Sept. 3
TEXAS:
Suspect in Kaufman County slayings allegedly plotted 2 other deaths
A former Kaufman County justice of the peace accused of murdering the Kaufman
County district attorney, his wife and an assistant prosecutor last year was
also plotting to kill 2 others - including the current district attorney -
according to court documents filed Tuesday.
Eric Lyle Williams, 47, is charged with capital murder in connection with the
January 2013 fatal shooting of Kaufman County Assistant District Attorney Mark
Hasse, 57, near the courthouse. Authorities say 2 months later Williams gunned
down District Attorney Mike McLelland, 63, and his wife, Cynthia, 65, in their
home. Williams' wife, Kim, also has been charged with capital murder in the
deaths.
The latest court documents contend that Eric Williams conspired to kill Kaufman
County District Attorney Erleigh Norville Wiley, who was appointed in April
2013. Eric Williams also conspired to kill former state District Judge Glen
Ashworth, the documents allege.
Wiley and Ashworth could not be reached for comment.
The documents do not explain why prosecutors believe Williams wanted to kill
Wiley and Ashworth. Wylie was a criminal court judge in Kaufman County before
being appointed district attorney by Gov. Rick Perry. Williams was Ashworth's
court coordinator for a time. The documents indicate Williams plotted to kill
Ashworth as far back as 2005.
Williams was initially arrested April 13, 2013, on a charge of making a
terroristic threat after authorities said he emailed county officials
threatening another attack. At the time, officials did not reveal who was
threatened. He was later charged with capital murder in the slayings of the
McLellands and Hasse.
One of the documents filed Tuesday by special prosecutors Bill Wirskye and Toby
Shook seems to indicate that they are likely to prosecute Williams at his
December trial only in the slayings of Mike and Cynthia McLelland. Prosecutors
are seeking the death penalty. Also on Tuesday, the defense filed a motion
seeking to delay the trial.
But Wirskye and Shook want state District Judge Mike Snipes to allow them to
tell jurors, who will decide Williams' guilt or innocence, about the Hasse
killing and about a 2012 theft case in Kaufman involving Williams that they
believe ties him to both slain men. They say that proving their case involves
showing Eric Williams was acting out a "revenge plan" against the 2
prosecutors. According to Wirskye, Williams had no motive to kill Cynthia
McLelland except that she was at home with her husband.
Eric Williams' attorney Matthew Seymour declined to comment about the filings.
Only in rare circumstances are jurors told about a defendant's prior
convictions or "bad acts" before the punishment phase of a trial. Prosecutors
are expected to argue at a Sept. 12 hearing before Snipes that this should be
one of the exceptions.
"The murder of a prosecutor is a rare event. When that prosecutor is murdered
outside the courthouse, there is no shortage of suspects - including the likely
list of defendants from the same murdered prosecutor's past docket," Wirskye
wrote in the filing. "When another prosecutor from the same office and his wife
are then murdered only 2 months later, it is an unprecedented occurrence. ...
The list of common defendants, consists of only one defendant - Eric Williams.
Hasse and Mike McLelland tried only one case together - the hotly contested
Eric Williams burglary case."
During that trial, McLelland and Hasse portrayed Williams as a thief and a man
with a violent streak. McLelland told the judge that Williams was "bereft of
honor." McLelland and Hasse pushed for prison time, but Williams got probation.
More allegations
The new court documents also allege:
--Eric Williams sent a message to Crime Stoppers confessing to killing Mark
Hasse and the McLellands.
--Eric Williams rented a storage unit a month before Hasse was fatally shot.
The unit was used to store getaway cars connected to both slayings. Eric
Williams' home computer was also used to conduct Internet searches on Hasse and
Mike McLelland.
--On the day of the McLelland slayings, Eric Williams dumped a phone, a mask
and 2 revolvers in Lake Tawakoni. The mask and 1 of the guns were used in
Hasse's slaying, according to the court documents.
--DNA evidence from earplugs found in the getaway car used in the Hasse slaying
was linked to Eric Williams.
--Cellphone records show both Eric and Kim Williams were near the area during
the McLellands and Hasse slayings. --Kim Williams, who filed for divorce after
their arrests and who has been cooperating with the investigation, is expected
to testify for the state.
(source: Dallas Morning News)
CONNECTICUT:
The Rev. Al Sharpton speaks against death penalty at Yale
Among mostly Yale University undergraduate students, the Rev. Al Sharpton spoke
Tuesday on how he is against the death penalty, explaining execution does not
resolve problems.
Speaking Tuesday evening at Woolsey Hall, Sharpton, head of the National Action
Network, said the death penalty doesn???t resolve any justice, and suggested
life in jail as a possible solution. The event was held by the Yale Political
Union.
Students in the audience questioned Sharpton's thoughts about the death
penalty, suggesting death is an acceptable punishment to those who receive it.
"Once you execute them, you can't repair the damage (that) is done," Sharpton
said to one student, suggesting an alternative should be life in prison.
"Execution is the end of the story."
Sharpton also mentioned sentencing someone to life in prison could give a
person the chance to be exonerated if they have been wrongfully accused of a
crime.
"He's very relevant for the political climate," said student Adrian Lo, speaker
of the Yale Political Union. "We want undergraduates to debate about political
questions."
Sharpton has been on the forefront of several marches including the death of
18-year-old Michael Brown, who was killed by a police officer in Ferguson,
Missouri, in August and in Staten Island, New York, where he led a march after
the death of Eric Garner, who was killed by New York police officers.
In addition to public activism, Sharpton holds multiple jobs, including as a
radio host and MSNBC personality.
(source: New Haven Register)
NORTH CAROLINA:
DNA frees 2 innocent NC men 30 years after wrongful conviction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DNA evidence frees 2 innocent N.C. men 30 years after wrongful conviction
One of the exonerees is North Carolina's longest serving death row inmate
On Tuesday, 2 men, including North Carolina's longest serving death row inmate,
were exonerated and released from prison after serving 30 years for a rape and
murder they did not commit.
New DNA evidence, which proved their innocence, prompted a Robeson County judge
to dismiss all charges against Henry Lee McCollum, who was living under a death
sentence, and his half-brother, Leon Brown, who was serving a life sentence for
the rape. Both are severely intellectually disabled and were teenagers -
McCollum 19 years old, Brown just 15 - at the time of their arrests in 1983.
McCollum and Brown were released after a hearing Tuesday morning in Robeson
County Superior Court, in which the North Carolina Innocence Inquiry
Commission, an independent state agency, detailed the results of its
investigation, including DNA testing of items found at the crime scene. The
Commission found that none of the items could be traced to McCollum or Brown.
Instead, critical DNA evidence matched another individual named Roscoe Artis, a
convicted rapist and murderer who lived less than 100 yards from where the
victim???s body was found.
Lawyers for the 2 men said the new testing leaves no doubt about their clients'
innocence.
"It's terrifying that our justice system allowed 2 intellectually disabled
children to go to prison for a crime they had nothing to do with, and then to
suffer there for 30 years," said Ken Rose, a senior staff attorney at the
Center for Death Penalty Litigation in Durham, who has represented McCollum for
20 years. "Henry watched dozens of people be hauled away for execution. He
would become so distraught he had to be put in isolation. It???s impossible to
put into words what these men have been through and how much they have lost."
Robeson County District Attorney Johnson Britt agreed that McCollum and Brown
are innocent of all charges, and consented to their unconditional release. No
further charges will be brought against them. Judge Douglas Sasser signed an
order acknowledging the men's innocence.
The men's attorneys said they appreciated Britt's efforts to correct wrongs
that occurred under the previous prosecutions. "We are most grateful to Johnson
Britt, who has shown a strong desire to find the truth and to make sure that
these 2 innocent men don't spend any more time in prison," said James Payne, a
Wilmington attorney who represents Leon Brown.
McCollum and Brown were sentenced to death in 1984 for the murder of Sabrina
Buie, an 11-year-old girl who was brutally raped and suffocated in the Robeson
County town of Red Springs. Her body was left in a field, along with beer cans
and cigarette butts. Investigators believe the girl was lured by her killer to
drink beer, then attacked and killed.
Brown's sentence was later reduced to life in prison and his charge reduced to
rape, but McCollum has remained on death row through decades of appeals. Each
had pursued many other legal avenues for relief until the Commission took up
Brown's case in 2010. The Commission ordered new testing and uncovered evidence
that the men???s attorneys had not been able to obtain, all of which points to
McCollum and Brown's innocence.
The DNA match with Roscoe Artis was especially significant because, less than a
month after Sabrina Buie's killing, Artis raped and killed an 18-year-old girl,
Joann Brockman, in shockingly similar circumstances. Both crimes happened in
Red Springs, a town of only 4,000 people. Both victims were sexually assaulted,
asphyxiated, and left in fields wearing only a bra. Artis was sentenced to
death for Brockman's murder, but his sentence was later reduced to life in
prison. Despite the similarities between the 2 crimes - and the fact that
police suspected Artis of yet another similar rape and murder in Gastonia -
police failed to investigate Artis as a suspect in Buie's murder. Artis also
had a long criminal record including more than a 1/2 dozen incidents of
attempted rape and assaults on women. "This case is a tragedy which has
profoundly affected not only the lives of the people involved, but which
profoundly affects our system of justice in North Carolina," said Ann Kirby,
another attorney for Leon Brown. "This case highlights in a most dramatic
manner the importance of finding the truth. Today truth has prevailed, but it
comes thirty years too late for Sabrina Buie and her family, and for Leon,
Henry, and their families. Their sadness, grief, and loss will remain with them
forever."
The only evidence that tied McCollum and Brown to the crime were false
confessions that law enforcement obtained from the disabled teens, who even as
adults have the intellectual ability of children. McCollum at first told police
he knew nothing about the murder, but at 2 a.m. on Sept. 29, 1983, after 5
hours of intense interrogation, he signed a confession written by police. Soon
after, his younger brother, Brown, also confessed.
North Carolina law now requires homicide interrogations to be recorded or
videotaped, but at the time, no such laws were in place. There are no
recordings of the confessions, which contain details that are factually
impossible.
McCollum and Brown were originally prosecuted jointly by Robeson County
District Attorney Joe Freeman Britt, who earned the nickname "World's Deadliest
DA" for winning nearly 50 death sentences during his 12 years as chief
prosecutor. At that time, there were also no laws preventing children and
people with intellectual disabilities from being sentenced to death.
In 1991, courts granted the brothers separate new trials, saying the trial
judge gave improper instructions to the jury. At Brown's new trial, the judge
acknowledged that there was little evidence of murder, dismissing it.???The
jury, however, convicted Brown of rape, and he received a life sentence.
McCollum was again convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
In the years since their false confessions, McCollum and Brown have maintained
their innocence.
"In these old cases, tried under very different laws from what we have today,
it is so difficult to root out the truth," Rose said. "It's even harder when
the defendants are intellectually disabled or mentally ill, as so many on death
row are. We were so lucky that the Innocence Inquiry Commission agreed to take
this case. We can only be thankful that our client wasn't executed before we
had the chance to prove his innocence."
(source: dupontcirclecommunications.com)
**************************
Statement of Richard Dieter, Executive Director of the Death Penalty
Information Center, on the Exoneration of Henry McCollum and Leon Brown
"The conviction and sentencing to death of 2 black teenagers with intellectual
disabilities (mental retardation), based almost entirely on shaky confessions
obtained under extreme duress, sounds like a case from another era. But these
men - Henry McCollum and Leon Brown - were freed in North Carolina today. It
would be naive to assume there are no more such cases among the thousands of
inmates who remain on death row, or that similar mistakes weren't made among
the nearly 1,400 people who have been executed.
"McCollum and Brown lost 30 years of their lives due to this injustice. If they
had been executed as planned, the price would have been infinitely higher.
Taking the death penalty off the table would at least guarantee that innocent
people will not be executed."
-- Richard Dieter, Executive Director, Death Penalty Information Center,
September 2, 2014
(source: Death Penalty Information Center)
*******************************
Scalia Once Pushed Death Penalty For Now-Exonerated Inmate Henry Lee McCollum
A North Carolina death row inmate exonerated by DNA evidence on Tuesday was
once held up by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia as an example of someone
who deserved to die. M
When the court declined to review an unrelated death row case out of Texas in
1994, Justice Harry A. Blackmun issued a dissenting opinion arguing that
capital punishment is cruel and unusual, and therefore unconstitutional.
Scalia answered back with an opinion of his own:
"For example, the case of an 11-year-old girl raped by 4 men and then killed by
stuffing her panties down her throat," Scalia wrote in Callins v. Collins. "How
enviable a quiet death by lethal injection compared with that!"
He was referring to Henry Lee McCollum, who at the time had already been on
death row for 12 years. McCollum's conviction was overturned on Tuesday when
DNA evidence implicated another man in the case.
McCollum had been on death row for almost 30 years.
Superior Court Judge Douglass Sasser also overturned the conviction against
McCollum's half-brother, Leon Brown, who has been serving a life sentence in
connection with the case.
Blackmun later responded to Scalia, writing of the flaws in the case as well as
McCollum's mental capacity.
"That our system of capital punishment would single out Buddy McCollum to die
for this brutal crime only confirms my conclusion that the death penalty
experiment has failed," he wrote. "Our system of capital punishment simply does
not accurately and consistently determine which defendants most 'deserve' to
die."
Scalia has been a frequent and vocal supporter of the death penalty and even
once suggested that an innocent man had never been put to death, at least in
recent years.
"It should be noted at the outset that the dissent does not discuss a single
case - not one - in which it is clear that a person was executed for a crime he
did not commit," Scalia wrote in the 2006 Kansas v. Marsh case. "If such an
event had occurred in recent years, we would not have to hunt for it; the
innocent's name would be shouted from the rooftops by the abolition lobby."
(source: Huffington Post)
****************************
DNA clears North Carolina inmates after 30 years in prison; Half-brothers
released after newly discovered evidence clears men in 1983 rape and murder of
11-year-old Sabrina Buie
North Carolina's longest-serving death row inmate and his half-brother serving
a life sentence have been exonerated and released from prison after spending
more than 30 years behind bars for a rape and murder they did not commit.
Robeson County superior court acted with lightning speed to free the two men,
Leon Brown and Henry McCollum, who were 15 and 19 at the time of their arrest
in 1983. It was testimony to the overwhelming strength of the evidence that was
presented to the court that judge Douglas Sasser cleared them of the murder of
11-year-old Sabrina Buie on the 1st day of a hearing to consider new DNA
evidence in the case.
The evidence absolved McCollum and Brown, now 46 and 50, of any link to
biological material collected at the crime scene. It also found a positive
match with a known sex offender from the same small town who was living just
feet away from the field in which Buie's body was found.
McCollum was held on death row throughout his 3 decades in prison as an
innocent man. His lawyer, Ken Rose of the Center for Death Penalty Litigation
in Durham, who has fought the case for the past 20 years, pointed out that both
his client and Brown are diagnosed as having intellectual disabilities.
"It's terrifying that our justice system allowed 2 intellectually disabled
children to go to prison for a crime they had nothing to do with, and then to
suffer there for 30 years. Henry watched dozens of people be hauled away for
execution. He would become so distraught he had to be put in isolation. It's
impossible to put into words what these men have been through and how much they
have lost."
Co-counsel for Brown, Ann Kirby, said: "This case is a tragedy which has
profoundly affected not only the lives of the people involved, but which
profoundly affects our system of justice in North Carolina. This case
highlights in a most dramatic manner the importance of finding the truth. Today
truth has prevailed, but it comes 30 years too late for Sabrina Buie and her
family, and for Leon, Henry, and their families. Their sadness, grief, and loss
will remain with them forever."
The dramatic release of the 2 prisoners now puts the spotlight on the police
department in Red Springs, a small town in the south of the state of just 3,000
people. In court documents filed by lawyers for McCollum and Brown the police
department is accused of having framed false confessions for the duo which they
made the arrested teenagers sign after hours of interrogations.
The town's police force is also accused of having hidden boxes of crucial
evidence in its office from the time of the boys' trial in 1984 right up to
last month. The existence of the evidence, gathered at the crime scene, was
never disclosed either to the boys' defence teams or to the district attorney
prosecuting the case.
The current district attorney for Robeson County, Johnson Britt, agreed on
Tuesday that the two men are innocent and consented to their unconditional
release. No further charges will be brought against them.
(source: The Guardian)
GEORGIA:
Georgia Inmate Seeks Ruling on Determining Intellectual Disablity to Avoid
Execution; In May of this year, the United States Supreme Court tossed the
death sentence of Freddie Lee Hall who has an IQ of 71.
Attorneys for Georgia death row inmate Warren Lee Hill, Jr. hope an earlier
ruling by the United States Supreme Court on another case will help spare
Hill's life.
That ruling centers on proving intellectual disability and what's acceptable in
preventing a death sentence.
WABE's Rose Scott reports attorneys for Hill have filed a new petition based on
the SCOTUS ruling.
In May of this year, the United States Supreme Court tossed the death sentence
of Freddie Lee Hall who has an IQ of 71.
His lawyers challenged the Florida law that required an IQ of 70 or below to
avoid the death penalty.
The high court ruled that fixed line was unconstitutional.
In Georgia, it's different.
What the state calls "mentally retarded" must be proven beyond a reasonable
doubt and the individual's IQ holds little weight.
Warren Lee Hill, Jr. has an IQ of 70 and has been assessed to be intellectually
disabled by 3 state doctors.
Hill's attorney Brian Kammer says he hopes the state will consider the Supreme
Court's ruling.
"What this new decision out of the U.S. Supreme court says is, you can't just
enact procedures willy nilly that may in fact cause people with an intellectual
disability to be executed more often than not."
Kammer has been on Hill's legal team since 1996.
Along with others, they have filed numerous motions and petitions to stop
Hill's execution.
It's been years of back and forth in court proceedings and once Hill was just
30 minutes away from being executed.
WABE legal analyst Page Pate and criminal defense attorney says this latest
petition is the best written of the bunch.
"It reads very well. The arguments are laid out in a logical and understandable
manner."
However, Pate adds it???s unlikely a superior court judge would overturn the
state's beyond a reasonable doubt standard, but believes a decision could come
from another court.
That would force Hill???s attorneys to petition the Georgia Supreme Court.
Warren Lee Hill was already serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend
when in 1991 he was sentenced to death for killing fellow inmate Joseph
Handspike.
(source: WABE news)
***************************
Request for public records in clemency case denied
Dawson County's request for the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to
declassify information regarding its decision to grant clemency to a man
convicted of a 1991 slaying has been denied.
The board's director of legal services, La'Quandra Smith, wrote in Aug. 18
letter that "after thorough and careful consideration of the request, the board
has decided not to declassify those materials."
There were no additional comments or explanation.
The Dawson County commission last month voted to demand answers after the state
board's ruling eliminated the death sentence for Tommy Lee Waldrip, who was set
to be executed on July 10 for his part in the murder of Keith Lloyd Evans, who
worked at a Forsyth County food store.
In a rare decision, the 5-member board commuted the sentence within 2 hours of
hearing testimony from the Evans family and prosecutors wishing to see the
death penalty sentence carried out, as well as Waldrip's relatives and lawyers
requesting that his life be spared.
The decision means Waldrip will spend the rest of his days behind bars.
The county commission called for full disclosure of the classified
documentation.
According to Commission Chairman Mike Berg, the county spent an estimated
$750,000 to prosecute the case against Waldrip and his 2 co-defendants.
In separate trials, Howard Livingston and John Mark Waldrip, son of the elder
Waldrip, were sentenced to life in prison for their parts in the slaying.
County Attorney Joey Homans said local leaders are considering an appeal to
Gov. Nathan Deal and Attorney General Sam Olens to have the material made
public.
The Georgia Sheriffs' Association has also asked that the private documents be
made available to the public.
In a letter dated July 29, President Wiley Griffin wrote "the premeditated
murder of Keith Evans ... has devastated his family, the Dawson County
community and many others throughout the state for over 23 years. Families
across the state deserve no less than our full attention to their need for
relevant information affecting their lives."
Dawson County Sheriff Billy Carlisle was working as a patrol deputy, about 3
years into what has become a more than 26-year law enforcement career, when
Evans' murder rocked the then tight-knit community of about 10,000.
He was devastated when he learned clemency had been granted for Tommy Lee
Waldrip.
"It doesn't give much credit to our justice system. A jury found him guilty, a
judge sentenced him to death, the Supreme Court ruled against him and they took
it upon themselves to change his sentence. It makes no sense to me. It's very
disappointing," he said.
Evans was set to testify against John Mark Waldrip and his brother-in-law,
Livingston, in the trial for a 1989 armed robbery of the grocery store where he
worked.
The trial was scheduled to start 2 days after he was reported missing.
In October 1994, a jury found Tommy Lee Waldrip guilty of malice murder, 2
counts of felony murder, kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated battery.
Waldrip also was convicted of 5 counts of aggravated assault, theft by taking
motor vehicle, arson in the 2nd degree, intimidating a witness and concealing a
death. In addition, he was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a
convicted felon and 2 counts of possession of a firearm in the commission of a
felony.
He was sentenced to death.
The Evans family questions if all the measures taken to find justice for her
brother has "been in vain."
"The board seemed to be concerned that Tommy was only one of the three murders
to receive the death penalty," said Evan's sister, Angela DeCoursey. "If this
is perhaps the reasons they denied the execution, and since the board has
ultimate authority, why would they not have issued John Waldrip and Howard
Livingston a death sentence?
"After all, the 3 were equally guilty in the premeditated murder of my
brother."
(source: Forsyth News)
LOUISIANA:
Agency handling area death penalty defense services could close by the end of
the year
Kenneth Willis' attorneys says they don't have the staff or money to take his
case to trial as scheduled Oct. 13, and foresee a similar fate for all the
area's publicly-funded capital murder defense cases.
Willis is accused of 1st degree murder for the 2007 death of his infant son,
Zamian. In June, his attorneys Jason Waltman and Elton Richey filed motions to
withdraw from his case citing funding issues for their organization Capital
Assistance Project of Louisiana, or CAPOLA.
The group would be unfunded July 1 unless they worked out a new contract with
the Louisiana Public Defender's Board.
Although they had a verbal agreement and averted an immediate shutdown, the
financial troubles persist. CAPOLA hasn't received any money since the start of
the fiscal year and could now close before the end of 2014.
At least 1 Caddo prosecutors isn't buying the story and says it could be a
tactic to abolish death row practices from a corner of the state using it most.
"To suggest that these lawyers aren't adequate because they had to bad
outcomes, if that's all you look at, why don't you look at the whole body of
work over forty years, and see what the outcomes are," Caddo assistant district
attorney Dale Cox said.
The Louisiana State Public Defender Board ordered a review of CAPOLA services
in late 2013 after jurors returned the death penalty in back-to-back Caddo
cases: Marcus Reed in October and Rodricus Crawford in November. During the
review period, jurors handed the same fate for cab driver Brian Horn in DeSoto
Parish.
After the review, the board decertified one attorney, reportedly put CAPOLA
director Richard Goorley on provisional certification, and declined to continue
the contract July 1 with a plan to work towards renewal.
Facing a funding crisis and running only on cash reserves, CAPOLA's since
slashed office space and lost staff in search of a more stable paycheck.
Goorley says some of the agency's employees, primarily younger professionals,
"read the writing on the wall." Six people have left CAPOLA since Jan. 1,
including 2 attorneys.
ADA Cox says he's practiced law long enough to know when an attorney is doing a
good job and blames the CAPOLA losses on the facts rather than performance.
"If your position's that the CAPOLA group has had such poor outcomes that they
don't deserve renewal of their contract, they why not decertify all their
lawyers?" Cox asked.
Since it's founding in 2002, CAPOLA's handled 87 capital cases. The agency had
only had one death penalty returned - and upheld after appeal - in the years
before 2013. Last year alone, they had three.
Cox says a record of 4 death penalty returns over 87 cases suggests to him that
the state board seeks to manipulate the system, at least slowing down the legal
process if not effectively banning the death penalty by getting rid of all the
lawyers qualified to try those cases.
LPDB Capital Case Coordinator Jean Faria denies board members have an
abolitionist agenda.
"We have always anticipated when we dealt with CAPOLA... we would grant the
funding," Faria said in Caddo court Aug. 27.
Goorley seconded Faria's sentiment saying, "I feel the concerns they had were
legitimate concerns. I just have serious problems with the way they handled
those concerns."
The state board has 2 independent parties assessing CAPOLA and expects a
recommendation sometime next week.
If CAPOLA can't reach a funding agreement, there are a couple of options.
First, Goorley could cut staff down even further, but that would likely require
taking primary attorney Elton Richey off of Willis's case and the payroll
entirely. Next, Goorley said he would ask the court to cover their costs.
If neither of those methods work and CAPOLA closes, the State Board would add
local cases to the state-wide wait list, which already has 4 cases in the queue
for representation, including State v Reginald Williams.
When a Caddo grand jury upgraded Williams' charges from 2nd to 1st degree
murder Aug. 20, it was wait listed because CAPOLA can't take new cases while
unfunded.
(source: KTBS news)
OHIO:
Ohio Supreme Court upholds death sentence for killer who shot woman at
Cleveland laundry mart
The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence of a man condemned to die
for shooting a woman at a Cleveland laundry mat.
The court's 6-1 ruling came in the case of Jeremiah Jackson, convicted of
killing Tracy Pickryl in 2009 at the end of a crime spree in Cleveland,
Sandusky and Lorain.
The court's decision Tuesday rejected defense arguments that the judge showed
bias against Jackson by holding an unsolicited hearing to determine if Jackson
had a mental disability.
Justice Terrence O'Donnell, writing for the majority, said the judge wanted to
ensure that Jackson, who an expert determined is not mentally disabled,
received a fair trial.
Dissenting justice William O'Neill said the hearing shouldn't have been held
after Jackson's attorneys chose not to raise the issue.
(source: Associated Press)
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