Saturday, July 31, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Court rejects appeal to block killer's execution
By SEAN WHALEY
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- A federal appeals court on Friday rejected a request by a Reno lawyer to intervene and block the scheduled Aug. 12 execution of a Reno man who wants his sentence carried out.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a "next-friend" petition on behalf of inmate Terry Dennis, sentenced to death for strangling a woman in Reno in March 1999.
The effort to intervene and stop Dennis' execution was made by Karla Butko, an attorney who had represented Dennis.
Dennis pleaded guilty to the killing of Ilona Strumanis, 51, during a vodka-and-beer binge in a motel room. A three-judge panel sentenced Dennis to death.
In the fall of 2003, Dennis said he did not want to pursue an appeal of his sentence and asked that his execution be carried out.
In one letter, Dennis wrote: "Ms. Butko is doing all she can to delay things hoping I'll change my mind but I've been thinking this over for quite some time now and I assure you my mind's made up and I know what I'm doing."
Dennis said he decided to drop his appeal because he "would rather not live than to continue to live and be a doddering old man in prison."
Dennis was found competent to waive his appeal.
Butko's attempt to intervene was denied by the U.S. District Court on July 6. The case was appealed to the 9th Circuit, which heard arguments Monday.
The three-judge panel said in its Friday opinion that Dennis' desire to have his sentence carried out can be viewed as a rational choice.
"A 'rational choice' does not mean a sensible decision, or a decision that the next friend regards as reasonable," two appellate judges said in the decision. A third judge concurred separately.
If Dennis is executed, he will be the 11th man put to death since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1977. All but one of the executions in Nevada have occurred when inmates have given up their appeals.
The last execution occurred March 26, when Lawrence Colwell Jr. was executed by lethal injection for the "thrill killing" of an elderly tourist in Las Vegas in 1994.
