death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 30

TEXAS:

Professors, judge, deacon present views on death penalty

On Thursday, Sept. 25, the University of Dallas School of Ministry hosted
a panel discussion on the death penalty. This panel was the third
installment of the ministry school's seminar series. The four panelists
were Candace M. Carlsen, a magistrate for the Criminal District Courts of
Dallas County; Dr. Richard Dougherty, associate professor of politics at
UD; Dr. John Norris, associate professor of theology at UD; and Deacon
Joseph Milligan, who has helped establish support groups for the families
of murder victims in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Religion reporter for the
Dallas Morning News, Jeffrey Weiss, moderated the discussion. Dr. Brian
Schmisek, dean of the School of Ministry, introduced the panel.

Carlsen spoke 1st, focusing on "what the law currently is" regarding the
death penalty. She explained how the Supreme Court has diminished the
situations in which the death penalty can be imposed and extended the
rights of the accused.

Dougherty's presentation focused mainly on correcting what he called the
"pro-life position," which he described as anti-abortion and pro-capital
punishment. The Catholic Church allows for capital punishment, he said,
citing Article 2267 of the Catholic Catechism, "if this is the only
possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust
aggressor." He then went on to argue that the country has not been
successful at keeping convicted criminals from committing more crimes,
citing several cases where the criminals broke out of prison and committed
more crimes.

Norris also explained the contemporary Catholic teaching on the death
penalty, arguing in favor of the position that if there's any way to
protect the innocent without taking a life, the state should not take that
life. He placed special emphasis on prudence and weighing potential
escapes with possible wrongful convictions.

Presenting last, Milligan spoke from an "experiential point of view." He
told the story of his acquaintance with Jeffrey Dillingham, a convicted
murderer who received a death sentence. Dillingham converted to
Christianity while in prison and then converted other inmates. Milligan
walked with him on the day of execution, and he ended his presentation
saying, "If you have never experienced an execution, I would suggest that
you do so and then make a judgment." At the end of the individual
presentations, Weiss, the moderator, took questions from the audience for
the panelists.

(source: University of Dallas University News)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 28

TEXAS:

Former Collin judge, prosecutor's intimacy may affect more than a single
death row case

Recent confirmation of a long-rumored romance between a former Collin
County district attorney and a former judge could lead to allegations of
unfair trials in hundreds of cases, but legal experts differ over what
should happen next.

In court depositions sought by attorneys trying to get a new trial for
death row convict Charles Dean Hood, Judge Verla Sue Holland and
prosecutor Tom O'Connell reportedly admitted to a years-long affair that
Mr. Hood's attorneys say prevented him from getting a fair trial in 1990.

At least one other man, Timothy David Nixon, was found guilty of murder
while Judge Holland was on the bench and Mr. O'Connell tried the case. He
was sentenced to 99 years in prison for allegedly killing his mother.

Some legal ethicists say prosecutors have a responsibility to identify
cases from the years the two held office and ensure that the convicted
have their day in court. Others doubt that is the prosecutors' role.

"They do have a proactive responsibility," argues Robert Schuwerk, a
University of Houston law professor who co-wrote the Handbook of Texas
Lawyer and Judicial Ethics.

"The principal duty of a prosecutor under our system is not to convict but
to see that justice is done," he said. "I would think that a prosecutor
has the duty to either bring those cases forward or, at the very least,
cooperate in establishing which cases were affected by this behavior."

Others say it is a defense responsibility to raise issues about the
validity of a conviction.

Collin County Assistant District Attorney John Rolater says it is his duty
to see "that justice is done," but the chief of the county's appellate
division declined to comment on whether the county will proactively
identify cases that might have been affected by the relationship between
the judge and prosecutor.

Normal procedure

It's "uncharted territory," said Rob Kepple, executive director of the
Texas District and County Attorneys Association. "I'm at a loss to answer
that."

Prosecutors "normally wait for a defendant or someone else to raise these
questions," he said. And, he added, prosecutors "want to see where the
injury is, where the harm is. We want someone to spell it out for us. ...
If the defendant can link that up and show me something in the record, I
guess we can talk about it."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott who stepped in days before Mr. Hood's
most recent execution date to urge an investigation into the relationship
said he would have "to know more background facts, what exactly happened,
when did it happen" in each case before deciding whether a review was
warranted.

So far, Mr. Hood's defense team has not cited any specific example of
unfair treatment during his trial. In a petition filed Thursday, the
defense wrote that the relationship, which included professions of love
and sexual encounters, "created an appearance of impropriety and an
impression of possible bias" requiring automatic reversal of his
conviction and sentence.

According to the writ, Judge Holland said it was "absolutely not" improper
for her to have presided over Mr. Hood's trial while Mr. O'Connell
prosecuted it. She told attorneys that the romantic relationship began in
1982 and ended in 1987, before Mr. Hood's arrest and trial.

Mr. O'Connell told attorneys that it began around 1984 or 1985 and
continued until 1989 or later. Even after the romance ended, they remained
close friends, and in 1991 traveled to New Mexico and Missouri together.

Neither the trial court nor the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has ruled
on the writ.

As a death row inmate, Mr. Hood has had an army of attorneys, including
state-paid appellate attorneys and pro bono attorneys, to champion his
cause.

But many convicts, like Mr. Nixon, may not even be aware of the
relationship and that it could affect their cases. Unlike Mr. Hood, most
don't have attorneys to investigate the issue. Mr. Nixon, who remains in
prison, could not be reached for comment.

The number of cases that could be affected is unknown.

"It's premature at this point to confidently say that all these cases are
going to be affected," said Mitch Nolte, president of the Collin County
Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. "There's been no ruling on this
case. ... And so, in legal terms, the issue's just not fully ripe."

Though difficult, it would not be impossible to identify the cases, said
Tim Wyatt, public information officer for Collin County. "But no one to my
knowledge has been asked to do it," he said.

The number of cases Judge Holland heard in her 15 years as a state
district judge and while Mr. O'Connell was district attorney could number
in the hundreds. But veteran attorney Keith Hampton, second vice president
of the Texas Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys, expects the number
of cases that could have been affected to be "relatively few."

"The devil is going to be in the details," Mr. Hampton said.

Most cases pled out

The vast majority of criminal cases are disposed of through plea bargains,
he explained, and if the judge served primarily in an administrative role
in those cases, he doubts there will be any issue to raise.

In addition, most elected district attorneys rarely appear in court, so
the number of cases with direct participation by both Judge Holland and
Mr. O'Connell is probably small. Finally, defendants are not entitled to a
court-appointed attorney to raise the issue, and raising it on their own
is a long shot.

Mr. Hampton said he does not expect a blanket order from either the
district attorney or a court to cover all cases potentially affected by
the relationship. Instead, "they're going to have to do this one case at a
time."

But Lawrence Fox, former chair of the American Bar Association Ethics
Committee, said sweeping steps may be necessary to preserve confidence in
Texas' criminal justice system. Not only does he think the district
attorney is obligated to bring the cases to the attention of the court, he
suggested that the state should provide attorneys for defendants to
challenge their convictions.

"I would hope that, under these circumstances, the state would recognize a
special obligation to these people, because, remember, it was two state
officers who did all this.

"You would hope somebody would say the system of justice has a black eye
right now, and one way to remove it is to make sure these people who are
in a prison get counsel to deal with these issues," he said.

If that doesn't happen, Mr. Fox hopes local attorneys will step up to
provide free services.

"There's so much at stake for the individual," he said, "but there's so
much at stake for the system."

(source: Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 26

TEXAS:

Attorney general defends actions in investigation of affair between judge,
DA

The state's top lawyer said Thursday that he had expected Texas courts to
"step up and do the right thing" by investigating an affair between the
judge and prosecutor in the trial of condemned killer Charles Dean Hood.

Only when they didn't, did his office publicly intervene in a case that he
says "has called into question the integrity" of the Texas justice system.

Attorney General Greg Abbott's unusual public comments came as he
responded to criticism in the formal court petition filed Thursday by Mr.
Hood's attorneys seeking a new trial because retired Judge Verla Sue
Holland and former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell admitted
having a relationship that the defense says tainted Mr. Hood's right to a
fair trial.

The case has drawn attention from legal ethicists and death penalty
opponents who say it has given the Texas criminal justice system a black
eye.

Mr. Abbott said that though his office filed a "friend of the court" brief
urging investigation into the allegations a few days before Mr. Hood's
latest scheduled execution date in September, his office had been working
behind the scenes since the allegations were first raised in court months
earlier.

Delayed execution

Mr. Abbott pointed out that his office also was closely involved in the
decision not to execute Mr. Hood on an earlier date, in June. On that
occasion, Mr. Hood was twice taken to the death house as attorneys and
judges wrangled long into the night. Mr. Hood's execution did not go
forward despite being cleared by the courts.

"Our office was involved and advising on that process," Mr. Abbott said.
He declined to clarify the role played because "it may arguably be
protected by attorney-client privilege."

At the time, prison officials said they canceled the execution since they
didn't have time to carry it out before the death warrant expired at
midnight.

A spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice confirmed the
decision was made "after consulting with the attorney general's office."

The petition said Mr. Abbott's last-minute actions before the September
execution date "raise serious questions about his commitment to justice in
this case."

"That's just rhetoric," Mr. Abbott said. "It sounds like a lot of lawyer
hot air."

Mr. Abbott, who supports the death penalty, said he has not read the
depositions in which the judge and prosecutor admitted having a
long-standing intimate relationship.

He declined to comment on whether Mr. Hood deserves a new trial, but he
said he felt strongly the allegations should be explored before the
sentence is carried out.

"A real triggering event was when it was learned that a hearing was set to
look into this matter days after the execution was set," he said. It was
then that the former Texas Supreme Court judge took public action.

Apparently, some members of Mr. Abbott's own staff were unaware of his
efforts in the Hood case. After the attorney general's office filed the
"friend of the court" brief urging investigation into Mr. Hood's claims,
an assistant attorney general who had been representing Judge Holland
filed a complaint against him with the State Bar of Texas.

"That's what happens when people shoot first and ask questions later," Mr.
Abbott said. "The person filing the complaint had no information about
what me or the office had done months before representation of the judge
was undertaken. We, including me personally, had already taken action in
this case months before Judge Holland contacted our office for
representation."

He said that when he learned the assistant attorney general had undertaken
representation of Judge Holland, his office immediately told Judge Holland
she needed to hire her own attorney.

The relationship

Mr. Hood was convicted in 1990 for killing Tracie Lynn Wallace and Ronald
Williamson in Plano. He claims he deserves a new trial because "Judge
Holland created an appearance of impropriety and an impression of possible
bias."

The petition filed Thursday seeking a new trial shed more light on the
relationship between Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell. According to the
petition, Judge Holland told attorneys it began in 1982 and ended in 1987;
Mr. O'Connell recollected it started in 1984 or 1985 and did not end until
1991 or 1992.

The 2 apparently remained good friends even as the romance waned. As late
as 1991, they traveled to Santa Fe together, and Mr. O'Connell attended
Judge Holland's family reunion that same year.

The depositions reportedly said both parties professed their love for each
other during the relationship. Mr. O'Connell said Judge Holland talked
about getting married, but Judge Holland denied that.

Both parties said they kept the relationship secret. "Their sexual
encounters took place at each other's homes when their spouses were away,"
according to the petition.

According to the petition, Judge Holland said during her deposition it was
"absolutely not" improper for her to preside over the Hood case. Her
attorney has said the romance was not going on at the time of Mr. Hood's
arrest and trial.

Neither he nor Mr. O'Connell's attorney could be reached for comment.

Mr. Hood's lawyers also declined to elaborate on the petition, which in
addition to taking Mr. Abbott to task, called the conduct of "the current
District Attorney and his minions ... troubling."

"Their actions have been marked by overzealousness that calls into
question their adherence to their duty that justice shall be done,'" the
petition said.

John Rolater, the assistant district attorney for Collin County who fought
to avoid the deposition of Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell, declined to
comment on the petition, citing pending litigation.

"Matters like this should be resolved in the court, not in sound bites,"
he said.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news---TEXAS

Sept. 25

TEXAS:

When the justice system fails us

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins told the press last week
that he wanted to re-examine about 40 death penalty cases in his county.
Mr. Watkins also said he would seek temporary stays of execution, if
needed, until he completes the reviews of all Dallas County death
sentences currently on death row.

Collin County District Attorney John Roach needs to do the same.

Both Dallas and Collin Counties have been in the news lately for their
handling of capital trials. Dallas County has seen a number of
high-profile exonerations of innocent defendants convicted in an era of
"win at all costs" prosecutorial misconduct. Mr. Watkins cited the case of
Patrick Waller, who was convicted of a 1992 robbery-rape.

By the time Mr. Waller was finally cleared, the statute of limitations had
run out on prosecuting the real perpetrators. Not only did an innocent man
spend years in prison wrongfully, but the real guilty party got off
scot-free.

Last week, Collin County District Court Judge Greg Brewer dismissed the
murder indictment against Michael Blair. Mr. Blair was convicted and
sentenced to die for the murder of young Ashley Estell in 1993. DNA
evidence has since undermined the case against him, and the real child
killer may never be identified.

Another death sentence may be reversed in the case of Charles Dean Hood,
who was convicted and is scheduled to die in a case that has rocked the
legal community. Twice now, Mr. Hood has come within hours of being
executed after a trial prosecuted by the secret lover of the judge.

Collin County is well-known for its no-nonsense harsh sentences and
vigorous prosecution of evildoers. Unfortunately, it appears that, at
least some of the time, our zeal to convict has overrun our sense of
justice.

Judicial and prosecutorial zeal has caused the recusal of another Collin
County judge in the case of Mark Bell. Several other of the nine Collin
County death row inmates cases need to be re-examined.

In 1 those 9 cases, that of Victor Saldao, the Collin County DA is still
seeking execution, even after then-Texas Attorney General John Cornyn
asked the federal courts to overturn the sentence after the jury was told
that, "because [Saldao] is Hispanic, this is a factor weighing in favor of
future dangerousness." The expert witness then added, "Hispanics are
over-represented in prison compared with their percentage of the general
population."

They sure are over-represented in Collin County death sentences. Of our
nine inmates on death row, six are Hispanic, most convicted of killing
non-Hispanic whites by all-white juries.

Similar racist testimony by the same expert from the Saldao trial was used
in the punishment trial of Gustavo Julian Garcia, who is also awaiting
execution after being sentenced to death in a Collin County court.

Our notion that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a fair
trial is one of the glues that hold our society together. Most of us don't
fear our courts, because we are confident that, even if we are wrongly
charged, the truth will prevail.

When that confidence is lost, we no longer live under the rule of law, but
the rule of men men who wish us harm.

In a letter to DA Roach on the Hood case, Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott wrote, " a death sentence is the most serious and solemn act of any
state. The impartiality of a defendants trial and conviction must be
beyond reproach." He said, "neither the victims nor justice will be
served" by the execution of a man convicted in an unfair trial.

As important as the notion of a fair trial is the unavoidable problem that
when an innocent man is convicted, a guilty criminal is left free to
commit new crimes and to hurt more victims.

Referring to the conviction of Patrick Waller, Mr. Watkins noted, "This is
larger than just having innocent folks in jail. This is about having
criminals out on the street with cover to go and commit their offenses."

(source: Opinion; Bill Baumbach of Wylie was a Democratic candidate for
Collin County Commissioners Court----Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 25

TEXAS:

Death row inmate's lawyers request new trial, citing romance between judge
and prosecutor

As expected, attorneys for death row inmate Charles Dean Hood filed a
petition today seeking a new trial for the condemned killer, claiming his
original trial was unfair because of the recently revealed romantic
relationship between Judge Verla Sue Holland, who presided, and then
District Attorney Tom O'Connell, who prosecuted the case.

The petition also castigated the current district attorney, his "minions,"
and the state attorney general for their actions in the case, which has
been bouncing through criminal and civil courts since Mr. Hoods execution
was called off at the eleventh hour in June.

"The wall of silence that has long surrounded Judge Holland and Mr.
OConnell has finally come crashing down," the filing said, referring to
recent depositions in which Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell confirmed
their romantic involvement. "A fair and impartial tribunal is a bedrock
requirement of due process."

Mr. Hood, who was convicted for the 1989 killing in Plano of Tracie Lynn
Wallace and Ronald Williamson, deserves a new trial because "Judge Holland
created an appearance of impropriety and an impression of possible bias,"
the defense wrote.

Mr. Hoods attorneys were not available for comment.

According to the filing, Judge Holland, whose attorney also could not be
reached for comment, said in depositions that it was "absolutely not"
improper for her to preside over the case. She reportedly told attorneys
the romantic relationship began in 1982 and ended in 1987, several years
before Mr. Hood's 1990 trial. Mr. O'Connell recollected that it started in
1984 or 1985 and did not end until 1991 or 1992.

The depositions reportedly said both parties professed their love for each
other at the time.

According to the petition, Mr. O'Connell said Judge Holland had talked
about getting married, but Judge Holland denied that. Both parties said
they kept the relationship secret.

"Their sexual encounters took place at each other's homes when their
spouses were away," the filing says.

The 2 apparently remained good friends even as the romance dwindled. As
late as 1991, the pair went on a trip to Santa Fe together, and Mr.
O'Connell attended Judge Holland's family reunion in Missouri that same
year.

John Rolater, assistant district attorney for Collin County, declined to
comment on the petition, citing pending litigation.

The filing takes his office, which fought to keep the depositions from
being taken, to task, saying, "Their actions have been marked by
overzealousness that calls into question their adherence to their duty
'that justice shall be done.'"

Mr. Rolater again declined to respond, saying, "Matters like this should
be resolved in the court, not in sound bites."

The petition also questioned the conduct of state Attorney General Greg
Abbot, despite the fact that his office filed a "friend of the court"
brief calling for an investigation into the relationship a few days before
Mr. Hood's last execution date. The state's top lawyer criticized the
defense at the time for raising the claim after 18 years of litigation.

"The attorney general's cake-and-eat-it desires to restore the publics
faith in judiciary while castigating Mr. Hood's attorneys for not coming
forward earlier with credible, compelling evidence of this furtive
relationship raise serious questions about his commitments to justice in
this case."

The attorney general's office did not return a call for comment.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

************************

New trial sought for killer in affair case

Lawyers for a death row inmate whose execution was blocked after
allegations that his trial judge and prosecutor were having an affair
asked Texas' highest criminal court Thursday to grant him a new trial.

"The truth was deliberately concealed in this case for nearly 20 years,"
attorneys A. Richard Ellis and Greg Wiercioch said in their request to the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on behalf of Charles Dean Hood.

Hood won a reprieve from the court Sept. 9, a day before his scheduled
lethal injection, but not because of the secret romantic relationship
between his now-retired trial judge, Verla Sue Holland, and Tom O'Connell,
the former district attorney in Collin County in suburban Dallas.

Instead, the Austin-based appeals court where Holland served as a judge in
the late 1990s said it wanted to reconsider whether the jury instructions
at Hood's 1990 trial were flawed. A ruling favorable to Hood could result
in a new sentencing proceeding but not necessarily a complete new trial.

As Hood's execution neared, his lawyers alleged his trial was tainted by
the unethical and improper relationship and won a court order forcing
Holland and O'Connell to be questioned under oath. In depositions, the
pair acknowledged they'd had a years-long affair.

"This revelation casts a deep shadow over justice in this case," Hood's
attorneys said in their application for a new trial. "The wall of silence
that has long surrounded Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell has finally come
crashing down."

The affair, they said, meant Hood's state and federal constitutional
rights to an impartial trial were violated.

Attorneys for Holland and O'Connell have declined to discuss the'
depositions, citing a gag order. Neither the judge nor the former
prosecutor has been publicly disciplined by the State Commission on
Judicial Conduct or the State Bar of Texas.

Laura Burstein, a spokeswoman for Hood's lawyers, said Thursday the
attorneys would "let the petition speak for itself."

Hood, 39, is a former bouncer at a topless club who was 20 when he was
arrested in Indiana for the fatal shootings of Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, an
ex-dancer, and her boyfriend, Ronald Williamson, 46, at Williamson's home
in Plano in 1989.

Hood has maintained his innocence. He was driving Williamson's $70,000
Cadillac at the time of his arrest. Evidence against him included his
fingerprints at the murder scene. Hood has said he had permission to drive
the car and his fingerprints were at the house because he had been living
there.

The affair, an apparent open secret 20 years ago in Collin County legal
circles, gained traction in June when a former assistant district attorney
filed an affidavit saying it was "common knowledge" from at least 1987
until about 1993. The time includes Hood's trial.

In their depositions, according to the filing Thursday, Holland said the
romance began in 1982 and ended in 1987. O'Connell's account said the
romance began in 1984 or 1985, continued until mid 1989 and may have
continued beyond then.

The filing said the 2 discussed the possibility of marriage, remained good
friends and continued seeing each other as recently as 1992.

"That a judge charged with avoiding the appearance of bias and a
prosecutor tasked with doing justice would allow their desire for secrecy
to trump their sworn constitutional duties is a stunning display of
arrogance and the corrupting influence of power," Hood's lawyers said in
their request for a new trial.

"There is no dispute that Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell were engaged in
a long-term, intimate sexual relationship prior to Mr. Hood's trial and
did not disclose that fact to Mr. Hood or his counsel. ... The damage to
Mr. Hood's constitutional right to a fair and impartial tribunal is
obvious and egregious."

The attorneys said as an alternative to a new trial, the appeals court
should send the case back to the trial court for additional proceedings
and "grant any other relief that law and justice require."

O'Connell was the county's elected district attorney from 1971-82 and from
1987-2002. Holland was a state district judge from 1974-96 before moving
on to the Court of Criminal Appeals from 1997-2002.

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 24

TEXAS----new execution date

Alvin Kelly has been given an execution date of October 14; it should be
considered serious.

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 23

TEXAS:

Woman Accused Of Setting Daughters On Fire Escapes Death Sentence

A Fort Worth-area woman accused of setting her three young daughters on
fire has pleaded guilty to capital murder and injury to a child in a deal
that spared her from a possible death penalty.

Under the terms of the plea deal, Alysha V. Green was sentenced to life in
prison without the possibility of parole.

Three-year-old Ariania Green died a few days after suffering burns to 90
percent of her body in the fire at their Haltom City house a year ago.

Her older daughters, then 5 and 7, were seriously burned in the fire that
Green admitted setting because she was angry at her husband, the girls'
father.

Green was hospitalized for three weeks with burns from the fire.

(source: KWTX News)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 23

TEXAS:

Murder Victims' Families Oppose Death Penalty for People With Severe
Mental Illnesses

Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights (MVFHR) and the National
Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) will launch a national project opposing
the death penalty for persons with severe mental illnesses at a press
conference in San Antonio, Texas on October 3.

The initiative builds on recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that raise
questions about the capacity of individuals diagnosed with severe mental
illnesses sentenced to death to understand why they are being executed or
even that they will die. A national report on the issue will be released
in June 2009, based in part on testimony from family members at San
Antonio event.

WHAT: National project launch--Press conference WHEN: Friday, October 3,
2008 3:00 P.M. - 5:00 P.M. WHERE: University of the Incarnate Word Bonilla
Science Hall 129 Hildebrande --- just west of Broadway intersection San
Antonio, Texas 78209 WHO: Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights
(MVFHR) National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Renny Cushing, MVFHR
Executive Director Ron Honberg, NAMI Policy & Legal Director

Bill Babbitt, brother of a Vietnam veteran, who was diagnosed with PTSD
and schizophrenia, killed a 78-year old woman, and was executed.

Lois Robison, a mother whose mentally ill son was discharged from a
hospital when his insurance ran out. A county hospital could not admit him
unless he became violent. He killed five people. Instead of treatment, he
got the death penalty.

Kim Crespi, mother of victims murdered by husband who suffers from mental
illness

Amanda & Nick Wilcox, parents of victim who was murdered by a person with
mental illness

Other family members of murder victims or executed persons from around the
United States

MVFHR is a national organization of family members of murder victims and
families of the executed. NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots
organization dedicated to helping individuals and families affected by
mental illnesses.

National Alliance on Mental Illness

(source: US Newswire)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 23

TEXAS:

Jurors hear testimony from Rangers in KFC slaying

Jurors on Monday heard testimony from 2 Texas Rangers 1 retired and the
other dead in the capital murder trial of a second man charged in the
notorious murders of 5 people abducted from an East Texas Kentucky Fried
Chicken restaurant a quarter-century ago.

Rusk County District Attorney Michael Jimerson, acting as former Texas
Ranger Stuart Dowell, read Dowell's testimony from a 2005 trial. Dowell
had testified he took a white box with blood on it to a Tyler Department
of Public Safety lab shortly after the execution-style murders of five
people abducted from the Kilgore restaurant on Sept. 23, 1983.

Dowell died in 2005 after a lengthy illness.

Darnell Hartsfield is charged in the murders of David Maxwell, 20; Mary
Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19.
All but Landers worked at the restaurant about 25 miles east of Tyler and
115 miles east of Dallas. Landers was a friend of Maxwell and Johnson and
was visiting them as the restaurant was closing for the night.

The trial of Hartsfield, 47, of Tyler, comes almost a year after his
cousin, Romeo Pinkerton, took a plea bargain midway through his own trial.

If convicted, Hartsfield faces an automatic life prison term because
prosecutors have said they won't seek the death penalty. The convicted
burglar and drug dealer already was serving life for perjury when DNA
testing tied him to the KFC killings.

State District Judge Clay Gossett allowed Dowell's 3-year-old testimony
because it was part of a trial record, the Tyler Morning Telegraph
reported Monday in its online edition. The testimony came over the
objections of defense attorneys Don Killingsworth and Thad Davidson.

Jimerson took the stand to read Dowell's testimony as Texas Attorney
General prosecutor Lisa Tanner asked the same questions she asked Dowell
in the 2005 perjury trial, the Tyler newspaper reported. Both read the
lines as if they were two actors in a play.

Dowell, a major investigator in the KFC case, testified in 2005 that
former Kilgore Police Capt. Marvin Avance gave him a white box that came
from the KFC to take to the DPS lab in Tyler. Dowell said that Avance was
the custodian of evidence at the time.

The box's chain of custody has long been debated because an evidence log
at the Kilgore Police Department came up missing several years ago.

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 22

TEXAS:

Is Watkins' goal justice or publicity?

How could a reasonable person find fault with Craig Watkins' latest
publicity venture, grandly reopening his predecessors' 40 not-yet-resolved
death penalty cases?

Taken at his word, Dallas County's district attorney only wants to be
absolutely certain that those awaiting lethal injection actually deserve
it, as 40 juries said they did. "It's not saying I'm putting a moratorium
on the death penalty," Mr. Watkins said, even as he did.

Not all death cases, mind you. Just the ones worked by those sketchy
fellows who had the DA's office before we all became "smart on crime" and
more interested in justice than convictions.

One of my colleagues even wondered what the good ol' boys had to fear.
Were they worried that he might turn up those unjust convictions they
stashed among the righteous ones?

Really, what's the harm?

The harm is the breathtaking arrogance of a district attorney who wants to
set himself up as the lone member of the Texas Court of Higher Than Any
Appeals Court in the Land, an extra-judicial remedy to a problem that he
might suspect but didn't bother to find evidence to support.

If Mr. Watkins' goal were more than another newspaper headline if it
really was about justice why go public before he knew of a single
questionable death penalty case?

Yes, the count of DNA exonerations in Dallas County is nearing 20. To say
this implies inordinately poor justice ignores the fact that Dallas
County, unlike most others, preserved DNA evidence going back decades. It
also stands to reason that one might cast a skeptical eye at every other
guilty verdict. Fair enough.

Yet this assumes that a rape is a robbery is an aggravated assault is a
capital murder. It asks us to forget that prosecutors, even the ones Mr.
Watkins might not like, are loath to ask a jury to send anyone to death
row without a slam-dunk case. What emerges as a death penalty trial
survives a rigorous screening process, unlike noncapital cases.

This isn't unique to Dallas County, but it's why county prosecutors seek
death in barely 1 percent of the slaying indictments.

We also must ignore the mandatory appeals process that gives the
condemned, on average, a decade or more even in "bloodthirsty Texas" to
find some technical reason to stay among the living. At every step,
reasonable people pore over every stitch of evidence, looking for
reversible error.

That might be why no one has found that elusive
first-innocent-put-to-death.

Before Mr. Watkins committed to freeze all death sentences pending his
signoff, he could have used his own special conviction integrity unit to
plod through each case file, oldest to newest, page by page. "Bring me the
ones that don't look right," he could have said. "I will seek justice."

If 2 or 6 or 10 showed error or prosecutorial misconduct, Mr. Watkins
could have marched into a Dallas County court and demanded of a judge:
"These cases look bad. I have evidence."

And that would be about the right time to go public, when he actually
found the possibility of an innocent defendant.

So what's the difference? Only this: Those 40 cases involve dozens of
murder victims and dozens upon dozens of mothers, fathers, children,
grandparents, aunts, uncles and lifelong friends. Which ones should have
to wonder about justice for their loved one's killer?

Should Lori Hawkins-Acosta? Irving police Officer Aubrey Hawkins was shot
to death 7 years ago for responding to a robbery in progress at a sporting
goods store by seven escaped Texas prison inmates. Pre-Craig Watkins
prosecutors secured death sentences for the six survivors. Five still draw
breath on death row.

That's 5 cases Mr. Watkins didn't have to throw into doubt among many,
many others and one widow who shouldn't have to worry whether the lawyer
who should represent her interests is busier chasing a microphone.

(source: Editorial--Mike Hashimoto is an assistant editorial page editor
for The Dallas Morning News. This column reflects his personal opinion)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 19

TEXAS:

Bobby Woods has been given an execution date for Oct. 23; it should be
considered serious.

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

****************

DA right to re-examine death penalty cases

District Attorney Craig Watkins does not want to see an innocent man
executed on his watch.

Around this unassailable goal, there is near universal agreement.

So, while the details of the district attorney's approach no doubt will be
debated, Mr. Watkins is right to go to extraordinary lengths to ensure
that Dallas County does not make a deadly error. His announcement this
week that nearly 40 death penalty convictions will be re-examined provides
additional assurances that executions will proceed only in cases that are
air tight.

A deluge of DNA exonerations in Dallas County has shaken confidence in the
judicial system, spurring serious questions about flawed photo lineups,
erroneous eyewitness testimony and prosecutorial misconduct.

The errors that have emerged offer a compelling argument for halting the
state's machinery of death. In effect, Mr. Watkins is doing just that at
least temporarily.

Admittedly, death penalty cases already must meet a higher bar as they
wind their way through the courts. But the DNA exonerations in other types
of cases understandably convinced Mr. Watkins that every effort must be
made to prevent a wrongful conviction from costing an inmate his life.

His call for a closer examination of death penalty cases should echo
across Texas and compel leaders to create a state innocence commission to
examine wrongful convictions.

While Mr. Watkins' objectives are laudable, some of his tactics have been
questionable. The district attorney sometimes seems to prefer to do his
job with cameras in tow. And this newly announced review surely will bring
more national attention and a brighter spotlight.

Some victims' families could have been spared the angst that this
re-examination will bring if the process had been launched quietly. Once
the district attorney's office identified the few if any questionable
cases, Mr. Watkins could have gone public with plans to halt those
executions.

Ultimately, though, Mr. Watkins is determined to do the right thing:
ensure that Dallas County doesn't get it wrong when a person's life is at
stake.

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)

*****************

Texas exonerates death row inmate after DNA tests

A man on death row in Texas for 14 years for the murder of a young girl
has been exonerated after DNA tests, the Death Penalty Information Center
(DPIC) reported.

Michael Blair, sentenced to death for the 1993 killing of 7-year-old
Ashley Estell, had his capital murder charges dismissed in late August by
the Collin County court after hair used as evidence to convict him, was
shown to belong to somebody else.

"The Plano police department is now reinvestigating the 15-year-old case
to find the true killer," the center said in a statement.

"The DNA evidence that cleared Blair indicates that another man, now
deceased, is a plausible suspect in the girl's death."

Blair, who remains in prison for convictions in other crimes, is the 4th
person to be exonerated from death row in 2008, and brings the total
number of death row exonerations to 130 since 1973, according to an
"innocence list" compiled by the DPIC.

**********

Texas death penalty put on trial

A Texas prosecutor plans to review some 40 pending death penalty cases,
after several recent instances in which capital convictions were
overturned, by DNA testing.

Dallas prosecutor Craig Watkins said his goal in reviewing the cases is
"to make sure that an innocent person wont be executed" in Texas, which
carries out the most executions in the United States a year.

The states most recent execution occurred on Wednesday, when convicted
murderer William Murray was put to death for the murder and rape of a
93-year-old woman.

The Stand-down Texas Project, a criminal justice watchdog group, reports
the Lone Star State, carries out more than 36 percent of all the
executions in the country.

This year so far, Texas accounts for more than 40 percent of the
executions carried out across the United States.

Watkins made his decision to review death penalty cases in Texas, after
forensic tests showed there have been 19 cases since 1991 in which
suspects convicted of capital murder were later cleared of the crimes,
once DNA genetic evidence was introduced.

"I just cant stand by if there is a possibility that someone innocent
could be executed," said Watkins.

He added exonerating falsely convicted inmates, especially those convicted
in error of capital crimes, "is my responsibility", and added he hoped
that other prosecutors around the United States would follow his example.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it has scheduled 10 more
executions this year, with 5 additional already on the docket for 2009.

Amnesty International (AI), in a report entitled "Lethal Injustice,"
accuses the Texas criminal justice system of "failing to meet minimum
international standards for the protection of human rights", particularly
in how it doles out the death penalty.

"AI is concerned at the low standard of legal representation afforded to
many of those facing the death penalty, the appeals courts unwillingness
to examine the fairness and constitutionality of convictions and
sentences, and at the racial manner in which the death penalty is
applied," the human rights group said in the report, which appears on its
website.

In late August, DNA tests exonerated a man who had been on Texas death row
for 14 years for the murder of a young girl, said the Death Penalty
Information Center (DPIC).

Michael Blair, who had been sentenced to life in prison for other crimes,
will remain in prison, but will be taken off death row, and the
investigation into the 1993 murder case will be re-opened.

Blair was the 130th death row inmate to be exonerated during his lifetime
since executions resumed in the United States 3 decades ago, and the 4th
this year, said the DPIC.

(source for both: Agence France Presse)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 18

TEXAS:

Collin County needs to review capital cases----Justice may not be blind in
some Collin County courtrooms.

Earlier this week, Dallas DA Craig Watkins told the press he wanted to
re-examine about 40 death penalty cases from Dallas County. Watkins also
said he would seek temporary stays of execution if needed until he
completes the reviews of all Dallas death sentences currently on death
row.

Collin DA John Roach needs to do the same.

Both Dallas and Collin Counties have been in the news lately for their
handling of capital trials. Dallas County has seen a number of high
profile exonerations of innocent defendants convicted in an era of "win at
all costs" prosecutorial misconduct. Mr. Watkins cited the case of Patrick
Waller, who was convicted of a 1992 robbery-rape.

By the time Waller was finally cleared, the statute of limitations had run
out on prosecuting the real perpetrators. Not only did an innocent man
spend years in prison wrongfully, but the real guilty party got off
scot-free.

This week, Collin County District Court Judge Greg Brewer dismissed the
murder indictment against Michael Blair. Blair was convicted and sentenced
to die for the murder of young Ashley Estell in 1993. DNA has since
demonstrated his innocence...and for 15 years the real child killer has
been free.

Another death sentence may be reversed in the case of Charles Dean Hood
who was convicted and is scheduled to die in a case that has rocked the
legal community. Twice now, Hood has come within days of being executed
after a trial prosecuted by the illicit, secret lover of the judge.

Judicial and prosecutorial zeal has caused the recusal of another Collin
County judge in the case of Mark Bell.

Collin County is well known for its no-nonsense harsh sentences and
vigorous prosecution of evil doers. Unfortunately, it appears that, at
least some of the time, our zeal to convict has overrun our sense of
justice.

Our notion that all defendants are innocent until proven guilty in a fair
trial is one of the glues that holds our society together. Most of us
don't fear our courts, because we are confident that even if we are
wrongly charged, the truth will prevail.

When that confidence is lost, we no longer live under the rule of law, but
the rule of men - men who wish us harm.

In a letter to DA Roach on the Hood case, Texas Attorney General Greg
Abbott wrote, "... a death sentence is the most serious and solemn act of
any state. The impartiality of a defendant's trial and conviction must be
beyond reproach."

As important as the notion of a fair trial is the unavoidable problem that
when an innocent man is convicted, a guilty criminal is left free to
commit new crimes - to hurt more victims.

Dallas DA Watkins stated this in his statement this week. Referring to the
conviction of Patrick Waller, Watkins noted, "This is larger than just
having innocent folks in jail. This is about having criminals out on the
street with cover to go and commit their offenses."

As General Abbott wrote, "neither the victims nor justice will be served"
by the execution of a man convicted in an unfair trial.

(source: Pegasus News)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 17

TEXAS----execution

Killer of woman in $10 burglary executed

An apologetic William Murray was executed Wednesday for raping and
strangling a 93-year-old woman during a burglary of her Dallas-area home
more than a decade ago.

"I'm sorry for what I did," he told two nephews of his victim who watched
him through a window in the death chamber. "I hope you can find it in your
heart to forgive me. The Lord has forgiven me."

Murray then looked through an adjacent window where his mother and 2
brothers were among the witnesses and said: "I'll be there waiting for
y'all, all right? God Bless."

8 minutes later at 6:20 p.m., he was pronounced dead.

Power outages in the Huntsville area because of Hurricane Ike had no
impact on the lethal injection of the former auto mechanic and laborer
from Kaufman. Officials said the procedures were not dependent on
electricity although the Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, where executions are carried out, had normal electric
service.

Murray was the 9th Texas prisoner put to death this year. The total is the
highest in the nation.

Murray's lawyer said appeals were exhausted. The U.S. Supreme Court
refused to review the case earlier this year. In addition, a clemency bid
to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles was turned down this week.

"Yes, I did do this," Murray told The Associated Press in a recent
interview. "I'm not trying to blame this on somebody else. I want people
to know I'm sorry for the crime. I pray to the Lord to forgive me and I'm
asking them to forgive me. That's all I can do."

Murray blamed drug problems for committing at least a dozen burglaries,
including the one in February 1998 where Rena Ratcliff was awakened while
he rummaged through her bedroom. The widow hit him with her cane or
walker, surprising him, and he said after that he "went crazy."

"I didn't know she was in there," he said. "I messed up. Somebody hit me
from behind and I went off.

"I did what I did."

He took about $10 in change from a jar and a knife he later traded for
drugs.

Murray had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for burglaries, but was
released on probation after 3 months. The Ratcliff slaying occurred three
months after his release.

The night of the killing, he said he drank 18 beers and took some PCP and
crack cocaine. He'd hoped to steal a television but it was too heavy for
the 5-foot-3 Murray, known on death row as "Scooter."

Early in his appeals process, Murray said he wanted no appeals, then later
changed his mind.

Besides the burglaries, his record showed he escaped from jail while
awaiting trial, sexually assaulted 2 other inmates while he was locked up
and also was seen smoking marijuana in jail. At one point, he was employed
as a city worker in Kaufman but got fired for marijuana possession.

Another inmate, Joseph Ries, had been scheduled to die on Thursday but the
judge who set the execution date moved it a few weeks ago to October. Ries
is among 4 convicted killers set to die next month and among at least 15
with execution dates into early next year.

Scheduled to die next is Kevin Watts, set for execution Oct. 16 for a
triple slaying during the robbery of a San Antonio restaurant in 2002.

Murray becomes the 9th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
Texas and the 414th overall since the state resumed capital punishment on
December 7, 1982. Murray becomes the 175th condemned inmate to be put to
death since Rick Perry became Governor of Texas in 2001.

Murray becomes the 22nd condemned inmate to be put to death this year in
the USA and the 1121st overall since the nation resumed executions on
January 17, 1977.

(sources: Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 17

TEXAS----new execution date

Curtis Moore has been given an execution date of January 14, 2009; it
should be considered serious.

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 17

TEXAS----impending execution

Killer of 93-year-old woman in $10 burglary to die

Widespread power shortages in the Huntsville area were not affecting the
scheduled execution of a Texas prisoner condemned for killing an elderly
woman 10 years ago.

Former auto mechanic and laborer William Murray, 39, was set to die
Wednesday evening. The execution would be the 9th this year in the
nation's most active capital punishment state.

The Huntsville Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where
lethal injections are carried out, had power, agency spokeswoman Michelle
Lyons said.

Murray's appeals were exhausted and the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
uanimously rejected a clemency request filed by his attorney, J. Stephen
Bush, who acknowledged the attempt was "a very long shot."

Murray was condemned for the 1998 strangling and rape of 93-year-old Rena
Ratcliff during a burglary at her home in Kaufman County, just outside
Dallas.

Evidence at his trial showed he'd been responsible for at least a dozen
burglaries in his home area of Kaufman County, earning him a 10-year
prison term. But he was released on probation just three months after
going to prison.

Three months later, Ratcliff was killed in a burglary that got Murray less
than $10 from a jar of change and a brown-handled knife he later swapped
for drugs.

Murray said he was high on PCP, crack cocaine and 18 beers when he broke
into the house where he planned to steal a TV that turned out to be too
heavy to carry. He was rummaging through things in the woman's bedroom
when she woke up.

"I didn't know she was in there," he told The Associated Press in a recent
interview on death row. "I messed up. Somebody hit me from behind and I
went off. She hit me in the head with her cane. The next thing, I did what
I did. I tripped out. It was crazy."

Murray's mother, a home nursing aide, once had cared for Ratcliff although
Murray didn't know his victim. Ratcliff had lived in the house 30 years,
outliving her husband and 2 stepdaughters.

The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year refused to review his case. That
rejection came after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year
upheld lower courts that denied appeals claims.

One of the appeals focused on arguments that his trial court didn't
require psychological examinations when he testified in 1999 he wanted
appeals dropped and his punishment expedited. He later changed his mind,
but a motion to reinstate that appeal was denied after a psychological
expert said there was no reason to doubt Murray's competence when he said
he wanted appeals waived.

The 5-foot-3 Murray, known on death row as "Scooter," said he was
depressed and suicidal when he originally made the decision to hasten the
execution.

"I ain't ready to go," he said from death row. "I used to be."

Murray said he started doing crack cocaine in the late 1980s, calling it
"the worst mistake I ever did."

Records show besides the burglaries, he escaped from jail while awaiting
trial, sexually assaulted two other inmates while he was locked up and
also was seen smoking marijuana in jail. At one point, he was employed as
a city worker in Kaufman but got fired for marijuana possession.

"I was doing so much dope, I couldn't stop," he said.

"Yes, I did do this," Murray said of the murder. "I'm not trying to blame
this on somebody else. I want people to know I'm sorry for the crime. I
pray to the Lord to forgive me and I'm asking them to forgive me. That's
all I can do."

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 16

TEXAS:

Alleged romantic link raises appeal questions

Legal experts have criticized a judge and a small-town Texas prosecutor,
calling their alleged sexual affair in the years before trying a death
penalty case "stupid" and "a black eye to the system."

They say the alleged affair between former Judge Verla Sue Holland and
ex-Collin County District Attorney Thomas O'Connell raises ethical
questions and could lead to appeals from inmates who claim their trials
were tainted by bias.

"Definitely there are people locked up ... saying: 'Wait a minute. I was
convicted in this judge's court,'" said Fred Moss, a Southern Methodist
University law professor. "It's such incredible bad judgment because it
throws every conviction into doubt."

The alleged affair, an apparent open secret 20 years ago in Collin County
legal circles, became part of the public record again last week. Lawyers
for death row inmate Charles Dean Hood sought a stay of execution in the
nation's busiest death penalty state, arguing Holland was biased because
of her relationship with O'Connell.

About 30 former prosecutors and federal and state judges signed a letter
sent to Gov. Rick Perry by lawyers for Hood, convicted in 1990 of fatally
shooting two people in Plano. The letter states that a sexual
relationship, which Hood's lawyers say the judge and prosecutor
acknowledged under oath during depositions last week, "would have had a
significant impact on the ability of the judicial system to accord Mr.
Hood a fair and impartial trial."

Hood received a reprieve, although the alleged affair was not the reason.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals wants to reconsider whether the jury
instructions were flawed.

"The appearance of impropriety is absolutely there and it does affect the
integrity of the system," said Rick Hagen, president of the Texas Criminal
Defense Lawyers Association. "And you can't deny that."

Attorneys for Holland and O'Connell declined to discuss their clients'
depositions, citing a gag order. In an affidavit, former assistant
district attorney Matthew Goeller said it was "common knowledge" that the
judge and prosecutor "had a romantic relationship" from at least 1987
until about 1993. Hood was tried in 1990.

Moss, the SMU professor, said such a relationship, if true, "would be so
stupid if they were actually trying cases in her court while they were
having an affair."

"What it does is bring the whole system into question," Moss said. "It's a
real black eye to the system and very unfortunate. It shakes the
confidence of the public in the criminal justice system."

Bill Boyd, Holland's attorney, said Hood's original court-appointed
lawyers were experienced litigators who "were in the courthouse every day
and heard every rumor or innuendo." He said their decision not to ask
Holland to recuse herself is a sign of their faith in her fairness.

"This wasn't their first rodeo," Boyd said. "If there were any hint or
suggestion or chance that they weren't going to get a fair trial, someone
would have raised it."

Neither Holland nor O'Connell have been publicly disciplined by the State
Commission on Judicial Conduct or the State Bar of Texas.

Hood's lawyers have said in court papers that Holland, while on the state
appeals court, recused herself from about 80 % of cases from Collin
County. Her attorney said she routinely stepped aside whenever she had any
prior involvement in a case, such as being the presiding judge or simply
signing a search warrant.

Boyd said Holland is embarrassed by the attention brought by the case.
O'Connell's attorney, Richard A. Sayles, said the ex-prosecutor regrets
the controversy, adding, "On a professional level, I don't think he is
upset that defense lawyers are trying every possible grounds they have for
a stay of execution."

O'Connell was the county's elected district attorney from 1971-82 and from
1987-2002. Holland was a state district judge from 1974-96 before moving
on to the Court of Criminal Appeals from 1997-2002. Both are retired.

McKinney, the county seat, was a small Texas town when O'Connell was first
elected, still decades away from becoming a wealthy bedroom community to
Dallas. Those small-town roots still show.

Boyd, now Holland's attorney, is a former DA who hired O'Connell as an
assistant prosecutor. Once O'Connell became the DA, he hired Holland as
one of his two assistant prosecutors. She was in charge of juvenile cases
before becoming a judge, said John Charles Hardin, a McKinney lawyer since
the mid-1970s.

County officials say it is impossible to determine how many cases
O'Connell prosecuted in Holland's court. O'Connell, as an elected
official, had a vested interest in every one of them. But it was unusual
for the district attorney to appear in the courtroom.

"It was very rare for Tom O'Connell to actually try a case," Hardin said.
"He was an administrator. He ran his office and let his assistants manage
the courts."

Besides Hood, there are four other death row inmates convicted in Collin
County during the overlapping tenures of O'Connell and Holland. Three were
convicted in front of other judges; a record for the fourth could not be
located.

Still, legal experts expect other inmates and their attorneys will begin
filing appeals, arguing their trials were tainted by the alleged affair
between the judge and prosecutor, both of whom were divorced in the late
1980s.

Moss said he also expects the appeals court to find a reason to grant a
new trial for Hood, a former topless club bouncer, who was convicted of
killing a 26-year-old former dancer and her 46-year-old boyfriend.

"Any judge is going to say, 'This is an unsafe conviction and so let's
find the legal grounds and reverse it where we don't have to discuss this
dirty laundry in public,'" Moss said. "I would hope they would do it. Do
we really want to send this guy to his maker after this has occurred?"

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 16

TEXAS:

Dallas County DA wants to re-examine nearly all of pending death row cases

Troubled that innocent people have been imprisoned by faulty prosecutions,
District Attorney Craig Watkins said Monday that he would re-examine
nearly 40 death penalty convictions and would seek to halt executions, if
necessary, to give the reviews time to proceed.

Mr. Watkins told The Dallas Morning News that problems exposed by 19
DNA-based exonerations in Dallas County have convinced him he should
ensure that no death row inmate is actually innocent.

Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins "It's not saying I'm putting
a moratorium on the death penalty," said Mr. Watkins, whose reviews would
be of all of the cases now on death row handled by his predecessors. "It's
saying that maybe we should withdraw those dates and look at those cases
from a new perspective to make sure that those individuals that are on
death row need to be there and they need to be executed."

He cited the exonerations and stories by The News about problems with
those prosecutions as the basis for his decision. The exonerations have
routinely revealed faulty eyewitness testimony and, in a few cases,
prosecutorial misconduct.

Fred Moss, a law professor at Southern Methodist University, said he had
never heard of another prosecutor in the country who had conducted the
type of review Mr. Watkins proposed.

"It's really quite extraordinary," Mr. Moss said.

Toby Shook, who sent several people to death row while he was a Dallas
County prosecutor, said Mr. Watkins was imposing an unnecessary new level
of review and a hardship on victims' families.

"Perhaps he hasn't thought this through, but essentially what he's saying
is, 'There is 1 more court of appeal and that's me,' " said Mr. Shook, who
was defeated by Mr. Watkins 2 years ago. "That's going to be devastating
to a family."

Mr. Watkins, who has struggled publicly with his feelings about capital
punishment, said studying the small pool of death row cases could
illustrate larger problems in the justice system and provide legislators
with an incentive to enact reforms.

But he said it was the exoneration of Patrick Waller in July not his
personal qualms that prompted him to pursue reviewing death penalty
cases, although he said it's a topic that has been on his mind since an
exoneration occurred in his first week in office.

Mr. Waller was cleared of a 1992 robbery-rape. The statute of limitations
to prosecute the true perpetrators has expired even though they have
admitted to the crimes. Had previous District Attorney Bill Hill not
denied testing, the results could have prevented one of the men from being
paroled.

"That's really what got me to thinking," Mr. Watkins said. "This is larger
than just having innocent folks in jail. This is about having criminals
out on the street with cover to go and commit their offenses."

Mr. Watkins has taken steps to halt an execution before.

Last September, he asked to withdraw the execution date for Joseph Roland
Lave when the district attorney's office realized that evidence requested
by his appellate attorneys was not released and possibly lied about.

Mr. Watkins said that he believes Mr. Lave is guilty but that he was not
prosecuted fairly because evidence was withheld. Mr. Lave was sentenced to
death for a 1992 robbery and double murder in Richardson.

To halt an execution, judges from the trial court where the conviction was
obtained would have to sign the order to approve withdrawing the execution
date, said Dallas County state District Judge Andy Chatham.

Judge Chatham, who signed the order to withdraw Mr. Lave's execution date,
said Monday that any similar requests would need specific reasons for
stopping the execution. Those reasons are DNA testing or a writ of habeas
corpus that showed the need for additional court proceedings.

"What you're not going to have is 'Judge, we just want to look at it,' "
said Judge Chatham, who is presiding over a death penalty case this week
from Mr. Watkins' office. "There has to be some reason."

Mr. Watkins said he believes a judge will grant the request if both the
state and defense attorneys agree. Mr. Watkins said he would request new
execution dates if a review shows the inmates were prosecuted fairly and
are guilty of the crime.

The DA's district attorney's office is this week seeking the death penalty
against a man who was convicted Monday of killing his two children. Mr.
Watkins also plans to question witnesses himself in another death penalty
case slated for later this year.

"At the end of the day, I'm not saying these people shouldn't be
executed," Mr. Watkins said.

But, he added, "I don't want someone to be executed on my watch for
something they didn't do."

Mr. Watkins said the cases will be investigated by the office's conviction
integrity unit, which was created last year and is reviewing DNA tests
requests denied under Mr. Hill.

The district attorney's office will review the oldest cases first because
those are the most likely to be set for execution.

Only 2 men from Dallas County, Gregory Edward Wright and Robert Jean
Hudson, currently have scheduled execution dates. Both men were sent to
death row in unrelated stabbing deaths of women.

Defense attorney Richard Franklin, who represented Mr. Lave as well as
other capital murder defendants, said such a review is necessary because
of potential prosecutorial misconduct and the problems with eyewitness
testimony.

"If there are any death penalty cases that rely on eyewitness testimony
alone, then they need to be reviewed," Mr. Franklin said. "All the science
points to the fact that eyewitness testimony is no good."

(source: Dallas Morning News)

*****************

Save Reginald Blanton, sentenced to death in Texas due to racial prejudice

Sign now: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/reggie/petition.html

To: U.S. Government; U.S. Congress; U.S. Senate; U.S. Department of
Justice; State Bar of Texas; Texas Governor; Senator Barack Obama; UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights; members of the Radical Transnational Party;
Democratic Nations

Petition to save the life of Reginald Blanton, sentenced to death in Texas
due to racial prejudice

A case that demonstrates the injustice of the death penalty, which must be
abolished, starting from the United States of America

by EveryOne Group ---- http://www.everyonegroup.com

A sentence issued without proof of guilt in a climate of intolerance

Reginald Blanton, aged 27, an African American, originally from
California, has been in jail for the last 9 years (7 on Death Row) accused
of having killed when he was 18 his close friend Carlos Garza for reasons
connected to drug possession and pushing. EveryOne Group has decided to
promote an international campaign in the attempt to save Reginalds life.

"We are convinced the inquiry and trial that led to Reginald being
sentenced to death reveal an abuse of the law, errors of form and
procedural flaws say Roberto Malini, Matteo Pegoraro and Dario Picciau,
leaders of Everyone.

Reginald is African American, he was a street kid and a member of a gang.
He belonged to a world that the US institutions, and Texas in particular,
fight with such rigour it often becomes prejudice. We suspect the verdict
contains elements of racial discrimination and this is confirmed by the
fact that Reginald Blanton was not judged, according to his constitutional
rights, by a jury of his peers. The District Attorney also arranged it so
that the entire jury was made up of white Americans. And it is for this
reason that the 5th Circuit of Appeal recognised this violation of his
assurance of a fair trial". Reginald is presently an inmate on death row
in Polunksy Prison, in Livingston, Texas. For the last 7 years he has been
attempting to prove his innocence (but most of all to show the level of
inhumanity the inmates of death row are subjected to) through peaceful and
non-violent protests - hunger strikes lasting weeks, articles given to his
closest friends or his mother Anna, with whom the activists of EveryOne
are in constant contact with. "We are convinced the US judicial system (
which still makes use of the death penalty) too often makes legal errors
and procedural flaws," continue the activists.

"The law decides whether a human being should live or die with a margin of
error that is inevitably high and often linked to social and personal
bias, as well as to the inmate's previous record and race. All this in
defiance of article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We
ask ourselves how many other innocent people will be put to death by the
executioner before the death penalty is abolished and a respect of life is
re-established."

"We are able to demonstrate an incredible sequence of errors and
violations of human rights in Reginald Blanton's case," say the activists,
"but we also wish to reassert the need to promote, in all areas, the
abolition of the death penalty.

Considering the impossibility, by both the police and judicial system, to
prove the guilt "without the shadow of a doubt" of an accused person;
considering the prejudice that is inevitably present in some members of a
jury; considering we are talking about human beings subjected to cultural,
instinctive and media influences; we believe that the medieval use of the
death penalty (which severs the life of a human being) denies the people
and the organizations the time to gather the necessary evidence for
proving the inmates innocence through further investigations and
deductions. Work that can often take many years, even decades.

No law should deny an inmate the chance of being rehabilitated, freed and
even compensated, until the last day of his life on Earth. We must also
consider that often the memory and information held by the prisoner is
often indispensable for reaching a new and often more just verdict."

To support the campaign to save Reginald Blantons life and to promote the
abolition of the death penalty, sign the petition also at the following
link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/SaveReginald/ and send emails,
postcards and letters to the following addresses:

Prison where Reginald Blanton is detained:

Polunsky Unit

3872 F.M. 350 South

Livingston, Tx 77351

Please specify in the letter/postcard: Reginald Blanton - #999395

Write to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice:

classify [at] tdcj.state.tx.us;

parole.div [at] tdcj.state.tx.us;

bpp-pio [at] tdcj.state.tx.us;

parole.pio [at] tdcj.state.tx.us,

Write to the Federal Bureau of Prisons of USA: webmaster [at] bop.gov.

Write to the US Government:
http://answers.usa.gov/cgi-bin/gsa_ict.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Write to the UN High Commissioneer for Human Rights: InfoDesk [at]
ohchr.org; niu [at] ohchr.org; gmagazzeni [at] ohchr.org; dexrel [at]
ohchr.org

Write to the Radical Transnatonal Party: radical.party [at]
radicalparty.org

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE CAMPAIGN, PLEASE CONTACT:

EVERYONE GROUP

ONG based in Italy

http://www.everyonegroup.com

info [at] everyonegroup.com

(source: IndyBay)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 15

TEXAS:

Sarah Hickman, guest column: Let's talk about death penalty

In the early 1990s, I started correspondence with a man on death row, then
visited him in person.

What I experienced shocked me. Instead of an angry human being, I met an
intelligent person who seemed broken.

Out of an abused, unloved childhood he had lived the only way he knew how:
in survival mode.

Uneducated, drugged up, jobless, he had struck out and viciously murdered
a woman. He had spent 20 years on death row when I met him, and he still
had no understanding of what it meant to be "productive" or a part of
society. Kill or be killed. That is what he knew. Several years later
after our meeting, he was executed by the state.

As a society, without a doubt, most of us agree that murdering a fellow
human being is a horrendous act. It stains the perpetrator, or even an
entire country (think Germany) for life, for all time.

Texas robustly enforces the death penalty. But it needs to ask itself: How
does executing another person ever solve anything?

And what about those executed who are innocent? The greatest example that
comes to mind is Jesus Christ. Or Bruno Richard Hauptmann (executed for
allegedly kidnapping the Lindbergh baby. His wife, to this day, cries out
that he was an innocent man).

As a mom and a musician, I wanted to start a dialogue about the death
penalty. My hope was to start a dialogue that was open to all in the
spirit of healthy debate and information a forum where people who were
opposed to . . . or for. . . or conflicted by the death penalty could meet
and discuss the issue without fear or hostility.

In cooperation with the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty I
have been staging a series of monthly concerts around Texas to discuss the
death penalty.

The next concert is Thursday night in Waco.

Attendees have heard comments from a variety of speakers including El Paso
Mayor John Cook, who has joined our tour, singing and speaking and
challenging other Texas mayors to come out to the events.

Weve heard the amazing account of Rev. Carroll Pickett, the death row
minister who witnessed 95 executions in Huntsville. He is convinced that
at least 15 of those men were innocent.

Please, come express your opinions. Meet family members of murder victims.
Meet family members of those executed on death row.

This isn't easy. In fact, it's intense.

A closing thought: When Cain murdered Abel in the old testament, God didnt
destroy Cain. He banished him, yes, but he set him out in the world marked
with protection that no one would harm a hair on his head.

Why would God do such a thing? I challenge you to start the dialogue and
continue the conversation.

(source: Opinion;Sara Hickman is an Austin-based singer and
songwriter----Waco Tribune)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 12

TEXAS----new death sentence

Paul David Storey gets death penalty for fatal shooting at Hurst Putt-Putt

Paul David Storey will die for fatally shooting a Hurst Putt-Putt employee
during a robbery 2 years ago.

A Tarrant County jury deliberated nearly 90 minutes before deciding Mr.
Storey's fate Friday morning, 2 days after finding him guilty of fatally
shooting murdering Jonas Paul Cherry on Oct. 16, 2006, as Mr. Cherry
opened the Putt-Putt Golf & Games.

Paul David Storey Mr. Storey, 23, the 1st of 2 men to stand trial in the
case, cried Friday when the death sentence was read by State District
Judge Elizabeth Berry. Several jurors did, too.

"It was a fair verdict," said Robert Foran, a Tarrant County assistant
district attorney who prosecuted Mr. Storey along with co-prosecutor
Christy Jack. "What the jurors saw was a man who was executed."

The evidence showed that Mr. Cherry, 28, was shot numerous times in the
head and legs.

"This was a senseless offense," Mr. Foran said. He forced a man to his
knees then executed him as that man begged for his life."

Mr. Cherry's mother, Judy Cherry, told Mr. Storey after the sentence was
announced that he did not appear remorseful.

"You didn't have to kill him," she said. "You could have just robbed the
place. I don't think you could have chosen to kill a better man. He was
not only our son, he was our friend."

She told Mr. Storey she sympathizes with the pain he caused his own
family.

"I understand all too well what it means to lose a loved one," she said.
"My hope for you is that someday you will be able to look back and
understand and ask God's forgiveness."

Mr. Storey's attorneys, William Ray and Larry Moore, had asked the jury to
sentence Mr. Storey to life without parole. Mr. Storey, they argued, would
not be a future danger in prison.

They asked the jury to put away any anger they might have had toward their
client and the crime.

"This thing happened in an instant, and Paul will pay for this decision
for the rest of his life," Mr. Moore said. "Give him that option. Where is
the evidence that he is a continuing threat to society?"

Mr. Storey, of Fort Worth, was arrested days after the shooting. Some of
the most damaging evidence against him came from videotaped statements Mr.
Storey gave to Hurst police.

He told investigators that he and a friend, Mark Porter, stumbled upon an
ongoing robbery after car trouble forced them into the Putt-Putt's parking
lot. Mr. Storey later told investigators he destroyed evidence, including
tapes he recovered from the Putt-Putt's surveillance cameras.

However, the one tape remaining showed Mr. Storey's SUV and a partial
license-plate number.

Mr. Porter, 22, is also charged with capital murder. He is awaiting trial
and could also face a death sentence.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 11

TEXAS:

Death will be sought for man accused of killing kids

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for a Pasadena man in the grisly
deaths of his 2 children, whose bodies had been severely burned inside a
suitcase and a wooden box.

A grand jury indicted 27-year-old Randy Terrell Sylvester on Wednesday on
capital murder charges. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty, said
Harris County Assistant District Attorney Stephen St. Martin, adding that
the medical examiner has not determined the cause of death for either
Randy Sylvester Jr., 7, or Denim Sylvester, 3.

Sylvester was also indicted on an assault charge, accused of hitting the
children's mother, Jerilynn St. Cyr.

Investigators said the children disappeared June 15 from the Sandridge
Apartment Homes at 4025 Burke.

About a week later, Sylvester led investigators to the children's remains
in a wooded area near Galveston Road and Allendale, where flames scorched
overhanging tree limbs, indicating an accelerant had been used.

No accelerants or ignitable materials were found when they searched
Sylvester's apartment.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 9

TEXAS:

Charles Dean Hood granted a stay of execution

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has granted a stay of execution for
Charles Dean Hood, who was set to die Wednesday for the killings of Tracie
Wallace and Ronald Williamson in 1989 in Plano.

The stay was based on an appeal filed last week that asked the court to
reconsider an issue taken up over the summer. It is not related to
revelations that the judge and prosecutor during Mr. Hood's trial have
admitted in sworn affidavits taken Monday and Tuesday that they had a
sexual relationship.

On Monday, District Judge Greg Brewer ordered that depositions be taken
from Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County district attorney Tom
O'Connell. Mr. O'Connell was deposed late Monday and Judge Holland today.
Defense attorneys for Mr. Hood argue in an appeal filed late Tuesday that
this relationship might have affected Mr. Hoods right to a fair trial.

But Tuesday's reprieve was granted over a technical issue regarding
instructions given to the original jury, and a hearing will be scheduled
on that issue.

The depositions ordered by Judge Brewer in his Collin County civil court
were the result of an unusual move by Mr. Hood's defense attorneys, who
used a civil action to force the depositions in an attempt to gain
evidence that might prompt another reason for a last-minute stay of
execution for Mr. Hood. In the depositions, Judge Holland and Mr. OConnell
admitted a sexual relationship that lasted for years but gave different
accounts of whether it was ongoing during Mr. Hood's trial.

A former Collin County assistant district attorney had previously sworn in
an affidavit that a rumor of a romance between judge and Mr. OConnell was
common knowledge.

Judge Brewer said Monday that he agreed to the depositions because he was
interested in preserving the integrity of the judicial system. He
acknowledged that if anybody had any knowledge of a romantic relationship
between the judge and prosecutor at the time of the trial, they should
have raised red flags.

Collin County Assistant District Attorney John Rolater, who has been
handling the Hood case on appeal, asked for and received permission from
the judge to have a representative witness the depositions.

Bill Boyd, Judge Holland's attorney, said before the gag order was issued
and the depositions were taken that, "She'll tell the truth on all the
questions that the judge rules relevant. I expect her to deny at all
times... that there was any relationship other than a casual relationship
with the district attorney." Mr. Boyd said he didn't think she would
discuss whether there was a relationship with Mr. O'Connell before or
after the trial because it is irrelevant.

Mr. Boyd had criticized Mr. Hood's attorneys for filing a civil action in
the case in an attempt to elicit a stay of execution from Texas Gov. Rick
Perry, or to force consideration of new appeals in a criminal court.

"This is not about getting money damages for Hood or his estate," Mr. Boyd
said of the civil action. While lauding their "creativity," Mr. Boyd noted
that the case happened 20 years ago and in all those years, "nobody has
filed a grievance between either of these 2 people."

The Collin County district attorney's office had wanted to proceed with
the execution, but the state attorney general's office has filed a brief
urging the allegations be investigated to protect the integrity of the
criminal justice system.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

********************************

Wharton residents assemble for death penalty trial----Case is the 1st in
this small town in 3 decades

The 1st death penalty trial to occur in the small town of Wharton since
the 1970s brought an unprecedented number of residents to court Monday as
jury selection began for the capital murder trial of a man accused of
killing a game warden.

James Garrett Freeman, 27, of Lissie, could be sentenced to death if
convicted of capital murder in the slaying of Texas Parks and Wildlife
Department Game Warden Justin Hurst following a 90-minute police chase
last year.

Attorneys are summoning 1,200 Wharton County residents to the Wharton
Civic Center in the next 6 weeks an unusually large number even by
Houston's standards as they attempt to seat a jury that can fairly and
impartially weigh the case. Testimony is set to begin Oct. 20.

The trial also is likely to draw attention because it marks former Harris
County prosecutor Kelly Siegler's return to a courtroom for the first time
since her resignation earlier this year. Siegler, who was defeated in her
bid for the Harris County district attorney's job in March's Republican
primary, is assisting Wharton County District Attorney Josh McCown with
the case.

McCown and Siegler will square off against veteran defense attorney
Stanley Schneider, who, along with co-counsel Lee Cox, will try to spare
Freeman a death sentence.

Schneider has concerns about whether his client can get a fair trial in
Wharton County, a heavily rural area with a population of more than 40,000
residents, because he fears so many people there know someone connected to
the case.

Schneider had filed a change of venue motion, seeking to move the trial
elsewhere, but state District Judge Randy Clapp has not granted that
request.

"Obviously, I disagree with the idea that one can't get a fair trial in
Wharton," McCown said outside court later Monday. "I think we can."

Freeman has been in jail ever since March 17, 2007, when Hurst was shot to
death in a graveyard following a 90-minute police chase through the rural
roads of Wharton and Matagorda counties.

On the night of the shooting, another game warden besides Hurst first
approached Freeman based on suspicions that the man was illegally hunting.
Freeman, who was in his pickup within a half-mile of his home, sped away
in his truck, authorities said.

After a 90-minute police chase involving seven police cars, Freeman and
various police officers exchanged heavy gunfire during a shootout in a
cemetery. Hurst, the married father of an infant son, died after being
shot twice. Much of the incident was captured on video by the cameras
mounted in police cars.

Freeman also was shot 4 times, but recovered.

Many Wharton County residents acknowledged they were familiar with the
case when questioned by the judge Monday.

Only 9 people among the 190 panelists who showed up in court Monday said
they had not heard about the case.

More than 35 panelists were excused after admitting they could not set
aside their personal opinions on whether the defendant was guilty or
innocent.

At least 20 of the panelists acknowledged they would have trouble
sentencing anyone to death.

Dressed neatly in a long-sleeve blue dress shirt, necktie and tan pants,
Freeman was not handcuffed, but remained under the watch of several
sheriff's deputies at all times.

Freeman's parents, who watched the day's proceedings, declined to comment.
The parents of the slain game warden, also in court Monday, would not
comment publicly because of the pending trial.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

******************

Soap Opera Surroundings in Death Penalty Case----Allegations of affair
surround execution date.

Could an alleged romantic relationship between a Judge and a Prosecutor
have set the stage for Charles Hood's date with death-scheduled for
Wednesday Night? Hood's lawyers will tell you it's very possible, but
other legal experts see a whole lot of work to do to make that stick.

"Fist of all you've got to show the relationship existed. Then secondly,
under existing Texas law, you have to show prejudice that came from that
relationship." said South Texas College of Law's Gerald Treece. "Texas law
is pretty tough on showing that any conviction should be set aside You
have to show that something went so far wrong in the system."

Both the now retired judge and the prosecutor deny the allegations of an
affair, and Treece said the timing of the allegations does raise some
suspicions.

"These type of arguments look like a desperate last minute attempt to set
aside the death penalty by people who are philosophically opposed to the
death penalty," Treece said.

Convicted of a 1989 murder, Hood's lawyers have asked the State Supreme
Court for a stay.

(source: KTRH News)

*****************

Trial begins in 1983 KFC murder case----Inmate faces a 2nd life sentence
if convicted in the killings of 5

About 140 prospective jurors assembled Monday as trial got under way for
the 2nd of 2 men accused in the notorious murders of 5 people abducted
from an East Texas Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant a quarter-century
ago.

Darnell Hartsfield, 47, went on trial almost a year after his cousin,
Romeo Pinkerton, took a plea bargain midway through his own trial on five
capital murder charges for the 1983 fatal shootings outside Kilgore.

If convicted, Hartsfield faces an automatic life prison term because
prosecutors have said they won't seek the death penalty. The convicted
burglar and drug dealer from Tyler already was serving life for perjury
when DNA testing tied him to the KFC killings.

He traded his prison whites Monday for a white open-collar shirt and black
slacks as he sat at the defense table in a courtroom in Bryan, facing
prospective jurors as State District Judge Clay Gossett qualified them and
considered reasons why they may not be able to serve.

Gossett introduced the defendant and the lawyers in the case to the
prospective jurors. Hartsfield rose briefly but said nothing.

The case was moved to Bryan from Henderson, about 150 miles to the
northeast, because of publicity in East Texas.

Gossett said some 600 Brazos County residents had been summoned as
possible jurors. Less than a quarter of that number showed up.

"I understand this is not something you like to hear or want to hear," he
said, telling them the trial could last up to five weeks. "It's just the
reality of this."

A panel of 14, including two alternates, likely would be selected by
Friday, the judge said. The jury prospects filled out 13 pages of
questions and were asked to return Thursday for additional questioning by
lawyers.

Gossett said attorneys would deliver their opening arguments on Sept. 15.

The 5 victims were found dead along an oilfield road about 15 miles from
the KFC restaurant in Kilgore where they were abducted during a holdup the
previous night, Sept. 23, 1983.

Killed were David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey
Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. All but Landers worked at the
restaurant about 25 miles east of Tyler and 115 miles east of Dallas.
Landers was a friend of Maxwell and Johnson and was visiting them as the
restaurant was closing for the night.

25-year sentence

Hartsfield, then 22, was arrested for aggravated robbery in September 1983
in another case and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors contend
that 3 days before his arrest, he was one of the men participating in the
Kilgore killings.

Pinkerton faced a possible death sentence if convicted when he took the
plea deal last year for the 5 life terms. The agreement, however, did not
require him to testify against Hartsfield.

Authorities have refused to disclose any progress in their hunt for a
third suspect, citing a gag order imposed by Gossett.

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 8

TEXAS:

Judge orders depositions in death row case

The judge and prosecutor from a condemned man's murder trial have been
ordered to testify under oath about allegations that they were
romantically involved during the case.

The state district court ruling 2 days before convicted killer Charles
Dean Hood's scheduled execution stemmed from requests by his attorneys to
investigate claims of an improper relationship between retired state
District Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County District
Attorney Tom O'Connell.

The deposition for O'Connell began in a jury room shortly after District
Judge Greg Brewer's ruling Monday afternoon. Holland's deposition was
scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Hood's attorneys also were working to postpone his execution in order to
have more time to pursue their claims of judicial bias. They filed a
request for a stay of execution and also asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant a
30-day reprieve.

The 39-year-old Hood was convicted in the 1989 killings of an ex
strip-club dancer and her boyfriend.

(source: Associated Press)

**************

Question of judge-prosecutor affair lingers as Charles Dean Hood execution
nears

An attorney for a retired judge who was rumored to be having an affair
with the prosecutor during the death penalty trial of Charles Dean Hood
says the judge is "saddened" and "disappointed" by the allegations.

Bill Boyd made the remarks on behalf of retired Judge Verla Sue Holland,
whose relationship with former Collin County district attorney Tom
O'Connell has been questioned, while he and others waited for a decision
Monday on whether a request in civil court to require depositions about
the relationship from the 2 could be heard.

The request had been filed in state court and slated for a hearing Monday
morning, but was moved to federal court at the last minute. Neither Judge
Holland nor Mr. O'Connell appeared at the Collin County Courthouse.

Mr. Boyd said the move for a civil action in the case of condemned murder
Charles Dean Hood was "subterfuge" by his defense attorneys.

"This is not about getting money damages for Hood or his estate," he said.

Defense attorneys hope to use depositions about the relationship to obtain
a stay of execution for Mr. Hood, who is to die on Wednesday for the
killings of Tracie Wallace and Ronald Williamson in 1989.

While lauding their "creativity," Mr. Boyd noted that the alleged affair
happened 20 years ago and in all those years, "nobody has filed a
grievance between either of these 2 people."

In addition, defense attorneys always are "barking up the wrong tree," he
said, because no one at the county courthouse has the ability to order a
stay in the case.

"The only one who can stay the execution is the governor," he said. "They
ought to be down in Austin arguing to him."

Gov. Rick Perry's decision is complicated by the fact that the Collin
County district attorney's office would like to proceed with the
execution, but the state attorney general's office has filed a brief
urging the allegations be investigated to protect the integrity of the
criminal justice system.

Defense attorney Greg Wiercioch dismissed the notion that Mr. Hood's
lawyers waited until the last minute to raise the issue, noting that until
a former assistant district attorney filed an affidavit saying rumors of
the affair were common knowledge, "we didn't feel it was enough to go
forward."

When asked why no one with direct knowledge of the relationship has
surfaced to give them the evidence they seek, he said, "There are a lot of
people that still are intimidated by the fact that these people wield
power in Collin County."

"It certainly is baffling," he said.

Though the defense is unable to point to any specific instance of unfair
treatment in Mr. Hood's trial, they claim that he could not have received
a fair trial if the two were romantically involved.

"When a judge is involved in a long-term relationship with an attorney who
is appearing before her, the judge's impartiality is certainly suspect,
even without evidence that the relationship actually resulted in any
impropriety," they argued in a petition filed in state court and with the
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Monday.

The defense also asked 8 of the 9 judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals
to recuse themselves from the case because they served with Judge Holland
on that same court.

********************************

Hector Medina's attorney plans to show why dad killed his 2 kids

The defense attorney for a man accused of killing his 2 children said
during opening statements at his trial today that she would show jurors
why the shootings took place.

"This case is not a whodunit," said defense attorney Donna Winfield in the
capital murder trial of Hector Medina. "The entire responsibility of what
happened that day lies with Hector Medina. We want to know why."

Hector Rolando Medina Mr. Medina, 29, is accused of fatally shooting
8-month-old Diana and 3-year-old Javier before shooting himself in the
head and neck in March 2007. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.

Ms. Winfield told the jury that she plans to show that Mr. Medina's
girlfriend and mother of his children, Elia Martinez-Bermudez, now 24, had
been having an affair with one of their roommates. Ms. Winfield also plans
to call a mental health expert to testify about Mr. Medina's mindset.

Prosecutor Pat Kirlin told the jury during opening statements that Ms.
Martinez-Bermudez left Mr. Medina days before the shooting in March 2007,
because he had threatened to kill her and their children. When she
returned to their Irving home one day later from picking up her paycheck,
Mr. Medina would not let her back into the home. Their children were
inside.

After she left, a couple of the roommates reported hearing some doors bang
shut, sounds which were later identified as gunshots, Mr. Kirlin said.

"He had put 2 bullets through each one of his children" Mr. Kirlin said.

The next day, a district judge granted a protective order to Ms.
Martinez-Bermudez. She could not be reached for comment last week, but she
is expected to testify during Mr. Medina's trial.

Mr. Medina, who is a citizen of El Salvador, was hospitalized for about a
week and then taken to the Dallas County Jail. He has remained there on a
federal immigration hold. The bullet remains in his neck, according to
court records.

Irving police Sgt. Jef Swann said it's common for violence in an adult
relationship to extend to children in the household.

"The husband or wife, if they can't take it out on that person, they'll
take it out on the children," said Sgt. Swann, who oversees the Irving
police family violence unit. "The kids are regularly caught in the
middle."

In an affidavit for the protective order, Ms. Martinez-Bermudez said that
"Hector has grabbed me, thrown me, pulled my hair and pinned me down and
forced me to have sex with him numerous times."

The week before the shooting, the affidavit said, Mr. Medina assaulted her
at the Irving house they shared with another family because she refused to
have sex with him.

She said Mr. Medina told her that police would write her a ticket if she
called them for no reason.

"Hector stated since I did not have any bruising they would not believe
me," Ms. Martinez-Bermudez said. "I believed Hector, so I didn't call for
help."

(source for both: Dallas Morning News)

*******************

Lawyers attempt to halt execution, alleging affair

Lawyers for a convicted killer who claim the judge and prosecutor were
having an affair during his murder trial asked the state's highest appeals
court Monday to halt this week's execution, saying the judge's extensive
history of recusing herself from the prosecutor's cases shows a
relationship between the 2.

It was one of a handful of actions Charles Dean Hood's attorneys were
taking in an effort to stop Wednesday's lethal injection he was sentenced
to for the 1989 killings of an ex strip-club dancer and her boyfriend.

In a filing for a stay of execution with the Court of Criminal of Appeals
in Austin, attorneys claimed that between 1997 and 2001 when Judge Verla
Sue Holland served on the appeals court she recused herself in 4 of every
5 cases from Collin County. That's where Tom O'Connell was district
attorney and where she had been a trial judge.

"Judge Holland's recusing herself at a rate nearly 160 times more than her
fellow jurists cries out for an explanation," the filing stated. "The
simplest explanation is the most plausible one: Judge Holland recused
herself at such an off-the-charts rate, because she had previously been
romantically involved with (D.A. O'Connell).

Holland and O'Connell have declined to discuss the accusations. Messages
left Monday with attorneys for both were not immediately returned.

According to Texas Defender Service statistics cited by Hood's lawyers,
Holland recused herself in 381 of 485 Collin County cases while on the
Court of Criminal Appeals.

Meanwhile, efforts to depose the retired Holland and O'Connell, who's now
in private practice, were on hold Monday as attorneys from both sides
battled over jurisdiction. State District Judge Greg Brewer in Collin
County could not rule on the request to depose them until another judge
decides whether the case should be in state or federal court.

Hood's attorneys also have asked Gov. Rick Perry's office for a reprieve.
They also were asking the attorney general's office to intervene and ask
the governor to issue a reprieve, and to join them in their appeals court
filing to stay the execution.

Last week Attorney General Greg Abbott notified the court he would file a
brief favoring a review of the allegations "to ensure that justice is
certain and beyond question." Abbott indicated the review should be
carried out even if it means postponing Hood's execution.

Hood, 39, was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, delayed
by numerous last-day appeals, was halted because prison officials said
they didn't have enough time to follow proper procedures before the
execution warrant expired at midnight.

Further complicating the case, the judge who originally set the hearing on
the depositions for after Hood's execution date, Robert Dry, took himself
off the case last week, citing a "previous business relationship" with
Holland's ex-husband.

Hood is a former bouncer at a topless club who was 20 when he was arrested
in Indiana for the fatal shootings of Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, an
ex-dancer, and her boyfriend, Ronald Williamson, 46, at Williamson's home
in Plano in 1989.

Hood has maintained his innocence. He was driving Williamson's $70,000
Cadillac at the time of his arrest. Fingerprint evidence tied him to the
murder scene. Hood contended his prints were at Williamson's home because
he was living there and that he had permission to drive the car.

Evidence also tied Hood, who had served 2 years in an Indiana prison for
passing bad checks, to the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

(source: Associated Press)

**************************

2nd man on trial for 5 killings at Kilgore KFC

About 140 prospective jurors assembled Monday as trial got under way for
the 2nd of 2 men accused in the notorious murders of 5 people abducted
from an East Texas Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant a quarter-century
ago.

Darnell Hartsfield, 47, went on trial almost a year after his cousin,
Romeo Pinkerton, took a plea bargain midway through his own trial on 5
capital murder charges for the 1983 fatal shootings outside Kilgore.

If convicted, Hartsfield faces an automatic life prison term because
prosecutors have said they won't seek the death penalty. The convicted
burglar and drug dealer from Tyler already was serving life for perjury
when DNA testing tied him to the KFC killings.

He traded his prison whites Monday for a white open-collar shirt and black
slacks as he sat at the defense table in a courtroom in Bryan, facing
prospective jurors as State District Judge Clay Gossett qualified them and
considered reasons why they may not be able to serve.

Gossett introduced the defendant and the lawyers in the case to the
prospective jurors. Hartsfield rose briefly but said nothing.

The case was moved to Bryan from Henderson, about 150 miles to the
northeast, because of publicity in East Texas.

Gossett said some 600 Brazos County residents had been summoned as
possible jurors. Less than a quarter of that number showed up.

"I understand this is not something you like to hear or want to hear," he
said, telling them the trial could last up to five weeks. "It's just the
reality of this."

A panel of 14, including 2 alternates, likely would be selected by Friday,
the judge said. The jury prospects filled out 13 pages of questions and
were asked to return Thursday for additional questioning by lawyers.

Gossett said attorneys would deliver their opening arguments on Sept. 15.

The 5 victims were found dead along an oilfield road about 15 miles from
the KFC restaurant in Kilgore where they were abducted during a holdup the
previous night, Sept. 23, 1983.

Killed were David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey
Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. All but Landers worked at the
restaurant about 25 miles east of Tyler and 115 miles east of Dallas.
Landers was a friend of Maxwell and Johnson and was visiting them as the
restaurant was closing for the night.

Hartsfield, then 22, was arrested for aggravated robbery in September 1983
in another case and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors contend
that 3 days before his arrest, he was one of the men participating in the
Kilgore killings.

Pinkerton faced a possible death sentence if convicted when he took the
plea deal last year for the five life terms. The agreement, however, did
not require him to testify against Hartsfield.

Since 1995, Hartsfield has been serving a 40-year sentence out of Smith
County for delivery of a controlled substance and engaging in organized
criminal activity. He also had the burglary conviction from 1983, at least
2 parole revocations and then 3 years ago was convicted of perjury in a
KFC-related case and given a life term.

His cousin, Pinkerton, had been to prison at least 5 times and had been
out of prison just 2 days when the Kilgore murders occurred.

At Pinkerton's trial, Lisa Tanner, an assistant Texas attorney general and
lead prosecutor in both trials, disclosed for the 1st time that DNA
evidence confirmed the involvement of a 3rd person who raped 1 of the
victims. The rape also was a detail authorities never had disclosed over
the year as the slayings case became one of the state's oldest unresolved
mass murders.

Authorities have refused to disclose any progress in their hunt for a 3rd
suspect, citing a gag order imposed by Gossett.

DNA technology not available until recently showed Pinkerton's blood on a
napkin at the restaurant crime scene and blood from Hartsfield on a box of
cash register tapes. A former FBI agent hired as a special investigator
for the Rusk County Sheriff's Office in 2000 to look into the long-stalled
case found the items among evidence that had been kept. The DNA testing
led to the arrests of Pinkerton and Hartsfield.

The jury was questioned Monday in the same Brazos County courtroom where
white supremacist Lawrence Russell Brewer was convicted and condemned in
1999 for his part in the murder of James Byrd Jr., the black Jasper man
abducted and chained by his ankles to the back of a pickup truck, then
dragged for 3 miles down a winding bumpy East Texas road to his death.

(source: Associated Press)

***************************

Suspect in 2003 Clear Lake slayings set for trial----Woman blames
boyfriend, who later killed self, for deaths of 4

A former Clear Lake High School student accused of gunning down 3 of her
classmates and a 4th victim during a 2003 home invasion is scheduled for
trial this week on a capital murder charge.

Jury selection in the trial of Christine Paolilla is scheduled for
Tuesday, and testimony is to begin on Thursday in state District Judge
Mark Kent Ellis' court. Paolilla's statement to police in which she
acknowledged being in the home, but blamed former boyfriend Christopher
Snider for the shootings, is among the evidence that jurors are expected
to hear.

She is ineligible for the death penalty because she was a minor at the
time of the killings.

Snider committed suicide shortly after he and Paolilla were charged.

Testimony also is expected from Paolilla's husband, Justin Rott, who has
recounted to authorities the tale his wife told him about the shootings.
In his version, Paolilla was a willing participant and even returned to
make sure everyone was dead.

Paolilla's attorney, Mike DeGeurin, declined to comment on the case.

The killings on July 18, 2003, rocked the quiet Brook Forest subdivision.
Although the attack took place in the middle of the afternoon in a 1-story
home in the 3700 block of Millbridge, where Tiffany Rowell lived, no one
reported hearing the gunshots.

Found dead were Rowell and her friend, Rachael Koloroutis, both 18;
Rowell's boyfriend, Marcus Precella, 19; and his cousin, Adelbert Sanchez,
21.

Paolilla, who has remained in the Harris County Jail since her July 2006
arrest, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

Koloroutis' parents say the law prohibiting the execution of those who
committed their crimes before turning 17 is unfair.

"But the law is the law and we have no choice in the matter, so we choose
not to dwell on it," George and Ann Koloroutis wrote in an e-mail to the
Houston Chronicle.

An arrest warrant affidavit quotes Paolilla as saying that she and Snider
had guns when they went to the Rowell home in search of "dope and money."
Paolilla said that while they were there, Snider "just started shooting."
According to the document, she said that while she held a gun that Snider
had given her, "Snider put his hands on hers and the gun just started
going off multiple times."

Investigators said more than 20 shots were fired.

Snider and Paolilla then calmly left the home with a bag of drugs, Rott
said. He told the Chronicle that, when the 2 got to their car, Paolilla
raised concern that perhaps not all of the victims were dead.

Rott said his wife told him she returned to the house and, finding
Koloroutis still alive and choking on her own blood, she beat her to
death.

Koloroutis had tried to call 911 on her cell phone at 3:12 p.m. Police
have said the shootings ended by 3:25 p.m.

Shortly before 4 p.m., Paolilla clocked in at her job as a cashier at a
Walgreens store.

George and Ann Koloroutis, who have since left Texas, said their
daughter's death continues to haunt them.

"The pain and agony associated with losing Rachael is simply exhausting,"
they wrote in an e-mail. "It is hard to get up each and every day. We want
and need this all to be over."

Snider and Paolilla attended Seabrook Intermediate School together and
reunited after Snider returned to Texas, his sister, Brandee Snider, has
said.

A tip to Crime Stoppers led to charges against Paolilla and Snider.
Paolilla was arrested in a San Antonio hotel room she was sharing with
Rott on July 19, 2006.

Snider was warned by a relative that a warrant had been issued for his
arrest, investigators say. He left his girlfriend's home in Greenville,
S.C., with some of her prescription painkillers.

Search dogs found his body in some nearby woods on Aug. 5, 2006. His death
was ruled a suicide.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

*******************

Judge orders depositions in death row case

The judge and prosecutor from a condemned man's murder trial were ordered
Monday to testify under oath about allegations that they were romantically
involved during the case.

The ruling by District Judge Greg Brewer two days before convicted killer
Charles Dean Hood's scheduled execution stemmed from requests by his
attorneys to investigate claims of an improper relationship between
retired state District Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County
District Attorney Tom O'Connell.

O'Connell's deposition took slightly less than two hours Monday evening.
He declined comment as he left the courthouse carrying some files and was
greeted by well-wishers. Attorneys for Hood also declined comment.
Holland's deposition was scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Hood's attorneys also were working to postpone his execution in order to
have more time to pursue their claims of judicial bias. They filed a
request for a stay of execution and also asked Gov. Rick Perry to grant a
30-day reprieve.

Hood is a former bouncer at a topless club who was 20 when he was arrested
in Indiana for the fatal shootings of Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, an
ex-dancer, and her boyfriend, Ronald Williamson, 46, at Williamson's home
in Plano in 1989.

Brewer's decision to order depositions came after a federal judge stymied
attempts by attorneys for Holland and O'Connell to move the case to
federal court. Over the weekend they filed motions that took the case out
of Brewer's hands.

Bill Boyd, Holland's attorney, said he believed Hood's attorneys intended
to pursue a federal claim that Hood's civil rights were violated. U.S.
District Judge Richard Schell agreed with Hood's attorneys that their
request was a preliminary step that should remain in state court. Schell
sent the case back to Brewer.

In a filing for a stay of execution with the Court of Criminal of Appeals
in Austin, Hood's attorneys claimed that between 1997 and 2001 - when
Holland served on the appeals court - she recused herself in four of every
5 cases from Collin County. That's where O'Connell was district attorney
and where she had been a trial judge.

"Judge Holland's recusing herself at a rate nearly 160 times more than her
fellow jurists cries out for an explanation," the filing stated. "The
simplest explanation is the most plausible one: Judge Holland recused
herself at such an off-the-charts rate, because she had previously been
romantically involved with (D.A. O'Connell)."

According to Texas Defender Service statistics cited by Hood's lawyers,
Holland recused herself in 381 of 485 Collin County cases while on the
Court of Criminal Appeals.

Gregory Wiercioch, one of Hood's attorneys, used that argument in
presenting his case to Brewer. Boyd countered that the defense had 18
years to raise the issue and questioned the timing.

"I was surprised and really disappointed," Boyd said after the hearing.
"The main thing that surprised me was the lack of notice or lack of time
for a hearing. Our fight is more over the principle than the actual damage
to be done by a deposition."

Boyd said nobody in the case had an improper relationship while it was
pending before the court.

Last week Attorney General Greg Abbott notified the court he would file a
brief favoring a review of the allegations "to ensure that justice is
certain and beyond question." Abbott indicated the review should be
carried out even if it means postponing Hood's execution.

Hood, 39, was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, delayed
by numerous last-day appeals, was halted because prison officials said
they didn't have enough time to follow proper procedures before the
execution warrant expired at midnight.

Further complicating the case, the judge who originally set the hearing on
the depositions for after Hood's execution date, Robert Dry, took himself
off the case last week, citing a "previous business relationship" with
Holland's ex-husband.

Hood has maintained his innocence. He was driving Williamson's $70,000
Cadillac at the time of his arrest. Fingerprint evidence tied him to the
murder scene. Hood contended his prints were at Williamson's home because
he was living there and that he had permission to drive the car.

Evidence also tied Hood, who had served 2 years in an Indiana prison for
passing bad checks, to the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 7

TEXAS----2 females face death penalty

Pasadena mom, daughter charged with capital murder

2 teenagers, under orders from a woman to get money, fatally stabbed a
75-year-old bar owner outside his Pasadena home earlier this week, using
knives she gave them, police said.

As the teens stabbed bar owner Eugene Palma to death, then rummaged
through his pockets and his car, the mother of one of them, Dannette R.
Gillespie, waited in the back seat of the trio's car, according to court
documents.

The pair brought her $15.

Gillespie, 38, of Pasadena; her 15-year-old daughter, who is not being
identified because she is a juvenile; and 19-year-old Vanessa Anne Ocampo
of Houston were charged Friday with capital murder in Palma's death.

Ocampo told police the 3 were looking for someone to rob early Wednesday,
according to a probable cause warrant. They went to Gene's Better Times
bar on Spencer Highway and followed Palma, who was driving his Cadillac
convertible to his home a few miles away. Pasadena police said the three
did not know the bar owner.

Ocampo told police Gillespie handed each teen a knife and encouraged them
to rob Palma, the document states. The teens got out of the car, ran up to
Palma's garage and stabbed him several times. He was found lying face down
and dead about 6:30 a.m. Wednesday on the driveway of his home.

Gene's Better Times bartender Kim Nawrot said the death was senseless.

"He would've given them money that's the crazy thing," Nawrot said. "He
was the kind of guy that would've given anyone the shirt off of his back."

Nawrot last saw her boss early Wednesday, about 1:30 or 1:45 a.m. Neither
Nawrot nor others interviewed at the bar on Friday said they had seen the
3 females that night.

A friendly person

Palma went dancing, a regular Tuesday night activity, and then stopped by
the business he opened in October 2005.

Nawrot started working for him the day he opened.

"He didn't have customers, he had friends. And he didn't have employees;
he considered us family," she said.

She received a call from a patron Wednesday morning, telling her that "Big
Gene the Dancing Machine" had been found fatally stabbed in the driveway
of his neat one-story home with a blooming hibiscus in the front
flowerbed.

"And I raced over there and saw the crime scene tape, saw all of the
police in front of his home," Nawrot said.

Everything since then, she said, has been a blur.

"I really thought I would feel better, knowing that someone had been
caught. But I don't. The thought that someone would kill someone so
awesome for money sickens me," said Nawrot, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Friday evening, she placed a glass of water in front of the seat at the
end of the bar where Palma always sat. Cranberry juice was once his drink
of choice, but after gaining a few pounds he switched to water, Nawrot
recalled.

Palma also loved to gamble, and frequently planned casino trips for his
patrons.

A group was scheduled to go Sunday, to celebrate Nawrot's birthday.

"Not anymore. No one is in the mood to celebrate anything," she said.

Flowers, candles and tributes lined the outside of the bar at 5923 Spencer
Highway on Friday night.

Pamela Burden arrived with a plant in honor of Palma, her dance partner.

"He and I would dance to the oldies. He would spin me around, say 'Hello
darlin'," she recalled.

While patrons of Gene's Better Times mourned the loss of the owner,
Pasadena police citizen volunteers scoured the overgrown ditches along
Federal between Spencer Highway and Vista, looking for the knives the used
in the attack.

Gillespie and her daughter lived in the Spencer Square Apartments, less
than a mile from Palma's home. How Ocampo knew them could not be
determined Friday. Volunteers said investigators told them the 3 may have
thrown the weapons from the car as they drove to the apartment from the
crime scene.

Palm print offers clues

Residents of the Spencer Square Apartments said Gillespie and her daughter
had not lived there long and were seen moving furniture out of their
apartment Wednesday.

A palm print on the driver's side door of Palma's car led police to the 3
suspects.

Ocampo was interviewed over the phone by Pasadena police and arrested in
San Antonio.

Gillespie and her daughter were arrested in Houston. All three remain in
custody, and both Ocampo and Gillespie are held without bond.

At the time of Wednesday's attack on Palma, Gillespie was on probation
from a March 27 charge of possession of a controlled substance.

(source: Houston Chronicle)

***********************

Trial to begin in 1983 KFC slayings

Just 3 days after the bodies of 5 people abducted from a Kentucky Fried
Chicken restaurant were found along the side of a road, Darnell Hartsfield
went to jail for aggravated robbery.

Now prosecutors charge that he was involved in a much bigger crime
killing those 5 people.

This week, Mr. Hartsfield, 47, goes on trial in the 1983 Kilgore slayings,
one of Texas' oldest unresolved mass murder cases.

Prospective jurors will gather Monday at the Brazos County Courthouse in
Bryan, where Mr. Hartsfield faces trial on 5 capital murder charges. The
trial could last 4 weeks.

The trial was moved to Bryan, about 150 miles southwest of Kilgore,
because of publicity.

Mr. Hartsfield's cousin and co-defendant, Romeo Pinkerton, accepted 5 life
prison terms midway through his capital murder trial.

DNA evidence confirms that a 3rd person was involved and raped 1 of the
victims, lead prosecutor Lisa Tanner disclosed for the 1st time at Mr.
Pinkerton's trial.

DNA technology unavailable until recently showed Mr. Pinkerton's blood on
a napkin found at the scene. Mr. Hartsfield's blood was found on a box of
cash register tapes.

The 5 victims were found dead along an oilfield road about 15 miles from
the KFC where they were abducted on Sept. 23, 1983.

Killed were David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey
Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. All but Mr. Landers worked at the
restaurant. Mr. Landers, a friend of Mr. Maxwell and Mr. Johnson, was
visiting them as the restaurant was closing.

Without elaborating, prosecutors said earlier this year they would not be
seeking the death penalty for Mr. Hartsfield. Since 1995, Mr. Hartsfield
has been serving a 40-year sentence out of Smith County for drug dealing.
He also had a burglary conviction from 1983 and at least two parole
revocations. Three years ago he was convicted of perjury in a KFC-related
case and given a life term.

Mr. Hartsfield tried to get Judge Clay Gossett, based in Gregg County,
removed from the trial, contending the judge was biased after heading
earlier grand juries related to the KFC slayings and presiding over his
perjury case.

"During my perjury trial I felt Judge Gossett leaned toward the state and
let [Ms. Tanner] do what she wanted to do," Mr. Hartsfield testified at a
hearing where his motion was rejected by a visiting judge. "I don't see
how [Judge Gossett] could be impartial."

(source: Associated Press)

***************

Key dates in the KFC slayings case

Sept. 23, 1983: 5 people 4 employees and a friend of 2 workers are
reported missing at 11:30 p.m. from the Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant
in Kilgore.

Sept. 24, 1983: An oilfield worker finds the bodies of the 5 missing
people along an oil lease road about 15 miles south of Kilgore. All had
been shot in the head.

April 27, 1995: James Earl Mankins Jr., son of a former state legislator,
is indicted on 5 counts of capital murder after a fingernail recovered
from a KFC victim's clothes is said to match Mr. Mankins.

Nov. 13, 1995: Charges against Mr. Mankins are dropped after it is
determined the fingernail is not his.

Sept. 11, 2001: DNA testing on a blood-stained box at the KFC restaurant
is requested. The splatter on the white box had never been tested. It is
identified as Mr. Hartsfield's blood.

September 2003: A Rusk County grand jury begins hearing KFC testimony.
Grand jurors are released five months later.

Nov. 17, 2005: The Texas attorney general announces capital murder
indictments against Darnell Hartsfield and Romeo Pinkerton.

Oct. 29, 2007: Mr. Pinkerton admits the killings in court and receives 5
life sentences.

May 16, 2008: Prosecutors say they won't seek the death penalty against
Mr. Hartsfield.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 7

TEXAS:

Clear the air in death case

Charges of corrupted justice in the Collin County murder trial of Charles
Dean Hood will get an overdue airing in court Monday.

The inquiry should be complete and conclusive on whether the trial judge
and the district attorney who prosecuted the case were having a secret
affair when Mr. Hood was convicted of capital murder in 1990. It should
involve the opportunity for former state District Judge Verla Sue Holland
and former DA Tom O'Connell to address sworn, but unproven, allegations of
unethical and unconstitutional behavior.

It goes without saying that the inquiry should move with urgency, since
the defendant's execution is set for Wednesday.

For weeks, the radioactive murder case careened from courtroom to
courtroom, and the ideal of sure and swift justice seemed like a pathetic
afterthought. In a chaotic spectacle on June 17, Mr. Hood came within 90
minutes of execution, only to have the warrant withdrawn and reinstated
hours later. Prison staff could not squeeze in the execution routine
before the midnight deadline, which is the only reason that attorneys can
still dissect what was going on in the county courthouse 18 years ago.

Various courts appeared to deflect the core question of judicial
corruption until Thursday, when state District Judge Greg Brewer ordered a
hearing on the matter. That shows spine.

In any salacious talk of secret trysts, it mustn't be lost that the case
stems from the heartless murders of Ronald Williamson and Tracie Lynn
Wallace of Plano. A jury found that Mr. Hood was the killer, but the
conviction can't involve lingering doubts of a rigged case no matter how
clear the evidence of guilt.

Attorney General Greg Abbott said as much in an extraordinary statement
last week urging thorough review. Even the most ardent law-and-order Texan
must agree with Mr. Abbott that "if the execution proceeds as scheduled,
before questions about the fairness of his trial are legally resolved,
neither the victims nor justice will be served."

Indeed, if Judge Brewer's fact-finding needed more time, with the
execution date looming, Gov. Rick Perry should heed the wisdom expressed
in a letter by more than 2 dozen federal and state judges and prosecutors
who urged him to issue a one-time, 30-day reprieve.

(source: Editorial, Dallas Morning News)

**************

TEXAS DEATH PENALTY: Procedure is crucial

An element of due process missing from the case of death row inmate
Charles Dean Hood might at last be addressed this week.

After a baffling series of miscues, a Collin County judge is scheduled to
decide Monday whether Hoods attorneys can question Verla Sue Holland and
Tom O'Connell under oath about claims that the two were having an affair
while he was the district attorney and she was the presiding judge in
Hoods 1990 capital murder trial.

For the 2nd time this year, there will be last-minute scrambling over
whether it's fair for the state to execute Hood, whos scheduled to die
Wednesday.

What a shame all around that the Texas criminal justice system has
embarrassed itself again.

A Collin County jury 18 years ago convicted Hood of fatally shooting
Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, and Ronald Williamson, 46, to death at his Plano
home in 1989.

There's evidence that questions about an improper relationship between
Holland and OConnell surfaced repeatedly from the time of the trial. An
investigator wrote that Hood's lawyers didn't pursue the matter to avoid
angering the judge (who later served on the Texas Court of Criminal
Appeals), and local lawyers wouldn't talk on the record for similar
reasons. A Salon.com writer raised the allegation in 2005. But not until
this year did Hood's appeals attorneys file an affidavit with a former
prosecutor, by name, calling an affair "common knowledge."

By that time, Hood had a June 17 execution date.

When appeals weren't resolved until late on the execution night, the
Department of Criminal Justice didnt go through with the procedure.

State District Judge John Nelms in Collin County then set the execution
for Wednesday. But Hood's attorneys continued to argue that he wasn't
given a fair trial and that they should be able to question Holland and
O'Connell, who haven't addressed the issue publicly. So state District
Judge Robert Dry set a hearing for 2 days after the execution. On Sept.
3, Dry stepped off the case, saying he had a prior business relationship
with Holland's ex-husband. State District Judge Greg Brewer moved the
hearing to Monday.

This discombobulation isn't just unfair when a man's life is at stake.
It's unfair to the victims relatives who are looking for finality. And
it's unfair to the public that funds the system and needs to have
confidence that it is just.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott put it best in a Thursday letter
notifying Collin County District Attorney John Roach that the state would
file a brief urging a full examination, even if it delays the execution.

"If the execution proceeds as scheduled, before questions about the
fairness of his trial are legally resolved, neither the victims nor
justice will be served," Abbott wrote.

(source: Editorial, Fort Worth Star-Telegram)

***************

Review of alleged judge-DA affair opposed in capital case----Ethics case
tied to execution that's set for this week

A suburban Dallas prosecutor said Friday he will oppose attempts to review
allegations of an unethical romantic relationship between a judge and a
district attorney who were handling the case of a killer scheduled to die
this week.

Lawyers for Charles Dean Hood, set to die Wednesday, want retired state
District Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County District
Attorney Tom O'Connell to be deposed about claims they had a secret affair
during the trial.

A hearing in civil court was originally scheduled for two days after
Hood's execution date. State District Judge Greg Brewer moved the hearing
to Monday.

John Rolater, with the Collin County District Attorney's Office, said
Friday the effort by Hood's lawyers was an improper attempt to appeal the
conviction.

"Our position is that this is an illegal lawsuit," Rolater said. "All
they're doing is challenging the conviction."

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 6

TEXAS:

2nd murder trial starting in quarter-century-old East Texas KFC mass
slayings case

When Darnell Hartsfield saw the inside of a Texas prison cell for the 1st
time in 1984, it was for an aggravated robbery he committed the previous
year. But prosecutors contend the Tyler man was involved in a far more
heinous crime just three days before his arrest for that September 1983
robbery.

Hartsfield, 47, goes on trial this week for his part in one of Texas'
oldest unresolved mass murder cases - the slayings a quarter-century ago
of 5 people abducted during a robbery at a Kentucky Fried Chicken
restaurant in East Texas.

Prospective jurors were to gather Monday at the Brazos County Courthouse
in Bryan, where Hartsfield faces trial on 5 capital murder charges.

Hartsfield's cousin and co-defendant, Romeo Pinkerton, took a plea deal
midway through his capital murder trial last year, avoiding a possible
death sentence by accepting 5 life prison terms.

Hartsfield apparently is not negotiating a plea, said State District Judge
J. Clay Gossett.

Pinkerton's deal did not compel him to testify against Hartsfield.

The 5 victims were found dead along an oilfield road about 15 miles from
the KFC restaurant in Kilgore where they were abducted during a holdup the
previous night, Sept. 23, 1983.

Killed were David Maxwell, 20; Mary Tyler, 37; Opie Ann Hughes, 39; Joey
Johnson, 20; and Monte Landers, 19. All but Landers worked at the
restaurant.

At Pinkerton's trial, lead prosecutor Lisa Tanner disclosed for the 1st
time that DNA evidence confirmed that a 3rd person was involved and that
one of the victims was raped.

Tanner said Pinkerton hinted in a secretly recorded conversation with a
fellow prison inmate that he knew of that 3rd person. He hasn't identified
him, she said.

The Texas Attorney General's Office announced in December that KFC Corp.
had reinstated a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and
conviction of the 3rd person. The restaurant company had issued a similar
reward after the slayings but the reward never was claimed.

The attorney general's office has declined to say whether the renewed
reward offer has generated tips, citing the continuing investigation and
the judge's order barring everyone involved in the case from talking about
it outside the courtroom.

Without elaborating, prosecutors said earlier this year they would not
seek the death penalty for Hartsfield, who since 1995 had been serving a
40-year sentence for drug dealing. Hartsfield was convicted 3 years ago of
perjury in a KFC-related case and given a life sentence.

Pinkerton had been to prison at least 5 times and had been out of prison
just 2 days when the crime occurred.

DNA technology not available until recently showed Pinkerton's blood was
found on a napkin at the scene. Hartsfield's blood was found on a box of
cash register tapes.

Pinkerton's lawyers challenged the evidence at his trial, eliciting
testimony that showed the crime scene had been contaminated and evidence
gathering 25 years ago wasn't as sophisticated as it is today. The few
crime scene photos that weren't ruined during faulty processing don't show
the napkin or box of register tapes, and testimony from investigators
described a crime scene that had been left unprotected and trampled before
detectives could preserve it.

A retired Texas Ranger testified at Pinkerton's trial he saw the box and
the napkin but didn't collect either. A former FBI agent hired as a
special investigator in the long-stalled case found the items among
evidence that had been kept. The retired agent, George Kieny, subjected
them to DNA testing and those results ultimately led to the arrests of
Pinkerton and Hartsfield.

(source: Los Angeles Times)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 6

TEXAS:

Wright 's execution next week moved to October

The scheduled execution next week of a homeless man convicted of taking
part in the fatal stabbing of a sympathetic Dallas County woman was put
off Friday until next month.

Gregory Wright, 42, faced lethal injection Tuesday for the 1997 fatal
stabbing of Donna Duncan Vick at her home in DeSoto, about 15 miles south
of Dallas.

The 52-year-old widow regularly ministered to the homeless and had given
Wright food, shelter and money.

Wright's new date for punishment in Huntsville is Oct. 30, Dallas County
assistant district attorney Mike Ware said Friday.

Bruce Anton, Wright's attorney, had sought the delay so additional DNA
testing could be conducted on Wright's clothing, which prosecutors used at
his trial to tie him to the woman's slaying.

A second man, John Wade Adams, also was tried for Vick's slaying and sent
to death row. Wade, who was homeless and a friend of Wright's, does not
have an execution date.

At Wright's trial, prosecutors told jurors the 2 men both participated in
the fatal stabbing, then packed up items from inside the house, drove off
in Vick's car and traded the loot for crack cocaine.

A day after the slaying, Adams turned himself in to police, directed
officers to Vick's home and helped in the recovery of her car. DNA tests
of blood on the steering wheel of the car was shown to belong to Wright.
His bloody fingerprints also were found on a pillowcase on her bed.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2007 refused to review his conviction and
sentence.

(source: Associated Press)

< *****************

Texas high court dismisses appeal in Charles Hood death penalty trial

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday dismissed a writ seeking
review of the case of Charles Dean Hood, and on the same day the Texas
attorney general's office took the unusual position of filing a brief
supporting a closer review of the allegations of a romance between the
judge and prosecutor at his trial.

The Court of Criminal Appeals said Mr. Hood's filing raised "the exact
claim previously" filed and said the latest filing was "not properly
before this court." When the claim was raised before, it was on the basis
of an affidavit from a former assistant district attorney that said the
affair between Judge Verla Sue Holland and then prosecutor and Collin
County District Attorney Tom O'Connell was "common knowledge."

The court said then that the affidavit offered no direct knowledge of the
relationship.

But direct knowledge of the alleged romance could surface Monday in a
civil court hearing to determine whether depositions should be taken from
Judge Holland and Mr, OConnell.

Those depositions might give defense attorneys new information to bring to
the criminal courts.

Mr. Hood is slated for execution Wednesday.

The attorney generals short brief, filed in civil court, said, "In light
of the unique and extraordinary circumstances concerning the trial of this
case, a closer review by this court is warranted."

Collin County assistant district attorney John Rolater declined to comment
on the filing. He has said the civil proceeding is inappropriate and the
execution should proceed.

"Mr. Hood had ample opportunity to challenge the propriety of his trial in
the trial court, and in his initial writ of habeas corpus He deliberately
chose not to timely present his claims but to lie in wait and use them to
challenge his execution," he said, following a conference call with the
court and opposing counsel Friday. "That runs contrary to the law."

Mr. Hoods attorney, Greg Wiercioch, could not be reached for comment.
Julie Wallace, sister of Tracie Wallace, who was killed by Mr. Hood along
with Ronald Williamson in 1989, said she is frustrated by the delays. "18
years is too long," she said. "All of these issues should have been
brought up in a timely manner and that's way too long. Death penalty
opponents say, 'Well, why are we in such a rush?' For Christ's sake, 18
years is not a rush."

But while she has no doubt Mr. Hood received a fair trial, she said she
doesn't object to the attorney general's request for a review. "If that's
what they have to do, then that's what they need to do," she said.

Though the attorney general's brief does not ask for a stay of execution
for Mr. Hood, the brief does say "the Court could evaluate whether the
appropriate inquiry and legal analysis can be completed within the current
timetable for the scheduled execution."

The civil court does not have the jurisdiction to order a stay. That would
have to come from Gov. Rick Perry.

"The governor has not made a decision," said spokeswoman Allison Castle.
She said he had no comment on the attorney general's request for a review.

(source: Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news-----TEXAS

Sept. 5

TEXAS:

see: http://www.tcadp.org/uploads/documents/newsletters/fall08online.pdf

(source: TCADP Newsletter)

*********************************

Death-Row Inmate Gets Quicker Hearing on Alleged Judge-Prosecutor Affair

A new judge has scheduled a hearing for Monday to consider a Texas
death-row inmate's request for more information about an alleged affair
between the judge and prosecutor in his case.

Lawyers for Charles Dean Hood want to compel testimony about the
allegations from the former judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the former
district attorney, Thomas OConnell.

The former judge in the case, Robert Dry, had set a hearing on the issue
for Sept. 12, 2 days after Hood's scheduled execution. But the judge later
recused himself and the new judge, Greg Brewer, quickly ordered the
hearing, report the New York Times and the Austin American-Statesman.

Brewer's notice of hearing says the parties should be prepared to take the
depositions of Holland and O'Connell immediately after the hearing, if the
court grants Hood's request. The notice also directs the parties to bring
letters, cards, gifts and receipts for gifts that Holland and OConnell
exchanged; photographs and videotapes depicting the 2 together; and text
messages and e-mails from Holland and OConnell commenting on the recent
allegations.

Siding with calls for a probe into the affair is Texas Attorney General
Greg Abbott. He told prosecutors in a letter that the state will seek a
thorough review of Hood's claims before execution to "protect the
integrity of the Texas legal system," the Times story says.

Abbott's decision comes just 1 day after a group of 22 former judges and
prosecutors sent a letter to the governor of Texas seeking a delay of
execution to allow time to probe allegations of the affair. Among those
who signed the letter are former FBI director William Sessions and 2
former federal appeals judges, John Gibbons and Patricia Wald.

(source: ABA Journal)

****************

Texas attorney general backs inquiry on district attorney, judge in
execution case

The Texas attorney general's office on Thursday took the unusual step of
joining the defense in saying that death row inmate Charles Dean Hood
should not die until after an investigation into an alleged romantic
relationship at the time of his trial between the prosecutor and judge.

Although noting that the facts of the murders of Ronald Williamson and
Tracie Lynn Wallace are not in question, Attorney General Greg Abbott
wrote in a letter to Collin County District Attorney John Roach, "The
impartiality of a defendant's trial and conviction must be beyond
reproach."

The letter said that the attorney general's office would file a legal
brief today asking that the trial court fully review the matter, even if
it means delaying the execution.

"Because of the unique nature of the issues in this matter and to protect
the integrity of the Texas legal system we will ask the court to
thoroughly review the defendant's claims before the execution proceeds,"
the letter said.

The Hood case has drawn intense scrutiny from legal ethicists, as well as
death penalty advocates and opponents who keep a close eye on the nation's
busiest death chamber.

The case drew national attention in June when Mr. Hood came within hours
of execution as attorneys wrangled over final appeals, including one
related to the alleged romance. Though Mr. Hood was cleared for execution,
his death warrant expired before the sentence could be carried out.

Attorneys stunned

Defense attorneys for Mr. Hood, who have been hammering at the wall of
silence surrounding the alleged relationship, were stunned by the attorney
general's action.

"I had no idea this was coming," said Greg Wiercioch. "I'm just pleased
that the attorney general's office is doing the right thing in this case.
I'm astounded."

Whether the unusual move will save Mr. Hood, who is set for execution
Wednesday for the 1989 slayings, is unclear. The attorney general's office
does not have jurisdiction in the case, but Mr. Wiercioch said the move
should make it easier to obtain a stay of execution from either the
governor or the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Defense attorneys say Mr. Hood's trial would not have been fair if the
judge and prosecutor were romantically involved.

Earlier Thursday, District Judge Greg Brewer scheduled a hearing for
Monday to consider whether depositions from former Judge Verla Sue Holland
and former Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell should be taken
for a possible civil action.

If Judge Brewer grants the defense request to take depositions, they would
be taken immediately after the hearing.

Accordingly, he ordered Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell to "bring with
them" all letters, cards and gifts exchanged between them, all credit card
or store receipts for any gifts, all photographs and videotapes depicting
the 2 together, and all e-mails or text messages from the two pertaining
to allegations about the romantic relationship.

"We're getting an opportunity for the first time, which is all we've asked
for, and that is to argue that we should be entitled to take these
depositions before the execution date," Mr. Wiercioch said.

The judge could deny the request to take depositions, or the depositions
might not reveal anything helpful to Mr. Hood.

Even if the request to take depositions is granted and information about
the alleged affair is revealed, Judge Brewer has no authority to order a
stay for Mr. Hood's execution.

Depositions taken in civil court could be used to get a stay in a criminal
court proceeding.

'Improper lawsuit'

Defense attorneys are not the only ones who have been frustrated by the
case. Wednesday is Mr. Hood's 6th scheduled execution date, according to
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. His case has been grinding
through the criminal justice system for 18 years.

Earlier Thursday, before the attorney general's letter was released,
Collin County Assistant District Attorney John Rolater said "this is an
improper lawsuit" that belongs in criminal court, not civil court.

"They can have a hearing, but this is not where the case belongs," he
said. "They're just forum shopping and manipulating the system."

He later declined to comment on the attorney general's letter.

Neither Judge Holland nor Mr. O'Connell returned calls for comment.

Rumors about the alleged affair have circulated for years but never gained
any traction in criminal court.

Shortly before Mr. Hood's scheduled execution in June, a former assistant
district attorney said in an affidavit that the relationship was "common
knowledge" around the courthouse.

Defense attorneys tried to use the affidavit to halt the execution so the
allegations could be explored, but the courts refused, saying the
affidavit contained nothing new because it provided no direct knowledge of
the alleged relationship.

Mr. Hood's execution eventually was halted by prison officials who said
they ran out of time to conduct the execution before the death warrant
expired at midnight.

Defense attorneys then turned to civil courts to get direct information
but were once again rebuffed. Many of the judges involved in the case in
recent months have recused themselves because they know the two parties
involved.

On Wednesday, Judge Robert Dry recused himself, citing a previous business
relationship with Judge Holland's ex-husband. Before his recusal, however,
he had set a hearing for two days after the scheduled execution.

The same day, 22 former judges and prosecutors, including Judge William
Sessions, former director of the FBI, wrote Gov. Rick Perry asking him to
stop the execution.

**************************

Texas inmate Gregory Wright to receive stay of execution in 1997 DeSoto
murder

Convicted murderer Gregory Edward Wright and his wife Connie Wright, who
he married while on death row, have reason to celebrate today. Supporters
who champion his cause on a website, www.freegregwright.com, might also
want to break out the champaign.

Mr. Wright was scheduled to die Tuesday. The formerly homeless
crack-smoker was convicted in 1997 of robbing and fatally stabbing a
religious do-gooder who took him into her home and offered him food and a
place to sleep.

But his execution is to be postponed, according to an agreement that his
attorney, Bruce Anton, said was reached this morning in state district
court.

"We've agreed to a stay of execution for additional DNA testing," Mr.
Anton said. "The judge is going to modify the execution date and reset it
for a later time."

Mr. Anton said DNA tests have called into question some of the evidence
that linked his client to the murder during trial. He also said his
client's co-defendant, John Wade Adams, another former homeless man, has
come forward from death row to claim sole responsibility for the killing.

Mr. Wright "was in the home at the time of the murder," Mr. Anton said.
But "he had nothing to do with the murder..."

"The state now is arguing that, well, if he was in the home he must have
had something to do with the murder," Mr. Anton said. "That's not anything
that they alleged at trial. That's something that they're saying now, I
suppose in an effort to salvage the conviction in some fashion."

Wright, then 32, was convicted of capital murder in the March 21, 1997,
death of John Wade Adams, a 52-year-old DeSoto widow who had taken him in.
Prosecutors said he stabbed her repeatedly in the neck and chest.

Afterward, according to trial testimony, he and Mr. Adams stole her
Chrysler New Yorker and traded her television, VCR, microwave, color
printer, weed trimmer, hand-carried radio and rifle for some crack.

(source for both: Dallas Morning News)

****************

As Texas Execution Nears, Hearing Is Set on a Claim That Judge and
Prosecutor Had Affair

With less than a week to go before the scheduled execution of a man who
contends his murder trial was tainted by a love affair between the judge
and the prosecutor, a state judge on Thursday ordered a hearing into the
accusation and the Texas attorney general called for a review of the
fairness of the trial.

The judge's order and the attorney general's request are the latest twists
in a complicated legal drama that has prompted criticism from prosecutors,
judges and experts on legal ethics across the nation. They argue that if
the love affair occurred, the condemned man did not receive a fair trial.

On Wednesday, 22 prominent former judges and prosecutors among them the
former F.B.I. director William S. Sessions urged Gov. Rick Perry to put
off the execution to allow more time for a hearing to determine if the
claim of an affair is true.

"It is an irrevocable wrong to send a man to his death without ever
hearing this critical evidence," the group said in a letter to Governor
Perry, a Republican.

Late on Thursday, the attorney general, Greg Abbott, said he agreed. In a
letter to local prosecutors, Mr. Abbott said the state would ask the
district court to "thoroughly review the defendant's claims before the
execution proceeds" in order to "protect the integrity of the Texas legal
system."

"The impartiality of a defendant's trial and conviction must be beyond
reproach, Mr. Abbott said. "Thus, before the state carries out the
ultimate, irreversible punishment, the appropriate trial court should
thoroughly review this matter."

The convicted murderer, Charles D. Hood, 39, is scheduled to be executed
on Wednesday for the murder and robbery in 1989 of a couple he lived with
in Plano, just north of Dallas.

Fingerprints linked Mr. Hood to the murders, and he was arrested the next
day in Indiana driving a car belonging to the murdered man, Ronald
Williamson, who had been Mr. Hood's supervisor at a strip club where they
both worked. Mr. Williamson's girlfriend, Tracie Lynn Wallace, a former
dancer at the club, was also killed.

Having exhausted all other appeals, Mr. Hood's lawyers have tried to prove
in recent months that Mr. Hood's trial in 1990 was tainted because the
judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the Collin County district attorney at the
time, Thomas S. O'Connell Jr., were having an affair.

Neither Judge Holland, who is retired, nor Mr. O'Connell, who is in
private practice, returned calls seeking comment.

Lawyers for Mr. Hood contend that the affair, first reported in 2005 in
the online magazine Salon, was long rumored in Collin County's legal
circles, but no one with evidence about it had been willing to testify
under oath.

"It's a wall of silence we have been trying to break down," said Greg
Wiercioch, one of Mr. Hood's lawyers.

In June, Mr. Hood's lawyers got a sworn affidavit from a former assistant
district attorney, Matthew Goeller, who said the romantic relationship
"was common knowledge in the district attorney's office, and the Collin
County bar, in general," at the time of the trial. Mr. Goeller said the
affair was going on when he came to the office in 1987 and continued
through 1993.

With this testimony in hand, Mr. Hood's lawyers asked the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals, the states highest court, to stay the execution, but it
rejected the motion, saying that the argument should have been raised
sooner and that it relied on hearsay.

Mr. Hood's lawyers then filed a motion in the county's civil court that
sought to compel Mr. OConnell and Judge Holland to testify about their
relationship.

That motion landed in the courtroom of Judge Robert T. Dry, who last week
set a hearing date for 2 days after the scheduled execution, remarking,
"In reality, you are exploring a civil lawsuit for the estate of Mr.
Hood."

Judge Dry also acknowledged that he knew Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell
well. "It is likely that every local judge knows them," he wrote.

On Wednesday, Judge Dry suddenly recused himself, saying he had also been
close friends and business partners with Judge Holland's former husband,
Earl Holland, who is now dead.

The case was then transferred to Judge Greg Brewer, who quickly ordered a
hearing to be held on Monday to decide whether to require Mr. OConnell and
Judge Holland to testify.

(source: New York Times)

*****************

Hearing rescheduled to precede convict's death

Charles Dean Hood scheduled to be executed on Wednesday for 1989 murder

Hearing on his case, set for two days after his execution, has been moved
to Monday

Hearing will discuss charges that D.A., judge at Hood's trial were
romantically linked

Texas attorney general says Hood's guilt not in question; reprieve already
requested

A judge on Thursday moved a hearing date for a condemned inmate so that
it's no longer scheduled for after his execution. The change gives Charles
Dean Hood's lawyers a chance to argue while he's still alive that his
conviction was unfair because the judge was allegedly having an affair
with a prosecutor.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been asked to issue a reprieve for convicted
murderer Charles Dean Hood.

State District Judge Greg Brewer moved the hearing date for Hood to
Monday, two days before Hood is set to die for the 1989 slaying of a
couple in Plano, near Dallas.

The decision reverses a that of another judge, Robert Dry, who had set a
similar hearing for September 12, two days after Hood's execution date.

The hearing will address arguments that Hood's murder trial was unfair
because of an alleged romantic relationship between the judge presiding
over the trial, Verla Sue Holland, and former Collin County District
Attorney Tom O'Connell.

Brewer ordered Holland, now retired, and O'Connell, now in private
practice, to be ready to be interviewed by lawyers Monday -- if Brewer
agrees at Monday's hearing that the pair should be deposed. Neither has
commented on the allegations that they were romantically involved.

Later Thursday, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said his office,
although it does not have jurisdiction in the matter at the local court
level, would be filing a friend of the court brief with Brewer seeking a
review of the allegations of a romantic link between Holland and
O'Connell.

"Because of the unique nature of the issues in this matter -- and to
protect the integrity of the Texas legal system -- we will ask the court
to thoroughly review this matter," Abbott said.

He said the facts of the case were not in question, that Hood's appeals
never claimed he was innocent and "there appears to be little doubt that
Hood deserves the sentence he was given."

Greg Wiercioch, one of Hood's lawyers, called the attorney general's
actions "highly, highly unusual," but said there was no guarantee they
would result in the execution being delayed.

"We may still need help from the governor," he said.

Wiercioch has asked Gov. Rick Perry to issue a 30-day reprieve, which the
governor is empowered to do once.

Judge Dry wrote to the defense last month that he was treating the request
as part of a civil case that could be pursued after Hood was dead. "In
reality, you are exploring a civil lawsuit for the estate of Mr. Hood," he
wrote.

But the defense said the hearing should be held before Hood's execution,
because evidence gathered from taking the depositions of Holland and
O'Connell "may serve as the basis for a reprieve request to the governor
of Texas."

On Wednesday, Dry took himself off the case, citing a "previous business
relationship" with Holland's ex-husband as the reason.

Hood, 39, was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, which had
cleared numerous lengthy appeals, was aborted by state prison officials
after they ran out of time to carry out the execution by midnight.

The former topless-club bouncer was convicted of killing Tracie Lynn
Wallace, 26, an ex-dancer at the club, and her boyfriend, Ronald
Williamson, 46, at Williamson's home.

Hood was driving Williamson's Cadillac at the time of his arrest, and
fingerprint evidence tied him to the murder scene. But he said he was
living at Williamson's home and had permission to drive the car.

(source: Associated Press)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 4

TEXAS:

Hearing now set for before scheduled execution

A judge moved a condemned inmate's hearing date Thursday so that it's no
longer scheduled after his execution date.

State District Judge Greg Brewer in suburban Dallas moved the date to
Monday, 2 days before convicted killer Charles Dean Hood is set to die.
Brewer's decision reverses a decision by another judge who had set a
similar hearing for Sept. 12.

The hearing will address arguments that Brewer's murder trial was unfair
because of an alleged unethical romantic relationship between the judge
presiding over the trial and the district attorney prosecuting the case.
Brewer ordered retired judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County
District Attorney Tom O'Connell to be ready to be interviewed by lawyers
Monday - if Brewer agrees with Hood's attorney that the pair should be
deposed.

Brewer's order reverses a decision by another judge, Robert Dry, who set a
similar hearing for two days after convicted killer Charles Dean Hood was
set to die. On Wednesday Dry took himself off the case, citing a "previous
business relationship" with Holland's ex-husband as the reason.

Hood's lawyers contend the alleged secret relationship between Holland and
O'Connell tainted the 1990 trial where Hood was convicted and condemned
for killing a couple at a Plano home.

Holland, who in the mid-1990s served as a judge on the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeals, and O'Connell, now in private practice, have declined to
address the allegations of engaging in a secret affair.

"It certainly is the first step and what we've been asking for all along,
simply the opportunity to argue in front of a judge that we should be
entitled to these depositions before Charles Hood's scheduled execution,"
Greg Wiercioch, one of Hood's lawyers, said. "It doesn't mean we're going
to get the deposition and if we get them that the state won't appeal.

"There's no telling what's going to happen."

Hood, 39, was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, which had
cleared numerous lengthy last-day appeals to the courts, was aborted by
state prison officials after they ran out of time to carry out the
execution by midnight.

Hood is a former topless-club bouncer who was 20 when he was arrested in
Indiana for the fatal shootings of Tracie Lynn Wallace, 26, an ex-dancer
at the club, and her boyfriend, Ronald Williamson, 46, at Williamson's
home in Plano in 1989.

Hood has maintained his innocence. He was driving Williamson's $70,000
Cadillac at the time of his arrest. Fingerprint evidence tied him to the
murder scene. Hood contended his prints were at Williamson's home because
he was living there and that he had permission to drive the car.

Evidence also tied Hood, who had served 2 years in an Indiana prison for
passing bad checks, to the rape of a 15-year-old girl.

Also Thursday, the attorney for another Texas inmate set to die Tuesday, a
day before Hood, said the execution won't take place.

Gregory Wright, 42, faced lethal injection for the 1997 fatal stabbing of
Donna Duncan Vick, a 52-year-old widow, at her home in DeSoto, about 15
miles south of Dallas. Wright was a homeless man taken in by Vick, who
gave him food, shelter and money.

Bruce Anton, Wright's attorney, said the execution date would be delayed
so additional DNA testing could be conducted on Wright's clothing that
Dallas County prosecutors used at his trial to tie him to the woman's
slaying.

He said the trial court judge would be presented Friday with an agreement
reached with prosecutors.

"I don't anticipate that there's going to be any problem getting it
entered," he said.

"As a practical matter, it's off," he said of the execution.

A 2nd man, John Wade Adams, who also was homeless and a friend of
Wright's, also was tried for the woman's slaying and sent to death row. He
does not have an execution date. Vick regularly ministered to the
homeless.

At Wright's trial, prosecutors told jurors the 2 men both participated in
the fatal stabbing, then packed up items from inside the house, drove off
in her car and traded the loot for crack cocaine.

A day after the slaying, Adams turned himself in to police, directed
officers to Vick's home and helped in the recovery of her car. DNA tests
of blood on the steering wheel of the car was shown to belong to Wright.
His bloody fingerprints also were found on a pillowcase on her bed.

The U.S. Supreme Court in June 2007 refused to review his conviction and
sentence.

(source: Associated Press)

********************

22 judges press Texas governor to delay execution

More than 20 US judges have urged Texas Governor Rick Perry to delay the
execution of a murder suspect who has been granted a hearing that will
take place 2 days after he is put to death, the convict's attorneys said
Wednesday.

The 22 judges, including one who served as attorney general under former
president Bill Clinton, wrote a letter to Perry asking him to postpone the
execution of Charles Dean Hood, 39, by 30 days.

"We write because our long experience as jurists and law enforcement
officials leads us to believe that justice cannot be served unless the
courts are able to consider whether Mr. Hood's conviction and sentence are
invalid," they wrote.

Hood is scheduled to be executed on September 10, but a court set a
hearing for September 12 to examine defense arguments that he was not
given a fair trial.

The court will hear testimony from a prosecutor affirming that his
colleague who was prosecuting the case was romantically involved with the
judge who sentenced Hood.

"It is an irrevocable wrong to send a man to his death without ever
hearing this critical evidence," the 22 judges wrote to Perry.

"We have no doubt that this relationship would have had a significant
impact on the ability of the judicial system to accord Mr. Hood a fair and
impartial trial," they wrote.

(source: Agence France Presse)

*************************

Condemned inmate's case loses judge----He had set hearing for killer 2
days after his execution

A suburban Dallas judge who set an important hearing on a condemned
inmate's case for 2 days after the prisoner is scheduled to die stepped
aside Wednesday, leaving efforts to advance the hearing up in the air.

State District Judge Robert Dry in Collin County cited a "previous
business relationship" with the ex-husband of retired Judge Verla Sue
Holland as reason for taking himself off the case of convicted killer
Charles Dean Hood.

"The case is just toxic," Greg Wiercioch, Hood's lawyer, said. "No one in
Collin County wants to touch it."

Dry had set a Sept. 12 hearing on the request from Hood's attorneys for
arguments on whether Holland and a now former district attorney were in a
legally unethical romantic relationship during Hood's trial. Hood is set
to die Wednesday for the slayings of a topless club dancer and her
boyfriend.

Holland presided over Hood's 1990 trial. The former district attorney, Tom
O'Connell, prosecuted.

"We're back at square one," Wiercioch said. "We've lost two weeks on this
motion. It's got to be reassigned. Who knows who it will be reassigned
to?"

Wiercioch said it's likely an administrative judge for the region, John
Ovard, would have to reassign the hearing. Ovard had overturned an order
that had stopped Hood's execution June 17. Wiercioch had asked Dry to
advance the hearing to Wednesday.

"Here we are, a week out from the execution date, and we're still trying
to get a fair hearing," he said.

Hood was scheduled to die June 17 but his lethal injection, which had
cleared numerous lengthy last-day appeals to the courts, was aborted by
state prison officials after they ran out of time to carry out the
execution by midnight.

(source: Associated Press)

******************

Any last requests? Yes, says death row inmate. Turn me into fish food

The final requests of death- row prisoners facing execution have often
included large orders of pork chops, fried chicken and bucket loads of ice
cream.

Never before has an inmate asked for his body to be turned into fish food
and fed to goldfish, all in the name of art. But that is exactly what Gene
Hathorn, a convicted murderer on death row in Texas, has pledged to do if
his final appeal fails.

Hathorn, 47, who was convicted of killing his father, stepmother and
stepbrother in 1985, has given his consent to Marco Evaristti to use his
body as an "art installation" that contributes to a wider project on
capital punishment. Mr Evaristti, 45, a Chilean-born artist who lives in
Denmark, said he would first deep-freeze Hathorn's body and then turn it
into fish food which visitors at the exhibition could feed to a shoal of
goldfish.

Mr Evaristti aims to begin the work within a year if Hathorn is refused an
appeal for the third time and he hopes he can stage the show in America in
a public gallery such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York. "Gene
Hathorn's story is a powerful one but it is not his story that is as
important for me as the system that exists in a society such as America's
in such a vulgar and primitive way, the system of killing people like
this. I wanted to raise awareness of the fact there are people killed
legally in our Western civilisation."

Mr Evaristti met Hathorn, who has been on death row since 1985, while
researching the longest serving inmates. He first visited Hathorn in April
this year and has made several trips back to his prison in Livingston.
When he suggested the idea for the art installation, Hathorn apparently
smiled and agreed immediately. "One of the reasons I chose the theme of
fish food is because in his court papers, they considered him a piece of
'human trash'. This is what the court papers called him, with regards to
eliminating human trash. He wants to be a part of this art. It's the last
thing he can do for society and he views it as positive," he said.

Lawyers are doubtful as to whether Hathorn's will which makes the artist
the heir to his body is valid. But Mr Evaristti said: "We are confident
that we can solve this issue before Hathorn is executed ... I'm fully
prepared for the legal situation around Gene."

Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department for Criminal
Justice, told The Art Newspaper that a death- row prisoner could "select a
person to handle the disposition of their remains".

In the meantime, Mr Evaristti is helping to raise 125,000 for an
investigation into events surrounding the circumstances of Hathorn's
conviction, in hope that it may lead to an appeal.

The artist said vital details such as the sexual abuse Hathorn experienced
at the hands of his father, an alleged Ku Klux Klan member, was not
included in court proceedings that led to his convictions and the death
penalty. He asked Hathorn to start drawing in prison and he has already
sold 52,000 worth of drawings produced by the convict.

Mr Evaristti said he was in contact with a German company that would be
willing to assist him with the fish-food project. The exhibition will
consist of a large aquarium filled with hundreds of goldfish, which
visitors will be able to feed using food made from Hathorn's body.

It will be part of a wider project by Mr Evaristti, who, in August,
presented a clothing collection called "The Last Fashion", in which 15
models wore outfits designed by him. He stated that those garments were
for death-row prisoners to wear on their execution day, to be offered by
mail order to prisoners whose execution dates are imminent.

He has also designed an execution bed to be shown at the Art Copenhagen
art fair later this month. Mr Evaristti came to international attention in
2000 when he placed goldfish in electric blenders filled with water.
Visitors to the exhibition at Denmark's Trapholt Art Museum could choose
to press a button, turn on the blenders and kill the fish.

(source: The Independent)

*****************

Texas Gov. Asked to Stop Execution----Death Row Inmate Who Claims Judge,
Prosecutor Had Affair Gets Hearing 2 Days Too Late

Nearly 2 dozen former judges and prosecutors urged Texas Gov. Rick Perry
to grant a temporary reprieve to a death row inmate whose claim that the
judge and prosecutor in his case had an affair was scheduled to be heard
in court 2 days after his execution.

A state judge had scheduled a hearing to determine whether Verla Sue
Holland, the judge in Charles Dean Hood's death penalty trial, and former
Collin County District Attorney Tom O'Connell must give depositions about
their reported affair. But the hearing was scheduled for Sept. 12 -- 2
days after Hood is scheduled to die for a 1989 double murder.

Robert Dry, the judge hearing the case, recused himself from the case
Wednesday, citing a prior business relationship with Holland's husband,
throwing an already complicated case into uncertainty again.

Hood's case will be reassigned to another judge, who will decide when to
hold the hearing, said his lawyer Greg Wiercioch.

Wiercioch criticized Dry for only recusing himself after he had made
several important rulings in the case, including setting the hearing date
after the scheduled execution.

"It's disturbing that no one is touching this," he said. "It's a hot
potato that everyone's passing around. We're a week away from execution
and we don't have a judge." Dry could not immediately be reached for
comment Wednesday. In a letter sent to Hood's attorneys last month, he
said he knew Holland and O'Connell and said he would consider recusing
himself if Hood's lawyers asked. They didn't take him up on the proposal.

Holland and O'Connell have not commented on the allegations. Neither
returned calls from ABC News.

In a letter sent today to the Texas governor, 22 former judges and
prosecutors, including the former chief judge of the federal Third Circuit
Court of Appeal and the former attorneys general of Maryland and
Tennessee, called the setting of Hood's hearing date "inexplicable."

If the allegations of an affair are true, they said, Hood's constitutional
right to a fair trial was violated.

"It is an irrevocable wrong to send a man to his death without ever
hearing this critical evidence," the letter stated.

A Governor's Office spokeswoman said Perry had received the letter but had
not yet made a decision in the case.

Hood, 39, was scheduled to be executed in June after the Texas Court of
Criminal Appeal rejected a bid to overturn his conviction, saying Hood had
raised the issue of the reported affair too late in the appeals process
for it to be considered.

After a flurry of last-minute legal filings, the execution was delayed in
June because state prison officials said they had run out of time to carry
out the execution by the midnight deadline.

His lawyers filed a request last month to question Holland and O'Connell
under oath in a civil proceeding as a precursor to a possible civil
lawsuit.

Dry scheduled a hearing to decide if Holland and O'Connell can be
questioned, but refused to speed up the process to take into account
pending Hood's execution.

"It is unlikely that these depositions will lead to civil litigation that
will be concluded before the execution of your client," he wrote in a
letter to Hood's lawyers.

"In reality, you are exploring a civil lawsuit for the estate of Mr.
Hood."

Collin County Assistant District Attorney John Rolater said Hood's lawyers
"haven't established the right to derail this at this late hour. They seem
to be grossly abusing the system, filing improper motions in improper
courts."

A former Collin County assistant district attorney has said in a sworn
statement filed earlier this year with Hood's criminal appeal that it was
"common knowledge" that Holland and O'Connell had a romantic relationship.

Holland, who is now retired, went on to serve on the Court of Criminal
Appeals.

Legal experts have told ABC News that an affair between a trial court
judge and prosecutor would be a clear violation of Hood's constitutional
right to a fair trial.

In a concurring opinion, 4 judges on the Court of Criminal Appeals said
that information about the reported affair was available years ago, but
that Hood's lawyers never raised the issue. They said the affidavit from
the former assistant district attorney didn't add significant new
information about the reported affair.

Hood was convicted of the 1989 fatal shooting of his boss Ronald
Williamson and Williamson's girlfriend, Traci Wallace. Hood was arrested
in Indiana a day after the killing. He had Williamson's car, jewelry,
camera, wallet, credit cards and clothing on him at the time of the
arrest, according to the Texas Attorney General's Office.

(source: Axis of Logic)

**************

Jury deliberating possible death sentence for cabby killer

The jury in Alberto Garcia's capital murder case this morning began
deliberating whether he will receive the death penalty after prosecutor
Darla Davis told them that Garcia has violence "hard-wired in his brain."

She asked the jury to consider his more than 20 years of crime committed
at gunpoint. She asked them to consider what the final moments of life
were like for cab drivers Eleazar Hinojosa, 57, and Jon Parrish, 41, who
in 1990 were fatally shot by Garcia in apparent robberies.

"Do you think they told him, 'This is it, this is all I've got'," Davis
said. Do you think they begged him, 'Please don't kill me?' What were the
last minutes of their lives like? What were the last seconds of their
lives like?"

Davis concluded her closing argument at 11:08 a.m.

Davis disputed the defense argument that Garcia is not a threat in prison
and noted examples of longtime well-behaved Texas prison inmates who
suddenly turned violent.

"The questions are when the opportunity comes, will he take it? And then
who is going to be the unlucky soul who comes face to face with this
convicted killer?"

Davis suggested that Garcia killed Parrish first and became covered in his
blood while putting him in the trunk of his cab.

"This is a man who could be covered in a victim's blood and 2 days later
go back and do it again," she said.

In finishing, she said: "There is only one thing in this world that stands
between this convicted killer and his next victim.

"It's a single piece of white paper. It's your verdict form."

Defense lawyer Jon Evans told the jury that Alberto Garcia's life is worth
saving, noting that his wife and her children need him and making a
general argument against the death penalty.

He noted that the United States is one of the few remaining "civilized
societies" in the world that still imposes the death penalty. And he asked
the jury to consider whether their God or their "maker" would fault them
if they chose life instead of death.

Evans told the jury that every night he asks his 6-year-old son what he
did in school today and Evans' son in turn asks Evans what he did at work.

"I am going to say I tried to save the life of one of God's children
today," Evans said.

He paused, took a breath before the jury and said: "I ask you: How would
you answer that question?"

Defense lawyer Jon Evans told the jury that will soon weigh the death
penalty for convicted cabbie killer Alberto Garcia that executing him will
not bring back Eleazar Hinojosa or John Parrish.

"I cant raise the dead. None of us can," Evans said, pointing to family
members of Hinojosa and Parrish sitting in the front rows of the courtroom
gallery. ."The death penalty will not make these folks feel better."

Evans told the jury that the law presumes a life sentence.

Defense lawyer Bill White told the jury in Alberto Garcia's death penalty
case to focus on question number 2, the one that asks them to predict
whether Garcia presents the threat of committing future acts of violence
that constitute a continuing threat to society.

"The society which we are talking about is prison," White said.

He then noted that Garcia has spent about 15 of the past 20 years in
prison and has committed only "minor infractions" and no violence. Those
infractions include a positive test for methamphetamine and a write-up for
possessing a torn bed sheet.

"He's earned every bit of that," White said, referring to Garcias previous
incarcerations. "But it seems to me that the only place where he has been
productive has been in prison."

If the jury answers "no" to the question about future violence then Garcia
would receive life in prison and not the death penalty.

White is standing immediately before the jury and speaking in a low, slow
voicesometimes almost a whisper causing onlookers in the courtroom gallery
to lean forward in their seats to hear him.

(source: Austin American Statesman)

************************

Jurors choose death penalty for Coble

Jurors have once again sentenced triple-murderer Billie Wayne Coble to
death in his capital murder sentencing retrial.

The verdict came after a jury of 7 men and 5 women deliberated for about 4
hours, after hearing witness testimony for 8 days.

Coble, 59, was on trial for the 2nd time in Waco's 54th State District
Court in the August 1989 shooting deaths of Waco police Sgt. Bobby Vicha
and his parents, Robert and Zelda Vicha, at their homes near Axtell.

Coble spent more than 17 years on death row before a federal appeals court
in New Orleans overturned his death sentence and ordered his retrial on
punishment only. The jurors had the choice of sending Coble back to death
row to await execution giving him a life prison term.

(source: Waco Tribune)

death penalty news----TEXAS

URGENT ACTION APPEAL

03 September 2008

UA 240/08 - Death penalty/Legal concern

USA (Texas) Charles Dean Hood (m), white, aged 38

Charles Hood is scheduled to be executed in Texas on 10 September. He
was sentenced to death in 1990 for the murders of Ronald Williamson
and Tracie Lynn Wallace in 1989. Twenty years old at the time of the
crime, Charles Hood has been on death row for nearly 18 years.

Police found the bodies of Tracie Wallace and her boyfriend Ronald
Williamson in Williamson's home in Plano, near Dallas, on 1 November
1989. Both had been shot. Charles Hood, who had been living in the
house, was arrested in Indiana in Ronald Williamson's car. He was
brought to trial in Collin County in Texas, and after the jury
convicted him on 29 August 1990, the trial moved into a sentencing
stage, at which the prosecution presented its arguments for execution
and the defense presented mitigating evidence. As the US Supreme
Court reiterated in a Texas case in 2007, "we have long recognized
that a sentencing jury must be able to give a reasoned moral response
to a defendant's mitigating evidence - particularly that evidence
which tends to diminish his culpability - when deciding whether to
sentence him to death." (Brewer v. Quarterman).

Hood's jury heard evidence of his mental impairments and other
information about his background. In a near-fatal accident at the age
of three, Charles Hood had been run over by a truck and was
hospitalized for five months. He was left with permanent physical
injuries, and his parents noted behavioral changes too. As a child,
he developed a fear of school that was diagnosed as a phobia of being
inside buildings. The jury heard evidence that his parents
administered "whippings" during his adolescence, sometimes in an
attempt to get him to go to school. Hood had learning disabilities,
and required special education classes at school. He dropped out of
school after failing seventh grade (age 12-13 level), and he later
failed the US Army entrance examination three times. At the age of
18, his reading and math skills were assessed at falling below the
sixth grade level (age 11-12), and his language and writing skills
put at the level of an eight- or nine-year-old. At the age of 19,
Hood was described in an Indiana Department of Corrections report as
acting "like a little kid who has been maintained in a fosted [sic]
dependency situation," and was "somewhat neurotic," phobic, "very
immature emotionally," and "highly dependent." The jury also heard
evidence that a psychiatrist had concluded that Charles Hood had
significant brain impairment, causing learning disabilities, impaired
judgment and poor impulse control. He had diagnosed Hood with
"neurophysiological brain dysfunction with probable left temporal
cortical and deep temporal limbic brain dysfunction."

After hearing the sentencing phase evidence, the jurors were required
to answer two questions ("special issues"), on deliberateness and
dangerousness; firstly whether the defendant had acted deliberately
and with the reasonable expectation that the death of the victims
would result, and secondly whether there was "a probability that the
defendant would commit criminal acts of violence that would
constitute a continuing threat to society." Affirmative answers to
these questions would automatically result in a death sentence.

The Texas sentencing scheme had been ruled unconstitutional by the US
Supreme Court in 1989. In the case of death row prisoner John Penry,
the Court found that the "special issues" had given the jury nowhere
to give effect to Penry's mitigating evidence by saying "no" to the
death penalty. At the time of Charles Hood's trial, the Texas
legislature had not yet amended the capital statute to comply with
the Penry ruling, and Hood's jury was asked the same questions as
Penry's had been. As in other trials conducted in that intervening
period, the trial judge issued the jury with a "nullification"
instruction, telling the jurors that they could vote against the
death penalty if they believed it was an inappropriate punishment in
the light of any mitigating circumstances. However, the jury verdict
form did not mention mitigating evidence, only asking for answers to
the two questions, without any explanation as to how the jurors could
vote against the death penalty if they believed the answer to both
questions was "yes."

In 2004 and 2007, the US Supreme Court overturned four Texas death
sentences on questions relating to whether the juries had been
prevented by the Texas statute (before it was changed, post-Penry)
from giving effect to the mitigating evidence. In Smith v. Texas, for
example, the Supreme Court found that the nullification instruction
had not cured the constitutional violation; rather, "in essence the
jury was instructed to misrepresent its answer to one of the two
special issues" if it wanted "to take account of the mitigating
evidence". In Tennard v. Dretke, the Court held that on the
"deliberateness" question, the evidence of the defendant's low
intellectual functioning short of mental retardation had "mitigating
dimension beyond the impact it has on [his] ability to act
deliberately." On dangerousness, in Abdul-Kabir v. Quarterman the
Court ruled that the evidence of the defendant's childhood neglect
and lack of self-control "did not contradict the State's claim that
[he] was a dangerous person, but instead sought to provide an
explanation for his behavior that might reduce his moral culpability"
- that "his violent propensities were caused by factors beyond his
control." In its decision to uphold Hood's death sentence, a federal
district court noted that the mitigating evidence of Hood's mental
impairment was a "double-edged sword" because, despite reducing his
moral culpability, the jury could have decided that it increased the
probability of his future dangerousness.

In 2005, after the Supreme Court's Tennard ruling, a Texas trial
court found that the jury instructions at Hood's trial had been
constitutionally inadequate and recommended a new sentencing.
However, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected this on
procedural grounds. Hood's lawyers asked it to reconsider, including
in light of the Supreme Court's 2007 decisions, but the Court denied
this on 14 May 2008.

There have been 1,119 executions in the USA since judicial killing
resumed there in 1977, 413 of them in Texas. In late 2007, the UN
General Assembly passed a landmark resolution calling for a worldwide
moratorium on executions. Amnesty International opposes the death
penalty in all cases, unconditionally. There is no such thing as a
humane, fair, reliable or useful death penalty system (see 'The
pointless and needless extinction of life': USA should now look
beyond lethal injection issue to wider death penalty questions,
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/031/2008/en).

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible (please include Charles Hood's prisoner number, #982, in
your appeals):

- expressing sympathy for any relatives of Ronald Williamson and
Tracie Lynn Wallace, and explaining that you are not seeking to
excuse the manner of their deaths or to downplay the suffering
caused;

- opposing the execution of Charles Hood;

- expressing concern that the jury may not have been able to give
effect to the mitigating evidence presented at the 1990 trial, as the
US Supreme Court has found in a number of cases tried before the
Texas special issues scheme was amended by the state legislature
following the Court's 1989 Penry ruling;

- noting that a Texas court found that the jury instructions at
Hood's trial were constitutionally inadequate, and that he should
have a new sentencing, but that this was overruled on procedural
grounds;

- noting that executive clemency is not restricted by procedural
considerations, as a court may be;

- calling for Charles Hood to be granted clemency and for his death
sentence to be commuted.

APPEALS TO:

Rissie Owens,
Presiding Officer, Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Austin, TX 78757
Fax: 1 512 463 8120
Salutation: Dear Ms Owens

Governor Rick Perry
Office of the Governor
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Fax: 1 512 463 1849
Salutation: Dear Governor

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 15
October 2008.

----------------------------------
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This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including
contact information and stop action date (if applicable).
Thank you for your help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network
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Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566

----------------------------------
END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
----------------------------------

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 3

TEXAS----3 new execution dates

The following 2009 dates have been set for executions: Jan 15 - Jose
Briseno; Feb 4 - David Martinez; Mar 10 - James Martinez.....they should
all be considered serious.

(sources: TDCJ & Rick Halperin)

******************

Trial begins in murder of manager at Hurst putt-putt course

When Tim Flow found his supervisor crumpled over at a Hurst amusement
center 2 years ago, he thought the man was playing a joke on him. After
all, it was just weeks before Halloween, a time of celebration at
Putt-Putt Golf & Games.

But Mr. Flow quickly realized that something was terribly wrong with his
boss, Jonas Paul Cherry who lay in a fetal position with blood oozing
from his head.

"I thought he was out there messing around," Mr. Flow testified Tuesday,
the first day of Paul David Storey's capital murder trial in Fort Worth.
"I looked over, and that's where I found him inside the clubhouse. I
turned around and saw one cabinet door open. Jonas was lying in front of
it in a fetal position with blood everywhere.

"Blood on the floor. Just blood."

Mr. Flow said he checked Mr. Cherry to see whether he was still breathing.

"He was lifeless," Mr. Flow said.

Mr. Storey, 23, is one of two men accused of fatally shooting Mr. Cherry
during a robbery on Oct. 16, 2006, as the longtime Putt-Putt employee
begged for his life. Tarrant County prosecutors have said they will seek
the death penalty.

Mr. Flow testified that he entered the business that morning and heard
what sounded like a miniature bowling game. Soon he saw a door ajar and
shattered glass on the floor.

After discovering Mr. Cherry's body near the open safe officials
determined that the business had been robbed of $150 Mr. Flow said he ran
to his truck and called Hurst police from his cellphone.

Mr. Cherry, 28, of Keller, had been shot in the back of the head and the
back of his legs, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner's
office. Several spent 9 mm shell casings and one copper jacket bullet were
found on the floor.

Mr. Cherry's wife, Suman Cherry, testified that her husband began working
at various local Putt-Putts when he was 16. She said she had married Mr.
Cherry less than a year before his death and that they had planned to have
a family.

On the day he was killed, Mr. Cherry left their home in Keller around 8:15
a.m., she said.

"He said goodbye, and I told him I loved him. He got in his car, and I
never saw him again," she said.

Mr. Storey is the 1st to go on trial in Mr. Cherry's death. Mark Porter,
22, will go to trial on a capital murder charge later this month.

"Only 2 people on Oct. 16 entered that building: Paul Storey and Mark
Porter," Assistant Tarrant County District Attorney Robert Foran told
jurors. "They planned it the night before. Two guns, two individuals. They
fired at the back of his head."

But Mr. Storey's attorney, William Ray, asked the jury to issue a verdict
based on the evidence and not emotion.

"The amount of evidence and the quality of the [crime-scene] photos and
the anger and emotion are all here in this case," Mr. Ray said. "It's a
very sad time for everyone. I'm hoping those emotions will not be
controlling."

(source: Dallas Morning News)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Sept. 2

TEXAS:

Artist to feed convict to goldfish

A convict on death row in America has agreed to let his body be made into
a work of art if his final appeal against execution fails.

Gene Hathorn, who has been on death row since 1985, has given his consent
for artist Marco Evaristti, the bad boy of the Danish art scene, to use
his body as an art installation.

"My aim is to first deep freeze Gene's body and then make fish food out of
it. Visitors to my exhibition will be able to feed goldfish with it,"
Evaristti told the Art Newspaper.

It is not the 1st time the artist has gained notoriety: in 2000, he came
to worldwide attention when he put live goldfish into 10 electric blenders
filled with water and invited visitors to the exhibition at Denmark's
Trapholt Art Museum to switch them on.

The artist has visited Hathorn, 47, at his prison in Texas several times
in the last year, and hopes this work will go on to form part of his wider
project against capital punishment, which has included designing clothes
for prisoners to wear on their execution day.

Evaristti does not think his plan is unethical. "The real problem is
legally killing people," he said.

The artist has previously campaigned on issues of territorial boundaries
and environmental pollution by spray-painting an entire iceberg red in
Greenland in 2004. In June last year he was arrested while trying to do
the same to the peak of Mont Blanc.

Hathorn has been awaiting execution after being found guilty of the murder
of his father, stepmother and stepbrother in 1985.

His friend James Beathard was also convicted for the murders on the
testimony of Hathorn, who believed he would be spared as a result. When
prosecutors reneged on the deal, Hathorn recanted his testimony, but it
was too late to beat a 30-day deadline following Beathard's conviction and
he was executed by lethal injection in 1999.

(source: The Guardian)

death penalty news----TEXAS

Aug. 30

TEXAS:

Death row inmate wins request for DNA testing

A death row inmate condemned for a 1983 quadruple slaying has won his
request for DNA testing on old evidence he believes could point to other
suspects.

A state district judge Friday said that Lester Leroy Bower Jr. "would not
have been convicted" if genetic testing linked others to a North Texas
airplane hangar where four men were found shot execution-style.

DNA testing wasn't available in 1984 when Bower stood trial.

Prosecutors had called the request a ploy aimed at delaying Bower's
execution, which had been set for July 22. Attorneys for Bower believe the
crime may have been committed by four other men in a dope deal gone bad.

Bower was convicted after prosecutors built a circumstantial case
surrounding Bower's purchase of an ultralight airplane from one of the
victims. No fingerprints put Bower at the scene, and a murder weapon never
was recovered.

(source: Associated Press)