June 13 TEXAS: Killer's new execution date is July 23 Condemned double killer Derrick Juan Sonnier, who was spared from death last week by a last-minute court reprieve, has been scheduled to die by injection July 23. State District Judge Michael Wilkinson signed a court document Friday resetting Sonnier's execution date, said Roe Wilson, a Harris County assistant district attorney. Sonnier was set to die by injection June 3 when the Court of Criminal Appeals granted a stay of execution following 11th-hour appeals. The next week, the court rejected his appeals. His 1st execution date was waived to await a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Kentucky case that questioned the constitutionality of the lethal injection process. In April, the high court upheld the practice. Sonnier was sentenced to die for the 1991 murders of single mother Melody Flowers, 27, and her son Patrick, who was 2. (source: Houston Chronicle) ******************************** Convicted killer of mom and child gets new death date Convicted killer Derrick Sonnier, spared a trip to the Texas death chamber a week ago by a late reprieve from the state's top criminal court, was reset on Friday to die July 23. Sonnier's lethal injection June 3 was blocked by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals about 90 minutes before he was scheduled to die for the 1991 slayings of a suburban Houston woman and her 2-year-old son. Attorneys for Sonnier, 40, cited then-unresolved cases before the appeals court that had raised questions about the constitutionality of lethal injection procedures used by Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials at a Huntsville prison. The court this week rejected appeals in those cases and lifted the reprieve given to Sonnier, clearing the way for executions to continue in the state. Texas on Wednesday evening carried out its 1st execution in nearly 9 months. Similar arguments brought by 2 condemned Kentucky inmates to the U.S. Supreme Court had halted all executions in the nation from last September, when the high court agreed to consider their appeal. The justices rejected the appeal in mid-April. With Sonnier's reprieve dissolved, Harris County prosecutors on Friday obtained the new execution date from State District Judge Michael Wilkinson. Sonnier is among at least 13 Texas inmates with execution dates in the coming months, including one next week and now 4 for next month. Last year 26 convicted killers were put to death in Texas, the most of any state. Sonnier was condemned for the fatal shootings of Melody Flowers, 27, and her son, Patrick, at their apartment in the Houston suburb of Humble. Flowers had been stabbed, beaten with a hammer and strangled. Her child was stabbed eight times. Both were found floating in a bathtub. Sonnier initially was scheduled to die in February. That execution date, however, was withdrawn by prosecutors pending the outcome of the Kentucky case before the Supreme Court. (source: The Associated Press) ********************** Attorneys seek reversal of execution, saying judge and district attorney were romantically involved In the 18 years since Charles Dean Hood was condemned for a double murder in Collin County, his execution has been scheduled five times including next Tuesday. On Thursday, his attorneys filed an unusual appeal, claiming Mr. Hood's conviction should be reversed, alleging the trial judge was intimately involved with the district attorney, creating an appearance of impropriety. "It's very serious," said Mr. Hood's attorney, Greg Wiercioch of the Texas Defender Service. "It's not a delaying tactic." Mr. Hood's attorneys don't point to any specific impact on the case, but they say the impression of possible bias was unfair. Collin County prosecutors declined to comment, but a prosecution expert says the defense must prove actual damage to the case and not rely on mere "rumors." The former judge, Sue Holland, did not return calls for comment. Neither did the former prosecutor, Tom O'Connell. Rumors about a romantic relationship between the two have circulated for years, including in a Salon.com article in 2005. But Mr. Wiercioch says the issue is being raised officially for the first time five days before Mr. Hood's scheduled execution because a former assistant district attorney filed an affidavit about the alleged conflict. The former prosecutor, Matthew Goeller, said in an affidavit filed with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that the relationship was "common knowledge" and casts "a reasonable doubt on the judge's capacity to act impartially." Mr. Goeller, who worked at the district attorney's office from 1987-96, and is now in private practice, could not be reached for comment. "We had tried to get information that went beyond just speculation," Mr. Wiercioch said. "This is the first time that we were able to get somebody from the district attorney's office, who worked in that office with District Attorney Tom O'Connell, who was in that office at the time Charles Hood's trial took place, somebody who's obviously very credible." John Rolater, assistant district attorney for Collin County, declined to comment on the case, citing the pending litigation. But Rob Kepple, executive director of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, said the appeal with Mr. Goeller's affidavit "sure sounds like a 'Hail Mary' to me." "Mr. Goeller said what everyone else did ... there are rumors of a romantic relationship," Mr. Kepple said. "He doesn't say 'firsthand knowledge.' He doesn't say 'I saw it' or 'I know it's true.' All he says is 'It's common knowledge.'... I don't think that's very impressive." The appeal is pending before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals where Judge Holland served for several years after leaving the district court in Collin County. She retired in 2001. Mr. O'Connell left the district attorney's post after 30 years in 2002. Robert Schuwerk, professor at the University of Houston Law Center and co-author of a book on legal ethics, said the allegations, if true, are serious. But removing a judge at trial is easier than winning a reversal. On appeal, judges generally look for actual bias rather than just the appearance of impropriety, he said. The impact of an affidavit from a former prosecutor is "somewhat damning," he said. And it may be enough "to get you to the intermediate ground of saying, 'This needs to be looked into.' " Mr. Hood, now 38, was convicted in 1990 of robbing and shooting Ronald Williamson and his girlfriend, Tracie Lynn Wallace, at Mr. Williamson's home in Plano in 1989. Mr. Hood was living at the house and working for Mr. Williamson at the time. (source: Dallas Morning News) *************************** Texas Inmate Says Judge and Prosecutor Had Affair Lawyers for a Texas inmate facing execution next week filed court papers on Thursday accusing the judge at his double-murder trial of having an affair with the prosecutor. The papers, filed in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, argue that the relationship between the judge, Verla Sue Holland, and the man who was district attorney of Collin County, Tom O'Connell, should nullify the conviction of the inmate, Charles Hood, in 1990. The filing says that Judge Holland had a "personal and direct interest in the outcome of the case" and that "the wall of silence that has long protected Judge Holland must now come down." "Under these circumstances," Gregory Wiercioch, Mr. Hoods lead lawyer, said in an interview, "Judge Holland had a clear duty to let the parties know about her relationship and to recuse herself, because anybody knowing these facts would be shocked that she presided over this capital murder trial." Neither Mr. O'Connell, 66, who has practiced law in Plano after retiring as a prosecutor in 2001, nor Ms. Holland, also 66, responded to phone messages. The petitions include an affidavit from a former assistant district attorney, Matthew Goeller, who said that the 6-year relationship between Judge Holland and Mr. O'Connell was "common knowledge" and that it raised "reasonable doubt on the judge's capacity to act impartially." The relationship was reported by Salon.com in 2005. Mr. Goeller was past president of the Criminal Defense Lawyers Association in Collin County, near Dallas, and a former director of the Collin County Bar Association. He is currently out of the country, Mr. Hood's other lawyers said. The relationship between the judge and prosecutor, Mr. Hood's lawyers said, violated his right to a fair trial under the United States and Texas Constitutions. The Texas Constitution says that the judiciary must be extremely diligent in avoiding any appearance of impropriety and must hold itself to exacting standards lest it lose its legitimacy and suffer a loss of public confidence." Mr. Hood's lawyers also filed an amendment on Thursday to a reprieve request with Gov. Rick Perry. Judge Holland was on the Criminal Court of Appeals from 1997 to 2001, not completing her full 6-year term. At least 7 of the 9 current judges who will decide Mr. Hood's case served with her. Mr. Hood was convicted in the murders in 1989 of his supervisor, Ronald Williamson, and Mr. Williamson's girlfriend, Traci L. Wallace. They were found shot to death in Mr. Williamson's house in Plano. Shortly after the killings, Mr. Hood was arrested with some belongings of Mr. Williamson. He pleaded not guilty and continues to maintain his innocence. His execution is scheduled for Tuesday. (source: New York Times)
[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----TEXAS
Rick Halperin Sat, 14 Jun 2008 12:09:02 -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