New Orleans has its Deadliest Stretch in Six Years: With 19 murders over the past 18 days, New Orleans is experiencing what crime analysts describe as the city's bloodiest stretch of time since 2010. Paul Murphy of WWL reports that there were 25 killings last month, the most the city has had since January 2012, and dating all the way back to 2008, "it's amongst the top 5 most violent months in terms of murders." So far this year, 96 people have been murdered in the city, a slight decrease from the same point last year, when 114 had been killed. Even still, residents are fearful; one man says he's moving out the state where he feels safer. Hopefully NOPD Deputy Chief Paul Noel is right when he says the bloodshed is a spike in violent crime, not a long term trend.
Victims' Families Oppose DE Death Penalty Ruling: Following the Delaware Supreme Court's Tuesday ruling that the state's death penalty law is unconstitutional, the fate of the state's 13 death row inmates is uncertain, leaving the victims' families mournful. Brittany Horn of the News Journal reports that Ruth Ann Spicer, mother of Chad Spicer, a Georgetown police officer shot in the line of duty in 2009 by Derrick Powell, doesn't believe her son's killer should have his sentence changed. "I feel that those people that went through a trial and their sentences were given to them, that is the sentence they were given," she says. "That is the sentence they deserve." Royce Seifert, son of Phillip Siefert, who was killed in 1991 by Jermaine Wright, agrees. "This decision is just the continued trend in our nation of departures from sound, judicial foundations," he says. "Life imprisonment, well, that's not equal." Wright has been granted a retrial after the court overturned his conviction, surrounding his case with even more uncertainty. The state high court concluded that by giving judges rather than juries the final say when imposing a death sentence, the state violates the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It's not clear if the state Attorney General's office will appeal the ruling, and passing a new law to change the language and existing statute is unlikely. The last person executed in Delaware was Shannon Johnson in 2012.
Victims' Families Oppose DE Death Penalty Ruling: Following the Delaware Supreme Court's Tuesday ruling that the state's death penalty law is unconstitutional, the fate of the state's 13 death row inmates is uncertain, leaving the victims' families mournful. Brittany Horn of the News Journal reports that Ruth Ann Spicer, mother of Chad Spicer, a Georgetown police officer shot in the line of duty in 2009 by Derrick Powell, doesn't believe her son's killer should have his sentence changed. "I feel that those people that went through a trial and their sentences were given to them, that is the sentence they were given," she says. "That is the sentence they deserve." Royce Seifert, son of Phillip Siefert, who was killed in 1991 by Jermaine Wright, agrees. "This decision is just the continued trend in our nation of departures from sound, judicial foundations," he says. "Life imprisonment, well, that's not equal." Wright has been granted a retrial after the court overturned his conviction, surrounding his case with even more uncertainty. The state high court concluded that by giving judges rather than juries the final say when imposing a death sentence, the state violates the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. It's not clear if the state Attorney General's office will appeal the ruling, and passing a new law to change the language and existing statute is unlikely. The last person executed in Delaware was Shannon Johnson in 2012.
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