Death Penalty

Dear Editor, My name is Linda Valencia. I am the mother of Jesse James Valencia, who was murdered on June 5, 2004, in Columbia, Mo. Steven Rios, a cop in Boone County, was found guilty of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. He was sentenced to life without parole and 10 years to run consecutively. He has been granted a new trial, based on hearsay, that will start Dec. 1. The DNA evidence was 757.6 trillion-to-1 that Rios murdered my son. There is no doubt in my mind that Rios killed my Jesse.

Dear Editor, In a letter published Nov. 13 in The Advocate-Messenger from Terry Bugg, he wrote, "On a local newscast it was stated that the court system would have to retry a person because he was wrongfully sentenced. Bull. The newscast stated the person on trial for a crime committed in Mercer County was tried as an adult when he was only 17 years of age. " The newscast did not state that Lee Anderson is being retried. He is not. He is being resentenced. He pleaded guilty and agreed to a sentence of life in prison without parole issued by Boyle-Mercer Circuit Judge Darren Peckler.

The lengthening parade of suspects in her son's murder is catching up with Sherry Moore. This time she almost lost control as two more suspects, but not necessarily the last two, were arraigned Friday. Afterward, she said her family "had to hold me down. " "I just want to say something to them - how could you murder my son and take away his life?" The courtroom was tense from the start. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Burdette twice called for quiet, the second time looking squarely at Moore.

STANFORD - The last two suspects in the 2002 shooting deaths of Bo Upton and Ryan Shangraw were arraigned Friday in Lincoln Circuit Court, bringing the total number charged in the case to five. Neccolus L. Mundy, 26, and Charles E. Smith, 26, both of Richmond, pleaded not guilty to two counts each of murder, attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery said he will seek the death penalty for both men. Mundy and Smith join three other Richmond men - Jamarkos Campbell, Deonte Simmons and Matthew Tolson - charged in the deaths of Shangraw and Upton, who were gunned down inside Shangraw's trailer near Hubble in February 2002.

The wife and father-in-law of Matthew Tolson, one of three men accused of the double murder of Ryan Shangraw and Bo Upton, are anxiously awaiting indictments that a Lincoln grand jury is scheduled to release tomorrow. Their anxiousness is pronounced, because Tolson stands to join two other men charged with murder and other offenses in connection with the 2002 crime. Although Tolson remains in the Lincoln County Regional Jail, plans could be in the offing to move him to another jail within Kentucky, said Tolson's father-in-law, Gary McCarter of Sevierville, Tenn.

STANFORD - Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery has filed notice he intends to seek the death penalty against Jamarkos Campbell for the 2002 murders of Ryan Shangraw and Bo Upton. But Montgomery said Tuesday that the law won't allow him to go after the death penalty in Campbell's case because he was 17 and a juvenile when the crimes were committed. By filing the motion to seek the death penalty, however, it allows the prosecutor to go after the maximum sentence allowed under the law for juveniles.

It was a day Sherry Moore had dreaded and prayed would come, when she would first lay eyes on the men accused of killing her son. Along with several of her loved ones, Moore sat silently and still on a courtroom bench that became for her a pew. Closing her eyes and turning her face upward, she folded her hands as if in prayer. Two rows back and a world away, family members of Jamarkos Campbell supported their son in an equally silent way. Together, the two families formed a tableau of sorrow.

Friday was a day of revelations in Lincoln Circuit Court. "It's a day I've prayed for," said Sherry Moore, mother of Harold "Bo" Upton III, who, along with Ryan Shangraw, was shot to death Feb. 1, 2002 in Hubble. Charged in the murders in an indictment that was unsealed today are Jamarkos Campbell , 23, and Deonte Simmons , 24. Both are from Richmond. Campbell's identity had been kept secret, although newspapers have identified him since shortly after his arrest. If convicted, Simmons could face the death penalty, which prosecutors said they plan to seek.

By TODD KLEFFMAN tkleffman@amnews.com STANFORD - Two of the three men charged with the 2002 murders of Bo Upton and Ryan Shangraw pleaded not guilty Friday in Lincoln Circuit Court. It was the first open court appearance in the case for Jamarkos Campbell and Deonte Simmons, both of Richmond, who are charged with shooting Upton and Shangraw to death during a robbery at Shangraw's trailer in Hubble. Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery filed notice he plans to seek the death penalty for Simmons.

STANFORD - Two of the three men charged with the 2002 murders of Bo Upton and Ryan Shangraw pleaded not guilty Friday in Lincoln Circuit Court. It was the first open court appearance in the case for Jamarkos Campbell and Deonte Simmons, both of Richmond, who are charged with shooting Upton and Shangraw to death during a robbery at Shangraw's trailer in Hubble. Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery filed notice he plans to seek the death penalty for Simmons. Campbell is not eligible for capital punishment because he was a juvenile at the time of the murders, but Montgomery said he will seek the maximum punishment allowed, life without hope of parole or life without parole for 25 years.