America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_Bjrlq_Ew3eBzYQ2XTj0DyYoqz59uXvZ51JrTM0ChWlfTeN5dFYPJZW45Ws7P6vY9e5yGyjOAIo5scV8GvuyYva7U7TcKbobSpD5OypLItONlkdhfe_L_B2elFeAlo3S7W6XRQSD_5k/s1600/Bob+Macy+of+Oklahoma+County.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Bob Macy of Oklahoma County" border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK_Bjrlq_Ew3eBzYQ2XTj0DyYoqz59uXvZ51JrTM0ChWlfTeN5dFYPJZW45Ws7P6vY9e5yGyjOAIo5scV8GvuyYva7U7TcKbobSpD5OypLItONlkdhfe_L_B2elFeAlo3S7W6XRQSD_5k/s400/Bob+Macy+of+Oklahoma+County.jpg" title="Bob Macy of Oklahoma County" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bob Macy of Oklahoma County</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Harvard report highlights the lion-sized role in modern death penalty of just four men and a woman, and how capital punishment is a ‘personality-driven system’</i></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As head prosecutors in their counties, just five individuals have been responsible for putting no fewer than 440 prisoners onto death row. If you compare that number to the 2,943 who are currently awaiting execution in the US, it is equivalent to one out of every seven.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Or express the figure another way: of the 8,038 death sentences handed down since the death penalty was restarted in the modern era 40 years ago this week, some one in 20 of them have been the responsibility of those five district attorneys alone.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The five are profiled in a new report from Harvard Law School’s Fair Punishment Project. Titled America’s Top Five Deadliest Prosecutors, the report highlights the lion-sized role in the modern death penalty of just four men and one woman. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">They are: Joe Freeman Britt of Robeson County, North Carolina; Donnie Myers of Lexington, South Carolina; Bob Macy of Oklahoma County; Lynne Abraham of Philadelphia County; and Johnny Holmes of Harris County, Texas.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Just how extraordinary this elite club of lawyers is can be seen in the biography of Bob Macy. Until his death in 2011, he was known as Cowboy Bob because of his traditional frontier dress sense: he always wore cowboy boots, a large cowboy hat, a black string tie, a black suit and a white shirt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Over the course of 21 years as the top prosecutor in Oklahoma County, Macy put 54 people on death row. That gave him the distinction of sending more people to their potential deaths than any other district attorney in the nation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And many did actually go to their deaths. According to records compiled by the Fair Punishment Project, 30 of those prisoners were executed.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That might have presented an ethical burden to some, but not to Macy. As he sat beneath his Tombstone poster, he ruminated on the “patriotic duty” of prosecutors to aggressively pursue death sentences. He was proud of having sent a 16-year-old, Sean Sellers, to the death chamber before the US supreme court banned the execution of juveniles in 2005.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/29/us-deadliest-prosecutors-death-penalty-five-attorneys-justice-system" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Guardian, Ed Pilkington, June 30, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

H. McCollum L. Brown North Carolina Oklahoma Pennsylvania Prosecution misconduct Texas USA America's deadliest prosecutors: five lawyers, 440 death sentences

Bob Macy of Oklahoma County Harvard report highlights the lion-sized role in modern death penalty of just four men and a woman, and how capi...

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Texas: New Rodney Reed Filing; Death row inmate's lawyers seek retrial

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3njdgd-h0YCk98syBYpK6J05bZI153PqMIZJt2EY-wBGgu4w70TssgEbHUnMUKqkwMZ_dqyEB3x6uZVQdmDbRZ9Z0KHJSvq4XWNFFY2NPqAVHtnFI-CukUW_0oZ53dEtIGxzdpVav2Q/s1600/Texas+DR+Polunsky+Unit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJ3njdgd-h0YCk98syBYpK6J05bZI153PqMIZJt2EY-wBGgu4w70TssgEbHUnMUKqkwMZ_dqyEB3x6uZVQdmDbRZ9Z0KHJSvq4XWNFFY2NPqAVHtnFI-CukUW_0oZ53dEtIGxzdpVav2Q/s400/Texas+DR+Polunsky+Unit.jpg" title="Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Attorneys for death row inmate Rodney Reed have filed a supplement to the Feb. 2015 brief seeking a retrial on his death penalty case, arguing that new evidence has come their way that further indicates that Reed is not responsible for the April 1996 murder of Stacey Stites.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The brief, filed June 7 to the Court of Criminal Appeals and Reed's trial court in Bastrop, points to a conflicting detail in the timeline of former Giddings Police Officer Jimmy Fennell, Stites' fiance and the man Reed defenders believe is actually responsible for killing Stites. Since Fennell first gave his official statement to police 2 days after Stites' body was found, the understanding was that he spent the night of April 22 at home with his fiancee - beginning at 8pm or 8:30 - and that he slept through her early morning departure for work at H-E-B. (Fennell testified in court to this chronology, as well.) But according to a recent interview with Curtis L. Davis - a Bastrop County Sheriff's deputy who at the time was one of Fennell's best friends - Fennell told Davis that he spent the night of April 22 drinking beer with fellow police officers by his truck after Little League baseball practice. Davis said Fennell told him the next morning that he didn't return home to Stites until 10 or 11 o'clock that night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reed's lead counsel, Innocence Project attorney Bryce Benjet, explained in the 19-page brief that Davis revealed this conflicting detail during an April interview with CNN. The network is currently producing a special for its show Death Row Stories about Reed's case and the efforts to save his life. (Indeed, the Chronicle was in Livingston, where death row inmates are housed, when CNN's crew interviewed Reed.) Benjet wrote that he had not been aware of the interview until one of CNN's producers asked Benjet to comment "about certain statements made by Officer Davis." He said that a producer of the show allowed him and an assistant to view "portions of the interview with Officer Davis and to briefly review a transcript of the entire interview." CNN declined to release a copy of the interview or the transcript for use with the filing. Benjet expects the "relevant portions" of the recording to be part of the special when it airs. A representative for CNN told the Chronicle that there is currently no airdate for the episode.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Benjet argues that Fennell's conflicting chronologies concerning how he spent the evening before Stites' murder further represents evidence of Fennell's consciousness of guilt, and that the notion of his drinking well into the night on April 22 would put him out of his and Stites' apartment at a time that 3 forensic pathologists have concluded was the actual time that Stites was killed. The state's theory holds that Stites was abducted by Reed and killed on her way to work on April 23, around 3am. Reed's Feb. 2015 petition for a retrial was rooted in the scientific conclusion that Stites actually died before midnight, on April 22, and that her body was moved from one location to another after she had been killed. The 2015 filing also notes that Davis accompanied Fennell through much of what the state accepts to be his discovery process of his red pickup truck after the murder, and notes how Davis signed out of a 12-hour work shift on April 22 after only 1 hour because of what he described as a "broken tooth." Davis then spent the next 3 days away from work on leave for a "personal death." The filing further notes how there is no documentation of any attempt by the police to interview Davis or otherwise establish whether he could have driven Jimmy Fennell home after dispensing of Stites and the truck.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The idea that Fennell was providing conflicting statements in the aftermath of Stites' murder aligns with six other instances listed by Benjet in the initial 2015 application for a rehearing. Benjet also implies that Fennell provided false testimony during trial, and that the state's failure to provide this information on trial constitutes a violation of due process under Brady v. Maryland. (Fennell is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence that began in 2008 after he accepted a plea deal on charges that he raped a woman while on duty as a police officer in nearby Georgetown.)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In this case, the State failed to disclose Fennell's inconsistent statement as to his whereabouts on the night of April 22, 1996," Benjet wrote. "Even though the trial prosecutors may not have been aware of what Officer Davis learned from Fennell, Officer Davis was a Bastrop County Sheriff's Officer. And the [BCSO] was the lead agency investigating Stacey's murder. Accordingly, Officer Davis' knowledge of what Fennell told him is imputed to the State."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Reed most recently faced an execution date of March 5, 2015, but saw his execution stayed 2 weeks earlier, as the Court of Criminal Appeals sought more time to review the merits of the claims made in his Feb. 2015 filing. There is currently no timetable for advancements in his case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Austin Chronicle, June 23, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Innocence Texas USA Texas: New Rodney Reed Filing; Death row inmate's lawyers seek retrial

Texas death row, Polusnky Unit, Livingston, TX Attorneys for death row inmate Rodney Reed have filed a supplement to the Feb. 2015 brief see...

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Louisiana: Local attorney compares Angola death row to POW hot boxes

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s1600/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana death row" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s400/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" title="Louisiana death row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana death row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">NEW ORLEANS—U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson questions why the state has spent more than $1 million fighting to prevent air conditioning from being installed at Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 2013, three death row inmates with medical problems filed a lawsuit against the state to get relief from the extreme heat and humidity at the prison. Currently, heat remediation measures consist of one cold shower each day, ice chests in cells and fans outside of cells.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Previously, Jackson ruled that the prison must keep the heat index at or below 88 degrees (31°C), stating it is unconstitutional to keep inmates in a building where the heat exceeds 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On June 15, Jackson heard testimony about the effectiveness of the measures implemented by the prison to keep prisoners cool. In April 2014, the state spent $29,000 hiring a private firm to monitor heat levels on death row, according to a report by the Associated Press. The total amount spent on the lawsuit so far is $1,067,000, and the case is still in litigation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Inmates spend 23 hours a day in their cell, under stifling heat and humidity," Peter Russell, managing partner with McBride & Russell Law Firm, LLC recently told the Louisiana Record. "It’s similar to the hot boxes where POWs were held in Vietnam. Louisiana’s death row looks like a throwback to the 1920s.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russell believes that society has “dehumanized death row inmates, but it’s not a partisan issue.” The tough-on-crime culture created the attitude that the “criminal isn’t deserving of respect.” The reality is that everyone has basic human rights, Russell said. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“The state of Louisiana needs to do the right thing," he said. "It’s just basic human dignity. The governor could order the prison to find money for the AC unit.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, but Russell explained that the government has protections at both the state and federal levels. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“Judges tend to err on the side of government due to limited resources,” he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-m_Zu1GhWwWMyBqL9xR6Xb97byVRWz8E9WYytQnnXgaj0-JO2x84xPJZrDixbTPNzPJASm69bntScThO4Vamnr_T9HzCkarKm0DDldZUWuaAuDvPL45PcMl2HThQ2OphE3byWROt02g/s1600/money.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG-m_Zu1GhWwWMyBqL9xR6Xb97byVRWz8E9WYytQnnXgaj0-JO2x84xPJZrDixbTPNzPJASm69bntScThO4Vamnr_T9HzCkarKm0DDldZUWuaAuDvPL45PcMl2HThQ2OphE3byWROt02g/s320/money.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some prisons in Louisiana have air conditioning and some do not, according to Russell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Department of Corrections (DOC) insists that the refusal to provide air conditioning isn’t political in nature. The DOC is concerned that this lawsuit could force the state to accommodate other prisoners. According to the Governor’s Executive Fiscal Budget 2016-2017, the Correction Services budget is facing a $94 million budget cut over last year. Louisiana State Penitentiary will lose $26 million from its annual budget.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson is trying to find solutions to keeping prisoners cool. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both sides have until July 11 to submit memos on other measures that could be implemented to control heat and humidity on death row. Last year, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that any remedy should be limited to the three plaintiffs who filed the suit, not all 85 inmates who currently reside on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Texas, a federal judge just certified a class-action lawsuit for 1,400 inmates who are suing the state to install air conditioning in prisons to prevent heat-stroke deaths. In 2011, 10 Texas inmates died from heat stroke while at Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://louisianarecord.com/stories/510919815-local-attorney-compares-angola-death-row-to-pow-hot-boxes" target="_blank">Louisiana Record</a>, Dawn Brotherton, June 21, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Costs Excessive heat Louisiana Texas USA Louisiana: Local attorney compares Angola death row to POW hot boxes

Louisiana death row NEW ORLEANS—U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson questions why the state has spent more than $1 million fighting to prevent...

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Texas judge voices doubts on death penalty

<div style="text-align: justify;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1TJmDWuHkKnKJYtXRoll3FcRQnCDsvHqIBU0edq0p-VH-vL12SY-Kqa6muJpnYMH6tHUt84eV5sRkiqSNloE61Mmi-ewdeGaO8IHEY9Ppohxhk2diDIFL6DBV78tBAizoJxm-hVwaMw/s1600/Judge+Elsa+Alcala+TX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Judge Elsa Alcala " border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM1TJmDWuHkKnKJYtXRoll3FcRQnCDsvHqIBU0edq0p-VH-vL12SY-Kqa6muJpnYMH6tHUt84eV5sRkiqSNloE61Mmi-ewdeGaO8IHEY9Ppohxhk2diDIFL6DBV78tBAizoJxm-hVwaMw/s320/Judge+Elsa+Alcala+TX.jpg" title="Judge Elsa Alcala " width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Judge Elsa Alcala</td></tr></tbody></table>A judge on the state’s highest criminal court, which has the last word on Texas death penalty cases, believes it’s time to reassess whether capital punishment should be allowed to continue in the nation’s most prolific state for executions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Judge Elsa Alcala, a five-year member of the Court of Criminal Appeals, this week <a href="http://www.search.txcourts.gov/SearchMedia.aspx?MediaVersionID=28e86897-160b-4910-b60c-6d9a750a07e3&coa=coscca&DT=OTHER&MediaID=e489a338-086f-4d7d-8159-18fe43ef10b9">filed an opinion saying</a> she has “great concern” over the way Texas implements the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Death row inmates, the Republican judge wrote, have raised compelling arguments about falling support for the death penalty, noting that a majority of states now decline to execute inmates either by law or by practice — a change from 1976, when the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to resume executions after a four-year hiatus based in part on support for executing convicted murderers shown by 36 states.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In addition, Alcala wrote, Texas courts should study whether the death penalty is unconstitutional because it is arbitrarily imposed by race, disproportionately affecting minorities, and whether excessive delays in imposing the ultimate sentence results in cruel and unusual punishment because inmates are held in solitary confinement for years, if not decades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“I think there are, as I said in that opinion, significant problems with the death penalty,” Alcala told the American-Statesman. “There are lots of problems, and I think the public is not aware of the problems.”<br /><br />“If you ask me how good is Texas at carrying out the death penalty, I am unconvinced,” Alcala said in an interview. “We see cases over and over again where 10, 20 years later you find problems,” including mistaken witness testimony, exonerations based on previously unavailable DNA tests and scientific advancements that call earlier expert testimony into question.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/texas-judge-voices-doubts-on-death-penalty/nrh4r/"><b>Click here to read the full article</b></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: My Statesman, Chuck Lindell, June 17, 2016</div><br /><div><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div>

Abolition DNA Ethnic minorities Exoneration Innocence Inordinate delay Race Texas USA Texas judge voices doubts on death penalty

Judge Elsa Alcala A judge on the state’s highest criminal court, which has the last word on Texas death penalty cases, believes it’s time to...

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'Dangerously hot': Louisiana death row inmates still face health problems from heat years after order to cool it down

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s1600/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Louisiana Death Row" border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj33TyevC4PdyOe5ymvFv_zN269EpHNppErcB43Lq1XDoQ14EDYU3aiHfkPNRRKOm7mcl1OEsBb31Nja76Mh33lpFYjUd1P88ORcIC9K9S_wG-__mleEjIYC4pMwxf4O8PziaZWbs5TP_Q/s400/Angola+LA+death+row.jpg" title="Louisiana Death Row" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisiana Death Row</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The state has done "little if anything" to keep <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/search/label/Excessive%20heat" target="_blank">the sweltering heat on Louisiana's death row below 88°F (31,1°C) degrees</a>, a Baton Rouge federal judge said Wednesday while warning he won't shy away from making a "tough and unpopular" decision to protect the health and safety of 3 ailing condemned killers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's been 2 1/2 years since Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled the state is violating the 3 Louisiana State Penitentiary inmates' constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment and ordered state corrections officials to maintain heat indexes on death row at or below 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At a hearing he called Wednesday to determine whether the state's 2nd heat remediation plan adequately protects the prisoners from Louisiana's searing summer heat and humidity, Jackson said the plan's measures - once-daily cold showers, chests filled with ice, an extra ice machine and additional fans - have failed to halt heat indexes from topping the 88-degree mark.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson said he won't "sit idly by" while Elzie Ball, Nathaniel Code and James Magee continue to suffer, noting that 14 inmates have died in neighboring Texas from the heat since 2007.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Nobody wants that here in Louisiana. That's what this case is about," the judge said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson will rule sometime after both sides file post-hearing briefs, which are due July 11.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The state's initial court-ordered heat remediation plan included air conditioning, but the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled last summer that while the 3 inmates deserve some relief, they aren't entitled to air-conditioned quarters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">James Hilburn, an attorney for state corrections officials, argued at Wednesday's hearing that the appellate court did not order the 88-degree threshold, but an agitated Jackson added the appeals court didn't undo it either.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's been proven with scientific certainty that (88-plus degrees) is a hazard to their health," the judge said. "I've already ruled. 88 degrees is the standard."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson added that just because a remedy is "costly or inconvenient" doesn't trump the Constitution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Nilay Vora, 1 of the inmates' attorneys, asked Jackson to order implementation of the state's 1st heat remediation plan. Vora said death row without air conditioning exposes Ball, Code and Magee to "serious risk of substantial harm."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hilburn defended the state's latest plan, saying, "This was not a flippant plan."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jackson, who did not rule out ordering "mechanical air" for the inmates, warned he could sanction the state if it doesn't remedy the constitutional violations that he and the 5th Circuit found - that the high heat indexes violate the 3 inmates' Eighth Amendment guarantee against cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"A court can't simply sit on its hands and allow a constitutional violation to persist," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ball, Code and Magee - shackled and dressed in bright orange prison garb - testified in the cool confines of Jackson's courtroom and said they continue to suffer from dizziness, nausea, headaches and profuse sweating due to the unrelenting heat in their cells.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It ain't got as hot as it's going to get," Ball noted.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Summer doesn't officially begin until Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's too hot" on Louisiana's death row, testified Dr. Susi Vassallo, of Texas. "It's dangerously hot."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Vassallo, a medical doctor who specializes in heat-related illnesses, said the components of the state's 2nd heat remediation plan, either considered individually or collectively, do not reduce the substantial risk of serious harm to the 3 inmates. She described the plan's components as comfort rather than safety when dealing with heat indexes exceeding 88 degrees.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If we set the bar at death, that is too high," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Colin Clark, an assistant state attorney general, said in court that the Louisiana Department of Corrections has not had a single heatstroke incident in the last 9 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 5th Circuit last year suggested the state could open the doors to the air-conditioned guard pods and divert cool air into the death-row tiers, but Jimmy Cruze, the death row warden, testified Wednesday the appeals court's suggestion was rejected by the state because it poses a security risk.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's a bad security move," he said. "We don't leave doors open."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mechanical engineer Frank Thompson, who designed death row, testified the death-row core is air-conditioned but the death-row tiers are equipped only with cross ventilation and a central heating system. Death row, he said, meets commercial building standards.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Air conditioning is the only plausible way to stop heat indexes from surpassing 88 degrees, Thompson added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ball is on death row for fatally shooting a beer delivery man during the 1996 armed robbery of a Gretna lounge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Magee was condemned to die for the 2007 shotgun murders of his estranged wife and their 5-year-old son in a subdivision near Mandeville.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Code received the death penalty for the 1985 murders of 4 people at a house in Shreveport.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Advocate, June 16, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Excessive heat Louisiana Texas USA 'Dangerously hot': Louisiana death row inmates still face health problems from heat years after order to cool it down

Louisiana Death Row The state has done "little if anything" to keep the sweltering heat on Louisiana's death row below 88°F (3...

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Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson III granted stay of execution

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwlb9AoS2BPAnqTh-aBchKnBiqPGqWTnebuyKO7l7c24Qr35e14uDyj7qsTlC4GNB6cEk4KtXpSRp7ZIeHI_RPBBHb4hKH81vQqL0GjfiRFZFNQhDCDAmuI2vTbk4GxIX8xNj2sopuGBg/s1600/Robert+Roberson+TX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Robert Roberson" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwlb9AoS2BPAnqTh-aBchKnBiqPGqWTnebuyKO7l7c24Qr35e14uDyj7qsTlC4GNB6cEk4KtXpSRp7ZIeHI_RPBBHb4hKH81vQqL0GjfiRFZFNQhDCDAmuI2vTbk4GxIX8xNj2sopuGBg/s320/Robert+Roberson+TX.jpg" title="Robert Roberson" width="237" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Roberson III</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">There is breaking news in the case of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson, who had a June 21 execution date. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr. Roberson received a stay of execution today, after the Court of Criminal Appeals found that the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs had presented compelling evidence that his capital murder conviction was based on flawed science. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The CCA has stayed the execution and sent the case back to state district court for a hearing.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">You can read the CCA order in Ex Parte Roberson at: <a href="http://bit.ly/2613syW" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/2613syW</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Texas is scheduled to execute this man in six days—but four experts say he was convicted based on junk science</span></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">UPDATE: On June 16, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed Roberson’s execution, sending his case back to a trial court for a hearing on the new scientific evidence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The scientific evidence was conclusive, doctors told a Texas jury in 2003: capital murder defendant Robert Roberson had violently shaken his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Thirteen years later—and just days before Roberson is scheduled to be executed—four medical experts are now claiming that the scientific theory used to convict him has been thoroughly debunked.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Roberson, 49, is the next death row inmate in America scheduled to be executed, and will go to the death chamber June 21. He was sentenced to death in 2003 for the murder of his daughter, Nikki Curtis.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">At the time of Roberson’s trial, doctors believed that certain symptoms in a child could conclusively prove they were violently shaken or abused, based on a theory known as Shaken Baby Syndrome. But in the last decade, the four experts who submitted affidavits as part of his appeal say, there’s been a sea change in the scientific understanding of the issue.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Roberson, whose lawyers say suffers from “severe limitations in intellectual functioning,” was Nikki’s biological father but essentially shared custody with the parents of Nikki’s mother, whom she had lived with for the first two years of her life. He brought her home from her grandparents house in Palestine, Texas, on the evening of January 30, 2002, and put her to bed. Early the next morning, he was woken up by her crying, and found that she had fallen on the floor. She seemed OK, he told investigators, so he put her back in her bed and went to sleep. When he woke up again a few hours later, she was blue and barely breathing. Roberson rushed her to the hospital, and she was declared dead the next day.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutors dismissed Roberson’s account, his lawyers say, and instead charged him with murdering his daughter by shaking or beating her. At the time, most doctors believed that they could determine that a child could be diagnosed with Shaken Baby Syndrome based on three symptoms: retinal hemorrhaging, subdural hematoma/hemorrhaging, and edema, or brain swelling. Roberson’s jury was told that because Nikki had signs of all three, she must have been abused.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The defense didn’t contest that explanation or call any medical experts. On February 14, 2003, the jury convicted Roberson and sentenced him to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, however, a growing group of scientists disagree with this method of diagnosing Shaken Baby Syndrome. Research has shown that the same symptoms can be caused by other natural or accidental causes, the four experts who reviewed Roberson’s case write. They present a range of possible causes for Nikki’s death that were not explored during the trial: meningitis due to an ear infection; an injury before Roberson arrived; a short fall like the one he described or a congenital condition.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://fusion.net/story/314584/robert-roberson-texas-death-row/" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Fusion, June 16, 2016 (updated)<br /><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Death Watch: Shaken Science -- Appeal rests on new research into Shaken Baby Syndrome</span></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>To have his federal habeas attorneys tell it, Robert Roberson is "dim-witted" and "mentally ill." The 49-year-old, sentenced to death in 2003 for the 2002 death of his 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis, was a "drug abusing petty criminal with a long family history of serious mental health issues," attorneys James Volberding and John Wright have said. But did that make him a ruthless killer? No, Volberding and Wright argued in a Sept. 2010 application for habeas relief made to the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Texas. Their client "probably did contribute" to the death of his daughter: "Just not knowingly or intentionally. Roberson is not the worst of the worst. Not even close." The 2 attorneys suggested a modified conviction of manslaughter, and a sentence of 20 years.<br /><br />Much of the old argument hinged on the manner in which Nikki is believed to have died, and the way Anderson County District Attorney Doug Lowe manipulated the trial process to elevate the jury's belief in the ruthlessness of the crime. According to Roberson, Nikki died during a night when he was left alone with her and was high on drugs. Prosecutors said he shook her, hard, when he was angry with her - hard enough that she slipped into a coma. When that happened, they said, he put her in bed, and left her there for hours. Nikki was only taken to a hospital after being checked on 5 hours later, at which point it was discovered she was not breathing.<br /><br />Roberson has maintained his innocence since the day he was arrested, saying that Nikki died after landing on her head during a fall from her bed. Medical professionals who testified at his trial quickly dismissed his claims as unlikely.<br /><br />An examination of Nikki's body by a nurse upon her arrival at the Palestine Regional Medical Center revealed a "superficial tear to Nikki's anal cavity" and a rate of dilation to the anal canal that was considered faster than usual, suggesting what Roberson's attorneys described as "theoretical sexual penetration." Dallas pediatrician Dr. Janet Squires found no evidence of any sexual abuse, however - no deformities to her anal cavity, bruises, or markings on her vagina. Squires testified at trial that she found no semen or traces of sexually transmitted bacteria. She noted that the anal cavity usually dilates in the comatose state due to the nervous system shutting down.<br /><br />The notion that Roberson sexually abused his daughter that night ultimately became irrelevant during trial. Lowe ultimately even attempted to have that charge dismissed. (Capital murder indictments can be secured in cases in which a murder occurs during a felony, is premeditated, or involves a victim who is younger than 6, making Roberson a candidate under 2 circumstances.) In appeals, Volberding and Wright argued that the notion of sexual abuse was only important to Lowe at the beginning of the trial: By securing an indictment of sexual assault from the grand jury, Lowe would have an easier time turning the jury against Roberson, thus making a death sentence - a more appropriate penalty, he considered, for the high-profile death of a small girl in a small town - a more likely outcome. Roberson's trial attorneys John Vanmeter and Steve Evans used a strategy that pointed to Roberson's longstanding mental illness, though they never actually argued that their client was insane, which would have raised questions of cruel and unusual punishment.<br /><br />Since a final judgment was rendered in federal court in Sept. 2014, Roberson's effort has shifted away from the mental illness angle and instead toward the argument that "Shaken Baby Syndrome" (aka "Abusive Head Trauma") is a phenomenon rooted in junk science. Much of that shift has been Roberson's doing. In 2014, after learning of a Houston case involving a newfound understanding of SBS, Roberson wrote a letter to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals asking that he be granted new counsel. That request eventually led to the Texas Defender Service taking his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it ultimately failed.<br /><br />On June 8, 2 weeks before his pending execution, Gretchen Sween, an attorney with the Office of Capital Writs, filed 2 applications for relief (1 in Roberson's trial court and another with the Court of Criminal Appeals) as well as a motion with the trial court for a stay of execution. In each application, Sween argues that new forensic science could rebuke previous theorems of SBS, and corroborate Roberson's claims that Nikki - who had a temperature of 104.5 degrees only 2 days before her death - did fall from her bed. Among the claims, Sween has argued that Nikki's lack of any serious neck injuries indicates that she was not in fact shaken, and that the science surrounding SBS has evolved enough to change the course of Roberson's case.<br /><br />"The prior medical understanding was that a specific set of symptoms could be viewed together as categorical proof of SBS/AHT," Sween wrote. "More specifically, in 2002-2003, when Robert was tried, the medical community invited doctors to infer conclusively that a child had been violently shaken from the presence of 3 symptoms: retinal hemorrhaging, subdural hematoma/hemorrhaging, and edema or brain swelling."<br /><br />Roberson is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday, June 21. As we go to press, he's still awaiting a response from the trial court and CCA. Should his latest efforts be denied, Roberson will be the 7th Texan executed this year and the 538th since Texas reinstated the death penalty in 1976.<br /><br />Source: Austin Chronicle, June 11, 2016<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/WebDPN/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Child abuse Children Forensic science Mental retardation Stay of execution Texas USA Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson III granted stay of execution

Robert Roberson III There is breaking news in the case of Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson, who had a June 21 execution date.  Mr. Rob...

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Texas Death Row Inmate Sentenced to Life over Intellectual Disability

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oO7tSsNoo8yBrLGz1rhGsPcd7qpFCyzMZFvDkAdDXXc9HtF-KWE8JlLAFWB-hzEm8hAK6ZnEa_5ulzd0Cc5CgwNcV8h43R1_zhUeTKKe0M521WgOVBHrLXeAqt8uJDztBd2NKl9m5hg/s1600/Jose-Martinez.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Jose Noey Martinez" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0oO7tSsNoo8yBrLGz1rhGsPcd7qpFCyzMZFvDkAdDXXc9HtF-KWE8JlLAFWB-hzEm8hAK6ZnEa_5ulzd0Cc5CgwNcV8h43R1_zhUeTKKe0M521WgOVBHrLXeAqt8uJDztBd2NKl9m5hg/s320/Jose-Martinez.jpg" title="Jose Noey Martinez" width="234" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jose Noey Martinez</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A man who fatally stabbed a 68-year-old woman and her 4-year-old granddaughter during a 1995 burglary in Hidalgo County will no longer face execution after he has been determined to be intellectually disabled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal court, changed Jose Noey Martinez's sentence Wednesday to life in prison. The court agreed with a lower court's ruling that Martinez, now 40, “is a person with intellectual disability” and “is constitutionally ineligible for a death sentence.” Martinez had been on death row almost 20 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Martinez broke into the home of Esperanza Palomo to steal a TV and stereo, according to court documents. Palomo was babysitting her blind granddaughter, Amanda. Shortly after breaking in, Palomo confronted Martinez with a baseball bat. He stabbed the grandmother, who fell to the ground immediately, and raped her.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After killing the woman, Martinez told law enforcement, he heard the granddaughter crying in another room, court documents show. He told officers that he stabbed her to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Hidalgo County jury found Martinez guilty of capital murder in 1996 and sentenced him to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On appeal, Martinez's attorneys had claimed that he is mentally retarded and argued that executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Once the Texas Department of Criminal Justice receives paperwork from the appeals court, Martinez will be taken to the Byrd Unit in Huntsville, agency spokesman Jason Clark said in an email.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"He will be interviewed, and information will be gathered about his family structure, criminal and social behavior, drug and alcohol involvement, military and institutional experience, as well as education and employment history," he said. "The results of the tests and interviews are the basis for classification decisions that determine the unit of assignment, the level of security supervision, housing and job assignments and time-earning status."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Texas Tribune, Jonathan Silver, June 15, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Commutation LWOP Mental retardation mentally incompetent inmates Texas USA Texas Death Row Inmate Sentenced to Life over Intellectual Disability

Jose Noey Martinez A man who fatally stabbed a 68-year-old woman and her 4-year-old granddaughter during a 1995 burglary in Hidalgo County w...

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Texas Man Escapes Death Sentence in Police Chief's Murder

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQ0SDO3XHNn_mLs-cHwu_ZOpCBy8b9LTy265WcbtgNyY8HFIo_zRlxUzt2cT1ALYC_tQlLhyphenhyphenh66mQQXoCZPs3qcRt9qG-HNalfuB_OAWFG0JkoLq_pQjjQy4ABndYgLCv7MXmbquQCIM/s1600/Risner-Dixon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="David Risner, Police Chief Lee Dixon" border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTQ0SDO3XHNn_mLs-cHwu_ZOpCBy8b9LTy265WcbtgNyY8HFIo_zRlxUzt2cT1ALYC_tQlLhyphenhyphenh66mQQXoCZPs3qcRt9qG-HNalfuB_OAWFG0JkoLq_pQjjQy4ABndYgLCv7MXmbquQCIM/s400/Risner-Dixon.jpg" title="David Risner, Police Chief Lee Dixon" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David Risner, Police Chief  Lee Dixon</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">BELTON – The killer of a small-town Texas police chief escaped the death penalty on Wednesday after a jury could not reach agreement on his punishment. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">David Risner, a 59-year-old former police officer, will automatically be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. He was convicted last Monday in the 2014 shooting death of Little River-Academy Police Chief Lee Dixon. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After hearing testimony for five days in the sentencing phase of Risner's trial, a Bell County jury deliberated for more than four hours before announcing it could not agree to sentence Risner to death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“He’s going to die in prison; we’re going to take that home,” Bell County Assistant District Attorney Nelson Barnes said after the sentencing. “We only hope he doesn’t hurt someone in prison.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Almost two years ago, on June 19, 2014, Dixon arrived at Risner’s house a little after 5 p.m. to investigate a complaint. The two talked for a few minutes, but when Dixon went to cite Risner for a class C misdemeanor, things escalated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a dashcam video played during the trial’s closing arguments, the courtroom heard Dixon call out to Risner in an increasingly frantic voice as Risner brought a shotgun to the screen door: “David, show me your hands! Show me them!”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A gunshot sounded, and the shouting ceased. Another shot rang out a few seconds later.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Risner called 911 himself, and a sheriff’s deputy arrived to find Dixon dead on the front porch, according to an arrest affidavit. In court, prosecutors showed an autopsy photo of Dixon, missing almost half of his face.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“What you did because you had a bad day was horrible, horrible,” Lee Dixon’s wife, Mary, said through tears to Risner after the sentencing. “I’m sorry, I just cannot forgive you.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the 1990s and early 2000s, Risner served as a law enforcement officer in several departments east of Dallas. He was active in his church and described as a generous man.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Later, he took a contract job in Baghdad during wartime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“David came back from Iraq a different man, a broken man,” said Donna Risner, his wife. “It was hard for him to concentrate. It was hard for him to sit still. I heard him tell a doctor once it was like there were fire ants in his brain.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Both prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed that Risner suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and a traumatic brain injury. Multiple explosions rocked the compound where he worked as a security supervisor in Iraq, at least once blowing out the windows of his room.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The defense argued those disorders were the cause of the shooting, and because of that, Risner shouldn’t receive the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“He didn’t choose to have these conditions,” said Russ Hunt, Jr., Risner’s attorney. “These conditions are a result of him serving his community.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Prosecutors said Risner couldn’t use PTSD or a brain injury as an excuse because millions of people are affected by these conditions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“A shotgun to the face is not the result of PTSD, and it is not the result of a brain injury” Assistant District Attorney Shelley Strimple said. “There’s no excuse for blowing a man’s face off.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even with the lesser sentence, Risner will still die in prison, Hunt said. He only asked that his client be spared from execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">“We’re not asking for a pass,” he said. “David Risner needs to be punished for what he’s done.”</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2016/06/15/texas-man-escapes-death-sentence-police-chiefs-mur/" target="_blank">The Texas Tribune</a>, Jolie McCullough, June 15, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Hung jury PTSD Texas USA Texas Man Escapes Death Sentence in Police Chief's Murder

David Risner, Police Chief  Lee Dixon BELTON – The killer of a small-town Texas police chief escaped the death penalty on Wednesday after a ...

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Former death row inmate Kerry Max Cook fires lawyers, threatens to undo exoneration deal

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7-LRf_9ehrCnJcNs96Ovuqta-wWTtMWEajD1pxh5UnWkQpgRvXkjsRU_kWtOnH_D7Vion796Axn74X_5tw94Sg07Q1LHLUNw78xED6Ka8k8qYoSivwhBOtgXaYLSp1ygKDiNthd6NfeU/s1600/Kerry+Cook+TX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kerry Max Cook (center) and his team of lawyers" border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7-LRf_9ehrCnJcNs96Ovuqta-wWTtMWEajD1pxh5UnWkQpgRvXkjsRU_kWtOnH_D7Vion796Axn74X_5tw94Sg07Q1LHLUNw78xED6Ka8k8qYoSivwhBOtgXaYLSp1ygKDiNthd6NfeU/s400/Kerry+Cook+TX.jpg" title="Kerry Max Cook (center) and his team of lawyers" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kerry Max Cook (center) and his team of lawyers</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Two days after his legal team secured <a href="http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.fr/2016/06/texan-spent-20-years-on-death-row-and.html" target="_blank">an agreement that could lead to his exoneration in a high-profile 40-year-old murder case</a>, former death row inmate Kerry Max Cook fired the very lawyers who set him on a path that could finally clear his name.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a series of Facebook missives and incensed email screeds, Cook accused lawyers from the New York-based Innocence Project and the Innocence Project of Texas of betraying him by accepting a deal with Smith County prosecutors that he never agreed to. Cook maintains that the deal lets prosecutors escape accountability for years of repeated misconduct that kept him behind bars and nearly resulted in his death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Now, the 60-year-old former inmate says he plans to represent himself in court and prove to both the judge and Smith County prosecutors that he didn't brutally kill Linda Jo Edwards in 1977.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I am completely devastated by what has been done wirh [sic] my 40 year struggle for truth & justice," Cook wrote in an email to his former lawyers. "This corporate take-over of the truth of my story has left me still publicly convicted and the district attorneys office exonerated."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's the latest strange twist in a case that has been marked by continued oddities over 4 decades.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cook was convicted in 1978 in the gruesome slaying of Edwards, a 22-year-old who was found beaten, stabbed and mutilated in her Tyler apartment bedroom. Through 3 trials that courts said were tainted with prosecutor misconduct, 20 years on death row and even since his release in 1999, Cook has maintained his innocence. DNA tests also have revealed the DNA of another man - Edwards' married lover - on the panties she wore the night of her death.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Smith County prosecutors, however, remain resolute that Cook is guilty. Last week, they agreed to drop the murder charges only after a key witness admitted he lied during Cook's trials. Cook's lawyers struck a deal with Matt Bingham, the Smith County district attorney, in which they agreed to drop claims of misconduct by previous prosecutors in exchange for the state dismissing the long-standing murder charges. Bingham, however, said he would continue to oppose Cook's claims of actual innocence, which would allow him to receive compensation for the 2 decades he spent on death row.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A hearing on the actual innocence claim is scheduled for June 29.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In court last week, Cook told the judge that he had agreed to the deal, which would require final approval from the state's highest criminal court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But in dramatic emails and Facebook posts in the days after the hearing, Cook said that agreement "exonerated" the prosecutors who helped secure his wrongful conviction. He accused his lawyers of bullying him into taking the deal and said he would rather die than accept it.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cook ordered Innocence Project lawyers who have helped exonerate hundreds of inmates in Texas and across the country to withdraw from the case. He wants the agreement he signed with Smith County prosecutors nullified. And he has vowed to represent himself going forward, a move many equate with legal suicide.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This stress may kill me," Cook wrote in an email Saturday to his former lawyers. "But as I have told you repeatedly during the course of your representation if [sic] me, some things are worth dying for and the truth about how I wound up on Texas death row completely innocent in a case that has become known as the worst case in America, is one of them."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even if a court were to rule that prosecutors engaged in misconduct in Cook's case - a move that is rare - it's unclear what consequences, if any, the former state lawyers might face.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In unusual, high-profile cases like those of Michael Morton and Anthony Graves, the prosecutors who oversaw their wrongful convictions were punished by the State Bar of Texas. But under state law, complaints like those must be filed within 4 years of an innocent person's release from prison. Cook was released in 1999.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Innocence Project lawyers said they made the agreement with Cook's best interests in mind and an eye toward securing his exoneration. Nonetheless, they agreed to withdraw from the case.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is our firm belief that Kerry is innocent of this murder and that he has finally received justice and a recognition from Smith County that his prosecution was based on false testimony and he never had a fair trial," Innocence Project lawyers said in an emailed statement. "The attorneys who have worked on Kerry's behalf for many years hope that whatever course of action he ultimately pursues will end in his complete exoneration."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Bingham declined to comment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">George Kendall, a defense lawyer who has represented inmates who spent decades behind bars, including former Texas death row inmate Delma Banks, said it's not unusual for those who've spent years in prison to have rocky relationships with their lawyers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Having gone through what he's gone through," Kendall said, "it would surely be understandable for him to have some real problems trusting people connected with the criminal justice system."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But, he said, Cook should reconsider his plan to represent himself in court.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Our legal system makes resolution of the kind of case Kerry has much more difficult than it needs to be," Kendall said. "The issues involved in his case are complicated and they are tricky."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: Dallas Morning News, June 15, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

DNA Exoneration Facebook Innocence Prosecution misconduct Texas USA Former death row inmate Kerry Max Cook fires lawyers, threatens to undo exoneration deal

Kerry Max Cook (center) and his team of lawyers Two days after his legal team secured an agreement that could lead to his exoneration in a h...

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Utah lawmaker wants to speed up death penalty process

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRIyTOiQ7L7bLtrR2qXEtGlcNCfZomtj3p1KqAaLza6uXlN5qIjyjs-h9xBgaXPiM3AczrSNn6Z8KGPu5kZbl8lDaZ5oNGU18mpFuzy2UQc_PO807wxN-niLjW_F7tev2qA1zeuEhYJU/s1600/Utah+House+of+Representatives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Utah House of Representatives" border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRIyTOiQ7L7bLtrR2qXEtGlcNCfZomtj3p1KqAaLza6uXlN5qIjyjs-h9xBgaXPiM3AczrSNn6Z8KGPu5kZbl8lDaZ5oNGU18mpFuzy2UQc_PO807wxN-niLjW_F7tev2qA1zeuEhYJU/s400/Utah+House+of+Representatives.jpg" title="Utah House of Representatives" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A Utah lawmaker is once again targeting the death penalty.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Rep. Paul Ray (R-Clearfield), well known for bringing the firing squad back to Utah, says inmates sit on death row too long.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He wants them to die quicker.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If you're sentenced to die, you're going to die for doing that," Ray said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Republican plans to look for ways to shorten the process, holding up 2 states -- Virginia and Texas -- as examples.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Typically, 7 to 10 years is how long somebody's on death row" in those states, Ray said. "We may look at putting in some of the measures that they have to expedite the time on death row."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Utah has 9 inmates on death row. All but 1 have remained there more than 15 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Every time Ray touches the death penalty on Utah's Capitol Hill, it ignites a political firestorm. That will be the case this time as well.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I don't understand his fascination with the death penalty," said Kent Hart, executive director of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hart says Ray's latest effort is contrary to Utah values.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"If that process is shortened, Utah would be joining other states like Virginia and Texas who I don't think value human life like Utah does," Hart said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ray says he expects opposition, but he still plans to bring this issue to Capitol Hill on Wednesday in the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee. After studying it, Ray hopes to draft a bill later this fall.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Last session the Utah Senate passed a bill that would get rid of the death penalty, but that bill failed in the House.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: KUTV news, June 14, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /><br /><b><span style="font-size: large;">Report: Each death row inmate costs Utah $1.66 million</span></b><br /><br />A new state report finds that each death row inmate in Utah costs $1.66 million more in taxpayer money than one sentenced to life in prison without parole.<br /><br />State lawmakers weighed the costs of capital punishment Wednesday at a hearing that came after the legislature both brought back the firing squad and seriously considered eliminating death sentences altogether.<br /><br />Some lawmakers sharply questioned whether the state could really save that much money if they did away with capital punishment, pointing to costs like care for elderly inmates.<br /><br />Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield sponsored the proposal that brought back the firing squad as a backup execution method, and now wants to streamline the death-penalty appeals process from about 30 years to 15 or less. Critics say that could give defendants short shrift.<br /><br />Source: Associated Press, June 15, 2007<br /><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Costs LWOP Texas USA Utah Virginia Utah lawmaker wants to speed up death penalty process

A Utah lawmaker is once again targeting the death penalty. Rep. Paul Ray (R-Clearfield), well known for bringing the firing squad back to Ut...

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Mom of killer on death row for Collin County murder makes case to pope

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiahPTlPAB_gmqBDXzj4GTZUUmZCJu-FG9Cxnn9xQ7qMkvSR8ICRdC07E9NJ2FPGQh-qzMNckK1e9jg_blyesm4pCe8GwZr8SMIREWGV6cQd99cIdg1SAs28pjyfRmsrcJYljT-P1geOKY/s1600/Pope+Francis+talks+with+Lidia+Guerrero%252C+the+Argentine+mother+of+a+man+on+death+row+in+Texas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Pope Francis talks with Lidia Guerrero, the Argentine mother of a man on death row in Texas" border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiahPTlPAB_gmqBDXzj4GTZUUmZCJu-FG9Cxnn9xQ7qMkvSR8ICRdC07E9NJ2FPGQh-qzMNckK1e9jg_blyesm4pCe8GwZr8SMIREWGV6cQd99cIdg1SAs28pjyfRmsrcJYljT-P1geOKY/s400/Pope+Francis+talks+with+Lidia+Guerrero%252C+the+Argentine+mother+of+a+man+on+death+row+in+Texas.jpg" title="Pope Francis talks with Lidia Guerrero, the Argentine mother of a man on death row in Texas" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">Pope Francis talks with Lidia Guerrero, the Argentine mother of a man on</div><div style="text-align: left;">death row in Texas.</div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has met for a second time with the Argentine mother of a man on death row for the 1995 slaying of a Plano man.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Vatican announced the meeting Saturday between Francis and Lidia Guerrero but gave no details.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After their first meeting, in Rome in 2014, the mother said that the pope, who is also Argentine, assured her of his prayers for Victor Hugo Saldano, who was convicted in 1996 for abducting and fatally shooting Paul Ray King, 46. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Francis has vigorously promoted Vatican teaching saying capital punishment is morally unjustified.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saldano entered the United States illegally in the early 1990s.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The day laborer from Argentina became the first person sentenced to death from that country since it won independence from Spain in 1809.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Saldano and an accomplice, Jorge Chavez, 27, abducted King from a Sack 'n Save supermarket Nov. 25, 1995, and killed him later at Lake Lavon.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Guerrero has said her son is guilty of murder but has been driven insane during his time on death row and has already paid for his crime.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Chavez, the accomplice, received a life sentence in the case. He will be eligible for parole in 2035.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: The Dallas Morning News, AP, June 12, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Argentina Clemency Francis I Pope Texas USA Vatican Mom of killer on death row for Collin County murder makes case to pope

Pope Francis talks with Lidia Guerrero, the Argentine mother of a man on death row in Texas. VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis has met for a sec...

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Texan Spent 20 Years On Death Row And Got Cleared After 37 Years

<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLKO5ap3nwsf1-Di4iWEC8Of1fJVfBZ1kRvSWYeYVK5b1ycxlOuic5djOqw0h3RrgmHlFKPTcacVvsFae083KMaG04ptlXuS_qIgP-1ghziH1JfC1pJ9QCkwFZAyW1l5Y9N0Y2Huiucc/s1600/Kerry+Cook+TX.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Kerry Max Cook (center)" border="0" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpLKO5ap3nwsf1-Di4iWEC8Of1fJVfBZ1kRvSWYeYVK5b1ycxlOuic5djOqw0h3RrgmHlFKPTcacVvsFae083KMaG04ptlXuS_qIgP-1ghziH1JfC1pJ9QCkwFZAyW1l5Y9N0Y2Huiucc/s400/Kerry+Cook+TX.jpg" title="Kerry Max Cook (center)" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kerry Max Cook (center)</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">A former Texas prisoner who was released in 1999, after serving about 20 years on death row for charges of committing rape and murder of a 21-year-old, was finally cleared Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Officials said that an East Texas state court judge approved of an agreement between prosecutors and attorneys to exonerate Kerry Cook, 60, so that he could overturn the capital murder conviction that accused him of killing Linda Jo Edwards in 1977. He had maintained his innocence for 40 years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cook has always been an activist protesting the death penalty and speaking against it across the United States as well as Europe.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He has written <i>Chasing Justice</i>, recording his battle. It had been nominated for the Edgar Award, by Mystery Writers of America. Former FBI Director and Federal Judge William S. Sessions noted: "Kerry Max Cook has written a brutal but compelling account of his 22 years on Texas's death row for a murder he did not commit. The book depicts his struggles against all odds to free himself from an inept justice system that would not let go, despite mounting and eventually overwhelming evidence of his innocence. What is perhaps most amazing is the grace with which he now lives his life as a free man, determined to prevent others from suffering the horrors he endured."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new evidence proved his innocence and held another man guilty, said a statement from the Innocence Project of Texas, representing Cook.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Though prosecutors have agreed to drop the murder charges, they still continue to oppose his claims of real innocence. On June 27, Cook will appear again in court and clearance from charges would gain him $2 million or more to make up for the traumatic period of imprisonment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Cook's case got national attention and stirred a lot of questions regarding the death penalty prosecutions in Texas. The state has sent most prisoners to their death, since the U.S. Supreme Court brought up the death penalty again in 1976.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1999, there was a "no contest" plea to murder, permitting Cook to be released from prison. It however, did not call for any admission of guilt.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He had been convicted in 1978. However, his case was appealed and retried. But in 1996, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals put down his conviction and death sentence owing to "prosecutorial misconduct."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The 21-year-old bartender had no bad record of violence. It became clear that he lived in exactly the same east Texas apartment complex as Edwards.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was only later that DNA tests proved him to be innocent.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It is long past time for the state of Texas to admit that it got the wrong man and that it prosecuted the wrong man repeatedly and sought the death penalty against the wrong man repeatedly," said Kathryn Kase, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, which represents death row inmates.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is "shameful," Kase said, that prosecutors continue to challenge Cook's efforts to prove his innocence.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: newseveryday.com, June 8, 2016<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">After nearly 40 years, murder charges dropped against Kerry Max Cook in East Texas case</span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrRDWtolgHPNttVt0hg5XZwVsFkxSQkOGnqUQSem5ZumiEGlw5PiPNj5deECHWR9bNFlo11Zpd7gmDZEbBPBvDTPbfF7G0UTBZ5zzLLVJuZUU0b0ndI3CQkxs3z2GELdioNXL9WqNoXY/s1600/DNA+Testing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPrRDWtolgHPNttVt0hg5XZwVsFkxSQkOGnqUQSem5ZumiEGlw5PiPNj5deECHWR9bNFlo11Zpd7gmDZEbBPBvDTPbfF7G0UTBZ5zzLLVJuZUU0b0ndI3CQkxs3z2GELdioNXL9WqNoXY/s320/DNA+Testing.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>TYLER – In a shocking reversal, Smith County prosecutors agreed Monday to throw out murder charges against Kerry Max Cook, a man they’ve insisted for nearly 40 years was guilty of one of the small East Texas county’s most notorious killings.<br /><br />Cook and his lawyers declined to speak with reporters after the court hearing. But the former death row inmate, who has been fighting for decades to clear his name, celebrated outside the courthouse, sharing hugs with his wife, Sandy, his legal team and a group of Texas exonerees who came to support him.<br /><br />Cook was convicted in 1978 in the gruesome slaying of Linda Jo Edwards, a 22-year-old who was found beaten, stabbed and mutilated in her apartment bedroom. From the outset, through three trials that courts said were tainted with prosecutor misconduct, 20 years on death row and even since being released in 1999, Cook has maintained his innocence.<br /><br />His quest to prove it gained worldwide attention. But his saga is not over. Now, at age 60, he can move toward a full exoneration. Prosecutors agreed to drop the murder charges, but they will continue to oppose Cook’s claims of actual innocence, which would allow him to receive compensation for the two decades he spent on death row.<br /><br />“Under no standard was Kerry treated fairly,” said Marc McPeak, who represented Cook from 2008 to 2013. “I don’t know if there is justice at this point, but hopefully there is peace.”<br /><br />Smith County District Attorney Matt Bingham, who declined to comment after the hearing, agreed to drop the murder charges after the latest revelation in the case destroyed one of the few remaining pieces of the state’s case against Cook.<br /><br />James Mayfield, Edwards’ married lover at the time of her death, admitted in an April deposition that he had lied during previous trials when he said that it had been weeks since he had sex with the young woman. He admitted that he and Edwards had sex the day before she was killed – his birthday.<br /><br />Mayfield was at the courthouse Monday. He left the courthouse using a walker and declined to speak with reporters.<br /><br />Mayfield, a former university library dean who worked with Edwards, denied killing her, and prosecutors agreed to give him immunity in exchange for his deposition. But several DNA tests have identified his semen in the panties Edwards wore the night of her death.<br /><br />In addition, Edwards’ roommate, Paula Rudolph, initially told police that it was Mayfield, a man with medium-length silver hair, whom she saw in their apartment the night of the murder. She changed her story at trial and implicated Cook, though he had longer, dark hair at the time.<br /><br /><b><a href="http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2016/06/murder-charges-dropped-against-east-texas-man-after-nearly-40-years.html/" target="_blank">Click here to read the full article</a></b><br /><br />Source: The Dallas Morning News, Brandi Grissom, June 6, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

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Kerry Max Cook (center) A former Texas prisoner who was released in 1999, after serving about 20 years on death row for charges of committin...

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U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Two Major Death Penalty Cases

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XMgC_pg63z89Vkq5D_5-dexwvW118-hqVXU97xzM_Zdny_LO2ILwLqwBKbWNeNJND-hko1ol5qbLV1GNI04Ubb9raASvRxbHR87HV4od0CKOE2aOHng6D-3nhU7qMbnxRfhBGpfMto8/s1600/US+Supreme+Court.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7XMgC_pg63z89Vkq5D_5-dexwvW118-hqVXU97xzM_Zdny_LO2ILwLqwBKbWNeNJND-hko1ol5qbLV1GNI04Ubb9raASvRxbHR87HV4od0CKOE2aOHng6D-3nhU7qMbnxRfhBGpfMto8/s320/US+Supreme+Court.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two cases raising major questions about the death penalty, including whether executing a condemned inmate more than 35 years after he was sentenced to death violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">That case, <i>Moore v. Texas</i>, No. 15-797, concerns Bobby J. Moore, who has been on death row since 1980 for shooting and killing an elderly Houston supermarket clerk, James McCarble, during a robbery. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mr. Moore’s case also raises questions about whether Texas uses outdated standards in assessing whether a defendant’s intellectual disability was severe enough to bar his execution.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The second case, <i>Buck v. Stephens</i>, No. 15-8049, concerns the role race may play in capital sentencing. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Duane Buck was convicted of the 1995 murders of a former girlfriend and another man. Texas law allows death sentences only if prosecutors can show the defendant poses a future danger to society.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">During the trial’s sentencing phase, Mr. Buck’s lawyer presented testimony from a psychologist who said that race is one of the factors associated with future dangerousness. I</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">n their petition seeking Supreme Court review, Mr. Buck’s new lawyers said his trial lawyer had been ineffective and that Mr. Buck’s death sentence was infected by racial bias.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Source: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/07/us/politics/supreme-court-to-hear-two-major-death-penalty-cases.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>, Adam Liptak, June 6, 2016</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">- Report an error, an omission:<a href="mailto:deathpenaltynews@gmail.com" target="_blank"> deathpenaltynews@gmail.com</a></span> <span style="font-size: small;"> </span> <span style="font-size: small;"> - Follow us on <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Death-Penalty-News-206848499362906/" target="_blank">Facebook</a> </b>and <b><a href="https://twitter.com/WebDPN" target="_blank">Twitter</a></b></span></div></div>

Inadequate counsel Inordinate delay Mental retardation mentally incompetent inmates Race SCOTUS Texas USA U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Two Major Death Penalty Cases

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear two cases raising major questions about the death penalty, including whether executi...

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