June 19
TEXAS----female foreign national may face death penalty
Murky rules for applying Supreme Court decision sparks heated exchange--
Judge: Camacho's retardation results to be reviewed by expert.
The state's rusty application of a Supreme Court decision barring
execution of retarded criminals may have been behind an outburst that
rousted defense and prosecuting attorneys, threatening a fist-de-cuffs in
open court Friday.
Angela Camacho - a 24-year-old Mexican citizen charged with murdering her
3 children last year in a downtown apartment - could be spared the death
penalty under that Supreme Court ruling.
A defense-chosen psychiatrist tested Camacho far below the retardation
line earlier this year.
The Supreme Court, however, left the job of setting standards for applying
the retardation ruling up to individual states. The state Legislature
failed to do so in last year's legislative session, leaving it up to each
individual court to decide procedure.
Defense and prosecutors were hedging each other Friday, trying to get
their own way with the application of the ruling when words turned sharp
and attorneys shot out of their chairs, apparently ready for a brawl.
As a bailiff escorted defense attorney Ernesto Gamez from court,
prosecutor Paxton Warner called Gamez a 4-word obscenity, witnesses said.
Defense wants an existing IQ test that found Camacho retarded to stand
without review, and be used to save her from the death penalty before a
jury gets to hear the case.
Prosecution wants their own expert to review those findings, and to also
interview Camacho face-to-face.
Judge Benjamin Euresti sided with prosecution, and has given prosecution 2
weeks to name 3 experts from which Euresti will choose one.
Defense attorneys said they will instruct Camacho to remain silent and
invoke her Fifth Amendment right when the expert attempts to interview
her.
Gamez told The Herald on Friday that he questioned Warner's integrity,
saying that prosecution told the Mexican Consulate that death penalty
proceedings would be dropped if tests proved Camacho was retarded.
Although Warner admitted that prosecution agreed to drop death penalty
proceedings if the evidence shows Camacho is retarded, he said that he
wants to make sure that the evidence is valid by appointing another expert
to review those findings.
"We're just tired of defense trying to make (Camacho) out to be the victim
here," Warner told The Herald. "There are only 3 victims in this case, and
they are the children who are dead."
Gamez said he was sorry the conflict escalated to such a sharp pitch, and
that Warner's reaction could have stemmed from frustration with the
persistence and ingenuity of defense attorney techniques.
Camacho's common-law husband John Allen Rubio, 23, was convicted of the
decapitations last year and sentenced to death. He awaits an appeal.
(source: Brownsville Herald)
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Veteran prosecutor tapped for U.S. attorney post
A day after U.S. Attorney Jane Boyle won approval to the federal bench,
Texas' 2 U.S. senators named a veteran federal prosecutor based in Fort
Worth as her replacement.
Republicans Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn recommended Friday that
President George W. Bush nominate Richard Roper, 47, as the region's top
federal prosecutor.
"His many years of experience prosecuting important cases in North Texas
make him superbly qualified for this post," Sen. John Cornyn said Friday
in a written statement.
If approved by the Senate, Mr. Roper would take over the prosecutions of
federal cases in the Northern District of Texas - a 100-county section
from Dallas to Wichita Falls to Lubbock. He would replace Ms. Boyle, whom
the Senate unanimously approved on Thursday as a new U.S. District judge
based in Dallas.
Mr. Roper, 47, has worked as an assistant U.S. attorney since 1987, most
recently as the district's deputy criminal chief and as a senior
litigator. He also has served as the district's ethics officer.
"He was one of my go-to guys. He handled a lot of the big trials that we
had," said Paul Coggins, the Dallas-based U.S. attorney for much of the
1990s. "He's been a supervisor in the office so long, and a lot of the
judge respect him. [The transition] will be seamless."
Mr. Roper started his career in the Tarrant County district attorney's
office.
A Fort Worth native and graduate of Southwest High School, Mr. Roper
earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Arlington and a
law degree from Texas Tech University.
As a federal prosecutor, Mr. Roper obtained the 1st death-penalty
convictions in the region under a law that permits capital punishment for
abductions ending in deaths.
He also obtained prison sentences against several members of the Ku Klux
Klan who were caught by FBI agents before they could blow up a gas
refinery near Bridgeport in an effort to cover an armored car robbery.
"Richard Roper has served with integrity as chief deputy and has won the
acclaim of those who worked with him," Sen. Hutchison said.
(source: Dallas Morning News)
***********************
Manhunt continues for accused gunman----Police seek boyfriend in
abduction, release of girlfriend's child
The manhunt continues today for a man accused of killing a 4-month-old
baby while shooting at his girlfriend, police said.
Augustine Eke, also known as Austin Eze, is charged with capital murder in
the shooting death of infant Brianna Battle outside a northeast Houston
gas station Friday. The baby's body later was found dumped in a parking
lot behind a snack foods warehouse half a mile away.
Eke's girlfriend and the baby's mother, Chandra Yvette Battle, 22, also
was shot and wounded. She told police she had been dating Eke for more
than a year, but it was not clear whether he was the baby's father.
After the shooting, Eke sped away in his car with the wounded infant and
her 2-year-old sister while Battle ran into the street, flagging down
passing cars for help, police said. The other child, Jasmine Battle, was
later found safe in a Pasadena home where Eke had dropped her off.
The shooting happened about 1:45 p.m. Friday inside the car wash at a
Texaco station in the 9200 block of the North Loop East near Wallisville
Road, as Eke and the children's mother were arguing in his car, police
said.
Eke is accused of turning and shooting into the car's back seat, where
Chandra Battle and 2 children were sitting, police said. Chandra Battle
and Brianna Battle, who was beside her mother in a child car seat, were
hit.
After the shooting, Chandra Battle ran from Eke's car, leaving the two
children there, and tried to flag down passing drivers, Houston homicide
investigators said.
Eke is accused of continuing to shoot at the frantic mother as he chased
after her on foot, then in his vehicle. He then sped away with the
children.
An autopsy is being done this morning on the slain infant, who was shot in
the left side of her face. Police had reported Friday that the baby was 16
months old, but corrected that Saturday.
Eke, 48, remains at large. He also goes by the nicknames of "Jamaica" and
"Pimp," homicide investigators said. He is black with a dark complexion,
about 5 feet 5 to 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs about 140 to 160 pounds and
has short hair.
Police said he may be in a red Ford Ranger pickup or a 2004 black Jeep
Grand Cherokee with tinted windows. They do not know the license plates of
either vehicle.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
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Texas Democratic Party Endorses a Moratorium on Executions in its 2004
Party Platform
The Texas Democratic Party today adopted a party platform that calls on
Texas to enact a moratorium on executions and a ban on executions of
juvenile offenders, among other death penalty reforms included in an
extensive new platform section on capital punishment. Charles Soechting,
chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, spoke to the party's Death Penalty
Reform Caucus on Friday, June 18, and assured the caucus that he supported
the moratorium and that it would be in the platform.
The co-chair of the Platform Committee, state representative Garnet
Coleman of Houston, presented the platform to the floor of the convention
on Saturday afternoon, saying, A moratorium is certainly what this party
wants. The convention then adopted the platform.
Moments before the state convention adopted the platform, the convention
was presented with a moratorium resolution that had been signed by more
than 1/3 of the convention attendees. The convention adopted the
moratorium resolution by an overwhelmingly positive voice vote. 18
volunteers had collected the almost 1700 signatures over the course of the
2-day convention. Below is the language adopted in the Texas Democratic
Party platform:
Capital Punishment
When capital punishment is used, the people must be assured that it is
fairly administered. The Texas death penalty system has been severely
criticized by major Texas newspapers, religious leaders, and the appellate
courts. On May 18, 2004, Governor Perry even refused a 5-1 recommendation
made by his Republican appointees to the Board of Pardons and Paroles, who
asked him to commute the death sentence of a person with mental illness to
life in prison. We extend our deepest sympathies to all victims of crime
and especially to the family members of murder victims, and we strongly
support their rights. At the same time, we recognize that reform is
necessary to protect the innocent and improve the administration of
justice in Texas.
In the modern era, Texas has executed more than 320 people by far more
than any other state in the nation. The frequency of executions and
inadequacies in our criminal justice system increase the likelihood that
an innocent person will be executed. In order to promote public confidence
in the fairness of the Texas criminal justice system, the Texas Democrats
support the establishment of a Texas Capital Punishment Commission to
study the Texas death penalty system. During that study, we recommend a
temporary moratorium of executions pending action on the Commissions
findings. The commissions report should include recommendations to correct
any problems or inequities found in the administration of the capital
punishment in Texas, including consideration of the following reforms:
Life without parole, to give juries the option of sentencing offenders
convicted of capital crimes to life without the possibility of release or
parole.
The right to be properly represented by counsel, to ensure that every
person accused of a capital crime, regardless of income, race or the
county of jurisdiction, has equal access to qualified trial and appellate
attorneys, including the establishment of an Office of Public Defenders
for Capital Cases.
Use of DNA technology, to remove legal barriers to allow the proper use of
all available technologies to insure guilt or innocence before executions
are carried out.
A ban on executions of people who commit offenses as juveniles.
Allowing death penalty appellants to argue racial discrimination using
sentencing statistics, to ensure that no Texan is sentenced to death
because of race.
Procedures for implementing the Supreme Courts 2002 ban on executions of
people with mental retardation.
Banning execution of the mentally ill and providing juries with sentencing
options in such cases, including life without parole.
The right to consular notification, to provide non-US citizens arrested in
Texas their right under international law to contact their consulates.
Requiring the Board of Pardons and Paroles to meet in person to discuss
and vote on every case involving the death sentence.
(source: S. Cobb)
