Saturday 31 May 2008
Off death row, killer seeks less jail time
A convicted killer whose death sentence was overturned by a county judge who found him mentally retarded has appealed the judge's decision to resentence him to life in prison without parole.
By filing the appeal, Raymond Smith, convicted in the 1994 murder of police informant Ronald Lally, isn't risking Rothgery's finding that he's retarded, a decision that means the state cant execute him, said his attorney Alan Rossman.
Rossman said Rothgery needs to set a sentencing hearing and decide if Smith should receive a sentence of 20 years to life or 30 years to life.
Those are the only potential sentences that Smith could receive, he said, because life without parole wasn't a possible sentence in 1994.
"We're challenging what we believe to be an improper sentence," he said.
County Prosecutor Dennis Will said he believes that life without parole was a possible sentence when Lally was killed, but he needs to review the old law and Smith's appeal before deciding what to do.
Rossman said the appeal doesn't pertain to Rothgery's finding that Smith had an IQ of 69, 1 point below the threshold that would allow him to be executed.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutional.
But Will said Smith's appeal could open up that to review from a higher
court as well.
Smith's appeal was filed Friday, just days after Stanley Jalowiec, also convicted and sentenced to death in Lally's murder, filed a motion for a new trial.
Jalowiec's appeal argues evidence withheld by police and prosecutors would have led to him being cleared by a jury if his attorneys had access to the information during his original trial.
Daniel Smith, Raymond Smiths son, was cleared by a jury of involvement in the killing.
Rossman said Smith, 68, is happy to be off death row, where he was
confined to a cell for 23 hours a day.
Smith is now at Trumbull Correctional Institution.
"It's quite a change from death row. I think he's enjoying his time,"
he said. "He's thankful to be off the row.
(source: The Chronicle-Telegram)
***************
Wednesday 28 May 2008
Inmates in 2 Fort Worth murders lose at Supreme Court
By MICHAEL GRACZYK / Associated Press
A convicted rapist paroled from Ohio and then condemned for the robbery and strangulation of his 64-year-old stepmother in Texas lost an appeal Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, moving him closer to execution.
The high court refused to review the case of Reginald Perkins, 53, sent to death row for the slaying of Gertie Mae Perkins in Fort Worth 7 1/2 years ago. The woman's body was found in the trunk of her car in a parking garage.
A Tarrant County jury took just 30 minutes in 2002 to decide Reginald Perkins should be put to death. Shortly after the jury's verdict was read in court, Perkins proclaimed his innocence in a written letter read by his lawyer.
In November, a federal appeals court rejected claims he was mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penatly, that his legal help earlier had been ineffective, that the Texas sentencing statute was unconstitutional and that he was innocent of the murder. It's that appeal the Supreme Court refused to review Tuesday.
Evidence at his trial showed he pawned his stepmother's wedding ring and wrote fraudulent checks from the account of the family trucking business in Fort Worth. When Gertie Perkins showed up missing, police summoned to her home found a carpet removed, a phone cord disconnected and sheets missing from a bed.
He became a suspect after detectives learned of his previous convictions in Ohio for rape and attempted rape and that he had been a suspect in two killings in Cleveland in the 1980s. When arrested, he directed his father and police to the body.
Perkins also acknowledged the slaying to a fellow inmate while awaiting trial and said his motive was robbery.
At the punishment phase of his trial, jurors heard testimony that he pleaded guilty to rape and attempted rape of two 12-year-old girls in 1982 and that he had been implicated in the strangulation of two women. One of them was the mother of the girl he raped. The other was the sister of his ex-wife.
In 1986, he had been paroled from Ohio after receiving a life prison term for the rape conviction. He was returned from parole eight years later but released again in February 2000. His stepmother's murder occurred 10 months later.
Perkins does not have an execution date.
In a second Texas death row case Tuesday, Elkie Taylor, convicted in another Fort Worth case, lost his bid for a rehearing before the justices.
In March, the court refused to review Taylor's conviction and sentence for strangling a 65-year-old Fort Worth man with two wire coat hangers and then leading police on a four-hour chase in a stolen 18-wheeler.
Like Perkins, Taylor also had been contending in appeals he shouldn't have been condemned because he is mentally retarded. He was sentenced to die for the 1993 robbery and murder of Otis Flake at Flake's Fort Worth home. Authorities said it was the second killing linked to Taylor over an 11-day period. The Milwaukee native had been on parole for about three months at the time of the slayings, freed after serving less than nine months of an eight-year sentence for burglary.
In 2003, two days before he was set to be executed, he won a reprieve from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because state prison records showed he may be mentally retarded and ineligible for execution under Supreme Court guidelines.
The Texas appeals court later lifted its reprieve. Lower federal courts also have denied his subsequent appeals.
Taylor, who does not yet have an execution date, climbed in the cab of the stolen truck and led police on a chase from Fort Worth to Waco that ended when a state trooper shot out the truck's tires. In the chase, he tried to ram police cars and run over two troopers standing on the side of a road.
Authorities contended Taylor and an accomplice took cash and items from Flake's house so they could be sold to buy crack cocaine. His accomplice, Darryl Birdow, was sentenced in 1994 to life in prison. Authorities said Taylor admitted involvement in a similar slaying of an 87-year-old Fort Worth man 11 days earlier but blamed the killing on a partner.
A convicted rapist paroled from Ohio and then condemned for the robbery and strangulation of his 64-year-old stepmother in Texas lost an appeal Tuesday before the U.S. Supreme Court, moving him closer to execution.
The high court refused to review the case of Reginald Perkins, 53, sent to death row for the slaying of Gertie Mae Perkins in Fort Worth 7 1/2 years ago. The woman's body was found in the trunk of her car in a parking garage.
A Tarrant County jury took just 30 minutes in 2002 to decide Reginald Perkins should be put to death. Shortly after the jury's verdict was read in court, Perkins proclaimed his innocence in a written letter read by his lawyer.
In November, a federal appeals court rejected claims he was mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penatly, that his legal help earlier had been ineffective, that the Texas sentencing statute was unconstitutional and that he was innocent of the murder. It's that appeal the Supreme Court refused to review Tuesday.
Evidence at his trial showed he pawned his stepmother's wedding ring and wrote fraudulent checks from the account of the family trucking business in Fort Worth. When Gertie Perkins showed up missing, police summoned to her home found a carpet removed, a phone cord disconnected and sheets missing from a bed.
He became a suspect after detectives learned of his previous convictions in Ohio for rape and attempted rape and that he had been a suspect in two killings in Cleveland in the 1980s. When arrested, he directed his father and police to the body.
Perkins also acknowledged the slaying to a fellow inmate while awaiting trial and said his motive was robbery.
At the punishment phase of his trial, jurors heard testimony that he pleaded guilty to rape and attempted rape of two 12-year-old girls in 1982 and that he had been implicated in the strangulation of two women. One of them was the mother of the girl he raped. The other was the sister of his ex-wife.
In 1986, he had been paroled from Ohio after receiving a life prison term for the rape conviction. He was returned from parole eight years later but released again in February 2000. His stepmother's murder occurred 10 months later.
Perkins does not have an execution date.
In a second Texas death row case Tuesday, Elkie Taylor, convicted in another Fort Worth case, lost his bid for a rehearing before the justices.
In March, the court refused to review Taylor's conviction and sentence for strangling a 65-year-old Fort Worth man with two wire coat hangers and then leading police on a four-hour chase in a stolen 18-wheeler.
Like Perkins, Taylor also had been contending in appeals he shouldn't have been condemned because he is mentally retarded. He was sentenced to die for the 1993 robbery and murder of Otis Flake at Flake's Fort Worth home. Authorities said it was the second killing linked to Taylor over an 11-day period. The Milwaukee native had been on parole for about three months at the time of the slayings, freed after serving less than nine months of an eight-year sentence for burglary.
In 2003, two days before he was set to be executed, he won a reprieve from the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals because state prison records showed he may be mentally retarded and ineligible for execution under Supreme Court guidelines.
The Texas appeals court later lifted its reprieve. Lower federal courts also have denied his subsequent appeals.
Taylor, who does not yet have an execution date, climbed in the cab of the stolen truck and led police on a chase from Fort Worth to Waco that ended when a state trooper shot out the truck's tires. In the chase, he tried to ram police cars and run over two troopers standing on the side of a road.
Authorities contended Taylor and an accomplice took cash and items from Flake's house so they could be sold to buy crack cocaine. His accomplice, Darryl Birdow, was sentenced in 1994 to life in prison. Authorities said Taylor admitted involvement in a similar slaying of an 87-year-old Fort Worth man 11 days earlier but blamed the killing on a partner.
FAMILY SEEKS CLOSURE
By Tim Yovich
Murderer took more than life of young mom
The brother says the man who killed his sister is ‘animal’ and wants to watch him die.
HUBBARD — Tom Heiss stands quietly beside his sister’s grave at Union Cemetery, asking why her murderer hasn’t been put to death.
“I want to see my sister rest in peace,” Heiss said. “It’s about time to get this over with.”
Heiss, 40, who lives on Youngstown’s West Side, is the brother of Tami Engstrom, who was murdered Feb. 8, 1991, near the Brookfield Township home of her murderer, Kenneth Biros.
An autopsy showed that she had suffered 91 injuries before she died. She was beaten, sexually mutilated and dismembered, her body parts being found in two Pennsylvania communities — a 180-mile radius — and in the trunk of Biros’ car.
Her ring was found in Biros’ basement.
One of the few ways she could be identified was by a small tattoo of an ice cream cone on her shoulder.
“I couldn’t imagine doing that to an animal,” Heiss said with emotion. “He is an animal.”
Execution of Biros has been postponed because of constant appeals.
Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County prosecutor, has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to set an execution date for Biros, a motion that is being opposed by his attorney.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Sept. 25, 2007, that the “three-drug cocktail” used in executions is not cruel and unusual punishment, making way for Watkins to seek an execution date from the Ohio Supreme Court.
Attys. Timothy Sweeney and John Parker, both of Cleveland, who represent Biros, have filed a memorandum opposing setting a date.
They claim that delaying his execution doesn’t harm the state and would be a rush to judgment.
They also contend that Biros was not convicted of capital aggravated murder, thus is not eligible for the death penalty.
Biros did confess killing the young woman.
Engstrom, 22 at the time, had gone to the Nickelodeon Lounge in Masury to visit her uncle, a regular patron of the tavern. She had been socializing.
Biros, whom she didn’t know, was to drive her home.
She never made it back to her husband, Andrew, and their son, Casey.
Debi Heiss says her sister drank two draft beers and a shot of a weak liqueur but not enough to cause her to pass out. Her blood-alcohol was 0.11, slightly above the 0.08 legal limit. Debi Heiss believes Biros slipped something into her sister’s drink.
Her brother won’t discuss that aspect of the case.
But he has nothing good to say about Biros, who initially said that Engstrom had jumped from his vehicle.
“He’s a liar,” Heiss said, calling attention to shortly after she turned up missing. Biros claimed to be helping police with the investigation. Heiss’ two uncles had driven Biros around to find the area where she jumped from his vehicle, but there was no sign of her while Biros knew where her body parts were located.
Over the years, Heiss has said very little publicly about his sister’s death.
“You can hold something in for so long,” he said.
Biros was convicted and sentenced to death later in 1991 and he has remained on death row because of the multiple appeals.
At Union Cemetery, Engstrom’s headstone is between those of her husband’s grave and that of her father-in-law, Charles Engstrom.
Her husband died of a heart attack, her father-in-law of cancer.
“They both died of broken hearts,” Tom Heiss lamented. “It tears your heart out.” Her husband just couldn’t take the totality of the events of his wife’s death anymore, he said.
“If this crime doesn’t deserve the death sentence, I want to know what does,” Heiss said.
Lethal injection is the manner of execution in Ohio. Heiss pointed out that it’s only a pinch in the arm, compared with the pain his sister suffered.
He believes that an execution shouldn’t be painless because it’s meant to punish.
“I don’t know how many years this has taken off my life,” Heiss said, noting he constantly thinks of his sister. He continues to have nightmares about what she suffered.
Heiss, his sister and mother, Mary Jane Heiss, want to watch the execution.
Time is working against his mother because she is frail from illness and weighs less than 100 pounds.
“He destroyed a lot of lives, not just mine,” Heiss commented.
He said he could better cope with his sister’s death if she had died in an accident or from a disease such as cancer but can’t bring himself to understand this type of death.
It also nags Heiss that Biros is treated “like a king” on death row. If he needs medical attention, he gets it at taxpayers’ expense.
On March 20, 2007, Biros was scheduled for execution in Lucasville, but it was halted because of a last-minute appeal. Heiss, his sister and their mother were at the prison then and plan to return when he is again scheduled to die.
yovich@vindy.com
Murderer took more than life of young mom
The brother says the man who killed his sister is ‘animal’ and wants to watch him die.
HUBBARD — Tom Heiss stands quietly beside his sister’s grave at Union Cemetery, asking why her murderer hasn’t been put to death.
“I want to see my sister rest in peace,” Heiss said. “It’s about time to get this over with.”
Heiss, 40, who lives on Youngstown’s West Side, is the brother of Tami Engstrom, who was murdered Feb. 8, 1991, near the Brookfield Township home of her murderer, Kenneth Biros.
An autopsy showed that she had suffered 91 injuries before she died. She was beaten, sexually mutilated and dismembered, her body parts being found in two Pennsylvania communities — a 180-mile radius — and in the trunk of Biros’ car.
Her ring was found in Biros’ basement.
One of the few ways she could be identified was by a small tattoo of an ice cream cone on her shoulder.
“I couldn’t imagine doing that to an animal,” Heiss said with emotion. “He is an animal.”
Execution of Biros has been postponed because of constant appeals.
Dennis Watkins, Trumbull County prosecutor, has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to set an execution date for Biros, a motion that is being opposed by his attorney.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Sept. 25, 2007, that the “three-drug cocktail” used in executions is not cruel and unusual punishment, making way for Watkins to seek an execution date from the Ohio Supreme Court.
Attys. Timothy Sweeney and John Parker, both of Cleveland, who represent Biros, have filed a memorandum opposing setting a date.
They claim that delaying his execution doesn’t harm the state and would be a rush to judgment.
They also contend that Biros was not convicted of capital aggravated murder, thus is not eligible for the death penalty.
Biros did confess killing the young woman.
Engstrom, 22 at the time, had gone to the Nickelodeon Lounge in Masury to visit her uncle, a regular patron of the tavern. She had been socializing.
Biros, whom she didn’t know, was to drive her home.
She never made it back to her husband, Andrew, and their son, Casey.
Debi Heiss says her sister drank two draft beers and a shot of a weak liqueur but not enough to cause her to pass out. Her blood-alcohol was 0.11, slightly above the 0.08 legal limit. Debi Heiss believes Biros slipped something into her sister’s drink.
Her brother won’t discuss that aspect of the case.
But he has nothing good to say about Biros, who initially said that Engstrom had jumped from his vehicle.
“He’s a liar,” Heiss said, calling attention to shortly after she turned up missing. Biros claimed to be helping police with the investigation. Heiss’ two uncles had driven Biros around to find the area where she jumped from his vehicle, but there was no sign of her while Biros knew where her body parts were located.
Over the years, Heiss has said very little publicly about his sister’s death.
“You can hold something in for so long,” he said.
Biros was convicted and sentenced to death later in 1991 and he has remained on death row because of the multiple appeals.
At Union Cemetery, Engstrom’s headstone is between those of her husband’s grave and that of her father-in-law, Charles Engstrom.
Her husband died of a heart attack, her father-in-law of cancer.
“They both died of broken hearts,” Tom Heiss lamented. “It tears your heart out.” Her husband just couldn’t take the totality of the events of his wife’s death anymore, he said.
“If this crime doesn’t deserve the death sentence, I want to know what does,” Heiss said.
Lethal injection is the manner of execution in Ohio. Heiss pointed out that it’s only a pinch in the arm, compared with the pain his sister suffered.
He believes that an execution shouldn’t be painless because it’s meant to punish.
“I don’t know how many years this has taken off my life,” Heiss said, noting he constantly thinks of his sister. He continues to have nightmares about what she suffered.
Heiss, his sister and mother, Mary Jane Heiss, want to watch the execution.
Time is working against his mother because she is frail from illness and weighs less than 100 pounds.
“He destroyed a lot of lives, not just mine,” Heiss commented.
He said he could better cope with his sister’s death if she had died in an accident or from a disease such as cancer but can’t bring himself to understand this type of death.
It also nags Heiss that Biros is treated “like a king” on death row. If he needs medical attention, he gets it at taxpayers’ expense.
On March 20, 2007, Biros was scheduled for execution in Lucasville, but it was halted because of a last-minute appeal. Heiss, his sister and their mother were at the prison then and plan to return when he is again scheduled to die.
yovich@vindy.com
Tuesday 27 May 2008
At The Death House Door. (Video)
At the Death House Door is a personal and intimate look at the death penalty in Texas
through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville.
During Pickett's remarkable career journey, he presided over 95 executions, including the world’s first lethal injection. After each execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of his trip to the death chamber.
The film also focuses on the story of Carlos De Luna, a convict Pickett counseled and whose execution troubled Pickett more than any other. He firmly believed De Luna was innocent, and the film tracks the investigative efforts of a team of Chicago Tribune reporters who have turned up evidence that strongly suggests he was.
From award-winning directors Steve James ("Hoop Dreams") and Peter Gilbert ("Vietnam: Long Time Coming").
Winner, Inspiration Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and Best Documentary Feature at Atlanta Film Festival
http://www.ifc.com/video/On-IFC/Documentaries/At-The-Death-House-Door/1466826041
through the eyes of Pastor Carroll Pickett, who served 15 years as the death house chaplain to the infamous "Walls" prison unit in Huntsville.
During Pickett's remarkable career journey, he presided over 95 executions, including the world’s first lethal injection. After each execution, Pickett recorded an audiotape account of his trip to the death chamber.
The film also focuses on the story of Carlos De Luna, a convict Pickett counseled and whose execution troubled Pickett more than any other. He firmly believed De Luna was innocent, and the film tracks the investigative efforts of a team of Chicago Tribune reporters who have turned up evidence that strongly suggests he was.
From award-winning directors Steve James ("Hoop Dreams") and Peter Gilbert ("Vietnam: Long Time Coming").
Winner, Inspiration Award at Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and Best Documentary Feature at Atlanta Film Festival
http://www.ifc.com/video/On-IFC/Documentaries/At-The-Death-House-Door/1466826041
Va. Executes Man, Ending De Facto Moratorium
Killer of Store Owner Is First to Die Since Supreme Court Put Cases on Hold
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 28, 2008; B01
Convicted killer Kevin Green was put to death by lethal injection
last night after a federal judge rejected a last-minute request to
stop the execution. He became the first inmate to die by lethal
injection in Virginia since 2006.
The execution, which was scheduled to take place at 9 p.m. last
night, was delayed for about an hour when Green's defense attorneys
filed a request for a temporary restraining order blocking the
execution in federal court in Richmond. It was rejected by U.S.
District Judge James R. Spencer in Richmond at 9:40 p.m., according
to the Virginia attorney general's office.
Officials said Kaine then instructed authorities at the Greensville
Correctional Center in Jarrett to proceed with the execution, and
Green's attorneys decided against pursuing an appeal to the U.S.
Court of Appeals.
At 10:05 p.m., Virginia officials said Green, who killed a
southeastern Virginia convenience store owner 10 years ago, became
the first person executed in the state since 2006, as the U.S.
Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of death by lethal
injection.
But it was the first time in recent memory that last-minute legal
maneuvering had caused such a dramatic delay.
"The Vaughan family suffered a horrible loss as a result of Mr.
Green's crime," said Timothy M. Richardson, an attorney for Green.
"Nevertheless, we just executed a man with the IQ of an 11-year-old
child."
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a stay of execution for Green
yesterday, although Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader
Ginsburg said they would have granted the stay. Kaine denied a
petition for clemency, saying he had carefully reviewed the case but
found "no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was
recommended by the jury."
Green's attorneys had argued to the governor that he could not be
constitutionally put to death because, with an IQ of 65, he is
mentally retarded. The Supreme Court outlawed the execution of
mentally disabled people in 2002, but left it up to states to define
mental retardation.
Although the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal
injection last month, a federal appeals court in Richmond is weighing
a challenge to the three-drug method of lethal injection used to put
Green to death last night. Attorneys for convicted killer Christopher
S. Emmett are arguing that Virginia's protocol is unconstitutional,
saying that prisoners are not fully anesthetized before being
administered drugs that can cause excruciating pain.
The execution would signal the resumption of capital punishment in
the state after it was effectively put on hold in the fall because
the U.S. Supreme Court was debating the constitutionality of lethal
injection. Kaine also twice delayed the execution of another inmate
in 2006.
Virginia has executed 99 people since the U.S. Supreme Court
reinstated capital punishment in 1976, second only to Texas, which
has executed 405. The last inmate executed in Virginia was John
Yancey Schmitt, who died by lethal injection in November 2006.
State lawyers say Virginia's lethal injection protocol is "virtually
identical" to the procedures in Kentucky that the Supreme Court upheld.
Green was convicted in the killing of Patricia L. Vaughan, who along
with her husband owned a small grocery store in Brunswick County.
Staff writer Robert Barnes contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/
AR2008052702257.html?nav=rss_nation
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 28, 2008; B01
Convicted killer Kevin Green was put to death by lethal injection
last night after a federal judge rejected a last-minute request to
stop the execution. He became the first inmate to die by lethal
injection in Virginia since 2006.
The execution, which was scheduled to take place at 9 p.m. last
night, was delayed for about an hour when Green's defense attorneys
filed a request for a temporary restraining order blocking the
execution in federal court in Richmond. It was rejected by U.S.
District Judge James R. Spencer in Richmond at 9:40 p.m., according
to the Virginia attorney general's office.
Officials said Kaine then instructed authorities at the Greensville
Correctional Center in Jarrett to proceed with the execution, and
Green's attorneys decided against pursuing an appeal to the U.S.
Court of Appeals.
At 10:05 p.m., Virginia officials said Green, who killed a
southeastern Virginia convenience store owner 10 years ago, became
the first person executed in the state since 2006, as the U.S.
Supreme Court considered the constitutionality of death by lethal
injection.
But it was the first time in recent memory that last-minute legal
maneuvering had caused such a dramatic delay.
"The Vaughan family suffered a horrible loss as a result of Mr.
Green's crime," said Timothy M. Richardson, an attorney for Green.
"Nevertheless, we just executed a man with the IQ of an 11-year-old
child."
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a stay of execution for Green
yesterday, although Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader
Ginsburg said they would have granted the stay. Kaine denied a
petition for clemency, saying he had carefully reviewed the case but
found "no compelling reason to set aside the sentence that was
recommended by the jury."
Green's attorneys had argued to the governor that he could not be
constitutionally put to death because, with an IQ of 65, he is
mentally retarded. The Supreme Court outlawed the execution of
mentally disabled people in 2002, but left it up to states to define
mental retardation.
Although the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal
injection last month, a federal appeals court in Richmond is weighing
a challenge to the three-drug method of lethal injection used to put
Green to death last night. Attorneys for convicted killer Christopher
S. Emmett are arguing that Virginia's protocol is unconstitutional,
saying that prisoners are not fully anesthetized before being
administered drugs that can cause excruciating pain.
The execution would signal the resumption of capital punishment in
the state after it was effectively put on hold in the fall because
the U.S. Supreme Court was debating the constitutionality of lethal
injection. Kaine also twice delayed the execution of another inmate
in 2006.
Virginia has executed 99 people since the U.S. Supreme Court
reinstated capital punishment in 1976, second only to Texas, which
has executed 405. The last inmate executed in Virginia was John
Yancey Schmitt, who died by lethal injection in November 2006.
State lawyers say Virginia's lethal injection protocol is "virtually
identical" to the procedures in Kentucky that the Supreme Court upheld.
Green was convicted in the killing of Patricia L. Vaughan, who along
with her husband owned a small grocery store in Brunswick County.
Staff writer Robert Barnes contributed to this report.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/27/
AR2008052702257.html?nav=rss_nation
Friday 23 May 2008
DNA testing may exonerate 3 more Dallas County inmates
The Dallas County District Attorney's office has approved 3 additional post-conviction DNA tests for inmates seeking exoneration, prosecutor Mike Ware said Friday.
This brings the total of approved tests to 20 for those who were denied
under previous district attorney Bill Hill. Of those: 2 men have been
exonerated, 2 men were confirmed as the perpetrators and the other
cases are in various stages of testing or waiting to be tested.
Mr. Ware, who oversees the conviction integrity unit, declined to name
the inmates the DA's office agreed to test.
The review of about 350 inmates' previously denied tests is part of a
partnership between District Attorney Craig Watkins and the Innocence
Project of Texas. About 175 requests have now been reviewed.
Testing is typically denied if there is no evidence to test for DNA or
if testing does not prove guilt or innocence.
The 3 inmates, as well as others approved for testing, will not be
tested until the county finds out next month if it received an $800,000 grant,
which would be used by the conviction integrity unit.
Dallas County's 17 exonerations from genetic evidence is more than any
other county in the nation since the state passed a law in 2001
allowing post-conviction testing.
This brings the total of approved tests to 20 for those who were denied
under previous district attorney Bill Hill. Of those: 2 men have been
exonerated, 2 men were confirmed as the perpetrators and the other
cases are in various stages of testing or waiting to be tested.
Mr. Ware, who oversees the conviction integrity unit, declined to name
the inmates the DA's office agreed to test.
The review of about 350 inmates' previously denied tests is part of a
partnership between District Attorney Craig Watkins and the Innocence
Project of Texas. About 175 requests have now been reviewed.
Testing is typically denied if there is no evidence to test for DNA or
if testing does not prove guilt or innocence.
The 3 inmates, as well as others approved for testing, will not be
tested until the county finds out next month if it received an $800,000 grant,
which would be used by the conviction integrity unit.
Dallas County's 17 exonerations from genetic evidence is more than any
other county in the nation since the state passed a law in 2001
allowing post-conviction testing.
Collin County DA admits Michael Blair should not be on death row
Months after DNA evidence proved that a hair used to connect Michael
Blair to Ashley Estell did not belong to either person, the Collin County DA
has finally admitted that Michael Blair's conviction cannot stand. On death
row, he is case number 999122, but he won't be there for long.
Don't worry, though. Because this man has confessed to other brutal
sexual assaults, he won't be freed. Ever. But a Texas DA, a Texas jury and
several appeals courts almost had the blood of an innocent man (in this
case) on their hands. He was convicted because he was a known child
molestor who showed an interest in the case. If the process moved as
quickly as death penalty proponents wished it did, he'd be dead by now.
John Roach released this statement today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JOHN R. ROACH
Criminal District Attorney
COLLIN COUNTY COURTHOUSE
2100 BLOOMDALE RD., SUITE 20004
McKINNEY, TEXAS 75071
www.collincountyda.com
May 23, 2008
In November 2006, in light of the pending appellate litigation and the
potential outcome from that, I assembled a select group of
investigators and prosecutors from my office and assigned them the task of
re-investigating the Michael Blair capital murder case. Since then, the
Team has expended over 5,000 hours, interviewed more than 50 witnesses
and spent over $47,000 on its investigation. They exhaustively reviewed
records, files and evidence related to the case as well as tracking down
new leads and information. DNA testing was performed on a number of
items of evidence that had never before been DNA tested. The result: the Team
discovered no new evidence connecting Mr. Blair to Ashley Estell as well as no new evidence demonstrating Mr. Blair's guilt.
However, through its work, the Team identified at least one other person of interest. This person not only exhibited suspicious activity after the murder, much as Mr. Blair did, but this person cannot be scientifically excluded as a contributor to a piece of DNA evidence in the case.
Unfortunately, despite strenuous efforts, the Team has been unable to eliminate or conclusively connect this person to the offense.
At this time, the expert hair comparison testimony in trial that connected
Ashley Estell and Mr. Blair has been disproved by DNA testing of a type
that was not available at the time of the trial in 1994. None of the
hairs belong to either Ashley Estell or Mr. Blair. No other credible,
individualized forensic evidence connects Ashley Estell and Mr. Blair.
Although Mr. Blair has not been exonerated, I believe the evidence as
it now stands meets the criteria for relief under the law. There is no
good faith argument to support the current conviction in light of the facts
and the law as they now exist. Therefore, under my duty to not only uphold
the law but to see that justice is done, the State is joining today with
the defense team in its request for relief.
This case remains in litigation and under investigation. Accordingly, this office cannot comment further on the matter at this time.
John R. Roach
Criminal District Attorney
Tim Wyatt
Collin County Public Information
210 S. McDonald St., Suite 626,
McKinney, Texas 75069
http://www.co.collin.tx.us
Blair to Ashley Estell did not belong to either person, the Collin County DA
has finally admitted that Michael Blair's conviction cannot stand. On death
row, he is case number 999122, but he won't be there for long.
Don't worry, though. Because this man has confessed to other brutal
sexual assaults, he won't be freed. Ever. But a Texas DA, a Texas jury and
several appeals courts almost had the blood of an innocent man (in this
case) on their hands. He was convicted because he was a known child
molestor who showed an interest in the case. If the process moved as
quickly as death penalty proponents wished it did, he'd be dead by now.
John Roach released this statement today:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JOHN R. ROACH
Criminal District Attorney
COLLIN COUNTY COURTHOUSE
2100 BLOOMDALE RD., SUITE 20004
McKINNEY, TEXAS 75071
www.collincountyda.com
May 23, 2008
In November 2006, in light of the pending appellate litigation and the
potential outcome from that, I assembled a select group of
investigators and prosecutors from my office and assigned them the task of
re-investigating the Michael Blair capital murder case. Since then, the
Team has expended over 5,000 hours, interviewed more than 50 witnesses
and spent over $47,000 on its investigation. They exhaustively reviewed
records, files and evidence related to the case as well as tracking down
new leads and information. DNA testing was performed on a number of
items of evidence that had never before been DNA tested. The result: the Team
discovered no new evidence connecting Mr. Blair to Ashley Estell as well as no new evidence demonstrating Mr. Blair's guilt.
However, through its work, the Team identified at least one other person of interest. This person not only exhibited suspicious activity after the murder, much as Mr. Blair did, but this person cannot be scientifically excluded as a contributor to a piece of DNA evidence in the case.
Unfortunately, despite strenuous efforts, the Team has been unable to eliminate or conclusively connect this person to the offense.
At this time, the expert hair comparison testimony in trial that connected
Ashley Estell and Mr. Blair has been disproved by DNA testing of a type
that was not available at the time of the trial in 1994. None of the
hairs belong to either Ashley Estell or Mr. Blair. No other credible,
individualized forensic evidence connects Ashley Estell and Mr. Blair.
Although Mr. Blair has not been exonerated, I believe the evidence as
it now stands meets the criteria for relief under the law. There is no
good faith argument to support the current conviction in light of the facts
and the law as they now exist. Therefore, under my duty to not only uphold
the law but to see that justice is done, the State is joining today with
the defense team in its request for relief.
This case remains in litigation and under investigation. Accordingly, this office cannot comment further on the matter at this time.
John R. Roach
Criminal District Attorney
Tim Wyatt
Collin County Public Information
210 S. McDonald St., Suite 626,
McKinney, Texas 75069
http://www.co.collin.tx.us
Cleared by DNA, man tries to reclaim his life
This is the first of two stories on DNA exonerations in Dallas, Texas.
James Woodard finds it hard to get a driver's license after 27 years in prison.
1 of 3 DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- James Woodard is slowly returning to life. He is starting over after spending 27 years behind bars. He was wrongly imprisoned and cleared by DNA.
Routine chores are a test of endurance when the only identification card in his wallet is issued by the Texas prison system.
With his new friend, Clay Graham of the Innocence Project of Texas, serving as his guide and driver, Woodard is on the hunt for the basics of everyday life.
When he went off to prison, Ronald Reagan was president, gas was cheap, AIDS was barely on the radar and no one had a cell phone or a personal computer.
"It's sort of like waking up from a dream," Woodard said, walking through the corridors of Dallas City Hall, trying to track down his birth certificate. "When you first wake up you are first kind of groggy and then as time passes you get more coherent."
He may be free, but he doesn't have his life back yet -- or even proof of his life. He crisscrosses the city looking for the birth certificate. Watch Woodard make the rounds
He can't open a bank account with a prison-issued I.D. He can't get a state I.D. card without a birth certificate or Social Security card. It's not easy starting over. Woodard calls it an "adventure."
Woodard was convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison. He was released on April 29, the 17th Dallas County inmate to be exonerated by DNA testing.
In one aspect at least, Woodard and the 16 others are lucky; the evidence that freed them was preserved even after their appeals were exhausted and the courts finalized their convictions. If they had been tried in a county or city that has no preservation laws, the DNA to clear them would have been destroyed long ago.
But more and more counties and states are passing laws for evidence preservation, according to the Innocence Project, practicing what Dallas County has long been doing.
Innocence Project of Texas
The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization, based in New York, dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing. Its Texas branch has been instrumental in handling the Dallas cases.
Since 2001, Dallas County has had more DNA exonerations than any other county in the nation.
For years, Woodard wrote letters to the prosecutors from his prison cell begging and pleading for help. Woodard says he never gave up hope. Read some of Woodard's letters »
"A man gives up hope, he gives up his life. You can't never give up hope," Woodard said.
But bad luck -- or maybe even bad faith -- put Woodard in prison in the first place. Woodard's attorney says prosecutors in the Dallas County district attorney's office sat on information that could have kept Woodard out of prison.
The jury believed Woodard was the last person seen with the victim. But according to court records, there were two other men that were with her. Police never followed up on the lead and prosecutors never shared the information with defense attorneys, even though they were legally obligated to do so.
Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins is on a mission to right the wrongs of the past. He's suggesting that it's time to start prosecuting the prosecutors to keep innocent people like James Woodard from going to prison. Learn about others exonerated by DNA evidence »
"When individuals intend to cause a person to be convicted for a crime they did not commit, that's an embarrassment for our profession," Watkins said during an interview at his office inside the Dallas courthouse.
Watkins says the prosecutor who handled Woodard's case deserves prison time. CNN made several attempts to reach the prosecutor involved. He did not return our calls.
Because it's unlikely that any of the prosecutors would face prison time under existing law, Watkins said, he wants to make it a crime from now on for prosecutors to knowingly hide or suppress evidence that could help a defendant.
"In order for us to have credibility with people and jurors and citizens I believe we had to take on this fight," he said.
Watkins' comments are sending shock waves through the Dallas legal community. Many of the prosecutors who handled the exonerated criminal cases have moved on to lucrative careers in private practice.
But many former prosecutors say the idea of criminalizing prosecutors' mistakes will have a chilling effect on the justice system.
"You need to be careful before you start saying 'Let's throw them in jail,'" said Robert Rogers, a former Dallas prosecutor.
Critics of Watkins' idea say the threat of criminal charges will drive people away from becoming prosecutors because they'd be afraid an honest mistake could cost them their careers, or even jail. But James Woodard thinks that kind of fear would make prosecutors think twice.
The only time James Woodard sounds angry about his experience, spending half of his life in prison, is when he talks about the man who prosecuted him. Watch why he has no time for anger »
"I think he should pay a penalty. I paid 27 years," Woodard said. "He took my life away from me. What's the difference if it's by a gun, by words or by lies. What's gone is gone."
James Woodard finds it hard to get a driver's license after 27 years in prison.
1 of 3 DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- James Woodard is slowly returning to life. He is starting over after spending 27 years behind bars. He was wrongly imprisoned and cleared by DNA.
Routine chores are a test of endurance when the only identification card in his wallet is issued by the Texas prison system.
With his new friend, Clay Graham of the Innocence Project of Texas, serving as his guide and driver, Woodard is on the hunt for the basics of everyday life.
When he went off to prison, Ronald Reagan was president, gas was cheap, AIDS was barely on the radar and no one had a cell phone or a personal computer.
"It's sort of like waking up from a dream," Woodard said, walking through the corridors of Dallas City Hall, trying to track down his birth certificate. "When you first wake up you are first kind of groggy and then as time passes you get more coherent."
He may be free, but he doesn't have his life back yet -- or even proof of his life. He crisscrosses the city looking for the birth certificate. Watch Woodard make the rounds
He can't open a bank account with a prison-issued I.D. He can't get a state I.D. card without a birth certificate or Social Security card. It's not easy starting over. Woodard calls it an "adventure."
Woodard was convicted of raping and murdering his girlfriend in 1981 and sentenced to life in prison. He was released on April 29, the 17th Dallas County inmate to be exonerated by DNA testing.
In one aspect at least, Woodard and the 16 others are lucky; the evidence that freed them was preserved even after their appeals were exhausted and the courts finalized their convictions. If they had been tried in a county or city that has no preservation laws, the DNA to clear them would have been destroyed long ago.
But more and more counties and states are passing laws for evidence preservation, according to the Innocence Project, practicing what Dallas County has long been doing.
Innocence Project of Texas
The Innocence Project is a national litigation and public policy organization, based in New York, dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing. Its Texas branch has been instrumental in handling the Dallas cases.
Since 2001, Dallas County has had more DNA exonerations than any other county in the nation.
For years, Woodard wrote letters to the prosecutors from his prison cell begging and pleading for help. Woodard says he never gave up hope. Read some of Woodard's letters »
"A man gives up hope, he gives up his life. You can't never give up hope," Woodard said.
But bad luck -- or maybe even bad faith -- put Woodard in prison in the first place. Woodard's attorney says prosecutors in the Dallas County district attorney's office sat on information that could have kept Woodard out of prison.
The jury believed Woodard was the last person seen with the victim. But according to court records, there were two other men that were with her. Police never followed up on the lead and prosecutors never shared the information with defense attorneys, even though they were legally obligated to do so.
Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins is on a mission to right the wrongs of the past. He's suggesting that it's time to start prosecuting the prosecutors to keep innocent people like James Woodard from going to prison. Learn about others exonerated by DNA evidence »
"When individuals intend to cause a person to be convicted for a crime they did not commit, that's an embarrassment for our profession," Watkins said during an interview at his office inside the Dallas courthouse.
Watkins says the prosecutor who handled Woodard's case deserves prison time. CNN made several attempts to reach the prosecutor involved. He did not return our calls.
Because it's unlikely that any of the prosecutors would face prison time under existing law, Watkins said, he wants to make it a crime from now on for prosecutors to knowingly hide or suppress evidence that could help a defendant.
"In order for us to have credibility with people and jurors and citizens I believe we had to take on this fight," he said.
Watkins' comments are sending shock waves through the Dallas legal community. Many of the prosecutors who handled the exonerated criminal cases have moved on to lucrative careers in private practice.
But many former prosecutors say the idea of criminalizing prosecutors' mistakes will have a chilling effect on the justice system.
"You need to be careful before you start saying 'Let's throw them in jail,'" said Robert Rogers, a former Dallas prosecutor.
Critics of Watkins' idea say the threat of criminal charges will drive people away from becoming prosecutors because they'd be afraid an honest mistake could cost them their careers, or even jail. But James Woodard thinks that kind of fear would make prosecutors think twice.
The only time James Woodard sounds angry about his experience, spending half of his life in prison, is when he talks about the man who prosecuted him. Watch why he has no time for anger »
"I think he should pay a penalty. I paid 27 years," Woodard said. "He took my life away from me. What's the difference if it's by a gun, by words or by lies. What's gone is gone."
DNA cleared them, but they'll never feel free
This is the second of two stories about DNA exonerations in Dallas,Texas.
After his release from prison, Wiley Fountain surfaced for this mug shot, then fell off the radar.
1 of 3 DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Wiley Fountain is homeless just five years after he walked out of prison an innocent man. He is one of the 17 men wrongfully convicted in Dallas County, Texas, then cleared by DNA evidence.
He was one of the lucky few to receive financial compensation from the state, but the $190,000 or so that made it into his pocket is long gone.
For awhile, Fountain wandered the streets of Dallas, looking for aluminum cans to trade in for cash. He earned the occasional meal by cleaning the parking lot of a restaurant. At night he had nowhere to go.
Now he's nowhere to be found. Just as the headlines of his release vanished from the front pages of the newspaper, Fountain, 51, has disappeared. And so have his hopes for a fresh start after spending 15 years in prison for an aggravated sexual assault he did not commit.
Clay Graham, a policy director with the Innocence Project of Texas, spends many days worrying about Fountain. In March, he received a phone call with the news that Fountain had been arrested on a theft charge and was sitting in the Dallas County jail. Graham rushed over to talk with him.
"He said being homeless ain't so bad," Graham recalled. "That's when I thought something horrible must have happened to him in prison."
A few weeks later, Fountain was released from jail and disappeared.
Fountain's story doesn't come as a shock to Jeff Blackburn, one of the lead attorneys with the Innocence Project of Texas, who represents many of the exonerated former convicts. See how the others fared »
Blackburn said these wrongly convicted men get "a double-whammy screw job." He said there's little help from the government to transition back into society and they're still viewed as criminals once they're out of prison.
"They don't have any services available to them, not even $100 and a cheap suit," Blackburn said.
What happens to these men in the months and years after their release is an often overlooked story. These men find themselves starting life at middle age. CNN recently interviewed 15 of the 17 men who have been exonerated by DNA evidence in Dallas County since 2001.
Their stories are vastly different, but they do share common themes. There is little talk of bitterness and anger. But there is great mistrust of the world around them and immense frustration.
Some men have married and had children. Eugene Henton married a woman who worked in the jail commissary. "I don't know what I would have done without her. She makes me human," Henton said.
Others came out of prison so jaded and changed that it ruined marriages and relationships. A few have had repeated troubles with the law.
And almost all of them talk about how the ghost of their past follows them wherever they go. Watch a newly released man start over »
James Waller decided the only way to escape is to leave the place where the injustice happened. After 10 years in prison, Waller is selling his house and plans to move closer to his family in northern Louisiana. "I'll feel free when I kiss Texas goodbye," he said.
Very few of the men have managed to find steady, full-time employment. They say their wrongful convictions routinely appear in criminal background checks.
Entre Nax Karage, a 37-year-old Cambodian immigrant, was wrongfully convicted of murdering his girlfriend and spent seven years in prison. Karage is married now and has a 3-year-old daughter and the family is expecting a second child next month.
He finds occasional work as a security guard.
"I go and apply for a job and it keeps popping up on my record," said Karage. "It's pretty frustrating. I didn't even do it."
The long prison sentences left many scars on the personalities of the exonerated men. Greg Wallis spent 17 years in prison, and said he's lucky to have made it out alive. There were countless fights with other inmates that left him battered, bloodied and bruised.
Wallis now lives in Lubbock, Texas, with his girlfriend --but relationships aren't easy for him. "She has a hard time understanding my ways," Wallis said. "You do all that time in prison and it rubs off, you still act that way."
Wallis doesn't want to be around people. He doesn't have a job and is seeing a psychologist.
"I don't like being around people," he said. "If I could do it I'd move into the woods and live off the land."
David Shawn Pope, a self-described "artistic Southern boy," left Dallas and moved in with his mother in Northern California after he was released.
Seven years out of prison, Pope is still looking for full-time employment. He spends a lot of time playing guitar and writing songs. But he hasn't written anything about his time in prison.
"I haven't been able to put it together probably because it was so painful." Pope said.
After his release from prison, Wiley Fountain surfaced for this mug shot, then fell off the radar.
1 of 3 DALLAS, Texas (CNN) -- Wiley Fountain is homeless just five years after he walked out of prison an innocent man. He is one of the 17 men wrongfully convicted in Dallas County, Texas, then cleared by DNA evidence.
He was one of the lucky few to receive financial compensation from the state, but the $190,000 or so that made it into his pocket is long gone.
For awhile, Fountain wandered the streets of Dallas, looking for aluminum cans to trade in for cash. He earned the occasional meal by cleaning the parking lot of a restaurant. At night he had nowhere to go.
Now he's nowhere to be found. Just as the headlines of his release vanished from the front pages of the newspaper, Fountain, 51, has disappeared. And so have his hopes for a fresh start after spending 15 years in prison for an aggravated sexual assault he did not commit.
Clay Graham, a policy director with the Innocence Project of Texas, spends many days worrying about Fountain. In March, he received a phone call with the news that Fountain had been arrested on a theft charge and was sitting in the Dallas County jail. Graham rushed over to talk with him.
"He said being homeless ain't so bad," Graham recalled. "That's when I thought something horrible must have happened to him in prison."
A few weeks later, Fountain was released from jail and disappeared.
Fountain's story doesn't come as a shock to Jeff Blackburn, one of the lead attorneys with the Innocence Project of Texas, who represents many of the exonerated former convicts. See how the others fared »
Blackburn said these wrongly convicted men get "a double-whammy screw job." He said there's little help from the government to transition back into society and they're still viewed as criminals once they're out of prison.
"They don't have any services available to them, not even $100 and a cheap suit," Blackburn said.
What happens to these men in the months and years after their release is an often overlooked story. These men find themselves starting life at middle age. CNN recently interviewed 15 of the 17 men who have been exonerated by DNA evidence in Dallas County since 2001.
Their stories are vastly different, but they do share common themes. There is little talk of bitterness and anger. But there is great mistrust of the world around them and immense frustration.
Some men have married and had children. Eugene Henton married a woman who worked in the jail commissary. "I don't know what I would have done without her. She makes me human," Henton said.
Others came out of prison so jaded and changed that it ruined marriages and relationships. A few have had repeated troubles with the law.
And almost all of them talk about how the ghost of their past follows them wherever they go. Watch a newly released man start over »
James Waller decided the only way to escape is to leave the place where the injustice happened. After 10 years in prison, Waller is selling his house and plans to move closer to his family in northern Louisiana. "I'll feel free when I kiss Texas goodbye," he said.
Very few of the men have managed to find steady, full-time employment. They say their wrongful convictions routinely appear in criminal background checks.
Entre Nax Karage, a 37-year-old Cambodian immigrant, was wrongfully convicted of murdering his girlfriend and spent seven years in prison. Karage is married now and has a 3-year-old daughter and the family is expecting a second child next month.
He finds occasional work as a security guard.
"I go and apply for a job and it keeps popping up on my record," said Karage. "It's pretty frustrating. I didn't even do it."
The long prison sentences left many scars on the personalities of the exonerated men. Greg Wallis spent 17 years in prison, and said he's lucky to have made it out alive. There were countless fights with other inmates that left him battered, bloodied and bruised.
Wallis now lives in Lubbock, Texas, with his girlfriend --but relationships aren't easy for him. "She has a hard time understanding my ways," Wallis said. "You do all that time in prison and it rubs off, you still act that way."
Wallis doesn't want to be around people. He doesn't have a job and is seeing a psychologist.
"I don't like being around people," he said. "If I could do it I'd move into the woods and live off the land."
David Shawn Pope, a self-described "artistic Southern boy," left Dallas and moved in with his mother in Northern California after he was released.
Seven years out of prison, Pope is still looking for full-time employment. He spends a lot of time playing guitar and writing songs. But he hasn't written anything about his time in prison.
"I haven't been able to put it together probably because it was so painful." Pope said.
Exonerations Continue Across the Country -- But are Innocent Prisoners Ever Truly Free?
On May 21, after nearly 26 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit, Michigan prisoner Walter Swift was finally released. But is he really free?
What does it take to be freed from a wrongful conviction?
In the case of Walter Swift, who was found guilty in 1982 of a rape and burglary in Michigan, an air-tight alibi, exculpatory forensic evidence, and a clearly clueless defense attorney who would later lose his license weren't compelling enough reasons to spare him from conviction. And for years, they were not enough to get him cleared for a crime he did not commit.
Swift, who is African-American, was convicted based solely on an eyewitness identification by the victim, a pregnant white woman who described the man who attacked her as a black teenager, clean-shaven, with braids and "poofs of hair" on his head. Yet, when presented with a police line-up that included Swift -- well over 18 years old, with a mustache, long sideburns, and short, unbraided hair -- she chose him, telling the police she "believed" he was the man who had assaulted her. The police officer in charge expressed doubts, saying she seemed unsure of her selection, but Swift's fate was as good as sealed. The accuracy of her identification was never questioned in the courtroom.
False identification is one of the leading reasons innocent people are thrown in jail. When it comes to cross-racial identification, the problems are especially pronounced. Decades' worth of research has found evidence of bias when the accused is of one race and the accused is of another. Swift's case is a classic example.
In prison, Swift maintained his innocence for years. When he became eligible for parole in 2000, it was repeatedly denied, due to his refusal to admit to his guilt. After more than 15 years behind bars, Swift contacted the Innocence Project, who decided to take his case.
"Over the course of a decade, each layer we pulled back led to more evidence that Walter Swift is innocent," said Olga Akselrod, a staff attorney, in a news release. "We also began to work with people throughout the criminal justice system, some of whom were directly involved in convicting Mr. Swift, who were becoming increasingly convinced of his innocence. It's highly unusual to have the original prosecutor, the police officer who investigated the case and the lab analyst who handled the case all come forward to support an innocent prisoner -- but that's exactly what happened in this case."
With the team of people who first imprisoned him now behind him, Swift was exonerated and released from prison on Wednesday, May 21st. He spent almost 26 years behind bars.
Incredibly, the prosecutor's office will not go so far as to admit to his innocence. "Our position is not that Mr. Swift is innocent," prosecutor Kym Worthy told reporters yesterday. "Our position is that there were some irregularities and some things that should not have happened during this trial."
Still, leaving Detroit's Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, Swift told reporters he was not bitter. "I might just take a walk," he said. "I've been craving to take a walk."
His 27-year old daughter, Audrey Kelly Mills, however, who has not seen her father since she was a baby, expressed anger at the injustice of his incarceration for a quarter century. "I'm angry that this is supposed to be a justice system, and it's nothing even close to a justice system," she said.
As with so many stories of innocent prisoners who are exonerated after being locked up for years, news reports show images of a joyful Swift, eager to enjoy his second lease on life. But reality can often be cruel wake-up call.
Earlier this week, CNN did a two-part report on life after a wrongful conviction. Concentrating on Dallas County, Texas (the unofficial exoneration capital of the country) and with a focus on prisoners who were cleared thanks to DNA evidence (only a fraction of exonerations), it tells the story of Wiley Fountain, a 51-year old black man who, five years ago, was freed from prison after a decade and a half, only to find himself homeless.
"What happens to these men in the months and years after their release is an often overlooked story," writes CNN reporter Ed Lavandera. "These men find themselves starting life at middle age."
"Some men have married and had children … Others came out of prison so jaded and changed that it ruined marriages and relationships. A few have had repeated troubles with the law. And almost all of them talk about how the ghost of their past follows them wherever they go."
In Fountain's case, according to CNN, "Just as the headlines of his release vanished from the front pages of the newspaper, Fountain, 51, has disappeared."
"And so have his hopes for a fresh start after spending 15 years in prison for an aggravated sexual assault he did not commit."
Swift is 47 years old, just about the same age as Fountain was when he was released. "I know it's a beautiful time right now, but life will start to get back to reality," he told the Detroit Free-Press. "This is a million light-years from where I was … I can't describe the distance and time."
What does it take to be freed from a wrongful conviction?
In the case of Walter Swift, who was found guilty in 1982 of a rape and burglary in Michigan, an air-tight alibi, exculpatory forensic evidence, and a clearly clueless defense attorney who would later lose his license weren't compelling enough reasons to spare him from conviction. And for years, they were not enough to get him cleared for a crime he did not commit.
Swift, who is African-American, was convicted based solely on an eyewitness identification by the victim, a pregnant white woman who described the man who attacked her as a black teenager, clean-shaven, with braids and "poofs of hair" on his head. Yet, when presented with a police line-up that included Swift -- well over 18 years old, with a mustache, long sideburns, and short, unbraided hair -- she chose him, telling the police she "believed" he was the man who had assaulted her. The police officer in charge expressed doubts, saying she seemed unsure of her selection, but Swift's fate was as good as sealed. The accuracy of her identification was never questioned in the courtroom.
False identification is one of the leading reasons innocent people are thrown in jail. When it comes to cross-racial identification, the problems are especially pronounced. Decades' worth of research has found evidence of bias when the accused is of one race and the accused is of another. Swift's case is a classic example.
In prison, Swift maintained his innocence for years. When he became eligible for parole in 2000, it was repeatedly denied, due to his refusal to admit to his guilt. After more than 15 years behind bars, Swift contacted the Innocence Project, who decided to take his case.
"Over the course of a decade, each layer we pulled back led to more evidence that Walter Swift is innocent," said Olga Akselrod, a staff attorney, in a news release. "We also began to work with people throughout the criminal justice system, some of whom were directly involved in convicting Mr. Swift, who were becoming increasingly convinced of his innocence. It's highly unusual to have the original prosecutor, the police officer who investigated the case and the lab analyst who handled the case all come forward to support an innocent prisoner -- but that's exactly what happened in this case."
With the team of people who first imprisoned him now behind him, Swift was exonerated and released from prison on Wednesday, May 21st. He spent almost 26 years behind bars.
Incredibly, the prosecutor's office will not go so far as to admit to his innocence. "Our position is not that Mr. Swift is innocent," prosecutor Kym Worthy told reporters yesterday. "Our position is that there were some irregularities and some things that should not have happened during this trial."
Still, leaving Detroit's Frank Murphy Hall of Justice, Swift told reporters he was not bitter. "I might just take a walk," he said. "I've been craving to take a walk."
His 27-year old daughter, Audrey Kelly Mills, however, who has not seen her father since she was a baby, expressed anger at the injustice of his incarceration for a quarter century. "I'm angry that this is supposed to be a justice system, and it's nothing even close to a justice system," she said.
As with so many stories of innocent prisoners who are exonerated after being locked up for years, news reports show images of a joyful Swift, eager to enjoy his second lease on life. But reality can often be cruel wake-up call.
Earlier this week, CNN did a two-part report on life after a wrongful conviction. Concentrating on Dallas County, Texas (the unofficial exoneration capital of the country) and with a focus on prisoners who were cleared thanks to DNA evidence (only a fraction of exonerations), it tells the story of Wiley Fountain, a 51-year old black man who, five years ago, was freed from prison after a decade and a half, only to find himself homeless.
"What happens to these men in the months and years after their release is an often overlooked story," writes CNN reporter Ed Lavandera. "These men find themselves starting life at middle age."
"Some men have married and had children … Others came out of prison so jaded and changed that it ruined marriages and relationships. A few have had repeated troubles with the law. And almost all of them talk about how the ghost of their past follows them wherever they go."
In Fountain's case, according to CNN, "Just as the headlines of his release vanished from the front pages of the newspaper, Fountain, 51, has disappeared."
"And so have his hopes for a fresh start after spending 15 years in prison for an aggravated sexual assault he did not commit."
Swift is 47 years old, just about the same age as Fountain was when he was released. "I know it's a beautiful time right now, but life will start to get back to reality," he told the Detroit Free-Press. "This is a million light-years from where I was … I can't describe the distance and time."
Jury spares Hough from death sentence
A jury has recommended that Terrance Hough Jr. spend the rest of his
life in prison for his killing spree last summer.
Jurors reached their decision less than three hours after they began deliberating. They could have recommended a death sentence or sentence of life in prison with no parole or with parole eligibility in 25 or 30 years.
Hough, 36, opened fire on his neighbor and a group of friends during a
dispute over noise just after midnight July 5.
He killed Jacob Feichtner, 24, who lived next door, as well as Feichtner's friends Katherine Rosby, 26, and Bruce Anderson, 30. Donny Walsh, 24,and his 25-year-old fiancee, Katherine Nicholas, were also shot but survived.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold imposed
the sentence after the victims and their families gave statements.
(source: The Plain Dealer)
Thursday 22 May 2008
Defendants want executioners to testify in lethal injection case
2 capital murder defendants argued through court documents that people
who
carry out executions in Ohio should be called as witnesses in a case
challenging the state's lethal injection method.
Ronald McCloud, 28, and Ruben Rivera, 38, two defendants who could face
the death penalty if convicted, have argued that Ohio's method of
lethal
injection violates state law that requires a quick and painless death.
In
a brief submitted yesterday to Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James
Burge, McCloud and Rivera asked to reopen the evidence in the case so
they
could call the medical personnel on the Ohio execution team as
witnesses.
Jeffrey Gamso, head of the Ohio Civil Liberties Union who is
representing
McCloud and Rivera, wrote that they want to ask the execution team
members
how they do their jobs and what they do when they come across problems
with executions. Burge has given the state 2 weeks to respond to the
arguments of McCloud and Rivera.
Of the 3 members of the execution team, 2 of those people are EMTs and
the
3rd has certification with the American Society if Clinical
Pathologists,
Gamso wrote in the brief yesterday.
2 expert witnesses, both anesthesiologists, one for the state and one
on
behalf of McCloud and Rivera testified in a hearing in April. Dr. Mark
Heath, on behalf of McCloud and Rivera, testified that Ohio's lethal
injection protocol is not appropriate for dogs or cats, let alone
humans.
Dr. Mark Dershwitz, an expert witness for the state testified that
Ohio's
execution procedure is humane and includes enough anesthetic to knock
out
an average inmate for 2 hours.
Gamso pointed out what he claims are two botched executions in the past
3
years.
Joe Clark, who was executed on May 2, 2006, took 88 minutes from the
entry
of the medical team until he was pronounced dead. Clark sat up during
the
execution, complained that it was not working and asked for something
to
kill him by mouth.
On May 24, 2007, the execution of Christopher Newton took 110 minutes,
Gamso wrote. Newspaper reports showed that Newton turned blue as his
chest
heaved after the execution team finally injected the lethal chemicals.
2 anesthesiologists who testified in the case agreed that a person
properly anesthetized with sodium thiopental, the 1st of 3 drugs used
in
the process, or another barbiturate, will not feel pain. But is
something
goes wrong, Gamso wrote, the other 2 drugs, pancuronium bromide and
potassium chloride, could cause and excruciating death.
Burge has said he expects to rule on the case before Rivera goes on
trial
for the murder of Manual Garcia, 48, in August 2004 in Lorain for a
drug
related robbery. McCloud, who is accused of raping and killing Janet
Barnhard, 57, at the Living Water Christian Fellowship Church in June
2005, is also awaiting trial.
(source: The Morning Journal)
Death sentence possible for Cleveland firefighter
The question now before a Cleveland jury is whether a city firefighter
should be sentenced to die for killing 3 people over noisy fireworks in
his neighborhood.
The jury that convicted Terrance Hough Jr. last week is scheduled to
return Tuesday for the sentencing phase of the trial.
36-year-old Hough was found guilty on three counts of aggravated
murder,
for the shooting deaths of next-door neighbor Jacob Feichtner and two
of
Feichtner's friends just after midnight last July 5.
Hough also received 2 attempted murder convictions for wounding two
others
in the rampage. (source: Associated Press)
Officials: Convicted Mississippi killer Berry executed
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 by toddv
The Associated Press
PARCHMAN - State corrections officials say convicted murderer Earl Wesley Berry has been executed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
Berry’s execution came at 6:15 p.m CDT Wednesday.
He had hoped for a last-minute stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, but the full court denied his appeals and he was put to death by lethal injection for abducting Mary Bounds outside her church in 1987 and beating her to death.
Berry is the second inmate executed in the nation since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s lethal injection procedure in April.
The Associated Press
PARCHMAN - State corrections officials say convicted murderer Earl Wesley Berry has been executed at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman.
Berry’s execution came at 6:15 p.m CDT Wednesday.
He had hoped for a last-minute stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, but the full court denied his appeals and he was put to death by lethal injection for abducting Mary Bounds outside her church in 1987 and beating her to death.
Berry is the second inmate executed in the nation since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Kentucky’s lethal injection procedure in April.
Wednesday 21 May 2008
Last Words from Condemned inmates throughout the USA
"There is no way words can express how sorry I am for taking the lives of my babies. Now I can be with my babies, as I always intended."
- Christina Marie Riggs, executed in Arkansas on May 3, 2000
"We all know what really happened, but there are some things you just can't fight. Little people always seem to get squashed. It happens. ... There is no man that is free from all evil, nor any man that is so evil to be worth nothing. "
- David Castillo, executed in Texas on Aug. 23, 1998
"I just hope everything goes all right. I hope the Lord takes me home. Thank you, warden."
- Clifton Allen White, executed in North Carolina on August 24, 2001
"I didn't take [the last meal] because I have very strong convictions about abortion and the 33 million babies that have been aborted in this country. Those babies never got a first meal and that's why I didn't take the last in their memory."
- Ricky Lee Sanderson, executed in North Carolina on Jan. 30, 1998
"I'm ready to be released. Release me."
- Kenneth Allen McDuff, executed in Texas on Nov. 17, 1998
"All praise and glory be to Allah ... may he bless this whole world with peace and his utmost blessings and may he bless this world with his utmost mercy."
- James David Rich, executed in North Carolina on March 26, 1999
"I want you to know that I did not kill your sister. If you want to know the truth, and you deserve to know the truth, hire your own investigators."
- Pedro Muniz, executed in Texas on May 19, 1998
"The only thing I want to say is that I appreciate the hospitality you guys have shown me, and the respect. And the last meal was really good. That is about it. "
- James Collier, executed in Texas on Dec. 11, 2002
"Baby, I love you. Ron, give Peggy a hug for me. Everybody has been so good to me. ... I love all of you very much. I will see you all when you get there. I will wait for you."
- Karla Faye Tucker, executed in Texas on Feb. 3, 1998
"I would like to say to the world, I have always been a nice person. I have never been mean-hearted or cruel. I wish everybody well."
- Granville Riddle, executed in Texas on Jan. 30, 2003
"To the people of Mexico, I would like to thank them for the help. ... They have suffered enough. Long live Mexico. Raise the flag of Mexico with honor. I love you."
- Javier Suarez Medina, executed in Texas on Aug. 14, 2002
"My darling Gerti, my wife, I love you endlessly my honeybird. Till we meet again, stay strong. Love, Billy."
- William Jones, executed in Missouri on Oct. 20, 2002
"Now that I'm dying, there is nothing left to worry about. I know it was a mistake. ... Everybody has problems, and I won't be part of the problem anymore. I can quit worrying now. It was all a mistake. That's all I want to say."
- James Colburn, executed in Texas on March 26, 2003
"If all you know is hatred, if all you know is blood-love, you'll never be satisfied. For everybody out there that is like that and knows nothing but negative, kiss my proud white Irish ass. I'm ready, warden, send me home."
- Robert Atworth, executed in Texas on Dec. 14, 1999
"To my mother who truly has been hurt the most, your love and strength I carry with me always. Take care of my son. I'm finally free and I'm going home to grandmother now. I love you all and God bless."
- Donald Jones, executed in Missouri on April 27, 2005
"I am innocent, but was not given the tools at trial, or on appeal, to make my innocence into a legal reality."
- Stephen K. Johns, executed in Missouri on Oct. 24, 2001
"The news reports ... will say Jim Johnson is dead. Those reports will be untrue. Today I shall meet Jesus my Lord and Savior face to face. When the executioners have done their worst, God will be shown to have done his best."
- James Johnson, executed in Missouri on Jan. 9, 2002
"I understand the feelings of the Oestricker family, and I ask their forgiveness. ... I want to stress to them that I did not go down there that night to harm Jerry. I deeply regret how it turned out."
- James W. Chambers, executed in Missouri on Nov. 15, 2000
"I would like to tell my family 'Thank you for your support' and my friends. And let everyone know that you must stay strong for each other. Take care of yourselves."
- Justin Fuller, executed in Texas on August 24, 2006
"Kick the tires and light the fire. I'm going home to see my son and my mom."
- Richard Hinojosa, executed in Texas, Aug. 17, 2006
"I would suggest that when a person has a thought of doing anything serious against the law, that before they did, that they should go to a quiet place and think about it seriously."
- William George Bonin, executed in California on Feb. 23, 1996
"I love you all, and I'm sorry for what I done. I'm sorry for killing your mom and what I done to you."
- Rocky Barton, executed in Ohio on July 12, 2006
"For 17 years the Attorney General has been pursuing the wrong man. In time he will come to know this. I don't want anyone to avenge my death. Instead I want you to stop killing people. God bless."
- Thomas Martin Thompson, executed in California on July 14, 1998
"Go home, have fun, smile. I'm happy. Why should I lie now? I have no anger. I have no fear."
- Willie Shannon, executed in Texas on Nov. 8, 2006
"My last words will be, 'Hoka hey, it's a good day to die.' Thank you very much. I love you all. Goodbye."
- Clarence Ray Allen, executed in California on Jan. 17, 2006
Forgiveness: Giving up all hope for a better past."
- Robert Lee Massie, executed in California on March 27, 2001
"Redskins are going to the Super Bowl."
- Bobby Ramdass, executed in Virginia on Oct. 10, 2000
"Somebody needs to kill my trial attorney."
- George Harris, executed in Missouri on Sept. 13, 2000
"I'm guilty. I can accept my punishment. I'm sorry I done it, yeah, but it's done."
- Charles Walker, executed in Illinois on Sept. 12, 1990
"A few hours ago, Wayne Snow said I had no redeeming qualities. The only thing I've got to say to Wayne Snow is kiss my ass. Bye."
- William Mitchell, executed in Georgia on Sept. 1, 1987
"Let the torture and suffering in me end."
- R. Gene Simmons, executed in Arkansas on June 25, 1990
"An innocent man is going to be murdered tonight. When my innocence is proven, I hope Americans will realize the injustice of the death penalty as all other civilized countries have."
- Roger Keith Coleman, executed in Virginia on May 20, 1992
"Let mama know I still love her. Keep that chin up."
- Cornelius Singleton, executed in Alabama on
Nov. 20, 1992
"I was once asked by somebody, I don't remember who, if there was any way sex offenders could be stopped. I said no. I was wrong."
- Westley Dodd, executed in Washington on Jan. 5, 1993
"None greater than thee, Lord."
- Sung by Danny Rolling before his execution in Florida on Oct. 25, 2006
"I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends."
- Ted Bundy, executed in Florida on Jan. 24, 1989
"I want to offer again my most profound and heartfelt apologies to my victims' families. I am truly sorry. I have tried my best to empathize with their grief and devastation and I hope they come to know of my concerns and prayers
for them."
- Arthur Gary Bishop, executed in Utah on June 10, 1988
Let's do it."
- Gary Gilmore, executed in Utah on Jan. 17, 1977
"As the ocean always returns to itself, love always returns to itself. So does consciousness, always returns to itself. And I do so with love on my lips. May God bless all mankind."
- James Ronald Meanes, executed in Texas on Dec. 15, 1998
"We talk about a reprieve or stay from the Supreme Court, but the real Supreme Court you must face up there and not down here. Keep your heads up and stay strong. "
- Jaime Elizalde Jr., executed in Texas on Jan. 31, 2006
"To all of the racist white folks in America that hate black folks and to all of the black folks in America that hate themselves: the infamous words of my famous legendary brother, Matt Turner, 'Y'all kiss my black ass.' Let's do it."
- Brian Roberson, executed in Texas on Aug. 9, 2000
"I can't really pinpoint where it started, what happened, but really believe that's just the bottom line, what happened to me was in California. I was in their reformatory schools and penitentiary, but ah, they create monsters in there. "
- David Long, executed in Texas on Dec. 8, 1999
"I'm an African warrior, born to breathe, and born to die."
- Carl Kelly, executed in Texas on Aug. 20, 1993
"We will keep marching. Keep marching black people, black power. ... Keep marching black people. Keep marching black people. They
are killing me tonight. They are murdering
me tonight."
- Gary Graham, executed in Texas on June 22, 2000
"The act I committed to put me here was
not just heinous, it was senseless. But the
person that committed that act is no longer
here - I am."
- Napoleon Beazley, executed in Texas on May 28, 2002
"They butchered me back there. I was in a lot of pain. They cut me in the groin; they cut me in the leg. I was bleeding profusely."
- Bennie Demps, executed in Florida on June 8, 2000
"I lived as if I were going to be executed. That left me well-prepared. I took four people's lives; I'm man enough to give mine."
- Earl Richmond, executed in North Carolina on May 6, 2005
"Please tell the media, I did not get my Spaghetti-O's, I got spaghetti. I want the press to know."
- Thomas Grasso, executed in Oklahoma on March 20, 1995
"It's all the state of Oklahoma's fault."
- Walanzo Dion Robinson, executed in Oklahoma on March 18, 2003
"We're not here for a social event, we're here for a killing."
- David Wayne Woodruff, executed in Oklahoma on Jan. 31, 2002
"You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper."
- Robert Alton Harris, executed in California on April 21, 1992
"Only the sky and the green grass goes on forever, and today is a good day to die."
- David Martinez, executed in Texas on July 28, 2005
"When I die, bury me deep, lay two speakers at my feet, put some headphones on my head and rock and roll me when I'm dead. I'll see you in Heaven someday. "
- Douglas Roberts, executed in Texas on April 20, 2005
"Freedom, freedom at last! It's been a
good one!"
- John W. Rook, executed in North Carolina on Sept. 20, 1986
"I'm sorry it's taken so long to have justice served for y'all, but it's being served now."
- Earl Alexander Frederick Sr., executed in Oklahoma on July 30, 2002
"Sir, in honor of a true American hero: 'Let's roll.' Lord Jesus receive my spirit."
- David Ray Harris, executed in Texas on June 30, 2004
"Jane, you know damn well I did not molest that kid of yours. You are murdering me and I feel sorry for you. Get in church and get saved. I really don't know what else to tell you."
- William Chappell, executed in Texas on Nov. 20, 2002
"All I have to say is if more parents would raise their children in God-fearing homes, maybe some of them wouldn't end up in the position I'm in."
- John Sterling Gardner, executed in North Carolina on
Oct. 23, 1992
"Like I've said from day one, I did not go in there and kill them - but I am no better than those that did. Jesus is Lord."
- Edward Lagrone, executed in Texas on Feb. 11, 2004
"All right, warden, let's give them what
they want."
- Melvin White, executed in Texas on Nov. 3, 2005
"I'm sorry I killed Wayne Shinn. I hope
North Carolina will one day be sorry that they killed me."
- David Lawson, executed in North Carolina on June 15, 1994
"I've got one thing to say: Get your warden off this gurney and shut up. I am from the island of Barbados. I am the warden of this unit. People are seeing you do this."
- Monty Delk, executed in Texas on Feb. 28, 2002
"Regardless of what might be seen or thought of what might be seen, there is still love, mercy and justice. Because God said that all that he has made is good and once you realize that and believe in that, everything will be fine."
- Willie Ervin Fisher, executed in North Carolina on
March 9, 2001
Death row inmate loses lethal injection appeal
Columbus - The Ohio death row inmate whose name is attached to a closely watched lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection execution procedure lost what may be his final appeal Monday.
The decision by the U.S. Su preme Court, which recently upheld the in jection method in bordering Kentucky, could send Richard Cooey to the death chamber even as other condemned prisoners continue to fight Ohio's method of execution under his name.
Two other death row inmates - Kenneth Biros and James Frazier - also lost appeals Monday.
Cooey filed the lethal injection lawsuit in 2004, arguing that the cocktail of three chemicals used to put criminals to death in Ohio causes so much pain that it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
But his case got caught up on a technicality: An appeals court said last year that Cooey had missed a deadline to file the suit within two years of the date his state-level appeals were completed in 1995. The three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati had ordered the case dismissed, saying U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost used the wrong test for establishing the two-year time limit.
When the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday, it left Cooey at a legal dead end.
"We're still trying to sort through what the options are," said Kelly Culshaw, an assistant state public defender.
Cooey was sentenced to die in 1986 for raping and murdering two University of Akron students. He came within 12 hours of being executed in July 2003 when a federal judge delayed his execution to give his new lawyer more time to study the case.
Even if his attorneys find no other legal option for Cooey, that doesn't mean that Biros, Frazier or one of 17 other inmates who have signed onto the Cooey case won't continue their quest against injection, Culshaw said.
The Supreme Court's decision last week upheld a similar execution method in Kentucky, but Ohio's prescription for injection is slightly different and has encountered its own unique problems, including an inmate who sat up on the gurney at the death house to say the chemicals weren't working and another whose body visibly convulsed and twitched.
The Cooey suit and others that are pending could continue to affect Ohio's execution schedule - creating an effective moratorium while arguments are aired in court, said Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland.
"Based on our initial understanding of the court's decision today, Mr. Cooey may no longer be able to proceed with this argument, because of the statute of limitations issue, but others named in the suit will likely continue to pursue the case," he said Monday.
Dailey said the governor, who supports the death penalty, will evaluate all cases that make it to his desk on their merits - including Cooey's.
The decision by the U.S. Su preme Court, which recently upheld the in jection method in bordering Kentucky, could send Richard Cooey to the death chamber even as other condemned prisoners continue to fight Ohio's method of execution under his name.
Two other death row inmates - Kenneth Biros and James Frazier - also lost appeals Monday.
Cooey filed the lethal injection lawsuit in 2004, arguing that the cocktail of three chemicals used to put criminals to death in Ohio causes so much pain that it violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
But his case got caught up on a technicality: An appeals court said last year that Cooey had missed a deadline to file the suit within two years of the date his state-level appeals were completed in 1995. The three-judge panel of the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati had ordered the case dismissed, saying U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost used the wrong test for establishing the two-year time limit.
When the U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday, it left Cooey at a legal dead end.
"We're still trying to sort through what the options are," said Kelly Culshaw, an assistant state public defender.
Cooey was sentenced to die in 1986 for raping and murdering two University of Akron students. He came within 12 hours of being executed in July 2003 when a federal judge delayed his execution to give his new lawyer more time to study the case.
Even if his attorneys find no other legal option for Cooey, that doesn't mean that Biros, Frazier or one of 17 other inmates who have signed onto the Cooey case won't continue their quest against injection, Culshaw said.
The Supreme Court's decision last week upheld a similar execution method in Kentucky, but Ohio's prescription for injection is slightly different and has encountered its own unique problems, including an inmate who sat up on the gurney at the death house to say the chemicals weren't working and another whose body visibly convulsed and twitched.
The Cooey suit and others that are pending could continue to affect Ohio's execution schedule - creating an effective moratorium while arguments are aired in court, said Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland.
"Based on our initial understanding of the court's decision today, Mr. Cooey may no longer be able to proceed with this argument, because of the statute of limitations issue, but others named in the suit will likely continue to pursue the case," he said Monday.
Dailey said the governor, who supports the death penalty, will evaluate all cases that make it to his desk on their merits - including Cooey's.
Ohio not rushing to schedule executions
COLUMBUS -- Ohio officials have been less swift and less aggressive than leaders from some other states at moving to restart executions after a U.S. Supreme Court decision ended a seven-month national pause to killing inmates.
Ohio, which not long ago had one of the nation's busiest death chambers, is led by a governor who has said he is not comfortable with the death penalty and top law enforcement officer who has said he thinks "we can do better" in applying it.
Gov. Ted Strickland has the power to cancel or delay death sentences, and Attorney General Marc Dann's office fights against death row inmates' appeals.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided April 16 to allow Kentucky's lethal injection process that is similar to the one used in Ohio and many others, states including Texas and Mississippi already have scheduled executions. And governors in states such as Florida have said the execution process should now resume.
Ohio has not set any execution dates yet, and top officials have made no public requests for quick action.
The speed at which Ohio's death-penalty cases move forward depends on how quickly and forcefully Ohio officials respond, said Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University.
Strickland's lawyers are still reviewing the federal court decision. And unlike some governors, Strickland has not made a definitive public statement about what he believes the case means. Ohio's lethal injection procedure still is being challenged in a lawsuit.
After the Supreme Court decision came out, this is what Strickland said about applying it to Ohio: "You would just think that because the methodology is quite similar that the legal outcome would be similar as well. But I just don't want to make that assumption without having a little deeper understanding about what they said."
Contrast that with what Charlie Crist, the Republican governor of Florida, said when praising the court's ruling: "Justice delayed is justice denied, and an awful lot of families of the victims have been waiting for justice to be done, and so that's certainly an important factor." Crist said he asked his lawyers to provide him with death warrants to consider signing, after which execution dates would follow.
Ohio has 184 inmates on death row, many of them exhausting their final appeals. Three death-row inmates are likely to be among the first set for execution: Clarence Carter, Kenneth Biros and Richard Cooey, who lost what may be his final appeal last week.
Only Texas had more executions in 2006 and 2007 combined than Ohio, which tied with Oklahoma at seven. Ohio has executed 26 inmates since it resumed executions in 1999.
Strickland, a Democrat, has allowed two of three executions since he became governor in 2007, but he has yet to face the volume of capital punishment cases that landed on the desk of his Republican predecessor.
A few months after he started as governor, Strickland talked about his concerns about the death penalty with The Associated Press.
"I'm not comfortable with it," he said in March 2007. "I hope never to be comfortable with it. But it is the law and I have assumed this responsibility as governor."
Strickland's legal staff is reviewing information on death-penalty cases that will begin moving forward so he is ready for the clemency process.
The Ohio Supreme Court sets execution dates after evaluating motions that usually come from the attorney general's office or in some cases, large counties. No motions requesting to move forward with an execution have been submitted.
Dann, a Democrat, said in 2006 before he became attorney general that he'd be open to a study on how the death penalty is applied.
"I think we can do better," he said. "We need to make sure it's being applied fairly across all racial and socio-economic groups."
Dann has not made any public statements about what the Supreme Court decision means for Ohio. But the attorney general believes the ruling buoyed Ohio's lethal injection procedure — which, like Kentucky's, uses a three-drug regimen to sedate, paralyze and kill.
Dann's office is trying to coordinate with county prosecutors on cases that will begin moving forward, preparing to help them with any legal arguments that come from the other side, said Zach Swisher, chief of the criminal division in Dann's office.
"Because the process used in Kentucky is substantially similar to that in Ohio, we're looking at it that it's likely the process in Ohio will also be found constitutional," Swisher said.
Ohio, which not long ago had one of the nation's busiest death chambers, is led by a governor who has said he is not comfortable with the death penalty and top law enforcement officer who has said he thinks "we can do better" in applying it.
Gov. Ted Strickland has the power to cancel or delay death sentences, and Attorney General Marc Dann's office fights against death row inmates' appeals.
Since the U.S. Supreme Court decided April 16 to allow Kentucky's lethal injection process that is similar to the one used in Ohio and many others, states including Texas and Mississippi already have scheduled executions. And governors in states such as Florida have said the execution process should now resume.
Ohio has not set any execution dates yet, and top officials have made no public requests for quick action.
The speed at which Ohio's death-penalty cases move forward depends on how quickly and forcefully Ohio officials respond, said Doug Berman, a law professor at Ohio State University.
Strickland's lawyers are still reviewing the federal court decision. And unlike some governors, Strickland has not made a definitive public statement about what he believes the case means. Ohio's lethal injection procedure still is being challenged in a lawsuit.
After the Supreme Court decision came out, this is what Strickland said about applying it to Ohio: "You would just think that because the methodology is quite similar that the legal outcome would be similar as well. But I just don't want to make that assumption without having a little deeper understanding about what they said."
Contrast that with what Charlie Crist, the Republican governor of Florida, said when praising the court's ruling: "Justice delayed is justice denied, and an awful lot of families of the victims have been waiting for justice to be done, and so that's certainly an important factor." Crist said he asked his lawyers to provide him with death warrants to consider signing, after which execution dates would follow.
Ohio has 184 inmates on death row, many of them exhausting their final appeals. Three death-row inmates are likely to be among the first set for execution: Clarence Carter, Kenneth Biros and Richard Cooey, who lost what may be his final appeal last week.
Only Texas had more executions in 2006 and 2007 combined than Ohio, which tied with Oklahoma at seven. Ohio has executed 26 inmates since it resumed executions in 1999.
Strickland, a Democrat, has allowed two of three executions since he became governor in 2007, but he has yet to face the volume of capital punishment cases that landed on the desk of his Republican predecessor.
A few months after he started as governor, Strickland talked about his concerns about the death penalty with The Associated Press.
"I'm not comfortable with it," he said in March 2007. "I hope never to be comfortable with it. But it is the law and I have assumed this responsibility as governor."
Strickland's legal staff is reviewing information on death-penalty cases that will begin moving forward so he is ready for the clemency process.
The Ohio Supreme Court sets execution dates after evaluating motions that usually come from the attorney general's office or in some cases, large counties. No motions requesting to move forward with an execution have been submitted.
Dann, a Democrat, said in 2006 before he became attorney general that he'd be open to a study on how the death penalty is applied.
"I think we can do better," he said. "We need to make sure it's being applied fairly across all racial and socio-economic groups."
Dann has not made any public statements about what the Supreme Court decision means for Ohio. But the attorney general believes the ruling buoyed Ohio's lethal injection procedure — which, like Kentucky's, uses a three-drug regimen to sedate, paralyze and kill.
Dann's office is trying to coordinate with county prosecutors on cases that will begin moving forward, preparing to help them with any legal arguments that come from the other side, said Zach Swisher, chief of the criminal division in Dann's office.
"Because the process used in Kentucky is substantially similar to that in Ohio, we're looking at it that it's likely the process in Ohio will also be found constitutional," Swisher said.
Proceed with Ohio's capital punishment
Americans waited for the court to rule, and now it's time to follow through.
It won't end opposition to the death penalty. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled last week that Kentucky's method of executing prisoners isn't cruel, paving the way for states that use lethal injection to move ahead with their plans.
Ohio is one of the states that in essence instituted a moratorium on executions until the high court ruled, and it's time for the state to resume its work.
Kentucky's case centered on a so-called "three-cocktail mix" used to execute convicted killers. Kentucky is among 36 states that use lethal injection to carry out the death penalty. Nebraska uses electrocution.
Ohio, which last executed a prisoner in 2007, uses two drugs to complete the process.
The high court ruled 7-2 in favor of Kentucky's method, and we encourage Ohio to proceed as soon as it's feasible.
Last week's decision might push some states to examine the effectiveness of a single drug instead of the three Kentucky uses to sedate, paralyze and kill prisoners.
Two Ohio executions made news because of the time it took to complete the process. In May 2007, it took so long to complete inmate Christopher Newton's execution, he required a bathroom break. In May 2006, inmate Joseph Clark cried out that the first injection wasn't working, according to a published report.
Ohio shouldn't change its method unless a change would make the process more efficient.
The ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States won't silence critics any more than courts will stop sending criminals to death row.
In the days following the ruling, death penalty opponents said they'll continue watching the process and bring to light any problems that occur.
That's their right, just as it's opponents' right to vocalize their support for capital punishment.
So, it's important to remember that Ohio voters said they wanted the death penalty, and politicians listened.
Polls show more than 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty.
Americans waited for the court to rule, and now it's time to follow through.
It won't end opposition to the death penalty. The Supreme Court of the United States ruled last week that Kentucky's method of executing prisoners isn't cruel, paving the way for states that use lethal injection to move ahead with their plans.
Ohio is one of the states that in essence instituted a moratorium on executions until the high court ruled, and it's time for the state to resume its work.
Kentucky's case centered on a so-called "three-cocktail mix" used to execute convicted killers. Kentucky is among 36 states that use lethal injection to carry out the death penalty. Nebraska uses electrocution.
Ohio, which last executed a prisoner in 2007, uses two drugs to complete the process.
The high court ruled 7-2 in favor of Kentucky's method, and we encourage Ohio to proceed as soon as it's feasible.
Last week's decision might push some states to examine the effectiveness of a single drug instead of the three Kentucky uses to sedate, paralyze and kill prisoners.
Two Ohio executions made news because of the time it took to complete the process. In May 2007, it took so long to complete inmate Christopher Newton's execution, he required a bathroom break. In May 2006, inmate Joseph Clark cried out that the first injection wasn't working, according to a published report.
Ohio shouldn't change its method unless a change would make the process more efficient.
The ruling by the Supreme Court of the United States won't silence critics any more than courts will stop sending criminals to death row.
In the days following the ruling, death penalty opponents said they'll continue watching the process and bring to light any problems that occur.
That's their right, just as it's opponents' right to vocalize their support for capital punishment.
So, it's important to remember that Ohio voters said they wanted the death penalty, and politicians listened.
Polls show more than 60 percent of Americans support the death penalty.
Americans waited for the court to rule, and now it's time to follow through.
Six felons ruled retarded are spared execution
Monday, May 12, 2008Karen FarkasPlain Dealer Reporter
Akron- Six men are likely to die in prison, but not at the hands of an executioner.
They were removed from Ohio's death row because they are mentally retarded and judges ruled they qualified under a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that it is cruel and unusual punishment to execute retarded inmates.
The families of the victims had no recourse as the men were resentenced to life. The family of a Cincinnati boy killed in 1992 has seen both men convicted of his death ruled mentally retarded.
Deborah Thorpe's family is upset and plans to speak today in Summit County Common Pleas Court when Clifton White III is resentenced, prosecutors said. White's death sentence was vacated last month by the Ohio Supreme Court, which overturned two lower courts that ruled White, 35, of Akron, was not mentally retarded.
Thorpe and Julie Schrey, the mother of White's ex-girlfriend, were shot by White on Christmas Eve 1995. Thorpe's son was severely injured when White shot him at a fast-food restaurant as he protected the ex-girlfriend.
Five other men on death row say they are mentally retarded, including James Were, 51, who was sentenced to death for killing guard Robert Vallandingham in the 1993 Lucasville prison riot. The Ohio Supreme Court heard Were's arguments in February.
While White's case gained publicity because of the high court's ruling that the mentally retarded are not necessarily devoid of all adaptive skills, such as driving or cooking, other cases have quietly moved through common pleas courts.
Derrick Evans, 49, of Cleveland, who was sentenced to die for killing Joann Richards and Marcellus Williams in a 1987 robbery, was resentenced in 2006 to 60 years to life in prison after prosecutors did not object to his claim that he is mentally retarded.
Raymond Smith, 68, who was on death row for the 1994 killing of police informant Ron Lally, was resentenced to life in prison on April 25 by Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery, who ruled Smith was mentally retarded.
Others off death row are Darryl Gumm, 42, and Michael Bies, 36, who killed 10-year-old Aaron Raines in Cincinnati in 1992, and Kevin Yarbrough, 50, of Shelby County, convicted of killing Wilma Arnett in 1994. Gumm and Yarbrough got long prison sentences, and Bies is awaiting resentencing.
Death row inmates with cases pending locally include Paul Greer, 53, of Akron, who was convicted in 1985 of stabbing his landlord, Louis Roth, 22 times in the chest. He is awaiting a ruling in Summit County Common Pleas Court.
It is not known how many death row inmates nationwide have filed claims.
Inmates have to meet criteria set by the U.S. Supreme Court, based on the American Association of Mental Retardation and the American Psychiatric Association, to be declared mentally retarded. To be classified as retarded by the courts, the inmate must have an IQ of 70 or below and have limitations in areas including communication, social skills and functional academics. The problems also must have surfaced before they were 18 years old.
In White's case, a common pleas judge ruled he was not mentally retarded, despite testimony of expert psychologists, because he was able to drive, cook and play video games.
Richard Vickers, supervisor of the death penalty division of the Ohio public defender's office, said the Ohio Supreme Court ruling in White's case will have an effect on those who may face capital murder charges.
"Mildly mentally retarded people obviously have many strengths," he said. "We have talked to jurors about mental retardation, and a lot of time they really expect someone to have several significant physical and mental symptoms."
Vickers asked visiting Judge H.F. Inderlied Jr. to sentence White to life in prison with a chance of parole in 20 years, but prosecutors are seeking at least 58 years in prison for the murder and attempted-murder convictions.
Vickers said the mentally retarded inmates understand they may not ever see freedom.
"No crime is excusable," he said.
"They are terrible, violent crimes. But the point for White is he will not be executed."
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
kfarkas@plaind.com, 216-999-5079
Highland County judge might be disbarred over con
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 3:06 AM
By James Nash
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Judge Jeffrey Hoskins of the Highland County Common Pleas Court tried to con a con artist, and now Hoskins might pay the price with his law license.
Hoskins' attorney told the Ohio Supreme Court yesterday that although the 60-year-old jurist got mixed up in some questionable financial dealings with a felon whom Hoskins had represented in a fraud case, his offenses don't warrant removal from the bench.
Hoskins' entanglement with David Bliss began in 1999, when the lawyer was hired by Bliss' parents to help shorten Bliss' prison term for felony credit-card fraud convictions.
When Bliss was released, he convinced Hoskins that he was wealthy and got the lawyer to loan Bliss' wife $25,000 for a joint business venture, according to court documents. Bliss then "repaid" Hoskins with a $25,000 check drawn from a closed account, the court records show.
In February 2003, Hoskins took office as Highland County's only common pleas judge.
Two years later, Hoskins bought a building in downtown Hillsboro in a transaction that also plays a key role in the case to remove him from office.
The Ohio Supreme Court's disciplinary counsel, which brought the case against Hoskins, accused the judge of hiding his ownership interest in the building because it was leased to the county's Adult Parole Authority.
The disciplinary counsel said Hoskins engineered a scheme to conceal his ownership of the building because it would pose a conflict of interest to take rent checks from the parole authority, which often comes before Hoskins' court.
The building reunited Hoskins with Bliss, whom he hadn't seen in years.
Apparently still determined to recover his $25,000, Hoskins met with Bliss in December 2005 to persuade Bliss to buy the Hillsboro building at an inflated price.
Hoskins, according to court transcripts, even counseled Bliss on how to keep the transaction secret and how to avoid money-laundering laws when transferring money from a bank account in England that Bliss purported to have.
Unknown to Hoskins, Bliss was wearing a wire, and the conversation was recorded by authorities.
In the Supreme Court hearing yesterday, Hoskins' attorney, George Jonson, insisted that the judge was trying to stay on the right side of the law in his conversations with Bliss.
"He was trying to, in essence, con the con," Jonson said.
The disciplinary counsel, Jonathan Coughlan, said Hoskins was trying to scam Bliss out of more than the $25,000 he was owed.
"Con the con? Absolutely," Coughlan said. "Scam the scam artist? Absolutely. About the $25,000? No."
If the Supreme Court boots Hoskins from the bench, he would be the fourth judge in Ohio to be disbarred in the past 50 years.
The court is expected to release its decision in several months.
The Highland County official tried to scama con artist who took $25,000 from him.
jnash@dispatch.com
Hough's mom begs for his life at death penalty trial
Judy Hough's words tumbled from her mouth in a tangle of sobs and whimpers, her hands quivering like birds searching for a place to land.
"Oh, God please!" she wailed from the witness stand as she begged for her son's life. "He has two kids. He'll never see them again. Please I beg of you! Oh, God please!"
The mother of Cleveland firefighter Terrance Hough Jr. implored Cuyahoga County jurors to have mercy on her son, as they began the sentencing phase of Hough's capital murder trial Tuesday.
The same jury convicted Hough last week on 3 counts of aggravated murder-- with added specifications that could subject him to the death penalty and 2 counts of attempted murder.
Now, they must recommend his punishment: death or life in prison without parole or life with the chance to apply for parole in 25 or 30 years.
Hough, a 36-year-old Cleveland firefighter, gunned down 3 people and
wounded two others when he stormed from his house clutching a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun. He opened fire on his neighbor and a group of friends during a dispute over noise just after midnight July 5.
He killed Jacob Feichtner, 24, who lived next door, as well as Feichtner's friends Katherine Rosby, 26, and Bruce Anderson, 30. Donny Walsh, 24,and his 25-year-old fiancee, Katherine Nicholas, were also shot but survived the killing spree.
Before Hough is sentenced, his lawyers will call on his family, friends and co-workers to testify on Hough's character in an attempt to convince the panel of eight women and four men that he does not deserve to die for his crimes.
Hough has the right to either testify under oath on his own behalf or read an unsworn statement to the jury. His lawyer, Jack Hildebrand, said Tuesday that Hough likely will read a statement. He did not testify during the first part of the trial.
During her emotional testimony Tuesday, Judy Hough described her son as a well-mannered, responsible boy who attended Catholic school and served as an altar boy at St. Patrick West Park Catholic Church.
But he was forced to grow up too soon, she said. As the oldest of five children living with an abusive, alcoholic father, Terrance Hough Jr. helped raise his siblings, often taking on childcare duties, cleaning the house or grocery shopping for the family.
And he took the brunt of the abuse. Judy Hough told jurors that once,when her son came home late from a date, she heard what sounded like a scuffle downstairs. She awoke in the morning to learn that her husband had beaten him unmercifully. Doctors X-rayed Hough's jaw because they suspected it was broken, she said.
Still, Hough dreamed of becoming a firefighter like his father, she said.
And Hough made his parents proud when his dream came true in 1995.
Hough's family and friends said he was a devoted civil servant, husband and father, who spent most of his free time doting over his 2 children Ethan, 6, and Hannah, 4. But Hough had become irritable in recent years,working long hours at a physically taxing job and being forced to live in Cleveland under the city's residency requirements for employees.
They said they knew Hough was a gun enthusiast, but they did not know he owned the 11 guns police found in his home the night he killed Feichtner and the others. They were surprised to hear that Hough carried a handgun wherever he went, they said.
After jurors left the courtroom Tuesday, lawyers debated whether the court should allow testimony from a psychiatrist, who Hough's lawyers said have diagnosed Hough with bipolar disorder since his arrest.
Assistant County Prosecutor John Kosko argued that the jailhouse diagnosis is not necessarily a representation of Hough's psychological state on the night of the murders, and it would be unfair to ask jurors to speculate.
Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold is expected to rule on the matter Wednesday when the hearing resumes.
(source: Plain Dealer)
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