IOWA CITY, Iowa — A judge removed one of the two women on federal death row Friday, saying lawyers for the Iowa woman convicted in the 1993 execution-style murders of five people failed to present evidence about her troubled mental state that could have spared her from capital punishment.
In a 448-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett threw out Angela Johnson’s death sentence, saying her defense lawyers were “alarmingly dysfunctional” during the 2005 trial that made her the first woman to be sentenced to death in the federal system since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the punishment in 1976.
Attorney General Eric Holder and aides must determine within 60 days whether to appeal or continue seeking the death penalty for the 48-year-old mother of two, said assistant U.S. Attorney C.J. Williams, who prosecuted the case.
If they do not appeal, there will be a trial to determine whether Johnson will be sentenced to death. In that trial, her lawyers would be allowed to present evidence about her mental health that was omitted in 2005. If they decline to seek the death penalty, Bennett could sentence Johnson to life in prison without parole.
Bennett’s ruling doesn’t throw out her convictions — he said evidence of her guilt was overwhelming. Johnson and boyfriend Dustin Honken committed the murders to thwart a federal investigation that threatened to end Honken’s reign as one of the Midwest’s largest methamphetamine kingpins, and buried the bodies to cover them up, prosecutors said.
Bennett said he understands his ruling will upset victims’ families, but Johnson’s defense was so riddled with missteps that her rights were violated.
“I believe that I have done my duty, in light of what is required by the Constitution — the foundational document of our Nation’s enduring freedoms, including the right not to be put to death when trial counsel’s performance was so grossly constitutionally inadequate,” he wrote.
During the penalty phase of Johnson’s trial, Bennett said, defense lawyers failed to present expert testimony about her mental health at the time of the slayings that could have helped explain her involvement to jurors. He said they should have presented evidence about the effect of serious brain impairments, personality disorders and her previous methamphetamine use.
Bennett, appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton, has acknowledged his personal opposition to the death penalty.
In a 2006 speech about the two capital-murder cases, he said he set aside his personal beliefs in the interest of fairness.
But he added he had “grave concerns” the death penalty could be applied unfairly.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 03/24/2012