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#Post#: 370--------------------------------------------------
~ Lezmond Mitchell, 26Aug20, (FedAZ) ~
By: BuzzC Date: July 28, 2019, 6:50 am
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Arizona man short-listed for federal execution after killing
woman and her granddaughter--
Thursday, July 25, 2019
[IMG]
HTML http://postmediatorontosun.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/death-mitchell-2-e1564079327836.jpg?quality=60&strip=all&w=640[/img]
For the first time in two decades, the federal government is
preparing to execute inmates. And an Arizona man is among the
first five on the list.
Lezmond Mitchell, 37, a citizen of the Navajo Nation from Round
Rock, was convicted in 2003 of murdering Alyce Slim, 63, and her
9-year-old granddaughter Tiffany Lee.
He is being held at the Terre Haute Federal Correctional
Institution in Indiana and is scheduled to be executed Dec. 11.
Sometime in October 2001, Mitchell and three other men decided
to rob a trading post on the Arizona side of the Navajo
reservation, according to court records.
Later that month, Mitchell and another man, Johnny Orsinger,
traveled from Round Rock, Arizona to Gallup, New Mexico to look
for a vehicle to use in the robbery. The two hitchhiked back to
the reservation.
Slim and her granddaughter had traveled in her Sierra GMC truck
from Fort Defiance, Arizona to Tohatchi, New Mexico to see a
traditional medicine person for leg ailments. They next went to
Twin Lakes, New Mexico to see another person.
At some point on the trip, Mitchell and Orsinger got into Slim's
truck. Slim stopped near Sawmill, Arizona to let the men out,
but they stabbed her 33 times. They made the child sit next to
her grandmother's body, and Mitchell drove to the mountains
before ordering the girl out of the truck.
According to court records, Mitchell cut the child's throat and,
when she did not die, Orsinger used rocks to kill her.
A few days later, three men robbed the Red Rock Trading Post.
Prosecutors argued Mitchell was carrying a 12-gauge shotgun at
the time. A store manager was mopping the floor when she was
assaulted by one of the men. Another employee was pushed against
the counters when she tried to hide. The employees were tied up
in the vault room after the men took $5,530 and a purse.
Attorneys for Mitchell are appealing the death penalty to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Among the reasons,
they say, is the court in 2009 didn't let Mitchell's attorneys
interview the original jurors, which prevented them from
learning whether Mitchell truly got a jury of his peers.
"Mitchell was ultimately tried before a jury with only one
Native American member regarding crimes committed on Native
American land with Native American victims," his attorneys wrote
in the motion.
They argued there were "racial undertones" in the case, and
Mitchell should have been allowed to investigate whether racial
bias played a role in his conviction and sentence.
"In light of the constitutional rights at stake and the grave
sentence faced by Mitchell, the district court should have
exercised its discretion in granting Mitchell a limited
opportunity to interview his jurors," his attorneys argued in
the motion.
In April, the Ninth Circuit allowed the lawyers to proceed with
their appeal. They must file their opening brief with the court
by Aug. 28.
According to a report by The Arizona Republic, at the time of
his sentencing, the Navajo Department of Justice asked that
Mitchell not receive the death penalty because capital
punishment violates tribal custom and culture.
However, under interstate laws, prosecutors did not have to seek
the tribe's permission to seek the death penalty, according to a
report by The Associated Press.
It has been more than 16 years since the federal government
executed an inmate.
In a statement on Thursday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr
said the Justice Department "upholds the rule of law" and owes
it to the victims and their families to complete the sentences.
“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through
legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both
houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Barr stated.
The executions will involve a single drug called pentobarbital,
replacing a prior three-drug cocktail. The issue of execution
drugs has been controversial in recent years, following
executions that went awry in Arizona and elsewhere.
8)
#Post#: 443--------------------------------------------------
Re: ~ Lezmond Mitchell, 26Aug20, (FedAZ) ~
By: BuzzC Date: August 26, 2020, 9:51 pm
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Sentence has been carried out...
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