Appendix D

Defendants Sentenced to Death

In order from highest number of Depravity Points to lowest (and if Depravity Points are equal, then in alphabetical order by defendant’s surname)

(Numbered with the prefix “DS” denoting “Death Sentence”)

Age is given as of the time of the crime, although the age may be off by a year because of lack of knowledge of the defendant’s birthday in relation to the date of the crime.  When there are multiple murders with years in between, the defendant’s age at the time of the most recent murder is listed.

(Race of defendant is given because it is available, but no racial analysis is possible because race of the victims is unknown, as race of defendant for the cases in Appendices E and F.)

Note: There are 142 defendants in the Appendix, even though the numbers only go up to 140—there is one later-discovered defendant who has been incorporated as DS 78A, and a second later-discovered defendant who has been incorporated as 89A, making a total of 142.

DS 1.  Andrew Urdiales – white, age 31

Sentenced to death in Livingston County, Illinois

By: A jury

Date of crime: 1996

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Urdiales, a former Marine, shot and killed Cassandra Corum and dumped her body in the Vermilion River.  Urdiales confessed to killing seven other women, two in the Chicago area and five in California between 1988 and 1996.  While not mentioned in the news reports, it appears that these murders must have all involved kidnappings and sexual assaults, and death by both shooting and stabbing.  Urdiales pled not guilty by reason of insanity, but later changed his plea to guilty but mentally ill; ultimately both pleas were rejected.  In mitigation, the defense claimed Urdiales lacked mental capacity, was sexual abused and raised away from his mother.  Urdiales had been on death row for the murders of the Chicago area women, but when Governor Ryan emptied death row Urdiales’s life was spared.  However, the Corum murder case was still pending, and his death sentence in that case after the commutation made him the first Illinois prisoner to be sent back to Death Row. 

Sources: Chicago Sun-Times 5/25/04 (2004 WL 63143409), 8/18/04 (2004 WL 63153149); Chicago Tribune 4/24/04 (2004 WL 77185722), 4/25/04 (2004 WL 77186227), 5/11/04 (2004 WL 78471093), 5/25/04 (2004 WL 80030757), Press-Enterprise 5/31/03 (2003 WL 19926286) Illinois Department of Corrections: www.idoc.state.il.us

DS 2.  John Allen Muhammad—black, age 41

Sentenced to death in Prince William County, Virginia  

By: A judge, after a jury recommendation of death

Date of crime: multiple murders in 10/02

Prosecution’s case/defense response: The “Beltway Snipers” Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo committed ten murders in the Washington area and three murders in the south.  Prosecution presented numerous witnesses putting Muhammad at the scene of the shootings.  The defense objected to a judge’s ruling that enabled prosecutors to get around the requirement that allows only triggermen to be prosecuted for the death penalty under the multiple murder law.  During the sentencing phase, prosecutors presented evidence that Muhammad had already attempted to escape from jail, and when he was arrested possessed a stolen laptop which contained locations where he planned more shootings. 

Sources: L.A. Times, 11/19/03 (2003 WL 2449199), 11/25/03 (2003 WL 68900426)

DS 3.  Derrick Todd Lee – black, age 34

Sentenced to death in East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

By: A jury

Date of crime: 5/31/02

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Serial killer Lee killed 22 year-old Charlotte Murray Pace by raping and then stabbing her over 81 times with a knife and a 12-inch flat-blade screwdriver.  By the time it was over, her skull was fractured, her face disfigured and her hands bruised, suggesting that she fought her attacker.  Authorities say they have linked Lee through DNA evidence to the deaths of seven women from 1998-2003.  Defense attorneys argued that Lee should be spared the death penalty because he is retarded, putting on evidence from a neuropsychologist.  The prosecution rejects these claims, saying its psychologist and psychiatrist examined Lee and found him not to be retarded.

Sources: Houston Chronicle 10/14/2004 (2004 WL 83672635);

Times Picayune 9/12/2004 (2004 WL 83877343); 10/15/2004 (2004 WL 83884311); 10/16/2004 (2004 WL 83884416);

Charleston Gazette 9/14/2004 (2004 WL 59660424);

The Baton Rouge Advocate 9/21/2004 (2004 WL 58415216); 9/22/2004 (2004 WL 58415373);

The Sun Herald 9/22/2004 (2004 WL 92785870); 9/24/2004 (2004 WL 92786089)

DS 4.  Reinaldo Rivera—Latino, age 36

Sentenced to death in Richmond County, Georgia  

By: A jury

Date of crime: 9/4/00, victim survived until 9/9/00

Prosecution’s case/defense response:  Rivera was a serial killer.  This trial involved the rape-murder of Army Sgt. Marni Glista in her home.  Rivera also admitted to the rape-murders two 17-year-old girls in Aiken County in 1999, another of a 17-year-old girl in Augusta on 6/29/00, and the rape and attempted murder of an 18-year-old-girl in Augusta on 10/10/00 (who he later couldn’t believe had survived).  The defense did not contest guilt.  Mitigation was that he had been consumed by a sexual obsession since childhood that had eventually gotten out of control, and that he had good aspects to his life as a husband, father, and Navy veteran.  The defense asked for a verdict of guilty but mentally ill.  In the penalty phase, Rivera took the witness stand and advised the jury it should give him the death penalty because of the severity of his crimes, and because he would kill again if he were ever free.

Sources: Augusta Chronicle 1/14/04 (2004 WL 59895742), 1/15/04 (2004 WL 59895778), 1/21/04 (2004 WL 59896725), 1/24/04 (2004 WL 59897786), 1/25/04 (2004 WL 59896921), 2/13/04 (2004 WL69186228)

DS 5.  Scott Erskine – white, age 30

Sentenced to death in San Diego County, California

By: A jury

Date of crime: 3/27/93       

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Charlie Keever and Jonathan Sellers (ages 13 and 9) were molested, tortured and strangled to death by Erskine; Sellers’ body was discovered hanging from a tree.  The case went unsolved for eleven years until new DNA analysis linked Erskine to the killings.  When Erskine was charged with the boys’ murders he was already serving a 70-year sentence for rape.  He had an additional long history of sex crimes.  Erskine also pleaded guilty to murdering a woman in Florida in 1989.  The defense did not contest the killing, but asked the jury to spare Erskine life because he suffered from a brain injury when he was hit by a car at age five.  The defense argued the injury caused Erskine to lose the ability to stop sexual impulses.    

Sources: The San Diego Union-Tribune 8/29/04 (2004 WL 59002669), 9/2/04 (2004 WL 59003128), 9/5/04 (2004 WL 59003470); Los Angeles Times 9/2/04 (2004 WL 55934934)

DS 6.  Anthony Shore – white, age 30

Sentenced to death in Harris County, Texas

By: A jury

Date of crime: 4/92

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Shore was a confessed serial rapist/killer. The crime for which he was on trial was the kidnap/rape/strangulation of Maria Del Carmen Estrada (21).  Shore described to police he was hearing voices that he had to possess Estrada.  Shore also confessed to killing Laurie Lee Tremblay (15) in 1986, Dana Sanchez (16) in 1995, and Diana Rebollar (9) in 1994.  Two of these three victims were raped.  He had also been convicted of sexually assaulting two family members.  These convictions put him in the DNA database, which then led to his being tied to the Estrada murder when some fingernail scrapings were analyzed that had not been tested earlier.  Shore insisted his counsel not cross-examine witnesses, and not present mitigating evidence because he wanted a death sentence.     

Sources: Houston Chronicle 10/21/04 (2004 WL 83674099), 10/23/04 (2004 WL 83674728), 10/28/04 (2004 WL 83675731)

DS 7.  James Lee Crummel – white, age 35

Sentenced to death in Riverside County, California

By: A jury

Date of crime: 4/79     

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Thirteen year old, Jamey Trotter, was kidnapped, sexually abused, and murdered.  Crummel showed authorities to Trotter’s remains in 1990, claiming he just ran across the body while hiking.  It took seven years for police to determine the remains were Trotter’s and to prove Crummel was the killer.  Crummel sexually assaulted at least ten children in the past four decades, and was already sentenced to life in prison for his past molestation.  The prosecution’s case presented circumstantial evidence and the testimony of a jailhouse informant.  During the punishment phase, the defense argued Crummel should receive life imprisonment because he suffered from brain damages as a result from severe beatings as a child. 

Sources: Los Angeles Times 6/8/04 (2004 WL 55918035); The Press-Enterprise 6/14/04 ((2004 WL 77926034), Monterey County Herald 7/11/04 (2004 WL 80127059)

DS 8.  Joseph Clarence Smith, Jr.—white, age about 25 (re-sentencing after an appellate reversal)

Sentenced to death in Maricopa County, Arizona

By: A jury

Date of crime: late 1975

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Smith kidnapped two teenaged female hitchhikers in separate incidents, took them into the desert, bound them, suffocated them by forcing dirt into their noses and mouths, and then taping their mouths.  He then inflicted perverse injuries on their corpses.  Smith had other convictions for rape.  This was at least Smith’s second re-sentencing after an appellate reversal.

Sources: State v. Smith, 569 P.2d 817 (Ariz. 1977); State v. Smith, 599 P.2d 187 (Ariz. 1979); State v. Smith, 599 P.2d 199 (Ariz. 1979); State v. Smith, 638 P.2d 696 (Ariz. 1981).

DS 9.  Juan Raul Navarro Ramirez—Latino, age 19

Sentenced to death in Hidalgo County, Texas

By: A jury

Date of crime: 1/5/03

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Twelve members of a gang burglarized two adjacent homes demanding drugs, money, and weapons.  They shot and killed six persons using automatic rifles.  Ramirez was the first of the twelve to go on trial.  No information is available concerning the defense approach to the case.

Sources:  Houston Chronicle 1/7/03 (2003 WL 3228926), 1/17/03 (2003 WL 3230985), San Antonio Express-News 1/25/03 (2003 WL 5584471), 2/1/03 (2003 WL 5584988), 2/15/ 03 (2003 WL 5586189), 12/21/04 (2004 WL 104083618)

DS 10.  Virendra “Victor” Govin – Asian, age 35

Sentenced to death in Los Angeles County, California

By: A jury

Date of crime: 5/4/02

Prosecution’s case/defense response: Govin and his brother owned a motel that bordered the victims’ motel.  Both motel owners wanted to expand their businesses and use the common alley for different purposes.  Govin killed four members of the Patel family by strangling them and then setting their home on fire.  The prosecution case was based on the testimony of Govin’s co-defendant, Carlos Amador.  Amador testified he and the Govin brothers robbed the home, and saw Govin strangle the victims.  The jury gave Govin the death penalty because he committed multiple murders and killed for financial gain.  The defense argued that Amador lied and in actuality he was the mastermind behind the killings.  The defense also disputed that Govin had a business argument with the Patels. 

Sources: Los Ang