Tag Archive for 'death penalty'

Judge says he’ll find Death Row inmate competent

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Steve Lannen
on November 7, 2008
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Associated Press

A Kentucky death row inmate who is pushing to be swiftly executed will likely be found competent to fire the public defenders who have been fighting his death sentence, a judge and attorneys said at a hearing Friday.

The finding could clear the way to executing 36-year-old Marco Allen Chapman, who is currently scheduled for lethal injection on Nov. 21.

Even though Chapman dismissed his lawyers in 2004 before pleading guilty to murder and asking for a death sentence, public defenders have continued to file motions on his behalf, questioning his competency.

Special Judge Roger Crittenden has scheduled another hearing next week to hear testimony from a doctor who examined Chapman. The judge said he would likely declare Chapman competent.

Chapman admitted to killing two children and attacking their sister and sexually assaulting their mother in 2004 in the northern Kentucky town of Warsaw.

Public defender Heather McGregor said if an order declaring Chapman competent is issued, defense attorneys will hold up their end of a deal made with the inmate and withdraw two pending motions in the Kentucky Supreme Court trying to stop the execution.

“If he’s found competent, we will voluntarily withdraw from the case,” McGregor said.

Chapman told the court on Friday that once those motions are withdrawn, he wants the execution to go forward.

“I’m competent,” Chapman told the court by telephone from prison. “I’ve already made my decisions.”

Chapman sued the Department of Public Advocacy seeking a judge’s order allowing him to fire the public defenders. The hearing on Friday was on a request to allow the state Attorney General’s office to intervene in the lawsuit, which the judge granted.

Carolyn Marksberry, the mother of the victims and a survivor of the attack, attended the hearing Friday, but declined to speak to a reporter.

It is a policy of The Associated Press not to name victims of sexual assault in most cases; however, Marksberry has discussed her ordeal in national television broadcasts.

EARLIER: Marco Chapman coverage.

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Attorney seek stay of execution for child killer

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Steve Lannen
on October 27, 2008
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FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Attorneys are seeking a stay of execution for a confessed child killer who has volunteered to be put to death.
The Kentucky Supreme Court cleared the way last week for Marco Allen Chapman to become the first death row inmate executed in the state in nearly 10 years. The execution date is set for Nov. 21.
Chapman dismissed his public defenders in 2004, entered a guilty plea and asked to be put to death.
The public defenders questioned Chapman’s competency in one motion for a stay. In another, they argued that Chapman shouldn’t be executed until appeals are exhausted in a separate case that questions the validity of Kentucky’s execution protocol. That case is pending before the state Supreme Court.

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Trial reset for man in killing of parents

Published
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H-L Justice Team
on August 28, 2008
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WILLIAMSTOWN — The murder trial of a northern Kentucky man accused of killing his parents will be conducted this fall.

The Kentucky Enquirer reported lawyers for 23-year-old Russell Bramlage were granted a two-week delay on Wednesday in Grant Circuit Court in Williamstown. That delays the start of trial from Sept. 30 to Oct. 14.

Bramlage is accused of fatally shooting his mother and father in their home on or about Nov. 9, 2007.

Their deaths were discovered after Dr. Terry Bramlage failed to show up at his dental practice.

His body and that of his wife Lynda Bramlage were discovered about four days after they were killed.

Russell Bramlage has pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder, robbery, possession of a forged instrument and tampering with evidence.

The state is not seeking the death penalty.

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