Jury imposes death penalty for Greenbelt killer

Credit: KTVB

Darrell Payne

by KTVB

Posted on March 12, 2010 at 5:48 PM

Updated today at 4:41 PM

******

Related:

• Convicted killer's death sentence overturned

BOISE -- An Ada County jury has imposed the death penalty for convicted killer Darrell Payne.
This was the second time has been sentenced to die for the murder, rape and kidnapping of Boise State student Samantha Maher.
The 22-year-old was on her way to class along the Boise Greenbelt on July 6, 2000, when she was attacked, shot in the head and then dumped in a drainage tank.
Fourth District Judge Thomas Neville first sentenced Payne to death in 2002 following his conviction by a jury for first-degree murder.  He also sentenced Payne to three life sentences for kidnapping, rape and robbery convictions.
In 2008, the Idaho Supreme Court upheld the convictions but remanded the case for resentencing on the first-degree murder conviction because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires a jury rather than a judge to decide whether the death penalty should be imposed.
The jury was seated on March 5 and took one week to hear evidence before reaching their verdict Friday afternoon.
Final sentencing is set for April 22.

Read more...

Convicted rapist, murderer Darrell Payne sentenced to death for the second time

Statesman staff - Idaho Statesman

Published: 03/12/10

Convicted rapist and murderer Darrell Payne sat expressionless as a jury sentenced him to death, for a second time.
The Ada County jury of three men and nine women deliberated for 11 hours — beginning Thursday afternoon and finishing by 4 p.m. Friday — before deciding on the death penalty for Payne. Payne was originally condemned to death for the 2000 kidnapping, rape and murder of Samantha Maher in 2002.
Payne had his original death sentence overturned by the Idaho Supreme Court in 2008, saying the judge erred when he allowed Maher's family and friends to make victim impact statements during the sentencing that referred to Payne's character.
Testimony began a week ago in the new sentencing hearing.
This jury was told of Payne's other crimes as well. He raped a Boise woman in her apartment and then two 14-year-old girls on the Greenbelt in the summer of 2000 -- just days before he abducted Maher from Julia Davis Park on her way to BSU on July 6, 2000.
Payne is already serving three life sentences, without the possibility of parole, and his attorney Rob Chastain had asked the jury last week to consider if a death sentence makes anything better.
Maher's family and friends said Friday they were relieved the process was finally over and were pleased Darrell Payne will go back on Idaho's Death Row.

Read more...

Pauls Impact Statement

Impact Statement March 2010

Paul R Blomberg

Seasons, a time for everything, the season was late fall of 1977 and our special gift from God

was due and being a gift, we did not know the gender, but it did not matter, for we only had one

name for our gift and that was "Samantha."

Now a new season with a Samantha. Then a short season and Samantha was joined by a

Matthew.

The seasons slipped by six then seven and how they did fly. Samantha the eldest, the one in

charge not only of her brother, but the neighborhood pack. The season of her teen years soon

disappeared.

The season of a daughter becoming a  young women with the most gorgeous red hair was now

here. 

The sharing of  Samantha's aches and joys, like the season our family had a small ranch on the

snake river  in Owyhee County. I would sometimes take  Samantha, Matthew  and a friend

of theirs out for the day or weekend and if they were going to ride motor bikes or ATVs there

were strong rules for safety.

Anyway, I'm out there on an old cat tractor and I look across the field and Matthew and

Samantha's friend Janelle are traveling at a very safe speed, and then I look way out in front and

all I see is dust and red hair  blowing out from under the helmet. Samantha's aches and joys are

about to begin, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. The joy of seeing her riding in the wind

and sharing the aches of a broken collarbone  while the whole time I'm  thanking God

Samantha is OK. 

Samantha the glue of the family that love holidays and if you ever were to be in her car after July

you just may here a Christmas song to two.

My heart would pound with love and joy when I would here Samantha say "Daddy.”

A new season, and how proud I am  to walk Samantha down the isle and give her hand to a fine  

young man. A beautiful new season for Dan and Samantha with lots of love and hopes and joys.

And also a Dads love and hope that there maybe grandchildren and that his daughter Samantha

will be close by in a Dad's winter season of life as my sister was there for my Dad.

The seasons for Samantha are no more, the family glue is dry, the words I prayed to here "Daddy

you're going to be a grandpa" are not to be, and Christmas songs in July are something of the

past.

And now I give thanks to God for the gift of seasons with my Samantha. 

Read more...

Man who killed Boise State student could go back to Death Row

Darrell Payne, condemned to death in 2002 for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Samantha Maher two years earlier, had his death sentence overturned by the Idaho Supreme Court in 2008 over errors in his original sentencing hearing.

Testimony began Friday in a new sentencing hearing.

"This case is about utter disregard for human life. (Payne) is a cold-blooded, pitiless slayer who robbed Samantha of her dreams and her life," Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Bourne told a jury Friday during opening arguments. "It's a case about a man who developed a taste for rape, a rapist who developed a taste for murder."

"For what he did to Samantha, he deserves the death penalty."

Bourne also told the jury how Payne raped a Boise woman in her apartment and then two 14-year-old girls on the Greenbelt in the summer of 2000 - just days before he abducted Maher from Julia Davis Park on her way to BSU on July 6, 2000.

Defense attorney Rob Chastain didn't dispute that Payne's three life sentences, without the possibility of parole, were not earned. What he asked the jury to do was consider if a death sentence makes anything better.

"(Payne's) crimes are cowardly É and we not offering any excuse for them," Chastain said. "Darrell Payne will die in prison one way or another and nothing that happens here will change that. The crimes have been dealt with É there is no reason to put the man to death."

Under Idaho's current death penalty law, a jury, not a judge, must decide whether Payne's crimes meet the aggravating factors necessary to sentence him to death. Since Fourth District Judge Thomas Neville sentenced Payne to death in 2003, a new jury had to be selected for the new hearing.

Neville and lawyers on both sides spent more than two weeks picking the new jury, comprised of 11 women and four men (three of those jurors are alternates). Testimony, which began Friday, could last up to two weeks before the jury has to make their ultimate decision.

Neville's courtroom was packed to capacity Friday morning, filled with Maher's family and friends. Some quiet sniffles were heard when Maher's parents, Paul and Shirley Blomberg, testified about their frantic search for Samantha when went missing in early July 2000.

Payne, dressed in a yellow Ada County Jail jumpsuit, with his legs bound with restraints, appeared calm and relaxed at the defense table, talking to defense attorneys Chastain and Deb Kristal, for most of the hearing. He stared straight ahead during the Blomberg's testimony.

The Idaho Supreme Court overturned Payne's death penalty in December 2008, saying Neville erred when he allowed Maher's family and friends to make victim impact statements during the sentencing that referred to Payne's character.

Patrick Orr: 373-6619

Read more...