Post by CCADP on May 7, 2005 12:50:07 GMT -5
The Journal Gazette Fort Wayne, Indiana
Top news story ! Sunday March 4, 2001 - www.journalgazette.net/
Death appeal draws support Allen glitch kept blacks off jury, defense says
By Laura Emerson - The Journal Gazette
Some see him as a cold-hearted cop killer. Others see him as an artist, writer and
defender of the downtrodden.
Many see Zolo Agona Azania as another man on death row who is using their tax
money to fund an endless string of appeals.
Azania, 46, has managed to avoid death for nearly 20 years. An Allen County jury
sentenced the Gary man to death in 1982 for fatally shooting a Gary police officer
during a 1981 bank robbery. At the time, his name was Rufus Lee Averhart.
He's challenging a jury's decision in 1996 to resentence him to death. The jury
consisted of 11 whites and one Hispanic woman.
Azania and his attorneys claim a computer glitch in the jury selection process
eliminated a majority of potential black jurors from the selection pool.
Now, death penalty opponents from around the world are expected to focus their
attention on Allen Superior Court beginning March 13, when attorneys working on
Azania's behalf will argue that the computer glitch violated Azania's constitutional
rights.
These opponents have sent letters and e-mail messages to Judge Kenneth
Scheibenberger, telling him they're paying attention to the case. Some are
expected to attend, said Michael Deutsch, an attorney appointed by the Indiana
Supreme Court to represent Azania.
Several defendants have unsuccessfully challenged their Allen County convictions
based on the 1996 computer glitch, but this will be the first death penalty appeal to
scrutinize the county's jury selection process.
Described as an intelligent man by one of his defense attorneys, Azania has tried
to use every legal avenue to stay alive.
Getting this far
In 1982, Azania became the first person in Allen County to be sentenced to death
since 1959. The trial was moved to Allen County because of pre-trial publicity.
The state Supreme Court upheld Azania's murder conviction, but reversed the
death penalty sentence in 1993.
A new penalty phase was heard in February 1996 in Allen County. A jury
recommended death, and Scheibenberger sentenced Azania to die by lethal
injection.
Neither set of trial jurors knew it, but Azania previously was convicted of
manslaughter for killing a 69-year-old Gary man during a 1972 burglary.
In November, the state Supreme Court said it would allow Azania to challenge his
second death sentence based on the alleged computer error. It also said Azania
could present alleged newly discovered evidence relative to his guilt.
Allen County officials said the computer glitch discovered in late 1996 caused
many Wayne Township voters to be omitted from lists of potential jurors.
Azania's attorneys argue that the alleged computer error caused the "systematic
exclusion" of black voters, because more than 70 percent of Allen County's black
population lives in Wayne Township. Wayne Township encompasses south-central
Fort Wayne.
Azania is black. The officer he was convicted of killing was white.
County officials say the problem occurred when a jury selection program was
changed in late 1995 to expand the jury pool from 10,000 to 14,000 registered
voters for the 1996 year.
Deutsch contends the irregularities existed back in 1982, when Azania was first
convicted. If Deutsch were to argue that point successfully, it could overturn
Azania's original conviction and require a new trial on both the evidence and the
death penalty phases - nearly 20 years after Azania was convicted.
Several jurors at his 1982 trial told The Journal Gazette they sentenced Azania to
death because of evidence that showed Azania stood over a wounded, unarmed
police officer and fired a bullet into his chest.
A juror said they didn't recommend the death sentence for two other men involved
in the murder because jurors felt Azania was the person most responsible for the
officer's death.
Appellate history
Azania's attorneys think they can show that the exclusion of Wayne Township
voters was systematic, not random.
If they can prove county officials systematically excluded voters, they might
succeed in getting Azania yet another sentencing hearing.
At first blush, it doesn't appear likely.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled against three defendants who filed
challenges based on Allen County's 1996 jury selection process.
In the case of an Allen County man convicted in 1996 of drug possession, the
appellate court wrote that the man failed to show purposeful discrimination on
Allen County's part or a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury pool
consisting of a fair cross section of the community.
The appellate court wrote that jury panels are not required to constitute a
microcosm of the community, although the primary goal of the jury selection
process is to produce a reasonable cross section of the community.
Deutsch, a partner in The People's Law Office in Chicago, said there was no clear
record in the prior appellate cases as to what the problem was, how long it existed
and its actual effect.
Michelle Kraus, one of the defense attorneys appointed to represent Azania in
1996 said a large number of jurors showed up, but only four of them were members
of a minority group. One, a Hispanic woman, was placed on the jury of 12.
Top news story ! Sunday March 4, 2001 - www.journalgazette.net/
Death appeal draws support Allen glitch kept blacks off jury, defense says
By Laura Emerson - The Journal Gazette
Some see him as a cold-hearted cop killer. Others see him as an artist, writer and
defender of the downtrodden.
Many see Zolo Agona Azania as another man on death row who is using their tax
money to fund an endless string of appeals.
Azania, 46, has managed to avoid death for nearly 20 years. An Allen County jury
sentenced the Gary man to death in 1982 for fatally shooting a Gary police officer
during a 1981 bank robbery. At the time, his name was Rufus Lee Averhart.
He's challenging a jury's decision in 1996 to resentence him to death. The jury
consisted of 11 whites and one Hispanic woman.
Azania and his attorneys claim a computer glitch in the jury selection process
eliminated a majority of potential black jurors from the selection pool.
Now, death penalty opponents from around the world are expected to focus their
attention on Allen Superior Court beginning March 13, when attorneys working on
Azania's behalf will argue that the computer glitch violated Azania's constitutional
rights.
These opponents have sent letters and e-mail messages to Judge Kenneth
Scheibenberger, telling him they're paying attention to the case. Some are
expected to attend, said Michael Deutsch, an attorney appointed by the Indiana
Supreme Court to represent Azania.
Several defendants have unsuccessfully challenged their Allen County convictions
based on the 1996 computer glitch, but this will be the first death penalty appeal to
scrutinize the county's jury selection process.
Described as an intelligent man by one of his defense attorneys, Azania has tried
to use every legal avenue to stay alive.
Getting this far
In 1982, Azania became the first person in Allen County to be sentenced to death
since 1959. The trial was moved to Allen County because of pre-trial publicity.
The state Supreme Court upheld Azania's murder conviction, but reversed the
death penalty sentence in 1993.
A new penalty phase was heard in February 1996 in Allen County. A jury
recommended death, and Scheibenberger sentenced Azania to die by lethal
injection.
Neither set of trial jurors knew it, but Azania previously was convicted of
manslaughter for killing a 69-year-old Gary man during a 1972 burglary.
In November, the state Supreme Court said it would allow Azania to challenge his
second death sentence based on the alleged computer error. It also said Azania
could present alleged newly discovered evidence relative to his guilt.
Allen County officials said the computer glitch discovered in late 1996 caused
many Wayne Township voters to be omitted from lists of potential jurors.
Azania's attorneys argue that the alleged computer error caused the "systematic
exclusion" of black voters, because more than 70 percent of Allen County's black
population lives in Wayne Township. Wayne Township encompasses south-central
Fort Wayne.
Azania is black. The officer he was convicted of killing was white.
County officials say the problem occurred when a jury selection program was
changed in late 1995 to expand the jury pool from 10,000 to 14,000 registered
voters for the 1996 year.
Deutsch contends the irregularities existed back in 1982, when Azania was first
convicted. If Deutsch were to argue that point successfully, it could overturn
Azania's original conviction and require a new trial on both the evidence and the
death penalty phases - nearly 20 years after Azania was convicted.
Several jurors at his 1982 trial told The Journal Gazette they sentenced Azania to
death because of evidence that showed Azania stood over a wounded, unarmed
police officer and fired a bullet into his chest.
A juror said they didn't recommend the death sentence for two other men involved
in the murder because jurors felt Azania was the person most responsible for the
officer's death.
Appellate history
Azania's attorneys think they can show that the exclusion of Wayne Township
voters was systematic, not random.
If they can prove county officials systematically excluded voters, they might
succeed in getting Azania yet another sentencing hearing.
At first blush, it doesn't appear likely.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled against three defendants who filed
challenges based on Allen County's 1996 jury selection process.
In the case of an Allen County man convicted in 1996 of drug possession, the
appellate court wrote that the man failed to show purposeful discrimination on
Allen County's part or a violation of his Sixth Amendment right to a jury pool
consisting of a fair cross section of the community.
The appellate court wrote that jury panels are not required to constitute a
microcosm of the community, although the primary goal of the jury selection
process is to produce a reasonable cross section of the community.
Deutsch, a partner in The People's Law Office in Chicago, said there was no clear
record in the prior appellate cases as to what the problem was, how long it existed
and its actual effect.
Michelle Kraus, one of the defense attorneys appointed to represent Azania in
1996 said a large number of jurors showed up, but only four of them were members
of a minority group. One, a Hispanic woman, was placed on the jury of 12.