June 4 TEXAS: With 90 minutes to spare, Texas death row inmate granted a reprieve A Texas death row inmate received a reprieve from execution about 90 minutes before he could have been put to death Tuesday after lawyers questioned the legality of the state's lethal injection procedures. Derrick Sonnier, convicted of killing a suburban Houston woman and her 2-year-old son, would have been the 1st Texas inmate put to death in the nation's busiest capital punishment state in nearly 9 months. Executions had been on hold while the U.S. Supreme Court considered a similar challenge to injection procedures in a Kentucky case. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals halted the execution in October of condemned inmate Heliberto Chi on the same issues, that lethal injection procedures were unconstitutionally cruel. And although the Supreme Court ruled 6 weeks ago the Kentucky injection method was constitutional and cleared the way for executions to resume nationally, Texas' highest criminal court hasn't ruled in the Chi case, 1 of 2 Texas capital cases with similar claims. "If they've got these cases up there, it really just kind of violates basic legal principles" to hold executions, said David Dow, one of the lawyers who filed the late appeal in Mr. Sonnier's case. Mr. Sonnier, 40, declined to comment from a small holding cell just a few feet from the death chamber. He was returned to death row, about 45 miles to the east at a prison near Livingston. "I respect the court's decision," said Roe Wilson, a Harris County assistant district attorney who was handling Mr. Sonnier's case and sought the execution. "This is a terrible offense. I feel for the victims' relatives, and I hope this is an issue that is resolved soon." It was not immediately clear how Tuesday's outcome will affect the other 13 executions scheduled in Texas in the coming months. Those include 2 from the Dallas area: Karl Chamberlain, who is set to die next week for the 1991 rape-slaying of a Dallas woman, and Charles Hood the following week for the 1989 slayings of 2 people in Plano. ******************************** Texas high court creates integrity unit An appeals court in the state that leads the nation in both executions and wrongful convictions overturned by DNA evidence said Wednesday it will create a new integrity unit to examine and correct problems in the justice system. The study group was announced by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Barbara Hervey, whose court handles death penalty appeals and other criminal cases. Hervey will be a member of the Texas Criminal Justice Integrity Unit and said its creation is "a call to action" for reform. Since 2001, 33 Texas inmates have been exonerated using DNA testing, including 17 in Dallas County. Key issues to be considered include: - Improving eyewitness testimony. Experts say unreliable testimony is the No. 1 problem in wrongful convictions. - Reforming standards for collecting, preserving and storing evidence, which may be needed for future testing during an appeal. - Eliminating improper interrogations and protect against false confessions. - Improving crime lab reliability. - Improving the qualify of lawyers appointed to poor defendants. One issue not listed was use of the death penalty. Of the 42 executions in the United States last year, Texas accounted for 26. Texas has executed 405 inmates since the death penalty was reinstituted in 1982. Hervey said the integrity unit is not a suggestion that she and the other judges on the court believe an innocent person may have been executed in the past. >{? While some appeals from death row cases may involve the same issues, "I don't want to treat death row claims about innocence any different that somebody else's claims," Hervey said. The integrity unit could meet for the 1st time next month, Hervey said. Some of the reforms may need an act of the Legislature. Although all 9 members of the court are Republicans, Hervey said the integrity unit is not a forum for a particular group or political party. Initial members include state Sen. Rodney Ellis, a Houston Democrat who has long advocated criminal justice reforms; district attorneys from Dallas and El Paso; law enforcement; defense attorneys; a district judge; and a member of Gov. Rick Perry's staff. "We've reached a tipping point in Texas in terms of wrongful convictions," Ellis said. "We have to make sure the mistakes that have happened don't continue to happen." Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins, who was elected in 2006, said the integrity unit could put Texas at the forefront of reforms nationally. The panel probably will discuss use of the death penalty in the context of how to make sure someone isn't wrongfully executed. "What safeguards can we put in place from an appeals standpoint to make sure we've done everything before that ultimate decision is made?" Watkins said. David Dow, law professor at the University of Houston and director of the Texas Innocence Network, said two areas that must be addressed are how to use eyewitness accounts as evidence and how to preserve evidence for future testing. If police discard or destroy physical evidence after trial, wrongly convicted inmates could lose their chance at appeal if new, better tests are developed later, Dow said. (source for both: Associated Press) ************************ Victims family reacts to delay Protesters arrived outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justices Walls Unit shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday to rally against the execution of Derrick Sonnier. Sonnier, convicted of the 1991 murder of his neighbor, Melody Flowers, 27, and her 2-year-old son, Patrick, was scheduled to become the 1st Texas inmate to be executed since September 2007. But the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals gave Sonnier a reprieve from execution less than 2 hours before he would have received the lethal injection at 6 p.m. His lawyers questioned whether the states lethal injection procedures were legal. While protesters waved signs outside the Walls Unit, the victims family members were present, but they stayed far from the group. "He is a cancer to our family," said Celma Mcellan, sister of Melody Flowers, of Sonnier. "We wanted to hear him appolgize for her kids and her family. "We wanted to hear him say 'I'm sorry for what I did and Im sorry for the pain I have caused y'all.' We don't even know what kind of kid Patrick would have been. He might have been the president for all we know or the mayor of this city. "We don't know, he never had that chance he was only a baby. I can't believe he's still breathing and they're not." Gwen Price, Melody Flowers' cousin, was also devastated by the news of Sonnier's stay. "He had no right to go in and do what he did to her and my nephew," Price said. "Now they're going to let him stay? We lost." At the other end of the street, a group of protesters quietly stood or sat on folding chairs holding up signs. One of the 15 protesters Tuesday afternoon was David Atwood of Houston, a member of The Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. "I've been up here quite a few times," Atwood said. "We're just here as a protest against the death penalty. We don't think that we need it. "There's life without parole now, and you can have a safe society without executing people. It just doesn't make sense to do it anymore. I think there are a lot of people even here in Huntsville who are against the death penalty, even though you have the execution chambers here and you have all these prisions around." "We have 370 people on death row now, and a lot of us feel that the death penalty is being driven now more by the politicians instead of the people, because most people want safety but theyre not into killing people," Atwood said. "The majority of people would choose life without parole instead of the death penalty, according to polls done by Stephen Klineberg who's a professor of Sociology at Rice University." Andre Latallade, better known nationally as Capital "X," left his home in New Jersey and walked more than 1,700 miles to date in support of the abolition of the death penalty. He is the visionary behind the WALK 4 Life campaign. He was also present for the protest. "This is my 1st time to acutally be at an execution, but I definitely feel I need to be here," Latallade said. Kristin Wood, wife of death row inmate Jeff Wood, was also present during the prostest. Currently a Norwegian citizen, Wood splits her time between the States and Norway, so she can fight the death penalty on her husband's behalf. "I really feel for the victims and the victims' families," Wood said. "I wish that these things would never happen, but it doesn't do any good, you know. Murder doesnt justify murder. All it does is create more victims. They want to take away a father, a brother, a son; the whole law of parties has got to go. Over here in Texas, they all go by 'n eye for an eye,'but how many eyes are going to take for one pair of eyes? I don' get it." On Feb. 3, 1998, after then-Gov. George W. Bush denied her request for clemency, Karla Faye Tucker became the 1st woman to be executed in Texas since the American Civil War. Tuesday, her victim's brother, Ronald Carlson, stood outside the courthouse protesting the death penalty. "We as human beings do not have the right to destroy what God has created," Carlson said. "A lot of the pro-death penalty people look to the Old Testament, and say 'eye for an eye,' and Im like, 'that's what God said.' But we live in the New Testament days. "The day that Daniel Ryan Garrett got the death penalty, my words to the prosecutor were, 'I guess they got what they deserved.' But at that point I was for it; as time went on I had to really decide where I stood because I found that all the anger and hatred I felt wasnt going away, it was getting worse. "Before all this it wasnt an issue for me; it was just news. But when it happens in your own backyard, you have to live with in you have to decide. "I witnessed the execution of Karla Faye Tucker here at the Walls Unit; she was pronounced dead at 6:45. I made that walk, and actually saw the execution it's the real deal." (source: Huntsville Item) ***************************** Defense testimony in police shooting trial contradicts video Defense attorneys began presenting testimony Tuesday in the capital murder trial of a 28-year-old man accused of fatally shooting a Dallas police officer. Wesley Lynn Ruiz led police on a short chase through West Dallas in March 2007 then shot Senior Cpl. Mark Nix through the car window, according to prosecutors and police. Defense attorney Paul Brauchle called one witness Tuesday afternoon, who testified she saw the chase and shootout that followed. Maria Carrera, 38, walked into her back yard, where she said she saw police shooting at the car Mr. Ruiz had been driving. Then she said she saw Cpl. Nix fall down and officers continued shooting. That contradicts evidence that prosecutors Kevin Brooks and Andy Beach have presented, including video from 2 police car dash cameras that showed Dallas police officers firing into the car only after Cpl. Nix was shot and fell to the ground. If Mr. Ruiz is convicted, he faces the death penalty. Testimony is scheduled to resume this morning. (source: Dallas Morning News) ******************* Texas death row inmate tries to void sentence Attorneys for a former University of Texas student on death row for killing an Austin police officer again asked an appeals court to throw out his sentence. David Lee Powell, 57, was sentenced to death 3 times for the 1978 killing of Ralph Albanedo. The officer had pulled over Powell's girlfriend for not having a proper license plate on her car. Powell was a passenger in the car. Albanedo was shot 10 times by an automatic assault weapon. Powell's attorneys told a 3-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Tuesday that prosecutors did not timely deliver documents in the case. The documents showed Powell's girlfriend, Sheila Meinert, may have tossed a hand grenade and fired during a standoff after Albanedo's shooting. (source: Associated Press)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
Rick Halperin Wed, 4 Jun 2008 14:59:18 -0500 (Central Daylight Time)
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin
- [Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS Rick Halperin