Dec. 15
MONTANA----inmate seeks to drop appeals Triple murderer seeking execution Triple murderer David Dawson will appear by video today in a Billings courtroom where he is expected to ask a judge to clear a legal path for his own execution. The hearing before District Judge Gregory Todd is the latest step in Dawson's 18-month effort to end the appeals of the death sentence he received in 1987 for the murder of an 11-year-old boy and the boy's parents at a Billings motel. The hearing was ordered by the Montana Supreme Court after Dawson notified both state and federal courts in July 2004 that he wants to withdraw his appeals and set a date for his execution. Todd will determine whether Dawson is competent to make the request. Todd's decision will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Dawson's effort to expedite his execution was helped when Senior U.S. District Judge Jack Shanstrom ruled Monday that Dawson is mentally capable of deciding to drop his appeal in federal court. Shanstrom said Dawson "understands his current position and is making a rational choice" to end the appeal of his death sentence in federal court. The ruling follows a recommendation submitted in June by U.S. Magistrate Richard Anderson. Shanstrom granted Dawson's request to dismiss his appeal in federal court. The order also dismissed his court-appointed attorneys, William Hooks and Kathryn Ross, from any further involvement in Dawson's case. Dawson's court-appointed attorneys have argued that his decision to end his appeals is influenced by the "intolerable" conditions of life on death row at the Montana State Prison. In previous court records, Hooks and Ross argued that Dawson's decision to end his appeals was influenced by the suicides of 2 death row inmates in recent years. The attorneys said Dawson should not be allowed to withdraw his appeals. Dawson argues in court records that he was "adamant" from the beginning of the appeals process that he did not want a long, protracted legal fight against his death sentence. Dawson said in a brief filed with Todd on Dec. 1 that he is at odds with his attorneys and wants them dismissed. "The case has been reduced to the attorney's false sense of need to 'win' this case no matter the cost, including going against the express wishes of the defendant," Dawson wrote. Montana Assistant Attorney General Pam Collins said it is the state's position that Dawson should be allowed to drop his appeals if he is found competent. Collins and Yellowstone County Attorney Dennis Paxinos will attend the hearing today. Dawson will appear by video from the state prison in Deer Lodge. Dawson is acting as his own attorney. Todd previously appointed attorney Ed Sheehy to assist Dawson if requested. Shanstrom's ruling to dismiss Dawson's case in federal court could be appealed to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals by Ross and Hooks, Collins said. Dawson, 48, was sentenced to death for killing David and Monica Rodstein and their son, Andrew. Dawson kidnapped them and the Rodsteins' 15-year-old daughter, Amy, from their motel room. Dawson killed the couple and their son over the course of 2 days before police rescued Amy and arrested Dawson. (source: Billings Gazette) ARKANSAS: Death Row Inmate Pleads Guilty To 3rd Murder An Arkansas death row inmate who confessed to killing another man in a letter to the editor of The Pine Bluff Commercial has pleaded guilty to the second death. Kenneth Williams entered the plea Tuesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court. In a hearing at the Jefferson County, Williams said he took the life of Jerrell Jenkins by shooting him twice on December 13th, 1998. After reading the charges, Circuit Judge Berlin Jones asked Williams if he was guilty as charged. Williams replied, quote, "Yes I am." Williams received a death sentence for the October 3rd, 1999, slaying of 57 year old Cecil Boren after Williams broke out of the Cummins Unit at Varner. He had been serving a sentence of life without parole in the slaying of University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff cheerleader Dominique "Nikki" Hurd. On Tuesday, the judge sentenced Williams to another term of life without parole in Jenkins' slaying and to life on a charge of aggravated robbery and ten years on a charge of theft of property. In a June letter to the newspaper, Williams said that on the day of the cheerleader's death, he also killed the 36 year old Jenkins, of Pine Bluff. (source: Associated Press)
