Oct. 7
TEXAS:
Murderer must die, Texas appeals court rules, despite victim’s family’s
opposition
An appeals court has rejected a lower court’s recommendation that urged judges
to spare the life of a death row inmate or give him another sentencing hearing
because prosecutors lied during his trial.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals issued a ruling Wednesday saying that Paul
David Storey has to die, despite an impassioned plea from the parents of the
man he murdered that asked the court to let him live.
Storey’s attorneys, Mike Ware and Keith Hampton, said they are considering
options, and are now planing to ask the appeals court to reconsider its ruling.
Three of the nine judges on the appeals court dissented from the court’s
majority opinion.
“The opinion says two things,” Ware said. “It’s OK for a lawyer to lie and say
untrue things to the jury and to the judge, and it’s OK for the prosecutor to
cover up that lie and the courts will allow that lie to go forward. I refuse to
accept that is the law.”
The court postponed Storey’s execution days before he was scheduled to die.
Glenn and Judy Cherry, the parents of Jonas Cherry, the murder victim, said
they never wanted to see their son’s killer put to death and that they told
prosecutors early on about their feelings concerning the death penalty.
Attorneys for Storey argued that the Cherrys told prosecutors about their
opposition to the death penalty, yet during the sentencing phase of the trial,
the state argued that everyone in the family was in agreement with the use of
the death penalty.
Christy Jack, then a Tarrant County prosecutor who is now a partner at Varghese
Summersett, told the jury: “And it should go without saying that all of the
Jonas’ [the victim’s] family and everyone who loved him believe the death
penalty is appropriate.”
Appellate judges sent the case back to a lower court to figure out the truth.
Visiting State District Judge Everett Young ruled that Storey’s sentence is
entitled to further review on multiple constitutional grounds, which include a
violation of his right to due process, the suppression of mitigating evidence
by prosecutors, the introduction of false evidence to a jury, and his right to
a fair punishment hearing.
Jack and another prosecutor, Robert Foran, have always maintained that Storey’s
defense attorneys were told how the Cherrys felt about the death penalty prior
to the trial. The appeals attorneys representing Storey now say the defense
attorneys were never told about the Cherrys’ opposition to the death penalty.
The appellate court said in its opinion that it does not often go against trial
judges.
But in this case, it did.
“In an unprecedented move, the highest criminal court in Texas reversed Judge
Young’s decision and reinstated the death sentence,’ Jack said. “The Attorney
General’s Office will be seeking a new execution date. There really is nothing
more to say at this point.”
Opinion cites an absence of evidence
The appeal judges ruled that there is no evidence that shows that one of
Storey’s appellate lawyers, Robert Ford, did not know about the Cherrys’ death
penalty stance and argues that Ford could have discovered how the father felt
through the exercise of reasonable diligence.
Young found that Ford, who is dead, did not know that the victim’s family
members opposed the death sentence for Storey. But the appeals court said that
finding is not supported by the record. The appeals court also said that while
Ford had a good reputation as a diligent attorney, there was no evidence in the
record that he was diligent in this case.
If this ruling is allowed to stand, attorneys will be placed in the difficult
position of assuming that all statements from prosecutors are lies, Hampton
said. Those attorneys will also be forced to contact the family members of
victims to determine their positions on laws like the death penalty.
“The last thing that people want is to hear from the lawyers of the person who
has been convicted of murdering their family members,” Hampton said.
Storey’s legal team is exploring all possibilities including asking for
intervention from elected officials, Hampton said. With a recommendation from
the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, the governor has the power to commute
Storey’s death penalty sentence.
“We just had the Amber Guyger trial,” where the victim’s brother forgave a
convicted killer, “and that’s what the Cherrys want to do,” Hampton said. “And
instead of letting something beautiful happen, we are getting interference from
the state’s highest court.”
An appellate judge who wrote in support of the majority opinion pointed out
that what a prosecutor says during closing arguments is not evidence. That
judge also says in his opinion that the evidence presented at trial was
sufficient enough to withstand any objections about the death penalty from the
victim’s relatives.
The family’s wishes
The wishes of the family do not overcome the will of the state in seeking and
applying the death penalty sentence and the decision to carry out the death
penalty should not be overturned, the opinion concludes.
“But even legislative consideration of victims’ rights only directs prosecutors
to keep victims informed,” the opinion states. “A victim’s desires, wishes,
thoughts, and suggestions should be, and often are, sought out by prosecutors,
but the victim’s wishes do not override prosecutorial discretion, including
regarding whether to seek the death penalty.”
“What the decision really says is that it does not matter that the prosecution
lied,” Hampton said.
Storey, now 34, was convicted of capital murder in 2008 in the robbery-slaying
of Jonas Cherry, who was an assistant manager of Putt-Putt Golf and Games at
Texas 121/Loop 820 across from North East Mall in Hurst.
Law enforcement personnel argued that on the morning of Oct. 16, 2006, Storey
and his co-defendant Mark Porter stood over a kneeling Cherry, who pleaded:
“Please! I gave you what you want. Don’t hurt me.”
They refused and shot him twice in the head and twice in his legs. Cherry, who
was approaching his 1st wedding anniversary, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Storey and Porter were convicted of capital murder, but only Storey got the
death penalty. Porter got life without parole after making a deal with the
Tarrant County district attorney’s office
(source: star-telegram.com)
VIRGINIA:
Jury selection to begin for trial of alleged gang members
Jury selection begins on Monday, October 7 for alleged gang members in
Danville.
The trial will take place in Roanoke.
In 2018, ABC13 reported that the 9 alleged gang members could face the death
penalty.
The arrests made by Danville police last year were just one part of the rapid
decline of gang violence in the city.
Police say those arrests were key in identifying gang relations in Danville but
the Captain of Investigations, Steve Richardson, says the department changed
their approach.
Danville Police saw a spike in violence in 2016 after seeing 16 homicides, 93
aggravated assaults with firearms and 132 guns that were seized.
He says the department partnered with multiple organizations after linking the
majority of these crimes to gang relations.
He says even though these people are off the streets, police will continue to
do all they can to prevent situations like this in the future.
"We've worked harder now than we ever have and every day we're growing in our
efforts," said Richardson. "We see results, but rapid results doesn't mean you
stop."
He adds it's all about the safety and security of Danville residents and the
department will continue to identify any threat to the community.
So far this year, Danville has seen 6 homicides, with one of those being
gang-related.
The department has also seen a 66 % reduction in aggravated assault, totaling
to 20 reports.
(source: WSET news)
NORTH CAROLINA:
Jury selection set to begin for Pasquotank prison riot trial
Trial begins Monday for the 1st of 4 men charged in connection to the deadly
failed prison break at Pasquotank County Correctional Institution.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors will begin selecting jurors for Mikel Brady’s
trial.
10 On Your Side reported 4 prison employees died as a result of the attempted
prison escape back in October 2017. The Medical Examiner’s autopsy report
revealed the victims died from being hit or stabbed.
Brady’s attorneys asked the Judge to take the death penalty off the table, but
the Judge denied that motion back in June.
The state is seeking the death penalty for all 4 suspects.
Prosecutors are trying Brady’s case in Dare County, nearly 2 years to the day
after the attack. His attorney requested the move over the summer, saying too
many people in Pasquotank were familiar with the case.
Jury selection could take all week and the trial is expected to last 3 weeks.
(source: WAVY news)
USA:
‘Am I scared to die?’: Horry County killer gives glimpse of life inside federal
death row
Chadrick Fulks will one day be strapped to a gurney and given a lethal
injection. The government will kill him because of his crimes.
That day moved closer to reality months ago.
“Am I scared to be executed?” Fulks wrote in a letter to The Sun News, “No, not
at this point. I’m ready to get it over with. I’m not saying I won’t be scared
when the day comes, I won’t know until it happens.”
As the summer started, Fulks, like the other 60 men on federal death row, were
in limbo as to when they would be killed. The federal government has not
executed an inmate in 15 years.
U.S. Attorney General William Barr announced in August the federal government
would resume executions. The Bureau of Prisons was ordered to schedule
executions for 5 inmates who have exhausted their appeals.
Fulks was not one of those scheduled, but Barr’s announcement notes additional
executions will be set.
“Here on the row,” Fulks wrote, “time just stands still and it is the loneliest
that I’ve ever been.”
Fulks has spent 15 years on death row along with co-defendant Brandon Basham
since their 2004 sentences. The duo escaped from a Kentucky jail in 2002 and
embarked on a crime spree across the Bluegrass State, Tennessee, West Virginia,
North Carolina and South Carolina.
Basham and Fulks kidnapped and killed Galivants Ferry resident Alice Donovan
from a Conway Walmart parking lot. It wasn’t until 2009 that Fulks helped
police find her remains. The duo also killed a woman in West Virginia.
There are about 60 people on the federal death row in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Notable inmates “on the row” include Dylann Roof, who was sentenced to death
for killing 9 people at a Charleston church.
Brandon Council will become the newest member of death row after he was
sentenced to death in a South Carolina federal court last week. Council shot
and killed two employees during a robbery of the Conway, South Carolina,
CresCom bank in 2017.
Council’s execution will take years, likely more than a decade, while he
undergoes various appeals processes.
In 1972, the Supreme Court ruled the death penalty was unconstitutional. It
wasn’t until 1988, the federal death penalty returned and nobody was executed
until 2001. There have been no federal executions since 2003.
Fulks’ letter
After Barr’s announcement, The Sun News reached out via letters to both Fulks
and Basham about their reactions to the decision and life on death row. Fulks
provided four pages of answers. Basham did not send a response.
“It’s been very difficult and very long, and I’m ready to get it over with,”
Fulks wrote.
Fulks has stated that he no longer wishes to fight his execution and called the
system broke. He said his attorneys were careless.
Fulks wrote about how he watched his relatives die, and it’s a constant
reminder of the pain he caused the families of his victims.
“Now, this last step should help them find a little more closure,” he wrote.
Barr’s announcement was both a shock and unsurprising at the same time, Fulks
wrote. Inmates figured something was different when weeks leading up to the
announcement prison staff increased the number of execution practices and
stripped inmates of their belongings, Fulks wrote.
“This was a signal to a lot of us that something was about to change,” Fulks
wrote.
Conditions on death row have deteriorated with the number of meals cut to the
bare minimum, Fulks wrote. It has been difficult to get medical care,
medication and mail.
Fulks theorized he won’t be the only person on the row to request an execution
date and wrote, “This is hell on earth.”
(source: myrtlebeachonline.com)
********************
Supreme Court begins election-year term full of big cases
The justices are returning to the Supreme Court bench for the start of an
election-year term that includes high-profile cases on about abortions,
protections for young immigrants and LGBT rights.
The court meets Monday morning for its 1st public session since late June.
First up is a death-penalty case from Kansas about whether states can abolish
an insanity defense for criminal defendants.
The justices also will hear arguments Monday in a challenge to a murder
conviction by a non-unanimous jury in Louisiana.
The term could reveal how far to the right and how fast the court’s
conservative majority will move, even as Chief Justice John Roberts has made
clear he wants to keep the court clear of Washington partisan politics.
(source: Associated Press)
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