Court rejects Beardslee's appeal

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/11895590p-12782510c.html

U.S. court refuses to block execution
9th Circuit panel discounts errors in the penalty trial.
By Claire Cooper -- Bee Legal Affairs Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, December 30, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO - The scheduled Jan. 19 execution of Donald Beardslee remained
on track Wednesday after a federal appeals court rejected an 11th-hour defense
request for new judicial proceedings.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, concluding
errors made during Beardslee's sentencing trial 21 years ago were "harmless,"
said it would do nothing to disrupt the status quo.

If that decision holds, Beardslee, 61, will become the 11th person executed
in California since capital punishment was reinstated here in 1977.

He was sentenced to die for the murder of Patty Geddling in San Mateo County
in 1981 in a dispute over a drug deal. At the same time, he was sentenced to
life in prison without parole for the related murder of Stacy Benjamin.

Nathan Barankin, Attorney General Bill Lockyer's spokesman, said the
prosecution was pleased with the court's decision but expects further appeals.

The defense can ask for a review by a bigger panel of circuit judges and can
appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Defense lawyer Michael Laurence did not
respond to a request for comment after the ruling was released late Wednesday.

The three-judge panel had hastily convened in Pasadena on Tuesday to consider
whether further proceedings were necessary.

The main issue was whether Beardslee's sentencing jury was swayed by three
erroneous special circumstances, the factors that can make killer's eligible
for the death penalty. A multiple-murder special circumstance had been counted
twice, and each murder was counted as the killing of a witness.

But it took the 9th Circuit panel just one day to conclude that,
although "Beardslee's penalty-phase jury unquestionably considered invalid
factors," the error "did not have a substantial and injurious effect on the
verdict."

The prosecution's case at the penalty phase would have been virtually the same
without the mistake, said the 25-page decision.

The prosecutor still would properly have included "all of the gruesome details
of the crime," circumstances showing it was premeditated and planned,
testimony about Beardslee's lack of remorse and evidence of a prior murder he
had committed in Missouri, 9th Circuit Judge Sidney Thomas of Billings, Mont.,
wrote for the unanimous panel.

The other judges were Richard Paez and Wallace Tashima, both of Pasadena.

About the writer:
The Bee's Claire Cooper can be reached at (415) 551-7701 or
ccooper [at] sacbee.com.


http://www.smdailyjournal.org/article.cfm?issue=12-29-04&storyID=38165

Condemned man’s clemency hearing date set
By Michelle Durand Daily Journal Staff

Unless his execution date is stayed, condemned inmate Donald J. Beardslee will
plead for leniency from the governor Jan. 14.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tentatively set the date but has yet to announce
whether it will be a public hearing or simply a review of legal documents in
the Redwood City man’s case. The clemency hearing is Beardslee’s last chance
at staving off a Jan. 19 lethal injection, short of reprieves by either the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals or a U.S. District judge.

Beardslee, 61, killed two women in 1981 after luring them to a Redwood City
apartment. Yesterday, an appeals court in Pasadena heard arguments that his
death sentence was based on special circumstances later overturned by the
state Supreme Court. On Jan. 6, Beardslee’s defense team will argue before a
judge that capital punishment is inhumane under the Constitution.

If neither attempt spares Beardslee, Schwarzenegger must consider mitigating
circumstances such as childhood abuse and an earlier murder in Missouri. If a
public hearing is held in Sacramento, any person who wishes to speak may have
up to five minutes to do so. At previous clemency hearings, death penalty
opponents tried filling up time until the execution date in hopes of creating
a delay.

Schwarzenegger did not hold a public hearing for the last scheduled execution
of Kevin Cooper earlier this year. A federal court stayed his death after the
clemency hearing.

If Beardslee is executed, he will be the first from San Mateo County in 43
years and the first since capital punishment was re-instated by California in
1978.