June 23
TEXAS:
Texas Seven' ringleader denied appeal
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Wednesday denied an appeal from the
ringleader of the 7 inmates who broke out of a South Texas prison, killed
a police officer then avoided authorities during a monthlong nationwide
manhunt.
The appeal from George Rivas, who orchestrated the biggest prison break in
state history in 2000, was automatic under state law. In 2001, he was
convicted and sentenced to die for the slaying of Irving police Officer
Aubrey Hawkins, a father of one.
The escapees who became known as the "Texas Seven" were apprehended in
Colorado in January 2001. One inmate killed himself there rather than be
captured, but each of the surviving escapees has been since condemned for
killing Hawkins.
During trial, Rivas had asked to be executed, saying he didn't want to
live in prison like an animal. He was already serving a life sentence for
robbery and kidnapping when he escaped and told jurors that he planned the
break because "I wasn't going to die an old man in prison."
Others involved in the break from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Connally Unit in Kenedy in South Texas were Randy Halprin, Donald
Newberry, Michael Rodriguez, Patrick Murphy Jr., Joseph Garcia and Larry
Harper, who killed himself in Colorado.
Rivas raised 17 points in his appeal, including claims that the trial
judge should not have allowed into evidence statements he made while in
custody in Colorado, that pretrial publicity may have tainted the jury,
ineffective counsel regarding DNA evidence and that gruesome autopsy
photos should not have been shown to the jury.
The court was unanimous in rejecting his claims.
*************************
Hearings resume as inmate waits for clemency
Joe Lee Guy, who has been waiting nearly 6 months for Gov. Rick Perry to
decide whether to commute his death sentence, will return to court
Wednesday for hearings on whether he should have been sentenced to die.
According to his clemency petition, Guy was an unarmed lookout in a 1993
robbery-murder in Plainview. The other two men convicted in the slaying of
62-year-old Larry Howell at a grocery store were sentenced to life.
Guy appealed based on the behavior of a defense attorney and an
investigator during sentencing, and the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
in August sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Sam Cumming's Lubbock
court for evidentiary hearings.
The hearings began in October but were halted after Guy's clemency
petition was filed.
After reviewing the clemency petition, the Texas Board of Pardons and
Paroles in January recommended Perry commute Guy's sentence to life in
prison.
The hearings are set to proceed today because Perry has not yet ruled on
the commutation, said Steve Wells, Guy's appellate attorney.
Perry said June 14 that "we are not ready to make a ruling on that yet."
His office on Tuesday said the recommendation is still under review.
The evidentiary hearings deal only with Guy's sentencing, not his
conviction.
(source for both: Associated Press)
*************************
Retesting continues for cases processed by the embattled DNA lab
Prosecutors are urging additional review of evidence in 1/3 of the most
recent batch of retested cases originally processed by the now-closed
Houston Police Department DNA laboratory.
The Harris County district attorney's office announced the retest results
in 27 cases Tuesday. Of those cases, nine face additional testing or a
review of the original analysts' notes and other documentation.
3 of the 27 cases were retests of evidence in cases that previously had
been retested and reported as having possible problems. In those three
cases, the most recent tests validate the original work of the HPD lab,
said Assistant District Attorney Marie Munier, who is overseeing the
massive retesting effort.
Meanwhile, 3 lawyers told a judge Tuesday that County District Attorney
Chuck Rosenthal and members of his office should be disqualified from
assisting in next week's court of inquiry that will look at questions
surrounding the Houston police DNA lab.
State District Judge Dean Rucker of Midland will preside over the inquiry,
scheduled to begin July 1. Last week, Rucker announced that the
investigation will be limited to the allegation that Jim Bolding, the
former head of the DNA lab, committed perjury during a rape trial.
However, the 3 lawyers who presented the original motion for creating the
court of inquiry have asked Rucker to allow the inquiry to include
allegations that 2 county prosecutors solicited false testimony from
witnesses.
The district attorney's office has been reviewing evidence processed by
the police department's DNA lab in nearly 400 cases. So far, 293 cases
have been retested. About 20 % of those, or 61 cases, have shown problems
or the need for additional testing and review.
New retests were inconclusive in the case of convicted killer Gary
Hawkins, the son of Gary Graham, a Texas death row inmate who was executed
amid international protest 4 years ago Tuesday. Original retests,
according to Munier, did not confirm that Hawkins was the killer of Melvin
Ray Pope in March 2000.
Munier told the Houston Chronicle in Wednesday's editions that a private
lab then tested extracted evidence, which also failed to produce a DNA
profile.
The conviction of Hawkins was not based solely on DNA evidence. Court
testimony included statements from his cousin, who said Hawkins shot Pope.
(source: The Associated Press)
******************
Retested DNA back to the lab -- 9 more HPD cases need review, prosecutors
say
TESTING TOTALS
Overall DNA lab retest results:
Cases to be tested: approximately 400.
Retest results released: 293.
Retests indicating possible problems or the need for additional testing or
review: 61 (20 %).
Evidence in 1/3 of the most recent batch of retested cases originally
processed by the now-closed Houston Police Department DNA laboratory will
require additional testing or review, the Harris County district
attorney's office said Tuesday.
Of 27 cases, 9 face additional testing or a review of the original
analysts' notes and other documentation.
Additionally, three of the 27 cases were retests of evidence in cases that
previously had been retested and reported as having possible problems. In
those three cases, the most recent tests validate the original work of the
HPD lab, said Assistant District Attorney Marie Munier, who is overseeing
the massive retesting effort.
The district attorney's office is reviewing evidence processed by HPD's
DNA lab in almost 400 cases. To date, 293 cases have been retested. Of
those, 61, or about 20 %, have shown problems or the need for additional
testing and review.
Most of the problems identified so far have been the result of a lack of
evidence to retest rather than definitive proof that evidence was
mishandled by the HPD lab. However, critics of the review process have
complained that many of the retests have been conducted on evidence
extracted from the original source -- evidence that they contend is
suspect since the extractions were performed by the HPD lab.
Among the 9 cases now set for additional testing are 2 previously
newsworthy cases.
- In 2001, Lawrence James Napper was convicted and sentenced to life in
prison in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 6-year-old boy.
However, according to Munier, retests produced a DNA profile that belonged
to neither the victim nor Napper.
Weaker DNA markers tend to point toward Napper, but the final results were
inconclusive, Munier said.
Questions about Napper's possible innocence first were raised in a
February 2002 Houston Chronicle story in which DNA expert Elizabeth
Johnson described the evidence in the case as "potentially seriously
flawed."
Contacted Tuesday, Napper's attorney remained cautious.
"I don't think he did it, but the problem is in proving it," said Bob
Wicoff. "As I understand it, there's nothing left to test."
- New retests also were inconclusive in the case of convicted killer Gary
Hawkins, the son of Gary Graham, the Texas death row inmate who was
executed amid international protest four years ago Tuesday.
According to Munier, the original retests did not confirm that Hawkins was
the killer of Melvin Ray Pope in March 2000.
Munier says a private lab then tested extracted evidence, which also
failed to produce a DNA profile.
Hawkins' conviction was not based solely on DNA evidence. Court testimony
included statements from his cousin, who said Hawkins shot Pope.
The district attorney's office has ordered technical reviews of the
documentation in both the Hawkins and Napper cases, Munier said.
"So, we're down to just looking at the paperwork," said the assistant
prosecutor. She added that the lack of evidence left to retest may prevent
ever being able to confirm either case.
"It's kind of up to the defense attorneys to do something -- to file some
kind of writ," said Munier. "And I would think it would also depend on
what other evidence of guilt there is."
The 7 defendants in the other cases in which the most recent retests were
inconclusive include:
- Samuel Lawrence: Convicted of capital murder in 1996 and sentenced to
life in prison.
- Beerien Crouch: Sentenced to 45 years in prison in 2002 for aggravated
robbery.
- DeCarlos Garrett: Serving 45 years for an aggravated robbery conviction
in 2002.
- Reginald Jackson: Pleaded guilty to murder in 1998 and sentenced to five
years in prison.
- Marlon Eversole: Sentenced to 10 years in prison for intoxicated assault
with a vehicle in 1998.
- Robert Wallace: Serving 60 years for a 1999 murder conviction.
One of the cases involved a man arrested for burglary in 1992, but the
charges later were dropped.
The HPD's DNA lab was shut down in December 2002 after an independent
audit revealed poor scientific methods and substandard working conditions
at the facility.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
*******************
Letter: So much for compassion
President Bush couldn't find enough adjectives to describe his anguish
over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. In his apology to the Arab world, he
stated he was "sorry for the humiliation suffered by the Iraqi prisoners
... humiliation of their families."
Humiliation? Remember Karla Faye Tucker? She was an inmate on death row in
Texas during George Bush's tenure as governor. She was a model inmate and,
as is Bush, a "born-again Christian." In spite of pleas for mercy from
various religious leaders, Gov. Bush refused to intercede on her behalf.
After her execution, Bush gave a magazine interview where he impersonated
the woeful sound of her voice begging for mercy. For Tucker's family,
Bush's mocking her plea for mercy might remind them (and me) of the
humiliation the Iraqi inmates and their families have suffered.
So much for our born-again, compassionate conservative president.
JOHN ANDREWS -- VESTAL
(source: Binghamton (NY) Press & Sun-Bulletin)
