.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

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State seeks death penalty in capital murder case set for July