VIRGINIA - Domica C. Winckler
Nick
Virginia could get its 1st woman on death row in modern times with the
recommendation by a Chesterfield County jury to execute Domica C.
Winckler.
Ms. Winckler, 18, sat down and sobbed Thursday after the recommendation
was read. The sentence still must be approved by Circuit Judge Herbert
C. Gill Jr.
The jury convicted Ms. Winckler on Wednesday of capital murder,
abduction
and robbery in the slaying last July of 18-year-old Stacey Hanna, who
had
just moved to the Richmond suburb from Lynchburg.
Ms. Winckler was 1 of 4 women charged in the killing.
According to police and testimony, Ms. Hanna moved into a house with
Kelly Tibbs, another suspect in the slaying, and soon became obsessed
with Tracy Bitner, a former lover of Ms. Tibbs. Ms. Bitner also is
charged in Ms. Hanna's death.
Ms. Winckler, who lives in the same neighborhood, told police that Ms.
Hanna believed that Ms. Bitner and Ms. Tibbs were getting back together
and started telling lies about them.
Ms. Bitner, Ms. Tibbs, Ms. Winckler and the 4th suspect, Stephanie
Cull, discussed beating Ms. Hanna as a way of teaching her a lesson,
police said Ms. Winckler told them.
But the beating escalated until Ms. Bitner cut Ms. Hanna's throat and
Ms. Winckler stabbed her more than 20 times in the chest, authorities
said. The victim was left lying in the mud along a remote logging
trail.
Ms. Bitner and Ms. Tibbs also face capital murder charges in the
slaying.
Ms. Cull is charged with 1st-degree murder.
No woman has been executed in Virginia since 1912, when 17-year-old
Virginia Christian was electrocuted, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center in Washington.
In the United States, no woman has been executed in 13 years, although
Texas is scheduled to put Karla Faye Tucker to death on Feb. 3. There
are 48 women on death rows in 15 states, but none in Virginia.
(source: Associated Press)
"The U.S. is one of the few countries in the world that
executes juvenile offenders: criminals whose alleged
offenses were committed when they were under the age of 18.
There are only six countries in the world that are known to
have executed juvenile offenders in the '90s: Pakistan,
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, Yemen--and the U.S." "Even
China and Russia have banned the use of the death penalty
against children."
"The U.S. has executed six juvenile offenders this
decade--more than any other country. A 1988 Supreme Court
ruling (Thompson v. Oklahoma) is widely interpreted as
prohibiting the execution of offenders who committed crimes
when under the age of 16, but individual states can set
higher minimum ages. Of the 38 states that allow the death
penalty, 13 set the age at 18, four set it at age 17, and 21
have a minimum of 16 years of age or no minimum at all."
"Some argue that children mature enough to murder are mature
enough to be punished for it. "I think when my kids were 15
or 16 they knew better than to kill someone," says Miriam
Shehane, president of Victims of Crime and Leniency (VOCAL),
a victims'-rights group based in Montgomery, Ala. "If
someone does adult crime, they are acting as adults, and
they have to take responsibility." Shehane contends that
capital punishment is not only for those with long legacies
of criminality but also for anyone, teens included, who
commits singularly horrific crimes."
--
Nick
Zorro
Yes, it's only home cleaning, no more.
Nick <ni...@building9.demon.co.uk> wrote in article
<nTePNBArP$v0E...@building9.demon.co.uk>...
ldeshie...@gmail.com
effjerbe
> The only back person involved was given the death penalty at the time (how racist is that?), now commuted
>
---
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Orson
> On 14/07/2017 06:23, ldeshie...@gmail.com wrote:
> > The only back person involved was given the death penalty at the time (how racist is that?), now commuted
> >
> Well it was commuted.
>
> ---
While her trial jury recommended the death sentence, the final decision was up to the trial judge. The judge opted to disregard their recommendation and instead sentenced Winckler to life imprisonment. Life sentences were also given to two out of the other three co-defendants who were tried separately.