Jan. 29
TEXAS:
Judge tells murder suspect he appointed 'best lawyers I could find'
A Texas prison inmate's desire for a new lawyer in his Bowie County capital
murder case was the subject of much discussion at a pretrial hearing Friday.
"If I wanted him off my case, I could just assault him and he'd be off my case.
But I'm not going to do that. That wouldn't help me at all," Billy Joel Tracy
said of his lead defense attorney, Mac Cobb of Mount Pleasant, Texas, at a
hearing before 102nd District Judge Bobby Lockhart at the Bowie County
Courthouse in New Boston, Texas. Tracy clenched a cuffed fist as he spoke. Cobb
was seated next to him at the defense table.
"I know what my odds are in this courtroom. This man here made it clear to me
what he wants to do with me," Tracy said, referring to Bowie County District
Attorney Jerry Rochelle.
At an earlier hearing, Rochelle told the court his office is taking
extraordinary measures to work with Tracy's defense team, so that "when the
time comes to put a needle in that guy's arm," there won't be any doubt that
the state has followed the law.
Tracy, 39, is charged with capital murder in the death of Correctional Officer
Timothy Davison, who was beaten to death July 15, 2015, while working at the
Barry Telford Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Tracy was
allegedly caught on multiple video surveillance cameras wielding a metal tray
slot bar like a baseball bat to deliver blows during an attack lasting less
than a minute, which proved fatal to Davison. The state is seeking the death
penalty.
Tracy recently filed motions on his own behalf asking for Cobb's removal.
Lockhart addressed the concerns outlined in Tracy's motions, including
complaints that Cobb wouldn't allow him to take possession of copies of court
records at the courthouse following a previous pretrial hearing.
"Defense counsel cannot hand you documents," Lockhart said. "They could be
subject to criminal prosecution if they give you unredacted information."
Information, such as the address of a witness, is removed from copies of court
documents provided to criminal defendants by law. Lockhart said he has learned
that Tracy currently has redacted copies of all the discovery, or information
the state has provided the defense, in his possession. Lockhart pointed out
that reading through and redacting the thousands of pages of documents in the
case is a lengthy process.
"It could take days, if not weeks, to go through all that," Lockhart said.
In response to Tracy's complaints about Cobb, Lockhart explained the logic
behind his decision to appoint Cobb as lead counsel and Texarkana lawyer Jeff
Harrelson as 2nd chair.
Lockhart said he was impressed with Cobb's performance as a defense lawyer in a
case in Red River County. Cobb's grasp of the law, criminal procedure, his
experience as both a defense attorney and a prosecutor, and the opinions of
other judges who've seen Cobb in the courtroom led to Cobb's appointment,
Lockhart said.
"I deliberately didn't want a local attorney for lead counsel," Lockhart added.
Lockhart spoke of Harrelson's experience and ability as well, mentioning a
capital murder case Harrelson tried, which ended with a verdict of life in
prison from a jury that had the death penalty as an option as well.
"The state of Texas is trying to take your life. I have appointed you the best
lawyers I could find. It would behoove you to pay attention to them," Lockhart
said. "I will do this for you though; I'll let you speak at pretrials if you
wish to speak again."
At Friday's hearing, Lockhart expressed concern that Tracy's abundant pro se
motions are filed with the purpose of delaying the trial or to establish
grounds for appeal, particularly ineffective assistance of counsel. Tracy
assured Lockhart that he wants to get the trial over with and that his
complaints about Cobb are based in his desire to have good representation.
Lockhart told Tracy that case law in Texas clearly establishes that a defendant
does not have the right to "hybrid" representation, or to represent himself or
herself at the same time they are being represented by a lawyer.
"Hybrid representation has a great potential for chaos," Lockhart said, quoting
Texas case law. "I want the record to show that this court is not ruling on any
of the motions provided by the defendant unless they are adopted and re-urged
by defense counsel."
Lockhart told Tracy he is free to file whatever he wants and that the court
will read the pro se motions and letters but that he will not rule on them.
Lockhart asked Cobb and Harrelson to provide Tracy with copies of the opinions
that deny a defendant the right to hybrid representation in Texas. Lockhart
asked Cobb if he had any reservations about continuing to represent Tracy. Cobb
said he has had similar, not identical, but similar experiences in other cases
and doesn't plan to leave the case.
Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp told the court that the state and
defense made a site visit to Telford with the Texas Rangers recently and that
copies of technical drawings and other analyses performed will be provided to
the defense.
Tracy has a long history of violence in and out of prison. Tracy's prison
history began in 1995 when he was just 18 and sentenced to a three-year term
for retaliation in Tarrant County, Texas. Three years later, Tracy was
sentenced to life with the possibility of parole, plus 20 years for burglary,
aggravated assault and assault on a public servant in Rockwall County, Texas.
In 2005, Tracy received an additional 45-year term for stabbing a guard with a
homemade weapon at a TDCJ unit in Amarillo, Texas. Tracy was sentenced to 10
years in 2009 for attacking a guard at a TDCJ unit in Abilene, Texas.
Jury selection, which could take weeks, is scheduled for September. If
convicted of capital murder in Davison's death, Tracy faces life without the
possibility of parole or death by lethal injection.
(source: Texarkana Gazette)
OHIO:
Ohio cartoon exhibit explores commentary on capital punishment----"Windows On
Death Row" offers a look at artistic commentary about capital punishment over
the past 50 years
"OK if I take my lunch break now?" a masked executioner says to a colleague
trying to insert a syringe into the arm of a death row inmate strapped to a
gurney.
The scene is depicted in a Sept. 20, 2009, panel by political cartoonist Jeff
Danziger and is one of several political cartoons about capital punishment in
an exhibit at Ohio State University's Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum.
Danziger's cartoon ran a few days after the botched execution of Ohio death row
inmate Romell Broom, which was stopped after executioners failed to find a
usable vein after 2 hours of trying. Broom remains on death row.
"Windows On Death Row," organized by a TV journalist and documentary maker and
her political cartoonist husband, offers a look at artistic commentary about
capital punishment over the past 50 years.
The exhibit also features several drawings and paintings by death row inmates
in Arkansas, California, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, some still behind
bars, some who have since been executed.
The decision to create the exhibit came in 2014 after new debate over capital
punishment arose following troublesome executions in Arizona and Ohio, said
Patrick Chappatte, editorial cartoonist for The International New York Times.
The project is not about crimes that led to death sentences but what comes
afterward, Chappatte said.
"We just hope to encourage a discussion through art. It's not a militant act,"
he said. "We think that sometimes, in places where words divide, and fail to
help us connect, images can do the job."
The exhibit doesn't take an overt position on the death penalty. But the
cartoons are overwhelmingly critical of the practice. The curators are candid
about this, saying no one submitted a pro-death penalty viewpoint. To find
that, officials dug into their files at the cartoon museum, the world's
largest, and found 2.
"Nobody gave me any 2nd chance," says the ghost of a crime victim rising from a
grave in one of the pro-death penalty cartoons, a 1972 illustration by the late
Karl Hubenthal, an editorial cartoonist for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.
The cartoon responded to the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that year
declaring capital punishment unconstitutional.
The inmate art, commissioned from prisoners for this exhibit, ranges from
cartoon-like sketches to deeply nuanced paintings.
Obtaining the work was a complicated process involving contacting inmates,
getting them the materials and then getting the paintings out of prisons, said
Chappatte's wife, Anne-Frederique Widmann, an investigative reporter, producer
and documentary filmmaker for Swiss TV Broadcasting.
The black and white "Self Portrait," by Texas death row inmate Arnold Prieto,
depicts Prieto with his head bowed in despair in a pit of rising water,
manacled to a skull with a Salvador Dali-like clock dripping away the hours.
Prieto was executed in January 2015 for stabbing 3 people to death with 2
accomplices during a 1993 robbery. He was the only one who received a death
sentence.
The painting "depicts how it's like to be inside," the inmate wrote for the
exhibit. "I suffered from depression. It shows what I lived for the past 20
years."
A 5-part series of cartoons by Chappatte recreates his last phone conversation
with Prieto before his execution.
"OK, go in peace," Chappatte says in one panel.
"Thank you, sir. Have a good day," Prieto says as he hangs up.
"Thank God I didn't say, 'You too,'" Chappatte says in the cartoon.
The exhibit opened in Los Angeles in 2015 and has been seen in Oslo, Norway,
and Geneva, Switzerland. It heads to Texas this spring and New York in the
fall.
(source: Associated Press)
KENTUCKY:
Killer Stanford seeks new sentence - or release
Kevin Stanford, who was sentenced to death in 1982 for one of Louisville's most
notorious murders - then had his sentence commuted to life without parole by
Gov. Paul Patton because he was only 17 at the time of the crime - is now
asking to be freed from prison.
Stanford, now 53, filed a petition this week in federal court in Louisville
demanding a new sentencing hearing or the nullification of his sentence.
His lawyer cites a decision last year in which the U.S. Supreme Court said life
without parole for juvenile offenders is unconstitutional unless they are shown
to be "permanently incorrigible," which never has been proved for Stanford.
In a 178-page pleading, Assistant Public Advocate Tim Arnold cites affidavits
from social workers, clergy, prison officials and others saying that Stanford,
notwithstanding some misconduct during his early years in prison, is a changed
man and would be a solid citizen if released.
Stanford, who has earned a college degree behind bars, says in a letter that,
"I am a mature, responsible man. I have made mistakes and corrected them."
Mona Mills, the sister of Stanford's victim, Barbel Poore, said in an interview
Friday that she doesn't buy Stanford's rehabilitation.
"He is a sexual deviant and a killer," she said. "He needs to never come out,
ever, and pray tell he doesn't."
The attorney general's office has said it will oppose Stanford's petition, in
part because its attorneys believe the Supreme Court's decision does apply,
given that Stanford was not sentenced by a court to life without parole. The
ACLU, which helped win the ruling, disputes that.
On Jan. 7, 1981, Stanford and Buchanan, then 16, for 45 minutes took turns
sodomizing and raping Poore, 20, a single mother, who was working alone in the
Cheker Oil Co. station at 4501 Cane Run Road, according to court records.
Stanford drove Poore a few blocks away in her mother's 1973 Chevrolet Impala,
where he let her smoke a final cigarette, then fired 2 shots from a .38-caliber
pistol into her head and face, leaving her body in the back seat with her pants
pulled down around her ankles, her buttocks exposed. Then he returned to the
station, stealing 300 cartons of cigarettes, lighters and $143.
The crime triggered a public furor in which thousands of people petitioned
public officials from the White House to the Jefferson County courthouse
calling for Stanford and Buchanan to be prosecuted - and punished - as adults.
Buchanan was sentenced to life. Sentencing Stanford to die for robbery, sodomy
and murder, then-Circuit Judge Charles Leibson said he knew of no other case in
which a defenseless victim had been so abused, humiliated and terrorized.
But asking Patton to commute the death sentence in 2002 his lawyers claimed he
was mistreated as a child, forced to have sex with a cousin at age 5,
introduced to liquor at 7 and by 10, addicted to drugs and alcohol that he
would trade sex to obtain.
Patton reduced the sentence, sparing Stanford from execution, saying that he
did not support capital punishment for juvenile offenders and that "we ought
not be executing people who legally were children."
2 years later, the Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the death penalty for
killers 17 at the time of their crime is a violation of the ban on cruel and
unusual punishment. But the ruling came too late for Stanford, who was stuck
with the life without parole sentence handed to him by Patton.
In Stanford's petition filed Wednesday by the Department for Public Advocacy,
his lawyers say that he never has been afforded a hearing on whether he is
"permanently incorrigible."
They cite affidavits in which various professionals say he is not.
Patti Webb, a former warden at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, says in one of
them that he is "is capable of succeeding in the community if given an
opportunity to do so."
Linda Luking, a social worker who worked with Stanford while he was at the
Jefferson County Youth Center and again more recently, says in another
affidavit that he has matured and that she "would have no difficulty if he
moved in next door to me."
The petition also includes attestations from prison minister Michael Humble and
his Agape Ministries team who say he has "sincerely accepted the teachings of
Jesus Christ, (and) that he has repented for his sins and sought forgiveness."
Stanford himself says in a hand-written letter that "I am truly sorry that my
involvement 35 years ago caused the death of another human being. We all have
regrets from the past, some are deeper than others. With that comes the need to
be forgiven."
The petition, which was assigned to U.S. District Judge David J. Hale, asks
that Stanford be released from custody unless he is afforded a "meaningful
opportunity for release and any other relief which law and justice require."
His lawyer, Arnold, declined to comment, but the petition appears to ask that
Hale find Stanford's sentence unconstitutional and order the state to either
revise it or hold a new sentencing hearing in which a jury would decide whether
or not he can properly be sentenced to life without parole. Arnold also filed a
motion Wednesday in Jefferson Circuit Court seeking a review.
The latter would be no guarantee of his release, however; the parole board in
2007 ordered Buchanan to serve out his life sentenced, meaning he will die in
prison.
Mills, whose sister Barbel would have turned 56 last August, said Stanford
should be happy he wasn't put to death.
She said that even in prison he continued to "go after the weak." Corrections
Department records show that in 1992, he was placed in disciplinary segregation
for 6 months for sexually assaulting another inmate, according to state
records. "This is beyond ridiculous," she said of Stanford's petition. "We will
oppose it 100 %."
(source: Courier-Journal)
ARKANSAS:
Benton County judge denies convicted killer's request
A murderer who was sentenced to death won't receive another sentencing hearing.
Brandon Lacy, 38, of Rogers was sentenced in 2009 after he was found guilty of
capital murder and aggravated robbery in the killing of Randall Walker, 47, of
Garfield in 2007.
Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green on Wednesday reversed a decision she
made in 2014 when she granted Lacy a new sentencing hearing.
Lacy sought to overturn his death conviction and claimed his case was
prejudiced based on his defense team's poor performance.
Green presided over a hearing in 2014 concerning Lacy's claims about his legal
representation at trial.
Steve Harper, lead counsel in Lacy's case, was critical of his performance at
trial when he testified in September 2014. Harper rated his performance as a 1
on a scale of 1 to 10. Harper also said he's opposed to the death penalty and
wanted Lacy to get a new trial.
Green's order mentioned Harper's relationship with Lacy. Harper told the jury
during sentencing Lacy "had become like not a son to me, more like a grandson."
Green found in 2014 that Lacy was entitled to another sentencing hearing and
not a new trial. Lacy never had the new sentencing hearing because Green's
ruling was appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The Arkansas Attorney General's Office handled the appeal for the state, and
Green's 2014 ruling was reversed in November by the state Supreme Court and
remanded to her.
The state Supreme Court wanted Green to apply an objective standard to Lacy's
claim his defense was ineffective and it deprived him of a fair trial.
Green found Lacy failed to show his trial defense was unprepared or its
performance was deficient or a deficient performance resulted in Lacy being
deprived of a fair trial.
She also found Lacy's trial attorney wasn't deficient and Lacy suffered no
prejudice.
"I am pleased that the court agreed with our argument and denied the
defendant's petition," said Nathan Smith, Benton County's prosecutor. "I am
hopeful that this ruling will eventually lead to some closure for Mr. Walker's
family and ensure that justice is done for this senseless murder."
Broderick Laswell, 28, of Farmington also was convicted of capital murder and
aggravated robbery in the case. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without
parole.
Walker's burned body was found Aug. 30, 2007, in the bedroom of his Beaver
Hollow Road home.
Jurors heard Lacy's recorded confessions in which he admitted hitting Walker
twice on the head with a fireplace poker. Lacy also admitted stabbing Walker
with the poker and said Laswell hit Walker with a weight bar. Lacy also said he
cut Walker's throat.
Investigators found the fireplace poker, the weight bar and a knife blade
prosecutors believe were used to kill Walker.
A medical examiner said Walker was alive when the fire was set.
Lacy is being held on death row at Varner Supermax in Gould. Laswell is being
held in the Cummins Unit in Grady.
(source: nwaonline.com)
MISSOURI----impending execution
Missouri is scheduled to kill again
The November elections brought unexpected tectonic political change. Gov. Eric
Greitens could, for his part, guide Missouri into a welcome, more ethical and
moral era by staying Tuesday's planned execution of Mark Christeson. Such a
merciful act would align with his stated beliefs about the sanctity of life and
that all U.S. citizens have a constitutional right to adequate legal
representation.
Christeson would be the 1st person executed in Missouri since 1989 to have had
no federal appeals, because his attorneys missed a strict filing deadline - by
several weeks. Prior counsel did not meet with their client until more than a
year after they were appointed by the court to prepare Christeson's federal
habeas petition. They then concealed that error from their developmentally
disabled client.
The U.S. Supreme Court, recognizing the threat to his constitutional rights,
stayed his October 2014 execution and directed the lower federal courts to
appoint new counsel. His execution remains a haunting reality even while
litigation is ongoing in federal court to address his constitutional right to
counsel and whether his case should be reopened for federal review.
Christeson, then 18, and Jesse Carter, his 17-year-old cousin, were convicted
of contemptible crimes: raping Susan Brouk and murdering her and her 2
children, Adrian, 12, and Kyle, 9. That February 1998 day, the young men also
stole Brouk's car and other valuables from the family's home near Vichy, then
drove to California, where they were caught. We mourn the deaths of the 3
innocent victims and extend heartfelt condolences to their grieving loved ones.
Although there are no excuses, explanation helps us better understand what
shaped them into being capable of such violence. An initial review of
Christeson's records by attorneys - appointed to challenge his October 2014
execution date - found he has severe mental impairment, likely from multiple
sources: some type of chemical exposure he experienced while in utero; several
concussions leading to unconsciousness; and/or from years of sexual and
physical abuse spanning from infancy through his childhood.
Attorneys also learned Christeson was in special education classes through high
school yet still received primarily failing grades. In standardized tests, he
scored in a range from the lowest up to the 3rd-lowest percentile among
students. A comprehensive social evaluation with psychological testing,
however, has yet to be conducted.
It is heartening that Gov. Greitens recently publicly noted, "We need a justice
system that does justice" for "all of our people. As a constitutional
conservative, I believe, as you do, that the Constitution applies to every
citizen. I believe in the Sixth Amendment, which guarantees the right to a fair
trial and adequate legal representation for all."
The governor, just a few weeks into his term, is confronted with the most
solemn of tasks: He is the final arbiter of fairness and justice for all
Missourians in this life-or-death matter. If courts fail to intervene, Greitens
should at least stay Christeson's execution and allow for his ongoing federal
litigation as directed by the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2015.
What is Missouri's explanation for the premeditated execution of another human
being who is securely incarcerated and not a threat to society? Rage and
revenge, it would seem, and not reason.
Just who gets sentenced to death has always been a judicial crapshoot in the
hands, typically, of a few, often politically ambitious, prosecutors. About 2 %
of them are responsible for pursuing the vast majority of all death sentences
nationally in response to murders in primarily Southern states. All murders are
tragic, including the more than 15,000 lives that have been taken in our state
since the late 1970s, when Missouri reinstituted the death penalty. About 200
people have been sentenced to death in Missouri since then.
Capital punishment is becoming more arbitrary, "cruel and unusual" than ever in
Missouri and across the country - hence, all the more clearly, it is an
unconstitutional punishment. Christeson is among 25 men living under a death
sentence. For 5 of the past 7 years - including the past 3 - no Missouri
circuit court has sentenced anybody to death.
The Department of Corrections, deeming prisoners who have been sentenced to
death no more dangerous than anyone else convicted of murder, did away with its
"death row" more than 15 years ago. The remaining men are integrated, depending
upon other factors, into the Potosi Correctional Center general population of
more than 1,000, including hundreds who committed murders and were sentenced
instead to life without parole.
Please contact Gov. Greitens' office. Urge him to commute Christeson's death
sentence to life or at least stay the execution while the courts complete their
constitutionally enshrined review. Call 573-751-3222; fax a letter to
573-751-1495 or email it via www.governor.mo.gov, then click "Get Involved."
Residents are also invited to attend "Vigils for Life" on Tuesday if the
execution is not halted before then: from noon to 1 p.m. in Jefferson City
outside the governor's office, Room 216 in the Capitol. Car-pooling is
available from Columbia at 11:15 a.m., from the Clovers parking lot on East
Broadway near Old 63. Another vigil from 5 to 6 p.m. will take place in front
of the Boone County Courthouse, Walnut and Eighth streets in Columbia. Call
573-449-4585 for more information.
(source: Columbia Daily Tribune)
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