California | 2nd Scott Peterson trial would cost taxpayers millions

REDWOOD CITY, (KRON) — In a San Mateo County courtroom this week, Scott Peterson’s defense attorney said Peterson is broke.

San Quentin State Prison’s high-profile inmate is requesting that the state and county pay for his legal expenses as he seeks a second trial.

Peterson’s death sentence was overturned by the California Supreme Court and last month prosecutors abandoned re-seeking the death penalty. That means there won’t be a new sentencing trial.

But Peterson is fighting for his double murder conviction to also be overturned because of one juror who is accused of lying to be picked for the jury that convicted him in 2004.

Peterson’s wife, Laci, was eight months pregnant when she was murdered in Modesto and her body dumped into the San Francisco Bay in December 2002.

To this day, Laci’s family believes that her husband deserves to be executed for a crime that shocked the world.

So why did Laci’s family and Stanislaus County District Attorney Birgit Fladager agree to not re-seek the death penalty?

The answer changes depending on who you ask.

Some legal experts say the decision was made to save California taxpayers from paying millions of dollars for a sentencing trial.

Fladager has denied multiple requests for an interview with KRON4.

“She won’t do interviews with anybody,” said John Goold, a spokesman for the district attorney.

“Professional rules urge us not to make any statements outside of court that “may” impact the defendant’s due process (and) trial rights,” Goold said.

In court documents filed May 28, 2021, Fladager wrote that Laci’s family did not want to have to live through another trial.

“The People have met and discussed with the victims’ family what a new penalty trial would involve. While the family of Laci and Conner believe there is no doubt that defendant is guilty of these crimes and that his conduct warrants the death penalty and defendant is deserving of the punishment of death, the family has decided this process is simply too painful to endure once again. The decision to accept the sentence for defendant of Life Without the Possibility of Parole followed discussions with the family of the victims,” Fladager wrote.

Peterson’s attorney, Pat Harris, said the decision was a reaction to the defense team’s new evidence and suspects which cast a shadow of doubt on Peterson’s guilt.

“My reaction on this filing that they would not go forward with the death penalty is essentially they are delaying the inevitable. This case is going to get overturned eventually. The facts are coming out. More and more we are learning about what happened. We think we know who killed Laci Peterson. We think that information will come out. We prefer it to come out in a court of law,” Harris told reporters outside the courthouse Tuesday.

Former San Mateo County prosecutor Dean Johnson told KRON4 that the District Attorney’s Office is trying to save itself from embarrassment because they would likely lose a death penalty sentencing trial.

Johnson said, “There is no question that the Stanislaus County DA is nervous about this. There is new evidence. There is a real possibility that a good defense attorney can come in and create reasonable doubt about Scott Peterson’s guilt.

Johnson said, “We may sometime years down the road, actually see Scott Peterson turn around and walk out of the courtroom as a free man. And that would be a huge political embarrassment for the DA who has spent millions of dollars on this case. And would spend millions of dollars on a subsequent (retrial).”

Peterson’s entire case could restart back at square one, with a whole new trial, because of juror Richelle Nice. Defense attorney Cliff Gardener has been working on Peterson’s appeal for 14 years. This long appeals process is currently at a crucial moment because Judge Anne-Christine Massullo will soon rule whether Nice committed juror misconduct.

Johnson said, “The judge’s decision is really quite narrow. What she has to decide is: Who credible here? Is it the defense counsel who says they were mislead and the juror lied to them.

Or is it the juror who is credible who says I thought I was answering the questions I was asked correctly?”

If Peterson is granted a retrial, taxpayers will be paying millions more for both the prosecution and the defense sides.

“The county pays for the defendant’s lawyer,” Gould said.

Johnson said there have been back-and-forth discussions “behind the scenes” between San Mateo and Stanislaus counties debating which county pays for what.

“Also, at the appellate level, the Attorney General handles the case. So theoretically, the state, California as a whole, would be paying for Scott Peterson’s appellate defense,” he said.

Peterson’s next court hearing is set for June 18th in Redwood City.

At the hearing, it is expected that the Public Defender’s Office will declare that it doesn’t have the resources or time to take on a case as complex as Peterson’s appeal, and Harris will be once again formally appointed as Peterson’s attorney.

Source: kron4.com, Amy Larson, June 4, 2021

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

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Spared execution eight times, oldest inmate in US dies at 101 after 76 years behind bars

Francis Clifford Smith was given his last meal eight times. But after being spared execution each time, he went on to be regarded as the longest-serving prisoner in the US before dying in June at 101 years old. Convicted of murder in 1950 when he was 25, he always maintained his innocence, those who knew him told the BBC. Andrius Banevicius, the public information officer for Connecticut's Department of Correction, recounted how Smith used to feed the birds while in Osborn Prison, earning him the nickname The Birdman of Osborn.

Israel builds execution chamber for Palestinians convicted of murder

In March, the Knesset approved legislation that calls for the execution of Palestinians convicted by a military court of killing Israelis Israeli authorities are preparing a prison wing—replete with an execution chamber—designated specifically for Palestinian prisoners convicted of murder, Israel’s i24NEWS channel reported Tuesday. The move comes after the Knesset (Israel’s parliament) approved legislation in March that calls for the execution of Palestinian prisoners convicted by a military court of murdering Israelis.

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi 's government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday. Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.

Florida executes William Frances Silvia

Florida executed its 13th death row prisoner of the year Tuesday evening amid the state’s aggressive use of the death penalty championed by Governor Ron DeSantis. William Frances Silvia, 61, who was convicted of fatally shooting his estranged wife and injuring his mother-in-law in 2006, was pronounced dead at 6:11 p.m. after receiving the lethal three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, Silvia was already strapped to a gurney with an IV in his arm when the curtain to the death chamber went up. He remained relatively motionless with his eyes and mouth open throughout most of the execution while a priest sat at his feet and prayed.

Oklahoma executes Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez

Oklahoma has carried out 1 of 3 executions set for the same day in the United States in another sign of the resurgence of the death penalty in the country. Carlos Cuesta-Rodriguez was pronounced dead at 10:13 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 13, at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester. He was put to death by lethal injection for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 at their Oklahoma City home. He admitted to police he shot her twice during an argument. Cuesta-Rodriguez, 70, did not fight for his life, stunning his attorneys in July when he told the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board that he didn't want clemency. "It's time for me to pay for what I did," he said.

Alabama is trying a death penalty bait-and-switch

For a decade, Alabama death row inmate Jeffrey Lee has been clear that he does not want to be executed by lethal injection . But that is what awaits him on September 17 . He faces that prospect because the state has been enjoined from using nitrogen hypoxia , the alternative execution method he preferred, to put him to death. Having failed to show that its nitrogen hypoxia protocol is constitutionally acceptable, Alabama wants a do-over to force Lee to die by lethal injection as a result of its own failure. It should not get one. Alabama should only be able to put Lee to death if it can fix nitrogen hypoxia’s constitutional defects.

Texas | A Dangerous Man. At 18, Billy Joe Wardlow took a man’s life. Nearly 30 years later, the state still wants his.

Like any place humans gather, death row has a culture. Billy Wardlow says it's different in many ways from general population. One is in how new inmates are treated. "In [general population], the guys around you would try to find some way to exploit you," Wardlow said. "Death row, with a few exceptions, will often extend a hand of friendship to the 'new boot' so they can get on their feet ... Most of us get together and let each other know what we can send to the new guy." One of the cherished myths of those who support the death penalty is that it is reserved for the “worst of the worst,” those beyond redemption. Wardlow typically sends writing materials, food, clothes, and hygiene products. Recently, after receiving some of these items, a new inmate asked Wardlow what he owed him. "I told him to remember how guys helped him when he saw someone else new," Wardlow said. "Pay it forward, as the saying goes." Sending gift...

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