Death penalty rarely sought
BOISE – In less than eight months, nine people have been slain in Ada County.
But prosecutors are only seeking the death penalty in one murder case, because they doubt a jury would vote to execute the other defendants.
“We have been pretty thoughtful about this and want to make the right decision for the community,” Ada County Prosecutor Greg Bower told The Idaho Statesman. “When we file the death penalty, we will pursue it. We don’t file it as a bargaining chip.”
The reluctance stems from a change in Idaho’s law. In 2003, prompted by recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, the Legislature gave juries the responsibility of determining whether a person convicted of murder qualified for the death penalty. Previously, judges held that role.
The change meant that some prosecutors began weighing their decisions to seek the death penalty based on how they thought a jury would view mitigating evidence of a crime, such as abuse the defendant may have suffered as a child or mental health problems.
“Fair or not, we have begun to understand what juries consider to be mitigation,” Bower said. “The rules permit just about anything to be brought up in mitigation. … It’s an open ticket to know everything there is about a defendant.”
The law requires prosecutors to make that decision quickly, declaring within 30 days after a suspect enters a plea if they will seek execution.
“Thirty days doesn’t give you a lot of time to make that decision,” Twin Falls Prosecutor Grant Loebs said. “And it’s not like you want to make that decision and then have to drop it later.”
Bower and Loebs say they plan to lobby the Legislature to double that time period to 60 days.
Bower and his staff decided against seeking the death penalty in the case against Jennifer Mercado and Diana Fledderjohan, accused of luring a Boise man to a foothills campsite this spring so they could beat him to death.
Prosecutors also decided against seeking the execution of John Delling, who is accused of killing two Idaho men and seriously wounding another man earlier this year. Delling, 21, has well-documented mental health problems.
Bower said while both of the crimes are heinous enough to qualify for the death penalty, he doesn’t think he could get a jury to recommend execution.
In fact, out of all the murder cases pending in trial so far this year, Bower is seeking the death penalty in just one: That of Erick Virgil Hall, accused of the 2003 rape and slaying of Cheryl Ann Hanlon, whose body was found by a 16-year-old boy walking his dog in the foothills north of Boise.
That decision was likely an easier one for Bower. Hall is already on death row for the kidnapping, rape and murder of flight attendant Lynn Henneman along Boise’s greenbelt in 2000. A jury recommended the death penalty in that case.