Arthur Gales was sentenced to death by the State of Nebraska for the murder of two children. According to court documents was over at the victims home when he would leave the apartment with the mother who would be severely beaten. Arthur Gales realizing the children could identify him as being with their mother would return to the apartment where he sexually assaulted the thirteen year old girl before killing her by strangulation. Arthur Gales would also kill a seven year old boy by drowning and strangulation. When police found the mother severely beaten on the street they would return to her home where they found the bodies of the two children. Arthur Gales would be arrested, convicted on both murders and sentenced to death.
Evidence at trial revealed that Gales had been at Judy’s apartment in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 11, 2000, with Judy and her children, Latara and Tramar. Judy was found near 15th and Grace Streets in Omaha on the morning of November 12. She had been severely beaten. After Judy was identified, police went to Judy’s apartment to check on the children and discovered 13-year-old Latara’s body, nude from the waist down, in a bedroom. Seven-year-old Tramar’s body was found lying in a bathtub. Autopsies indicated that Latara was killed by manual strangulation and that Tramar died from drowning and manual strangulation. The pathologist testified that each child had suffered at least 4 minutes of compression of the neck before death. Latara had been sexually assaulted.
The State’s theory of the case was that Gales and Judy left Judy’s children at her apartment on the evening of November 11, 2000, and that Gales later severely beat Judy and left her for dead. The State contended that Gales realized the children were potential witnesses who could place him with Judy that evening; therefore, he went back to the apartment and killed them. The State presented DNA evidence which linked Gales to both crime scenes and excluded other potential suspects. The DNA evidence particularly linked Gales to the sexual assault of Latara. Gales did not testify or offer evidence at trial and did not dispute the State’s general theory of how the children were killed; instead, his defense was that he was not the person who assaulted Judy and killed the children. However, Gales is not, for purposes of this appeal, challenging the factual basis for his convictions.
On August 27, 2001, the jury returned a verdict finding Gales guilty of two counts of first degree murder and one count of attempted second degree murder. A sentencing hearing was conducted by the judge who presided over the trial. The court found certain aggravating circumstances to exist, and based upon those findings, Gales was sentenced to death for each of the first degree murder convictions.
Raymond Mata was sentenced to death by the State of Nebraska for the murder of a child. According to court documents Raymond Mata was upset that his girlfriend was pregnant by another man so he kidnapped the three year old child. Raymond Mata would return back to the home without the child denying he knew where he was. The child would be reported missing and later the police would find a package in Mata’s sister home that contained a crushed skull. Raymond Mata had murdered the child, dismembered him and allegedly fed part of the remains to a dog. Raymond Mata was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Adam was the son of Patricia Gomez (Patricia) and Robert Billie, who had lived together for 5 years before Billie moved out of their Scottsbluff, Nebraska, residence in September 1998. Adam remained with Patricia, although there was no legal custody arrangement. Patricia and Mata began dating shortly thereafter, and Mata moved in with Patricia and Adam in October or November. Patricia later told police that although Mata did not treat Adam badly, Mata consistently expressed resentment of Adam and thought that Adam was “in the way all the time.”
Mata moved out of Patricia’s residence on February 10, 1999, and moved in with his sister, Monica Mata (Monica). Monica was also Patricia’s best friend. That evening, Patricia and Billie spent the night together and had sexual relations. Patricia obtained a restraining order against Mata on February 11, but continued to see Mata, and on February 14, Patricia and Mata had sexual relations.
In late February, Patricia found out that she was pregnant. She told Monica, who in turn told Mata. Mata instructed Monica to accompany Patricia to Patricia’s doctor’s appointment, to find out when the child was conceived. Patricia was told that the child was conceived between February 7 and 10. Monica told Mata, who told Monica that the child was not his. On March 8, Mata confronted Billie at a party regarding Billie’s relationship with Patricia, and on the next afternoon, Mata confronted Patricia, who told Mata about her sexual encounter with Billie.
On March 11, 1999, Patricia and Billie took Adam to a doctor’s appointment; they were seen by an acquaintance of Mata who told Mata that the three had been together. Mata made repeated attempts that day to compel Patricia to come to Monica’s residence to visit him. Patricia refused, so that evening, Mata went to Patricia’s residence. Adam was watching television until Mata sent him to bed. According to Patricia’s testimony, she fell asleep on the loveseat in the living room while Mata watched television. Patricia said that when she woke up, Adam and Mata were gone, as was the sleeping bag that Adam had been using as a blanket.
Patricia telephoned Mata on his cellular telephone at 3:37 a.m. Mata told Patricia that he did not know where Adam was. Mata came to Patricia’s residence immediately. According to Patricia, Mata told her that Adam was probably with Billie or Patricia’s mother. Patricia went back to sleep, and Mata spent the night. Patricia testified that she attempted to contact Billie and her mother the next day, but was unable to do so immediately. When Patricia’s mother called her and asked how Adam was, Patricia told her mother that Adam was fine. Patricia later spoke to Billie, and Billie said that Adam was not with him. Patricia also asked Monica if she knew where Adam was, and Monica said she did not know. Patricia said that at this point, she still thought Adam was with Billie, because Billie had been complaining about not having enough time with Adam. Patricia testified that Mata told her not to call the police, “because they couldn’t do anything anyways ‘til after 24 hours.”
On the following day, Saturday, March 13, 1999, Mata took Patricia to Grand Island, Nebraska, and the two did not return to Scottsbluff until Sunday morning. Sunday night, Mata asked Monica to go to Cheyenne, Wyoming, accompanied by Jesse Lopez, who was the father of Monica’s son and who was staying with Monica at the time. They agreed and departed at about 11 p.m., leaving Mata alone in the residence. Monica was unable to locate the person Mata asked her to meet in Cheyenne, and she and Lopez returned home at about 4:30 on the morning of Monday, March 15. After returning, Monica found that the sewerline from the residence was clogged.
That afternoon, Patricia spoke with her sister, who came to Patricia’s residence. Mata was there when Patricia’s sister arrived. Patricia decided to call the police and report Adam’s disappearance. Patricia testified that Mata insisted that she not call the police until after Mata had left “because how I knew he had a warrant for his arrest, just for me to wait ‘til he left.” Scottsbluff police were finally notified that Adam was missing at approximately 4 p.m. on March 15, 1999.
Police searching for Adam went to Monica’s residence to speak to Mata, but the occupants refused to answer the door. Monica testified that Mata told her not to answer the door because there were warrants out for his arrest. Police discovered a sealed garbage bag in a dumpster behind Monica’s residence. When the bag was torn open, police found Adam’s sleeping bag and the clothing Adam had been wearing when he was last seen by Patricia. The bag also contained trash identified as being from Monica’s residence, including a towel and a boning knife that Monica had not thrown away.
A search warrant was obtained for Monica’s residence and executed on March 16, 1999. (The residence had been searched pursuant to a warrant earlier that morning, but the results of the search were suppressed by the district court; the first search is not pertinent to this appeal.) Mata went to the police station to answer questions while the warrant was executed. Mata’s mother, Ynez Cruz, picked him up from the police station, dropped him off at a friend’s house, and went with Monica to retrieve some of Monica’s clothing. The home was still being searched, and the police asked Monica to remove a dog from the residence. Monica and Cruz took the dog and also picked up Mata from the friend’s house. Cruz testified that en route to a nearby town, Mata was talking to the dog, telling the dog that it “was being well taken care of and [Mata] was feeding [it] and that he was [its] friend.”
Police searching Monica’s residence found human remains in the basement room occupied by Mata. Hidden in the ceiling was a package wrapped in plastic and duct tape, which contained a crushed human skull. The skull was fractured in several places by blunt force trauma that had occurred at or near the time of death. The head had been severed from the body by a sharp object, at or near the time of death. No evidence of strangulation could be found, although strangulation, smothering, and blunt force trauma could be neither ruled in nor ruled out as the cause of death.
In the kitchen refrigerator of the residence, police found a foil-wrapped package of human flesh. Mata’s fingerprint was found on the foil. Human remains were also found on a toilet plunger and were found to be clogging the sewerline from the residence. Human flesh, both cooked and raw, was found in the dogfood bowl and in a bag of dogfood. Human bone fragments were recovered from the dog’s digestive tract.
All of the recovered remains were later identified, by DNA analysis, as those of Adam. Adam’s blood was also found on Mata’s boots. No blood was found on Adam’s clothing, or the sheets of Adam’s bed at Patricia’s residence.
At trial, the defense did not deny Mata’s attempt to dispose of Adam’s body. The defense’s theory of the case was that Adam had been killed by Patricia at Patricia’s home on Friday, March 12, 1999, and that Mata only attempted to help Patricia dispose of Adam’s body and explain his disappearance. Mata did not testify.
The jury found Mata guilty of first degree premeditated murder, first degree felony murder, and kidnapping. A three-judge sentencing panel was convened. The sentencing panel found one statutory aggravating circumstance: that the murder was “ ‘especially heinous, atrocious, cruel, or manifested exceptional depravity by ordinary standards of morality and intelligence.’ ”
Jose Sandoval was sentenced to death by the State of Nebraska for the murders of five people. According to court documents Jose Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela entered a bank to rob it and before he was done five people were dead. Jose Sandoval would shoot and kill Lisa Bryant, 29, Lola Elwood, 43, Samuel Sun, 50, all Norfolk, Jo Mausbach, 42, Humphrey, and Evonne Tuttle, 37, of Stanton. Jorge Sandoval, Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela were all sentenced to death.
ebraska last week completed its first execution in 21 years when it put 60-year-old Carey Dean Moore to death.
Moore had been on death row for 38 years, and had stopped fighting the state’s attempt to bring capital punishment back to life with his lethal injection death sentence.
That’s not the case for the prisoner who was notified in November by the Department of Correctional Services of the drugs that would be used for his potential execution.
Jose Sandoval was sentenced to death along with Jorge Galindo and Erick Vela for the 2002 shootings and killings of Lisa Bryant, Lola Elwood, Samuel Sun, Jo Mausbach and Evonne Tuttle in a botched bank robbery attempt in Norfolk.
Even though Moore was notified of the drugs that would be used in his death sentence after Sandoval, the state sought his execution warrant first.
A department spokeswoman said the department has not requested a warrant for Sandoval from the Nebraska Supreme Court. But it is continuing to seek lethal injection drugs to replace those that will expire soon.
John Lotter is now the man who has been on death row the longest, but he has received no notification of lethal injection drugs to be used in his sentence.
Lotter and Marvin Nissen were convicted of killing Brandon Teena, a transgender man. They killed Teena in 1993 to silence him after he told police they had raped him. They also killed Lisa Lambert and Phillip DeVine, who lived in the same house in Humboldt as Teena and witnessed the killing. Lotter has maintained his innocence.
Attorneys for Lotter have alleged in a court filing that he is ineligible for the death penalty because he functions intellectually as a child.
Nearly nine months ago, ACLU of Nebraska filed a lawsuit on behalf of most death row inmates, including Sandoval and Lotter, that claims the ballot initiative that stopped the Legislature’s 2015 repeal of the death penalty was illegal.
The suit was an attempt to stop any executions, or even steps toward an execution, of Nebraska’s condemned prisoners. But eight months later, the state put Moore to death.
Sandoval told the Journal Star in November he intended to fight the execution.
Attorney Stu Dornan filed a motion in Madison County District Court in December arguing that Sandoval, 38, should be resentenced to life in prison or have another capital sentencing hearing.
The Legislature repealed the death penalty in May 2015, then nullified the governor’s veto of the bill (LB268) with another vote. The repeal, Dornan said, went into effect Aug. 30 before it was suspended again because of an initiative referendum vote.
“Mr. Sandoval is subject to a uniquely cruel and unprecedented form of psychological suffering through alternating periods of relief and terror as he has been told that his life would be spared, and then told again that he would be executed,” the motion said.
Briefs have been submitted in the ACLU lawsuit in Lancaster County and are awaiting scheduling of oral arguments.
Prisons director Scott Frakes said earlier this month, in an affidavit filed as the result of a motion by drug company Fresenius Kabi to stop the use of two drugs in the execution of Moore, that he had no other source or supplier for the drugs to be used in future executions.
But he is still trying.
One of the drugs, the department’s supply of potassium chloride, will expire Aug. 31, and Frakes said he has no other source or supplier for the drugs at this time. A second drug, cisatracurium, will expire Oct. 31.
Laura Strimple, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said in an email that it is the responsibility of the department to carry out the death sentence orders of the court, and that includes continuing to pursue procuring the necessary lethal injection drugs.
She said she would not speculate on whether the department would consider changing the drugs or the death penalty protocol.
ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Danielle Conrad said Friday that individual constitutional rights are not decided at the ballot box, and did not give Gov. Pete Ricketts permission to violate the state’s tradition of open government when carrying out government’s most grave function, the death penalty.
“Next legislative session will see a wave of new reform and abolition efforts,” Conrad said.
And ACLU of Nebraska intends to litigate the remaining legal and policy issues surrounding Nebraska’s death penalty, she said.
“We call on the governor to join us in seeking reform of our severely overcrowded and crisis-riddled prison system to advance true public safety goals,” Conrad said. “Nebraska’s troubled history with the death penalty is not over and will saddle Nebraska taxpayers for years to come.
Nebraska Death Row for men is located at the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution. The Nebraska Death Row for women is located at the Lincoln Correctional Center. Nebraska primary method of execution is lethal injection
Richard Djerf was sentenced to death by the State of Arizona for a quadruple murder. According to court documents Richard Djerf forced his way into a house where he bound a woman and her five year old son. When another victim came home she would be sexually assaulted and murdered. When another victim came home he would be handcuffed to the bed and Richard Djerf would smash his head in with a baseball bat. Richard Djerf would then shoot the first two victims and return to the bedroom and fatally shoot the man. Richard Djerf would be convicted on the four murders and sentenced to death.
ASPC Florence, Central Unit PO Box 8200 RICHARD K. DJERF 121385 Florence, AZ 85132 United States
Richard Djerf More News
On September 14, 1993, Djerf forced himself into the Luna residence at gunpoint. Djerf believed Albert Luna, Jr. had burglarized his house. Patricia Luna and her 5-year-old son were at home. Djerf secured Mrs. Luna and her son by tying their arms and legs and gagging them. When Rochelle Luna arrived several hours later, Djerf took her to her bedroom where he raped and killed her. When Albert Luna, Sr. arrived at home, Djerf forced him into his bedroom at gunpoint. Djerf handcuffed Mr. Luna to a bed and smashed his head with a baseball bat, and then removed the handcuffs because he believed Mr. Luna was dead. Djerf then returned to the kitchen where Mrs. Luna and Damien Luna remained. Mr. Luna regained consciousness and charged the Defendant. Djerf then killed Mr. Luna, and shot Mrs. Luna and Damien in the head.
Richard Dierf Other News
A federal appeals court has denied an Arizona death-row inmate’s appeals of his murder convictions and death sentences for the killings of four members of a Phoenix family in 1993.
The 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday ruled against 49-year-old Richard Djerf who had argued he had ineffective legal representation at various points in his case.
Djerf at times represented himself in court and he pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors agreed to dismiss other charges against Djerf.
A judge then sentenced Djerf to death on each of the murder convictions.
Djerf acknowledged killing four family members of a roommate who had stolen electronics and a gun belonging to Djerf.
Djerf and the roommate had worked together at a supermarket. He had reported the theft to police, who took no action, according to the court’s published opinion.
He got revenge at the Phoenix family home of the roommate.
Djerf, 23 at the time, bound the roommate’s mother and 5-year-old brother at the home. He briefly untied her and forced her to load electronics and other items into a car.
When the roommate’s 18-year-old sister arrived at the house hours later, Djerf bound, gagged and raped her before stabbing her and slitting her throat, according to the opinion.
When the father came home, Djerf handcuffed him and forced him to walk around on all fours. He beat the father in the head with a baseball bat and then later, during a struggle, stabbed him and shot him several times, the court’s opinion stated.
Djerf attempted to snap the young boy’s neck and electrocute him with stripped electrical wire, but he failed, according to the opinion. He shot both the mother and young boy in the head.
He covered the bodies and house with gasoline, turned on stove burners, placed cardboard and a rag on the stove and then left. But it never ignited, and the roommate later returned to the house to find the bodies
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