Post by Anja on Jun 9, 2006 2:05:56 GMT -5
Death row inmate likely won't appeal
A death row inmate who said at trial that he enjoyed killing his victims
likely won't pursue appeals that could postpone his Aug. 8 execution, his
lawyer said Wednesday.
If Darrell Ferguson continues to refuse his appeals, he would be the 6th
inmate to do so since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, state prisons
spokeswoman Andrea Dean said.
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to reconsider its affirmation
of Ferguson's conviction and sentence in the stabbing and beating deaths
of Thomas King and Arlie and Mae Fugate of Dayton in 2001. The court also
moved the execution from July 26 to Aug. 8.
King, 61, was killed Dec. 26, 2001. Arlie Fugate, 68, and his wife, Mae,
69, were killed the next day. Prosecutors said Ferguson stabbed the
victims and stomped them with steel-toed boots.
Ferguson, 28, decided not to pursue appeals available in federal courts,
said Gary Crim, his lawyer.
"He's not appealing anything at this point," Crim said.
Ferguson would have one year from the court's April 12 ruling to begin
federal appeals, Borror said.
At his sentencing in 2003, Ferguson stunned the victims' families by
boasting about the slayings.
"I took the satisfaction ... of killing your loved ones with pleasure. And
I enjoyed it," Ferguson said. "If I was free to go back in society, I'd
pick up where I left off."
In its April ruling, the Supreme Court rejected claims from Ferguson's
attorneys that Ferguson did not get a fair competency evaluation because
it was performed by a psychologist, not a psychiatrist, and did not
include test results that could have helped the court assess his mental
state.
"Ferguson stated in graphic terms that he took great satisfaction in
killing his victims, felt no sorrow for his victims or their surviving
family members," Justice Alice Robie Resnick wrote. "Thus, by his own
words, Ferguson is a remorseless, sadistic and incorrigible killer."
The spate of inmates giving up their appeals is troubling, but little can
be done to intervene, said Alice Gerdeman, chairwoman of Ohioans to Stop
Executions.
"When somebody refuses their rightful appeals it disturbs me, because a
human life is being taken," Gerdeman said.
Gerdeman said her group would write to Gov. Bob Taft and ask him to grant
Ferguson clemency. Of the 22 death penalty cases to come up for clemency,
Taft has granted it once.
(source: Associated Press)
A death row inmate who said at trial that he enjoyed killing his victims
likely won't pursue appeals that could postpone his Aug. 8 execution, his
lawyer said Wednesday.
If Darrell Ferguson continues to refuse his appeals, he would be the 6th
inmate to do so since Ohio resumed executions in 1999, state prisons
spokeswoman Andrea Dean said.
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to reconsider its affirmation
of Ferguson's conviction and sentence in the stabbing and beating deaths
of Thomas King and Arlie and Mae Fugate of Dayton in 2001. The court also
moved the execution from July 26 to Aug. 8.
King, 61, was killed Dec. 26, 2001. Arlie Fugate, 68, and his wife, Mae,
69, were killed the next day. Prosecutors said Ferguson stabbed the
victims and stomped them with steel-toed boots.
Ferguson, 28, decided not to pursue appeals available in federal courts,
said Gary Crim, his lawyer.
"He's not appealing anything at this point," Crim said.
Ferguson would have one year from the court's April 12 ruling to begin
federal appeals, Borror said.
At his sentencing in 2003, Ferguson stunned the victims' families by
boasting about the slayings.
"I took the satisfaction ... of killing your loved ones with pleasure. And
I enjoyed it," Ferguson said. "If I was free to go back in society, I'd
pick up where I left off."
In its April ruling, the Supreme Court rejected claims from Ferguson's
attorneys that Ferguson did not get a fair competency evaluation because
it was performed by a psychologist, not a psychiatrist, and did not
include test results that could have helped the court assess his mental
state.
"Ferguson stated in graphic terms that he took great satisfaction in
killing his victims, felt no sorrow for his victims or their surviving
family members," Justice Alice Robie Resnick wrote. "Thus, by his own
words, Ferguson is a remorseless, sadistic and incorrigible killer."
The spate of inmates giving up their appeals is troubling, but little can
be done to intervene, said Alice Gerdeman, chairwoman of Ohioans to Stop
Executions.
"When somebody refuses their rightful appeals it disturbs me, because a
human life is being taken," Gerdeman said.
Gerdeman said her group would write to Gov. Bob Taft and ask him to grant
Ferguson clemency. Of the 22 death penalty cases to come up for clemency,
Taft has granted it once.
(source: Associated Press)