Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 9, 2006 10:05:03 GMT -5
Neb. court won't rule on death penalty
10:10 AM
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday refused to weigh in on whether a gunman in the 2002 Norfolk bank murders can face the death penalty.
Attorneys for Erick Vela, the last of those convicted in the case, had argued he was mentally impaired and thus ineligible for capital punishment.
District Judge Patrick Rogers of Norfolk rejected that claim in May.
Rogers said attorneys failed to prove Vela was mentally retarded as defined by the state.
The high court said it could not rule in the matter because Vela has yet to be sentenced.
"The trial court must pronounce sentence before a criminal conviction is a final judgment," the court said in an unsigned opinion. "This court's jurisdiction, if any, is premised on the existence of a final, appealable order."
Vela is to be sentenced by a three-judge panel. A date has not been set.
Vela is represented by Jeffery Pickens of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy and by Mark Albin.
They hired an expert who put Vela's intelligence quotient at 66. An IQ of 70 or lower is presumptive evidence of mental retardation in Nebraska. Under state law, people who are mentally retarded cannot be put to death.
Their assertion of Vela's IQ was disputed by Madison County Attorney Joe Smith, who said two other -- and more complete -- tests rated Vela's IQ higher than 70.
Vela, Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez have been convicted of killing five people in a U.S. Bank branch on Sept. 26, 2002.
Sandoval and Galindo were each sentenced to five death sentences. Rodriguez, who acted as a lookout, was sentenced to consecutive life sentences.
After Rodriguez left the bank, Vela, Sandoval and Galindo entered and soon shot and killed customer Evonne Tuttle and employees Jo Mausbach, Sam Sun, Lisa Bryant and Lola Elwood
www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2006/09/08/news/latest_news/5caa74dfb45a5238862571e3005184fc.txt
10:10 AM
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- The Nebraska Supreme Court on Friday refused to weigh in on whether a gunman in the 2002 Norfolk bank murders can face the death penalty.
Attorneys for Erick Vela, the last of those convicted in the case, had argued he was mentally impaired and thus ineligible for capital punishment.
District Judge Patrick Rogers of Norfolk rejected that claim in May.
Rogers said attorneys failed to prove Vela was mentally retarded as defined by the state.
The high court said it could not rule in the matter because Vela has yet to be sentenced.
"The trial court must pronounce sentence before a criminal conviction is a final judgment," the court said in an unsigned opinion. "This court's jurisdiction, if any, is premised on the existence of a final, appealable order."
Vela is to be sentenced by a three-judge panel. A date has not been set.
Vela is represented by Jeffery Pickens of the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy and by Mark Albin.
They hired an expert who put Vela's intelligence quotient at 66. An IQ of 70 or lower is presumptive evidence of mental retardation in Nebraska. Under state law, people who are mentally retarded cannot be put to death.
Their assertion of Vela's IQ was disputed by Madison County Attorney Joe Smith, who said two other -- and more complete -- tests rated Vela's IQ higher than 70.
Vela, Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Gabriel Rodriguez have been convicted of killing five people in a U.S. Bank branch on Sept. 26, 2002.
Sandoval and Galindo were each sentenced to five death sentences. Rodriguez, who acted as a lookout, was sentenced to consecutive life sentences.
After Rodriguez left the bank, Vela, Sandoval and Galindo entered and soon shot and killed customer Evonne Tuttle and employees Jo Mausbach, Sam Sun, Lisa Bryant and Lola Elwood
www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2006/09/08/news/latest_news/5caa74dfb45a5238862571e3005184fc.txt