Jan. 31
TEXAS:
Defense lawyers: Skinner won't appear in Pampa
Hank Skinner, the Texas death-row inmate convicted of murdering his live-in
girlfriend, Twila Busby, and her sons, Randy and Elwin "Scooter" Caler, will
not be attending an evidentiary hearing scheduled in Pampa Monday and Tuesday.
An employee who works for Skinner's defense attorneys, Douglas Robinson and
Robert Owen, told The Pampa News that both the state and defense attorneys will
offer witnesses and other evidence, such as laboratory reports, to show what
results were produced by the DNA testing that has been performed in Skinner's
case over the past 18 months. The attorneys will try to argue about what
inferences can be drawn from those test results, she said.
A series of tests on DNA taken from the crime scene have been performed since
June 2012, 2 by a Texas Department of Safety crime lab in Lubbock and one by an
independent laboratory in Virginia.
The Texas Attorney General's Office, who is presenting the state's case to the
court, claims the DNA tests overwhelmingly show that evidence collected at the
crime scene consistently shows that Skinner is guilty of strangling and
bludgeoning Busby in the living room of her home on New Year's Eve 1993.
The defense attorneys claim the DNA tests performed at the Virginia lab point
to Robert Donnell, Twila Busby's deceased uncle, as the real killer in the
triple homicide. The attorneys say it is well known that Donnell was making
unwelcome advances to Busby on the night she was killed.
Judge Steven R. Emmert of the 31st District will not issue a definitive ruling
at the conclusion of the hearing, the employee said.
Instead, the parties will have an opportunity to submit written arguments in
late February, and the judge will issue a definitive ruling after considering
those arguments.
A ruling in Skinner's favor in this proceeding would not automatically reverse
his conviction.
(source: The Pampa News)
FLORIDA----female to face death penalty
Death penalty to be considered in Schenecker trial----Julie Schenecker accused
of killing teen children
New developments in the case against a Tampa mother accused of killing her 2
teenage children in 2011.
A motion hearing Friday morning only took about an 1 1/2 hours of the allotted
4 hour time frame. 2 important questions were answered for the upcoming trial
of Julie Schenecker, charged with 2 counts of 1st degree murder.
The defense argued that seeking the death penalty in the case would be
unconstitutional, citing a court case from years ago.
Hillsborough Circuit Court Judge Bennett Battles sided with state prosecutor
Stephen Udagawa, that it is constitutional. Florida is 1 of 2 states that
acknowledges the death penalty as constitutional, according to the judge.
"In light of the fact that the Florida supreme court has found that the death
penalty scheme to be constitutional," said Judge Battles.
Schenecker, 52, sat quietly in front of Judge Battles during the hearing. The
only sound coming from her side of the table was the occasional noise from her
shackled wrists and ankles. She took a few glances back to her Mom and Dad
seated 1 row behind her in the courtroom.
She's accused of killing her children, Beau, 13, and his sister Calyx, 16, in
their New Tampa home on January 28, 2011. A call from a concerned, out-of-state
relative prompted Tampa Police to make a trip to the house. It was that morning
they made the horrific discovery. Beau's body in the garage and his sister's in
an upstairs bedroom.
Also decided in Friday's hearing, if testimony from a neighbor would be allowed
at the trial. The neighbor said in previous pre-trial interviews that before
the murders, Schenecker said, "I want to kill her." The statement was made
several months before the murders in reference to her daughter, according to
the neighbor.
The state acknowledged that in the time leading up to the murders, both Calyx
and Beau were displaying behavioral issues. Recently released emails from
Schenecker revealed her thoughts about sending Beau away to boarding school.
Issues from both teens seemed to continue to mount.
"Now the fact that this defendant makes a statement well in advance of the
murder also could go to the issue of sanity," explained the State. "That this
is something that's already in her mind. That she's already thinking about it,"
said Battles.
In the end, Judge Battles said he would allow the neighbor's testimony.
"The state has made the case that this is relevant in the case on issues of
premeditation, motive and intent in the relationship between the defendant and
the victim," said Judge Battles.
In emails obtained by the courts, sent before the murders, it was clear
Schenecker was also having problems with her husband.
In 55 pages of personal emails, Colonel Parker Schenecker, who is a military
intelligence officer, says his wife refused to get help and her bi-polar
disorder only got worse over their nearly 20-year marriage.
Her trial is scheduled to start Monday, April 28.
(source: ABC News)
LOUISIANA:
Declared dead once, man faces death penalty in killing of Las Vegas girl
A federal judge in Louisiana has scheduled a hearing Feb. 19 on motions to
dismiss the indictment against a man who was declared dead in Mississippi in
1994, but surfaced in 2010 as a suspect in the deaths of his Las Vegas
girlfriend and her daughter.
Thomas Steven Sanders is facing the death penalty on each of 2 counts in the
kidnapping death of 12-year-old Lexis Roberts, whose body was found in
Catahoula Parish, La., in October 2010. Her mother's body was found later in
Arizona.
Sanders is charged in the child's death in U.S. District Court in Alexandria,
La.
Sanders' lawyer has said in court filings that her client is charged with 2
counts that could lead to the death penalty, but both counts arise from the
same circumstances. They want the entire indictment dismissed, or for
prosecutors to choose just 1 of the 2 counts to pursue.
Sanders was first indicted on a charge of kidnapping resulting in the child's
death in November 2010. Another indictment was issued in January 2011, adding
the charge of using a firearm in a violent crime. In August 2012, prosecutors
said they would seek the death penalty.
Sanders walked away from his family in Mississippi in 1987. His relatives and
ex-wife petitioned a Pike County, Miss., court in July 1994 to have him
declared dead after not hearing from him for years.
Sanders was living at a storage facility in Las Vegas when he met Suellen
Roberts. They planned to take her daughter to Bearizona, a wildlife park near
the Grand Canyon, for the Labor Day weekend in 2010, according to court
documents.
On their way back to Nevada, Sanders pulled over in the desert "ostensibly so
Suellen could shoot his .22 rifle," but instead he shot Roberts in the head,
court records said.
Authorities say he took the girl to Louisiana, where he shot her and cut her
throat. Her body was found by hunters in the woods.
Authorities say Sanders confessed to the child's death after being arrested in
Gulfport, Miss., and directed investigators to the body of Suellen Roberts in
Yavapai County, Ariz.
(source: Associated Press)
_______________________________________________
DeathPenalty mailing list
DeathPenalty@lists.washlaw.edu
http://lists.washlaw.edu/mailman/listinfo/deathpenalty
Search the Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/deathpenalty@lists.washlaw.edu/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A free service of WashLaw
http://washlaw.edu
(785)670.1088
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
